Atop the city wall, when Commandery Commandant Shen Zhou saw West Mountain Hall's nineteen thousand men advance in formation, taking a stance to meet them head-on, and a thick bank of white mist drift over from the other side, his gaze grew slightly dazed.
Shen Zhou had originally thought this battle would never happen.
With Tie Kuangren dead in battle, the Iron Banner Gang had lost its pillar.
How could West Mountain Hall's frightened hunters and its wavering wealthy families possibly contend with them?
All they needed tonight, then, was an armed parade.
The troops of their great clans would join seven thousand Commandery Army soldiers in marching north, pursuing the routed and sweeping everything before them, until they surrounded West Mountain Hall's forces in West Mountain Town or drove them into West Mountain.
Yet the other side had used a small catapult to fling the head of Du Wenyuan, an aide to the commandery administration, onto the wall, leaving no doubt about their resolve to fight to the death.
-That Young Banner Chief of the Iron Banner Gang clearly intended to fight like a cornered beast and stake his life against theirs.
Shangguan Shenhao noticed that several heads of the Inner City's great clans had instinctively knitted their brows.
Even Commandery Commandant Shen Zhou's gaze flickered.
Shangguan Shenhao gave a cold scoff, nudging Du Wenyuan's head with the end of his scabbard. "It is indeed Du Wenyuan. What rotten luck, running into such a savage, insolent brute.
"What is laughable is that Chu Xisheng. Fierce-tempered he may be, but he is utterly stupid. There was a road to life before him, yet he insisted on stepping through death's door."
He raised his head and looked across with a hint of mockery. "What does West Mountain Hall have left to