Piao Jiangyan put everything in order. Then, taking only a dozen or so men of his own guard, he made straight for the north gate.

Yuan Long was leading the Ning'an Army straight for the city lord's residence. To take the bandits, take their king first.

As luck would have it, the two sides ran right into each other.

Yuan Long and Piao Jiangyan had met before, so each recognized the other.

Piao Jiangyan blanched.

Until then he'd still been clinging to the fantasy that Nanyue had dressed its troops up as the Great Xuan's army to attack Gaotian City.

The moment he saw Yuan Long, that hope died.

Both sides slowed.

Piao Jiangyan barked at him. "General Yuan, our Gaoli Kingdom and the Great Xuan have always been on good terms. When you went to war with Nanyue, we let you through without a second word... Why attack our Gaotian City all of a sudden?"

Yuan Long scowled. "You don't know why we're attacking Gaotian City? Quit playing dumb."

Piao Jiangyan looked baffled. "General Yuan, I truly don't know what's happened... Would you tell me plainly?"

Yuan Long's voice was cold. "Your Gaoli Kingdom's greed knows no bounds. You coveted the spoils our Great Xuan soldiers paid for with their lives... You set a trap, killed our men and took the loot. Sixty thousand of our Great Xuan soldiers died horribly on Howling Moon Mountain, and not one came out alive.

My prince says this debt will be paid in blood."

The color drained from Piao Jiangyan's face. "That's impossible!" he cried. "Our Gaoli Kingdom would never do such a thing. There has to be some misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding?" Yuan Long was furious. "Sixty thousand Great Xuan soldiers died horribly, and you tell me it's a misunderstanding?

My prince has already given the order: Gaotian City's fifty thousand troops. Not one left alive."

Piao Jiangyan's head was buzzing. Is somebody at court really that eager to die? Robbing the Great Xuan's spoils and killing sixty thousand of its soldiers?

No. Impossible, absolutely impossible... Who would do something that brainless?