Chapter Summaries

After the officers of the Third Supplementary Army fled, Victor took command and tried to restore order, while discovering a mysterious Command skill that helped the troops obey him. His inspection of the storehouse revealed that vast quantities of supplies were missing, leaving him demanding answers from the guard.

• Victor discovered that Viscount Sutton and the other senior officers had abandoned camp, leaving him in charge of the Third Supplementary Army.
• Victor summoned the remaining officers, formally took command, and ordered them to establish a chain of command throughout the battalions.
• After issuing his orders, Victor found a mysterious crystal inside himself bearing the Chinese characters for "Command" and inferred that its skill had helped restore order in camp.
• Victor inspected the storehouse and found that large amounts of salt, grain, armor, bows, and spears were missing from the recorded supplies.
• Victor questioned the storehouse guard about the missing supplies, and the guard denied responsibility and blamed the quartermaster or transport losses.

Victor ordered his guards to take the missing military supplies for his replacement army while hiding the theft behind a shared story. Meanwhile, Duke Alvin grieved over the Northern Frontier Corps’ defeat and worried that the retreat order might not reach all the scattered units.

• Victor pressured the military clerk to blame the missing supplies on the quartermaster and ordered his guards to take armor, bows, and crossbows.
• Victor rebuked Preston for worrying about regulations, and Preston realized they needed the equipment to survive the enemy’s likely attack.
• Victor ordered the generals to collect equipment and coordinate their account of what had happened.
• Duke Alvin rejected West’s attempt to comfort him and blamed himself for sending troops to fight the undead before the enemy’s main force attacked.
• Duke Alvin asked whether every unit had received the retreat order, and West said it had been issued but might not reach the front because messengers were scarce.

Victor convened a military meeting at Outpost No. 3 to decide what to do after the front apparently suffered a defeat and contact with corps headquarters was lost. He rejected waiting at the outpost or retreating directly into the empire and proposed moving the troops toward the Dragonbone Mountains while raiding Tuwu tribes for supplies.

• Jasper warned that withdrawing without orders would bring punishment and argued that the troops should wait for a retreat order.
• Wyatt argued that the outpost could not withstand the enemy and urged the army to avoid being trapped, while Reginald insisted that staying was safer than retreating toward the enemy's main force.
• Victor concluded that waiting for reinforcements was untenable because of limited fuel and slow mobilization, and proposed moving to the outskirts of the Dragonbone Mountains.
• Jasper objected that the mountains were dangerous and more than six hundred li away, but Victor decided to abandon unnecessary baggage and march there before the enemy reacted.
• Victor said the army would raid small Tuwu tribes to obtain supplies and military merit.

The court debated Duke Alvin’s disastrous defeat in the north while Dragon Spine Pass remained under imminent threat. The discussion turned to a large military buildup, but the ministers clashed over how to pay for it and whether the army should collect taxes.

• Nicholas mocked Duke Alvin after hearing that his defeat had cost the empire armies, soldiers, and its forward fortresses.
• Chancellor Benjamin blamed Duke Alvin for the defeat, while Minister of War Lawrence argued that the Tuwu People’s trap and the urgent crisis had forced the army into battle.
• Foreign Minister Hamilton redirected the court toward relieving Dragon Spine Pass, and Minister of War Lawrence proposed mobilizing nearby forces before sending sixteen armies against the Golden Horde Khanate.
• Chancellor Benjamin challenged the plan to commit so many armies, and Finance Minister Scott objected that the empire lacked the money to expand its forces.
• Army Minister Douglas proposed giving the army authority to collect taxes, prompting the court to confront the danger of combining military and financial power.

Victor’s army continued its strategic retreat and encountered routed soldiers from the Northern Frontier Corps, whose Captain Felix reported that Marshal Alvin’s forces had been overwhelmed after fighting the undead. The chapter ended with Felix beginning his account of the costly breakout and flight from the front.

• Victor stopped Preston from burning the remaining supplies and ordered the army to destroy them without raising smoke.
• The column marched for three days without encountering enemy forces, while its crossbow and archer battalion remained poorly trained.
• Howard reported that scouts had found thirty-eight routed soldiers from the Northern Frontier Corps, and Victor ordered their identities checked and their leader brought to him.
• Captain Felix introduced himself and told Victor that Marshal Alvin had ordered an attack on the undead seven days earlier, before the enemy’s main force struck the exhausted army.
• Felix said Alvin ordered a breakout after hours of fighting, and only seven men from Felix’s fifth squad escaped the encirclement before other routed soldiers joined them.

