In the thirteenth year of the Tianbao era: I became Yang Guozhong's eldest son.

Accompanied by the desolate yet powerful sound of bull horns, more than a thousand infantrymen clad in heavy black leather armor marched in unison on their northward journey.

The heavy leather boots pounded on the frozen earth, producing a dull rumble.

Behind them were three hundred elite archers carrying repeating crossbows and swords at their waists, their eyes sharp as eagles.

At the very heart of the group, eighty steel knights, their entire bodies clad in cold, gleaming heavy armor, resembled moving hills, radiating a suffocating sense of oppression under the pale winter sun.

There were no whispers, no idle chatter.

This new army, painstakingly built by Yang Xuan and personally trained by the renowned Shuofang general Li Guangbi with blood and military discipline, displayed an iron-blooded military discipline rarely seen in the long period of peace in the Tang Dynasty.

Even during brief rest periods on the march, no one dared to stray from the ranks.

Yang Xuan rode a magnificent, pure white Ferghana horse at the very front of the procession.

Today he wore a dark gold mountain-patterned armor, with a black cloak over it to protect him from the wind and cold. His eyes were deep and cold, like a sharp sword about to be drawn.

Behind them, the people of Yaozhou City spontaneously gathered on both sides of the road.

Holding steaming hot rations and drinks in their hands, their eyes showed no fear or evasion as they would when facing ordinary troops, only eyes filled with awe and expectation.

It was this army that protected the salt wells of Yaozhou and their livelihood.

"My lord, we will reach the territory of Yazhou in another fifty li."

Li Guangbi rode up to Yang Xuan's side, his weathered face bearing a solemn expression. He pointed to the rolling mountains ahead, which resembled a lurking giant beast, and said...

"Yazhou is the southern gateway to Chengdu Prefecture, and its city walls are built of bluestone, making them exceptionally sturdy."

"The garrison commander, Zhao Ting, is a loyal follower personally promoted by Xianyu Zhongtong. He has served in the border army and is not a good-for-nothing. If we want to advance north smoothly, we must remove this thorn in our side."

Yang Xuan nodded slightly and took out the encrypted intelligence that the Tingfeng Pavilion spies had risked their lives to deliver overnight from his pocket.

"Zhao Ting is somewhat blindly loyal."

Yang Xuan said calmly, his tone revealing neither joy nor anger.

"According to the reports from the spies of Tingfeng Pavilion, after news of Xianyu Zhongtong's large-scale purge and even executions in Chengdu reached Yazhou, Zhao Ting not only did not waver, but instead ordered the city gates to be sealed with huge stones, forcibly conscripted thousands of laborers from the city to go up the city walls to help defend it, and even took all the grain stored in the city into the military treasury, showing a die-hard stance of wanting to live and die with the city."

"Stubborn old fool!"

Pei Zhao snorted coldly, his thick hand suddenly pressing down on the hilt of the blood-soaked Mo Dao at his waist.

"My lord, give me five hundred men! I'm willing to be the vanguard; even if I have to bite with my teeth, I will bring you Zhao Ting's head within half a day!"

Yang Xuan turned to look at Pei Zhao, his gaze sweeping over the heavily armored cavalry ranks, but he shook his head.

"Pei Zhao, your heavy cavalry and repeating crossbows are the Yaozhou army's trump card to deliver the final blow. They were forged with real money and Old Huang's hard work, not consumables to fill the city walls."

"If we launch a full-scale attack on Yazhou, even if we eventually capture the city, we'll lose most of our hard-earned resources. What will we have left to fight when we reach Chengdu?"

"What does the young master mean?"

A thoughtful look flashed in Li Guangbi's eyes. He knew that Yang Xuan never fought a battle unprepared.

"To conquer cities is the inferior strategy; to conquer hearts and minds is the superior strategy."

Yang Xuan's lips curled into a cold smile as he looked toward Yazhou.

"Although Zhao Ting is loyal, his soldiers may not be willing to die with that madman Xianyu Zhongtong. Since he wants to defend this isolated city, let's put on a good show for him and completely drain his army's morale."

......

Two days later, at the gates of Yazhou.

The dark mass of Yaozhou's army set up camp on a high ground three miles outside the city.

Surprisingly, the Yaozhou army did not rush to cut down trees to build siege weapons, nor did they immediately launch a probing attack.

Li Guangbi simply dispatched a hundred-man cavalry unit to circle around the city in a show of force, and while they were at it, they neatly stacked the heads of dozens of Jiannan army generals who had been killed under the walls of Yaozhou City—including that arrogant deputy general—into a small mound less than an arrow's shot away from the city gate.

Those heads, their eyes wide open in death, looked particularly ferocious in the cold wind, like heavy hammer blows slamming into the already fragile hearts of the Yazhou garrison.

On the city tower of Yazhou.

General Zhao Ting pressed his hands firmly against the cold battlements, looking at the well-organized and menacing enemy camp outside the city, and then at the glaring mound of corpses. A fine layer of cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"My lord..."

A lieutenant swallowed hard, his voice trembling, and his eyes involuntarily shrank back.

"General Zhang Wu's 3,500 elite troops have truly been wiped out. Yang Xuan's soldiers aren't just local militia; they're monsters crawled out of hell!"

"Our Yazhou only has two thousand garrison troops at most, plus those laborers who can barely hold a sword. How...how can we possibly hold out?"

