"Dong! Dong! Dong!"

I can't remember how many times the drums have been beaten.

Huan Tianyuan gritted his teeth, crawled out from the military tent, donned his armor, took his spear, and marched to battle.

However, this time, there weren't many people left in Vessel City.

Three thousand? Five thousand? No more than that.

All those Generals, Captains, Commanders, none of them are in sight, whether they fled or already died, nobody knew.

But it doesn't matter, after so many times, one gets used to it.

Huan Tianyuan ascended the Commanding Platform, gripping the Green Phoenix Banner. Naturally, a crowd of armored soldiers, as numb and expressionless as he was, silently gathered around.

"Comrades,

we do not fight for the King,

we do not fight for the Immortal Palace!

We fight only for the peace of the world,

we fight only for our homeland behind us.

With the banner, the city stands; without the banner, we die!

To battle!"

No one raised their arms and shouted, nor did anyone roar passionately.

This nonsense about world peace was only meant to deceive those naive young men to die.

Once or twice it might lift morale, but after a dozen, twenty times, the repetition loses its passion.

In the inescapable, irretrievable deathtrap, some fled, some failed, and more simply became numb.

Forget it, just like this, to battle, and then die.

Waving the banner, Huan Tianyuan shouted as if driving sheep, using his booming voice to arrange the numbed soldiers from the Domain Army of Zhenzhou onto the walls to await death, with no other means.

Can't win.

He had countless times raised his arm, aroused thousands of brave lads to fight back with him, to struggle fiercely, pounding the counterattack to death. Yet all was in vain.

Because the battlefield is like this, just because you shout loudly, reason a lot, yelling once or twice, doesn't mean everyone suddenly gets fully motivated and bursts with combat power, breaking through the siege.

Have you ever eaten ice mixed with Human Blood and Demon Blood?

Have you ever shot at demons whose fur is thicker than Triple Armor?

Have you ever, in the biting cold of the icefield, galloped for three whole days and nights, surged onto the battlefield still having to repeatedly charge, cycle, and crash the formation?

Could you, with one bow, one sword, keep fighting, fighting until packs of wolves scurry away in panic?

You cannot.

You lack that skill and that will.

You bunch who haven't even tasted meat, are just pampered waste.

You also want to win? Do you deserve to win?

What a joke.

Fools.

"Brother Huan, what should we do now?"

A call close yet seemingly distant awoke the murmuring Huan Tianyuan.

Looking up at the samurais around him, old and young, but with undying fighting spirit in their eyes, Huan Tianyuan came to his senses.

Alright, at least, he was not alone.

In the repetitive killing and defeat, he was not the only one aware of being trapped in some recurring nightmare.

These people had all awakened from the nightmare at different times and proactively united around Huan Tianyuan, following him to steadfastly defend the isolated city.

Those cowardly officials abandoned the army and fled. Thanks to their full support, Huan Tianyuan could maneuver the various armies to defend the city.

The blades and horses of Kan Country are sharp, but Zhen Country is not without fine swords. If they had the chance to grow, the outcome might still be uncertain. But...

Huan Tianyuan clenched his teeth.

"We can't hold it, let's escape."

"Escape?"

"Escape. They have been refining their siege tactics, and each main attack direction is different. Even climbing the walls, each time becomes more skillful.

And for three consecutive battles, strong bows have been secretly targeting me. It seems someone on the other side remembers my command. Yingzhou City can't be held for long.

The rebel army is growing faster than we are, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to resist them on this battlefield."

The Zhenzhou Samurai hesitated, looking at each other,

"But if Yingzhou can't be held, where can we retreat to stop them?"

Huan Tianyuan spread the map and pointed south,

"There's still a way, as long as there are waterways, they can stop them.

All along this route, I have been fighting the rebel army. Although the disparity is vast, I have been repeatedly defeated in battles at the Zhang River, Huan River, and Gen River. But thinking carefully, every time they encounter a river, their army is temporarily impeded, forming a standoff across the river.

Moreover, I noted the timing of each rebel raid, calculated the distance from their camp to the foot of the city. They gallop like lightning, familiar with breaking through formations and climbing the city, but when crossing rivers, they still waste a lot of time, giving us confidence to deploy defenses.

In theory, even if the Northern people are unfamiliar with water, with the rebels' ability to learn siege, they shouldn't have yet been able to cross rivers. So last time I rode alone out of the city, carefully observing at the frontlines, I finally understood.

The problem isn't with them, it's with the horses."

"...Horses?"

Huan Tianyuan nodded,

"The horses of the Light Cavalry were brought from the Icefield, raised in the Priest Garden, drinking snow water from Yan Zhi Mountain. They haven't really seen large rivers.

Kan Country also has rivers, but in the Icefield, demons abound, with ice lakes and the vast sea, and it's known that deeper rivers and lakes have demons, so these northern horses naturally dare not cross deep water.

Now the waters of the Ying River are too shallow; with winter here, water levels are low, and the river is frozen over, allowing them to cross and catch us off guard."

Huan Tianyuan traced his finger on the map, glancing south, murmuring,

"Once Yingzhou falls, the rebels will undoubtedly turn to attack Suiyang, hitting from both sides, unable to hold either, we still need to retreat.

We must follow the canal, retreat all the way to the Huai River, establish camps on the tidal flats, and firmly defend the city to have a chance to fight."

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