For a moment, almost everyone in Shizhou City was kowtowed in the direction of Rong Chengxuan, including the soldiers guarding the city walls. They couldn't control their excitement and knelt down along with the people in the city. It was truly exciting.
The Western Zhou Dynasty had been ready to make moves for more than ten years, and had tried several times to break through the border and provoke Beichen. No matter how many generals the court sent, the final outcome was always defeat. This time, so many cities were lost in a row.
It can be said that all the efforts of the court generals over the past decade were wasted. However, all the efforts were not as shocking as Prince An's attack on the city that night.
Compared to Rong Chengxuan, General Yun, who was once considered a man in their eyes, suddenly became weak. After so many years of guarding the border, he always lost every battle. When he lost, he sent people to brainwash him, saying that it was because Xizhou was too strong and Beichen was too weak that they lost.
But Prince An was also from Beichen, and the army he brought with him was also from Beichen. Some people also saw clearly that Prince An only brought the 150,000 soldiers he had ordered from the capital, and did not bring the 200,000 troops originally stationed on the border. Those 200,000 soldiers were unaware and just watched from behind, with no one saying anything to help.
That would be fine, but what made them feel most ashamed was that the border troops were so frightened that they fled in panic when Prince An sent people to bombard the city with thunder. Tsk, they are not even as good as ordinary people. No wonder they always lose to the Western Zhou Dynasty. It seems there is a reason for it. The main problem is that you are weaklings.
For a time, people were very contemptuous of the 200,000 border troops, and even General Yun, who had been given a good impression before, began to look down on them.
"Are these the soldiers led by General Yun? Why are they so different from Prince An's soldiers?"
"How can a mortal army compare to a celestial army? We should fully support Prince An. Look, General Yun has been transferred away for so many years, yet the frontier armies keep boasting about how awesome their former general was. But to what avail? They still can't defeat the Western Zhou people."
"And don't you think about it? When General Yun was still at the border, did he collect less money every year than us? He didn't win many battles, but he collected the same amount of money from us. After he was transferred, you see that everyone's living standards were raised immediately. In the end, he's still a waste."
"Yes, in my opinion, the most correct thing the late emperor did was to transfer that General Yun away. I don't know when he will be able to transfer the troops he left here with him. Instead of focusing on fighting the war every day, he tries to instill in us how awesome General Yun is. It's really harmful."
"Bah! He's so awesome? If only he hadn't been chased and beaten by those Western Zhou people, what's so awesome about him? Is it awesome to see how he loses?"
…
Rong Chengxuan didn't know that his attack on the city that night had caused a great shock to the people of Shizhou, and he didn't know that this move had won him the hearts of almost the entire city in the first place.
Yun Jinjiang, who was still in the capital, had no idea of this. He never thought that after being transferred to the frontier for so many years, he would be dragged out to be compared with Rong Chengxuan, and he was the one being dragged down, causing him to sneeze several times for unknown reasons in his residence in the capital.
While the common people were discussing how good Rong Chengxuan was and how incompetent General Yun was, Rong Chengxuan was still leading his men to pursue the remaining Western Zhou army. Some of the Western Zhou soldiers were quite cunning.
As soon as he heard the rumbling sound, he started to prepare to run. By the time Rong Chengxuan entered the city, he had already left the city.
Fortunately, Ge Zichen had sharp eyes and saw the fleeing soldiers. In fact, it was not Ge Zichen's fault. When soldiers of any army flee, they would disperse and run quickly. But the soldiers of the Western Zhou army were like idiots, and they ran slowly together when they fled.
Ge Zichen was so amused when he saw it. After so many years of fighting, this was the first time he'd seen someone so incompetent that they couldn't even run away properly. Even though it was at night, the chances of being spotted were still quite high. Seeing that you weren't wearing Beichen's Guilt, and that there were so many people gathered together, it was definitely Xi Zhou preparing to flee.
Rong Chengxuan pursued the enemy for dozens of miles south of Rongcheng before finally stopping. Pingcheng, the second city on the border, was already visible in the distance. He didn't press forward, but waved his hand and withdrew his men back to Rongcheng. They set up camp ten miles south of the city, not entering it. He also ordered his men to immediately take over the cleanup and governance of the city.
Although fighting was exciting, the aftermath was a headache. During the battle last night, the soldiers of the Divine Fire Camp got carried away one by one, and took the gunpowder bombs and grenades prepared by Yun Wanwan and threw them at the Western Zhou people.
Throw it out and wait for a few seconds, then the group of Western Zhou people will be blown away.
Those soldiers, including Rong Chengxuan, saw this new type of weapon developed by Yun Wanwan for the first time. They were so stunned that their eyes widened. They didn't have to put in any effort at all.
They just had to stand there and watch Ge Zichen and the soldiers of the Divine Fire Camp throw the balls.
They had fought for so many years, but this was the first time they had fought such an easy battle. All they had to do was follow the Divine Fire Camp and provide support to the Western Zhou soldiers who hadn't been killed by the explosion. After the battle, no one on Beichen's side was killed or injured. The most serious injury they suffered was a cut from a blade.
Rong Chengxuan gave up pursuing the enemy and returned to Rongcheng with his army. Because Xiao Song and Yun Wanwan were stationed in Cizhou and did not travel with him, Rong Chengxuan let Ge Zichen and Yong Gan be in charge of military affairs, and no one raised any questions.
Some soldiers were enjoying the fight, and when they saw that the pursuit was stopped, they felt a little unsatisfied. The Western Zhou had bullied their border for so many years, and now they finally had the chance, they had to give them a good beating. So they asked loudly: "Your Majesty, why are we not chasing anymore?"
Rong Chengxuan shook his head and didn't answer. Instead, Ge Zichen said, "Don't you see what time it is now? Once the sun comes out at dawn, you'll know why you shouldn't continue chasing after them."
The soldiers were still confused, but when the first rays of morning sun shone on Rongcheng, they understood why Ge Zichen said that.
This weather is really too hot! It's so hot that no one can stand it!
Although they felt that the climate here was much hotter than that in the capital since they entered Cizhou City, it was still bearable. However, after following Rong Chengxuan to Rongcheng, they no longer felt that way.
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