Meanwhile.
"I truly underestimated this Liu Zhiwei!"
Situ Long sighed, then continued, "There was a reason Ouyang Mingyue lost to the Self-Defense Army. For one, his youth made her underestimate him. It was highly deceptive, making people overlook his strength and cunning. When we heard that the Self-Defense Army had saved the Shenzhou Kingdom from peril, everyone assumed it was because Jiang Hao's personal strength was simply too great!"
"Now it seems that wasn't the case. Those Northern Barbarians of the North Sea Kingdom had nothing but brute strength, so naturally the Self-Defense Army relied on overwhelming power to crush them. That kept us from seeing the individual military talents of their senior officers. Now, whether it's Guo Dundun, Liu Zhiwei, or even that woman Yang Qingliu, they've all shown us extraordinary military ability. Every one of them can command an army independently. We underestimated our enemy!"
Hearing his lament, the generals beside him lowered their heads in silence, acknowledging his words. After a moment, one asked, "Commander, our heavy cavalry's morale is low. How about letting them rest for a day and fighting again tomorrow? That damned fatty probably knows we're attacking Liu Zhiwei by now, but coming to his rescue quickly won't be so easy. Ouyang Mingyue is no pushover, after all."
"That's all we can do."
Situ Long rode his warhorse to the heavy cavalry's position in person, intending to offer them words of comfort.
Back at the Self-Defense Army's formation.
Guo Dundun was certainly no easy customer. He was an obsessive fanatic with a raging temper through and through.
How could he possibly settle into a standoff with Ouyang Mingyue?
As repeating crossbows were pushed up between the Self-Defense Army's formations, he said, "Shoot every last bolt we have for the repeating crossbows today. Don't worry