Weng Jin's ability fell well short of commanding a hundred and twenty thousand men, but the wariness a commander ought to have he did have.

He came out of his tent, looked at the heavy dark of the night, and asked the trusted man at his side, "Has any word come back from the scouts?"

The trusted man said, "Not yet."

Weng Jin's two thick black brows knit before he knew they had, and he said heavily, "Something is not right."

Earlier, while they were making camp, he had not thought much about it... now it felt wrong to him.

Even with nothing to report, a scout ought to come back and say so.

Weng Jin's trusted man put on a fawning look. "The general is worried the Great Xuan's men are coming after us? There is no chance of it... Xiguan City is very nearly rubble. Xiguan City came into their hands only this moment. They have a field to clear and a populace to settle, and no time at all to come after us."

Hearing that settled Weng Jin's mind considerably.

Even so he gave the order. "Send more scouts out to look... Ning Chen is no ordinary man and we cannot leave it to chance."

Weng Jin's trusted man said, fawning, "At your command. The general should get to bed early. This officer will send scouts out to look this minute."

That was what his mouth said. In his own mind he made nothing of it.

In Xiguan City everything was waiting to be built up again, and the people there had no way to live. Where would Ning Chen find the appetite to come chasing after them?

Weng Jin nodded and was turning back into the tent when hooves rang out and a shudder that nobody could mistake came up out of the ground.

"What is this?"

His words had barely fallen when musket fire came thick and fast from off in the distance.

The faces of Weng Jin and his trusted man changed completely.

"This is bad, the Great Xuan's men are cutting their way…