After daybreak, Liang Shiji, who had killed his superior amid the chaos, suddenly realized something deeply awkward: although he had successfully seized Wang Chengwu's command seal, the elite cavalry on which Chengde depended had been slaughtered almost to the last man, and their warhorses had vanished without a trace. Without this formidable force, Chengde, one of the Heshuo Three Towns, could scarcely be called a powerful military domain anymore.
At the same time, he received a battle report: the Lulong Army of Youzhou was massing in Yingzhou on the border, preparing to march south.
Youzhou to the north was already in the palm of Prince Shao Li Yuanying's hand, while Zhaoyi to the south was a military domain loyal to the court. Caught between the two, Liang Shiji knew he had to make his choice quickly.
He placed his superior's head in a wooden box and hurried toward Jingxing with his personal guards, hoping to meet the mysterious commander who had taken a natural stronghold with barely a hundred men, drawn Youzhou into an alliance to the north and Zhaoyi to the south, and conjured clouds with one turn of the hand and rain with another. The Lady of Guangping Commandery, who had persuaded him to defect, said that the commander's only requested reward was Wang Chengwu's head.
Outside Jingxing Pass, the defeated soldiers lay piled like haystacks. After making contact with Lady Yu, Liang Shiji practically had to crawl on his hands and knees over the heaps of corpses to enter the pass. The temporary command tent stood just behind this wall of vanquished men.
After Lady Yu announced him, Liang Shiji drew a deep breath, lifted the flap, and strode inside.
The guards stood in two wings, protecting the commander at their center. She sat on a crude