Chapter 695: Secrets

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..."

Below Ji City, the Grenadier Squad continuously threw Hand Grenades onto the city walls.

Under round after round of explosions, the Yuan Family soldiers on the city walls suffered heavy casualties in an instant.

At the same time, other Wangfu Army soldiers prepared Scaling Ladders, ready to climb the city walls at any moment.

Looking toward the top of Ji City, Qin Shan stroked his chin and muttered, "That kid from the Four Courts actually succeeded; this is somewhat interesting."

Originally, he had held no hope for the Four Courts youth assassinating Yuan Li.

After all, there would certainly be a large number of soldiers guarding Yuan Li.

But he had clearly underestimated the ability of this Four Courts youth.

Seeing a firework light up in the sky, he knew the Four Courts youth had succeeded, so he immediately launched the attack instead of waiting until midnight.

After all, Yuan Li encountering an assassination would surely cause chaos in Ji City; if they didn't attack the city now, when would they?

Just as he had guessed, the explosions inside the city and the fireworks flying into the sky attracted the attention of the Yuan Family soldiers on the city walls.

When the Grenadier Squad crept to the foot of Ji City, they were completely unguarded.

When the Hand Grenades exploded on the city walls, this war was destined to be a failure for Yuan Li.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..." The explosions continued.

The Yuan Family generals on the city walls were wounded or killed.

The remaining soldiers hurriedly sought reinforcements from within the city, but because of the deaths of Yuan Li and many generals, the Yuan Family Army was already in great chaos, and no one paid them any mind.

Some Yuan Family soldiers, upon learning that Yuan Li was dead, made up their minds.

Having wandered outside for so long, they were tired of it and did not want to keep fleeing.

Now, they did not want to fight anymore; they only wanted to return to Yanzhou, return to their hometowns, and live a peaceful life.

And the news that the Yan Wang's soldiers did not kill prisoners of war further strengthened their conviction.

The explosions on the city walls continued for a while longer, and then the Yuan Family soldiers inside the city heard earth-shaking shouts of battle.

The Wangfu Army soldiers climbed the city walls via Scaling Ladders and charged into Ji City; the Yuan Family troops were in total disarray and could not organize an effective defense.

The scattered counterattacks were as fragile as a sheet of paper before the Yanzhou soldiers.

More Yuan Family soldiers, seeing that the situation was lost, knelt by the roadside one after another and threw the swords, blades, and firearms in their hands onto the ground.

Thirty thousand Wangfu Army soldiers fought from the north of the city all the way to the south.

By daybreak, they had occupied the entire Ji City.

Qin Shan climbed the Nanmen of Ji City and looked down from a high vantage point at the foot of the mountain; it was a plain that stretched as far as the eye could see.

At this moment, a trace of a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

This battle was simpler than he had imagined.

The leaderless Yuan Family troops were no match for the Prince's Personal Army.

"Immediately notify His Highness the Yan Wang that Ji City has been taken," Qin Shan said.

Taking Ji City meant that a gap had been cut into the four southwestern commanderies of Qi.

They did not need to fight to the death with the clan troops at Yang City.

They only needed to enter the four southwestern commanderies from Ji City and strike toward Lu City.

"Yes, General." Upon receiving the order, a Cavalryman set out from the North Gate of Ji City and headed toward Yang City.

Two days later, the Cavalryman arrived at the Prince's Personal Army camp outside Yang City.

"Ji City has been breached?" Chang Wei could hardly believe his ears.

This was too fast; it had only been five days in total from when Qin Shan set out to the taking of Ji City—it was simply incredible.

The Cavalryman then recounted the story of the assassination of Yuan Li.

Zhao Xu nodded upon hearing this. In a daze, he suddenly felt it was somewhat amusing.

Thinking back to when he first woke up in the Yan Commandery Prince's Mansion, the Zhang Family alone had given him a headache.

Yuan Li was a behemoth in Yanzhou at that time, keeping him nervous at all times.

But he hadn't expected that now, Yuan Li's death didn't even cause a ripple in his heart.

Because to him, Yuan Li had long since become an insignificant figure.

However, with Yuan Li dead, a weight had finally been lifted from his mind.

Over these years, Yuan Li had incurred countless blood debts in Yanzhou; now was the time for those debts to be paid in blood.

Skipping over this matter, his thoughts returned to the current battlefield, and he said to Chang Wei, "Leave thirty thousand men to watch Yang City, and have the remaining sixty thousand head to Ji City overnight to attack Lu City."

"Yes, Your Highness," Chang Wei said.

Lu City.

The news of Ji City's fall had also reached here, and Han Zheng and Xie Duan were shocked.

"This Yuan Li is truly a piece of trash, and your Han Family placed too much importance on him; how could you let him guard Ji City?" Xie Duan looked as if he were frustrated by someone's failure to meet expectations.

Han Zheng was already feeling irritable, and with Xie Duan lashing out at him, he retorted angrily, "At this point, saying these things is useless. The Yan Wang's move this time was a feint to the east while attacking in the west; even if we had changed the person, we couldn't have held Ji City. Don't say any more of this; let's think about what to do instead."

Xie Duan sighed.

Indeed, just as Han Zheng said.

Even if someone else had been in charge, they couldn't have held Ji City.

The Yan Wang's massive advance toward Yang City had deceived everyone.

"I originally thought that by relying on Yang City, we could block the Yan Wang's troops for over a month, but now, in just five days, the Yan Wang has taken Ji City. I fear that in another five days, they will be at the gates of Lu City," Xie Duan shook his head. "There is no other way; we must evacuate to Peng City immediately."

Han Zheng hesitated; his Han Family's treasury had only been partially moved.

As the two were speaking, Sato Masahisa hurried over.

Looking at Han Zheng and Xie Duan, he really wanted to give them both a good scolding.

But thinking of how the Dongying Navy had also been wiped out by the Yan King Fleet almost overnight, he had no face to say anything.

He let out a long sigh and said, "Three months; no matter what, you must hold on for three months. As long as we persuade Wu, my Dongying can facilitate a new alliance. By then, you will be safe, and Yan Wang will be unable to continue his southward encroachment."

The important matter in the letter was precisely the plan that the Shogunate's Great General Watanabe An was currently pushing forward.

To establish an Eastern Land Alliance with Dongying at its core, in order to achieve the goal of influencing the situation in Great Song.

This was just like the offshore balancing strategy implemented by Britain in the Xitu Dalu.

While keeping Great Song in a state of turmoil and division, they would not allow any powerful nation to rise and threaten Dongying's interests.

When he received the letter, the Britain Consul and the Sam Country Consul stationed in Dongying were both somewhat tempted by this matter.

After all, because of their long-term colonization, the Western Lands nations understood better how to maintain checks and balances in a region.

For example, Britain's rule over Tianzhu relied on inciting infighting among the native states of Tianzhu.

Supporting one side while attacking another, letting them fight endlessly, and reaping the greatest benefits from it themselves.

In the past, when Great Song was a unified dynasty, they were still somewhat wary.

But since Great Song had split, they naturally did not wish to see Great Song unified again.

A divided Great Song was the only thing that served their interests.

However, they were very clear that relying on themselves alone, they could never achieve the goal of splitting Great Song.

But if they banded together and relied on Dongying, there was hope for it.

Especially Britain; their domestic parliament had long since formulated a plan targeting Great Song.

And Sam Country also did not want to see Wu, with whom they had massive trade dealings, destroyed by Yan Wang.

After deliberation, they decided to pull Wu into their alliance as well; in this way, they could make the division of Great Song a settled fact.