"My lord, I truly never expected this matter to draw your attention. I have failed in my duties."
Seeing Yang Qing step down from his sedan chair, Dai Sheng immediately went forward and bowed to him.
Yang Qing waved a hand lightly. "You are being too hard on yourself, Lord Dai. As the Yan Prefecture Military Commissioner, every matter in Yan Prefecture, great or small, falls within my duties. There is no need for this."
Then Yang Qing turned to the disabled soldier who had been speaking with Dai Sheng. "I hear that all of you retreated here from Yan Pass?"
"My lord, we did indeed just retreat here from Yan Pass. We thought we could scrape together a place to shelter in Yan Prefecture City, but from the look of things, we might as well return to Yan Pass. At least we would die where we belonged."
Yang Qing asked, "Which brigadier general did you originally serve under?"
"We served under different brigadier generals. If our commanders were still alive, perhaps our days would be a little easier. Unfortunately..."
The man heaved a heavy sigh before continuing. "The Old General passed away, leaving the deputy generals like a pack of dragons without a head. Those Northern Liang Bandits seized the opening and gained quite an advantage over us. Our two brigadier generals also lost their lives in those battles."
"In our present condition, there is no place left for us at Yan Pass. We had no choice but to come to Yan Prefecture. My lord, for the sake of the blood we shed on the battlefield, please show us a way to survive."
"Please show us a way to survive, my lord."
As the man finished speaking, the other soldiers spoke up in turn and knelt before Yang Qing.