At 100 years old, he joined the army in place of his granddaughter, and became a national war god.

"Report!"

The Northern Barbarian army camp.

A scout rode in at full speed, dismounted, and strode into the tent. He knelt on one knee and spoke urgently:

"General, General Qin Hao of the Great Qian Dynasty has led ten thousand soldiers to meet our Northern Di army!"

Chi Lie suddenly stood up from his chair, his eyes flashing with excitement.

"Good!" He slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Excellent! The great battle begins! The Northern Di's hegemony will take another step forward, starting tonight!"

He leaned forward, his gaze sharp as a knife: "How many troops are still stationed at the Qinghe County military camp?"

"Three thousand!" the scout answered without hesitation.

The deputy general standing on the right smiled, a smile full of confidence.

He stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said, "General, I've heard that the Great Qian army has been conscripting men everywhere lately, not even sparing old men in their fifties or sixties."

"This shows that they are running out of manpower and have a weak fighting force."

"I reckon that at least half of those three thousand garrison soldiers are greenhorns who haven't even figured out how to use a sword yet."

"This is a golden opportunity, General!"

As Chi Lie listened, his fists clenched tighter and tighter, the veins on the back of his hands bulging out one by one.

"Okay, okay!"

"The time has come for us to kill the enemy and achieve glory!"

He abruptly turned to face the generals in the tent and loudly commanded, "Pass on my order: assemble!"

"Tonight, we will storm into the rear of the Daqian army and burn their supplies and provisions! I will cut off their food and food supply, and cause them to collapse completely."

"Your subordinate obeys!" the generals replied in unison, their voices echoing throughout the camp.

The sound of horns ripped through the night sky.

The Northern Barbarian camp was in turmoil, like a pot of boiling water.

Five thousand soldiers poured out of their tents, the sounds of armor clashing, horses' hooves pounding, and swords rubbing together creating a deafening torrent.

Torches were lit one after another, their flames blending together and turning half the sky red.

The cavalrymen mounted their horses, and the infantrymen lined up and assembled.

Spears stood like a forest, and swords flashed like snow.

Chi Lie stood on the high platform, holding a horse-slaying sword, the tip of which pointed forward.

"Set off!"

The thunderous sound of hooves echoed as thousands of cavalrymen marched toward the rear of the Daqian military camp in Qinghe County.

……

late at night.

In the cookhouse.

Su Mu did not sleep.

He sat on the open ground in front of the tent, with a whetstone in front of him and a horse-slaying sword in his hand, sharpening it again and again.

The blade slid back and forth on the whetstone, making a rhythmic sound that was particularly clear in the quiet of the night.

He didn't know if the battle would affect the cooks, but he was prepared.

When the knife is sharpened, I feel at ease.

"Grandpa, aren't you asleep yet?" a voice came from behind.

Su Mu turned his head and saw Zhao Dazui crawling out of the tent, rubbing his eyes and slipping on his shoes, looking like he had gotten up to get up in the middle of the night.

He stood at the entrance of the tent, watching Su Mu sharpen his knife in the moonlight, a hint of curiosity on his face.

Su Mu smiled slightly and replied:

"I'm getting old, I can't sleep."

"Sharpen your knife, and when the opportunity arises, kill a few more of those Northern barbarians."

Zhao Dazui didn't say anything, but he had other thoughts in his mind:

What's the use of being strong?

What's the use of being good at training horses?

On the battlefield, what matters is the skill of real combat, the art of killing.

You're a centenarian, and you still dare to dream of fighting the Northern Di people?

But he dared not say it aloud.

Yesterday, Su Mu's skill in carrying water and taming horses stunned the entire military camp. If he were to say this to their faces, he would appear to be incredibly tactless.

"Old man, you'd better be careful."

Zhao Dazui yawned, a hint of mockery in his voice, "I've heard those Northern Barbarians are all fierce warriors, ruthless killers. At your age, you shouldn't..."

Su Mu understood the implication in his words.

He wasn't angry; he just paused for a moment, looked up at Zhao Dazui, a slight smile playing on his lips, and replied:

"Don't worry, I've lived for a hundred years and I'm afraid of everything except death."

"I'm a hundred years old, and I've never been a coward."

He stared into Zhao Dazui's eyes and slowly added, "I wonder, boss, are you scared?"

"The leader shouldn't be afraid, otherwise why would he lead the cooks to protect the grain supplies?"

Zhao Dazui's face flushed bright red.

"You...you can keep grinding away." Zhao Dazui feigned sleepiness, yawned again, and mumbled, "This weather's perfect for sleeping..."

