Zhang Yun had been unconscious for one day and woke up the next night.
Hearing that he had woken up, Zhang Cheng breathed a sigh of relief. If all three of his nephews were to be killed beneath the walls of Nanping City, and he was the only one who managed to survive, if the news were to reach back to Jibei, his elder bother would surely suspect that he was the one who had plotted it, even though he had never had such intentions.
With some assistance, he visited Zhang Yun’s camp. Seeing Zhang Yun lying in bed looking pale, he moved forward and asked, "Yun, how are you feeling? Are you alright?"
"Uncle, I’m alright." Seeing that Zhang Cheng also looked pale and appeared weak due to injury, Zhang Yun’s expression turned serious, "Uncle, what happened to you?"
He had just woken up and didn’t get a chance to ask about what occurred after he was wounded by Zhou Gu.
Zhang Cheng answered, "I was also targeted for assassination. It happened simultaneously to when you were attacked."
Zhang Yun immediately asked, "Who tried to assassinate you, Uncle?"
Zhang Cheng shook his head, "The person had their face covered, I don’t who it was."
He looked at Zhang Yun, expressing some suspicion, "The person who tried to assassinate you, did you get a clear look at him? Was he really Zhou Gu from the Duke Residence?"
"It was him." Zhang Yun was very certain, "There was no face mask, his face wasn’t covered. I’ve seen his portrait before, it was him in person, there’s no mistake."
"If you’re so sure, then he really has a huge courage." Zhang Cheng commented, then proceeded to briefly explain the circumstances of the previous night’s covert infiltration, the assassination, Zhang Xing’s death, and the fruitless effort of sending men to search the mountain the entire day.
"Uncle, you shouldn’t have sent men to search the mountain. The most important thing to do is to launch an attack on the city as soon as possible." Zhang Yun disagreed.
"Hey, how can we launch an attack in our current state? I’ve been lying in the camp the whole day, and you’ve been unconscious." Zhang Cheng said, "We need to heal for a few days. Without a commander, even if we could capture the city, the casualties would be heavy. We have to postpone the attack."
He was still being considerate of his troops; after all, growing the army was not an easy task.
Zhang Yun’s complexion turned grave, but he felt that Zhang Cheng’s words made sense, "But I’m afraid that the longer we delay, the more complications could arise."
"Don’t worry, we surely can hang on for three more days. Even if news leaks out and the imperial court sends reinforcements, they won’t arrive so quickly. As long as we can capture Nanping City before they arrive, we will be fine." Zhang Cheng reasoned.
Zhang Yun nodded and said, "Since you said that, Uncle, let’s follow your plan."
Even though he feels restless, he knew perfectly well the state of his body. His injuries were indeed severe, leaving him incapacitated.
"Last night, your condition was highly critical. Zhou Gu’s sword was dangerously close to your heart. Shortly after the military doctor bandaged you, you developed a high fever. It was a difficult task to get your temperature down. So, you better rest and recover." Zhang Cheng was thankful for his sensible decision. He had left a guard at his camp after this nephew arrived and demanded an attack without any regards for Zhang Mao’s life. This got him suspecting that he might grab power at this opportunity. Unexpectedly, his precaution turned out to be really effective; although it didn’t protect him, it did defend against someone else. The intruder who broke into his camp last night was definitely a master, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to kill his guard and manage to wound him. If it were only him last night, he would have definitely ended up like Zhang Xing, no doubt about it.
Zhang Yun nodded, "I’ll follow your advice, Uncle."
The two discussed for a little while longer, but Zhang Yun couldn’t bear his physical weakness and fell back asleep. Zhang Cheng also returned to his camp, not recalling the soldiers he had sent to search and keeping them at their task.
In Nanping City, Ning Chi and his men had been constantly on high alert, not daring to let their guard down even a bit. Although the camp of the two hundred thousand troops was thrown into chaos the previous night, they didn’t know what had caused it. Despite the good opportunity, Ning Chi still didn’t dare to make any moves. After all, it was two hundred thousand troops, and he only had thirty thousand. Even if they tried to seize the opportunity, they wouldn’t stand a chance against two hundred thousand troops.
