We have fought to the Arctic Circle, and you want me to inherit the throne?

Zhai Yan woke up naturally from a good night's sleep, stretched, and felt refreshed.

The personal guards had already prepared warm water for him to wash, and helped him put on his gorgeous general's armor, and then served him a cup of tea.

This is the end of this set of getting up.

Zhai Yan has been in a really good mood these days.

Although the 200,000 troops led by Li Che outside the pass were covered with flags and had camps everywhere.

But so what?

Qingliu Pass is indeed a magnificent pass throughout the ages. Even though the Fengtian Army has strong men and horses, it has no way to take Qingliu Pass.

The offensive and defensive battles of the past few days have further confirmed his confidence.

The Fengtian Army launched several exploratory attacks and even captured several outer bunkers in front of the pass under the cover of heavy artillery fire.

But at night, he sent out a group of elite soldiers to take it back and also seized several Fengtian Army battle flags, which were now hung on the gate tower for public display.

"The invincible King Feng? Humph, nothing more than this."

Zhai Yan felt somewhat proud, as if he had already seen the scene where the Fengtian Army would be unable to capture the city after a long siege and would eventually have to retreat in disappointment.

By then, with my great merit in protecting the emperor, wouldn't the cowardly emperor and the aristocratic officials in the imperial capital have to worship me?

By then, he would be made a marquis and a prime minister, holding exclusive military power, and even...

A more secretive thought flashed through Zhai Yan's mind.

You, the Emperor, can take half of Jiangnan, but I, Zhai Yan, can’t?

By then, the entire country's military power will be in my hands, and it will be uncertain who will be the legitimate ruler of the world!

With this confidence, Zhai Yan opened the door and walked up to the wall.

At the pass in the early morning, the defending soldiers were changing shifts and patrolling under the leadership of their officers.

Seeing the commander coming, the soldiers stopped what they were doing and saluted him respectfully:

"General!"

"Good morning, General!"

"See General!"

Zhai Yan smiled and nodded in response.

He patted a young soldier on the shoulder and encouraged him, "Do your best and hold this pass. You will all be heroes!"

The soldier's face flushed with excitement, and he straightened his chest and responded loudly.

All of this greatly satisfied Zhai Yan's vanity.

Before this, the successive defeats had brought the morale of the Qing army to its lowest point.

Although no one said it directly, Zhai Yan could feel that his authority in the army was rapidly declining.

Since he blocked the Fengtian Army outside the Great Wall, his majesty gradually returned, and the soldiers looked at him with awe.

This is the morale of the army... It's actually not that complicated. Soldiers will only respect generals who can lead them to win the war.

Zhai Yan walked to the highest point of the gate tower, held the battlement with his hands, and looked into the distance.

Below the pass, smoke from the Fengtian Army camp rose, and the activities of people and horses were vaguely visible.

But in his eyes, it was just a trapped beast in a strong pass.

The sunlight pierced through the morning mist and shone on his shiny armor, reflecting a dazzling light.

At this moment, Zhai Yan felt as if she had become one with this majestic pass and was indestructible.

However, this good mood did not last long.

Just when Zhai Yan was feeling good about himself, a messenger rushed up to the gate tower, crawling as if his butt was on fire.

Because he ran too fast, he tripped and fell hard in the mud when he was a few steps away from Zhai Yan, and his helmet rolled to the side.

Zhai Yan's good mood was instantly interrupted. She frowned unhappily and shouted, "What are you panicking about? Is the sky falling?!"

The soldier ignored the pain and raised his face, which was distorted with fear. "General... General! This is terrible!"

Zhai Yan immediately had a bad feeling in her heart: "What happened?"

"Behind the pass...behind the pass, behind Qingliu Pass, Fengtian Army troops have been spotted!"

"Also... there's smoke rising from the direction of Chuzhou!"

"What?!" The calmness on Zhai Yan's face froze instantly, replaced by a look of astonishment.

He pushed aside the personal guard beside him and quickly ran to the south side of the gate tower. He held on to the battlement tightly with both hands and tried his best to look into the distance.

Although Qingliu Pass is located at a high altitude, it is too far away and the details are difficult to discern.

Under the skyline where Chuzhou City is located, only a few thick black smoke columns rose up, twisting and spreading in the air.

What made Zhai Yan even more frightened was that he vaguely saw several signal rockets with red trails rising into the sky.

He had seen that thing before, he had seen it in the imperial capital that night... That was the Fengtian Army's unique communication signal!

Although he knew clearly that he could not hear any sound at this distance, Zhai Yan seemed to be hallucinating at this moment, and he heard shouts of killing in his ears.

The Fengtian Army actually reached Chuzhou?

In an instant, Zhai Yan's face turned as pale as paper, and her lips trembled uncontrollably.

"Impossible... This is absolutely impossible!" He screamed frantically in his heart, "Qingliu Mountain is extremely steep and difficult for birds to cross. How did they get across? Could they have flown over?!"

Zhai Yan was not a fool, he immediately understood what this meant.

The Fengtian Army, which had a surprise attack behind the pass, did not need to storm Chuzhou City by force.

