Chapter 969.1: Change - Part 1
After handing over the command and mobilization authority of Pine Pavilion Pass and the nearby passes to Xie Nandu, the General’s Office had been in constant anxiety.
The reasons were nothing more than two. The first was the fear of losing these many passes, after which there would be no more barrier before the Northern Frontier Great Wall. But beyond that, the most important concern was the fear that Xie Nandu might die at Pine Pavilion Pass.
In the history of the Northern Frontier Army, it was probably rare to have such a figure, someone who was not the Great General, yet in many situations was just as important as the Great General.
Thus, as scouts moved in and out of the General’s Office one after another, and as many Northern Frontier generals paced back and forth in the council hall, everyone had unconsciously cast aside their prejudices and already regarded Xie Nandu as a pillar of the nation.
There was actually another interesting point here: whether in Great Liang or throughout past dynasties, there had never been a husband and wife who were both indispensable to the realm.
Standing over the sand table and arranging it for a long time, from the intelligence he had received, he tried to deduce Xie Nandu’s plans on the battlefield, but after expending great effort, he had only grasped five or six parts out of ten.
Pulling his gaze back from the sand table, Gao Xuan looked at the Great General Ning Ping and smiled. “Great General, Pine Pavilion Pass will not fall. I estimate that Liu Xiang’s army will suffer at least a loss of one hundred thousand before it can withdraw back into the depths of the desolate north.”
Ning Ping sighed with emotion. “It seems that what that Primordial Saint once said, that only women and petty men are difficult to live with, can no longer be taken as true.”
Gao Xuan shot Ning Ping a somewhat helpless glance. “That was never what the saint meant.”