"Excellent! The old Grand Tutor's Eight Gates Formation truly is formidable!"
Having finally endured the Formation Duel, Zi Shou let out a soft sigh of relief. He would surely face a barrage of verbal and written condemnation once he returned. After all, he had withdrawn with an overwhelming advantage; even the most forgiving would have complaints. He glanced at the sky and said:
"Though we did not achieve complete victory today, we still have cause to celebrate. Our soldiers have fought all day and are utterly exhausted. We shall fight again in three days. I have brought in another group of dancers and singers. Let the music and dancing continue!"
With that, he paid no further heed to anything and began drinking by himself.
Before long, voices rose in argument inside the tent.
"Your Majesty, the Grand Tutor's formation was so formidable, and we had clearly trapped the Zhou Army inside with no way in or out. Why did we withdraw?"
"If we had won this contest, we could have forced the Zhou Army back to Xiqi, greatly easing the pressure on our forces. The feudal lords throughout All Under Heaven would not dare act rashly either!"
"Exactly, Your Majesty! Even if Jiang Ziya had gone back on his word midbattle, we could still have wiped out all ten thousand Zhou troops. Even if we failed to capture Jiang Ziya, we could have taken down two of his great generals and dealt a crushing blow to the Zhou Army's morale!"
Indignation surged through the generals. Anyone with eyes could see that victory was already in their grasp. A little longer, and they could have annihilated all ten thousand Zhou soldiers. Yet King Zhou had insisted on sounding the gong to withdraw at precisely that moment, even calling it a fifty-fifty