Standing on the hillside of Zhuma, looking at the city ahead, Zhao Yanxun asked: "Over there, the scouts still haven't found any reinforcements sent from the east of the Han River?"
Zhang An's people guessed correctly. The cavalry that had arrived earlier were indeed waiting for the court to send reinforcements, and then took advantage of the opportunity to eat them.
Hu Dabiao on the side replied: "Your Majesty, the imperial army has gathered in Donghe Mansion. Now they are only stationing troops on the river bank, and no troops are crossing the river!"
"They can keep their composure!" Zhao Yanxun said solemnly.
The imperial court strictly guarded the Han River, which really gave Zhao Yanxun a headache. It was not easy to cross the river with strong soldiers guarding the opposite side.
Of course, the so-called crossing the river is a matter of course. Now Zhao Yanxun had to capture Hanbei City first.
As the various units of the Yong army approached, the defenders in Hanbei City were already in panic.
The imperial court set up the Hanbei Guard here. The entire guard had three thousand households under its jurisdiction and a strength of more than 2,300 people.
At this moment, on the west wall, Wang Lifeng, the commander of the Northern Han Dynasty Guard, was looking at the approaching army in the distance.
Qianhu on the side said: "Sir, these people are really powerful, they just walked forward with the monster on their backs!"
His tone was full of admiration for Yong Jun. They had never seen this kind of fighting style before.
Wang Lifeng said helplessly: "It's awesome...it's a pity that we are enemies with him!"
"Sir, let me tell you something that shouldn't be said. With just a few of us, I'm afraid we can't defend Hanbei City!"
Upon hearing this, Wang Lifeng immediately said: "I have sent people to ask the general for help!"
Another Qianhu said: "Sir, we have reached this point. Even if the general sends reinforcements, I am afraid it will be too late!"
Immediately afterwards, Qianhu, who spoke earlier, said: "Sir, we have to make plans early!"
Wang Lifeng turned around, looked at his two subordinates with a cold expression, and asked, "What exactly do you want to say?"
After the two Qianhus looked at each other, one of them said: "Sir... let's just withdraw!"
"You mean to run away without a fight?"
"Withdraw" is a relatively obscure calligraphy. Wang Lifeng's words directly removed the fig leaf for his subordinates.
"Sir, the enemy has so many troops, what can we do to fight with them? Staying here will only lead to death in vain!"
"Yes, sir, with the few people we have, we can't even stand on the city wall. How can we fight against such a powerful enemy!"
Hearing his two cowards talking like this, Wang Lifeng was almost angry to death and said in a cold voice: "Fleeing without fighting is a capital crime and will involve your family!"
The imperial court could not pursue the families of ordinary soldiers, but the families of officers with a household of 1,000 or above were all placed in the capital.
If they really escape without a fight and the court investigates them, they will definitely be in bad luck.
Wang Lifeng's words shattered the illusions of the two thousand households, and "evacuation" became an option that could not be chosen.
But if they stay and hold on, if the reinforcements arrive too late, they will also be dead.
Wang Lifeng drew out his saber and said slowly: "Since death is inevitable, it is better to die more vigorously, so as to bring some benefits to the family!"
When Wang Lifeng said these words, he was already talking about his posthumous affairs, which made the two Qianhu people even more worried.
At this moment, a noise came from under the city wall, attracting the attention of the three people on the wall.
"What's going on?" Wang Lifeng frowned.
After a while, a commander-in-chief came up and reported: "I would like to inform you all, the three princes are here with their men!"
"What are they here for?"
"The three princes said they would bring people to help defend the city!"
Hearing this, Qianhu said: "Sir, these three princes have a hundred or ten people in total, so they can be of some help!"
Wang Lifeng said with a straight face: "They are the only ones who have never been on the battlefield. I'm afraid they are not here to cause trouble!"
At this moment, I saw several people rushing up to the top of the ladder to the tower, followed by soldiers blocking the way.
"Wang, we want to defend the city, but these people under your command stop us, and you don't care?"
The one who rushed to the front to speak was the King of Light Zhao Yanyuan, followed by the King of Heng Zhao Yansong, and the gloomy-looking Soul King Zhao Weiheng.
Although these three princes have lost power, they are still respected princes. They risked their lives and personally broke through. The general banner will certainly not be able to stop them.
