After Duanhua’s carriage has left, Qin Luan stood at the entrance of the Eastern Palace for a while without moving.
Little Chengzi, who had gone out of the palace to make purchases, saw a woman standing at the door in the distance. Coming closer, he recognized Qin Luan and immediately asked, "Officer Qin, why aren’t you returning to the palace? Standing here alone for so long?"
Qin Luan sighed, "His Highness has left the Capital, I don’t know when he will return. I expect the Eastern Palace to be peaceful for a while from today."
Upon hearing this, Little Chengzi also sighed, "Indeed, His Highness didn’t take us with him, considering us a burden, he only took Little Quanzi with him. It’s really worrying. What if he doesn’t eat or drink well?"
Qin Luan remained silent.
The two entered the Eastern Palace, closed the small gate, and walked farther inside.
It was only then that Little Chengzi recalled, "Officer Qin, how did you return? Why didn’t you take a carriage?"
"Princess Duanhua brought me back. She also went to the city outskirts to see off the Crown Prince." Remembering the words Duanhua had left before parting, Qin Luan felt a sinking feeling in her heart. Was her affection so evident? Su Rong did not take her, but Duanhua kindly reminded her.
"Oh, so it was the Princess who brought you back. She’s really different from before." Little Chengzi said, "She’s more generous and courteous than before, but it’s unclear who she will choose for her circuit horse."
Qin Luan did not take the bait.
Seeing that Qin Luan was not interested in talking, Little Chengzi did not push further, wondering if Officer Qin was upset about the Crown Prince leaving the Capital.
Before the Crown Prince Yan Huisheng left the Capital to the border town, besides the 5,000 Imperial Guard and 5,000 soldiers of the Patrol Camp left in the Capital, he mobilized all the soldiers and sent them all to the border town.
By this time at the border town, the Duke had been there for two days. He had generally figured out that Dawei had no intention of attacking Daliang. The attack on Daliang’s border town was probably just a distraction to create tension in Daliang’s situation.
After touring the city, he asked Su Xingze, "What do you think?"
Su Xingze’s face was serious, "According to you, Duke, Dawei has no intention of sending troops to Daliang, but they have unilaterally torn up the agreement and attacked the border town. I’m afraid their goal is not that simple."
He looked in the direction of Nanchu, "I haven’t received a letter from my seventh sister for two months. Presumably, the situation in Nanchu is not promising. I’m afraid Dawei is following the precedent of supporting Zhang Ping’s seizure of power and supporting the Nangong Family’s takeover of Nanchu. Dawei’s disturbance of Daliang’s border town is probably aimed at Nanchu."
"Correct." The Duke looked at Su Xingze approvingly, "Before I left the Capital, the Crown Prince gave me a secret order, authorizing me to handle the border town matters fully. In your opinion, if I declare war on Dawei tomorrow, how about that?"
Su Xingze was taken aback, "The border town now has a total of two hundred thousand soldiers."
After the Crown Prince of Dawei retreated his troops from the border town, initially there were only twenty thousand soldiers left. They all returned to the interior. Upon hearing of Dawei’s attack, he got the news and urgently summoned the soldiers. When the Duke arrived, he brought some soldiers, which added up to only two hundred thousand.
"The number of Dawei’s troops stationed at the border now may not exceed ours." The Duke said, "If Dawei’s attack on Daliang’s border town is just a decoy, and they are actually planning to invade Nanchu, if we Daliang do not intervene, then Nanchu is in danger. Once Nanchu is taken by Dawei, not to mention Su Rong and Zhou Gu will lose their foothold in Nanchu, but Daliang itself will also be in danger."
Su Xingze also considered this, "What the Duke said is true."
"Give the order down, wet all the soldiers today, attack Dawei tomorrow." The Duke made up his mind, "I will write a letter to the Crown Prince and send someone to rush back to the Capital."
Su Xingze admired, "Yes."
Declaring war on Dawei was not a small matter. He thought that even if the Duke himself arrived, he would still seek advice from the Crown Prince and wait for his correspondence. He didn’t expect the Crown Prince to let the Duke make the decision, and the Duke made the decision straightforwardly and resolutely.
That day, the military order was passed on to the three armies and the Duke summoned the generals to discuss the siege strategy.
So, on the second day, dawn was just breaking, at the darkest hour, Daliang suddenly broke through Dawei’s border line and waged war on Dawei’s Rong City.
The fire of war sounded, startling the commander of Rong City, Dawei’s border town. They hurriedly summoned their troops to respond.
Rong City had one hundred thousand soldiers to defend the city, but Daliang had two hundred thousand soldiers. The soldiers in Rong City had a longer range for their crossbow arrows than the crossbow arrows in the hands of the Daliang soldiers. But Daliang had sturdy shields and the well-trained Zhou Family’s army. In addition, the Duke was personally commanding. The Daliang soldiers were in high spirits. After fighting for three days and nights without rest, they broke down the city gate of Rong City and killed their way into Rong City.
Seeing that they could no longer defend, the city guards of Rong City fled in panic, taking the remaining tens of thousands of crippled soldiers out of Rong City.
The Duke led his soldiers into Rong City, tore down Dawei’s flag, and hoisted the flag of Daliang.
The Daliang soldiers, who had been fighting hard for three days and nights, were all filled with the joy of victory. The Duke wiped the blood off his face and gave the order, "Rest for a day, attack the next city, Wang City, give the order down, reward the three armies today, and rush eight hundred li to send the good news back to the Capital."
Su Xingze pulled out his handkerchief, wiped the blood off his face, and agreed with a smile.
The battle was not easy, but they still won in the end, thanks to Dawei being completely unprepared for Daliang’s sudden attack. It wasn’t a sneak attack, but a real war. The Duke lived up to his reputation. After three nights, with both sides exhausted, he captured Rong City in one fell swoop.
The defeated city guard of Rong City, Helan Ying, was the nephew of Dawei’s top general, Helan Jue. Compared to Helan Jue, this young general was naturally a bit inexperienced. Plus, the garrison forces at Dawei’s Rong City were only one hundred thousand, no match for the Duke.
While leading his remaining tens of thousands of scattered soldiers to flee, Helan Ying dispatched a courier to rush the news to the Royal Capital of Dawei.
Helan Ying withdrew several tens of li and saw no pursuing troops from behind. Frustrated, he reined in his horse, his eyes red with anger, "How dare Daliang declare war! How dare they declare war!"
Many of the soldiers were covered in blood, exhausted from fighting, their spirits drained by the defeat.
After fuming for a while, Helan Ying relented, realizing that no matter what, he couldn’t fight his way back and retake Rong City. All he could do now was retreat to Wang City and wait for reinforcements.
Wang City is a hundred li away from Rong City. When Helan Ying and his men arrived, they startled the city guard, Feng Zhan.
Wang City did not have many soldiers either, only twenty thousand. When Feng Zhan saw Helan Ying and heard that they had been defeated and Rong City had fallen, his face turned pale, "Three days ago, your urgent report, young General Helan, was sent to the Royal Capital. But now, there is still no response from the Capital. In my city, there are only twenty thousand soldiers. If, as you said, Daliang is attacking with two hundred thousand soldiers, my twenty thousand soldiers, plus your remaining..."
"Forty-five thousand." Helan Ying said with a stern face.
He had lost fifty-five thousand soldiers in Rong City.
Feng Zhan felt somewhat cold, "Even with your forty-five thousand soldiers, that’s not enough for a hundred thousand soldiers. What can we do?"
Helan Ying did not know either, but he knew he could only defend one city at a time and then wait for reinforcements.
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