The chaos caused by the fleeing livestock and horses quickly led to the destruction of the obstacles at one of the camp’s exits.

The soldiers couldn’t stop the panicked animals, so they could only watch helplessly as they ran off into the wilderness.

As the chaos-making animals would soon run out, it became increasingly apparent that Lin Yao’s group of more than thirty people, mostly female slaves, were heading towards the camp’s exit.

As Lin Yao and Wang Biao, supporting each other, followed the Women’s Army towards the exit, they passed by a building similar to the one where they had been imprisoned.

The building had been ignited by sparks carried by the strong wind, but it seemed like no one inside had managed to escape.

Many female slaves crowded at the door, desperately banging on it and crying out.

The Women’s Army looked at the despairing cries of the female slaves with a sense of powerlessness and pity.

Lin Yao asked, “Who’s locked in there?”

A Women’s Army member replied, “When the male slaves in the camp aren’t working, they are locked in such cells like livestock. Those women outside are wives, mothers, or daughters of the male slaves…”

The male slaves with combat capabilities were locked up to prevent the female slaves from running away.

They were bound by family ties and because female slaves were less capable of resistance compared to male slaves, they were easier to control.

The fire had almost reached the entire roof of the building, yet the door remained locked, despite the desperate cries of the female slaves gathered outside.

Listening to the desperate and piercing cries of the female slaves, Lin Yao’s blood-stained face was hidden in the darkness. “Biao, come.”

Even though they had been imprisoned for many days, Wang Biao’s wounds had not yet healed.

Nevertheless, his body was stronger than Lin Yao’s, who had been subjected to constant beatings.

There was no need for Lin Yao to say anything more.

Wang Biao immediately drew the large sword he had taken from the guards at the cell’s entrance and strode towards the cell where the male slaves were held.

Wearing the guard’s uniform he had stripped from the guard at the entrance, Wang Biao approached the door, causing the female slaves gathered there to mistake him for a Northern Barbarian soldier.

Seeing his imposing figure and fierce appearance, they retreated in fear.

Ignoring their reactions, Wang Biao raised the large sword and swung it twice at the lock.

The blade of the sword broke, but the lock fell to the ground with a clang.

The male slaves trapped inside rushed out like madmen, each one expressing a joy of survival.

However, as they looked around at the camp engulfed in flames, they couldn’t help but feel a sense of confusion.

Wang Biao shouted, “Run!”

Only the slaves who understood the Central Plains language knew what he was saying.

Without hesitation, they fled towards the camp’s exit.

The instinctual desire for survival drove them, and seeing others running, those who remained were afraid of being caught by the Northern soldiers and joined the stampede.

The Northern Barbarian soldiers, busy extinguishing the fire, noticed the slaves escaping in droves and quickly gathered their troops to chase them back.

At this point, Lin Yao and Wang Biao no longer wore the guards’ uniforms.

They discarded them and, leading the charge, confronted the soldiers.

The slaves, oppressed by the Northern people for so long, seemed to have ignited a spark of bravery in the midst of this fire, and they picked up weapons to fight alongside Lin Yao and Wang Biao against the Northern soldiers.

Amidst the chaos, Lin Yao’s group successfully escaped from the camp.

Meanwhile, Tia attempted to seek help several times, but with her mouth gagged and the camp in chaos, no one noticed her silent pleas for help.

Once they were outside the camp, the horses that had escaped from the burning stables were once again of use.

After mounting the horses, they rode southeast.

Kadan’s men arrived just a moment too late, allowing them to escape on horseback.

Upon hearing that Lin Yao and Wang Biao, along with dozens of female slaves and Tia, had escaped, Kadan, who had just swung his sword and decapitated a slave, half of his face splattered with blood, said grimly, “It’s one thing for them to take Tia out of the city, but why would they take dozens of female slaves with them?”

He looked menacingly at the soldier who brought the news. “Do you know the identities of those female slaves?”

The soldier replied, “They were all Chu women captured from a caravan a few months ago.”

Kadan sneered, thinking that Lin Yao and Wang Biao’s so-called righteousness was at play. “Even at death’s door, they still want to bring Chu slaves back to Great Chu?”

While he found these notions of righteousness ridiculous, he also couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss.

Upon learning during the pursuit of Lin Yao that the fire in the camp tonight was caused by Chu slaves setting fire to the stables and livestock pens, he abruptly halted his horse and asked, “Where are the Chu slaves who were whipped by Princess Tia originally from?”

Someone replied, “They were also captured from a Chu caravan a few months ago. That particular slave had been sent multiple times to deliver food to the two Chu generals.

Princess Tia got angry and brought her back to be whipped.”

Kadan naturally knew that Lin Yao had a good appearance; otherwise, Princess Tia wouldn’t have called for him to be whipped the moment she laid eyes on him.

But this series of coincidences indicated that things were far from coincidental.

Why did Lin Yao and Wang Biao leave with even more Chu slaves just after that Chu slave had recent contact with Lin Yao?

Moreover, ordinary slaves wouldn’t think of setting fire to the stables and livestock pens to create chaos.

Kadan remembered the first time he attacked Beiting and nearly killed the Marquis of Lian, but a female general who charged out halfway changed the situation.

His face darkened.

It was only after that battle that he learned that there was another Women’s Army.