Victor’s retreating army grew to more than 7,500 soldiers as he conscripted routed troops and approached the Dragonbone Mountains. After learning that the nearby Goshawk Tribe was the only one whose traces had been found, Victor and his officers considered luring its warriors into the mountains.

• Victor questioned Captain Felix about Tuwu herders, then conscripted him and assigned his men to rest before receiving posts.
• Victor recruited several more groups of routed soldiers, increasing his army from just over 7,000 to more than 7,500 and straining supplies.
• Victor asked Felix whether the Goshawk Tribe was the only nearby tribe, and Felix said his men had found no other traces.
• Howard mocked Felix for failing to complete the scouting mission, and Felix argued that scouting further might expose the army.
• Howard said the Tuwu cavalry would lose its advantage in the Dragonbone Mountains, prompting the officers to consider luring the enemy there.

Duke Alvin learned that he had been relieved of command after the Northern Frontier Legion's disastrous defeat, while the Goshawk Tribe debated whether to attack a small enemy force near the Dragonbone Mountains. Zander decided to draw the nearby Cors Tribe into leading the assault.

• Duke Alvin asked how many routed soldiers had been gathered and learned that the enemy had surrounded Dragon Spine Pass.
• West told Duke Alvin that the empire had relieved him of command and placed Lieutenant General Griffin in charge of Dragon Spine Pass's defenses.
• Duke Alvin accepted that his defeat justified his removal and feared the losses would ruin the Norton Family's standing.
• Cross urged Zander to attack a small, poorly equipped enemy force carrying valuable wagons near the Dragonbone Mountains.
• Zander warned that the Goshawk Tribe was weakened and the mountain terrain posed dangers, but agreed to attack by having the Cors Tribe lead the assault.

Howard ordered his troops to camp on a hill in the Dragonbone Mountains while the Cors Tribe learned of the convoy and prepared to attack it. When an unfamiliar golden eagle banner appeared, Victor told his officers to stay calm and wait for news of the enemy’s strength.

• Howard ordered his troops to clear the hilltop and camp there for the night, wary of dangers in the mountains and a possible enemy pursuit.
• Dorian told Moriarty that he had found wagon ruts indicating the enemy’s grain convoy had entered Cors territory.
• The High Priest warned Moriarty that the convoy might be bait and that the mountains put the tribe’s cavalry at a disadvantage.
• Dorian revealed that the convoy was closer to Goshawk Tribe pasture, so Moriarty ordered two thousand tribesmen to follow him and seize it first.
• Jasper reported to Victor that an unfamiliar force carrying a golden eagle banner had appeared near their position.
• Victor ordered his troops to hold steady and sent word to Howard to wait until they knew the enemy force’s strength.

The Goshawk Tribe planned to exploit the Cors Tribe’s advance into the Dragonbone Mountains and eliminate its leader, Moriarty, while hiding its involvement. Victor’s forces learned that both tribes might be drawn into the mountains and prepared to watch for the Goshawk Tribe before deciding which enemy to strike first.

• Cross told Zander that Moriarty had taken the bait, but Zander warned that the Cors Tribe could grow into a serious threat if it absorbed the routed troops.
• Cross suggested killing Moriarty in the Dragonbone Mountains, and Zander ordered his people to gather secretly while disguising any intervention as a response to Moriarty falling under an evil spirit’s influence.
• Felix reported that the Cors Tribe had entered the mountains after fearing the Goshawk Tribe would reach the opportunity first, and Wyatt questioned why the Goshawk Tribe had not moved sooner.
• Victor reasoned that the Goshawk Tribe had either suppressed the news or deliberately alerted the Cors Tribe, then ordered Felix to watch for its troops.
• Felix asked which tribe the army would attack first, and Victor chose to wait and see which one became more vulnerable.

The Golden Horde Khanate debated whether to attack Dragon Spine Pass or pressure the Holy Glory Empire into paying reparations, while the pass’s defenders prepared for battle. In the Dragonbone Mountains, Victor learned that the Goshawk Tribe had halted outside the planned ambush.

• Marshal Slate urged the khanate to attack Dragon Spine Pass, but Chancellor Oliver argued against a costly assault, and Blackwood advised waiting for the empire’s reply.
• Duke Alvin and Lieutenant General Griffin argued over the Tuwu People’s reparations demands as Governor Steele said reinforcements would arrive in three days.
• Captain Felix told Victor that the Goshawk Tribe had stopped outside the Dragonbone Mountains, and Victor asked where it had camped.

