Forensic Imperial Concubine by Erika Black

Rolando launched fierce attacks against the forces of Bright Dynasty stationed at the Dragon Pass continuously for many days
and nights that Shawn started to grow exhausted in dealing with them. Shawn decided to wait for them to get tired or run out of
supplies, but it seemed like it would not happen, as the morale of the soldiers from the Great Jade Kingdom were at an all-time
high, mainly because their emperor was fighting alongside them.
"General, with the Great Jade Kingdom continuously attacking us, I'm afraid our surviving men will die of exhaustion, not of war
violence," the deputy general said with great anxiety.
Shawn couldn't be more aware of that. Furthermore, he had already tried to manage what he had: he divided his soldiers into
three teams and ordered them to fight on the battlefield alternately. But even so, they still couldn't stand the violent attacks from
Rolando's army. They were going to die if the attacks didn't stop.
"General! General! General!" one guard called out as he hurried upstairs. "The reinforcements are here!"
"Reinforcements are here!" All of them breathed a collective sigh of relief. "How many soldiers came?" Shawn asked.
"Well—two..." the messenger replied gingerly. He was telling the truth, though—only two people came. And out of the two, one
was a frail scholar, who seemed like he would fall unconscious out of the blue at any time. Such reinforcements were no use to
them!
The tone of the deputy general turned from pleasant surprise to unmatched horror. "Wait, I might have heard you wrong. Can
you repeat what you just said? How many reinforcements came?"
"Two."
"What? What the hell! How would two people help us?!" the deputy general bellowed. He massaged his temples in an attempt to
calm his nerves down. "Is His Majesty crazy or what? Did he really send two people as our support? Doesn't he know that we

are fighting against Emperor Rolando?"
"Who are they? Did you recognize any of them?" Shawn asked curiously. He was sure that his emperor knew that Dragon Pass
was in great danger, so even though only two people came, he felt that they couldn't not be underestimated. Somehow,.

somewhere deep inside him, he knew who the two might be. He, however, doubted it as his emperor would be heartbroken if any
of them was killed. "A man with a servant by his side. He didn't tell us who he was. He just asked me to give this note to the
general." The messenger promptly gave the note to Shawn.
Shawn opened it at once and read it carefully. Suddenly, a bemused smile appeared on his face. "I didn't expect that he would
really come. Now, we need not worry. With him around, we'll defend this place for at least half a month!" "What? General, who
came?" the deputy general asked in confusion. "Prime Minister Zack Bu." Surprise appeared on the deputy general's face and
soon, his previously troubled visage outwardly became relieved. Zack was an equivalent of a thousand—if not more—soldiers,
and his presence alone could up their morale at an all-time high. Shawn also revealed what was in the letter, saying: "General
Maxwell will arrive soon with a hundred thousand soldiers. Zack is asking us to hold on for a while, and he is still preparing the
weapons that would repeal the enemies." "Weapons that would repeal the enemies?" At this, the deputy general's eyes lit up,
thinking that the weapons Zack was referring
to must be something like the explosives Shawn used a while back. He then immediately barked an order, saying, "Jonny, lead a
group of people and assist Prime Minister Zack at once."
"Yes, deputy general."
Benjamin Wu was now commanding the Great Jade Kingdom's army towards the city gates in an attempt to better organize their
attacks against Bright Dynasty. His emperor was right—the number of explosives Shawn had was limited, and it seemed like he
had already used all of them up as he hadn't utilized it for the past few days. Now, what they needed to do was to successfully
break into Dragon Pass before Shawn's reinforcements arrived.
"General, something seems to be happening on the other side of Dragon Pass," Benjamin Wu's counsellor suddenly told him.

"Do you think their reinforcement have already arrived?" "That's impossible. I just got information from our spies that their
reinforcements are still hundreds of miles away. We have already sent people to stop them. There is no way they'd be here this
early." "Is Prince Matthew back here, in Dragon Pass?" the counsellor deduced. He was a very cautious man, and Rolando

appreciated that. Because of that, Rolando ordered him to stay with Benjamin Wu to lend him his counsel as he was a keen
observer and
had the ability to perceive even the smallest change in the battlefield.
"Again, that's impossible. If Matthew has already arrived, they would have opened the gates and fought us. Hiding behind their
gates like a coward isn't exactly Matthew's move," Benjamin Wu responded. He clearly knew why his enemies were on the
defense, stubbornly refusing to have a head-on fight against them: they wanted to buy more time for their reinforcements.
Though he, too, noticed that the enemy soldiers seemed to be acting more confident abruptly, he believed that it was only
because they thought their reinforcements were coming soon. He wasn't worried about that one bit, as he was sure that they
were killed before those reinforcements could reach Dragon Pass.
"Let's wait and see. If there is an emergency, I suggest we withdraw the troops immediately," the counsellor suggested.
Benjamin Wu didn't answer, as he was starting to get annoyed by the counsellor's abundance of caution. His army had just
positioned themselves below the city gates, ready to bust in any time. There was no way he would withdraw the attacks they had
planned a long time ago.
"Bring out the battering ram and attack the gates!" Benjamin ordered sternly. "Soldiers with armor and shields, make sure that
the ones handling the ram are protected. We will conquer Dragon Pass today!"
"Yes, general!"
The soldiers protected the ram and went straight to the gate. On the tower of the city, arrows were flying all over the sky in order
to prevent the ram from approaching. However, with the soldiers covering for them, they could not stop the other soldiers holding
the ram from moving forward.
The heavy stumps of the ram hit the city gate violently, making a loud noise. The tower suddenly became quiet, and then buckets
of wet things were thrown down from the tower.
"What is it?" "Is it raining?"
"No, it seems to be... The wood oil!"