It's Mid-Autumn Festival again.

For the Han people, Mid-Autumn Festival is the most important festival besides the Spring Festival. The full moon in the sky reflects the reunion of people. Soldiers who have left their homes will miss their relatives who are thousands of miles away especially on this day.

The people in Yanzhou City were preparing for the festival. Although Taiyuan City was under siege, the people's happiness and joy could not be taken away for the time being. They were completely unaware that a war that would change the fate of Dasheng was brewing beneath the surface peace and was about to erupt like a flood.

Yan Sikong stood on the tower of the camp, looking at the peaceful Taiyuan City in the distance. He seemed to see that in a few hours, it would be riddled with wounds and blood. He thought about the countless lives he had taken along the way. None of them were killed by his own hands, but they all died because of him, and there was only numbness in his heart.

Feng Ye appeared beside him without him noticing, and said softly, "Quewang set out from Qingyang yesterday and will arrive soon. We are also ready, just waiting for Zhou Ke's signal."

Yan Sikong nodded without saying anything.

"Are you looking at the moon?" Feng Ye looked up at the huge full moon in the sky.

Yan Sikong raised his head slightly and chanted softly: "'This life and this night are not always good, where can I see the bright moon next year'..."

"Next year, we should see it in the Forbidden City."

Yan Sikong laughed and said with emotion: "In fact, no matter where you are, you can see the same moon. Delicacies, fine clothes and delicious food will also bloom and fall. No matter how luxurious your house is when you are alive, or how magnificent your tomb is after you die, your place of residence is no more than a small space. What is the purpose of people's struggle for fame and fortune in this life?"

Feng Ye sneered: "Speaking of vying for fame and fortune, how many people can compete with you? Yet you have such a feeling. Isn't that hypocritical?"

"Yeah, I am a bit hypocritical." Yan Sikong said self-deprecatingly, "When I was living on the streets, all I wanted was to have a meal. Now I am probably too full."

"What people want in life is probably..." Feng Ye thought for a moment, "to live a life like a god."

"What is a life like that of a god?" Yan Sikong turned to look at Feng Ye, his deep and wise eyes flickering in the moonlight. "Are there really gods in this world? Even if there are, I don't think they can ride on clouds, wear feathered clothes, or live forever."

"Why?"

"Because humans are humans, and they cannot escape from their worries, illness, and aging, they use all their fantasies to create a perfect 'human', which is the god that humans imagine. In reality, humans have no idea whether gods exist. Even if they do exist, they are beyond human imagination. Humans want to understand the truth and reach the spirit, but they just hope to be 'free and carefree like gods.'"

Feng Ye smiled and said, "Well said. I believe in destiny, but I am not afraid of ghosts and gods. If I want to be as free and easy as a god, I have to rely on the sword in my hand."

Yan Sikong gave a bitter smile and murmured, "How can a man who has entered the world talk about being carefree?"

Feng Ye gently shook his hand and said, "What you want is not freedom, but power over the world, isn't it?"

"Yes." Yan Sikong looked into the distance with burning eyes.

"I will give it to you." Feng Ye said in a deep voice, "I will give you whatever you want."

Yan Sikong's heart skipped a beat and he held Feng Ye's hand tightly.

——

In the dark night, a roar was heard from the distant city of Taiyuan, accompanied by flames that illuminated the night sky and thick smoke that rose into the sky. It was like the first drumbeat of the battle, striking people's hearts.

Feng Ye led a hundred thousand soldiers out of their nests. The dark and oppressive army was like a passing gale, sweeping the gloomy murderous aura straight to Taiyuan. Without wasting a moment, they attacked the city immediately.

The armory was destroyed, at least the firearms of the imperial army were useless. Among them, artillery was the most lethal weapon, especially when attacking the city. Wherever the shells hit, the ground would be exploded. Without artillery, their soldiers could attack the city with greatly reduced casualties.

Sure enough, after firing dozens of shells from the city wall, the Taiyuan Army's artillery fire stopped, while the Wolf King Army's Fengshen cannons continued to roar, wood and stones flew, and the soldiers held up their shields, resisted the rain of arrows, put down the wooden boards, and crossed the moat.

There were constant explosions in Taiyuan City. The aftermath of the armory on the other side had not yet been cleaned up, but the tall and solid city walls on this side were already in ruins.

But Taiyuan is Taiyuan after all. Even though there were no cannons, the high walls, deep moats and an endless supply of tens of thousands of soldiers prevented the Wolf King's Army from attacking the city tower for a while.

The moat was deep and wide, and it was difficult to cross it with ladders. The soldiers could only rely on climbing bamboo ladders while banging on the city gates. Under the city walls, corpses piled up like a mountain, gradually becoming like ants. They stepped on the bodies of their companions and got closer and closer to the city tower.

Feng Ye and Yan Sikong stood in the rear, watching the soldiers being torn to pieces like grass, corpses lying all over the ground, blood flowing like a river. They felt heartbroken, but the more casualties they suffered, the more they could not retreat, otherwise their deaths would be in vain.

Yan Sikong said in a deep voice: "It's almost time."

