New Song Dynasty: My Wife is an Imperial Princess

"And this young lady..."

Since this little girl is someone Xin Zan would risk his life to protect, if she is not his closest relative, then she must be his beloved. However, the two of them do not resemble each other at all and clearly do not look like siblings.

Thinking of this, Tang Qian's heart suddenly skipped a beat. Could it be that Xin Zan abandoned his frail and sickly son, Xin Wenyu, in Jinan Prefecture in order to protect his wife?

If that's the case, would there really be a Xin Qiji born in 1140 in history?

Sensing the misunderstanding in Tang Qian's eyes, the maid beside him turned pale and stammered, unable to utter a complete sentence. Xin Zan immediately bowed and spoke up: "Reporting to the city lord, this young lady is a Song person I encountered in the Jin camp. After the Jin army captured them, they made them cook and light fires in the rear camp during the day, and at night..."

Xin Zan didn't say what he was going to say next, but everyone present could imagine the horrific scene. Everyone remained silent, but the anger in their hearts grew rapidly like weeds nourished by the spring breeze. Qiu Yan slammed his fist on the coffee table next to him: "These gold dogs are worse than beasts."

As everyone's emotions gradually calmed down, Xin Zan continued in a deep voice, "My abilities are limited. I cannot protect all the sisters who were captured. I can only do my best to protect this one. Tonight, when General Yue attacked the camp, everyone else took advantage of the chaos in the rear camp to find their own way to survive. Only she stayed by my side and refused to leave. I can only wait with her for General Yue to rescue us."

At this moment, the little girl seemed to have recovered from the tension. She knelt down and kowtowed to the people in the council hall: "This commoner, Li Wa, greets all the generals. Thank you for saving my life."

Li Wa? Why does that name sound so familiar? Tang Qian frowned slightly, the two words swirling in his mind but never settling down, until his gaze fell on Yue Fei standing to the side, and suddenly a thought flashed through his mind, and he immediately understood everything.

Isn't this the woman in front of me Yue Fei's second wife, the future Lady of Chu?

In the instant Tang Qian was distracted, the atmosphere in the council hall became quite strange. The little girl Li Wa was still performing the kneeling ceremony. Ye Zhao and the others wanted her to stand up and speak, but the highest-ranking person here was the city lord Tang Qian. If he didn't speak, how could the others overstep their bounds?

Seeing that Li Wa was still kowtowing, Tang Qian immediately wanted to go forward to help her up, but he was worried that if Yue Fei touched her in front of her future husband, he would get angry and shoot him with a spear. So he first told Li Wa to get up, and then gave Yue Fei a look: "Why don't you help your wife... uh, no... Miss Li up?"

Although Tang Qian immediately corrected himself after realizing his mistake, the words "Your Madam" were clearly heard by everyone present. In astonishment, Yue Fei's face turned red to the roots of his ears. He wanted to point at Tang Qian and curse him, but he did not dare to be disrespectful. He could only glare at the other party and mutter, "You can't ruin Miss Li's reputation with your bare words."

He wanted to reach out and help Li Wa, who was still kneeling on the ground, but he was too embarrassed. Looking at Li Wa, he saw that she had already buried her head in the ground and did not dare to straighten up.

The scene was somewhat awkward, so Tang Qian had to take matters into his own hands: "I misspoke just now, please forgive me, Miss Li. We still have some important matters to discuss, so I'll have someone take you to the backyard to rest first."

Tang Qian called over a servant from the household, whispered a few words in his ear, and then waved to Li Wa: "Miss Li, just go with him."

Once Li Wa had walked away with the servants, everyone laughed. Qiu Xin patted Yue Fei on the shoulder and said, "I think this Miss Li is dignified and well-mannered. She must be the daughter of a wealthy family. Her family fell into misfortune during this chaotic time, and now she has been rescued by you, General Yue. It is a predestined fate. In that case, what Tang Qian said is not wrong."

Yue Fei had already regained his composure, but Qiu Xin's bucket of oil made him blush again. Faced with everyone's ridicule, he could only say with a straight face, "With a formidable enemy at hand, you lot still have the nerve to make fun of me. You should be thinking about how to deal with the Jin army's next attack."

When the topic of war came up, everyone abandoned their frivolous mood, and their brows furrowed again. In the past two days, thanks to their new weapons, they had indeed repelled Wanyan Xieye's attack, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. However, this time only 50,000 Jin troops had arrived. If two other armies attacked simultaneously, how would they possibly defend themselves?

"After last night's harassment, Wanyan Xie will definitely not dare to camp outside the city. With only his 10,000 men, he can't pose much of a threat to Guangling City. I guess he will definitely retreat to Gaoyou City and wait for Wanyan Zonghan to lead the central army that attacked Luzhou to join him, and then make a comeback."

Wanyan Zonghan's central army numbered 70,000, and with the remnants of Wanyan Xieye's forces, the combined army numbered at least 80,000. With so many people pouring into the battlefield, even if they piled up corpses along the base of the city wall, the Jin army should have been able to climb the city walls using such human ladders.

"Therefore, holding Guangling is only a last resort. If we want to lift the siege of Guangling, we can only start by attacking the enemy's supply lines."

After last night's raid on the enemy camp, Yue Fei's two thousand cavalrymen all had warhorses. With this swift and mobile force at his disposal, coupled with the assistance of powerful firearms, Yue Fei was confident that he could wipe out the enemy's supply train.

The feeding of 80,000 troops and their horses is no small matter. As long as the enemy's supply line is cut off, the Jin army will fall into disarray, and Wanyan Xieye will only have two choices.

Retreat to the outside of the pass, or launch a full-scale attack on the city.

Seeing that the topic had circled back to the beginning, Tang Qian simply smiled and said, "General Yue, there is no need to worry. Since I dare to defend Guangling City to the death, I naturally have a backup plan. If Wanyan Xieye orders a full-scale attack on Guangling, the stronghold of the Great Jin will be in danger."

This time, Wanyan Xie brought almost all of the Jin army's manpower with him on his southward march. The number of people stationed in the five capitals outside the Great Wall was less than 10,000. It can be said that the entire Jin army was mobilized. At this time, the Jin state was vulnerable. If someone were to launch a coup at this time, it would definitely be the final blow.

"If you were out there fighting and killing, and then looked back to find your home gone, what would be your first thought?"

"Of course, we'll return to provide support immediately."

Tang Qian's lips were still upturned, looking completely confident: "The Jin Kingdom is composed of powerful tribes, and the court is not monolithic. When the news of Wanyan Xieye's defeat gets back, it will definitely cause turmoil in the court. This is the best opportunity to seize power."

Wanyan Xun, don't let me down.