Empress Natsume ✓

LXIV

From the hills, Izumi looked down at the marching soldiers that are about to step in the land of Xue, breaching the Northern border. What has happened, happened. He predict this at the beginning. If only this news was a little bit more delayed, he could have saved that troublesome woman. He had already dispatched a handful of assassins that are good at sneaking and could blend in the night. It will take four days for them to reach the Capital of Xue.

Not that he's ordering them to kill her, come to think of it, one of these days he really ought to kill her to end up more disasters that are about to come, thanks to her.

What he's worried about now is that their army will lessen its force once they've invaded Xue, marching straight to the Capital. During those times, he just have to hope that the assassins will escape Natsume from the palace, looking well and alive to present her back to the King so that they could retreat their army. The problem now is the presumption to retreat might not be possible if they're already halfway to the Capital. They'll be surrounded by then, without a guarantee that they will escaped from there unharmed.

Given by the days of travel, the handful of assassins will take a whole week to get there at their full speed, it has already been three days so there's only four days left, while these three hundred thousands of soldiers that are about to invade Xue will take two weeks at most. It will take another three or four days if they're going to meet the army on the way. By that time, they'll already be in the middle of an enemy state, left with an only choice to move forward.

"Hey you! Bastard, are you going to stay here? The war will start in a few hours"

Eiji shouted from below, there was a tinged of excitement in his voice. After all, this is one of the biggest war in Sang that will be recorded in history.

Izumi threw a glance at the King's glorious back once more before he marched down the hill. This is not like him, totally not like him. It is such a shame for a mighty monarch to be recorded in history as one who's muddled by a beauty. He let out a sigh, what can he do about that? He just have to entrust this King who is said to be the God of war. He doesn't know if he could still keep that title until the very end.

"What were you doing up there?"

Eiji asked as Izumi mounted his steed.

"I haven't fought here before so I'm memorizing the terrain"

The time when they were attacked in the North couldn't really be counted since they're still in the land of Ryuu and haven't breached the Northern border, they retreated to the mountains instead. Now that they're the one who's going to attack, they are put in a disadvantage. Even the King haven't fought here before. Only Eiji knows the terrains here very well.

"Are the three of us the only ones in command?"

Izumi asked, seeing that there's only the two of them out of the five generals.

"Yes, apparently. Feng, Quon, and Jing will be fighting at the other side of Ryuu (Hoc). I bet it will come like a thunderstruck to them if they have known that we have already started to attack"

The news of their attack will reach them later with this long distance, it will take time for a messenger bird to get there.

"His Majesty told me a while ago that you'll be in charge of the right wing, I'll be in charge of the left wing. He had divided our army into three, we have 70,000 of soldiers each at our command. The main army will be lead by the king himself"

See? They haven't even came up with a proper plan. Izumi didn't know of that until recently. Are they going to burn their brains to plan on the spot while thinking of the best strategies to attack? This is the most reckless attack they have ever done.

"Our little commanders are already waiting for us. We better hurry"

"We should prepare our fastest riders to relay messages, after all we're impromptu attacking here"

Izumi reminded him as they strode away from each other.

"Got it!"

It didn't take long for them to face the army of Xue, lead by Ping Shui. He isn't the only commander of course, he is the only known commander of their state that is. Jing and Quon have crossed swords with him and they haven't once defeated him. He's the undefeated general of Xue. No wonder Yuan Kang appointed him as his commander in chief.

He gripped the reign and called for his fastest rider.

"Tell Eiji that he should hold back a little, don't let him charge right through the enemy or he'll be trapped. Relay him this plan, Since he's at the left wing, he'll charge first to the enemy's left side. Wait for an hour and retreat with his personal soldiers only after I send him half of my men to cover him up without being noticed"

The soldier he commanded saluted and rides his horse like a wind, going to the left wing of their army.

"You tell him that he shouldn't be worrying about me charging right through the enemy"

Eiji pointed at their main army.

"Our muddle headed king will attack straight away whether he likes it or not"

True enough, the loud commanding voice of their king sounded through the vast mountains of the north. Making the soldiers heart quivered in anticipation as they charged right through the enemy, the ground trembled.

Thus, the strategic plan of Izumi that he just came up with was thrown right away as soon as he started to relay his plan.

Looking at this situation now, they couldn't have stayed on their grounds and just watched. They have to back up the King.

The left and the right wing followed after the main army, racing to their deaths. Their formation forming a spear, and the very person who's leading them is the king himself who's burning in fury.