They only needed to block the vital throat connecting Qingliu Pass with the rear, or even just create the appearance that Chuzhou was under attack, and that would be enough.

This one step alone would cause the defenders to lose the three most important things:

Food supply! Logistics! Military morale!

The reason why Qingliu Pass was able to hold on was due to the food and fodder supplies and military reinforcements from Chuzhou.

Once the retreat is cut off and the news spreads, the tens of thousands of troops inside the pass will immediately become trapped and their morale will collapse in an instant!

By then, there would be no need for the Fengtian Army to launch a strong attack, they would be starved to death.

Upon hearing the news, other generals from Qingliu Pass also rushed over and surrounded Zhai Yan.

Seeing the smoke in the distance, they immediately shouted in panic and became a mess.

"This...how could this be? Did the Fengtian Army grow wings?"

"General, we must immediately send a troop out of the pass to defeat the Fengtian Army!"

"Are you sure you want to fight the Fengtian Army in the wild? We don't even know how many people are on the other side."

"Chuzhou City is high and its moat is deep. A small force of surprise troops may not be able to capture it. We don't need to panic."

"But if the food supply route is cut off, our army will be in danger. We must open it up as soon as possible!"

The noisy argument reached Zhai Yan's ears, but it seemed so distant and vague.

Zhai Yan couldn't hear a word and just stood there dejectedly, feeling hopeless.

He had fought throughout his life and prided himself on his strategy, but he had never felt as powerless or even desperate as he did today.

At this moment, Zhai Yan knew that she had lost.

It was a complete and utter defeat, a defeat without a doubt!

. . . . . .

Even though the food supply was cut off, Zhai Yan held out for another three days.

Three days was already the limit, and Li Che didn't even expect Zhai Yan to be so resilient.

After all, he had stationed a lot of troops in Qingliu Pass. There were tens of thousands of defenders in this small pass. The daily food and fodder for men and horses was astronomical, and the panic of running out of food was getting worse every day.

In fact, Zhai Yan has a chance to turn the tables.

The first time Jie Ming and Jie An took the small road, it was just to verify the safety of this road. At that time, there were only two thousand people passing through.

If Zhai Yan had sent troops to attack immediately, there might have been some chance of winning.

But when Jie Ming and Jie An fired the signal flare, this chance of victory was gone in an instant.

Li Che immediately ordered the follow-up troops to follow up, and in just half a day, he sent more than 10,000 elite troops to bypass the pass.

At this point, Zhai Yan's defeat was already certain. It was impossible for him to defeat the Fengtian Army, which was fully equipped with muskets, heavy armor, and had the highest level of discipline and eliteness, in the wild.

Three days later.

The gate of Qingliu Pass was slowly pushed open under the uneasy gazes of countless defenders.

Zhai Yan took off the gorgeous general's armor and walked in front wearing only a plain inner garment.

Behind him were Confederate generals at all levels who had also been disarmed.

They walked out of the pass step by step and headed towards the dark Fengtian Army formation outside the pass.

Zhai Yan stopped and looked at the Fengtian Army soldiers rushing towards him, and the last bit of struggle in his heart disappeared.

He slowly took off the sword that had been with him for many years and stared at it for a moment.

Then he raised his arm and threw the sword far away.

The sword fell into the mud with a dull sound.

Afterwards, Zhai Yan knelt on the ground, and the generals behind him also knelt down.

Soon, the sound of horse hooves came from a distance.

Surrounded by a group of Fengtian Army generals, Li Che, wearing black armor and riding on the majestic Black Wind, slowly came to Zhai Yan.

Li Che reined in his horse and looked down at the Southern Army commander who was kneeling on the ground.

There was a cold look in his eyes, without any warmth.

Zhai Yan felt that gaze falling on her, and felt as if she was drenched in ice water, and her whole body was cold.

He didn't dare to look up and could only bury his head lower.

Then, using all his strength, he shouted hoarsely, "I, the guilty general Zhai Yan, pay my respects to His Majesty! Long live His Majesty! Long live His Majesty! Long, long live His Majesty!"

There was silence all around, with only the rustling of flags in the wind.

Li Che didn't ask him to stand up, nor did he make any expression.

This kind of silence is more frightening than any rebuke or scolding.

Zhai Yan began to think silently in his heart: This shouldn't be the case. Isn't it said that although Prince Feng is cruel to his enemies, he is also eager to seek talents?

The confrontation between him and the Fengtian Army could not be said to have had wins and losses, but at least there were some gains and losses, right?

Shouldn't King Feng help me up in a friendly manner and then recruit me as the commander of the Southern Army?

Time passed little by little, Zhai Yan's forehead was pressed tightly against the ground, but cold sweat had soaked his underwear, and the huge pressure almost suffocated him.

Just when his nerves were stretched to the limit and he was about to faint, Li Che's voice finally came from above his head.

But Li Che asked a question that frightened Zhai Yan to death:

"Zhai Yan, I ask you..."

Li Che's voice was chilling.

"How did Huang Daban die?"