Linzi City, the royal palace.

The candlelight flickered.

Shen Qinghe rubbed his eyes.

"Madam, you still need to rest more."

"That's right." Yue Zhongmu nodded in agreement. "Don't worry, Senior Sister. I'm here, no problem. I came to Linzi to defend the ancient city to the death. As long as I have a breath left, I will never let the rebels enter the city."

The famous generals of the time all have their own strengths.

For example, the old King Ning mainly relied on offensive and annihilation battles. He did not care about the gains and losses of a city or a place, but focused on annihilating the enemy's vitality.

Yue Zhongmu is slightly different.

What he excels at is defensive warfare and warfare of attrition.

When he first became a general, he was ordered to defend Meicheng in a time of crisis. The city was home to only a few defeated soldiers and generals, with less than 5,000 men under his command. The rebels, on the other hand, numbered a massive 30,000 men, a vast disparity in strength.

However, Yue Zhongmu, relying on the advantageous terrain and judging by the heavy rain at the time that the dam was well-stocked, decisively sent his men to breach the dam under cover of darkness, using the flood to drown all the rebels, thus becoming famous in this battle!

After Yue Zhongmu arrived in Linzi, he made a special inspection of the city. He first used the refugees to widen the moat of Linzi and piled up mud at the city gate to make it difficult for them to break into the city.

"Madam, General Yue is right."

"You still have to take care of your health now."

"If anything goes wrong with you, we can't bear the consequences!"

"It's no problem."

Shen Qinghe was very persistent. "I'm a little late now. Uncle Chang said it's fine. As long as we can hold Linzi City, everything will be worth it. Junior Brother Yue, when it comes to deploying troops, marching, and fighting, I'm definitely not as good as you. How long do you think we can hold Linzi City?"

Yue Zhongmu stood up and said, "Thanks to Junior Brother Wan, there's plenty of food and grass in the city. Even with an additional 30,000 victims, we can still hold out for two months. So in my opinion, we can hold out for at least two months. Junior Brother, you can go out to sea without worry, because we calculated it long ago."

Why did Ning Que come to Linzi early?

It’s all for the purpose of building Linzi!

Prepare for the big battle!

Now Ningque has won the hearts of the people.

The people were eager to fight and were determined to hold on to Linzi. Every one of them had decided to defend Linzi to the death. This was because they knew who they were fighting for and that if Linzi fell, they would suffer a fate worse than death!

This is also the reason why Yue Zhongmu is so confident.

He specially asked someone to inquire about the situation.

Tian Zhongxun had more than 100,000 people under his command.

Many of them are stragglers.

Some were conscripted men.

In order to advertise the large number of people, they even claimed that there were 300,000.

Although there seem to be a lot of people, in fact, there are only tens of thousands of people who can fight.

What about Linzi City?

There were nearly 20,000 well-trained county, prefecture, and township soldiers, plus 8,000 elite imperial guards dispatched by the emperor. Ning Que had also secretly retained over 10,000 personal guards, commanded by Bai Yu. Not counting the civilians, there were at least 50,000 troops, all of them well-trained.

That’s right, they have fewer people than Qi.

But they are the ones defending the city.

All they have to do is wait for the opportunity.

It is not easy to break a city these days. Take the small earthen city of Shuofang, for example, it was enough to give Ning Que a headache.

Having said that, I really have to thank Tian Zhongxun.

Because it was he who built Linzi City.

At the beginning, Tian Zhongxun decided to make Linzi the capital.

Many skilled craftsmen were summoned to continuously reinforce it.

The moat alone was widened several times.

How could Tian Zhongxun break the city?

Yue Zhongmu looked at Shen Qinghe.

"Big Sister, there's no need to worry."

"As long as there's enough food and supplies, the rebels won't be able to enter the city!"

"What Tian Zhongxun did was just a dying counterattack."

"He only has two counties. He won't last long."

"Within half a month, reinforcements from Ono Castle will arrive."

"And my junior brother will be here soon."

"If you ask me, it won't take two months at all."

Yue Zhongmu was not trying to comfort Shen Qinghe.

He is telling the truth.

Ning Que is famous for his meticulous planning.

He was particularly attentive to the complex logistics involved. He even managed to find Wan Sanqian six months in advance and, while in Chang'an, had him help gather food and fodder, which he then transported to Linzi ahead of time. He also considered the possibility of refugees and stockpiled a vast amount of food and fodder.

Ning Que had simulated this battle countless times.

I won't take action unless I'm absolutely sure.

Shen Qinghe nodded thoughtfully.

"In that case, I'll have to trouble Junior Brother Yue to take care of it."

"Whatever you need, you can tell me."

"Don't worry, Senior Sister." Yue Zhongmu raised his hand and smiled, "I can issue a military order. As long as there is food and grass, Linzi City will not be conquered. This time, even Junior Brother Leng has come forward to help. Tian Zhongxun will undoubtedly be defeated. By then, it will be considered that Junior Brother has resolved the knot in his heart."

"Um."

Shen Qinghe nodded slightly.

Ning Que was often punished by the old King Ning.

But the relationship between the two is the best.

The old King Ning also valued him the most.

After all, Ning Que has shown talent since he was young.

Whether in terms of literary or military strategy, he is of the highest quality.

Before he was ten years old, he was already making plans behind the scenes.

Ning Que played an indispensable role in the recovery of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun by the old King Ning.

But in the end, his father and brother both died in battle in Hulu Valley.

If it weren't for Xiliang's help, there wouldn't even be a complete corpse.

Over the years, Ning Que has always had a knot in his heart.

He really hopes to find out the truth.

One reason is to let my father, brothers and 30,000 elite soldiers rest in peace.

Secondly, I also want to solve this thorn.

Neither Ning Que nor Emperor Feng mentioned this matter over the years.

But they all knew the rumors among the people.

Only a true conclusion can solve the problem.

Now, with evidence from multiple sources, it can be concluded that it was Tian Zhongxun who secretly planned it for many years and Gu Yuan was responsible for its specific implementation.

"Big Sister, I'll go out and take a look."

"You should be more careful yourself."

"You are pregnant, making you the enemy's primary target. They will stop at nothing to capture you alive. These refugees in the city are indeed helpful, but they can also easily infiltrate spies. Therefore, you must be vigilant at all times. This is also your mission. You must always be accompanied by personal guards, and no strangers are allowed."

"good."

Shen Qinghe nodded seriously.

She is not living for herself now.

Her safety is related to the success or failure of the entire battle.

If Ning Que is captured by Tian Zhongxun, he will be restricted in every way. If the King of Chu and the King of Jin cooperate in the rebellion, the entire Dafeng may be in crisis.

The situation is very clear at the moment.

Both sides can see it clearly.

What we are competing for now is fighting power and willpower.

Yue Zhongmu took his leave and left the palace.

Unexpectedly, I ran into Leng Qian by chance.

"Junior Brother Leng is here to see Senior Sister?"

"Um."

"Don't disturb her anymore." Yue Zhongmu breathed a sigh of relief. "Elder Sister hasn't slept a wink all day, and even had a simple dinner of dry food. She's pregnant and can't endure it any longer."

"Yeah, that's right..."

Leng Qian sighed softly, "The other party just sent a letter. It's from my former disciple Tian Bi, the Prince of Qi, hoping to discuss matters with us before the war. If they're willing, you can send someone out of the city later."

"Alright, I'll go with you then!"

"good!"