All Ning Chi could do was to be fully armed and on defense, while anxiously waiting for reinforcements.
Ning Ze was also anxious. Whenever he had the chance, he visited the dungeon to have a chat with Zhang Mao and ask him about the Pingxi General’s Residence in Jibei. At this point, Zhang Mao no longer waited for Su Rong’s orders and answered every question, and according to Ning Ze’s judgement, all his statements were seemingly true.
For instance, Zhang Mao told him that the Pingxi General’s Residence in Jibei had a force of four hundred and fifty thousand troops.
Ning Ze was shocked, "Four hundred and fifty thousand?"
He remembered that the Duke Residence only had three hundred thousand troops, right?
Zhang Mao nodded. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
Ning Ze found it hard to believe, "Where did all these people come from? Why were there so many people enlisting in the army in Jibei?"
Based on the imperial court’s regulations, Jibei was only allowed to maintain a force of one hundred thousand troops. From where did these extra three hundred and fifty thousand troops come from? What an astonishing figure. No wonder why the Pingxi General’s Residence has been consuming so much of the national treasury over the years.
"My father has an imperial edict secretly authorizing him to expand the Jibei army." Zhang Mao said, "As you know, over the years, His Majesty had been wary of the Eastern Palace and the Duke Residence, fearing that they would join hands, threatening his rule. My father knew that His Majesty was uneasy, so at the time of his visit to the capital to celebrate the Dowager Empress’s birthday, he persuaded His Majesty to secretly supplement the army, to surpass that of the Duke Residence, as a precaution should the Duke Residence cause an uproar."
Ning Ze nodded, the Empress Dowager’s death was four years ago so based on this, Zhang Ping persuaded His Majesty earlier than expected. After all, this happened when the Empress Dowager was still alive.
He felt it would’ve been better if he hadn’t heard this news. With such a large number of troops in Jibei, is Daliang going to fall?
He was at a loss for words, "How could His Majesty be so incompetent?"
"Indeed, he is extremely incompetent. He doesn’t trust the Crown Prince or the Duke Residence, but he trusts my father instead." Zhang Mao said.
Ning Ze whispered, "How could such an incompetent Emperor father such a wise Crown Prince? Could it be that the Crown Prince is not His Majesty’s biological son?"
Zhang Mao remained silent; he didn’t know anything about that.
Ning Ze shook his head, "No, no, they must be related. Spitting it away, I can’t think like this anymore. The seventh princess and the Crown Prince are cousins and have a great relationship. I can no longer talk about this anymore, the seventh princess supports the Crown Prince. If she hears about this, what if she decides not to take me to Nanchu?"
Zhang Mao looked at him, "Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself? Shouldn’t you be thinking about how to get past the situation at hand? As long as there’s a siege outside and reinforcements don’t arrive, are you sure you’ll be able to survive and escape from Nanping City to Nanchu?"
Ning Ze didn’t like hearing that, he said viciously, "As long as there’s a siege outside, if we can’t hold it up, I will kill you first. If I die, you won’t live either, we will die together. You’d better pray that your uncle considers your life and doesn’t attack. Hopefully, reinforcements will arrive soon. Otherwise, we will have to be a pair of ghosts in the underworld."
Zhang Mao: "..."
He already knew that he had given up on escaping or being rescued a while ago, ever since he was captured.
Seeing him silent, Ning Ze grunted, "Last night, the army camp of Jibei was in chaos for a while, there was a lot of shouting and killing. It seemed like assassins had infiltrated it. Later, my older brother said that the Jibei army dispatched a hundred thousand troops externally, seeming to go do something. However, being trapped in the city, we can’t get any precise information about what they went to do. But from speculation, they won’t be launching an attack anytime soon."
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