“Everyone was on edge after the escape, but General Lu acted like nothing had happened. One night, when he was drunk, about a dozen men tried to mutiny and seize command. They failed and paid dearly for it.” The captive gulped hard. “General Lu may still have a few diehards willing to follow him to the grave, but me… I don’t want to die.”0

“Hmph! Coward!” Zhao Qinghe kicked him to the ground. “Spill everything you know about every step General Lu and the other rebels took after fleeing Woling Pass.”0

The captive banged his head on the floor. “Spare me, Lord He!” He obediently spilled everything he knew.0

Only then did He Chunhua and his sons learn the truth. After Woling Pass fell back into the hands of the Royal Court of Yuan, the rebel forces had splintered, their backbone broken. Seven or eight leaders each gathered what scraps they could and scattered. Lu Yao had managed to rally over a thousand under his banner, but this number only came to be because he had swallowed up one of the smaller groups. He had answered Pei Xinyong’s call to regroup at Immortal Spirit Village. Still, of course, he aimed to claim the position of supreme commander, then seize territory around Shuitou in the west and slowly build his own base of power.0

He Lingchuan’s doubts remained. “And...0