At the end of May, the typical "May rains" still continued beneath Mount Li in Lihu County, Eastern Commandery.
This time, the raindrops were not particularly dense, but they came fast and were enormous. Rather than falling, they seemed to smash down, to hurl themselves against the earth.
Under this rain, Zhang Xing began slowly but steadily gnawing on his white-flour flatbread.
Truthfully, the bread was not particularly good. Flour was difficult to preserve in this hot, humid environment, so much of it was old stock they dared not store any longer, and a considerable amount of bran had been mixed in... but it was white-flour bread nonetheless. Take a bite and chew hard, and a faint sweetness emerged.
Zhang Xing ate slowly like this while watching the fighting ahead.
Interestingly, the leaders, officers, guards, and selected army elites around him divided almost exactly in half. Half followed the Great Dragonhead's gaze toward the battle, while the other half simply watched him eat.
As though eating bread mattered as much as fighting a battle.
On the distant battlefield, the Exorcising the Dragon Army occupying the fortifications and the government troops, whose fighting strength was clearly somewhat superior, remained locked in a tug-of-war, their movements growing ever wider.
Whenever the government troops tried to turn and withdraw, the Exorcising the Dragon Army crossed the defenses to attack, forcing them to turn back, only to be driven back in turn by the strenuous efforts of the Qi-Lu Government Army, which truly was more capable in open battle.
After two rounds, the government troops established a dedicated rear guard led personally by Yu Baimei. But the opposing frontline commander, Xu Shiying, countered each move as it came, taking the opportunity to send the Exorcising the Dragon Army out along several routes to attempt