Moriarty’s Cors Tribe pursued false trails through the Dragonbone Mountains, then ran into Berserk Porcupines as it tried to retreat. Meanwhile, Victor’s army crept toward the Goshawk Tribe camp to launch a night raid, leaving the attack poised to begin.

• Moriarty realized the clean ash piles were bait and concluded that the enemy’s main force was elsewhere.
• A scout reported Berserk Porcupine droppings, and Moriarty ordered the Cors Tribe to break camp and withdraw.
• Berserk Porcupines attacked the Cors Tribe in the woods, prompting Moriarty to order his men to fight back.
• Victor prepared a night raid on the Goshawk Tribe camp, hoping to seize its livestock and secure a military victory.
• Felix reported that the camp had eight groups of hidden sentries, but Victor’s soldiers advanced to within five hundred meters unnoticed.
• Victor ordered skilled soldiers to eliminate the hidden sentries and told the army to launch a frontal assault if the operation failed.

As Zander and Cross debated the risks of attacking the Holy Glory Empire, Victor’s Third Army launched a surprise assault on the Goshawk Tribe’s camp. The attack routed the Tuwu defenders and ended in an unexpectedly easy victory that left Victor and the gathered Northern Frontier Corps soldiers bewildered.

• Zander warned that the khanate could not withstand a prolonged war with the Holy Glory Empire, while Cross argued that the empire had grown weaker.
• Victor’s troops killed several hidden sentries, but a fourth spotted them and raised the alarm.
• Victor ordered the Third Army to attack the Goshawk Tribe’s camp, where the unprepared defenders fell into disarray.
• Cross was killed by arrows as he tried to organize a counterattack, and the fleeing Tuwu people trampled their shaman to death.
• The Third Army’s archers and spearmen slaughtered the routed defenders, and Victor and the Northern Frontier Corps soldiers struggled to believe how easily they had won.

Victor ordered the Third Army to split up after defeating the Goshawk Tribe, while Moriarty prepared to withdraw the battered Cors Tribe from the Dragonbone Mountains. Howard learned the Cors Tribe had suffered heavy losses after Reginald’s men lured them into Berserk Porcupine territory, and ordered obstacles placed along their retreat route.

• Jasper reported the Third Army’s casualties, and Victor ordered the wounded cared for before assigning Felix and Jasper forces to attack the tribes’ strongholds.
• Victor planned to take the remaining troops into the Dragonbone Mountains to reinforce Howard and surround the Cors Tribe’s main force.
• Moriarty learned the Cors Tribe had lost 423 men and suffered 586 wounded in its fight with the Berserk Porcupines, then ordered a withdrawal.
• Howard learned the Cors Tribe was retreating after blundering into Berserk Porcupine territory, where Reginald’s men had removed the beasts’ territorial droppings.
• Howard praised Reginald’s operation and ordered the second company to place obstacles along the Cors Tribe’s retreat route.

Moriarty's Cors Tribe force suffered repeated losses to Howard's mountain traps as it tried to cross the Dragonbone Mountains. After learning the main force had defeated the Goshawk Tribe and was returning, Howard vowed to keep harrying the Cors soldiers while Victor hurried to reinforce his men.

• Moriarty ordered his troops onward after a soldier fell into a spike pit, though he suspected the Goshawk Tribe might be behind the suspicious attacks.
• Boulders rolled down on the Cors force, and Moriarty charged after the attackers, but his soldiers found only traps and empty trenches.
• Reginald told Howard that the main force had annihilated the Goshawk Tribe's main army and ordered him to hold the Cors force for two days.
• Howard promised to hold the enemy and continued the guerrilla attacks, aiming to break their morale before reinforcements arrived.
• Victor urged his column to move faster so it could reinforce the roughly seven hundred men baiting the Cors force in the mountains.

Defective magic crystal cannons repeatedly exploded at Dragon Spine Pass as Governor Steele confronted Lieutenant General Griffin over the corruption behind them. In the Dragonbone Mountains, Victor learned that Howard’s guerrilla tactics had devastated the Tuwu and ordered him to keep wearing down the enemy while Victor’s men retrieved the livestock.

• Magic crystal cannons and shells exploded among the defenders at Dragon Spine Pass, killing and injuring soldiers and halting the cannon crews.
• Governor Steele challenged Lieutenant General Griffin about the defective weapons, and Griffin could not keep calling the repeated explosions accidents.
• Victor asked Howard where the enemy was, and Howard reported that the Tuwu were still marching and had suffered over fifty percent casualties.
• Howard told Victor that his guerrilla tactics had brought the Tuwu close to mutiny and left their morale near collapse.
• Victor praised Howard, ordered him to continue bleeding the enemy and prepare a detailed battle report, and took his men to retrieve the animals.

