"An emperor no emperor, a king no king; a thousand riders, ten thousand chariots flee to Beimang."
The sovereign's flight set off a chain reaction throughout the camp. Though no enemy had yet appeared, things already threatened to spiral out of control.
Frankly, Dulan Khagan's massive surprise attack had exceeded everyone's expectations, so such confusion was hardly surprising. Still, that the disorder had begun spreading from the very heart of the camp was rather dispiriting.
At that moment, watching the sovereign gallop through the afternoon sunshine as though his youth had returned, then looking at the Great Wei imperial family scattered behind him, Zhang Xing inexplicably felt a peculiar sense of participating in history. Then that utterly unrelated historical nursery rhyme came to mind-whatever, this certainly wasn't the plot of the siege of Baiden.
In fact, confusion did not mean ineffectiveness, particularly since Dulan Khagan had probably only just landed... Besides, though the palace attendants, eunuchs, and Jinwu Guard were each more disordered than the last, the troops on the perimeter proved unexpectedly resilient.
Leaving aside Chief Chancellor Su Wei, a hereditary old scholar-his father had been chief chancellor of the Former Dynasty-the Guanlong aristocratic houses naturally possessed a tradition of military education and experience under this militarized state. Though the sovereign had lost his composure, everyone from the other chancellor, Sima Changying, down to the two ministers, one commandery governor, three Guard generals-in-chief, and eighteen Gentlemen of the Palace Generals displayed remarkable competence. They actually maintained a rough formation, pursuing the sovereign while gathering up the disordered chamber attendants, palace attendants, and eunuchs and heading toward Yunnei City...
And before nightfall, they surged up to Yunnei's walls.
By their arrival, darkness had fallen, but Sima Changying remained composed in command. Seated atop the wall, he assigned duties on the