“When things suddenly calms down during a war, that is when you should prepare for a great storm to come.” - Liang Shi-Zu, famed tactician from the Huan Confederacy.

“All troops are accounted for, Long Jiangjun. I had taken the liberty to reorganize the soldiers who managed to escape from the eastern battlefield as needed while we issued captured equipment for them to use. I hope the arrangement is to your satisfaction,” reported Zhong Jiangjun Zahira Al-Nairi as she saluted with her fist against her palm set before her chest.

The woman was young, especially for her high rank, still a year shy from thirty, but was one of the few in the first expedition army who actually rose through the ranks during the succession war despite her commoner beginnings. She was courageous and had a rather keen tactical mind, but was limited by her preference to follow orders from above rather than make her own decisions.

Which was why she never made it to Da Jiangjun despite having the potential.

She was also on the neutral side when it came to politics, her commoner beginnings, partly ensuring that the more stuck-up nobles stayed away from her. As such, she was also not as blindly loyal to the Emperor as most – though she would fulfill his commands to the letter as was her nature and habit – which was another reason Hua-Jeong had her stay behind in Oleynuos instead of heading to the east.

He knew that someone like Zahira would chafe under the command of an arrogant noble like Zabibah Taouan, which might lead to undesirable conflicts. Instead, the more demure Kang Lu-Shih was more suitable in that role, while the rest of the high command were relatives to the Da Jiangjun so they were naturally on her side.

Fat lot of good it did them, though. Now that Leung Hua-Jeong had more detailed reports, he received news that all but one of the Taouan family and relatives amongst the high command had been assassinated on the same night. Kang Lu-Shih and the Da Jiangjun’s youngest daughter were the only lucky survivors, mostly because there were only five assassins and they apparently went to one tent each.

Neither of the two had been seen with the surviving elements of the defeated army, with the assumption that they had been captured or killed in battle.

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It was fortunate, then, that Hua-Jeong had brought a good half of the southern detachment’s command staff with him to take over the situation up north. The assembled forces under his command numbered close to two hundred thousand soldiers, with over a hundred thousand from the defeated army, fifty thousand more from a group that had been sent further north to stall or deal with a state there, and the forty thousand reinforcements he brought with him.

There were another ten thousand garrisoned in Oleynuos, which he chose to take along and replace with some of the defeated troops from the battle in the east.

Hua-Jeong would also take Zahira Al-Nairi with him. The woman was a competent general he knew wouldn’t have much trouble working together with him. In fact, he would take the entire command staff with him and leave the city to the Eighth Prince’s hand instead. If the Eighth Prince chose to take his hint and conveniently “disappeared” by the time he returned, it would be a result that kept everyone relatively happy.

That way the young prince could live his life in peace and comfort – Hua-Jeong knew that there was enough easily transportable wealth that wouldn’t be missed in the city – and the Emperor would be mostly rid of his worries. It was far from a perfect solution, but sometimes one could not have a perfect outcome, only the best they could manage.

Hua-Jeong surveyed the assembled troops. They were outside the city’s eastern gate, as there were too many soldiers to fit into the city itself. Overall his forces were lighter on cavalry than he liked – only around twenty thousand of them, since the cavalry took heavy losses on the debacle – and a good portion of the troops looked rather mismatched to the rest due to how they wore captured local equipment, but it would have to do.

He had learned from testimonies of the escaping soldiers that the loss was mostly due to the arrival of enemy reinforcements that caught them by surprise. Hua-Jeong faced those same reinforcements, the short by powerful locals he had never seen before and their bizarre idea of cavalry, just over a week ago, earlier than those in the north. He had even sent a missive to warn the north of these new enemies but apparently the messenger failed to reach them in time.

In the south, the situation was different, as Hua-Jeong had the local defenders on the backfoot when those reinforcements arrived. That forced the new enemies to charge in order to relieve their allies, and he had more time and opportunity to understand their way of fighting and adjust his tactics accordingly. From the reports, the northern expedition was hit by a devastating pincer attack by the reinforcements they faced, which led to their collapse and rout.

As it was, Hua-Jeong could not even blame the commander – which should be Kang Lu-Shih as he was the surviving senior general – for the loss. Had his forces been caught by surprise the same way, he doubted he could have done any better. As it was, his foes had exploited an opportunity to the utmost and made a gamble that paid off.

Now that Hua-Jeong himself was there, however, he would ensure that no other such mishaps happened in the future. He would make use of the Imperial army’s strengths and grind down these locals to their eventual defeat, as his Emperor bade him do. War was what the old general trained for all his life, and he was pleased that he finally got another chance to prove himself even in his later years.

After all, while peace was well and good, it remained a sad thing for those who had devoted their entire lives to the art of war without ever getting a chance to prove their mettle.