Until the blood overflowed, Yue Yuxi felt the pain from her palm, and after angrily cursing Chen Mo, she loudly ordered, "Open the city gate, all archers prepare; once the Song army approaches the city gate, fire immediately."

"Yes."

"Agree with General Wu Muling, let them deploy troops to cover Barbaro’s entry into the city."

"Yes."

"Wu Liang, follow me to meet that Chen Mo once more."

"Yes." Wu Liang, the unscrupulous Daoist, stepped forward, and together with Yue Yuxi, they flew down the city wall, heading towards the Song army camp.

...

Chen Mo was leading the Great Song cavalry about three li away from the walls of Sa City.

From the forests on the right side of Sa City, a massive wave of over a hundred thousand Loulan troops emerged, clad in heavy armor, stationed half a li from the city walls, forming their battle lines and leaving a three-meter wide path in the middle for their own troops to pass through.

Aside from Yue Yuxi’s personal guard, this was the last main force, but they were not skilled at charging into battle; instead, they excelled at defense and garrison duty. This was why Yue Yuxi kept them in reserve as a precaution against unforeseen circumstances.

Yue Yuxi never expected to need them, yet unexpectedly...

Chen Mo noticed this situation, immediately reined in his horse, pointed his sword skyward, and shouted, "Fire Qilin Army, hear my command, halt."

The voice drowned out the clamor of the army, and all the Song troops reined in their horses.

"Retreat!"

Chen Mo turned his horse around; darkness had already fallen, and the rear army had not caught up, the enemy still had the power to fight, so capturing Sa City tonight was unlikely.

He wasn’t anxious, though; today’s battle had already severely damaged the enemy forces. Although the enemy still had some fight left, their fundamental strength was crippled, curtailing the Desolate Kingdom’s aggressiveness, and for now, they wouldn’t have enough troops to push south.

They could either retreat to the Desolate Kingdom to rest and regroup and fight again next year.

Or they could hold firm, sending someone back to the Desolate Kingdom to bring reinforcements.

Chen Mo hoped for the latter, which would give Zhang Lie and his forces time to circle around behind.

Just then, he heard a sound and quickly raised his sword to block above.

Above his head, about a zhang away, appeared two figures, one wielding a knife, the other a bloodstained spear, striking down towards his head like cleaving Mount Hua with force.

Clang!

Bang!

In the sound of metal clashing, all four legs of Chen Mo’s warhorse were suddenly broken, causing it to topple to the ground.

As he hit the ground, Chen Mo rolled continuously, and everywhere he rolled bore the marks of knife and spear attacks.

With a slap to the ground, Chen Mo sprang into the air, and in the place where he had just lain, the spear point had just struck.

With a sweep of his sword, Sword Qi swept out, and with a clang, the spear was cut in two.

Just as Chen Mo landed and steadied himself, Yue Yuxi, having discarded the broken spear, struck directly towards his face with her palm.

Just dodging it, Chen Mo sensed a chill from behind; he blocked with a reverse swing of his sword, the edge of the unscrupulous Daoist’s blade scraping past his sword, sparking, as both closed in on Chen Mo.

The next second, the world before Yue Yuxi and the unscrupulous Daoist turned monochrome, black and white.

"Has your wound already healed?" Yue Yuxi’s face changed in horror; their initial attack failed to harm Chen Mo, and now that he had recovered enough to counterattack, the situation was becoming tricky.

"Clang!" Chen Mo turned to block the unscrupulous Daoist’s horizontal slash; in the loud clash, sparks flew from between the knife and sword, followed by a palm strike to the left, clashing with Yue Yuxi.

"I didn’t expect Her Majesty the Queen to use such small tricks." Seeing Yue Yuxi drawing his attention so that the unscrupulous Daoist could sneak attack, and when he was dealing with the unscrupulous Daoist, she attacked him, a mocking smile appeared at the corner of Chen Mo’s mouth. He shouted sharply, True Qi surged, blasting both away.

"Such domineering power." The unscrupulous Daoist stepped back several paces, steadied himself, and only then felt the brutal force transmitted through the broadsword to his wrist, leaving his entire arm numb, the residual strength coursing through his body, causing his chest to heave dramatically.

Yue Yuxi’s face was also darkened, the arm that clashed with Chen Mo feeling as though it was about to break.

Suddenly, she heard the wind approaching, just as she was about to block, she saw Chen Mo quickly moving away.

A mass of footsteps approached from behind, her Commander of the Personal Guard came to her side, knelt on one knee, and said, "Your subordinate was late to your rescue, I wish for Your Majesty’s forgiveness."

The unscrupulous Daoist returned to Yue Yuxi’s side, holding his numbed arm and shaking his head at Yue Yuxi, his expression quite grim.

Clearly, the two of them alone had no hope of capturing Chen Mo.

If Yue Yuxi’s personal guard hadn’t arrived in time, the outcome for the two of them would have been very dire.

...

Inside the central army tent of Sa City.

Counting the numbers was complete, and it was already deep into the night, now not only was the weather bitterly cold, but the hearts of the generals were also chilled.

The Dragon Oath Guard had been completely annihilated.

Ling Zhi had fallen in battle, and Barbaro also lay dead.

Cavalry losses were over a hundred thousand.

Infantry casualties were more than two hundred thousand.

In today’s battle, the Loulan army suffered over three hundred thousand casualties.

Counting the previous casualties, Loulan’s near-million army was now reduced to less than four hundred thousand.

Among them, tens of thousands were still wounded.

Since Yue Yuxi took power, this was the bloodiest defeat Loulan had suffered, and her third defeat.

The previous two were also losses to Chen Mo.

Inside the command tent, silence reigned.

Besides being shocked by today’s battle results, Yue Yuxi’s face also showed signs of humiliation.

Today’s battle was under her command, so naturally, she was responsible for the outcome.

After some contemplation, she concluded that the reason for today’s defeat was:

Chen Mo was ruthless.

He had used hundreds of thousands of Song troops as bait to trap them.

Even to the extent of bombarding his own men.

Who could have thought of that?

To wager so many lives on such a gamble, how much courage and confidence did that require?

Taking a deep breath, Yue Yuxi began to discuss future plans with her generals.

As the Queen of Loulan and the commanding general, Yue Yuxi could acknowledge and correct her mistakes, but she could not admit them; this concerned military morale and her authority.

Although Loulan appeared far more stable than the Great Song with much less chaos, there were still undercurrents within.

Since taking the throne, in order to quickly consolidate her power, she had purged dissent, suppressed the aristocracy, enforced strict laws, and even borrowed

the military merit system from the Qian Kingdom to win over the army.

Although this allowed her to rapidly consolidate her power, it also brewed many conflicts.

To resolve these, she diverted the tensions by waging war against the Great Song.

As long as she conquered the Great Song, not only would her power further stabilize and increase, these conflicts would be effectively resolved, leaving no dissenting voices throughout the court.

But if she failed, internal conflicts would escalate, moreover, mobilizing so many troops with no results, the already discontented aristocrats would seize this opportunity to act.