```
"By the way, has Deng Feng died yet?"
"We've already sent a Black Hawk to remind him to take his own life. Now that the Xuanjia Army is marching toward Hulao Pass, he must be dead by now. Moreover, someone later reported that General Deng had held out until the last moment in Zhaotong Prefecture City. He couldn't bear to implicate his subordinates and the people, which is why he failed to commit suicide."
"Hmm."
Li Gong nodded in satisfaction, "He has done Daqing proud. Once the war is over, ask the Empress to posthumously confer upon him a title."
...
Hulao Pass.
"Report!"
Zhao Kang came forward to report, "Fifty miles outside the city, Nan Xu's vanguard has been spotted, led by the fourteenth prince, Fan Jiuxiao. A conservative estimate puts them at over twenty thousand men, camped around Silver Pine Cliff. Judging by their formation, the main force of a hundred thousand is probably close at hand."
"The Fourteenth Prince, Fan Jiuxiao."