Knowing that a foreign enemy was invading, the three vassal kings who were "trapped" here naturally couldn't sit still at this moment.
Trapped in the city for nearly a month, although they were out of danger, they were just barely surviving.
Once the imperial court takes action to regain a few small counties in the west of Hanoi County, it will kick the three of them away and join the vassal state.
To go to that kind of place to join the feudal clan is basically to die.
The youngest, Sui Wang Zhao Yanxiao, was bitten to death by zombies in the "Fiefdom" two months ago.
Therefore, today's enemy attack is an opportunity for Zhao Yanyuan and others.
They planned to escape from the city with their confidants while defending the city.
Although there were many zombies outside the city and there were enemy troops eyeing them, they still wanted to go out and have a fight.
Even if escaping means death, they are willing to do so, at least it is better than dying in vain.
Looking at the three princes walking in front of him, Wang Lifeng said with cold eyes: "Your three highnesses are blind, you should go down, this is not the place you should be!"
Objectively speaking, Wang Lifeng's attitude was very rude, but Zhao Yanyuan and the other three were obviously used to it.
At this time, Heng Wang Zhao Yansong said: "Commander Wang, guarding the city with swords without eyes will kill people, but if you can't defend it, we will also die after the bandits break the city!"
"It's all a death. He died defending the city and serving the country. As a member of the royal family... shouldn't this be the right thing?"
The Spirit King Zhao Weiheng on the side also helped: "Commander Wang, let us straighten our backs and die!"
Putting the word "death" in his mouth casually, these three princes on the city wall made Wang Lifeng feel inexplicably pitiful.
They were originally noble people, but they could only inevitably die at such an age.
"Since your three highnesses are not afraid of death, then your people should come up!" Wang Lifeng planned to give them a chance.
Zhao Yanyuan and the others felt relieved that the first step of their plan had been completed.
In order to save themselves, they also took great pains and were willing to risk their lives to seize the opportunity.
Of course, with dozens of their men on the city wall, the strengthening of the city's defense strength was extremely limited.
Standing by the city wall and looking at the large number of zombies outside the city, Zhao Yanyuan felt extremely uneasy.
"If we really leave the city, even if we escape the raid by the bandit army, we may still end up in the mouth of monsters!"
Hearing what he said, Spirit King Zhao Weiheng said in a deep voice: "Uncle Ten, what did you say just now, and now you are afraid again?"
Zhao Yanyuan smiled slightly and then said: "Nephew, what do you have to be afraid of?"
At this time, the main force of Yong's army in the distance was no more than five miles away from the city wall.
A leading cavalry force of one hundred or ten people was rushing toward Hanbei City with overwhelming force, killing zombies like vegetables.
On the city wall, all the garrison soldiers were shocked.
As the distance got closer, all the soldiers saw clearly the details of Yong's army killing zombies.
It was as light as a wind and a residual cloud, and it directly refreshed everyone's understanding. It turns out that killing zombies is so simple.
With such a powerful army, how can these ordinary armies, which have a hard time leaving the city, fight with others?
Seeing this situation, Spirit King Zhao Weiheng said extremely pessimistically: "I'm afraid we really can't escape!"
The two foreign princes also looked pale. The enemy had such a powerful fighting force that it was really unrealistic for them to take advantage of the chaos and escape.
Just as everyone on the city wall was feeling pessimistic, the front guard soldiers led by Zhang Meng had stopped twenty feet away from Hanbei City.
Ahead is the moat, with a suspension bridge that cannot be retracted. Zhang Meng and his party can continue moving forward.
On the city wall, all the crossbowmen drew their arrows, just waiting for Wang Lifeng's order.
You can see the Yong soldiers below who are all fully armored. The archers on the city wall themselves have to doubt whether the inferior bows and arrows in their hands can penetrate their armor.
At this time, Zhang Meng's shouting came from under the city wall.
"Listen, people in the city, Your Highness King Yong is fulfilling the destiny, respecting the will of the late Emperor, and attacking the traitors... If you want to survive, you should abandon the dark and turn to the bright, and the prince will forgive you!"
As the art of war goes, those who subjugate the enemy's troops without fighting are good at it.
At this moment, on the city wall, Zhao Yanyuan murmured: "Brother Ninth...is Brother Ninth here?"