Northern Frontier.
A lone city stood amid ten-thousand-ren mountains.
Blackwater City.
The Wu Family of King Zhenbei was associated with water and revered black, hence they had built Blackwater City.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
After three rounds of drums.
A column of cavalry urged their warhorses forward, leveled their spears, and charged toward Blackwater City.
The Northern Frontier had already entered the bitter cold, with the north wind sweeping across the land and snapping the white grass.
The cavalry wore black iron armor, their exposed skin the color of Greenstone. Their twelve-foot spears were forged entirely from steel.
As they neared the city gates, the cavalry tugged their reins and turned their horses in perfect unison, beginning to circle Blackwater City.
Atop Blackwater City's walls, Wu Shihua, the current King Zhenbei, looked down at the cavalry below with a deathly pale face.
"Have the memorials sent to the capital gotten out?"
The deputy general beside him said grimly, "My lord, the Imperial Guard has sealed all four gates. Anyone who leaves the city is captured. Even if they got out of Blackwater City, the generals and commanders of the eighteen cities outside would not..."
"Does that brat Li Zhu truly dare kill my Wu Family?"
Wu Shihua slammed a hand against the wall and roared, "The Wu Family has endured for three hundred years. We will certainly survive this calamity! All generals and commanders of those eighteen cities are to be executed!"
The deputy general lowered his head, not daring to speak. His eyes flickered as he considered how to sneak out of the city.
The upper ranks of the Northern Garrison Army already understood that the army was finished. Their only hope of survival was that the Imperial Guard's target was the Wu Family of King Zhenbei.
For the past