"Decided?"

Yang Xian nodded when he saw Wei Liuying's confused expression. "Have you decided what you want to do from now on after you have experienced your first battle? Do you want to stay on the city and defend or do you want to venture outside along with the soldiers?"

Stay or venture?

There were only two choices for Wei Liuying. However, she knew that there was only one answer that she felt the most suitable for her. "I want to venture into the plains and fight numerous battles, Strategist Yang."

"Why do you pick that one?"

"I'm still inexperienced and just staying to defend will depend on the enemies' initiative to attack. But if I'm venturing, there'll be higher chance to meet and engage in battle whether it's because they're breaching the territory or because they attack nearby cities," Wei Liuying replied.

What she needed the most was experience and study. She had learned most of the basics on her own back in the Capital City with some additional information given to her by Yang Xian. However, she wanted to apply what she had learned back then to the real battlefield.

Yang Xian smiled when he heard her answer. "That's a good choice."

"You support this, Strategist Yang?"

"Commander Zhao will return back either tomorrow or two days from now. He'll continue to venture into the plains, so you can join him in order to gain more experience and knowledge."

"Thank you, Strategist Yang." Wei Liuying smiled.

Yang Xian sighed when he saw her smile. He walked forward and patted her head. "If there's something that you want, you should say it clearly. I'll not mistreat you."

"I know, Strategist Yang."

"In that case, why don't you trust me more?"

Wei Liuying raised her head and looked at Yang Xian. Two pairs of dark irises were locked to one another. Emotion swirled deep within their eyes as if they were trying to convey something from their eyes alone.

In the end, Wei Liuying retracted her gaze. "I trust you, Strategist Yang."

Yang Xian chuckled. The two of them understood that what Yang Xian talked about was not that kind of trust. However, he would not pressure her and just let her be part of their group slowly but surely.

"The representative will come tomorrow. You'll stand by the side to watch everything as ordinary soldier."

"I understand, Strategist Yang."

Yang Xian didn't want anyone to know that Wei Liuying was Yang Xian's disciple from Xiong Tribe. Even though they knew that Yang Xian had accepted a disciple, only a select few knew how she looked like. Many simply said that the disciple was still a young boy.

There was just another problem.

There were a lot of boys around the age of 13 to 17 years old in the military because of the strict rules. Since the North was dangerous, the boys were already trained since they were young to be able to defend their homeland. Thanks to that, it would be easy for Wei Liuying to mix with the other soldiers if it was necessary.

The two of them talked a bit before they headed to rest.

…

The next day, Wei Liuying draped the standard military uniform and woke up early. She followed with the other soldiers and line up in her place not far from the front. Yang Xian had arranged her to replace one of the young soldiers to line up.

"The representatives have arrived! Open the gate!"

Wei Liuying watched as the people came into the city. They were wearing thick fur robes with fox fur around their neck. She had heard that the tribes loved to hunt foxes for their fur because it would help them to face the winter. Even though she was a bit curious how they did that with the eagles, she would not ask blatantly here.

From her position, she couldn't hear their voices when they talked clearly. However, she could guess that they were going through standard procedure and brought Princess Ji Xiaoli away.

"Princess, please this way."

Princess Ji Xiaoli's expression was icy cold. She was wearing her veil as usual as her maidservants guided her to the carriage that the Xiong Tribe had prepared.

From now on, she could no longer return back.

Princess Ji Xiaoli stopped for a moment. She turned her head and looked at her Third Brother, who was standing not far behind her. He was talking with the representative with his cold and indifferent expression. Prince Ji Sheng seemed to notice her gaze as he stopped talking and looked back.

The two brother and sister seemed to be communicating with their gaze, yet there was no change in their expression.

In the end, Princess Ji Xiaoli turned around and walked to the carriage. She couldn't return back. From now on, she was no longer just part of Han Shi Kingdom but also Xiong Tribe. When war happened again…

She could only pray for the best.

"We shall depart now, Your Highness Prince Ji Sheng," the representative said after he saw Ji Xiaoli entered the carriage.

"I still have one matter that I need to discuss."

"What is it?"

"it's a private matter, so I hope that you will give us some time later," Prince Ji Sheng replied mysteriously.

The representative was a bit hesitant. He was ordered to bring Princess Ji Xiaoli back as soon as possible. However, rejecting upfront wouldn't do him any good either. This placed him in a dilemma.

"It will only take a few breaths' time."

"Alright."

With that, Ji Sheng brought the representative to a private room by the side and they came out after a few breaths of time as he had promised. From the way it looked like, there was only enough time for them to speak a few sentences when they were inside the room.

"I'll be waiting for our pleasant cooperation, Prince Ji Sheng."

"Thank you for your consideration, Representative Mo."

They exchanged a few pleasantries before the representatives returned back and the soldiers also returned back to their previous position. Wei Liuying waited for a while before she climbed to the top of the wall and watched the departing carriages heading to the north.

The plains were consisted of uneven hills and mountain in the dry lands terrain. It was clear that it would be hard for them to follow these people should they ever try to battle in the dry lands.

"Shi Mo is following from a distance if you're worried about Princess Ji Xiaoli."

Without even turning back, Wei Liuying knew that Yang Xian was behind her. "I'm worrying more about wars that we might face. Without knowing the terrain of the dry lands, we'll be facing tough and harsh battle."

"I know." Yang Xian looked at the vast dry lands. "This is one of the reason why we can't expand our border more to the north."

"We're not familiar with dry lands's terrain and weather."

"You're correct."

Wei Liuying nodded and looked at the disappearing figure in the dry lands. There was no way they would be able to see them anymore from this position. "If we don't have definite strategy to win, we just need to pull them back to the place where it's advantageous for us."

Yang Xian smirked. That was also his plan all along. If he couldn't force them to lose when they were in the enemy's territory, he would push them to their own territory before making a comeback. However, this plan was risky because they would have to be able to have enough people and power to reclaim their territory back.

"There shouldn't be any grand war for the time being and only some skirmish with other tribes nearby."

"They agreed with the trade agreement?"

"As long as the traders are not soldiers, they don't mind having traders to trade food and so on with them. Living in the dry lands meant that food will be scarce when it's Winter because of snow," Yang Xian explained.

Snow…

Wei Liuying had rarely seen snow before. Back in the Capital City, it was not always snowing when it was Winter and only when the temperature was extremely cold would there be snow. The thin layer of snow was not that fun to play when she was still a young girl back then.

"I'll be waiting for Winter."

"You want to see snow?" Yang Xian asked.

Wei Liuying nodded. "Aren't they beautiful when they're piling up a lot? That's what I always heard."

Yang Xian frowned for a moment then he realized that Wei Liuying had never seen so much snow before. The Capital City was not at the north but rather in the middle of Han Shi Kingdom. Because of that, the snow was not as much.

"Yes, they are."

Wei Liuying smiled. "I can't wait for Winter."

"Winter is also the time where there are the most wars," Yang Xian added. "For now, the treaty will stop Xiong Tribe from attacking us, but it'll not stop other tribes from coming and try to plunder our food."

Wei Liuying's eyes narrowed when she heard that. Slowly, she nodded her head. "I know. I'll be prepared for it."

"Good."