The army led by Qin Yangming finally withdrew after spending three days camped north of Xingzhou. At the same time, the drawn-swords tension at the Nanyang Water Fortress eased, and Li Yongfu's Yong River Navy withdrew of its own accord. Within a few short days, news that Hu Xiaotian had been granted the title Prince of Suppressing the Sea spread throughout the realm. Some said Hu Xiaotian and Princess Yongyang had thawed the ice of their former grievances; others said he had finally been cleared of the injustice done to him. Some claimed the Great Yong Imperial Court had been forced by pressure to adopt a policy of appeasement to keep him in check. There were even those who said Hu Xiaotian and Princess Yongyang had never been enemies at all, and that everything before had been an illusion they deliberately created. Opinions differed wildly, but everyone agreed on one thing: Hu Xiaotian and Great Kang had joined forces once again.
Plans could not keep pace with change. It was precisely this pressure that forced Great Yong to withdraw. If they persisted in storming Xingzhou, they would inevitably face the combined forces of Hu Xiaotian and Great Kang. In truth, the Great Yong Emperor, Xue Daohong, had never been particularly resolute about attacking Xingzhou. Had Li Chenzhou not insisted on taking it, he would not have initiated this war.
Deep winter was approaching, and it would be the coldest winter Great Yong faced that year. Although the fighting in the north had temporarily entered a winter lull, the Black Hu people had not stopped sending reinforcements. With Yonglan Pass as their center, they continued expanding their strength, a sign that another great battle was inevitable when the ice and snow melted the following spring.
Fighting two wars at once and