The video takes us to ancient times; Li Er transforms into the Tongtian Emperor of Shu Han.

After Sima Zhao left the military camp, the entire capital fell silent once again.

Sima Shi did not continue to attempt to attack the city, nor did he launch any further raids. Instead, he tightened his defenses to the extreme, giving Liu Bang no chance to launch a surprise attack.

Of course, even if he did have them, with Wen Yang not around, he would only have two old, weak, sick, or disabled generals to use, and he wouldn't send them to their deaths.

Just as Sima Shi had predicted, Liu Bang accepted the two thousand soldiers sent by his opponent, along with the smiling Sima Fu.

After accepting two thousand men and bestowing honors upon Sima Fu, he imprisoned them all in Sima's mansion.

They claimed that the emperor was compassionate and wanted to prevent them from killing each other.

This calm before the storm lasted for nearly half a month.

There was a tacit understanding between the two sides, and they were very restrained.

It wasn't until news came that Sima Zhao had arrived in Xuchang and taken over the garrison that the storm truly began its prelude.

Both Liu Bang and Sima Shi paid close attention to this matter.

Upon receiving the latest intelligence from his scouts, Liu Bang quickly arranged for the guards at each city gate, and then led his officials to the city walls.

Anyone with eyes can see that the calm of the past two weeks is quite unusual.

The calmer the weather, the more intense the storm that is yet to come.

From afar, one could see Sima Shi's troops advancing in three columns.

It looks like they're going to push through at any cost.

This situation was unexpected by Liu Bang. In his calculations, the prelude to this siege should have been a small-scale probing raid by troops.

It would take at least ten days of continuous harassment to exhaust the city's defenders, at which point the siege equipment brought by the Xudu army would be even more effective.

If the entire army were to press forward, there would indeed be a chance to achieve a swift victory, but the losses would be immeasurable.

Of course, this approach was also not good news for Liu Bang.

No matter how much damage it could inflict on Sima Shi, the capital would most likely be unable to hold out against his relentless attacks.

The only possible explanation for this outcome is...

"Could it be that Wen Yang has actually succeeded?"

Apart from that, Liu Bang really couldn't think of any other possibilities.

Wen Yang led a thousand men into the camp of 50,000 reinforcements from Xudu and burned all the siege equipment.

These words still sounded as magical as ever, but Liu Bang had no choice but to believe them.

"It should have succeeded. The siege equipment was burned, and with Sima Zhao back in Xuchang, the rear was prepared, which is why Sima Shi dared to launch a fierce attack at all costs."

Zhang Liang's expression also became somewhat solemn.

The original purpose of sending Wen Yang was to harass and slow down the arrival of Xudu's reinforcements as much as possible.

However, Liu Bang, in order to encourage him, instead told him to destroy the enemy's siege equipment.

It's not that it had no effect, but rather that it had the opposite effect.

Heaven knows that Wen Yang actually managed to accomplish this almost impossible task.

"This time, I have truly shot myself in the foot."

Liu Bang smiled wryly.

Listening to the conversation between the two, the officials behind him were completely dumbfounded.

Is there something that happened that we don't know about?

How did they end up shooting themselves in the foot?

The enemy has just begun their attack; Your Majesty, you're not about to admit defeat, are you?

Logically speaking, news in the capital should be quite readily available right now, so you shouldn't only find out today that Sima Shi has an army of 100,000.

If you want to admit defeat now, we have no objection.

"Your Majesty, the enemy's forces are overwhelming. Should we temporarily retreat and avoid their advance?"

Upon hearing someone speak, Liu Bang narrowed his eyes slightly.

What does it mean to temporarily avoid the limelight?

To put it bluntly, it's about whether or not to escape.

Of course, Liu Bang had no doubt that if he dared to leave the capital, these people would open the city gates and welcome the general back to the capital, which was loyal to him.

Withdrawal is impossible.

"Retreat is impossible. Any changes made by the traitor Sima Shi will only hasten his downfall."

"Minister Chen, Minister Jiao, each of you will lead two thousand troops to be in charge of one gate. You must put on a good show, pretending to be vulnerable and on the verge of collapse, but you cannot be easily breached, understand?"

The two people who received the decree were stunned.

There was no rehearsal beforehand, so why are we going to put on a show?

Moreover, with the enemy's entire army pressing in, who are they putting on a show for?

We can't expect Sima Shi to take pity on us if our performance is so shaky.

He has no kindness in mind; the more vulnerable you are, the more he will attack your weaknesses.

Your Majesty, are you afraid that the capital won't fall fast enough?

"Your Majesty, this can't be done! Even the famous Empty City Stratagem wasn't performed like this!"

The empty city stratagem, at least, left the city gates wide open, pretending there were ambushes inside, so that the enemy would hesitate to attack.

But what do you mean by pretending to be weak?

To make the enemy lower their guard?

"Yes, it's difficult for our army to spare any more forces for ambushes, so showing weakness to the enemy is indeed meaningless."

Jiao Bo nodded repeatedly.

If you ask him to die, he promises he won't utter a single unnecessary word.

However, he couldn't quite understand this imperial decree, and he even offered a rare word of advice.

If even the two of them held such thoughts, the other officials became increasingly harsh in their remarks.

"Your Majesty, feigning weakness to the enemy is absolutely not an option right now!"

"That's right. The general's army is far stronger than the garrison in our city. To show weakness to the enemy would be tantamount to courting death."

"If you follow my advice, Your Majesty should immediately evacuate, head south to avoid the enemy's advance, and then plan for the future!"

"Alas, I thought His Majesty had some brilliant plan, but now it seems that Great Wei is truly doomed!"

"I am sorry to the late emperor, I am sorry to the great efforts of the founding emperor!"

Liu Bang didn't even bother to give these people a second glance because they didn't think highly of him.

But in this challenge, he still cared a little about the two who had always been loyal to him.

"How do you know that I don't have another ambush force like Wen Yang's?"

"Don't worry, my two ministers. Just do it this way and act it out. As long as you act convincingly enough to fool Sima Shi, leave the rest to me."

"As for you, I should have made it very clear at the last court assembly that you are merely spectators today. If you bark like dogs again, I will gag you and tie you to that pillar as well."

"It's really noisy."

Everyone: "..."

No one could have imagined that Liu Bang would suddenly say such a thing.

Isn't that just pointing your finger at them and calling them dogs?

"His Majesty……"

Zhang Liang stood aside, looking helpless.

As expected, after suppressing his feelings for so long, His Majesty finally couldn't help but reveal his true nature.