The following day at dawn as the birds chirped their beautiful melodies,the soldiers of both states gathered at the foot of An hills, where there was a vast flatland,their usual battle field. Both parties stood away from each other with their respective generals on the frontline to lead the war. The Huang State soldiers were all dressed in black hooded cloaks lowering their head to the same level. They seemed to be in sync like machines being controlled.
"General Yang,shall we start?"Cheng Lei asked and laughed mockingly. He was holding a small bell in his hand.
'The Huang State actually dares to send their only prince to war. They must have been sure they will win the war ,'Yang Zhi thought silently. The puppets were designed to move swiftly and were much faster and more fierce than normal human beings . There were only three hundred puppet soldiers fighting against three thousand normal soldiers from the Xiang state.
Yang Zhi knew one puppet soldier was capable of effortlessly taking down ten normal soldiers at a time. Another thing was that the puppet soldiers could never suffer from fatigue. The war seemed like a dead end. Although the soldiers had pledged to fight for their country,she wasn't ready to let them die a worthless death. Even if all the soldiers fought till death the result would still be the same.
"Despicable! Using dirty tricks to win the war!"Yang Zhi cursed with disgust.
After contemplating about all this,she surrendered.
"Xiang State surrenders,"She uttered confidently.
Cheng Lei laughed from the other side,"General Yang you must be joking , right?" He thought he had misheard her but when she emphasized her statement was when he realized she had actually surrendered.
She turned around and galloped her horse heading back to the camp followed by her soldiers who went back in compliance. Cheng Lei smirked proudly as he watched the Yingdui soldiers chicken out running away.
The news of Yingdui soldiers surrendering spread out faster than a wildfire. Immediately the news reached the imperial court,the emperor received many memorials from the ministers expressing their dissatisfaction with Yang Zhi's decision.
"Miss ,are you going to send a letter to the capital and explain to them why we surrendered?"Zu Mo inquired.
"No need. Those self righteous old foxes at the court are always quick to judge. A letter won't be able to convince them."
"Then are we returning to the Imperial Capital?"Zu Mo pried further.
"We'll wait for His Majesty to summon us back which I'm sure he will soon so..." She was suddenly interrupted by another soldier who had walked in carrying a letter. Yang Zhi grabbed the envelope,fished out the letter and read it. Exactly like she had predicted,the emperor had summoned her back to the capital so she had to go back as soon as possible.
In compliance to the emperor's order,Yang Zhi and Zu Mo set off the following day at dawn. Some days later they arrived at the capital. Over the whole street,residents were gossiping about her nicknaming her the fallen heroine. It was human nature to come out in large numbers to criticize her but when she returned to the capital in triumph for the past two years only few people praised her. Her journey to becoming a general was full of ups and downs and criticism was number one of the downs and she had grown accustomed to it so a few words wouldn't hurt her. They were clueless and thoughtless creatures who lived in a peaceful country courtesy of other people sacrificing their lives for the safety of the majority.
When she arrived at the Imperial Palace,she headed towards Longyue Hall which was the emperor's residence. The emperor was seated on a golden chair placed on a raised dais. Yang Zhi took a deep breath and marched inside walking along the hallway and stopped some meters away from the emperor. She went on her knees and kowtowed to him. She was about to get up but the emperor ordered her to remain on her knees as one way of punishing her . He was furious to a point that he would explode any moment soon. Yang Zhi allowed him to rant before she finally explained the situation. He was her father after all and she had always been rebellious and confident in herself so dealing with the old man wasn't much of a big deal.
"I understand you did it for the sake of your soldiers but you've made our country a laughing stock. What will I do when I know that the Huang State has the emperor? Who knows what they will order us to give in return for a negotiation?"Emperor Yang Fu cried.
He felt helpless at the moment. He was afraid the Huang State would give extra demands or maybe enslave them. He couldn't bear thinking about it. Yang Zhi had the same worries but from the way she analyzed the situation on the day of the war they were bound to lose anyway.
"Go and kneel in Reflection Hall to reflect on yourself!"He ordered dismissing her and took a heavy sigh letting out his frustration.
Yang Zhi got up on her feet,dusted her clothes and walked out sassily like nothing had happened. She had thought her father would understand after she explained what had happened but he proved her wrong. Was he punishing her for the sake of satisfying the ministers?