Late August, deep night.

In the County Government Office of He County, Xiao Jing, Wu Yanqing, Zhao Liang, Liu Ji, and others were discussing military affairs.

News about Fengzhou had also reached them.

Liu Ji said, "No wonder we haven't seen Prince Huai recently, it turns out he launched a surprise attack on Fengzhou."

"They are attacking on two fronts. Now that Fengzhou's defenders have been defeated, Prince Huai will certainly drive straight in and reach Jing County…" Zhao Liang dipped his index finger in tea and drew the marching route of Prince Huai on the desk in front of him, then said:

"And the defenders of Huai State are currently gathered in He County. If Prince Huai invades Huai State from Jing County, he will be able to join forces with King Chong and Lu Sheng's troops to form a pincer attack on our forces. By that time, our army will be in danger."

Upon hearing this, Wu Yanqing realized: "I was wondering why the enemy's siege has been lackluster these days, turns out they are just stalling us."

"Where are the reinforcements?" Xiao Jing asked Zhao Liang.

"According to reports from the Inspector, the Fish Scale Guard led by General Nangong has reached Huainan County and is rushing towards us, they can arrive in seven days at the earliest depending on their march speed. Meanwhile, Duke An is also on his way to us, but there aren't many troops stationed in Linzhou, only the Personal Guard Battalion under Duke An's command is coming." Zhao Liang said.

Although he was the main general stationed in Huai State, he basically took orders from Xiao Jing and Wu Yanqing because these two were Duke An's in-laws.

"General Zhao, have General Nangong not bring his troops to He County, he should immediately head to Yi County to prevent the Huai Army, who invaded Fengzhou, from entering Huai State through Yi County." Liu Ji quickly said.

Zhao Liang nodded, after all, having led soldiers for many years, he realized this point. Duke An's reinforcements from Linzhou were not many, and if the Fish Scale Guard were also to come to He County, there'd truly be no troops to defend the rear; we can't let Prince Huai sneak in from behind.

"Boom boom boom..."

At this moment, urgent drumming suddenly sounded outside the government office.

Soon, a Xianzhen Guard soldier ran in panic, urgently saying: "General Zhao, bad news, the enemy is attacking the city."

Upon hearing this, the expressions of those in the hall subtly changed.

Wu Yanqing frowned and said, "These bastards really know how to pick their timing."

"They obviously know Prince Huai has succeeded and want to prevent us from reinforcing Yi County, so they attacked the city to stall us." Xiao Jing said gravely.

Zhao Liang quickly said, "Let's not waste words, quickly go defend."

"Yes."

Xiao Jing and the others cupped their hands towards Zhao Liang and headed outside the hall.

As they just left the government office, about to rush to the city walls.

A sound of something cutting through the air was heard, then a house several feet away in front of them suddenly had a large hole smashed into it by the sound, dust rising up.

The next second, the sounds of cutting through the air increased.

"Be careful, it's a catapult." Xiao Jing shouted sharply to Liu Ji.

Among them, he was the weakest in strength.

"Ah ah..."

Shrill screams echoed under the night, many Chen Army soldiers in the city were hit by the huge stones launched by the catapults and died on the spot, those who survived by luck had their spines broken, even if they lived, they'd be crippled for the rest of their lives.

"The enemy is serious this time, the city walls of He County are low and not solid, I'm afraid it's hard to defend." Liu Ji analyzed calmly.

Previously, the enemy didn't use catapults during their siege, and at this rate, they might have deployed all their catapults tonight.

"First repel the enemy, then think of a way to retreat to Xiongmen City." Zhao Liang also knew He County wasn't suitable for a stubborn defense, but they had to repel the enemy's attack first before they could retreat to Xiongmen County.

...

Outside the city, deafening sounds of battle cries came from all directions.

The Chong Army and Lu Army didn't light torches, the moonlight from the sky wasn't very bright, but it was enough to discern direction, only this didn't favor the Chen Army; with this little light, it was hard to see how many Chong Army and Lu Army were attacking the city.

"Bang bang bang!"

Catapults and crossbow carriages constantly launched towards the city walls, the stones broke holes of varying sizes in the walls, and when the battlements were hit, pieces flew off.

Chen Army soldiers on the city walls felt the pressure doubling.

The Chong Army and Lu Army are no ragtag group; sent to deal with Chen Mo, they were all elite troops.

The Xianzhen Guard defending He County were the lowest ranking in the Chen Army, not that their soldiers were weak, but their combat experience wasn't rich. In terms of equipment, compared with these elite troops, there was a noticeable gap.

Fortunately, the Chen Army was holding the city, which could mitigate this gap somewhat.

