Xia Huai'an closed his eyes in deep thought, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the secret letter on the desk. Outside the window, the autumn wind howled, whipping up a fine drizzle that lashed against the window lattice, making a crisp pattering sound.
In his mind's eye, the scene at Yanmen Pass appeared—
The defending soldiers on the city walls were hollow-eyed with hunger, their arrows exhausted. They could only hurl stones down at the scaling enemy; the boulders rolled down from the battlements, striking the iron helmets of the Beidi soldiers with a dull thud, yet unable to stem the tide of enemies surging forward like a flood.
Chapter 224