Chapter 201: Escape

"General, what should we do?"

"General, what should we do?"

"..."

The Yanguan generals gathered around Xiao Yuanshan one by one, repeating the same question: what should be done now?

At this moment, Xiao Yuanshan was so overwhelmed by fear that he was unable to think at all.

He turned his head to look around, searching for Mo Di's figure in the crowd, but then suddenly realized that Mo Di was dead.

Faced with the generals' questioning, he was completely unable to answer.

If everything was true, the Yuan Family had rebelled, and the Northern Di army had arrived again.

That meant they were going to attack Yanguan from both sides.

In such a case, how could Yanguan possibly hold?

"Yanguan is finished." A voice repeated constantly in his mind.

He looked at the many generals who had cast their gazes upon him and said, "Immediately make arrangements as General Mo practiced before."

That day, when Mo Di returned covered in blood, he had gathered the Yanguan generals to practice for the situation where Yanguan was attacked from both sides simultaneously.

Upon hearing this, the generals bowed in acknowledgment and turned to leave one after another.

At this time, Xiao Yuanshan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and asked Xiao Qing, "Has the Yuan Family's army arrived?"

"They are less than ten miles away, and Yuan Family scouts have already appeared at Nanmen," Xiao Qing said.

Xiao Yuanshan nodded, "Immediately assemble the soldiers; we leave now."

"Yes, General," Xiao Qing said.

There were no more than 160,000 men in the Great Song Imperial Guard within Yanguan.

To the north was a Great Song army of no less than 300,000, and to the south was the Yuan Family's force of 200,000.

Even if Mo Di were here in person, he could not hold this Yanguan.

Rather than that, it would be better to flee Yanguan and return to the Xiao Family in Yizhou.

After all, once Yanguan fell, the situation of the world would change drastically.

Relying on the natural barriers of Yizhou, his Xiao Family might be able to establish their own territory, and then no one would be able to hold him accountable for his crimes.

He returned to his own residence.

He immediately had his Personal Guards pack up his gold, silver, and valuables.

After a while, Xiao Qing brought fifty Cavalry over.

These fifty Cavalry were all Xiao Family descendants.

"Let's go, General; if we don't leave now, it will be too late," Xiao Qing said.

Xiao Yuanshan nodded.

To him, this Yanguan was nothing more than a cash cow.

Now that this cash cow had turned into a deadly blade, he dared not keep it.

Mounting his horse, the group headed toward the Nanmen of Yanguan.

The gate-guarding general saw Xiao Yuanshan arrive and bowed, saying, "Where is General Xiao going?"

"This general is going personally to persuade Yuan Li to pull back from the brink; open the city gate at once!" Xiao Yuanshan barked.

Although the gate-guarding general was half-doubting, Xiao Yuanshan was the current Main General of Yanguan, so he could only comply.

They spurred their horses out.

Xiao Yuanshan's group disappeared into the darkness.

One hour later.

Points of light appeared in the darkness to the south.

The lights became clearer; they were dense, swarming torches.

The Yuan Family's army had arrived!

At this moment, the last shred of hope for the Yanguan generals was shattered.

Xiao Yuanshan had lied to them; he had fled.

The news that the Main General had fled without a fight spread rapidly through Yanguan.

The morale of the generals and soldiers immediately plummeted to the lowest point.

Most importantly, the current Yanguan had fallen into a state of having no leader.

There was no one capable of commanding the generals in battle.

Just at this moment.

The Nanmen guard discovered a few points of torchlight appearing in the darkness to the west.

These lights drew closer and closer.

Upon reaching the front, a voice rang out from within the torchlight.

"Open the city gate quickly, I am Mo Yu!" As he spoke, Mo Yu held the torch up to his own face.

"It is Captain Mo." The city-guarding general recognized Mo Yu and let out a sound of surprise and joy.

Immediately, he ordered the city gate to be opened.

"Where is Xiao Yuanshan?" After entering the city, Mo Yu asked.

The city gate guard sighed and repeated the words Xiao Yuanshan had said before leaving.

"He runs truly fast!" Mo Yu clenched his fists.

