Chapter 82: The Better Plan
Wei Yuan looked up toward the west, where a faint red glow flickered on the distant horizon. It was the light of a signal arrow; over one hundred and twenty li away.
The duo had not begun to discuss how to rescue their compatriot when suddenly, another distress signal erupted in the air. It was over eighty li away and located in the same direction as the previous call for help. The contents of the call for help was also identical: strong enemies approaching, holding ground and awaiting reinforcements. The sender was a cultivator belonging to the Heaven Answerer Sect.
Right after that, two more calls for help bloomed in the sky. They were quite far away. This was the first time Wei Yuan had seen this many calls for help happening at the same time.
After marking all of the locations on a map, Fang Hetong pondered for a moment and said, “The Liao barbarians are mobilizing en masse. I believe they are testing our defense line. Although we haven’t seen a Liao force in our defense zone yet, we are equally in danger. Thus, I believe we should stay put.”
“Are you suggesting that we should leave our compatriots to die?”
Fang Hetong shook his head. “The situation is different from yesterday’s. You were the only one being attacked at the time, and I was pretty close to your location. Naturally, it made perfect sense for me to come to your aid. But the locations calling for help today are all very far away from our defense zone. We would be worn out long before we reached them. Not only will we become a liability, our own defense zone will be lacking in manpower. Also, I’m sure the Liao barbarians have deployed a lot of mobile cavalry to intercept and kill the troops heading for their rescue.”
Wei Yuan climbed up the wall and looked into the distance. His eyesight was good enough that he could barely see the stronghold at the end of the horizon. As far as he could tell, the fort was quiet, and the garrison was completely still. There were no signs of it moving out to provide assistance at all.
Fang Hetong stepped beside him and remarked, “If you think that Staff General Liao is going to dispatch a rescue force, think again. He values his own safety above everything else, and he believes himself to be perfectly secure because he has some military merit to his name. I’m sure he’s planning to hole up inside his fort until the Liao barbarians retreat—he would never risk sending his troops to save another.”
“What should we do then?”