In late September, Great Ying and Great Ming both dispatched great armies toward Henei.
Henei Commandery had been established under the Former Tang, comprising sixteen counties. Under Wei, Cao Che had split off its eight eastern counties to form Ji Commandery, leaving the eight western counties as Henei Commandery. The new Henei formed an elongated trapezoid, with mountains on two sides and the Great River on another, leaving only the east unobstructed. In theory, it was a corner of the Hebei plain jutting into the Jin Region. But because of the existence and importance of the Eastern Capital, that supposed central point of the world, Henei had effectively become its dependency, serving as its northern gateway.
Three years earlier, as the power controlling Hebei, the Exorcising the Dragon Gang had voluntarily surrendered the greater half of Henei Commandery, which held tremendous significance for the Eastern Capital. In fact, this concession had carried decisive weight in securing their nonaggression agreement.
That move had also directly prompted the Eastern Capital to rebuild the famous cross-river fortress of Heyang City, making Henei Commandery a meeting ground for three powers.
Once war actually broke out, certain rumors inevitably appeared... Many people said this had all been Chief Zhang's calculation. The reasoning was simple: this location made it far too convenient for the Exorcising the Dragon Army to deploy, practically amounting to fighting on interior lines. Guanzhong, by contrast, faced obvious logistical pressure, yet could hardly abandon this battlefield, because fighting here allowed it to address both the Eastern Capital and Yecheng.
Others scoffed at this. Looked at the other way around, designating this place as a battlefield meant placing Yecheng on the front line. A defeat at the front would put Yecheng in danger of falling. Given its explosive development over the past few