Chapter 308: News of the Ma Family

Huai Commandery.

Liu Tan stood on a hill, gazing at the Xiliang army not far away.

For the past few days, he had led his subordinates in constant movement.

He kept this Xiliang reinforcement army led by the nose.

However, today, the Xiliang reinforcement army suddenly stopped pursuing them and chose to march south instead.

He guessed that the general of the Xiliang reinforcement army must have realized they had fallen for a ruse.

He put down the monocular.

Liu Tan looked back at the soldiers lying in the woods to rest.

Now, the grain bags on the soldiers were almost empty.

Every soldier's face was filled with exhaustion and hunger.

In order to delay the Xiliang reinforcement army as much as possible.

He had ordered the soldiers to ration their ten-day supply of grain, and they had stubbornly dragged it out for three or four more days.

But he knew they could not continue to drag it out any longer.

Otherwise, more soldiers would fall behind.

"Retreat to Hengshan County." Liu Tan gave the order; his mission had already been completed beyond expectations.

He only hoped that Yan Wang could successfully take Xin City at this moment.

At this moment.

Within the Xiliang army, Jili sat on his horse with a gloomy expression.

After circling near Huaicheng for several days, he realized this was not the Yan Prince Army at all.

First, this army marched too fast; they would often withdraw immediately before his forces could arrive.

Second, he had not seen any pits left behind by cooking fires.

This indicated that this army had no intention of attacking the city at all.

Otherwise, it would be impossible not to bury pots and cook meals.

After all, it is very difficult to take a city in just a few days.

And attacking a city with only self-carried dry rations is a path to death.

Finally, this army was originally going to attack Huaicheng, then suddenly went to attack Tongguan.

After they arrived near Tongguan, this army circled back to Huaicheng again.

By the time they rushed back to Huaicheng, this army appeared near Ying County again.

This was clearly treating them like monkeys.

Without a doubt, in his view, this was definitely a feint to the east to attack in the west.

The current Yan Prince Army must already be attacking Xin City and Jincheng.

"Xin City only has six thousand-plus garrison troops; I fear it has already fallen into the hands of Yan Wang." Thinking of this, Jili's eyes grew even more somber.

Then he thought of Jincheng.

Tuoba Wuji was in Jincheng right now.

If Yan Wang attacked Jincheng, he feared Tuoba Wuji would find it hard to escape.

Most importantly, once Jincheng was lost, their Emperor Tuoba Hao would not let them off.

Returning to Xiliang, he feared they would spend the rest of their lives in prison.

"March day and night to return to Jincheng; we must not let Yan Wang's scheme succeed." Jili said to the Main General beside him: "Immediately increase the marching speed."

A day and a half later, they were sixty li away from Jin Commandery when they encountered Xiliang scouts coming to deliver military intelligence.

"Xin City has been captured by Yan Wang, and currently the Yan Prince Army is besieging Jincheng. Please, Deputy Leader, lead the troops to reinforce us quickly; we shall attack from both sides and defeat Yan Wang."

Upon hearing the scout's words, Jili's heart skipped a beat.

Everything he thought had come true.

"Immediately rush to Jincheng, no delays allowed," Jili said.

Hearing this, a general said: "Deputy Leader, the soldiers have been marching for days and are already extremely exhausted. This subordinate believes we should rest for a day to regain our strength before marching."

"By the time you are rested, I fear Jincheng will have already fallen into the hands of Yan Wang," Jili said angrily: "It will not be too late to rest once we reach Jincheng."

The Main General heard this, wanted to say more but held back, sighed slightly, and stepped back.

……

Jincheng.

At this moment, the sound of artillery was thundering.

After resting briefly for half a day in Xin City, he and Chang Wei led the troops to Jincheng.

Upon arrival, he discovered that Jincheng was already heavily guarded.

So, on one hand, he ordered the soldiers to set up camp, and on the other, he ordered the Artillery to continuously bombard the north gate.

The reinforcements had to be fought, and Jincheng had to be taken.

