Outside Zhuozhou City, inside the besieged camp of the Imperial Tiger Army.

Inside the central command tent, the mighty General Wu Sanjia, his brow furrowed, slumped back in his chair, staring at the empty tent ceiling. He raised his hand to press on his temples to relieve his headache.

At this time, seven days had passed since Wu Sanjia wrote a letter to Prime Minister Qin Ruhui, requesting military pay for his soldiers.

But it was as if it had sunk into the sea, without a trace.

"Report—"

"Reporting to the General, Deputy General Zhao Kui requests an audience!"

At this moment, a personal guard announced from outside the tent that Vice General Zhao Kui was requesting an audience.

"Let General Zhao in!"

As he spoke, Wu Sanjia mustered his spirits, put away the dejected and helpless expression on his face, and regained his usual energetic demeanor.

"General—"

Zhao Kui's voice arrived before he did.

"The compensation payments to the fallen soldiers of Mozhou City have all been distributed, totaling 987,000 taels of silver. The remaining 13,000 taels of silver are in the hands of the logistics and supply officers."

Before he finished speaking, Deputy General Zhao Kui had already approached Wu Sanjia and continued, "General, some lower-ranking soldiers in the army have begun to discuss this."

"Why is it that the widows of the fallen soldiers have already received the imperial court's pensions, but their military rewards for the Battle of Mozhou, as well as the owed wages from the imperial court, have not yet been paid?"

Eh—

With that, Zhao Kui sighed and said, "This humble general has already given an order that it is strictly forbidden to discuss matters of military rewards and pay in private within the army!"

"However, suppressing the people's voices is more difficult than preventing a river from overflowing. This matter cannot be resolved simply by issuing strict orders to suppress it!"

Um!

Sitting upright in the center of the main command tent, Wu Sanjia simply nodded after listening to Zhao Kui's report and said, "General Zhao, you handled this matter very promptly, very well!"

Zhao Kui's expression was rather grim, but he finally couldn't help but ask, "General, what exactly do Prime Minister Qin and the imperial court mean?"

"If they continue to treat our Tiger Warriors as inhuman beings, why should we risk our lives for them?"

"These 100,000 elite troops were all personally recruited and trained by the General and himself. As long as the General gives the order, the General and his brothers will follow him to the death!"

Although Zhao Kui did not explicitly state that he wanted to break away from the Great Xin Dynasty, his meaning was already very clear.

"General Zhao, please calm down!"

Wu Sanjia waved his hand, signaling Zhao Kui not to get agitated.

He then said, "The imperial court also has its own difficulties. The late emperor's construction of the Grand Canal, his voyages to Southeast Asia, and the building of his mausoleum have already exhausted seven or eight tenths of the nation's resources."

"Even raising funds takes time!"

Zhao Kui said, "General, I know that raising funds will take time, but right now our Tiger Warriors new army is short of time!"

"Can you give us time, soldiers whose wages and rewards have been owed by the imperial court for so long?"

"Can the rebel army in Longcheng within Zhuozhou give us time?"

As he spoke, Zhao Kui finally couldn't help but present the intelligence he had just received from the scouts at the front to Wu Sanjia.

He lowered his voice and said, "General, this is intelligence gathered by my scouts at the front. Chang Yuchun, the commander of the rebel army in Longcheng, has ordered a large army to be mobilized from various prefectures in Youyun to Zhuozhou."

"At this time, the number of Longcheng rebels in the entire city of Zhuozhou has reached as high as 350,000!"

"At this critical juncture, if the morale of our Tiger Legion's new army falters, then it won't just be a question of whether we can take Zhuozhou and launch a northern expedition."

"The real question is, will our Tiger Legion be wiped out by the Dragon City rebels within the city?"

"What?"

Upon hearing this news, the mighty General Wu Sanjia, who was sitting upright in his tent, could no longer remain seated.

He suddenly stood up, snatched the military intelligence gathered by the scout from Zhao Kui's hand, and quickly flipped through it.

After a long silence, he asked with a serious expression, "General Zhao, is this news reliable?"

Um!

Zhao Kui nodded solemnly and said, "Our army has scouts and spies lurking within Zhuozhou City!"

“In recent days, there have been unusual troop movements in Zhuozhou City, with large armies carrying the banners of the Longcheng rebels constantly entering the city through the south gate.”

"etc!"

Wu Sanjia waved his hand, a glint of light flashing in his deep eyes, and said sternly, "This general has a feeling that something is not right!"

"If what the scouts reported is true, there are already 350,000 Longcheng rebels gathered in Zhuozhou City. Why doesn't the rebel commander, Chang Yuchun, take the initiative to come out of the city and fight me?"

"This general does not believe that Chang Yuchun would not know that there are only 100,000 elite Tiger Warriors besieging Zhuozhou City!"

Um?

Upon hearing this, Zhao Kui couldn't help but frown.

Yes, the 350,000 rebels in Longcheng are more than three times the size of the Tiger Legion outside the city.

Even if the rebel commander Chang Yuchun was not good at leading troops, how could he not understand the principle of "double your strength to attack" in military books?

As the saying goes, there must be something fishy going on when things seem abnormal.

The next moment, Wu Sanjia and Zhao Kui simultaneously slapped their foreheads in realization, exclaiming in unison:

"Dragon City Ironclad Cavalry!"

"Dragon City Ironclad Cavalry!"

The two then suddenly realized that the rebel army in Dragon City also had a super heavy cavalry force, the Iron Pagoda, whose men and horses were all clad in heavy armor.

The number of troops was exactly the same as the Iron Pagoda heavy cavalry in the Imperial Tiger Army, both numbering three thousand!

The weapons and equipment of this heavy cavalry were all captured by the late King Chen Polu when he defeated the Jin army's Iron Pagoda outside Zhuxian Town.

However, half of the heavily armored men were secretly intercepted by Chen Polu.

It wasn't until Chen Huai'an, the heir apparent of the Prince of Jin, rebelled in Longcheng and decisively defeated the Yunhui Army that these three thousand missing Iron Pagoda heavy armor sets reappeared.

Furthermore, it was with these three thousand heavy cavalry that Chen Huai'an decisively defeated the three hundred thousand Yunhui army.

They even marched north to conquer the Turkic Khaganate.

As the commander of the Tiger Warriors and the leader of three thousand Imperial Iron Cavalry, Wu Sanjia was naturally well aware of the fighting strength of the Iron Cavalry.

In the Battle of Mozhou, Wu Sanjia was able to decisively defeat Chang Yuchun, and the Iron Pagoda, which was used as a surprise force, played a crucial role in this victory.

This includes why Chang Yuchun, the rebel general who now commands 350,000 troops, remains secluded in the city and dares not confront the 100,000-strong Tiger Warrior New Army besieging the city.

It's likely that they were also wary of the battlefield dominance and deterrent power of Wu Sanjia's three thousand Ironclad Heavy Cavalry.

However, if the rebel leader Chen Huai'an were to lead three thousand Ironclad Cavalry of Longcheng to reinforce Zhuozhou City, the battlefield advantage of Wu Sanjia and the Tiger Legion would be instantly wiped out.

At that time, 350,000 rebel troops from Longcheng would face 100,000 new Tiger Army soldiers.

It's obvious who will emerge victorious!

At this thought, cold sweat broke out on Wu Sanjia's forehead.