'The despair and luck'

[Time- Afternoon

Location- Si-Po village, Qing County]

"Commander! we have a problem-", The Second-at-command of the Black knights yelled out as suddenly a flanking attack broke down the eastern flank of the Black knights, causing a rushing retreat towards the county centre- concentrating the struggling Black knights pinned at Si-Po.

"...I think we should retreat before they surround us..."

But, before the second commander can have made a complete deliberate request to Zhang, an arrow whistled right by his ear, striking down a Jin soldier beside him.

In a sudden, a sizzling whistle of raining arrows poured onto Zhang's position

Zhang, being 'surprised' and 'shocked' at the same time; stood cluelessly as beside him a rain of sharp-edged, fire-laden speary arrows engulfed the Jin positions-

Suddenly, out of nowhere- a 'Thuddening' push threw him down-

"Look out! Commander!!!"

-the Second-at-command shouted out as he pushed off Zhang and fell on the ground.

He was struck by an arrow.

"C-Commander! Order the R-Retrea..t!-", he painfully shouted as another arrow struck him down- stopping the everlasting struggle of survival for once and at all, leaving it's breathless and dead body next to Zhang's shocked and breathing body- which seemed none other than a motionless dead body despite the chaos of despair rising into the heart and soul of Zhang, who wasn't still able to believe how fast that happened.

Zhang's eastern flank withdrew as soon as they saw Jin soldiers behind them and panicked- leaving the battlefield and moving parts to the centre and deep south, and it was then- the Khitan's got to set their 'Hwatchas'* behind the Si-Po, aiming at the rear of the commanding troops and the Centre.

The tragedy struck.

The inevitable happened-

This was the start of a counter-attack.

And seemingly-

The end of the Jin defences at the heart of the county of Qing.

Zhang, still lying down in the rain of the raging arrows, looked at the skies-

The sky, now lit up with the fiery arrows were dampening the dying sun's light- just like his dying companions laid down on the battlefield; which was lit up as well with the fire brought by the arrows.

Friend or Foe, Good or Bad- all was the same for the Death.

The sun was setting down, so was he.

He closed his eyes- and thought about his only family- his sister Fu Yi and his blood brother Dai fu. For the first time in life, he felt hopeless-

But as he felt hopeless, he wasn't embracing the failure anyways- He had taken an oath five years ago, and no matter what happens- he has to complete his task.

He opened his eyes, which now were drenched in tears and hopelessness- but as hopeless it seemed to be, it had a tinge of determination; which prevailed along with his long and twisted eyebrows- Suddenly, something happened.

Something strange was happening before his eyes.

Something, which had caused his eyes to glisten again-

"The Caizhou Army is here!"

"Lord Li is here!"

Joy and cries filled the Si-po village, which was already evacuated till the sun had dared to show up at the eastern horizon.

The hwatcha's were suddenly nowhere to be seen from- it seemed they were coughed up at throwing up arrows- But, it was not the reason for the cries he had heard of:

As Zhang turned his eyes towards the enemy lines- A scene of relief and enigma pounced upon his eyes; He slowly stood up with the enigmatic situation before him-

On the northeastern side of the Si-po, a huge line of Jin flags had shown up on the horizon, destroying the Khitan hwatchas off their positions- This was the Caizhou army; the protector of the Caizhou Jin clan, serving the emperor. And this was no ordinary army-

It's commanding general- Li Ying, was the brother of the late grand general Li ming who both were renowned as the Wargods of the Zhongdu castle, where they fought against a whole hundred thousand of Mongol army with just ten thousand men beside them. Though it was something that happened in the past, it was no hundred thousand before him, nor he had only a tenth of a hundred thousand this time with him-

"Fear" invaded into the counter-attacking troops of the Khitan army, as they saw the whole gruelling Jin imperial army popping out beside them- they stood shocked beside their leaders, who were already in the shock of being outnumbered all of a sudden.

They didn't expected this, definitely not all-

They were only able to show up here because they were confirmed of this mammoth of an army was located to be far away in Chang'an; How can they be so fast?

All of this while they were at the advantage of having the greater numbers, but being outnumbered by an army far more powerful than them tore the Khitan army into pieces; plus in absence of a commander over the leads of the fragmental Khitan army- Their morale crashed and in no time, and swaths of the khitan army fled away as their leaders lost cohesion and got pushed back with the crushing attacks of the better equipped Jin army.

Suddenly, an approaching hand startled Zhang's senses back- and having made his hand move towards his sword; he tried to draw it out; but, his hands found nothing to clasp on-

"Zhang! What are you looking for?"

"My sword?"

As Zhang reacted to the sudden voice appearing from his back, though mostly due to being out of his mind due to the sudden disappearance of his sword- he felt he has heard this voice earlier somehow. He immediately turned over, and his eyes got fixed over a womanly-figure clad in armour and enigma- the perfect combination for a person enigmatic like her.

She was Lady Zhao.

Yeah, that same person- whom our "Yun" met over at Caizhou, a brilliant woman with a certain inscrutableness spread over her whole character.

But,

Why is she here?