Haidu Aling also left a message: If the Buddhist does not hand over Princess Wen Zhao, the Northern Rong coalition will severely torture every person in the royal court after breaking into the city, and then massacre the holy city, leaving no one alive.

There was total silence on top of the Holy City.

Yao Ying looked at Haidu Aling's letter, pondered for a moment, and said, "Half of Haidu Aling's Northern Rong coalition was borrowed from the suzerain country, and it is not a solid block. He can't wait. If I pretend to surrender, maybe I can fool those chiefs..."

Before she could finish her words, a hand reached out, took the letter from her hand and threw it into the brazier.

"Don't even think about it."

Tanmarajiva said calmly, his tone leaving no room for doubt.

The others looked at each other and dared not say a word.

…

The Northern Rong coalition retreated to the main camp. Inside the tent, the chieftains discussed whether the Buddhist would exchange Princess Wen Zhao for the lives of the people in the city.

A chieftain who often dealt with merchants in the royal court said, "Because his biological mother was Han, Fuzi was murdered by the nobles and almost died at the hands of the Guards. Even so, after the Holy City was besieged, he still led his troops back to defend the city. Fuzi is a monk, so I think he will agree."

Upon hearing this, Haidu A Ling's face turned gloomy.

He had never thought that Tanmarajya would return to the Holy City. If Tanmarajya had not returned, he would have already conquered the Holy City and taken control of the entire Royal Court. The Royal Court was fertile and prosperous. After occupying the Royal Court, he could quickly expand his military forces, command the various divisions, and take back the states that were recovered by the Western Army in one fell swoop, completing the cause of restoring the country, and even sending troops to the east to attack the Wei Dynasty...

Haidu Aling's plan was so perfect that he was only one step away from changing the world's situation and stirring up the storm. Even if he only had 5,000 subordinates, he could still rise from adversity, lead his people to flatten the royal court and the Western Regions, and establish a Northern Rong Empire that was more powerful than the Wakhan Khan's. Wherever his whip pointed, they would submit to him.

But Tanmaraka did not die, and rushed back to the holy city at the critical moment.

After seeing him, the defenders and civilians, whose wills had long since collapsed, all seemed to have taken a magic medicine and their morale soared. Looking at their frantic killing of the enemies, it seemed that they were willing to die with him.

Haidu Aling tightly grasped the sheepskin carriage.

With Buddhist beads in one hand and a steel knife in the other, his plan was aborted.

Whenever he thought of this, Haidu Aling was both angry and puzzled: What was it that supported Tanmaraga, who was deserted by his friends and relatives, to come back and defend the holy city? Could a monk's faith really be so strong?

If Wakhan Khan were still alive, he would think if he knew that Tanmarajya and Sultan Gur were the same person.

Now, Tanmarajiva has once again become a god in the eyes of the people. Only by getting rid of Tanmarajiva can the coalition forces reverse the situation.

This monk had no desires and was exiled by the people, but he resolutely returned to the holy city. He had only one weakness - Princess Wen Zhao Li Yaoying.

In the big tent, everyone was still discussing. One of Haidu Aling's subordinates said, "This time the Holy City was besieged. The prince was very clever and instigated the royal court and the Western Army. As expected, the Western Army was slow to send troops and was blocked outside the Sand City by us. Princess Wen Zhao was obsessed with the Buddha. For the Buddha's son, she only led a few hundred soldiers to rescue him. Maybe she voluntarily left the city to save the Buddha's son!"

"If the Buddha asks the princess to leave the city, the princess will definitely agree!"

Haidu Aling curled his lips and sneered, interrupting his subordinates: "Fuzi will not let Princess Wen Zhao leave the city. We have a spy in the city. According to the news he spread, Fuzi was greatly stimulated. This time when he returned to the city, he became cold and ruthless. He became a different person in front of Princess Wen Zhao. He was intimate with Princess Wen Zhao in front of the people in the city. Do you think he will send Princess Wen Zhao out of the city because of my instigation?"

Everyone was stunned: "Why did the prince make such a request?"

Haidu A Ling's pale golden eyes flashed with a cold light: "The royal court has just experienced turmoil, people are restless, the people hate the Han people, and the guards drove the Buddhist disciples away. Although they are now united in defending the city, there is still a gap."

