The ninety-seventh chapter.

"Huang Yi, since things have come to this, I will speak plainly: there will be a fierce battle today. If we win, you, I, and Jiangting will survive. If we lose... heh, you will die before me anyway!" Li Miao said coldly to Huang Yi, instructing him on what he needed to do.

Li Miao had expected his opportunistic brother-in-law, Huang Yi, to cry and protest, allowing Li Miao to use threats and commands to force him forward. To his surprise, Huang Yi didn't even hesitate: "Fine."

"Huang Yi, let me tell you, if you don't go, I will—" Li Miao, having subconsciously prepared a threat, paused in confusion. "What?"

"Brother Miao, I said I will go," Huang Yi replied calmly.

"Are you sure? Did you hear me correctly?" Li Miao asked, unconvinced.

Huang Yi rolled his eyes. "My ears are working just fine."

"Are you sure you didn't misspeak?" Li Miao asked again.

"I don't have a stutter."

"Are you really Huang Yi?" Li Miao even suspected this was an imposter.

"Brother Miao, am I really such a coward in your eyes?" Huang Yi asked, his voice tinged with bitterness. If he had a choice, he wouldn't go personally. He wasn't a fool; if Li Miao truly had a strategy to deal with the invading army of Mei Qian outside the city, he would have already gone out to crush them.

A gentleman takes revenge even after ten years, but a villain finds even a half-hour delay unbearable. Huang Yi had been preparing for this. If he were alone, he would have fled, but he had *her* to protect. For her sake, he had to give it a shot.

"No, brother-in-law, you misunderstood. How could you seem like a coward to us?" Li Miao replied. Just as Huang Yi began to feel comforted, Li Miao added, "You don't just *seem* like a coward; you *are* a coward!"

Huang Yi’s face went completely black, a thousand curses running through his mind.

Outside Jiangting, Mei Qian’s army had arrived. The fog of war hung over the city, and a bloody clash was inevitable. The people within Jiangting were gripped with fear. Outside the walls, Mei Qian’s men had already constructed scaling ladders, ready to launch an assault at any moment.

Huang Yi stood in the center of the Child Soldiers' formation. Looking at those young, innocent faces and then at the terrified townspeople, he felt his cowardly heart suddenly calm, replaced by a sense of steely resolve.

"Open the gates!" Huang Yi commanded his troops.

"Yes, open the gates!" The gates of Jiangting creaked open, and the Child Soldiers marched out in orderly lines.

Outside, Mei Qian watched the city. This was his third time here. This small county town had brought him immense humiliation, mocking him time and again. If not for Chen Nian, he would have retreated to Mount Song long ago. Now that he was back, he would make Jiangting pay. The price would be total annihilation—not a single soul left alive. He wanted the Imperial Seal, the grain, the gold, and specifically the heads of Li Miao and Huang Yi. The rest were merely collateral damage.

"Pass the order: all forces, attack!" Mei Qian’s men had finished the ladders. Since Jiangting was smaller than an average city, the ladders needed to be only half the usual length, and with the abundance of timber in Huainan, they were easily constructed.

Just as the army was about to charge, the old, dilapidated gates of Jiangting slowly swung open, and rows of troops emerged.

"Chen Nian, didn't you say there were no combat troops in this city?" Mei Qian turned and glared at Chen Nian.

"I—I don't know, Great King Mei Qian!" Chen Nian pleaded innocence. He had truly seen no soldiers there, save for the Imperial Guards, and there had been no sign of them on the walls.

"You lie!" Just as Mei Qian was about to strike him with a whip, one of his subordinates shouted, "Chief! Chief! Look, look!"

Mei Qian’s attention shifted, sparing Chen Nian the lash. Mei Qian looked at the troops emerging. They were entirely different from his own, wearing yellowish armor made of bamboo segments.

"What is that?" the bandits of Mount Song wondered.

"Chen Dao?" Chen Nian recognized the leader. He even saw a few other familiar faces. "Xiao Nan, Gou Dan?" These were pet names; they hadn't reached adulthood yet, and their families were too poor to afford formal ones.

"You know them?" Mei Qian asked.

"Of course! Xiao Nan is my third uncle’s boy, and Gou Dan is Chen Gouzi’s son!" Chen Nian explained.

