In this realistic war game, only I understand the course of the battle.

Old Li, the bearded man from the obstacle-breaking team, squatted on the ground and opened the last two sacks to check them over.

The sack was empty; it couldn't even hold a clod of dirt. He folded the sack and placed it at his feet. As he stood up, he rubbed his nose with the back of his hand, leaving a bloody mark.

The spearmen still had three spears they could hold level. The archers still had four arrows.

Shen Du took a step forward.

A warm sensation surged up from the soles of my feet, spreading from my ankles to my knees, and then from my knees to my lower back.

The passive state of the soldier crossing the river began to activate as he advanced southward, and strength poured into his limbs like boiling oil. His breathing became steady, his vision cleared, and the thoughts that had been obscured by fatigue and pain in his mind became sharper.

"We bombed the west gate, captured the watchtower, broke through the south gate, and set off four smoke signals."

"Li Jinglong saw everything from the city wall." Shen Du's voice wasn't loud, as if he were speaking to someone behind him, but his eyes remained fixed on Qu Neng. "He's watching us from the city wall right now. He's waiting for a reason to escape."

He took his second step forward. Thirty or forty people behind him followed suit.

"Our mission is not to defeat these thousand cavalrymen."

Shen Du slowly drew the horizontal sword in front of him, the tip pointing towards the north gate tower of Dezhou City. "It's to let Li Jinglong see that we've stood beneath the city walls. Even if it's just for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."

Old Zhao raised his throwing axe. "Master Li, one incense stick's time is enough."

Gu Zhang pushed the shield forward, its surface hitting the ground with a dull thud. "Enough."

Zheng Biao finally pulled out the knife. "Enough."

The voices of thirty or forty people were scattered. But no one took a step back.

Qu Neng's iron spear sank slightly.

He had fought in Liaodong for half his life, and had seen generals and soldiers who were not afraid to die, but he had never seen such a fearless formation.

It wasn't a horizontal line, nor a vertical line. Thirty or forty people stood in a loose crescent shape—the front row had swords, shields, and throwing axes, the back row had spears, and on both sides were breaching teams carrying empty sacks and short-handled axes.

This formation is not dense enough for sieges, not thick enough for open field battles, and not fast enough for retreats.

They weren't forming ranks; they were displaying banners. They used thirty or forty lives as banners, planting them outside the north gate of Dezhou City.

Who is it for? It's for the people on the city wall.

Qu Neng turned around and glanced at the city gate behind him.

On the north gate tower of Dezhou City, Li Jinglong's banner is still standing.

The banner embroidered with the character "Li" swayed slightly in the evening breeze, showing no sign of falling.

But he knew that Li Jinglong was trembling on the city wall.

He had been in Texas for so long that he knew the general all too well.

After the Battle of Baigou River, Li Jinglong's courage had been crushed by the hooves of the Yan army. Now that the Yan army's banners were already visible outside the city—whether it was just a single banner or thirty or forty men—Li Jinglong would only do one thing.

Qu was able to hold the iron spear steady again.

He suddenly spurred his horse forward and rode alone a few steps towards Shen Du.

The cavalry behind him were about to push forward when he raised his hand to stop them. "Stand still."

Shen Du watched the chestnut horse gallop towards him, but did not move.

Qu Neng reined in his horse about twenty paces in front of him. The horse snorted, and the white breath it exhaled dispersed in the cool evening breeze.

Qu Neng sat on horseback, looking down at Shen Du, while Shen Du stood on the ground, looking up at Qu Neng. The two stared at each other for a moment, neither speaking first.

Qu could see no fear in the young man's eyes.

There wasn't even much emotion. It was as if they were waiting for an inevitable outcome.

"What's your name?" Qu Neng asked.

"Li Jingzhong, Commander of the Pocheng Camp of the Left Guard of Yanshan."

Qu Neng remained silent for a moment.

He had never heard of this name before.

He was not from a hereditary military family, nor was he one of the old comrades who rose up in Beiping; he was just a junior officer.

A captain led forty men to break through two camps, blow up two iron gates, and pierced through the Twelve Linked Cities. Then, he led the remaining troops to stand under the walls of Dezhou City.

"How many men did you lead to conquer the Twelve Linked Cities?" Qu Neng asked again.

Shen Du didn't answer. Zhao Laoliu, standing behind him, answered for him: "That's all."

Qu Neng's gaze swept from Shen Du to Zhao Laoliu, then from Zhao Laoliu to Gu Zhang, Zheng Biao, and every other person covered in blood behind them.

Having fought half his life, the first thought that welled up in his mind at this moment was not anger or murderous intent, but a feeling that was hard to describe.

He had seen wolf packs on the grasslands of Liaodong. Dozens of wolves would chase thousands of gazelles until the gazelles could run no more and knelt down. These few people in front of him were like a pack of wolves.

"Do you know that if I give the order now, you and your men will all die here?" Qu Neng asked.

"I know," Shen Du said calmly, "but General Qu won't give the order."

Why?

Shen Du looked into Qu Neng's eyes and said, word by word, "Because General Qu has been in Dezhou City for so long, he also knows one thing: Li Jinglong will run away. Whether he attacks us or not, he will run away. General Qu's cavalry can stop us, but they can't stop the 100,000 Yan troops coming from the north."

At that point, would those thousand Liaodong cavalrymen be sent to cover Li Jinglong's retreat, or to be buried with him?

Qu Neng remained silent. A crack finally appeared on his perpetually ashen face. It wasn't anger, nor fear, but the weariness unique to a veteran.

After a long while, he took a wine flask from the hook next to the saddle, tilted his head back and took a sip, then tossed the flask to Shen Du.

Shen Du caught it with one hand. The wine sac was made of cowhide and was warm from his body heat; the wine inside was so strong it choked his throat.

He took a sip and handed the wine flask to Zhao Laoliu.

"General Qu." Shen Du wiped the wine stains from his lips.

"You're a smart man. The Twelve Cities have fallen, and Dezhou can't be defended. Li Jinglong's banner will disappear from the city walls tonight. I don't want these thousand brothers from Liaodong to die in vain beneath Dezhou. They're not cannon fodder for Li Jinglong."

Qu Neng's gaze lingered on Shen Du's face for a while before he turned his horse around and slowly rode back to his own ranks.

The cavalrymen behind him were all looking at him.

He didn't look at them, but simply stuck his iron spear into the ground and dismounted.

"Pass on the order." Qu Neng's voice was soft, but it carried far in the quiet evening breeze. "Line up and rest in place. Keep your swords sheathed, but do not charge. No one is to move without my command."

Then he turned around and walked alone toward the north gate of Dezhou City, his iron spear slung over his back. He walked slowly, and each spur hit the gravel, sending up a small shower of sparks.

On the north gate tower of Dezhou City, Li Jinglong nearly dropped his binoculars for the third time.

He witnessed the entire process. Qu Neng's thousand cavalrymen formed a charge formation, and then Qu Neng rode forward alone, speaking to the Yan army's leader, a small flag bearer.

He couldn't hear it from too far away, but he saw Qu Neng give the other person a pot of wine.