Chapter 171 – Fall of Yanchi Pass
Yanchi Pass was a city on the southernmost edge of the desert that lay just at the end of the seemingly endless sands. Traveling half a day past it would take one out of the vast desert, where the vibrant sights of the Grand Ruen would unfurl like a gradually unfolding painting.
Yanchi Pass was southwest of the North Suppressing, North Defending, and North Watching Passes. If those three passes were ever to fall, Yanchi Pass would assume the heavy responsibility of being the Ruen Dynasty’s primary border fortress.
Due to the strategic location of the Yanchi Pass, the Ruen Dynasty had invested significant manpower and resources to make it a true border stronghold. Compared to the Yanchi Pass, the North Watching Pass was like a sandcastle constructed by children.
Yanchi Pass was bordered by the three frontier passes to the east and the Jibei and Ningye provinces to the south, which made it an incredibly crucial stronghold geographically.
If Yanchi Pass fell, the gates of the Ruen Dynasty would be completely open, allowing their enemies to come and go as they pleased. For this reason, the Ruen Dynasty placed great importance on it.
Luckily, thanks to the three frontier passes, the Northern Qiang’s annual skirmishes never made it as far as Yanchi Pass. In recent years, Yanchi Pass simply served as a supply depot and a hub for troop rotations.
With its nearly ten-foot-tall walls, abundant provisions, and a permanent garrison of twenty thousand soldiers, Yanchi Pass was more than capable of defending itself.
The years of peace were shattered today. As the vice commander of Yanchi Pass, Lu Shuo held the most authority there aside from the chief commander. Especially now, when the commander was absent, the twenty-thousand-strong garrison fell entirely under his jurisdiction.
Lu Shuo always considered himself different from the idle playboys who wasted their lives in the capital... He was a man willing to go to the battlefield. Although he owed his position to his father, who was the Vice Minister of War, he nonetheless believed himself to be braver than those spoiled children of nobility.