"Who is it? It's so late." The gatekeeper rubbed his eyes and opened the door, looking at the person who came in with an impatient expression.
"Go quickly and inform your master that there is something important," Jian Yang said.
Seeing that the visitor had an extraordinary bearing, the servant dared not be negligent and invited him inside. He then immediately went to wake up Prefect Xu.
Magistrate Xu hurriedly dressed and rushed over, wondering who would come to see him so late. As soon as he entered, he saw Zhou Jingzhi sitting in a chair.
He was startled and quickly knelt down to pay his respects: "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."
Upon seeing this, the others in the room also hurriedly knelt down, not daring to raise their heads. They had never expected that the person who came would be the current emperor.
"Rise. I have come here to mobilize troops. How many troops does Kuncheng have now?" Zhou Jingzhi asked.
According to Prefect Xu, Kuncheng currently has fewer than 30,000 men available for deployment.
Zhou Jingzhi frowned; the situation seemed to be worse than he had imagined.
"Go and mobilize troops," Zhou Jingzhi said in a deep voice, then handed half of the tiger tally to Prefect Xu.
Magistrate Xu hurriedly led them to the military camp.
Meanwhile, Zhou Jing'an and Wei Wenzhe were leading their army toward Kuncheng.
Beneath the city gate, a dark mass of people stood. Zhou Jing'an, his face cold, rode at the very front, clad in armor.
Unlike before, bonfires were lit on the city walls, and the city gates remained tightly closed.
"When did Kuncheng become so heavily guarded?" Zhou Jing'an frowned and asked with some doubt.
Wei Wenzhe also found it strange. He had clearly arranged everything with the garrison commander of Kuncheng long ago, and Kuncheng should have opened its gates by now.
"It seems we have no choice but to attack the city," said the General of the Western Garrison, suspecting there was something fishy about the matter.
The arrow was already on the bowstring and had to be released; there was no turning back. Zhou Jing'an gave the order.
In the darkness, with a loud bugle call, the Zhenxi Army charged toward the city gate.
A major battle is imminent.
Suddenly, countless arrows shot from all around the city walls, and soldiers fell to the ground, constantly struck by arrows.
Upon seeing this, Zhou Jing'an's expression darkened. Was the Kuncheng army really this powerful?
The archers hiding in the shadows and firing arrows were not from the Kuncheng army. Such accuracy could only be attributed to the elite troops brought by Zhou Jingzhi.
The Zhenxi Army changed its strategy, and the soldiers who rushed to the outside of the city wall set up ladders to force their way into the city.
Countless logs and stones rolled down the city wall, and some of them were smashed down before they could even climb the wall, falling heavily to the ground. Some were lucky enough to climb the wall and fight fiercely with the Kuncheng army.
Wei Wenzhe directed the archers to continuously fire arrows at the city wall, and as one group of soldiers fell, another group took their place.
The two sides were evenly matched for a time, and the sounds of fighting filled the air.
Seeing this scene before him, Zhou Jingzhi stood on the city gate. The war drums stopped, and he shouted loudly, "If you are willing to surrender now, I will forgive and forget your past mistakes."
Zhou Jingzhi sneered and said, "If you insist on rebelling, this will be a crime that will implicate your entire family!"
The soldiers stopped and looked at the distinguished man on the city gate. Many of them had never seen the emperor in their lives.
At this moment, Zhou Jingzhi's words kept echoing in their ears.
They looked at their companions, then turned to Zhou Jing'an and Wei Wenzhe, their faces showing hesitation.
"Shoot him! Don't listen to his nonsense!" Zhou Jing'an snatched the horn and blew it.
The Zhenxi Army's offensive was no longer as fierce as before, and many soldiers even hesitated and retreated.
Zhou Jing'an roared, "Are you all deserters?!"
"Your Highness, please don't be agitated. Let's retreat first," Wei Wenzhe said, reaching out to grab Zhou Jing'an. Then, the retreat horn sounded.
The Zhenxi Army withdrew several miles outside the city and set up camp.
Inside Kuncheng, Jian Yang was in the main tent of the military camp.
In front of her were bottles and jars filled with various powders and liquids.
Jian Yang kept adding some of it to the small bowl that was heating in front of her, stirring it with a silver hairpin, her eyes fixed on the liquid in the bowl.
"It's done!" Jian Yang exclaimed in amazement as she watched the solution turn transparent.
She hurriedly poured the liquid into bottles and quickly walked out of the tent.
They saw Zhou Jingzhi leading Jian Hong towards them.
"I was really worried, so I came over. Ah Yang, I'm almost fully recovered," Jian Hong said, scratching his head.
There was no time to dwell on these things, and Jian Yang pulled the two of them into the tent.
"I've thought about it. Although we have a certain chance of winning, the losses would be too great. To catch the thief, we must first catch the king." Jian Yang said, taking out the bottle of medicine from his pocket.
"This is something I just extracted. It's colorless and odorless, and it can kill a person just by being dripped onto their skin."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Jingzhi and Jian Hong both fell into deep thought.
The horrific scenes of the recent battle still seem fresh in our minds; if the fighting continues like this, the casualties will indeed be enormous.
After a moment, Zhou Jingzhi asked, "You mean, we should take care of Zhou Jing'an first?"
Jian Yang nodded: "I plan to go and negotiate with Zhou Jing'an alone, and secretly administer this poison to him without him knowing."
This plan was met with unanimous opposition from Zhou Jingzhi and Jian Hong.
“If you go to him now, he will definitely become suspicious of you, which is too dangerous,” Jian Hong said.
“This is something I must do.” Zhou Jingzhi looked at Jian Yang with a determined gaze.
Only if he tries to persuade Zhou Jing'an to surrender will Zhou Jing'an be able to put aside his suspicions.
Inside the Zhenxi military camp, Zhou Jing'an glared angrily at Wei Wenzhe.
"General Wei, why did you withdraw your troops just now?" he asked through gritted teeth.
Wei Wenzhe cupped his hands and replied, "Your Highness, if we hadn't withdrawn our troops just now, our losses would probably be even more severe now."
They had not anticipated that the emperor would come to Kuncheng, and were caught completely off guard.
Zhou Jing'an's expression softened slightly, but when he recalled the figure on the city wall, his expression twisted.
After discussing it, the two decided to continue the siege the next day.
Before dawn, Zhou Jingzhi quietly sneaked into the Zhenxi Army's camp, and Zhou Jing'an didn't sleep a wink all night.
"Brother, how have you been?" Zhou Jingzhi said.
When Zhou Jing'an saw him come in, he sat up from the bed and snorted coldly: "You have quite the nerve to come to my camp alone."
Zhou Jingan thought to himself, "I'm not afraid that he could order the emperor to be beheaded in his tent."
In reality, he didn't dare to kill Zhou Jingzhi at this time. In order to "legitimately" take that position, he still had a great use for him.
“Brother, I have come here for your sake. If you are willing to surrender, I will forgive and forget what happened,” Zhou Jingzhi said earnestly.
Seeing that Zhou Jing'an remained silent, he walked over, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "You can still be your Prince Chen. I will absolutely not break my promise."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
