(From Qin Shi Huang’s perspective)
The tense ceasefire that we were given allowed us to finally get a good night’s rest.
That was perhaps the only good thing that happened.
The same day, we received news that at some point during the fight, our enemies had sabotaged most of our chemical weapons and damaged the complex mechanical parts that allowed us to operate the ballistae, which again left us with no other recourse than to accept the duel.
I was under no illusion about my chances of beating the immortal king of the Huns, but I wasn’t going to give up easily. And even if I lost my life tomorrow, I wanted to at least gain some form of future for my people.
They had fought hard and well; they had done their best and held the line for as long as humanly possible, but our enemies were on a completely different level.
My council convened for an extraordinary session, during which I revealed what Möngke Tngri Khan had proposed.