At night, the moonlight, already in the final third of the month, seemed somewhat dim. In the open country southeast of the Qing Zhang River, north of Fanshui County and south of Wei County in Wuyang Commandery, Hebei, a great expanse of military camps spread across fields where weeds and crops could scarcely be distinguished. Though the camps formed a continuous whole, they were clearly divided into eastern and western clusters.
There was little movement around them, but beside a larger ring of bonfires in the center of the western camp, many people had gathered to discuss the situation... They had no choice: they had just received an unexpected piece of intelligence.
"What do you think?" After the messenger repeated the intelligence for the fourth time, Zhang Xing looked at Li Ding.
Li Ding fell silent for a moment, then asked in return, "Are you sure you want to hear my opinion first?"
Among the officers around them were chiefs of the Exorcising the Dragon Army, commandants of the Wuan Army, and several leaders of the northern reinforcements, the divisions between them as clear as the Jing and Wei rivers. Even Protector Zhang, Zhang Shizhao, and Qin Bao sat apart, behind and to one side of Zhang Xing, looking somewhat different from the rest. Yet all remained silent now, and the Wuyang Commandery merit officer who had brought the report also lowered his head without speaking.
After all, the matter was sensitive, military intelligence was serious business, and an opportunity in battle lasted only an instant. A decision had to be made quickly, and that decision could directly determine victory or defeat, life or death, for tens of thousands. For Zhang Xing to ask a surrendered general now could charitably be called employing a man without suspicion; less charitably, Chief