"They have been holding out for so many days and have already run out of support. I see that they have lost a lot of elite soldiers in their repeated forced attacks in order to break out. They must have been unable to hold out any longer and so they are fighting desperately to break out."

"Princess Wen Zhao is a Han Chinese, a Buddhist woman, and the Buddhist will definitely protect her. What about the others? In despair, are they really willing to die bravely? There are always a few people in the city who are afraid of death. As long as someone has a different mind, they can be disintegrated from within."

"The more reluctant the Buddhists are to part with Princess Wen Zhao, the better it will be for us."

"Let the news spread and let the Western Army mistakenly think that the royal court had sacrificed Princess Wen Zhao. I wonder if Li Zhongqian will go crazy! If Li Zhongqian is defeated, Princess Wen Zhao will have to leave the city."

Haidu A Ling said, clapping his hands: "Not to mention I have a very important person in my hands."

The tent curtains swayed, and the soldiers brought a woman with her hands tied into the tent.

When people saw the woman, they were delighted.

In the next few days, the Northern Rong coalition forces went to the outside of the Holy City every day to make a commotion, demanding that Tanmo Luojia hand over Yao Ying.

Tanmaraka ignored it.

The food in the city was eaten up, and the horse meat was also consumed. The people were starving and emaciated. In the dead of night, when the wind blew, bursts of desperate cries could be heard from the dark corners from time to time.

As they had not eaten for a long time, the soldiers defending the city were so hungry that their hands and feet became weak, and they often fell to the ground without any warning.

The Northern Rong coalition knew that they had run out of food, so they deliberately set up pots outside the city to cook and stew beef and mutton during the day. The rich aroma of the meat was carried to the top of the city by the cold wind. The hungry soldiers' stomachs growled and their stomachs and intestines cramped and twisted. Some even couldn't resist the temptation and fell off the city wall.

"As long as you hand over Princess Wen Zhao, you can eat your fill immediately!"

The coalition forces roared outside the city.

There was silence on the city wall for a while, and then there was a commotion.

The next day, scouts of the Northern Rong coalition discovered that the Han soldiers with turbans on their heads were gone.

Tanmarajiva asked Yaoying to stay in the meeting room as much as possible and not go out alone. His eyes stayed on her face for a long time. She had lost a lot of weight.

He took out a package and stuffed it into her hand.

Yaoying opened it and saw the sticky honey. She was stunned for a moment, and her heart was slightly sweet: "Did you eat it?"

Tanmarajiva nodded, rubbed her hair, raised her feet to leave, and tightened her sleeves.

Yao Ying held him, stood on tiptoe, picked up a ball of honey with her fingers, and brought it to his lips.

She knew he hadn't eaten anything, and he was afraid that she would be hungry, so he saved his food every day for her to eat.

Tanmarajiva looked straight at Yaoying, her eyebrows and eyes were smiling, and she looked at him expectantly with her bright eyes.

She was trapped with him in this dangerous city, not having enough to eat, not sleeping well, living in constant fear, and having to guard against being plotted against.

Tanmaraka leaned over and ate the ball of honey from her fingers.

Yao Ying smiled with satisfaction and was about to withdraw her hand, but he held her wrist to prevent her from retreating, and bent down to kiss her fingers.

Warm kisses fell on the fingertips, one by one.

He was wearing a cassock and standing against the light, looking solemn and calm, as if he was performing a ritual in a Buddhist temple.

Yaoying shuddered.

Tanmarajiva looked calm, hugged her, and turned to leave.

The scouts of the Northern Rong coalition observed carefully, and after not seeing any Han troops on the city walls for three consecutive days, they returned to the camp to report.

The generals were delighted.

The scout said, "Yesterday, the royal court broke through the siege, and we captured a soldier. The soldier said that because of Princess Wen Zhao, the Han people and the royal court people in the city had a rift. In order to protect the princess, the Buddhist sent his personal soldiers to guard the meeting hall every day to prevent the people from approaching to prevent anyone from assassinating the princess. The food in the city has been exhausted, and even the generals are hungry. But Princess Wen Zhao and her troops can get food every day."

Haidu A Ling's eyes flickered.

