This chapter opens with a shot fired from the balcony. It's the same shot that wounded the Prime Minister Lingji in the previous chapter. This time, it's a bullet to the chest of the General, who's been shot through the heart. He's okay, but he's still not dead. The panicky General runs to him and tells him that the battle that he lost was actually instructed by someone. The General says that he learned this on his way back from the battlefield, when he was in a "critical situation" . This means that the General was instructed to stay in the county government's office instead of rushing to the battlefield. This is a gross violation of the rules of war, and the General says he'll get the guy.