Yuan Lin still couldn't persuade Zhang Xuan and Zhang Cheng. They were determined to act, even intending to brazenly disregard the Holy Emperor's birthday.
He had a faint sense of worry about this. To say nothing would go wrong was just deceiving oneself.
And so, on the seventh day after the army set out, bad news arrived.
This time, it was again due to a reckless advance. First, Zhang Cheng was surrounded, then killed by a volley of arrows.
Zhang Xuan, as his father, was thrown into utter disarray by this. Disregarding the attempts of his subordinates to stop him, he sought to avenge his son, and the outcome was predictable.
He was directly captured alive by the enemy forces. From there, things began to spiral out of control. With the King of Northern Jiang in their hands, the opposing side boldly pushed into the Northern Jiang Army's territory, devouring large areas and allowing a previously unknown minor faction to rapidly expand.
