With her only son crippled and her husband nearing the end of his life, Madam Yu was overcome with grief and covered her face with her handkerchief, weeping bitterly.

Yu Xunmei stood blankly to the side, watching her with eyes as cold as water, devoid of any warmth.

She left without saying a word after a long while.

After returning from the Yun residence, Yu Shida convened another meeting with all his subordinates.

It's pretty certain that the Yun family is the one with the ability to wipe out the Chi'an bandits and the Xihe Iron Mine.

"General Yu, let me lead men to reclaim Xihe," said his subordinate, Vice General Wang, with reluctance.

This Deputy General Wang was personally promoted by the Yu family and is absolutely loyal to them.

The others were not so optimistic; all thirty-odd Jingwei soldiers that Captain Cai had led before the New Year had been wiped out.

"They can even destroy the Japanese ships at sea, so it won't be so easy for them to take back Xihe," said another deputy general, Li.

Upon hearing this, Deputy General Wang immediately objected, "How can you boost the morale of others while diminishing your own?"

"We've been unable to deal with the bandits of Chi'an for so long, but they eliminated the biggest threat to the south as soon as they arrived. They must be quite capable. I'm just stating the facts."

"You always side with others. Could it be that you're rushing to find a new family just because the head of the household is ill?"

"You, you're making false accusations! That's absolutely not true."

Seeing that the group was arguing, Yu Shida quickly stepped in to act as a peacemaker, saying, "Everyone, calm down! We're here to discuss how to deal with this, not to have a verbal fight."

"What brilliant idea does General Yu have?" The other generals below turned their gazes to him.

Yu Shida then stood up, walked to the map, and pointed to the locations of Longtan County and Xihe County.

“We will split our forces into two groups. One group will be led by Vice General Wang with 500 elite troops. We will pass through Chi’an County and go straight to Longtan. We will be at the city gates and force them to return the Xihe River. If they do not return it, we will bind all the refugees in the city and bring them back as slaves.”

His plan was that Longtan didn't have many people to begin with, and after occupying Xihe, they would definitely send a large number of troops to guard it. Longtan would then only have the elderly, women and children left, and taking Longtan would be an easy task.

"The second route will be led by Vice General Li with two thousand troops, from Huaizhou City and Dongshui County to Xihe. After Vice General Wang and his men take Longtan, they will launch a pincer attack from both sides, catching them off guard."

Yu Shida's opinion was unanimously supported by his subordinates present.

Although he had never actually been on the battlefield, he was still trained by the Yu family head at great expense.

Yu Shida believed that this time he would definitely beat the Yun family to a pulp.

Some veterans in the military camp also expressed their concerns, saying, "We still don't know how many troops they have. Has that old bastard Yun Zhentian interfered?"

Last year, Yun Zhentian's eldest son went to Longtan, taking with him two hundred pieces of music.

"Only two hundred chapters? That's nothing to worry about," someone said casually.

They all knew that the retainers kept by various aristocratic families were at most no different in ability from the guards who watched over the house.

Of course, there are also those with superb martial arts skills, but they are only a few.

"We must still be on guard, as we've heard that the Yun family is exceptionally capable in leading troops into battle," a subordinate advisor expressed his concern.

"Bring more people to Longtan. They've built tall city walls, so they're quite difficult to deal with."

Yu Xunmei suggested that she hadn't forgotten those people who mocked her from the city wall.

“Then let’s add another hundred people,” Yu Shida said.

After making the arrangements, Yu Shida led the generals back to the military camp to make various preparations.

Yu Xunmei then summoned the steward to gather provisions and supplies for the army that was preparing to set off.

They were full of confidence, firmly believing that as long as their army pressed in, they would be able to annihilate the group of refugees in Longtan in one fell swoop.

Upon receiving the news, the Zhong family in Huaizhou City was filled with gloom and despair. As the Yu family soldiers passed by, they worried that the Yu family might take action against them.

After all, they had experienced firsthand the scene of powerful families fighting over a single disagreement during the famine years.

The eldest son of the Zhong family mobilized the family guards and tenant farmers and servants from various estates to guard the Zhong family's granary.

All valuables in the family storeroom were moved to a safe place.

Just as the Zhong family was on high alert, the Yu family's troops didn't even enter the city before changing their routes and heading to Longtan and Xihe respectively.

Chian County is entirely composed of rolling hills and slopes with abundant vegetation but poor water retention capacity, making it completely unsuitable for cultivation.

The people living here are scattered throughout the deep mountains, and most of them make a living by hunting.

Sparrow grew up in the mountains. On the day her mother gave birth to her, a flock of sparrows flew to the door of the house, so her father named her Sparrow.

Deep in the bushes, a grayish-white rabbit cautiously poked its head out, its nose twitching for a long time. As if sensing no danger outside, it pushed off with its legs and leaped out of the bushes, happily chewing on the tender green grass.

With a "whoosh," an arrow pierced through the rabbit's body, and it collapsed to the ground, convulsing, with a few blades of grass still in its mouth.

"Dali, hurry up!" The girl's voice was clear and melodious.

As soon as she finished speaking, a large wolfhound leaped out from her side, its sharp teeth snapping into the rabbit's throat. The rabbit was motionless in the blink of an eye.

Dali brought the rabbit back, and the titmouse took it and threw it into the basket on his back.

The titmouse stroked the dog's head. "Good dog! I'll reward you with a rabbit leg when we get back."

She was met with the dog's cheerful barking, "Woof! Woof!"

"Come on, Dali, let's go look around somewhere else."

A man and a dog moved nimbly through the dense forest.

As they were about to emerge from the dense forest, they suddenly heard heavy, synchronized footsteps and the occasional sound of conversation ahead.

The titmouse pricked up its ears alertly, and just as it opened its beak to make a sound, it pinched its beak shut with its paw.

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