This was an obvious decision. Song Zining’s squad might not be superior in terms of individual strength, but it was well supplied and boasted considerable firepower as a group. The fighting power of this unit wasn’t something that could be measured by the number of soldiers. Moreover, there was an airship fleet up in the sky, overseeing the situation with predatorial eyes and ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

To fight against such a unit, one would need to suppress its advantage with overwhelming manpower, and fifty thousand wasn’t nearly enough. Ji Rui said fifty thousand because that was the number of mercenaries and direct subordinates Zhang Buzhou could mobilize. Even that was a fairly outstanding feat.

Another method was to suppress the army with experts, just like how Qianye had blocked Tidehark back in the day. But that probably wouldn’t work, either, since no one knew how many experts were hidden among the imperial forces. Daring to siege Tidehark despite knowing of Luo Bingfeng’s presence meant that they possessed...