A full moon shone quietly on the sky, the moonlight cut through the sky, and the silvery radiance shook off the starry frost in the sky.
At this moment, Guanghan County is extremely quiet. Countless torches stretch along the city wall. I don’t know if the firelight embellishes the sky, or if the clear light shines thousands of miles away and illuminates this small battlefield.
Excluding the wounded soldiers who were seriously injured and unable to fight, all the soldiers of the Shu army who were still capable of fighting had been concentrated on the southwest side, totaling 32,000 people.
In order to prevent the clues from being detected, there are still 6,000 people guarding the remaining sections of the city wall as usual. They will move closer to the southwest after the breakout battle begins, and then work together to break out of the siege.
Thirty-two thousand plus six thousand, a total of thirty-eight thousand people, which is all the remaining fighting strength of the Shu army.
At least five thousand more people will die in tonight's breakout battle.
In other words, in about an hour, only half of the 60,000 Shu army will be left.
The remaining half of the people will flee towards Niutoushan as planned, and Han Zhao will order the army to pursue them tomorrow morning, causing more than 200,000 imperial troops to fall into the dragnet that Wei Changtian has already laid.
Compared with the upcoming Niutoushan ambush battle, although tonight's breakout battle can be expected to be very brutal, it can only be regarded as an appetizer at best.
Especially for Wei Changtian's overall plan, as long as the Shu army can successfully break through and complete its mission as a "bait", it doesn't even matter how many viable forces are left.
Thirty-five thousand? Thirty thousand? Or twenty thousand?
Ten thousand more and ten thousand less will not have a substantial impact on the Battle of Niutoushan.
However, even if only ten thousand people can be killed, tonight's breakout must be successful.
They only have this one chance.
If it fails, Han Zhao will never be able to open a "back door" for them again, and the Shu army will be besieged in this small Guanghan County until they are completely annihilated.
And this will also represent the bankruptcy of the overall plan and the demise of the Shu Kingdom.
"..."
Standing on the city wall, looking back at the thirty-eight thousand people crowded under the city wall, Wei Changtian asked in a low voice to Liang Zhen beside him.
"Uncle Liang, how long will it take?"
"Less than a quarter of an hour."
Liang Zhen replied with a calm expression, and there was no abnormal emotion on his face.
On the contrary, Liang Qin next to him was a little nervous at this time.
"Brother Changtian, is General Han really trustworthy?"
She approached Wei Changtian, frowned and asked softly: "We place all our lives on him, just in case..."
Liang Qin didn't finish what he said, but the meaning was already clear.
Wei Changtian just smiled and was not worried about this.
Han Zhao had taken the Puppet Pill. If he had had any thoughts of rebellion, he would have died suddenly.
And since he is not dead, it means there is no possibility of rebellion.
"It's nothing special, don't worry."
Smiling and shaking his head, Wei Changtian chatted with Liang Qin for a few words, and then calmly asked Chu Xianping beside him.
"Brother Chu, where is Xu Suisui?"
"Miss Xu said she went to cleanse her hands."
"Wash your hands?"
Wei Changtian frowned.
The war is about to start, why don't you run to the toilet?
Is this scary?
Wei Changtian thought about it and still felt uneasy.
He was not worried that Xu Suisui would reveal secrets or anything, but he was mainly worried that the latter would not be able to find him when the war was in chaos.
Although I was ready to send this fellow away after breaking through the siege, the time has not yet come, so I always have to protect him.
"Brother Chu, I'm going to find her."
"Sir, why don't you let me go?"
Chu Xianping advised: "It's almost Haishi now, so you'd better stay with General Liang."
"It's okay, I'll be back soon, don't delay anything."
Waving his hand, Wei Changtian left a word and jumped off the city wall, quickly disappearing into the night along the direction pointed by Chu Xianping.
Liang Zhen was also aware of the situation here and asked Chu Xianping a few questions.
"Huh? What did Chang Tian do?"
"General Liang, the young master has gone to find Miss Xu."
"Miss Xu? What is she doing at this time?"
"Clean your hands."
"oh......"
Nodding, Liang Zhen looked away from the direction where Wei Changtian disappeared, hesitated for a moment and then suddenly lowered his voice.
"Mr. Chu, do you think this Miss Xu is a bit strange?"
"..."
If someone else hears this question, they will most likely ask something like "What's weird?"
However, Chu Xianping did not ask that question.
He just looked at Liang Zhen deeply, and then nodded slightly.
...
...
Fengyuan, Dafeng Imperial Palace.
In the sandalwood-filled palace, everyone had already exited the palace, leaving only the Freemason man standing in front of the palace with his hands lowered.
"emperor."
"I am the son of Young Master Wei Changtian. I have some words that Young Master asked me to pass on to you..."
Looking at Li Qi who was smiling and playing with the hem of his clothes on the bed, the man shook his head helplessly, feeling as if he was playing the piano to a cow.
But since it was a task assigned by Wei Changtian, he could only comply with it.
So after a pause, he continued to talk to himself, regardless of whether Li Qi was listening or not:
"Your Majesty, Mr. Wei has now sent seven second-grade masters to Fengyuan to take Princess Wuping to Shuzhou for refuge."
"But the princess doesn't want to live. She wants to stay and live with Dafeng."
"Mr. Wei naturally doesn't want to see Princess Xiang die. He also hopes that Dafeng can resolve this crisis."
"But for some reasons, those seven masters were unable to participate in the Dafeng War."
"In addition, there is also a war in Shuzhou now. Mr. Wei is really powerless and there is only so much he can do."
"So... Mr. Wei wants to know what your plans are, Your Majesty?"
"If the situation in Dafeng is irreversible, Mr. Wei also hopes that you can persuade the princess to leave for Shuzhou as soon as possible to prevent changes if it is delayed."
"And if you feel that the situation in Dafeng has improved, please make it clear to Mr. Wei as soon as possible."
"Your Majesty, the villain has finished speaking."
"..."
After speaking all what Wei Changtian had told him, the man stood there and waited for a while.
He had been observing Li Qi's reaction when he spoke just now, but the latter never looked at him from beginning to end, and kept smiling and twiddling his fingers.
The man actually knew that Wei Changtian's intention in asking him to say these words was to test whether Li Qi was really stupid or pretending to be stupid.
Judging from the current situation, the probability that he feels "really stupid" is basically 99%.
Coming from a high-level Freemasonry, a man is relatively confident in his ability to observe words and emotions.
Unless Li Qi's acting skills have reached their peak, Duan Wu might not have shown any flaws just now.
Alas, it seems that God is going to destroy Dafeng...
With a sad sigh in his heart, the man finally stopped waiting and turned around to leave.
But just as he was about to reach the palace gate, a word suddenly floated behind him.
"Hero, please let Tong'er come to see me... Please don't let others notice you."