When the old Duke arrived on horseback, he saw Yan Huisheng sheathing his sword, unharmed.
He sighed in relief and felt great gratification, "Your Highness is valiant, and I am old. My sword is rusty, and my reactions have slowed."
Yan Huisheng laughed softly, "With the old Duke maintaining our rear, I feel confident in going into battle. Please, do not belittle yourself. Today was not entirely without gains."
"Yes, we destroyed two siege cannons of Dawei today, which is a significant achievement," the old Duke replied, glancing at a silhouette atop the city wall of Qiangli City, shaking his head. "This second prince of Dawei, Yuan Chen, does not measure up to the Dawei Crown Prince, Yuan Zhao."
What was worst was not that Yuan Chen had few masters, but that his masters failed to save Helan Ying. Narrow-minded, they lost a senior general.
One should know that the old Duke had been fighting against Helan Ying these days. Although Helan Ying had lost six cities, the Duke thought that this young general of the Helan family was somewhat capable. It was not necessary for him to die today. He destroyed the siege cannons at the cost of his own life, not wanting them to fall into Daliang’s hands and be studied.
He had not resisted to the death even after losing six cities, but instead lost his life for two siege cannons.
The second prince on the city wall of Qiangli City, no matter for what reason, had never descended from it. His men did not think of completely destroying the siege cannons. Helan Ying’s men fought to their death to destroy the cannons, and yet his men did not save Helan Ying.
"It’s a great pity we were unable to obtain a siege cannon for study," said Yan Huisheng, who had personally killed Helan Ying and clearly saw the unwillingness in his eyes, as if he had not expected to die. "I heard he was one of Yuan Zhao’s men, and if Yuan Zhao had been here today, he would not have died."
"It’s a pity indeed, but Dawei’s men would never let us get ahold of their siege cannons. Let us rest for today! After some rest, we will siege the city again tonight," the old Duke said.
Yan Huisheng nodded.
The soldiers of Daliang called a ceasefire and began to clear the battlefield, collecting even the fragments of the exploded siege cannons.
Yuan Chen did not expect that in his first battle, not only did he gain no benefits, but he also lost two important siege cannons.
His face somber, he watched as Daliang’s soldiers withdrew. They cleaned up the battlefield, collected Helan Ying’s body, and he asked one of the leaders of his shadow guards: "Why did you not save Helan Ying?"
The leader lowered his head in guilt, "Your Highness, we couldn’t save him. You saw the situation yourself. If we had tried to save General Helan, we would have lost most of our men."
To lose a large number of his own men to save a defeated general, he thought it wasn’t worth it.
Yuan Chen had naturally noticed that as well, and he asked sternly: "Then why didn’t you destroy the siege cannon?"
The leader again lowered his head in shame, "I thought that if we fought to the death, we might be able to protect the siege cannons. After all, they are important weapons. Your Highness had promised the Emperor to protect them and not destroy them unless absolutely necessary."
The truth was that at that moment, he had wanted to destroy the cannons, but did not dare to. Helan Ying could destroy them, but their second prince could not.
Yuan Chen closed his eyes, "I encountered Yan Huisheng today, the Crown Prince of Daliang. Even if my father were here, we would not have been able to protect these two siege cannons. Unless...," he said through gritted teeth, "the Crown Prince were here."
Yuan Chen was reluctant to admit that he was not as good as Yuan Zhao, but had no choice but to accept it. Since his childhood, he was never as intelligent or talented as Yuan Zhao, nor did he receive as much trust and favor as Yuan Zhao did. Yuan Zhao had everything, a blessed life. If he had been the one to face Yan Huisheng today, perhaps Yan Huisheng would not have been able to destroy the two siege cannons.
After all, Yuan Zhao had numerous masters by his side. Leaving aside his own dark guard, even his prospective princess consort, a member of the Poison Doctor Sect, was enough to deter countless people.
With a dark expression, he gave his orders, "Clean up the battlefield, count the number of survivors. I must write a battle report to the Emperor."
It was not that he was trying to boost other’s morale by admitting his own defeat, it was just that after today’s battle, he realized he was no match for Yan Huisheng and the old Duke. The two siege cannons had been destroyed in a single battle, and he had lost tens of thousands of soldiers. His own military strength was originally less than that of Daliang, and he feared they would not be able to hold Qiangli City.
If he concealed this and did not report it, that would be the real harm to Dawei.
Therefore, Yuan Chen gritted his teeth and wrote two battle reports, ordering a messenger to deliver them urgently. One was sent to the royal capital of Dawei, and the other, to Nanchu.
After sending off the reports, Yuan Chen stood at the table, his expression changing, he sat down heavily on his chair after a long pause.
The two aides and vice general beside him looked at him, "Second Prince, don’t lose heart. We are not at the point where we can’t defend Qiangli City yet."
Yuan Chen said, "I’m not disheartened about the possibility of being unable to defend Qiangli City, I’m disheartened because I’m not the equal of the Crown Prince. Losing this opportunity now, I won’t have another one in the future."
This was something he had thought of at the time of deciding to personally send a battle report to Yuan Zhao. Over the years, he had always been ambitious and unwilling to submit. He wanted to overthrow Yuan Zhao, but had been constantly suppressed by him and unable to emerge. Now he had obtained the tiger talisman and command of 300,000 troops; it was his opportunity. However, he found today that he was unable to seize this chance, which was the most disheartening thing.
Hearing those words, the two aides and the vice general fell silent. They were Yuan Chen’s men, so of course they hoped that the Second Prince would ascend the throne, but they had to admit that they wouldn’t be able to win this battle based on what happened today.
The morale of Daliang’s soldiers was sky-high due to the prestige of the Crown Prince Yan Huisheng and the old Duke. Dawei had lost several battles and six cities. Their Second Prince, Yuan Chen, did not have much prestige in Dawei and was unable to inspire Dawei’s soldiers. As a result, they were defeated again today.
This battle was crucial. Since they failed to win, their only option was to defend. There was no chance of victory in the future.
That night, the soldiers of Daliang launched another attack on the city after a rest. Yuan Chen led Dawei’s soldiers in a desperate resistance. Without the aid of the siege cannons, a fierce confrontation ensued among both sides’ masters, soldiers, and weapons, painting the sky red with blood.
Three days later, the city gate was finally breached. Yuan Chen led his troops out of Qiangli City, retreating to Fenghuan City, biting his teeth.
Daliang successfully seized seven cities, raising the flag of Daliang, and sent a triumphant report to Capital City. That very night, they celebrated their victory in Qiangli City by rewarding their troops.
Xie Lin felt that he had grown through this battle. Initially, when he followed the Crown Prince onto the battlefield, he had gritted his teeth and forced himself to press on, as who wouldn’t be afraid of dying in their first battle? But these three days, he gradually got used to life on the battlefield. He felt that it was not as frightening as he had thought. He fought alongside the soldiers for three days, sustaining several injuries and becoming so exhausted that he could barely lift his sword. But when the city fell that day, he felt an indescribable surge of heroic spirit.
It turns out his father was right; he was capable too. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
Compared to Zhou Gu, he was not so bad either.
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