Moriarty’s defeated army stopped in the Dragonbone Mountains as a summer storm threatened and their supplies dwindled. After Dorian led a party out to find food, enemy arrows and traps ambushed them, and he realized the Tuwu army had been lured along a deadly route.

• Gleeson warned Moriarty that rain was coming, and Moriarty ordered the army to camp with sixty li still left before they could leave the mountains.
• Dorian asked to take warriors to search for food because the army had only one day of rations, and Moriarty allowed him to go with a warning to avoid enemy traps.
• Dorian’s party was soaked by the storm and struggled through the dark, unfamiliar forest as rain erased signs of wildlife.
• An enemy arrow wounded a Tuwu soldier, and a volley forced Dorian’s party to take cover before the attackers disappeared.
• Dorian ordered his soldiers to pursue, but one stepped into an animal trap, making the party abandon the chase.
• Dorian concluded the enemy had manipulated their route through the mountains and ordered a messenger to warn Moriarty that the army needed to change its marching route.

Heavy rain stranded Moriarty’s Tuwu army while Howard and Reginald reconsidered their plans to defeat it. As the storm disrupted both sides, the Third Army attacked the Goshawk and Cors Tribes, slaughtering their remaining inhabitants and driving survivors to flee.

• Moriarty learned that seven more wounded Tuwu soldiers were dying and received an incomplete warning that there was a problem with the army’s route.
• Howard cursed the rain for delaying his planned final attack, while Reginald argued that the stranded, starving enemy might collapse without a battle.
• Victor’s reputation made Howard abandon his boast that the army commander could not challenge him.
• The Third Army attacked the Goshawk Tribe, crushed its remaining resistance, and began slaughtering its people.
• The Cors Tribe suffered a simultaneous attack as Tuwu survivors fled, abandoned their families, and set fires to deny supplies to the enemy.

After destroying the Goshawk Tribe, the Third Army seized an enormous herd of livestock and struggled to decide how to preserve and transport its spoils. Victor ordered the army to keep the warhorses, select valuable cattle for the transport train, and cure most of the remaining meat before enemy forces arrived.

• Jasper ordered some cattle and sheep slaughtered for the soldiers while the army held the rest of the livestock until Victor decided what to do.
• Victor and the soldiers feasted on captured lamb as Preston reported the Third Army's victory over the Goshawk Tribe and its huge haul of livestock.
• Victor ordered Jasper to choose fine cattle and horses for transport, slaughter nine tenths of the remaining cattle and sheep, and reserve all warhorses for him.
• Preston warned Victor that summer weather could spoil the meat, so Victor instructed the soldiers to smoke it in wet weather, use extra salt, and check the salt seized from enemy tents.

After emerging from the mountains with his starving, battered force, Moriarty decided to raid the Goshawk Tribe for food. Victor planned to use the weakened Cors Tribe as a target for his new cavalry battalion to practice mounted archery before the coming battles.

• Moriarty's force emerged from the mountains and found signs of fighting but no trace of the people they had left behind.
• Dorian urged Moriarty to take grain from the Goshawk Tribe, and Moriarty agreed before leading his starving troops onward.
• Victor explained to Howard that his guerrilla tactics had weakened the Cors Tribe and ordered his forces to wait until the enemy had gone hungry for two more days.
• Maddox asked to send the cavalry against the exhausted Cors Tribe, and Victor assigned the cavalry battalion to destroy them while practicing mounted archery.
• Maddox hurried to assemble his inexperienced cavalry under the envious gaze of the other soldiers.

At a military meeting in the Capital of Glory, Lawrence pushed for a massive troop deployment to Dragon Spine Pass, and the officials settled on raising taxes from freemen after noble taxation failed. On the grasslands, Moriarty’s group was caught by Holy Glory Empire cavalry and came under a deadly arrow attack.

• Nicholas demanded that the officials decide how to reinforce Dragon Spine Pass, but the meeting began amid the same arguments that had stalled earlier efforts.
• Lawrence proposed sending four main battle armies and twelve garrison armies, while Scott warned that the deployment would overwhelm the empire’s logistics and finances.
• Lawrence called for an additional war tax, and Scott agreed to draft a proposal to tax freemen after noting that the Noble Assembly had rejected another levy on noble lords.
• Grace heard cavalry approaching and feared it might be the Goshawk Tribe, so Moriarty ordered his people to prepare for battle.
• Holy Glory Empire cavalry appeared, surrounded Moriarty’s group, and fired repeated volleys of arrows, killing and wounding dozens.