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As night fell, Hongze personally led five thousand elite cavalrymen out of the south gate of Lecheng.

Meanwhile, inside the Daqian camp, most of the soldiers were fast asleep.

Only a few patrolling and guarding soldiers remained, huddled together in twos and threes, chatting and joking.

Before they could react, Hongze had already led his army to the outside of the camp.

Hongze looked at the sparse torches in front of him, sneered, raised his sword high, and shouted, "Brothers, charge!"

At his command, the five thousand elite cavalry behind him surged into the Daqian camp like a flood.

Inside the large tent, Jiang Zhe, wide awake, was staring blankly at the map.

Soon, he felt the ground beneath his feet tremble uncontrollably.

He knew very well that this was a scene that only a thousand cavalrymen would charge at the same time.

At present, the only force capable of stopping thousands of cavalrymen and charging towards their camp is the Northern Wei army in Lecheng.

Hongze knew very well that his goal was simply to force the other party to negotiate.

Therefore, when the army stormed into the camp, it was all bark and no bite.

It didn't cause much substantial damage to the Great Qian Dynasty at all.

However, inside Jiang Zhe's tent, Lin Qiao and Zhou Man ran in wearing mismatched armor.

As soon as he entered, Lin Qiao shouted, "General, the Northern Wei army is attacking! Let's run!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhe turned pale and replied weakly, "Run? Our 300,000 troops are surrounded by more than 100,000 enemy troops. They've even cut off our retreat route back to Daqian. Where can we run to?"

Only after he said that did the other two realize that they had been surrounded and trapped.

Forget about running away, we don't even know where our breakfast will be tomorrow.

The three men stared at each other in the village, speechless for a long time.

Half an hour later, Hongze led his army back to Lecheng.

Jiang Zhe's rough count revealed that despite such a large-scale operation, not a single one of them had died.

Only a few hundred people were injured.

Seeing Jiang Zhe's even paler face, Lin Qiao asked in confusion, "General, with the Northern Wei launching such a fierce offensive, isn't it a good thing that none of us have died?"

Jiang Zhe rolled his eyes at him, not wanting to say a word at all.

Zhou Man then explained, "General Lin, have you considered our current situation?"

"They just harassed us casually, and our 300,000-strong army was exhausted."

"It's fine if it's just one night, but what if someone comes every day?"

"Shouldn't our army rest?"

Only after he said that did Lin Qiao realize that he had already won her over psychologically.

The three generals knew the other side wouldn't do anything, but their soldiers didn't.

Moreover, even if they explain to their subordinates, they will not only not believe them, but will even think that they are lying.

boom! A sound.

Jiang Zhe overturned the table in front of him, panting heavily, his face flushed.

Seeing this, Lin Qiao quickly said, "General, this is a scheme by the Northern Wei! We must not fall for it!"

It would have been better if he hadn't spoken; once he opened his mouth, Jiang Zhe seemed to have found an outlet for his frustration.

Her eyes were bloodshot as she glared at him and shouted, "Don't I know they're using a trick?"

"They were forcing us to agree to those conditions."

"Leaving aside whether Wu Fengluan will be able to come up with that much money to save us, as things stand, Daqian simply doesn't have that many goods."

Just then, a fearful voice suddenly came from outside the tent.

"General, His Majesty has sent an urgent report!"

"An urgent report from His Majesty?"

Jiang Zhe repeated the sentence, looking at the expressions of the two people next to him.

He said in a deep voice, "Come in!"

As the tent flap was lifted, the messenger jogged in.

He knelt and said, "General, His Majesty has sent an urgent report!"

As he spoke, he presented the golden cloth in his hand.

Jiang Zhe opened the cloth with a puzzled look and examined it carefully.

Zhou Man, standing to the side, stared at the cloth in Jiang Zhe's hand with a puzzled expression.

He didn't understand, the army had only been trapped here for two days.

How could such an urgent report have arrived when His Majesty is still far away in the south?

Soon after reading the urgent report, Jiang Zhe burst into laughter.

Then, he spread the cloth on the table and said with a smile, "Generals, look!"

Jiang Zhe pointed to the cloth and explained, "His Majesty said that he was afraid something might happen to our 300,000 troops. So he specially allied with Western Shu, and Western Shu even sent 100,000 troops to assist us."

"And the leader of the Western Shu army is Wang Dong, the number one spear king of Western Shu, who has just broken through to the seventh rank of martial arts."

"This urgent report was sent three days ago, and the meeting point for both sides is Lecheng."

"Based on the time, Western Shu should be able to reach Lecheng early tomorrow morning."

"We're saved! Hahahaha!"

Jiang Zhe explained while bursting into loud laughter.

He suffered several setbacks in front of Chen Nan.

The addition of Western Shu has undoubtedly given them hope for a breakthrough.

Even without that, at least Western Shu could restrain Northern Wei, preventing them from focusing all their attention on themselves.

Filled with longing for the Western Shu army, Jiang Zhe fell into a deep sleep.

This was the most restful sleep he had had in recent days.

It was as if they would no longer be surrounded when they woke up tomorrow.

That evening, in Chen Nan's room at the Lecheng County Government Office.

A person dressed entirely in black robes, with only a pair of black eyes visible, stood behind Chen Nan.

Chen Nan clutched the parchment tightly in his hand and muttered to himself.

"Someone from Western Shu has broken through to the seventh rank? No wonder they dared to stop their economic tribute to Northern Wei. Not only did they stop the tribute, but they also openly supported the military actions of the Great Qian."

After saying that, a smile appeared on his lips: "Interesting, getting more and more interesting."

The person standing behind Chen Nan was a general he had secretly trained, named Ying. This name might not be known to everyone, but he also had another name—Bad Guy.

Chen Nan's intelligence was all gathered secretly by the Bad Guys.

"I already know all this information. You can continue gathering more."

Chen Nan waved his hand, dismissing the black-robed man behind him.

He got up and went to the main hall of the county government. After thinking for a long time, he sent someone to summon Hongming and Hongze.

A short while later, the two sleepy-eyed men appeared in front of Chen Nan.

Hongming looked at Chen Nan with curiosity, wondering what urgent matter had caused the other man to wake them up in the middle of the night.

Chen Nan placed the half-sheet of parchment on the table, and the two of them curiously picked it up one after the other to take a look.

"Chen Nan, where did you get this intelligence?"

Hongming was shocked after reading it.

He had previously heard Chen Nan say that Western Shu had cut off its economic tribute to Northern Wei.

However, this matter did not circulate within the imperial court, and the specific reason for the supply cutoff was unknown.

But the parchment in front of them not only explained the reason for the Western Shu's supply cut, but also described in detail that the Western Shu king, Dong, would lead an army of 100,000 to Lecheng to meet with Jiang Zhe the next morning.

In particular, Wang Dong has actually broken through to the seventh rank of martial artist.

It should be noted that in the Northern Wei Dynasty, only Hongming and Qingyu were seventh-rank officials.

Western Shu was already economically prosperous, and now it has gained a seventh-rank military general.

Given the combined national strength of the Great Qian Dynasty, the outcome for both sides remains uncertain.