However, he had no time to think it through just then.
Gongsu Mi had already raised the Tiger Tally above his head and called out, "I, Gongsu Mi, accept this Tiger Tally. Lord Juzi, please!"
Ruan Zhi also raised her Tiger Tally toward the sky, light flowing through her mechanical eyes.
With a hum, both Tiger Tallies lit up at once.
The sky over the battlefield slowly darkened, and beacon fires were lit one after another atop the city walls.
The two issued their first military orders simultaneously.
A detachment of light cavalry took the eastern mountain road around to the flank of Ruan Zhi's deployment. Before the city's defenses had fully formed up, they struck a small city at the very front with the speed of a thunderbolt.
With no general stationed in the city, the green-armored soldier puppets defending it soon crumbled under the charge of the black-armored cavalry.
The beacon fire on the wall burned only briefly before going out.
The city fell.
Ruan Zhi's expression did not change.
She did not dwell on the lost city, merely ordering her central vanguard forward to cut Gongsu Mi's overextended cavalry in two.
As a general, Song Yan held the first city in the center. The soldier puppets within were riding high in morale. With their advance blocked, the black-armored cavalry could neither advance nor retreat, and the slaughter threw their formation into chaos.
After several exchanges back and forth, Ruan Zhi not only steadied her footing but even recaptured the lost city in the east.
Gongsu Mi frowned, but did not panic.
He dispatched another naval force from the west to sail upriver, attempting to circle behind the city.
Zhou Jue was the general defending this city.
Yet everyone soon noticed something wrong.
By rights, both sides' troops