Shenxi's troops advanced with unstoppable momentum, with Yunnan Ze and Zhao Rong personally leading the troops in a tower-pushing attack.
The towers in each county town were all toppled.
In the end, Xie Ning had no choice but to retreat to the prefectural city.
He had already asked both allied forces for help, but neither of them sent a single soldier.
Not only that, they also wiped out some of his troops left in Kangjian Prefecture.
The two families divided the Kangjian Mansion.
This infuriated Xie Ning.
He himself was a master at stealing towers, quietly growing stronger and eventually taking over Xie Hou's Nanning Prefecture for himself.
Who knew that those who hunted geese all day would end up having their eyes pecked by swallows?
The territory he painstakingly occupied was stolen by someone else.
But now he was helpless. He hadn’t expected Chenxi’s team to be so powerful. With such a powerful team, they could easily sweep through any place!
Whether he overestimated Shenxi or for some other reason, Shenxi stopped attacking after reaching his city.
Then, a long city wall was built in the county adjacent to his capital.
The city wall, which was four or five meters high and stretched for more than a hundred miles, was completed in just a few months.
The exterior walls were very smooth, and I don't know what material they were made of.
Xie Ning, whose troops had lost four-fifths of their strength, couldn't help but sigh when he saw this. He thought he couldn't escape the risk of being besieged, but little did he know that Shenxi had besieged himself outside the city walls.
Even if Xie Ning wanted to attack, it was basically impossible.
Such city walls, with internal fortifications and wide crenellations, can be described as easy to defend and difficult to attack.
How can we attack this?
Xie Ning had no choice but to retreat and recuperate in Nanning Prefecture.
More than half of the remaining people in Nanning Prefecture fled.
They were willing to take a long detour just to get to Bian'ai County.
Because Xie Ning is conscripting soldiers again.
The already small number of ordinary people would hide if they could, and flee if they couldn't.
Those who couldn't escape, those who didn't have time to run away, or those who were unwilling to leave their homeland were conscripted into the army.
They barely managed to gather another 20,000 people.
He discovered that there were female soldiers in Chenxi, so he also set his sights on recruiting women.
However, the lack of corresponding protection mechanisms led to the frequent abuse of the forcibly recruited female soldiers.
The army descended into further chaos.
Finally, Xie Ning had no choice but to order that anyone who humiliated or abused female soldiers should be executed without mercy.
This gradually stopped the assaults on the female soldiers.
But it was precisely because of the battles he fought with Shen Xi over the past few months that he was crippled.
The strength is obviously much lower.
The capital city also underwent changes. The emperor was upset because the crown prince refused to take him back, claiming that he was not the emperor but an imposter, and that the one in the palace was the real one.
Therefore, the emperor ordered the Prince of Ruyang to attack the capital.
Just then, a funeral was held in the capital.
The crown prince actually claimed that the emperor had passed away.
Many people are unaware of the truth, and many say that Prince Ruyang is rebelling under the emperor's name.
Even after the emperor appeared, very few people believed him.
Does an emperor need to hide like this?
The emperor was furious. Why? If he hadn't hidden himself away, and had instead hidden in the territory of the Prince of Ruyang, he would have been devoured by the princes long ago.
The fake emperor, bedridden with illness, is probably destined for this fate.
The emperor has been in office for many years, but his own power has been diminishing.
The sons in his family were not his help; on the contrary, they were all secretly plotting to take his head and becoming his enemies on the throne.
Fortunately, he had a younger brother named Prince Ruyang, which saved him from disaster.
The Prince of Ruyang had a large territory, a strong army, and had not suffered many natural disasters.
They directly sent troops to attack the capital.
The Crown Prince's troops were exhausted after several years of fighting against the Eighth Prince.
Moreover, the losses were considerable, and now facing the well-equipped and powerful Prince Ruyang, defeat was inevitable.
It's just a matter of how long it takes.
Six months later, the crown prince had no choice but to retreat to Yizhou Prefecture.
They confronted the Prince of Runan in Yizhou Prefecture.
The Prince of Ruyang divided his troops, sending most of them to guard the capital, while the rest pursued and attacked the Crown Prince.
With fewer troops, it won't be so easy to defeat the crown prince again.
The situation reached a stalemate.
After all, the capital city could not be left unguarded; the territory that had been fought so hard could not be stolen by others.
Especially with Xie Ning and the Eighth Prince eyeing them covetously over there.
Although both of them were defeated by Shenxi's team, they should not be underestimated.
The capital city was relatively tall and strong, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.
The reason why the Prince of Ruyang was able to conquer the city in half a year was because he had people inside the capital. They were nominally the Crown Prince's men, but in reality, they were the Prince of Ruyang's men.
At the crucial final moment, that person led more than 6,000 men to cooperate with the Prince of Ruyang from within.
Otherwise, it would have been impossible to win the battle in just six months.
When the emperor sat on the throne again, he looked around and saw that the old ministers were still the same old ministers. Although the number of them had been reduced, they were all familiar faces.
He sighed.
These veteran officials adhered to the principle of welcoming anyone who came, since they were all from prominent families, and they should treat everyone well and not kill them.
As long as their interests are protected, supporting one side or the other doesn't matter.
The Emperor has returned, so naturally we are still his subjects.
If the emperor does not return and the crown prince ascends the throne, they will still support him.
The Emperor spoke a few simple words, showing no interest in discussing anything further with them.
Can these people really do anything for him?
But we can't change them all now.
We still need to cultivate our own power.
Looking around the world, most places are in chaos, so who can still obey his orders?
He is now relying solely on the Prince of Ruyang.
In reality, he was nothing more than a puppet with the title of emperor.
The one who truly holds the power now is the Prince of Ruyang.
Prince Ruyang has also been very busy these days.
He was discussing the next steps with his staff.
The Crown Prince's Yizhou is not easy to conquer. Yizhou has always been a good place with many passes and high city walls. If it is besieged, it may take many years to take it down.
Moreover, the consumption is extremely high; if you want to attack a city, you may need ten times the enemy's troops.
The result of the discussion between Prince Ruyang and his advisors was that they would temporarily abandon the attack on Yizhou and only focus on defending the border between Yizhou and the capital.
After all, the crown prince had already suffered heavy losses, making it equally difficult for him to attack the capital.
Besides stabilizing the situation in the capital, it would be best to recapture Yuzhang Prefecture, which is easier to attack.
The Eighth Prince can't even beat the Crown Prince, let alone the Prince of Ruyang.
The Prince of Ruyang first sent someone to persuade the Eighth Prince to surrender, promising that he would be forgiven for his past transgressions and allowed to continue as a prince.
The Eighth Prince would never believe it; throughout history, those who fail in their attempts to seize power have never had a good ending.
The Eighth Prince then joined forces with Xie Ning and the forces of Jingchuan Prefecture, Guangyuan Prefecture, and Yanqi Prefecture to resist the Prince of Ruyang.
However, the Qi family of Yanzhou refused to send troops.
The reason given was that King Wen's forces threatened him.
The Eighth Prince was furious. The Prefect and General of Yanqi Prefecture were the Twelfth Prince's men. Although the Twelfth Prince was still on his side on the surface, the Eighth Prince knew that these princes had long since lost their loyalty to him because of his defeat.
If we cannot stop the Prince of Ruyang this time, his army will surely fall apart.
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