Philby had received Yun Zhe's warning long ago and had made ample preparations.

However, Philby was still completely defeated by Kurman's cavalry. And he was defeated in a single blow.

What Philby found hard to accept was that the other side had not used any underhanded means, but had instead carried out a long-distance raid openly under the cover of night.

Despite their long-distance campaign and the fact that they fought overnight, they still managed to defeat Philby's well-prepared soldiers.

Philby found this outcome unacceptable, but his opponents gave him no time to reflect. Instead, they seized the entire castle while Philby's army was routed. Philby was forced to flee with his remaining troops towards Yun Zhe's direction.

Things suddenly became interesting.

Overnight, Yun Zhe's troops faced attacks from two directions. To make matters worse, another army had clearly bypassed the city walls, making it easier to attack them.

After dealing with the day's mess, Yun Zhe had a vague sense that something even worse awaited him. But he certainly hadn't expected that Philby wouldn't even last one night.

In the middle of the night, Yun Zhe was awakened by a commotion at the gate. Still half-asleep, Yun Zhe saw hundreds of disheveled soldiers, holding torches and making a ruckus at the gate. In the dim firelight, Yun Zhe finally recognized the dejected Philby.

"Hey, old friend Philby, come on, stop talking, I've got a good bottle of wine here, let's have a drink."

Upon hearing the voice, Philby paused for a moment, then awkwardly dismounted and walked to Yun Zhe's side.

"I didn't expect it. The enemy is really strong. Their cavalry rushed here overnight and launched a charge without even resting. We couldn't resist them at all."

Yun Zhe quickly pulled Philby back, who was about to continue talking; Yun Zhe didn't want to lose face at this moment. The two quickly went into Yun Zhe's house, and after looking around, Yun Zhe carefully inquired about Philby's current situation.

"Of course, I was a little careless. I thought they definitely wouldn't attack under the cover of night, but I didn't expect them to launch a full-scale attack. I couldn't hold them off in one wave, and then I was completely overwhelmed."

Yun Zhe nodded; he also felt that if Philby hadn't underestimated his opponent, he wouldn't have fared so poorly. He hadn't even managed to hold on for the entire night.

“How many men do you have left? We can hold out, but things might get a little difficult.” Yun Zhe unfolded a piece of parchment and pointed it out to Philby. “Here, here, there’s nowhere to defend ourselves. It’s all plains. There’s really not much we can do.”

Philby's expression turned serious. He finally realized that his underestimation of the enemy had completely exposed his most vulnerable flank. At this moment, he only had less than five hundred defeated soldiers left, and there was very little he could do to help.

Yun Zhe glanced at Philby, unsure of what to say. He put away the map. "At least tonight is still Christmas Eve. Get some rest. After tonight, you probably won't have time to rest anymore."

News of Philby's defeat quickly spread throughout the castle. Yun Zhe had just left Philby's place when he bumped into Gao and Morrison. Both looked anxious.

"Sir, something terrible has happened! Philby's defeated soldiers are boasting about how strong Kurman's soldiers are, and morale is in jeopardy!"

Yun Zhe shrugged. This was something he had expected, but given his own poor performance today, it seemed inappropriate to forcefully prove that the other party was lying.

"Keep a close eye on the soldiers, prevent mutiny and desertion. Forget about strength for now. Calm the soldiers down. No matter how strong the enemy is, we must continue fighting. It's not that we'll give up just because they're strong. Keeping this in mind will hopefully have some effect."

After Yun Zhe finished speaking, Gao and Yun Zhe looked at each other, feeling that this was the only thing they could do. "I'll separate those people right now to prevent them from continuing to spread rumors," Gao finally realized and quickly said.

Yun Zhe nodded, indicating his agreement with this approach.

On the other side of the door, Philby, who heard Yun Zhe's words, felt even worse. He couldn't sleep, so he finally got dressed and ran out to personally teach his subordinates who were talking nonsense a lesson.

While things were in chaos at Yunzhe's place, Kurman was enjoying himself.

Because the attack went smoothly and things were developing as expected, Kuhlmann finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Marquis Courmann sat in Philby's simple room, sipping fine red wine, feeling an indescribable sense of comfort.

Things have progressed so smoothly that the next step is to launch a two-pronged attack on Dornitzburg and achieve final victory.

After the victory, the next step would be to further strengthen the army and prepare for the capture of Donicburg in one fell swoop.

Thinking of this, Kurman couldn't help but feel happy. Although Belvador did not allow his expansion, as long as the meat was in his stomach, what others said would be nothing but meaningless chatter.