A whole day passed, and even by nightfall the battlefield still hadn't been fully cleared.

The Ning'an Army and the modao army took no part in the cleanup.

Toward evening, Ning Chen sent three thousand Ning'an Army soldiers to comb the city lord's residence from end to end.

But they found no trace of the man in white.

Maybe he'd already left. Or maybe he was hiding somewhere, waiting for his chance.

Once a master above the ranks altogether went into hiding, he wasn't easy to find.

Ning Chen was just too exhausted.

He had a room cleared out, posted the Ning'an Army outside, and went to sleep hugging his sword.

But he'd slept less than four hours when he was woken.

Prince Wu and the others had come to see him!

"Come in!"

The door opened, and in they came, worn out.

They hadn't slept for a day and a night, and they'd fought the whole night through. Men and horses alike were spent.

Before they could bow, Ning Chen pointed at the stools. "Skip the formalities. Sit and talk!"

Everyone sat down.

Prince Wu rubbed his face to rouse himself. "We have the count of dead and captured.

In this battle we killed more than twenty-three thousand of the enemy and took over ninety thousand prisoners... Our own losses, dead and wounded, come to over four thousand."

Ning Chen nodded slightly. Losses of four thousand-odd were very light.

He looked at Yuan Long. "And the Ning'an Army?"

Yuan Long said, "The Ning'an Army lost no one, but more than three hundred men were wounded."

Feng Qizheng said, "A few dozen in the modao army got hurt too."

Ning Chen's voice was grave. "Have the army surgeons do everything they can for them. If there aren't enough of them, call up doctors from the city."

The men nodded and said together, "Yes!"

Ning Chen went on, "Same as before: the ninety thousand prisoners will be put to work as laborers first. The east gate has to be repaired as soon as possible... Watch them for a while. Anyone who…