As they drew closer, Mei Qian’s men burst into laughter. The innocence on their faces was still evident, and their bodies were not yet fully grown—the tallest was barely five-foot-three. These weren't soldiers; they were a children's army.

"Great King Mei Qian, believe me now! This is just a bunch of child soldiers. It shows how weak Jiangting really is," Chen Nian said. If a city had to send children to the battlefield, it was truly at its end.

"Don't worry, if Jiangting falls, you will be rewarded," Mei Qian assured him. Even a dog needs a bone, otherwise, it won't bite.

"Where is Mei Qian, the bandit of Mount Song? Come out and surrender! Our General of the East says that if you are wise, you will leave Jiangting. If not, blades have no eyes, and you will find no place to be buried!" someone with a booming voice shouted from among the child soldiers.

"Hahaha!" Mei Qian laughed and rode forward. "General of the East? Bestowed by which court? If it were the Xu Court, I might fear you, but a rebel general? What are you? You want to drive me out? Let's see if you have the ability—relying on these children? Hahaha!"

"Mei Qian," Huang Yi called out from the center of the formation, mocking him. "You weren't like this when you came begging to buy weapons and armor from me, groveling like a dog. What's wrong? Have your wings grown so stiff that you dare bark at your master?"

Huang Yi was standing there as a figurehead to boost morale. Everyone knew he was a coward; if even a coward had taken the field, it meant victory was assured. The child soldiers were filled with high spirits.

"Hmph! Huang Yi, the river flows east for thirty years, then west for thirty. Your mouth is sharp, but I will cut it off and see what it's made of!" Mei Qian threatened, eyes narrowed.

"Heh," Huang Yi chuckled inwardly. His mission was accomplished; the enemy was now arrogant and angry.

"General Chen Dao, the rest is up to you!"

"Rest assured, General Huang Yi!" Chen Dao replied.

"I wish to follow the ancient ways!" Chen Dao roared, and the eight hundred child soldiers followed:

"In the past, there were heroic men, who held their promises dear.
Riding across the world, brandishing only their blades.
Today I seek such men, but find only shadows of the moon.
A man must act like a man, not wrap a woman's heart in a man's body.
Leaving the mother at the west gate, the mother grieves, but the son does not.
Devoted to the cause of history, a man never returns.
Do you not see the lion and tiger hunting for glory, while no one pities the deer?
The world has always been the strong eating the weak; even if you are right, it is in vain.
Ancient benevolence harms people; morality is never true!
A man's duty is on the field of slaughter, with the courage of a bear and eyes of a wolf.
A man never spares his body, laughing even as he dies by the enemy's hand.
To kill one is a crime; to slaughter ten thousand is to be a hero.
Heroes among heroes, the paths are different: seeing through the empty name of benevolence, I exert my heroic spirit today.
Looking at the world through the ages, where has a hero not killed?"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The shouts of the eight hundred children shook the heavens. The bandits laughed heartily, especially Mei Qian, who slapped his thigh. "Look at that! A bunch of kids still wearing split-pants think they can kill us! Hahaha! Is there no man left in Jiangting that they need children to protect them?"

Chen Nian laughed along, utterly devoid of loyalty or familial feeling. To him, selling out his own kin was an art form.

"Even if they had eight hundred Imperial Guards, they would be nothing before the Chief," one bandit sneered.

Dongfang Ming glanced at Chen Nian with disgust. "Brother Chen, if I remember correctly, those children are your own kin. Perhaps some are your own nephews? Should we ask the Chief to hold back so we can leave some seeds for your Chen family?"

"No need, no need! These stubborn people dare to oppose the Chief, they deserve to die!" Chen Nian quickly pledged his loyalty to Mei Qian.

"Deserve to die? Brother Chen has such spirit. I only wonder if we, too, will be 'sacrificed for righteousness' by you one day," Dongfang Ming remarked.

Mei Qian noticed the tension but waved it off. "Enough! Chen Nian may be trash, but he is *my* dog. If a dog performs, it gets a bone."

"Chief," Dongfang Ming said, "since they have opened the gates, we shouldn't waste their kindness. A bunch of wet-behind-the-ears brats—we can take them in half an hour. It's getting late, and we can spend the night in the city."

"My thoughts exactly," Mei Qian nodded. He was going to turn Jiangting into a river of blood to satisfy his hatred.