"Shut up!" Zhao Ting suddenly drew his sword, the blade pointing directly at the deputy general's throat, and shouted sternly.

"The General has been kind to me by promoting me! I am paid by the Emperor, so I must be loyal to him."

"Yang Xuan is nothing but a rebellious traitor who defies imperial orders. We will hold the city and wait for the general's army to arrive; that will be their death day!"

"Anyone who dares to utter another word of surrender, thus disrupting the morale of our army, will be executed without mercy!"

Zhao Ting's toughness and the cold glint of his sword temporarily suppressed the deputy general's fear, but they could not erase the despair in the eyes of the ordinary soldiers on the city wall.

Especially when they saw the eighty heavily armored cavalrymen outside the city, riding tall horses and covered in steel, patrolling in a line in front of the formation, the sound of their hooves crushing the ice and snow clearly audible, the absolute crushing feeling from their equipment made many soldiers' hands holding their guns tremble uncontrollably.

Night fell quickly, shrouding the entire city of Yazhou in a somber darkness.

Within Yazhou City, the strictest curfew was in effect. The streets were deserted, save for the heavy footsteps of patrolling soldiers and the howling of the cold wind as it swept through the alleyways.

However, within this seemingly heavily fortified city, an undercurrent was quietly brewing under the operation of the Listening Wind Pavilion.

The western part of the city is the Yazhou government's granary, a crucial location where the city's military and civilians' food supplies are stored.

Several soldiers guarding the granary were huddled in a sheltered corner, warming themselves by a fire. They were shivering from the cold and occasionally rubbing their hands together, their breath steaming in the cold air.

"I can't live like this anymore!"

An old soldier with a full beard threw a piece of firewood into the brazier and complained in a low voice.

"General Xianyu is wreaking havoc in Chengdu, even killing his own people, yet our Commandant Zhao insists on dragging us down with him. Those Yaozhou troops outside the city could easily swallow Zhang Wu's three thousand elite soldiers whole; what are our two thousand men compared to that!"

"That's right!" another young soldier chimed in, his eyes filled with envy and resentment.

"I have a fellow villager who runs a business in Yaozhou. He told me that Magistrate Yang of Yaozhou County is practically a living bodhisattva."

"In Yaozhou, not only were the salt profits distributed to the common people, but even the soldiers' salaries were paid in full. They never drank the soldiers' blood, and they had meat to eat every meal. We risked our lives following Zhao Ting, and when we died, we didn't even get a coffin-buying allowance!"

Just as the two were complaining, two dark figures slid down from the towering roof of the granary like ghosts and landed silently behind them.

"Pfft! Pfft!"

Two extremely faint thuds were heard. Before the two soldiers could even scream, their mouths were covered by a large, iron-like hand, and their throats were instantly severed by a sharp dagger.

Blood splattered on the snow, a shocking sight.

The shadowy figure moved with extreme skill and efficiency, quickly dragging the corpse into a haystack in the shadows. Then, he took out several fire tinderboxes and several bottles of pungent oil from his pocket and quickly poured them onto the mountain of grain and wooden supports.

"Light the tinderboxes and hurry up! Chief Lei has given a death order: tonight we must thoroughly muddy the waters of Yazhou!"

One of the shadowy figures hissed in a low voice, his eyes flashing with fanaticism.

These two men were none other than Lei Laohu's hidden agents from Tingfeng Pavilion, who had been planted in Yazhou for a long time!

"call--!"

Flames shot into the sky, and the raging oil instantly fueled the fire. In the blink of an eye, the entire Yazhou granary was transformed into a rolling sea of ​​fire.

The raging flames illuminated half the night sky, and thick smoke billowed straight into the clouds. Even the Yaozhou army camp outside the city could clearly see the dazzling firelight.

"Fire! The granary is flooded!"

The piercing sound of gongs echoed wildly throughout the city, shattering the deathly silence of Yazhou.

The Yazhou garrison, already on edge due to the impending enemy attack, instantly crumbled when they saw the granary on fire.

Food supplies are the foundation of defending a city and the source of soldiers' confidence to fight desperately.

If the granaries burn down, everyone will be starving. How can we defend this city?!

"It's the Yaozhou army! Spies from the Yaozhou army have infiltrated!"

"The city has fallen! Everyone, run for your lives!"

Someone shouted in the chaos, and the sound was amplified infinitely in the night, causing an uproar throughout the Yazhou military camp.

Fear spread rapidly like a plague. Soldiers abandoned their armor and weapons and ran around the city like headless flies, causing serious stampedes.

Zhao Ting was startled awake in the government office. He didn't even have time to put on his armor properly before rushing out with his hair disheveled and sword in hand.

"Stop panic! Everyone calm down! Put out the fire! Go put out the fire! Anyone who retreats will be executed!"

Zhao Ting roared hoarsely and cut down two fleeing soldiers in succession, trying to regain control of the situation.

However, at this moment, his accumulated prestige seemed so pale and powerless in the face of the fear and despair of death.

"Commander Zhao, the fire is too big to put out!"

The lieutenant who had been trembling on the city wall earlier ran over, his face covered in soot. His eyes, which had been filled with fear, now flashed with a resolute and ruthless glint.

"Our supplies are gone. The heavily armored cavalry outside the city will raze Yazhou to the ground first thing tomorrow morning! My brothers don't want to die. I'm sorry!"