Huang Xiaoning had lost two fingers, and Xu Lai an ear, finally making it possible to tell him apart from his identical brother, Xu Xing. They were the lucky ones on the battlefield. Tragically, Song Yinghui had died that night, his wounds too severe to treat.
Commander Yuan had run the battle-hardened Liu Mian clean through with a spear. Right Wing Cavalry and Infantry Commissioner Zhang Jifang seized the opportunity to capture the Inner City in one stroke and uproot his cruel former superior, Liu Kun. The Liu family fell with him, and once again, heads rolled in the Military Governor's Residence.
But while the mantis stalked the cicada, the oriole waited behind. Zhang Jifang had only just obtained the Military Governor's precious seal, with no time yet to proclaim his former superior's crimes and justify his mutiny against a superior, when commanders from Ji, Gui, Tan, Yi, Ding, and the other prefectures led their troops to surround Youzhou City. Only then did Zhang Jifang realize that someone behind the scenes had laid a far greater trap. Knowing better than to resist, he surrendered at once and went personally to Prince Shao's Residence to offer up the seal and plead guilty.
By the time the Khitan Khan's two thousand cavalrymen began roaming the Northern Border, Prince Shao, Li Yuanying, already had firm control of Youzhou and gave them no opportunity to cross into his territory.
The soldiers and civilians of Youzhou City accepted this calmly. From the highest ranks to the lowest, the people here revered Buddhism and firmly believed in karma and omens. Several days before the mutiny, the flocks of crows circling above Prince Shao's Residence had already made the Mandate of Heaven clear: from the moment this imperial prince surnamed Li set foot in Youzhou, he had