Outside Bafang City, a few hundred meters beyond the city walls, lay neatly arranged square farmlands. At dawn, the diligent farmers rose to work in the fields, weeding and planting vegetables, toiling until nightfall before returning home.0

Bafang City appeared peaceful and prosperous, seemingly untouched by the chaos of war. If not for the frequent arrival of merchant caravans seeking refuge and the occasional appearance of refugees, one might doubt that a war even existed. The common folk of Bafang City likely did not believe that Great Wei was at war at all.0

Lin Zheyu stepped out of the city gates, took out a map to confirm his direction, and began walking toward the distant mountains. Bafang City was located in the central region of the Southern Barbarian Region, surrounded by hills, beyond which stretched endless mountain ranges.0

Within those mountains dwelled many wild and ferocious beasts. As a prefecture-level city, Bafang City governed eighteen county-level cities, such as Songyi City, and maintained a local army of over thirty thousand elite soldiers. It was thanks to this powerful army's presence that no bandits...0