Therefore, the artillery bombardment was also to prepare for the subsequent assault on Jincheng.

This Jincheng had high walls and thick ramparts; a direct assault would inevitably result in heavy casualties.

So he intended to use the Artillery to target one point on the city wall and bombard it continuously.

As the saying goes, as long as you put in enough effort, an iron pestle can be ground into a needle.

Although it might not collapse this section of the wall in a day or two.

But as long as they persisted, they would eventually succeed.

After all, during the Ming and Qing wars of the modern era, many city walls were collapsed.

At the same time, he dispatched scouts to the north to monitor the movements of the Xiliang reinforcements at any time.

Once the Xiliang reinforcements entered Jin Commandery, they would have to be prepared.

"Your Highness, the Ma Family Army is currently in Lin Jun, about two hundred li or so from Jincheng. After capturing three county towns, they are now besieging Lincheng, and there are thirty thousand Xiliang troops inside Lincheng." Zhao Xu was watching the artillerymen bombard the city wall.

At this moment, a scout came to report.

After entering Jinzhou, he had let Chang Wei dispatch scouts to keep track of the Ma Family's movements.

"Lincheng has over thirty thousand men? That means the troops inside Jincheng are fewer than we imagined; no wonder Tuoba Wuji dares not come out to fight," Zhao Xu muttered.

"The war has been going on for a month now; it is not slow for them to have fought their way to Lincheng," Chang Wei pondered.

Zhao Xu nodded.

The Xiliang troops were mainly concentrated in the central and northern parts of Jinzhou, with sparse forces in the south.

But even so, the Ma Family certainly could not move as swiftly as his Prince's Personal Guard.

However, precisely because the Ma Family was fighting quite well, he felt it was a bit unusual.

Or was the Ma Family truly attacking Xiliang from both sides with him this time?

After pondering for a while, he cast this matter out of his mind again.

For now, it was better to take down the Xiliang reinforcements first.

At this moment.

Inside Jincheng, Tuoba Wuji listened to the bursts of loud noises, his expression anxious.

Before, he had only heard many rumors about the Artillery.

Only in the last two days, as the Yan Prince Army deployed the Artillery, did he witness the true power of the Artillery.

With a single shot, the battlements on the Jincheng city wall would shatter with a boom.

Soldiers who were hit directly were an even more horrific sight.

He had originally intended to close the city and make the Yan Prince Army attack, relying on the sturdiness of Jincheng to wear down the Yan Prince Army.

He had not expected that for two days, the Yan Prince Army would only surround the city without attacking it.

They were just bombarding the North Gate's city wall with the Artillery day and night.

He wanted to go out and engage them in battle.

But the Yan Prince's Artillery was aimed directly at the city gate; going out was practically equivalent to seeking death.

What's more, there were actually only thirty thousand troops in the city at this moment.

Now, he could only stay inside Jincheng, listening to the cannon fire of the Yan Prince's Artillery, unable to do anything.

He could only hope that Jili would return soon and attack the Yan Prince Army from the rear.

Then he would kill his way out from the city and crush the Yan Prince Army.

Thinking of this, he could not help but feel a bit resentful.

Then he suddenly thought of the Ma Family.

Two days ago, the Ma Family's army of one hundred and twenty thousand reached Lincheng.

He immediately ordered the garrison commander of Lincheng to send someone to meet with the Ma Family.

Since the Ma Family entered Jinzhou, he had already taken the initiative to request the garrison commanders of several county towns to put up a show of resistance before retreating.

And the Ma Family had also fulfilled their promise, deliberately letting the Xiliang troops inside the cities retreat.

Now that Jincheng was in crisis, he only hoped that once the Ma Family received the news that Jincheng was under siege, they could find a way to resolve the danger to Jincheng.

Either by having the thirty thousand garrison troops from Lincheng head to Jincheng, or by some other strategy.

However, at the same time, he was also a bit worried.

If the Ma Family saw that the situation was not right and decided to go back on their word.

Then Xiliang would be defeated in a complete mess in Jinzhou this time.