On the evening of the sixteenth day, thirty thousand elite troops began assembling at the Primordial River, preparing to cross overnight.
The setting sun gradually sank below the horizon, staining half the western sky blood-red.
The Self-Defense Army cavalry blocking the opposite bank suddenly withdrew.
They had no choice. Across the river stood the Cangling Kingdom's main army of six hundred thousand. Their handful of men would not even have been enough to fill the gaps between the enemy's teeth.
However, the ten thousand cavalrymen did not return to Primordial City. Instead, they galloped off in another direction.
There lay Hanshan City, another vital frontier stronghold in the western Shenzhou Kingdom besides Primordial City.
Hanshan City was little known and could not compare with Primordial City. Its soldiers and civilians numbered fewer than a hundred thousand combined, but apart from Primordial City, it was the only place connected to the Cangling Kingdom's border. It stood at the end of a spur of the Primordial Mountain Range, with the entire spur separating it from Primordial City. The spur extended three hundred li across treacherous terrain.
At that moment, inside the central army's Marshal's Tent in Cangling's main force, a dignified middle-aged woman was reading a battle report with a grim expression. The report contained the latest news of the Shangguan Military Headquarters' defeat, General Shangguan's unknown whereabouts, and whether Hong Cheng was alive or dead.
"Useless! A whole pack of useless fools!" The middle-aged woman flew into a rage, slammed the table, rose, and tore the report to pieces.
The generals and advisers in the tent hardly dared breathe until the middle-aged woman continued roaring, "Wonderful! An army of four hundred thousand defeated by a Self-Defense Army of nearly the same size, with over two hundred thousand taken prisoner! They've utterly