Spring rain pattered down, branches put forth new leaves, and the soil was slightly damp. As the army passed, no dust rose.
Ye City had fallen, and Zhao State's gates stood wide open!
Luo Yan appeared at the head of Zhao State's last great army, and the Wei Army, fresh from taking Ye City, plunged into battle again.
The moment the Zhao Army fell into a disadvantage and had to retreat to regroup, everyone sank into the deepest despair.
"Zhengnan is dead."
News of Shen Pei had already reached the Zhao Army. Luo Yan sighed. "Zhengnan truly was the crown of our Zhao State's scholars!"
Everyone remained immersed in the shock of Ye City's fall and Shen Pei's death for his country. No one spoke.
At those words, Qu Yi felt utterly ashamed. "I should have died in Ye City too. Had I risen in resistance, we might yet have held it, and I would not have to suffer this humiliation now, trampled and disgraced by those pigs and dogs.
"A thousand years from now, perhaps I will still be someone's subject of idle judgment, a stepping stone for those pigs and dogs. How hateful."
By pigs and dogs, Qu Yi meant the generals in the Wei Army. In his prime, he would have thought nothing of any of them, yet now, constrained by Zhao State's national strength, he had been defeated and forced to withdraw. How could Qu Yi accept that?
In this world, success was always the only measure. The defeated were trampled into the mud, as though they were worth nothing.
Zhao State's ministers were among the finest strategists and generals in the world, yet Zhao State's defeat would leave them nameless in the histories. Who could accept that?
Everyone felt a measure of sorrow.
Seeing this,