These are exactly the same as the intelligence reported by Xi Zuo. It seems that Tanmarajiva really treats Princess Wen Zhao differently. There must be people in the city who are angry but dare not speak out.

The next day, Bisha, wrapped in gauze, tried to break out to the east again, but was surrounded by the Northern Rong cavalry.

The enemy seemed determined to catch him, and kept following closely behind the team, chasing him relentlessly. He ran wildly, slashing down several Northern Rong iron cavalrymen in succession, breaking out of the encirclement, and leading the remaining soldiers to retreat. The enemy suddenly stopped and made way for him.

Two Beirong soldiers brought a woman forward and lifted up her face.

When the woman saw Biso leading the troops in the fight, she was so excited that she trembled all over and two lines of hot tears rolled out. She struggled to call him, but the soldier slapped her in the face. Blood immediately flowed from the corner of her mouth and her screams were drowned out by the sound of fighting.

Bisuo's sword-swinging action paused, his eyes turned red, and he rushed forward swinging the sword.

The Beirong soldiers laughed, threw the woman onto their horses, and turned around to run back to the Beirong camp.

Bi Suo roared and chased after him.

The personal attendant was greatly alarmed and rushed forward to persuade him: "General, we are short of men, we must retreat to the city immediately!"

Biso turned a deaf ear and continued to rush forward. His followers hurriedly grabbed him and dragged him back.

They hurried back to the city, and before they could catch their breath, they heard a cry of alarm from the top of the city wall. Soldiers came over in panic, "General Ashina, the Northern Rong have captured Princess Chima!"

The veins on Bisha's forehead throbbed as he rushed to the top of the city wall.

In the distance, the Beirong people who had deliberately angered Bisu brought the bound woman forward and swung the long whips in their hands fiercely. The woman rolled on the snow and screamed miserably: "Bisu, save me! Save me!"

Biso's fingers tightly grasped the brick, her eyes bloodshot.

Everyone on the city wall was silent.

The Northern Rong people continued to whip Princess Chima. Princess Chima cried and shouted, begging for mercy, her voice full of misery and pain, circling over the battlefield for a long time.

"General Ashina! Princess Chima is your biological sister!"

A general of the Northern Rong shouted towards the top of the city wall, "The Tanmo family was harmed by the Zhang family. Princess Chima only has you as her biological brother!"

Princess Chima fell on the snow, her body covered with wounds. She crawled towards the holy city, crying, "Bisa, save me, save me!"

The Northern Rong general laughed loudly: "General Ashina, our prince and you have met before. For the sake of our past friendship, he can let Princess Chima go, but in exchange, you have to hand over Princess Wen Zhao. Our prince keeps his word, one princess for another, how about that?"

Bisu looked at Princess Chima, who was covered in blood, with tears in her eyes, her face as gloomy as water, and she said nothing.

The Northern Rong general smiled, rode his horse to Princess Chima's side, and slowly drew his sword: "General Ashina, Princess Chima is right in front of you. Her life or death depends on your decision."

Having said that, he raised his sword and slashed at Princess Chima.

"stop!"

A loud shout came from the top of the city wall. Bisuo was furious and his face was distorted. "If you dare to hurt her, I will kill your entire tribe in the future, men, women, old and young, not a single one will be spared!"

The Northern Rong general laughed and said, "General Ashina, you and Princess Chima depend on each other for survival, and our prince does not want to hurt Princess Chima. As long as you bring Princess Wen Zhao in exchange, the prince will release Princess Chima immediately."

He narrowed his eyes, and the long sword fell. The blade lightly scratched Princess Chima's neck, and blood spurted out.

Princess Chima was trembling all over, howling and calling Bisu's name: "I don't want to die! Bisu, I don't want to die!"

Bisha closed his eyes and turned to look at Tanmaragha.

Tanmaraka stood facing the wind, looking at the Northern Rong general torturing Princess Chima with an indifferent expression.

"Luo Jia! Please save Chi Ma! For my sake, please save her..."

Bi Suo screamed and burst into tears, then fell to her knees and crawled towards him. There were several crisp bangs and her forehead turned red.

Without saying a word, Tanmaraka took a curved bow and shot an arrow, which buzzed and flew straight towards Princess Chima.

Princess Chima screamed and hid backwards.