If those Chu slaves were part of the Women’s Army…

Their repeated visits to deliver food to the two Chu generals might not have been because they were swayed by the appearance of that Chu general surnamed Lin, but rather to continuously pass information from outside the camp and discuss escape plans with those two Chu generals.

Kadan recalled his previous arguments with Princess Tia, her casually mentioning military secrets, and the half-dead female slaves on the ground, their hands showing clearly visible bulging veins from gripping the reins too tightly.

He said sharply, “Hunt down those two Chu generals and the slaves they took with them at all costs. We cannot allow them to return to Great Chu alive!”

The Northern people relied on grazing for their livelihoods, and while the camp served as the royal court.

So when he proposed relocating the camp southward and seizing control of the regions south of Liangzhou in Great Chu, settling in those fertile lands, there were voices of opposition in the tribe, but negotiation was still possible.

Kadan was the only prince who was willing to learn the language of the Central Plains, and even after mastering it, he specifically traveled to the Central Plains to see how the people there lived.

While Great Chu became increasingly prosperous, with its people living better and better lives and numerous caravans carrying silk, satin, precious porcelain, and other goods to the Western Regions every year, the Northern people, apart from having a slightly larger population in their tribes, lived much the same way as their ancestors.

Even in winter, when the cattle and sheep had no grass to eat, Just like them their tribes would have large numbers of people starving to death.

Kadan desired to bring the Northern Barbarian to the same level of prosperity as the Central Plains people, but the progress was too slow.

Therefore, he wanted to take the lands south of Liangzhou directly with his tribe and settle in the prosperous lands already developed by Great Chu.

The Northern people didn’t need to weave cloth or cultivate fields; they were skilled warriors who could enslave the Central Plains people to weave cloth and till the fields for them.

They didn’t need to learn what the Central Plains people knew; they could obtain everything by enslaving them.

Kadan had harbored such a plan since the fragmentation of Great Chu began, but what hindered his plan at that time was that there was the Marquis of Lian in the north and the stalwart Generals of the Luo family under Duke Qin Guarding the northwestern gate for generations.

To realize his plan, he needed to defeat the Luo family and the Marquis of Lian, who were faithful guardians of Great Chu.

He heard that Li Xin rose to power by plundering their own people, so he took the initiative to extend an olive branch to Li Xin.

The Battle of Qinxiang Pass, where Luo Xian died, was the first step in his plan.

Li Xin was a greedy and insatiable wolf who wouldn’t stop once he tasted power.

When Li Xin later proposed dealing with Beiting, he might have guessed that Kadan had other intentions.

However, giving up Beiting was of no consequence to Li Xin.

After all, seizing control of the military power in Beiting would further solidify Li Xin’s position as emperor.

However, the plan to overthrow the Marquis of Lian went awry.

Their original plan was for the Northern Barbarian to attack the last city in the Hexi Corridor, Liangzhou.

Li Xin delayed sending reinforcements, forcing the defender of Liangzhou to seek help from the Marquis of Lian.

Beiting bordered Liangzhou, and with the principle of mutual support, the Marquis of Lian would certainly not sit idly by and watch Liangzhou fall into the hands of foreigners.

When the Marquis of Lian sent troops, Li Xin, under the pretext of coming to the rescue, also sent troops.

However, it turned out to be a trap set by Li Xin and the Northern Tribes, resulting in the slaughter of the defenders of Liangzhou and the Marquis of Lian.

With the Marquis of Lian dead, Beiting was sure to fall into chaos.

But the problem arose when the news leaked somehow.

The defender of Liangzhou seemed to have discovered Li Xin’s treachery and didn’t send a letter to the Marquis of Lian for help.

In the end, Li Xin could only wipe out the defender of Liangzhou and his entire family.

After the failure to overthrow the Marquis of Lian, the situation in Great Chu began to develop beyond his control.

No one expected the former Crown Prince to rise suddenly and gradually nibble away at most of Li Xin and the Prince of Huaiyang’s power.

Kadan realized very clearly that the biggest obstacle to seizing control of the heartland of the Central Plains had changed from the Marquis of Lian to this former Crown Prince of Chu.

This was why he deliberately spread rumors that the Northern tribes were gathering a hundred thousand troops to attack Beiting, and the Marquis of Lian was injured and had to seek help from the former Crown Prince of Chu.

Once the troops stationed by the former Crown Prince in Jianghuai were withdrawn, he could take Bianjing after taking Liangzhou and proceed southward unimpeded.

Now that his plan was already half successful, he couldn’t afford any mishaps at this moment!

The reason he spared the lives of those two Chu generals earlier was simply because of the defeat at Qiangliu Pass.

He needed to use the capture of the two Chu generals as a significant achievement to offset the negative impact of the defeat and lose morale of Chu army.

His Father was getting older and more hesitant in his actions.

He had always refused to agree to kill the two Chu generals, saying that keeping them alive could be useful as hostages when necessary.

If they were to be killed, it would be better to kill them in front of the army as a sacrifice to the flag, rather than at this moment.

Kadan thought about it carefully and agreed to spare the lives of the two Chu generals.

When they faced off against the Chu army in battle, he would use them to greatly enhance the prestige of the Northern army.

However, Tia repeatedly demanded the Chu general named Lin.

Annoyed by her constant demands, Kadan bluntly stated that those two would be executed.

But his momentary lapse in judgment led to the current situation.

Only by killing those two Chu generals and the escaped slaves could his plan to attack south of Liangzhou remain undisclosed!