Moreover, with the arrival of Xiao Jing and Wu Yanqing, the presence of a backbone eased the pressure on the defending soldiers significantly.

The overall strength of the Xianzhen Guard couldn't match the Chong and Lu Armies, but they were not weak either, they could be considered well-trained, obedient, and with good coordination.

Under Zhao Liang's command, the timing of the rotation of the troops on the city wall, when to increase forces to stop the enemy's fierce attack, and even when to beat the drums to boost morale, were all perfectly timed.

Wu Yanqing and Xiao Jing, while preserving a portion of their Innate Spiritual Qi, did their utmost to ward off the huge stones hurled by the enemy's catapults.

The reason for preserving a portion was to prevent the enemy's Upper-Grade Martial Artists from personally leading the army to attack the city once their Spiritual Qi was exhausted.

After all, humans are not machines, and high-intensity combat is tiring.

And those responsible for attacking the city would be even more exhausted.

Though the attackers also adopted a rotation strategy in their siege attempts, the attacking side always required deploying more troops than the defenders, making the defenders' rotation cycle last longer.

Two hours later.

Gongsun Yan realized that he couldn't capture He County tonight, so he ordered to sound the gong to withdraw.

However, looking at the ragged state of the city, he knew the Chen Army wouldn't last much longer.

...

On the other side.

Although Fengzhou and Huai State are adjacent territories, the moonlight over Fengzhou appears brighter than that over Huai State.

The full moon like a bright and smooth jade disc, with tens of thousands of Huai Army warriors camping in the wild, their lights stretching to the horizon.

Among these tens of thousands of Huai Army warriors, nearly three thousand are the Imperial Guard of Prince Huai, borrowing seven thousand Huai Army soldiers from King Chong, and three thousand Chen Army soldiers who surrendered after defeat to Prince Huai.

Yes, that's right, not all of Fengzhou's defensive forces were wiped out; nearly thirty percent surrendered to Prince Huai.

Not everyone is unafraid of death.

Faced with the threat to their lives, given the chance to survive through surrender, they deserted to Prince Huai.

And this made Prince Huai quite pleased, eating heartily, as if these events could cleanse a portion of humiliation from his heart.

But tonight, his joyful mood was disrupted by a secret report from Jiangnan.

The plan in Jiangnan failed.

The hundreds of spy clothes hiding in Jiangnan were almost entirely eradicated.

According to the plan, these spies were to attack the Treasure Ships sailing from Jiangnan to Huai State, causing chaos, and then take the opportunity to incite the Jiangnan Noble Families who lost relatives in the Treasure Ship incident to restrain the Fish Scale Guard stationed in Jiangnan.

Now the plan has failed, and Fish Scale Guard has already returned to aid Huai State.

What infuriated Prince Huai the most was that, according to the secret report, the reason the plan failed was due to suspicions among the surviving Jiangnan spies, suspecting that Flower Shadow was not dead, or that Flower Shadow may have leaked secrets before dying, allowing Chen Mo to turn the situation around and catch the big fish with a long line.

But regardless of the aspect of speculation, all pointed to Flower Shadow betraying Prince Huai.

"Useless, all useless."

Prince Huai angrily swept the items on the table onto the floor.

The spies in Jiangnan to him were merely pawns, not significant.

However, this didn't mean he could tolerate these pawns betraying him.

...

End of August.

Huai State, Huainan County.

Nangong Xian, leading the Fish Scale Guard, originally planned to support He County, but halfway received a letter from Zhao Liang, he then turned towards Yi County. During this period, he received reports from the Inspector saying Duke An has crossed the Huai River, he hurriedly brought his army back to Huainan County, intending to await Duke An's orders.

Coincidentally, upon returning to Huainan, he ran into Chen Mo.

Huainan County Government Hall.

"General Nangong, why are you in Huainan?" Chen Mo asked.

"Returning to Duke An, I heard of the emergency in Huai State, and General Zhao sought my assistance, so thinking Jiangnan is relatively uneventful, I came to help General Zhao. However, midway, I suddenly learned Prince Huai had surprised Fengzhou, General Zhao then directed me to guard Yi County. Coincidentally learned that Duke An, you came..."

Although Nangong Xian is Chen Mo's father-in-law, he did not dare to flaunt such relations, respectfully recounting the events to Chen Mo.

Chen Mo nodded, saying, "You have come at the right time. My intention was also to have you resist Prince Huai's army. I will have General Yue go to assist you."

The speed on Prince Huai's side was too quick; the troops transferred from Yu State clearly wouldn't reach Fengzhou so fast, and during this time, someone must block Prince Huai.

Yue Ruyan nodded toward Nangong Xian, as a gesture.

ps: Some parts are stuck in writing.