Yan Country faced another harsh winter, with biting snow almost ceaseless since the winter month.
The battle at Simapo had been raging for two months, with no success in sight. Due to snow-sealed roads, the court's supplies couldn't be delivered, and the Military Officers at the border pass had been starving for several days, surviving only by digging grass roots and gnawing on tree bark.
Or by eating the bodies of horses.
In the main commander's barracks, several generals and commanding officers gathered, no one spoke, the atmosphere was extremely heavy.
It was roughly a year ago when a rebel army suddenly emerged in the southwestern region of Yan Country, opposing the empress and spreading rumors that her ascension was illegitimate.
The former emperor had not intended to pass the throne to her. She forced her own father to abdicate and imprisoned him in the Imperial Harem before she ascended to the throne.
She wasn't truly ordained by heaven.
