A war broke out on the border and the atmosphere in the court was somewhat tense.

Wu Bangtai was raising military funds for the troops on the front line every day, and the Ministry of Industry was also making weapons for the front line every day.

Silver was not in short supply. Many places planted lotus roots last year, and many wine-making workshops were expanded before the New Year. Now, a large amount of wine was transported to the south by Wang Xingren every day and sold to foreign merchants coming from the sea. All the silver earned by Wang Xingren was handed over to the national treasury.

Yongning Kingdom can afford it temporarily, but if it continues for a long time, it will definitely not be able to outlast the other two countries combined.

Emperor Yongxing was under great pressure as he could not afford the long-term consumption and could not win the battle by force.

The situation on the Tibetan side is slightly better; their combat power is not very strong, and the Duke of Wei is capable of dealing with them.

But the grassland army is not easy to deal with. The grassland people have many cavalry, and it is not feasible to go out of the city to meet the enemy.

Emperor Yongxing was waiting, waiting for news from Duerman, and also waiting for the arrival of winter.

When winter comes, the grassland people and Tubo will be short of food and fodder. They will either withdraw their troops and wait until next year, or invade the territory of Yongning before winter comes.

The grassland people and Tubo also knew this, so they kept attacking the city, trying to capture it before winter came.

The grassland people used chariots to push huge and thick shields forward. Although the Yongning Kingdom used kerosene attacks to burn the shields and chariots, they still could not stop the advance of the army.

However, it was not easy for the grassland people and Tubo to attack the city wall. The wall had been raised and thickened. As long as the enemy approached the wall, kerosene would be poured down, and there would be a sea of fire under the wall, making it impossible for the enemy to climb up the wall.

It was September now. During the past four months, there had been a small-scale siege almost every three days and a large-scale siege almost every five days. The city walls were filled with corpses.

Tubo and grassland each suffered more than 100,000 casualties, but both countries gradually sent reinforcements.

The Yongning Kingdom suffered heavy casualties, and the atmosphere in the court and among the people was somewhat depressing. They were all afraid that the Tibetan and grassland armies would invade.

Zhang Hulan gave Queen Ye an idea, asking the painter to paint the scene of the two armies fighting on the battlefield, and then add some passionate text to it and publish it in the newspaper.

Queen Ye was worried that this would cause panic among the people. After all, the people were very afraid of war.

Zhang Hulan told Queen Ye, "Your Majesty, the common people are afraid of war, but we should let the people of the world know why we are going to war.

We are not fighting with others for no reason. It is other countries and alien races that bully us, so we have to resist.

Those fighting on the front lines are their husbands and sons, the backbone of ordinary people's families. They certainly hope that their families can return home safely.

They fought not only to protect the emperor and the court, but also their families behind them.

We need to let everyone know that their families are fighting on the front lines; we can’t do anything in the rear, but we can provide food for the soldiers fighting on the front lines, so that they can eat well, wear warm clothes, and have the strength to kill the enemy.”

Empress Ye did not dare to make a decision, so she told Emperor Yongxing about Zhang Hulan's idea. Emperor Yongxing asked Empress Ye to do as Zhang Hulan said.

So all the major newspapers began to report news from the front battlefield, with vivid and lively illustrations, causing panic among the people.

But seeing those bloody and tragic scenes also made people all over the world feel angry. Among those piles of corpses, there might be their family members...

Many people took out their money, food and clothes from their homes and went to the government office, saying that they wanted to send them to the soldiers at the border.

There were also young people clamoring to join the army and fight the enemy at the border.

By late September, the offensives by the grassland people and Tubo became more intense, with thousands of casualties every day.

On this morning, a large number of "reinforcements" arrived for the grassland army. The number seemed to be quite large, about 40,000 to 50,000 people, and the morale of the grassland people was greatly boosted.

However, the 50,000-strong army did not stop until they reached the rear of the grassland army. Instead, they showed signs of speeding up.

When the prairie general realized something was wrong, the 50,000 troops pierced into the prairie army like a sharp arrow, and the two sides immediately started fighting.

Jing'an Hou on the city wall saw this scene and immediately ordered: "Raise the firing angle of the crossbows and attack with all your strength.

Open the city gates and follow me to kill the enemy..."

The soldiers immediately raised the shooting angle of the crossbows so that the arrows could fly farther. Now there was no need for accuracy, just shoot.

The crossbow arrows flew over the front row of shields and fell into the grassland army, causing considerable panic among them.

Just as Marquis Jing'an was about to descend from the city wall and lead his troops out of the city, Old Marquis Wang stopped him and said, "You stay here and I'll go."

Marquis Jing'an chopped old Marquis Wang on the back of his neck with a knife. Old Marquis Wang rolled his eyes and fainted.

"Take the old marquis down to rest."

"Yes!" Immediately, soldiers carried Lord Wang away.

Jing'an Hou muttered, "Why are you still trying to be brave?"

Marquis Jing'an led his army out of the city and joined forces with the 50,000 troops to attack the grassland army.

The 50,000 troops were brought by Duerman, who caught the grassland army by surprise.

The general of the grassland was ordering the army to change direction to meet the attack, leaving only a part of the troops to guard against the army of Yongning.

Marquis Jing'an led the army out of the city and ordered the front-row heavy cavalry to charge directly.

When the Yongning army rushed to the grassland army, the crossbows on the city wall stopped attacking.

Under the attack of Duerman, Marquis Jing'an and powerful crossbows, the grassland army suffered heavy casualties, the formation of the grassland army was completely disrupted, and some grassland soldiers began to disintegrate and flee.

We are all born and raised by our parents, so who wouldn't be afraid of death? Once the soldiers start to flee, their morale will also be gone.

Although the grassland army was clearly losing, hundreds of thousands of people could not completely defeat it in one fell swoop.

Even if there are hundreds of thousands of pigs waiting to be slaughtered, it will take some time.

The battle lasted a whole day, and it was not until the afternoon that the grassland army was completely defeated.

The grassland army suffered nearly 100,000 casualties, tens of thousands surrendered, and the rest fled in all directions.

Marquis Jing'an ordered the army to rest in place, count casualties, eat and rest, and then ordered 50,000 troops in the city to pursue the fleeing grassland deserters.

Duerman found Jing'an Hou and asked, "My Lord, what are the arrangements for the future?"

Jing'an Hou said, "The soldiers and horses are tired today. Let's rest for a night and set off early tomorrow morning to reach the grassland king's court."

Duerman cupped his hands and said, "Okay, I'll follow your orders, sir."

In this battle, many soldiers of Yongning State also died. After counting, more than 10,000 people were killed, more than 10,000 were seriously injured, and more than 20,000 were slightly injured.

But compared to the casualties suffered by the grassland army, this was a great victory.

More than 7,000 of Durman's troops were killed, more than 3,000 were seriously injured, and more than 5,000 were slightly injured.

The seriously injured soldiers will stay here to recuperate, and those with minor injuries that do not affect the battle will set out with the main army tomorrow.