Within Heaven's Gate Gorge, tens of thousands of northern and southern border troops faced one another across the mountains. Lookout posts had appeared even on the bare, precipitous cliffs, each side watching the other's movements.
Jingjie City lay just behind Heaven's Gate Gorge. The open country between it and the pass was filled with Great Wei soldiers poised to strike, and with war underway, Jingjie City had closed its gates.
Although swords were drawn and bows bent, actual fighting was unlikely to break out at Heaven's Gate Gorge. Within Jingjie City, things remained fairly calm. The court officials who had accompanied the Empress gathered in the palace's council hall, discussing the situation between north and south throughout the day.
Meanwhile, behind the temporary imperial residence, inside the Imperial Study.
Several palace maids came in from time to time, carrying files and setting them on the broad desk.
Dressed in a silver python robe, Dongfang Liren sat behind the desk, carefully reading intelligence from across the country. Her normally heroic face now showed a distinct trace of unease.
But her unease was not because the Southern and Northern Dynasties had suddenly gone to war again. It was because her elder sister, who had been overseeing the troops yesterday, had suddenly left, leaving only an instruction for her to handle affairs of state in her stead.
The importance of the opening battle between two countries went without saying. Dongfang Liren could not imagine what could possibly make her sister leave at a time like this.
Leaving was one thing, but she had even placed such a heavy responsibility on her shoulders.
Dongfang Liren excelled at literary composition and had studied military formations and strategy, but ultimately, hers was warfare on paper. With hundreds of thousands now fighting between the two dynasties, how