He turned and walked back into the tent, his steps much faster than when he came out.

Su Mu watched his retreating figure, then ignored him and continued sharpening his knife!

Just then, a piercing shout came from the direction of the supply camp, shattering the tranquility of the night.

"The Northern Barbarians are attacking!"

Immediately afterwards, the alarm bells rang out sharply and shrilly.

"Clang... clang... clang..."

The entire military camp was instantly awakened.

Su Mu abruptly stopped what he was doing.

He raised his head and looked in the direction of the supply depot.

Under the moonlight, there were flickering lights, running shadows, and the faint sound of horses' hooves pounding the ground.

He gripped his saber tightly, stood up, his hunched back straightening instantly, and two flames ignited in his eyes.

……

Central command tent.

The captain guarding the rear was reading a military report by candlelight when he heard the alarm bell. He jumped up abruptly, and his chair crashed to the ground.

"What happened?"

He grabbed his sword and rushed out of the tent.

A captain stumbled over, pale-faced and panting: "Captain! Northern Di cavalry! A force of Northern Di cavalry is charging towards the cooks' camp and the supply camp! They're less than five li away!"

"Five li?" The captain's pupils contracted sharply. "Where are the scouts? Didn't they say there were no Northern Di troops nearby?"

"I...I don't know! They seemed to fall from the sky!"

The captain gritted his teeth, donning his armor as he rushed out, shouting, "Assemble! Everyone assemble! Reinforce the supply battalion immediately!"

He knew that the enemy's objective was to burn their supplies and provisions.

The sound of horses' hooves grew closer and closer ahead of the supply depot.

Under the moonlight, a dark mass of cavalry surged out of the darkness, like a black torrent sweeping in.

The leader was a burly man wielding a horse-slaying sword; he was none other than Chi Lie.

"Charge in! Burn their supplies!"

A fierce voice boomed through the night sky.

"kill!"

The Northern Di cavalry shouted in unison, startling the warhorses in the camp into neighing incessantly.

Their iron hooves swept straight in and stormed into the supply camp.

The tents were overturned, the supplies and provisions were cut up, and rice was spilled all over the ground.

The Daqian soldiers guarding the camp were caught off guard and engaged in battle, but most of them were new recruits who had just joined the army. How could they possibly withstand the ferocious Northern Di cavalry?

A flash of light, and a soldier fell into a pool of blood.

Screams, shouts, and the clash of weapons mingled together, echoing through the night sky.

Inside the fire station.

All the cooks were awakened and rushed out of their tents, some wearing only underwear, some barefoot, and some even with their clothes buttoned up incorrectly.

They clutched the broadswords they had been issued that day, the swords still in their sheaths, but their hands were trembling.

Everyone huddled together, forming a loose circle, their eyes fixed on the firelight in the direction of the supply camp.

"Could they...could they attack the supply depot?"

"What if they come after our cooks?"

"The northern barbarians are all brave and skilled in battle, and they kill without hesitation... How could we, their cooks, possibly be a match for them?"

"I don't want to die... I still have my elderly mother at home..."

Fear spread through the crowd.

Zhao Dazui stood at the front, holding a broadsword, his back ramrod straight, looking brave and fearless.

But only he knew that his crotch was almost wet.

He prayed desperately in his heart: the soldiers at the front must hold on, they must stop the Northern Di people, and they must not let them rush to the cooking camp.

At this moment, Su Mu came out from behind.

He dragged the saber in his right hand, the tip of the blade drawing a shallow mark on the ground with a soft "hissing" sound.

Su Mu stood at the front of the crowd, looking towards the firelight in the direction of the supply camp. Listening to the sounds of fighting and screams coming from there, he coldly said, "In war, the more afraid you are of death, the more likely you are to die."

"Faced with a fierce enemy, only by mustering courage and fighting to the death can one have a chance of survival."

After saying that, he picked up his saber, took a step, and walked towards the supply camp.

"Grandpa! Where are you going?"

Zhao Dazui shouted from behind, his voice trembling.

"Are you out of your mind?!"

Su Mu did not turn around, nor did he stop walking.

"Instead of waiting to be killed, we should take the initiative and drive back those northern barbarians."

Zhao Dazui stared, mouth agape, at the receding figure, unable to utter a single word.

The two hundred or so cooks behind him were completely dumbfounded.

They watched as the white-haired, hunched-over centenarian, dragging a long sword, walked alone towards the battlefield of the supply camp.

No one followed; everyone stood still, like wooden stakes.

Flames soared into the sky in the direction of the supply depot.

The sounds of fighting grew closer.