The arrow flew out with great speed, and with a whoosh, it penetrated deeply into the snow where she had just been lying, completely buried in it.

Everyone was stunned, and the battlefield was quiet for a while.

The Northern Rong general snorted coldly: "It seems that for the sake of the Han princess, the Buddhist disciple was so cruel that he wanted to kill his own sister with his own hands. General Ashina, it's a pity that you are loyal to the Buddhist disciple, but in fact you are the king of the royal court!"

They made a lot of noise and left with the frightened Princess Chima.

On the top of the city wall, everyone looked at each other in awkward confusion, not knowing what to say.

Colleagues who were on good terms with Bi Su helped him up and tried to comfort him in a low voice. He gritted his teeth, pushed everyone away, and left in a huff.

The next day, the Northern Rong people repeated their old tricks, dragged out Princess Chima again, and tortured her in front of the battle array.

Bisu was rageful and swore loudly. He ignored all obstruction and wanted to lead his troops out of the city to take back Princess Chima. However, he was held back by his subordinates. He knew that if he rushed out like this, he would never come back!

On the third day, the Northern Rong people appeared outside the Holy City, escorting Princess Chima, who looked like a wolf.

This time, there was no sign of Bisha on the top of the holy city. No matter how the northern barbarians threatened him, Tanmarajiva remained unmoved.

On the fourth day, the Northern Rong iron cavalry galloped to the city gate, pulled their longbows to their full potential, and fired thousands of arrows. The iron arrows covered the holy city with unstoppable momentum and nailed pieces of parchment covered with words to the roof and walls.

At the same time, Beirong's spy, who had sneaked into the city secretly and had been gathering information in the city, delivered a letter to the room where Bisha was under house arrest.

Soon, a rumor spread in the city: In order to save her sister, Bisha wanted to take Princess Wen Zhao out of the city.

Considering Yaoying's safety, she stayed in the meeting room all day and never went out. Her followers surrounded the meeting room and checked anyone who approached.

The troops reminded Yao Ying to prepare early, but Yao Ying shook her head and said, "It's okay."

That night, Yao Ying was sleeping soundly when her door was suddenly slammed loudly. The soldiers rushed into the room and shouted anxiously outside the curtain.

She got up in a hurry and saw a bright yellow light in front of the window. She thought it was daybreak. When she went out, a scorching hot current hit her face and the sound of burning was very close.

There was a sudden fire in the meeting room, and the back building where she lived was engulfed in flames.

That night, everyone in the city saw a raging fire in the direction of the council hall, and the Han soldiers escaped, protecting Princess Wen Zhao, whose dress was half burned.

Tanmarajiva hurried back with a cold expression.

"It was General Ashina!" Yao Ying's bodyguard pointed at Biso with an angry face, "I saw it with my own eyes, General Ashina's men wanted to take our princess away!"

Yao Ying stopped the bodyguard with her eyes.

The next day, Tanmarajiva imprisoned Bisa, stripped him of his military power, and transferred all his followers away.

The whole city was in an uproar.

The generals felt that it was inappropriate for Tanmarajiva to do this when faced with a powerful enemy, so they wanted to plead for Bisu and went to the council hall to ask for a meeting with him, dragging their tired feet.

The guards stopped them outside and said, "Princess Wen Zhao was burned by fire. The king is taking care of her personally and has no time to see you. Please come back tomorrow. If you are here to plead for General Ashina, you don't have to come. Princess Wen Zhao was injured and half of her hair was burned. She was furious. It was useless for Yuan Jue to plead for General Ashina."

The generals were worried. Now everyone was hungry and they didn't know how long they could hold out. And then something like this happened. Wang and Bishuo were both descendants of the Tanmo family, so their relationship was sensitive... It was a real mess!

That night, the darkness was thick, the wind was howling, the surroundings were pitch black, and the snow was dim.

Yao Ying sent away several generals who came to her to plead for mercy, and repeatedly assured her that she would persuade Tanmarajiva to release Bishuo. She returned to the house and was about to go to bed when she heard footsteps outside the curtain like heavy rain.

Behind the felt curtain, a pair of green eyes looked at her.

Yao Ying was stunned for a moment: "Bisuo, you came out?"

