Everyone was terrified.

Su Jin asked loudly, "Are you willing to lead this army to become a true rebel army praised by the people?"

Such bold words stirred up a surge of passion in everyone present.

Qi Ge stared at the woman in front of him; her imposing presence made it impossible for anyone to look directly at her.

"I do."

"Young lady, you are righteous and courageous in your fight against evil. I, Zhang Qi, am willing to risk my life to follow you. Just give the order, and I will do anything!"

Zhang Qi bowed deeply, his eyes unwavering.

The others, having taken the antidote, were barely able to stand. They bowed along with Zhang Qi, then rose and exclaimed, "We would gladly die for this cause!"

Su Jin was very satisfied and immediately issued the order.

"Alright, you have fifteen minutes to recover your strength, then set off immediately. Gather all the soldiers and provisions in the city, and evacuate Fugu City tonight. Anyone who disobeys will be killed without mercy!"

"What?" Shi Lang rushed forward in surprise, "You're leaving?"

Su Jin turned around and chuckled, "Otherwise, since Lord Shi is the strategist, he should understand that this disorganized group cannot defeat the imperial army. Continuing to drag this out will only make Fugu City more and more distressed. It would be better to abandon it sooner and conserve our strength."

Shi Lang frowned. Su Jin was right, but it was hard for him to accept that the city he had worked so hard to conquer was being handed over to others so easily.

Shi Lang couldn't think of a good solution for a while. He knew very well that if he couldn't defeat the imperial court, he would be completely wiped out.

"Then... shall we retreat to Xinzhou City?" Shi Lang took a step back.

"No, retreat to Zhuanghe!" Su Jin said decisively.

"What!" Shi Lang raised his voice, "We only have three cities in total, what's the big deal about retreating two of them?"

Su Jin glanced at him indifferently and explained, "If we retreat to Xinzhou City, the imperial court will naturally pursue us. Xinzhou City is not as easy to defend as Fugu City. At that time, our situation will be no different from now."

Su Jin turned to everyone and said, "Although Zhuanghe is a small city, it is surrounded by cliffs on three sides and backed by the Yangtze River, which provides a natural barrier. As long as we guard the canyon leading to Zhuanghe, we can hold the pass against all odds!"

“But what kind of rebel army would we be then? Wouldn’t we just become a small force huddled in a corner?” Shi Lang was unwilling to accept this outcome. These three cities were captured with great effort.

Su Jin didn't continue arguing with Shi Lang, but instead asked the others, "What do you think?"

Zhang Qi said without hesitation, "I agree with the young lady's approach. Our army is currently undisciplined and truly a disorganized mess. By holding Zhuanghe with minimal force, we can conserve our strength, train our troops, and wait until our army is fully formed before launching a counterattack."

Su Jin nodded approvingly, "That's exactly what I meant, Lord Shi. Do you have any further objections?"

Su Jin raised an eyebrow slightly and asked indifferently.

Shi Lang felt a chill run down his spine and looked at Su Jinxia warily, fearing that if he voiced any objection, he would become a corpse on the ground.

"No, no objection." He could only admit defeat.

Su Jinxia smiled with satisfaction, "That's good. When gathering the troops, you still need Lord Shi to come forward. Just say that you have received intelligence that the imperial court will attack the city gate at dawn this morning. Long guns and cannons cannot resist, so we retreated overnight! If anyone asks about Chen Zhen and the others, just say that they have already fled first."

Shi Lang sighed deeply. This was the only way to delay; otherwise, chaos would ensue!

Su Jin gave the order, "Begin the operation!"

Apart from Shi Lang, no one wanted to stay in Fugu City.

Staying meant fighting and dying, so everyone acted swiftly upon hearing the order to retreat.

Some of Chen Zhen's loyal followers did not believe his claim of fleeing and wanted to cause trouble.

Zhang Qi knew who the good people were and who the bad guys were. He was ruthless and decisive towards the bad guys, and he put the principle of "kill without mercy" into practice very well.

Before dawn, the entire army withdrew, leaving only some local soldiers who were unwilling to leave and stayed to guard the city gate.

Su Jin gave instructions to delay the news of the rebel army's retreat as much as possible, and that if the imperial court attacked, there would be no need to resist.

The following afternoon, Shen Qianxue received intelligence that the entire rebel army had retreated.

But he was already the first to receive the intelligence.

The retreat of the rebels was a huge surprise to Shen Qianxue.

Based on Shen Qianxue's understanding of Chen Zhen, he is not the type to turn back; he will fight to the bitter end, even if it means going all out.

Moreover, Fugu City is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it has the support of New Continent for supplies. In this battle, he has the advantage of favorable timing and terrain.

Why did they retreat?

Shen Qianxue was completely baffled. She ordered her spies to continue to inquire about the details, while she herself hurriedly went to the government office to discuss the matter with Zhou Ji.

A moment of silence fell over the meeting.

Zhou Ji sighed deeply, "Liu Wei hasn't received the news yet. If he did, he'd probably be overjoyed."

The fact that the enemy retreated without a fight is enough to demonstrate General Liu Wei's divine leadership and his formidable reputation.

But for Zhou Ji, it was a terrible situation.

His sole purpose in coming here was to annihilate Chen Zhen's rebel army. Now that Chen Zhen has retreated, it will undoubtedly increase the difficulty of persuading him to surrender.

Zhou Wenshu sighed, "Perhaps we should have listened to the prince's advice and killed Chen Zhen, starting from within to control the rebels."

Upon hearing this, Shen Xi became unhappy.

Initially, it was Shen Qianxue who advocated a gradual approach, starting with persuading the enemy to surrender.

Shen Xi said, “Killing Chen Zhen is easy, but we don’t understand the internal situation of the rebels. If we act rashly, it is very likely that the rebels will collapse completely. At that time, everyone will be on their own. How can we recruit them? Moreover, they are extremely vicious. If we venture in rashly, it is very likely that we will suffer heavy losses.”

Zhou Wenshu's face darkened after being rebuked.

Zhou Ji looked around and spoke up to mediate, saying, "Why bring this up now? I only mentioned it casually back then. Qianxue was very thoughtful. It's just that the situation has changed."

He changed the subject and asked Shen Qianxue, "Qianxue, what are your plans next? Do you have any good ideas?"

Shen Qianxue gently raised her eyes. Zhou Ji said he didn't blame her, but Phoenix Pavilion was responsible for recruiting rebels. Now that the rebels had escaped, he had an inescapable responsibility.

Shen Qianxue pursed her lips and said, "Your Highness, please stay and accompany General Liu Wei to retake the city. I will personally lead the Phoenix Pavilion to pursue the rebel army."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ji secretly breathed a sigh of relief. "With Qianxue taking action, I'm relieved. But you need to be careful. It would be best if you could recruit them, but if not, there's no need to force it."

The tone shifted abruptly, revealing concern.

Shen Qianxue nodded, "Your Highness, rest assured, I know what I'm doing."

After the meeting, Shen Qianxue left the government office and returned to the Phoenix Pavilion branch.

"How's the situation in Fugu City going?"

Shen Xi shook her head. "There's still no news. Should we wait?"

Shen Qianxue frowned, a sense of unease creeping into her heart.

Intuition and reason both told him that something must have gone wrong, but he couldn't wait any longer.

The rebels occupied a total of three cities. If they retreated to Xinzhou, it would be manageable; but if they ran back to Zhuanghe, things would be bad.

He coldly ordered, "Go and gather the men, then we can set off."

Shen Xi accepted the order and immediately went to carry it out.

Soon, Shen Qianxue set off, rushing towards Xinzhou overnight to pursue the rebel army.