A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

Liu Xiu then turned his gaze to the original garrison commanders of Kunyang. They exchanged glances, bowed to Liu Xiu, and indicated their willingness to follow his command.

"Brother, take Ma Yuan's 5000 troops and your own 5000 troops and set up camp south of Kunyang City."

"To form a pincer movement with Kunyang City, making it impossible for the enemy to defend both ends."

"I have buried the supplies in various places in advance. You can change the location after each battle."

"After the 15th, I will lead the army out of the south gate to launch a surprise attack on the enemy camp. At that time, you will attack from the rear, brother."

"We only have this one chance. We must catch them off guard, capture and kill their commander, and the siege of Kunyang can be lifted, and the rebellion can be quelled."

Liu Xiu had a map laid out, looked in the direction Wang Feng had come from, thought for a while, and then spoke to Liu Yan.

"Leave it to me."

Liu Yan nodded. He and Liu Xiu divided the work: Liu Xiu was in charge of devising strategies, while he was only responsible for execution.

"Deng Yu, publicize the rebels' actions, and then take Feng Yi to eliminate the unstable elements in the city."

"With a major battle imminent, these unstable factors may surrender, leaving Kunyang City vulnerable to attack from both sides and impossible to defend."

After saying that, Liu Xiu gave instructions to Deng Yu.

"promise!"

Deng Yu understood that the only unstable factors in the city besides those powerful clans were those local strongmen.

If Deng Yu could understand it, then the others certainly could too.

"Now that we're at war, wouldn't killing them all cause unrest within the army and prevent us from performing at our best?"

A general from Kunyang City asked.

He had been in Kunyang City for many years, but he had no idea of ​​the influence and strength of these powerful clans. If these clans were to cause trouble, they would be lucky to be able to exert even 5 out of 10 of their fighting power.

"Hesitation leads to trouble."

"That's why we need to act swiftly and decisively to eliminate the influence of these powerful families as quickly as possible."

Liu Xiu shook his head. He guessed that these powerful families had long been secretly colluding with the outside forces. Killing them all might mean that some of them were innocent.

But if we kill every other one, there will inevitably be some who slip through the net.

Since that's the case, let's just kill them all. After all, those who escaped are also sucking the people's blood and sweat.

Seeing that Liu Xiu had made up his mind, the general could not say anything more.

Deng Yu told the people everything the rebels had done, especially the land they had taken away, and then he ordered the confiscation and extermination of all the powerful families in Kunyang City.

With ample provisions and the people's shared hatred of the enemy, their enthusiasm for protecting their land and assisting in the city's defense was exceptionally strong.

Taking advantage of the fact that Wang Feng's army had just arrived, they reinforced the walls of Kunyang City once again.

During the reinforcement process, Deng Yu discovered that the city defenses of Kunyang City, which had been reinforced some time ago, were all shoddy construction projects.

Many of the raw materials used are crudely made and of substandard quality.

If we use this city defense, the rebel army outside the city might just launch a charge and break through.

Without a doubt, this was done by the powerful clans within the city.

Only they had the power to switch the materials used to build the city defenses.

Deng Yu immediately rebuilt and maintained all of these structures, and informed Liu Xiu of the news.

Liu Xiu relayed the information discovered by Deng Yu to the former garrison commander of Kunyang City, which made the commander extremely ashamed.

If Liu Xiu hadn't eliminated these powerful clans beforehand, the consequences of them stabbing each other in the back while they were fighting each other are unimaginable.

Wang Feng led his troops to the walls of Kunyang City, surrounding the entire city in layers.

In order to demonstrate his military might and undermine the morale of the defending troops, Wang Feng ordered the establishment of more than 100 military camps, with military flags everywhere and the sound of gongs and drums that could be easily heard from dozens of miles away.

Wang Feng adopted the method of digging tunnels, and used battering rams and siege engines to attack the city.

Relying on the support of many powerful clans, they concentrated a large number of crossbows and fired wildly into the city.

Arrows rained down on Kunyang City, putting immense pressure on the defenders on the walls.

Even the people in the city were affected. To avoid being hit by stray arrows when going out to fetch water, they often kept their heads off when going out to fetch water, in order to avoid being hit by arrows.

Wang Fenghao fired arrows continuously for three days and three nights, and the attacking troops did not stop for three days, causing great damage to the morale of the soldiers and the people in the city.

Under such overwhelming pressure, some generals could not withstand the psychological strain and secretly surrendered to Wang Feng.

But Wang Feng refused them all. He was able to get to where he is today thanks to the secret support of Emperor Ping of Han and the financial assistance of local powerful families.

The powerful families in Kunyang City were completely plundered, and the powerful families behind him all demanded that he massacre the entire city.

Moreover, with an army of 40, he believed that even without their rebellion, he could still easily conquer Kunyang City.

At this point, his strategist suggested that they surround the enemy from three sides, leaving one side undefended.

"Military strategy dictates that when besieging a city, one should leave one side open. This way, the defending army will not put up a desperate resistance, and our losses in attacking the city will be greatly reduced. We can also set traps on the open side to eliminate the most enemy troops with the least losses."

However, Wang Feng rejected this method.

He had already received letters from Ma Wu and Wang Kuang, and he wholeheartedly agreed.

Compared to Liu Xiu and his brothers, who were also members of the Han imperial family, the three of them had a much more distant relationship with Emperor Ping of Han.

The emperor will definitely trust Liu Xiu and his brothers even more then, so they must all die here.

The strategy of surrounding three sides while leaving one open is a good one, but it carries the risk of allowing Liu Xiu and his brothers to escape.

He has now completely surrounded the city of Kunyang. When the time comes, as long as he massacres the city, he can ensure that Liu Xiu and his brothers will have no chance of escape.

Therefore, Wang Feng acted extremely tough, and even ordered his men to shout at Kunyang City that they would not sheath their swords for three days after entering the city.

The rebels' morale soared, and the fighting spirit within the city became even stronger.

If the enemy refuses to surrender, do not sheath your weapons for three days after entering the city. If you defeat them, they will only face certain death.

Not only them, but their families as well, are also doomed.

They had no choice but to assist the imperial army in defending Kunyang City.

A large number of able-bodied men volunteered to help defend the city, while the elderly, women, and children also helped with tasks such as cooking and delivering meals.

The Han soldiers and civilians in the city fought side by side, repelling Wang Feng's frenzied attacks time and time again.

Liu Yan, outside Kunyang City, also continued to harass Wang Feng's army as instructed by Liu Xiu.

They would run away as soon as Wang Feng's army turned to attack them.

Taking advantage of their small numbers, being all cavalry, and being highly mobile, they would fight one battle and then flee.

Once Wang Feng's army can no longer catch up, they will move to another location and fight another battle.

This prevented Wang Feng's army from launching a full-scale attack on the city, and their morale also dropped considerably.

Fourteen days later, it would be the time agreed upon by Liu Xiu and Liu Yan.

Liu Xiu began to proclaim in the city that the other armies of the imperial court had already achieved victory, and that Ma Wu's army had annihilated Wang Kuang and was on its way to reinforce him. He said that tomorrow they would attack from both sides and defeat Wang Feng.

The stars in the night sky tonight are twinkling and exceptionally bright.