Bi Sa turned away from looking at her and gestured to his followers behind him. The followers rushed into the inner room and surrounded Yao Ying.

On the top of the city, the people had been holding out for a day, leaning against each other with their eyes closed, holding their long swords, and resting. Suddenly, amid the roaring wind, there was a shout of killing. They were suddenly awakened, thinking that the Northern Rong were attacking, and hurriedly grabbed their long swords and jumped up, rushing to the top of the city to take a look.

There were only traps they had set outside the city gate.

Just as everyone was wondering, the shouting and screaming was heard again. Everyone looked at each other and realized that the shouting and screaming came from the city. They were shocked and turned around to look.

There was the sound of footsteps and the swaying of figures, and flames appeared simultaneously on the east, west and north sides of the long street.

Someone holding a long knife ran towards the dungeon where Bisa was imprisoned: "Princess Wen Zhao wants to kill General Ashina! Go and save the general!"

"General Ashina assassinated Fuzi! He kidnapped Princess Wen Zhao!"

"Hand over the princess quickly, or we will fight you!"

"Hand over the princess! Otherwise, we will open the city gates and let the Northern Rong people in, and we will all perish together!"

The two groups of men were fighting in the long street, with shouts, screams, questions, and the sound of swords hitting each other. People and horses were thrown to the ground in chaos.

The wind was blowing from the north tonight, and the fire grew bigger and bigger. Soon all the houses on the whole street were on fire, burning down like a rotten tree or rotten wood. The flames shot up straight, illuminating half the city.

In the red light of the fire, people saw two groups of people fighting in the long street. One group was Bi Sao's personal soldiers, and the other group was mostly Han people and Western Hu people. Naturally, they were Princess Wen Zhao's troops.

Everyone was terrified and sweating profusely, not knowing what to do.

In the long street, the two gangs continued to fight with red eyes, and corpses fell to the ground.

"You're crazy! You're all crazy!" The guard was so angry that he rushed down to persuade them, "Don't you want to live anymore?!"

It was a dark night. The sound of dense footsteps and burning flames surrounded the Royal Guards in the long street. No one listened to his dissuasion. Everyone just rushed forward, brandishing their swords.

Suddenly, the earth shook, and a rumbling sound reached everyone's ears.

The guard's eyes widened and he turned back in horror.

There was a sudden burst of fire from the direction of the city gate. There were loud shouts. Soldiers fought with a group of people in black clothes. Several people climbed up the ladder and worked together to turn the noose. A heavy creaking sound was heard - the city gate was opened from the inside!

A cold, fishy wind swept into the city, and in the dark night, an undulating black torrent rushed towards the city gate.

The guard was horrified and screamed: "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

But it was too late.

…

Outside the city gate, Haidu Aling stopped his horse on the hillside and watched the cavalry from various units rushing into the holy city like a flood. The hungry and dizzy soldiers in the royal court were unable to stop the iron cavalry, so the emperor retreated.

Wakhan Khan was right. Disintegrating the royal court from within would be more effective.

The general rode beside him, looking excited, and flattering him, "Prince, your plan is really flawless. The spies sneaked into the city, assassinated Ashina, framed the blame on Fuzi, and then assassinated Princess Wen Zhao, framed Ashina, and at the same time spread rumors to arouse the hatred of the people in the royal court against Princess Wen Zhao, and provoke their internal strife, so that the spies can find an opportunity to open the city gate."

Haidu Aling snorted coldly.

He had besieged the city for so long that the psychological defenses of the people in the city had long been broken, so these tricks were useful. After being betrayed by the Guards, Tanmaraka lost his trust in Bisa, and Bisa and his men could no longer respect him as much as before. These consequences were caused by the people in the royal court themselves.

The general watched as other tribes successfully invaded the holy city they had long coveted, and clasped his fists and said, "Prince, these strategies were all thought up by you, and we should be the vanguard! Please let me lead a team into the city, and I will bring Princess Wen Zhao to your tent!"

Haidu Aling shook his head, his light golden eyes reflecting the blazing fire in the distance.

"It's going too smoothly. I'm worried. Let these tribes take the lead and seize the Holy City first. I want to see how Li Yaoying can escape from my grasp this time."

The general was full of admiration and responded respectfully.