Just as Wang Yuanji and his men were about to leave the city, a sharp-eyed soldier quickly pointed towards a distant troop and shouted.
"Pass down the order, maintain strict vigilance. No one is to leave the city without my command!"
Seeing this, Li Mao's heart clenched again.
"My lord!"
Upon hearing this, Wang Yuanji hurried over.
"Don't blame me for being ruthless. The lives of everyone in this city rest on both our shoulders!"
Looking at Wang Yuanji's gaze, Li Mao couldn't help but feel his eyes well up.
"My lord, quickly open the city gate! General Liu Xu has returned!"
Just as everyone was filled with worry, a gruff voice finally came from below the city walls.
"It's General Liu, it's General Liu!"
Not a few soldiers on the city walls recognized Liu Xu's voice, and soon someone did.
"My lord! Your subordinate has returned!"
As Liu Xu spoke, he quickly took a torch from his remaining hand and illuminated his face.
"Open the city gate!"
After seeing Liu Xu's face clearly, the heavy stone hanging in Li Mao's heart was finally put down.
"Creak—"
With a grating sound, the great gate of Zhen Ding City finally opened.
"Enter the city!"
Looking at the city gate that swung open with a roar, all the soldiers, including Liu Xu, felt as if they had gone through different lives.
At this moment, even they themselves couldn't believe that they had actually accomplished this.
A mere 3,000 men, setting fires and fighting in the Jin camp, and even cutting down the general's banner and assassinating a Jin general.
Although they had suffered nearly 800 casualties on the way, the remaining men had all safely entered Zhen Ding City.
The moment the city gate closed, the soldiers following Liu Xu collapsed onto the ground one by one.
Although Liu Xu had only brought back over 2,000 soldiers, their actions had thoroughly boosted the morale of the army and civilians within the city.
Seeing them enter the city safely, Zhen Ding City soon turned into a sea of joy.
In this world, there are always those who are happy and those who are sad. While Liu Xu and his men were celebrating, the Jin camp was shrouded in gloom and despair.
Liu Xu and his men's rampage, coupled with the fire in the rear camp, had completely crushed the morale and fighting spirit of Han Qinghe and his troops.
"A bunch of trash, a bunch of trash! How could I have raised such idiots? With so many people guarding the camp, you still let those Song soldiers sneak into the camp to assassinate the general. What were you all doing?"
In Han Qinghe's tent, looking at Han Qinghe who had fallen into a coma, Shaohe was almost driven mad.
This was their commander!
If Han Qinghe were to die in the army, the enraged Wanyan Zongwang would probably throw them all into the death row.
"General, that person came too suddenly, and it was too chaotic outside. General..."
"Several generals, General Han's condition is not serious. He has already been given medicine. The poison on the dagger is not fatal. The general will wake up after a period of rest..."
Looking at Shaohe's almost murderous gaze, the military doctor who was examining Han Qinghe's injuries quickly lowered his voice.
"Then I'll trouble you!"
Upon hearing that Han Qinghe was safe, Shaohe finally breathed a sigh of relief.
After the military doctor left the tent and instructed Han Qinghe's personal guards to take good care of him, Shaohe turned and headed for the rear camp.
Compared to the messy affairs in the front, he was more worried about the provisions in the rear camp at this moment.
The moment he stepped into the rear camp, his heart sank into an abyss.
The Song army's actions had been well-planned. As soon as the fire started, they had begun their charge.
The entire Jin camp was in chaos. After the chaos subsided, the food had already been destroyed and could not be saved.
Of the hundreds of thousands of piculs of grain they had painstakingly accumulated, only a few granaries on the edges and corners remained. The rest had basically turned to ashes...
It wasn't until dawn that the final losses were tallied. Looking at the numbers on the list, Shaohe closed his eyes in pain...
Despite suffering heavy losses tonight, they still had over 26,000 men, but their remaining grain was less than five thousand piculs!
Although Han Qinghe had not yet woken up, Shaohe already knew that they had lost this battle.
They had no good solution for Zhen Ding City, which only had 2,000 troops. Now, with that army of unknown strength re-entering Zhen Ding City, their hope of breaking through the city in a short period of time had been completely shattered.
The grain within a hundred-mile radius had already been scoured clean. It was impossible for them to procure enough grain in a short period of time.
This was, after all, Song territory. If they waited until the provisions ran out, any mishap could be irreversible...
"General Shao, the grain has been burned. Should we now..."
The burning of the grain could not be concealed. In less than half an incense stick's worth of time, almost all the Jin generals had gathered before Shaohe.
Since Han Qinghe was still unconscious, Shaohe had become their backbone.
After scanning them, Shaohe couldn't help but sneer.
It was understandable that the Khitans and the surrendered Song generals could only come to him now. But for those Jurchen generals to push him forward at this moment clearly meant they wanted him to take the blame!
Although he was displeased, Shaohe understood that with such a major incident, the urgent priority was to stabilize the morale of the troops. Otherwise, before the Song army could counterattack, they would descend into chaos themselves.
"I say, everyone, at this point, we all know what happened. If the Marshal investigates, General Han will be held accountable, but will we be able to escape? General Han is still unconscious. I believe everyone should have a clear idea of what to do!"
With a cold snort, Shaohe no longer bothered with their internal struggles. He turned and headed directly for Han Qinghe's tent.
"He just left like that?"