“Bad news is never what one wants to hear. Still, there is no reason to kill the messenger.” - Saying attributed to Xaliburnus the Conqueror, First Emperor of the Elmaiya Empire.

“Enter,” said Leung Hua-Jeong as he noticed the wind stir outside the flap of his tent in a way that suggested a person’s presence.

“Reporting, Long Jiangjun! We have received an urgent missive from our compatriots in the north!” stated a soldier who knelt down after he walked three steps away from the general’s work table, behind which he was seated. The soldier in question then brought out a sealed roll of parchment from within his armor and proffered it with both hands while still kneeling. “The missive had just arrived moments ago.”

Leung Hua-Jeong’s rank of Long Jiangjun, or the “Dragon General”, was a title reserved in the Al-Shan Empire for the four greatest generals, often ones celebrated for some manner of prowess where they excelled over their rivals. In his case, he was granted the title for his unrivaled prowess in the field of archery, something he had shown off in the current campaign by slaying one of the enemy high commanders with a single arrow a couple weeks ago.

Too bad that it didn’t lead to the enemy forces’ collapse like he hoped for, but it was good enough. The Imperial army managed to gain some advantages from the chaos that unfolded before another of the enemy commanders – this one far more guarded from arrows – regained control. It was a good enough result for the expenditure of one arrow and some mana.

He picked one the missive with one wrinkled hand – he was not getting any younger at sixty-one – and raised an eyebrow at the white strips of silk the roll of parchment was tied with. The Empire had a system for missives where they would be tied with silk of different colors based on their urgency, and white meant the highest level of emergency.

With a frown on his wizened face, he untied the bindings and broke the seal on the scroll. The news contained within was short and to the point, but the impact it brought was not to be underestimated even so.

The northern detachment of the army had been defeated. Most of the generals in charge of the detachment were either dead or their whereabouts were unknown. Losses exceed fifty thousand soldiers, on a conservative estimate, and many of the escaping soldiers did so without their equipment. The parchment was signed with the seal of Zhong Jiangjun Zahira Al-Nairi, who he knew was stationed in the large city they captured to garrison it.

Of course, not all of the news he received was bad. Out of the northern detachment, most of the soldiers managed to escape to regroup at the city they garrisoned, where they would set up a defense while waiting for further orders. The equipment situation was also taken care of by making use of the weapons they captured after defeating the original owners of the city, even if it resulted in a bit of mish-mash.

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All considered, it could have definitely been worse.

That Zahira Al-Nairi chose such a passive approach in the face of the defeat was understandable. The woman was of passable skill and competence, yet at the same time also an inflexible one when it came to orders. Since she had likely been ordered by Da Jiangjun Taouan to hold the city and keep it safe, she wouldn’t get funny ideas like trying to gain merit by defeating the enemies herself.

Instead, she would most likely wait for further orders from above. Since there were only three people of the Da Jiangjun rank or higher in the expedition and the remaining two were both in the south, she naturally chose to hunker down and wait.

Leung Hua-Jeong was the highest commander of the first wave of the Imperial army’s expedition, and he had gone to the south together with one of the Da Jiangjuns, while leaving the northern detachment in Zabibah Taouan’s hand. Losses were not unexpected, since after all war was unpredictable, but the loss of most of the northern detachment’s command staff was a bigger problem.

“Call for Da Jiangjun Wong,” he said to the still-kneeling soldier. “And tell him it is urgent,” he added while tossing the kneeling man a small flag that signified a token of his authority.

“Yes, Sir! It shall be done!” replied the soldier as he stood up, saluted, and left with haste.

Before half an hour had passed, Da Jiangjun Wong Sui-Han had arrived as Hua-Jeong requested. The other general was his junior by around two decades, and generally deferred to him when it came to decision making. He was a typical sort who rode on the coattails of his superiors and his connections to climb up the ranks, but was at least competent, which already made him better than most.

“You called, Sir?” asked the younger general.

“Yes. Read this,” said Hua-Jeong as he tossed the missive over to his junior general. The man caught the missive in mid-air and unfurled the parchment before he frowned as he read the message contained within. His frown grew deeper as he read further.

“This… does not sound good, Sir,” he suggested rather timidly. “How do you plan to deal with the situation?”

“I want you to remain here with Samhain, Fu, and the Zhang siblings,” said the old general as he named a Zhong Jiangjun and three Xiao Jiangjuns. “You will be in command. Handle the situation as you see fit, at worst keep things under the same condition as how it is right now, understood?”

“As you command, sir!” replied the younger general with a salute.

“I will take the rest and forty thousand troops with me to the north and directly command the forces we have remaining over there,” continued the old general as he turned his head and looked northwards. “Taouan might be arrogant and a bit reckless but she also has some competence as befit her station.I am curious how things devolve so far that most of the command staff was lost despite most of the troops escaping.”

“Send me a missive if you find yourself in an emergency here. Otherwise, I will see you further east, comrade,” added the old man referring to an eventual victory by the Imperial army, something neither of them doubted in the least. “May fortune guide you in battle.”