Xun Tianzhang waved his hand after he finished speaking, and the soldiers left the commander’s tent. Only then did Xun Tianzhang’s son step forward to support him, his eyes full of worry: "Father... today is not a day for battle. Why burden yourself with heavy armor? Your body can’t take it!"
Xun Tianzhang leaned half of his body against his son. He looked at the continuous mountains visible from outside the tent, his eyes slightly red...
His greatest wish in this life was to reclaim Yushan Pass, which rightfully belonged to the Liang Kingdom. After Bai Weiting’s death, although he mourned, he also thought the time to reclaim Yushan Pass had arrived.
He knew that his lifespan was short. If Heaven pitied him, it would let him reclaim Yushan Pass, which had been lost by his Xun family, before he died. Thus, he could face the ancestors of the Xun family with honor.
"Cough, cough!" Xun Tianzhang coughed heavily a few times.
"Father!"
Xun Tianzhang firmly grasped his son’s hand, preventing him from shouting.
With a great battle imminent, it was considered ominous for the commander to be gravely ill.
He forced himself to request to lead the battle, not to let the elite soldiers of Daliang stop here.
He swore to reclaim Yushan Pass and wash away the disgrace!
"Send someone to inform General Gu, who is besieging the Lord of Gaoyi from Jin Kingdom. He must capture the Lord of Gaoyi within three days, dead or alive!" Xun Tianzhang spoke word by word.
·
Bai Qingyan carefully examined the construction map of Longyang City, her index finger resting on the location of the city’s canal.
To the north of Daliang was the sea, and the people of Liang were adept in water. They would definitely enter through this canal.
Lu Ping carried a bowl of hot soup into Bai Qingyan’s private tent and softly persuaded, "Eldest Miss, drink the soup and take a nap! The guards from our residence are already asleep."
Bai Qingyan took a sip of the hot soup, her eyes not leaving the map. She asked, "How was the interrogation of Zhao Tong?"
"He is a tough man!" Lu Ping replied.
Men of the Zhao family in Daliang naturally had strong backbones.
"General Bai! Wang Xiping requests an audience!" Wang Xiping called loudly from outside.
Bai Qingyan put down the hot soup, "General Wang, come in!"
Wang Xiping entered with a joyful expression, cupping his hands to Bai Qingyan, "As General Bai predicted, the Liang Army indeed did not engage in battle!"
"If the Liang Army sends people tonight to rescue Zhao Tong or to scout Longyang City for our army’s situation, General Wang, I’ll need your men to pay a visit to the Liang Camp." Bai Qingyan’s eyes held a faint smile. "Burn Liang Army’s granary!"
If the Liang army’s food supply was in crisis, they would either have to fight with their backs to the water or stay put.
Xun Tianzhang was cautious. Without a clear understanding of the Jin Army’s situation, he wouldn’t act recklessly.
If the Jin Army asserted their strong stance and sent a challenge letter at this time, Xun Tianzhang, even if he did not retreat, would not engage in a rash battle or attack the city.
Lin Kangle, leading the commanders, slowly approached the besieged Zhao family soldiers, his cold eyes fixed on them, "Since you came to rescue Zhao Tong, let’s send you to join him!"
Soon, the elite soldiers of the Zhao family who had infiltrated Longyang City were disarmed and thrown into the prison.
Upon entering the prison filled with a strange meat aroma, they sensed something was wrong. When they saw Zhao Tong, stripped of his pants and bound to a plank, they instantly understood. Their eyes turned red as they knelt, "General!"
"Jin dogs! How dare you treat our general like this!" The elite soldiers of the Zhao family were furious, rushing as if to fight the Jin soldiers who had thrown them into the prison. But their hands and feet were firmly bound, making them no match for the Jin soldiers, who kicked them back.
"General! General!" The Zhao family soldiers kneeled beside the unconscious Zhao Tong, their teeth clenched as tears flowed uncontrollably. freewёbnoνel.com
"We merely used the same method your old General Zhao used on others against your Liang soldiers! I thought the Zhao family soldiers would be used to it by now. Who would have thought... it would hurt so much when used on your own general?" Lu Ping spoke leisurely.
"Jin dogs! You’ll die terrible deaths! Our commander will lead our Liang soldiers to conquer your Jin Kingdom! Destroy you Jin dogs!" The Zhao family soldiers, full of rage, glared at Lu Ping like trapped beasts.
"Saving your General Zhao is easy. Just tell us where the Commandery Princess of Gaoyi is. If not, you’ll end up like Zhao Tong!" Lu Ping’s eyes turned cold.
With an arrow in his chest, a Zhao family soldier sneered, "Spit! If you want to find the County Lord of Gaoyi... prepare to see her corpse!"
"No rush, the long night is ahead. We have plenty of time to interrogate!" Lu Ping ordered his men to bring out a brocade box containing small iron balls, ranging in size from a pinky fingertip to tiny ones, all connected by a thin iron chain.
The faces of the dozen or so Zhao family elite soldiers changed. They all knew what these were.
It was a method the Zhao family used to interrogate enemy tongues: heating the small iron balls and placing them in a person’s navel, causing excruciating pain.
"Such delicate items had been used by your old General Zhao on our Bai family’s Uncle Fifth and our Bai family soldiers."
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