It's Yuan Nanyu's turn to appear.

The messenger blew two long and two short blasts on the horn. The sharp sound penetrated the artillery fire and penetrated clearly into the darkness.

In a short while, shouts of killing were heard from the southeast. Yuan Nanyu led 40,000 soldiers to "attack from the air" and went straight to the weakly defended East Gate, launching a fierce attack.

In fact, from the moment the armory was destroyed, Taiyuan’s military morale had collapsed and Taiyuan’s defeat was inevitable.

After a night of fierce fighting, both sides suffered heavy casualties. At dawn, Yuan Nanyu took the lead in breaking through the east gate and entering the city, while Wang Mei led a team to break out and escape.

Feng Ye ordered Qian Cunxi to lead 5,000 soldiers to pursue, and led the rest of the people to rush into the city and completely control Taiyuan.

When the city was broken, Feng Ye's eyes were red with excitement, and the joints of his hands holding the reins were blue and white. Yan Sikong also breathed rapidly, and his heart could not calm down for a long time.

Taiyuan, they captured Taiyuan!

"Wolf King!" Amidst the chaos, a masked man covered in blood ran over.

"Forgot!" Feng Ye's eyes lit up and he hurried over.

Yuan Nanyu was about to kneel down with his hands clasped, but Feng Ye held him up, not caring about the blood on his body, and gave him a hard hug, "Good brother! You are worthy of being the number one general of my Feng Family Army!"

Yuan Nanyu was extremely excited. Even through his breastplate, one could see how his chest was rising and falling. "The Wolf King is wise!"

Feng Ye laughed heartily, a laugh that was full of joy, pride, and enlightenment.

Yan Sikong also ran to Yuan Nanyu's side and asked worriedly, "Are you injured?"

There were people all around, so Yuan Nanyu couldn't show too much intimacy, but he couldn't help but hold Yan Sikong's hand tightly: "I'm fine. I haven't seen you for a few months. Is Lord Yan okay?"

"I'm fine." Yan Sikong also held his hand and said in a trembling voice, "General Yu... General Que, you've worked hard."

Yuan Nanyu shook his head, his eyes reddened, "As long as we win the battle, no matter how much hardship we have, it doesn't matter. When I heard that you were defeated, I couldn't sleep for days and nights..."

Feng Ye patted his shoulder and said, "We have won now, completely." He said loudly, "Even in the most important pass in the Central Plains, it's nothing special!"

The soldiers shouted in unison: "The Wolf King is wise!"

To say that Taiyuan was nothing special was, of course, an exaggeration. They had fought for a whole night and lost nearly half of their troops. Fengye had never lost so many people since the day they started their rebellion. If Yuan Nanyu had not come, they would probably... they would probably have really been defeated. Even if they won, it would have been a tragic victory.

But as long as they win, they won't have to worry about soldiers and food for the time being. They sit in Taiyuan and look at the capital, which is a big step closer to the brilliant imperial city!

The rising sun exposed the tragic scene of a night of fierce fighting to the light of day. It was a true picture of purgatory on earth. Even Yan Sikong, who was used to battlefields, still felt suffocated and uncomfortable. However, the price of victory is always better than the price of defeat.

Not long after, Qian Cunxi came back. He knelt down, clasped his fists, and said in shame, "I am incompetent and let Wang Mei and Shen Hexuan escape. I beg the Wolf King to punish me."

Feng Ye captured the sick Luo Ruoxin, and could not find Shen Hexuan anywhere in the city, so he knew that he had escaped. He said, "Don't blame yourself. If he wanted to escape, ordinary people might not be able to catch him." He touched his chin, "Shen Hexuan actually ran away?"

Yan Sikong also found it unbelievable: "According to his personality, when the city was captured, even if he didn't commit suicide to thank the emperor, he should have waited for us to catch him, scolded him a few times, and then died to protect his integrity. But he actually abandoned the city and fled?"

Feng Ye narrowed his eyes and said, "Perhaps Wang Mei persuaded him. Regardless, I will be uneasy if he is not dead. I will send scouts to follow him."

"yes."

"Then how should we deal with Luo Ruoxin?" Yan Sikong asked.

Feng Ye couldn't help but think of the failure and humiliation he had experienced in Taiyuan. He said coldly, "Cut off your head and show it to everyone."

Yan Sikong thought of the last time he met Shen Hexuan, and of Shen Hexuan's loyalty to him mentioned by Chen Yu. When thinking of today's escape from the city, he felt uneasy. Perhaps his understanding of Shen Hexuan was still superficial. Perhaps after so many changes, Shen Hexuan was no longer the same Shen Hexuan. But as Feng Ye said, they could not rest in peace until this man died.

This time they spent half a year using a series of strategies to devour Taiyuan from the inside and finally defeated it. If they become enemies with Shen Hexuan again in the future, can they still win?

Yan Sikong had a bad feeling. Just as he felt that he was born extraordinary and would achieve great things, he also saw the same sense of destiny in Shen Hexuan. The competition between him and Shen Hexuan might have been destined when he entered the officialdom, and now, it is far from over... =