After a thorough investigation, Anderdev eliminated all the spies planted in the border troops by the imperial court.

After cleaning up the battlefield, Andrzej led the remaining 20,000-plus border guards toward Parthia.

By this time, most of these soldiers also knew that their general had surrendered.

However, since Anderjee usually treated these soldiers well and never stopped providing them with food and pay, the border guards only recognized their general and not their king.

They did whatever their general ordered them to do.

Meanwhile, Ma Teng led his Bedouin cavalry back to the outskirts of Anlia.

Upon seeing Andrzej's seal, the five thousand soldiers left to guard the city immediately surrendered.

Thus, the defenses of Northwest Parthia were completely broken, and the entire Northwest region, and even its heartland, were completely exposed to their hooves.

If it weren't for the Crown Prince's plans, Ma Teng would have led his army straight to Parthia.

After settling in Anlia City, Ma Teng immediately dispatched several fast horses to head towards Gongsun Zan and Yizhou respectively.

...

September 18th, the 27th year of the Kaiyuan era.

Two hundred miles southwest of the Parthian capital, a city that originally belonged to Parthia now flies the banner of the Han Dynasty.

This city, in terms of both area and population, ranks among the top five in Parthia.

Gongsun Zan led a relief army of 60,000 men and attacked for half a month before finally defeating the servants and slaves who were organized by the noble lords in the city.

Inside the city lord's mansion, Gongsun Zan sat casually behind a desk, listening to his deputy's report on the battle situation.

"General, in this battle, the relief army suffered 5,321 dead, about 1,700 lightly wounded, and nearly 3,000 seriously wounded, resulting in a loss of about 10,000 men, which is close to 20%..."

"What about the White Horse Cavalry? How many casualties did they suffer?"

Gongsun Zan paid no attention to the casualty figures reported by his deputy, focusing only on the situation of his own men.

"The White Horse Cavalry suffered a total of 325 lightly wounded, 70 seriously wounded, and 4 killed in action…!" A bitter expression appeared on the deputy general's face as he spoke of the White Horse Cavalry's casualties.

"What happened? Didn't I order our men not to attack the city? Why are there still casualties?" Upon hearing that four people had died in battle, Gongsun Zan's face immediately darkened.

"General, our bows and arrows are getting old, and their range is much shorter than before. In order to cover the relief army's attack on the city, our brothers have to get close to the city walls and exchange fire with the defenders. Those brothers were all accidentally hit by stray arrows..."

Gongsun Zan frowned slightly and pondered for a moment before saying, "In that case, you should immediately send someone to Ansu City to report our situation to His Highness the Crown Prince and request that a batch of military equipment be transferred here."

As for the upcoming siege, our men should not participate; lend their bows and arrows to the relief army!

"Here you go!"

The lieutenant agreed and then bowed and withdrew.

Shortly after the deputy general left, the messenger sent by Ma Teng also found Gongsun Zan.

After reading Ma Teng's letter, Gongsun Zan pondered for a moment, then looked at the messenger and said in a deep voice, "I know everything. Go back and tell Brother Shoucheng to send 5,000 elite cavalry to raid the northern part of the Parthian capital. Remember, only raid, do not attack the city!"

"Here you go!"

The messenger agreed and then quickly left.

After the messenger left, Gongsun Zan sent men to summon all the generals of the relief army.

These generals were all brought by Gongsun Zan from Molo City, and their loyalty and combat effectiveness were beyond question.

Glancing at the crowd, Gongsun Zan confidently proclaimed, "Gentlemen, we are now only two hundred li from the capital. It won't be long before we capture the capital and liberate all the people of the country!"

"General, what are we waiting for? Let's set off immediately!"

"That's right! We'll storm the capital, slaughter all those nobles and ministers, and save the people of the whole country!"

Upon hearing this, the officers could not hide their excitement, and their fighting spirit soared.

Gongsun Zan waved his hand, suppressing the crowd's excitement, and said in a deep voice, "We suffered heavy casualties in attacking this city, and the next city will be even more difficult to conquer. Therefore, we need more people to join us in attacking the city!"

A young officer stood up and said, “General, rest assured, I have already investigated and found that there are more than 40,000 able-bodied men in this city. Our men have already begun to distribute money, food and supplies to them. I believe that in another two days, they will all be able to be recruited into our ranks!”

Upon hearing this, Gongsun Zan nodded in satisfaction: "Very good. Issue the order that the army rest for two days before setting off!"

"Here you go!!"

The officers agreed and then dispersed to begin preparations.

At the same time, news spread that Gongsun Zan had led the relief army to capture the city.

Upon hearing this news, the ministers in the capital and the noble lords along the route were terrified.

The fact that the relief army had captured those small towns before only made them feel a little worried. After all, those small towns had almost no garrison and the city walls were extremely low, so a few hundred or a thousand people could easily break through them.

However, the fact that this relief army composed of peasants had actually breached a large city guarded by several thousand people came as a great surprise to everyone.

Although the thousands of guards were all servants and slaves under the noble lords, and their fighting strength was not comparable to that of the regular army, they still made the Parthian king and his ministers, nobles and lords feel afraid.

These rescue forces not only want money but also lives. If they really get here, we'll have nothing left.

In an instant, the nobles and lords of the surrounding cities, including the capital, stopped hiding their true intentions and began to open their coffers and recruit servants and buy slaves on a large scale in order to defend their cities and protect their lives and property.

While the noble lords of Parthia were busy recruiting men, Andrzejf's border troops finally arrived in the capital.

Upon seeing Andrzej's large border army, the Parthian king and his noble lords finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, the border guards have been fighting invaders for many years. They are not only experienced in defending the city, but their combat effectiveness is also unquestionable. With them around, the rescue army would find it difficult to make any further progress.

Subsequently, the Parthian king personally summoned Andrzej and appointed him as general, in charge of the defense of the capital and surrounding cities.

Of course, in order to encourage Andrzej to work harder, the Parthian king also sent people to bring his parents, wife, children, and a group of people to the palace for "care".

Anderjee didn't say much about this, but asked the Parthian king to grant him the authority to command the slaves recruited by the noble lords. Then he led his army toward the city that Gongsun Zan was preparing to attack.