As far as he was concerned, this bastard was also a suspect in his father's death.

However, he immediately calmed down; now was not the time to focus on personal grudges.

To ensure he arrived at Yanguan in time, Yan Wang provided him and his accompanying Cavalry with four horses each.

He had run two horses to death just to arrive in the nick of time.

As for the Prince's Army, because they were mostly Infantry, their march was slow, and they would need at least another day to arrive.

In other words, Yanguan had to hold out for at least one day.

"His Highness Yan Wang's troops will arrive at Yanguan in one more day," Mo Yu said.

With a formidable enemy at the gates, the most important thing was the morale of the army.

Especially since the chief general, Xiao Yuanshan, had deserted in the face of battle, which was a heavy blow to the soldiers.

Although in the eyes of the Yanguan soldiers, Xiao Yuanshan was a piece of trash.

But the current Xiao Yuanshan represented the Great Song Dynasty Imperial Court.

"Yan Wang is coming." The generals began to whisper to one another upon hearing this.

During this time, Yan Wang's reputation had long since spread among the hearts of the Yanguan soldiers.

Compared to Yuan Li, they trusted Yan Wang more.

After all, they were the Great Song Imperial Guards, eating the emperor's grain.

And since Yan Wang was an Imperial Prince representing the Imperial Clan, they naturally felt closer to him.

Seeing the expressions of the generals settle slightly, Mo Yu took out a document at this moment, "This was given by Censor Ma. This time, the Emperor ordered Censor Ma to come to Yanzhou with the authority to act as circumstances require. Upon learning that Yuan Li had rebelled and that Xiao Yuanshan was incapable of handling the heavy responsibility, Censor Ma ordered me to temporarily take over the post of Vice General of Yanguan."

Pausing for a moment, he said: "Now that Xiao Yuanshan's whereabouts are unknown, Yanguan shall follow my orders from this moment on."

The trusted generals who had once served under Mo Di were naturally eager for Mo Yu to take charge of Yan Commandery.

Mo Yu had often followed Mo Di; although he lacked his full ability, he still possessed sixty or seventy percent of his skill.

With him commanding the Yanguan soldiers, at least they would not be as clueless as Xiao Yuanshan.

Although other generals with backgrounds in powerful clans were displeased, with Ma Yuan's document present, they had no choice but to accept it.

"Yes, General Mo," the group of generals replied in unison.

Mo Yu nodded, and at this time, he gathered all the generals of Yanguan to arrange the defense as they had practiced in the past.

Among them, he left 120,000 men on the northern wall and deployed 40,000 of them on the southern wall.

Afterward, he rode his horse back and forth between the north and south of Yanguan to inspect the defenses.

Outside Nanmen.

Yuan Li gazed at the Yanguan city walls, where torches were flickering.

The torches above were shifting and moving, clearly preparing for defense.

"Mo Di is dead, and the general in the city is that wine-bag and rice-sack Xiao Yuanshan; Heaven is favoring my Yuan Family," a smile appeared at the corner of Yuan Li's mouth.

Originally, he had been somewhat unconfident about attacking Yanguan.

But upon learning that Mo Di was dead, he suddenly felt that the great cause could be achieved.

Raising his hand, he ordered the main army to halt and said to Yuan Xiu: "Let the soldiers rest for half an hour; we will launch the attack on Yanguan in half an hour."

He did not intend to rest for the night and attack at dawn.

Because the news of his rebellion had already spread.

For every extra day he stayed, the danger facing his Yuan Family increased by one fold.

Not to mention Yan Wang, even the armies of the powerful clans might enter Yanzhou to suppress the rebellion.

Therefore, for him, the sooner he took Yanguan, the more secure his Yuan Family would be; if the Northern Di army entered the pass, the situation in Yanzhou would be settled.

Half an hour was not long.

Once the time arrived, hundreds of Scaling Ladders were carried up by the soldiers.

At the same time, three hundred Firearms were pushed to the very front.

Gazing at Yanguan, which was illuminated by torches in the dark night, Yuan Li shouted: "Attack!"