In this situation where it was impossible to distinguish friend from foe, the only way out was to strike first—resulting in more than half of the twenty thousand casualties from the The Brooks Family that night dying at the hands of their own comrades.

Even Brooks Westhill himself barely escaped with his life. At dawn, just as he was gathering his defeated troops to counterattack, and his forces were barely assembled, David Thompson’s cavalry appeared. After a round of slaughter, the already shaken troops collapsed at the first blow.

By evening, Brooks Westhill tried once more to regain control of his troops, but as soon as they had barely regrouped, the sound of pursuing hooves rang out again...

The same process repeated seven times!

By the eighth time, Brooks Westhill had already retreated to the border between the The Brooks Family and the The Thompson Family. In front of him were 300,000 vengeful and furious Thompson Border Troops in full battle formation; behind him, David Thompson led his elite cavalry in relentless pursuit—he would rather commit suicide than turn back and face David Thompson again.

He only managed to escape thanks to the support of his daughter Gavin Brooks Jr., plus a bit of luck. Many later military historians believed that if David Thompson had remained in command of the entire army, then even with the genius Gavin Brooks Jr.’s help, Brooks Westhill would not have been able to escape, let alone return to inherit the position of Head of the Brooks Family.

But the 200,000 Brooks Army soldiers who came with Brooks Westhill were not so lucky, nor did they have such a good daughter. Fewer than a third made it back alive.

On the The Thompson Family’s side, the victors’ luck was even worse than that of the defeated.

David Thompson, full of hope for a beautiful woman holding flowers to embrace the victor, was instead greeted by: being woken from a dream in the middle of the night in his camp, discovering that his entire guard had been disarmed, and surrounded by densely packed military police execution squads from the family’s Inspectorate...

A polite military police officer regretfully informed him: “According to the order of President Emily Harris, you are charged with ‘illegal mutiny,’ ‘insubordination,’ ‘unauthorized troop movements,’ ‘abuse of power,’ and other crimes. You have been stripped of your command. You have the right to remain silent and may state your case at the court-martial...”

Every charge against him was a capital offense.

Later, thanks to the desperate rescue efforts of William Thompson’s daughter Olivia Thompson, the secret help of Far East Commander George Evans, the strong protests of the frontline soldiers, and the impassioned speech at the court-martial by his good friend—also one of the Thompson Youth Trio, Sterling—“Loyalty is not a crime!”—David Thompson was spared the death penalty.

Emily Harris wanted to imprison him for life, but George Evans spoke up first, saying lightly, “Wouldn’t it be better to send him to serve in the harshest region of the Far East? We need people there too.”

Because George Evans was highly respected and the Far East Army was powerful, Emily Harris did not dare to oppose him. Thus, David Thompson joined the Far East Army, starting as a labor soldier, then rising through the ranks to warrior, Red-clad Warrior, Banner Warrior, Red-clad Banner Warrior, Deputy Banner Captain, Banner Captain...

Now, Emily Harris suddenly wanted to promote him directly to Deputy Commander!

“Sir, my memory has never been very good. May I ask which incident from seven years ago you’re referring to? Could you give me a hint?”

Paul Smith: “Dave, you must understand, when it comes to dangerous things, people always want to keep them where they can see them. Your talent and strength are quite dangerous to certain people. If you were to be promoted step by step to Red-clad Banner Captain, by regulation, you could command seventy thousand Far East Army troops, and that would keep certain people up at night.”

David Thompson: “But if I’m promoted to Deputy Commander, wouldn’t it be even harder for certain people to sleep?”

“The problem is, there are only three active Deputy Commander positions in the Far East Army, and we don’t have any extra slots for you, understand?”

“I heard a couple of days ago that Deputy Commander Grant and Commander George Evans had a disagreement and that he was going to resign. Wouldn’t that open up a slot?”

“They made up this morning. Deputy Commander Grant has already withdrawn his resignation letter.”

“I heard our Deputy Commander Emily Sullivan is getting married and will be on honeymoon leave for three months?”

“The groom ran away before the wedding, leaving only a note: ‘I can’t take it anymore!’ Now the jilted old maid is organizing a suicide squad to hunt him down...”

David Thompson sighed, “Now I have only one hope left. Sir, is there any chance your stomach ulcer might turn cancerous soon...”

Paul Smith: “...”

“So after you’re promoted to Deputy Commander, your only path is to return to the imperial capital and join the reserve officer waiting list. But Commander George Evans also thinks this is for the best, because Miss Olivia Thompson is almost sixteen, nearly at the legal age of inheritance, and there’s no guarantee that certain people won’t be driven to murder because of this. If you go back, you can protect her nearby.”

“Sir, but I’m really not much of a fighter...”

“Stop pretending to be dumb in front of me! Save that act for Roger Smith and his bunch of idiots! You’re the one who assassinated the demon commander in Hengchuan, aren’t you? I know you don’t want ‘certain people’ to discover your talent and martial skills, but did you really think you could fool me?”

David Thompson looked at him in surprise. “Sir, you...”

Paul Smith revealed a sly smile. “I am a retainer of the The Thompson Family, not of Emily Harris. The one I swore loyalty to is named Zichuan!”

“But Emily Harris is your superior officer...”