In this realistic war game, only I understand the course of the battle.

Mixed with the smoke from the artillery fire, it dyed the entire sky a dull, dark yellow.

The Yan army's cannons roared again.

Zhu Di's order was to bombard the enemy day and night.

The gunners were divided into three shifts to take turns, but the guns were not changed when the gunners were replaced, and no gap was allowed for the gun barrels to cool down.

The cracks in the west city wall have expanded from a dozen to dozens.

The widest crack stretched from the top of the wall all the way to the base, wide enough to fit a fist.

It was three quarters past Chen Shi (7:45 AM).

The second round of shelling had just stopped for a breather.

The gunners were using damp cloths to cool down the scorching hot gun barrels.

Just then.

The smoke billowing on the city wall was suddenly blown open by the wind, creating a gap.

Someone peeked out from behind the barricade.

Not one.

It's a row.

They carried no knives, no bows, and no muskets.

Each person was holding something high in their hand.

The object was raised above the top of the stack, and it was clearly visible in the grayish-yellow light of the sky.

It's a wooden sign.

Wooden signs of all sizes.

Some were taken from the shrines in ordinary people's homes, and some were taken from the offering tables in ancestral halls.

A few pieces were made by sawing off temporary door panels.

Each wooden plaque had words written on it.

The handwriting is different for each person.

Some were written neatly with cinnabar, while others were hastily written with ink.

There are also a few pieces that were carved directly onto the wooden board with a knife, stroke by stroke.

But all the words on the wooden signs said the same thing.

"The position of the High Emperor's divine tablet."

"The Divine Tablet of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Great Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty".

"May the spirit of Emperor Gaozu rest in heaven."

Rows of wooden signs were erected on the city wall.

Along the entire western city wall, from south to north, every crenellation was covered with hangings.

Some of the wooden signs also had long white cloths hanging behind them.

On the white cloth, the seven large characters "May Emperor Gao bless Jinan" were written in blood.

Not a single soldier showed his face on the city wall.

There were no muskets, no bows and arrows, and no rolling logs or stones.

Only these wooden signs swayed slightly in the morning breeze.

The gunners' hands stopped instantly.

An old gunner, who was loading gunpowder into the cannon barrel, looked up at the row of wooden signs on the city wall.

The iron shovel in his hand clattered to the ground.

He took a step back.

They took another step back.

Then, with a thud, he knelt down straight.

The second gunner knelt down.

The third one also knelt down.

The commander in charge of directing the artillery barrage had his mouth agape, his command flag held high in the air.

He tried to swing it several times, but he didn't dare to swing it down.

Zhu Di stood on the earthen slope.

His gaze swept over the densely packed wooden plaques on the city wall, and his expression changed instantly.

It's not anger.

It's not fear.

It is a bone-chilling paleness, as if all paths have been blocked.

He launched the rebellion under the pretext of "purging the emperor's corrupt advisors and following ancestral teachings."

From Beiping to Dezhou, and from Dezhou to Jinan.

He fought every battle under the banner of "pacifying the rebellion".

He told the whole world that he was not a traitor.

He was the son of the late Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, and he came to purge the court of treacherous officials on behalf of Emperor Jianwen.

But now, the late emperor's ancestral tablet hangs on the opposite city wall.

If he orders the bombardment to continue.

The cannonballs would hit Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestral tablet.

Every word he said and every flag he raised before would become a complete lie the moment the shells fell.

People will say that Zhu Di's bombardment of the ancestral temple was disloyal and unfilial, making him a true traitor.

He fought in wars for half his life.

For the first time, I was left speechless, with no chance to fight back.

Zhang Yu rode forward, his voice low and filled with barely concealed urgency.

"Your Highness—the cannons must not be fired any further!"

"Forty-three cannons, all aimed at the late emperor's ancestral tablet. Once this gets back to Nanjing, those censors in the court will use their pens to nail us to the history books and curse us for a thousand years!"

Zhu Di's fingers gripped the silver command flag tightly, his knuckles turning white.

The sound of artillery fire on the position gradually subsided.

The last general's cannon, still roaring, had its burning fuse snapped by the gunner himself.

On the battlefield, lingering smoke and white steam rising from the cooling cannon barrels filled the air.

Everyone looked up at the wooden sign on the city wall.

Aside from the sound of the wind and the flowing water of the moat.

The entire battlefield was deathly silent.

"Pass on the order."

Zhu Di slowly tucked the silver medal into his sleeve.

His tone was abnormally calm, revealing no emotion whatsoever.

"Artillery, all withdraw to camp."

"Without my order, no one is allowed to shoot an arrow or throw a gunpowder pack at the city wall."

"Those who disobey orders will be executed."

On the city wall of the inner city.

Tie Xuan finally raised his hand and brushed off the dust that had accumulated on his official hat for a day and a night.

He stood behind the battlements, watching the Yan army's cannons outside the city being dragged back to the camp one after another.

The wooden wheels of the gun carriage left deep ruts in the muddy ground.

The gunners kept their heads down, following behind the gun carriages, and not one of them looked back at the city wall.

The wooden plaques inscribed with "The Divine Seat of the High Emperor" still hang on the city wall.

It gleamed with a dull light in the afternoon sunlight.

Tie Xuan's expression remained calm.

He neither laughed nor showed any sign of victory.

He turned around and spoke calmly to the aide beside him.

"Go find Lord Han."

Han Qingshan ran all the way from the west city wall.

When he climbed the city wall, his breathing was still a little unsteady.

But there was no sign of fatigue on his face; on the contrary, his eyes were surprisingly bright.

When he was at the foot of the city wall, he had already clearly seen the wooden plaques hanging all over the crenellations.

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly involuntarily.

This is the real Cheol-hyun.

Tie Xuan, who served as a censor in the Censorate for more than a decade and impeached countless nobles and powerful officials.

He knew better than any other military officer on the battlefield how to strike at the heart of the problem.

Cleanse the court of corrupt officials and uphold ancestral teachings.

Every word that Zhu Di had on his lips since he raised his army.

Now they've all become wooden plaques hanging on the city wall, completely blocking his cannons.

If you bombard it, you are a disloyal and unfilial traitor.

If you don't bombard it, there's nothing you can do about taking this city of Jinan.

This is not a battlefield conspiracy.

This is an open conspiracy.

It's politics.

Use the opponent's flag to block their path to survival.

"Lord Han."

Tie Xuan's voice was calm and normal, as if he were talking about an ordinary official matter.

"Last night, the artisans in the city rushed to make more than 320 ancestral tablets for the founding emperor."

"These memorial tablets have temporarily blocked the Yan army's artillery fire."

"But Zhu Di was not Li Jinglong; his patience would not be exhausted by this one move."

"Although he has stopped firing his artillery, he will never lift the siege, nor can we guarantee that he will come up with another solution once he calms down."

"For example, digging tunnels, or simply bypassing Jinan and heading south directly."

"How long Jinan can hold out depends on how much concession we can force him to make before he finds his next move."

"I'd like to hear your opinion."

Han Qingshan stopped, bowed to Tie Xuan with his hands clasped, and spoke in a calm tone.

"Lord Tie's plan has already shaken the Yan army's morale."

"Although the cannons have fallen silent, Zhu Di himself would never admit defeat so easily."

"Although Li Jingzhong, one of his subordinates, is currently seriously injured and bedridden, his mind is unusually cold."

"I suspect they will shift their focus from shelling to encirclement and infiltration."

"Either bypass Jinan and harass our army's supply lines in the rear."

"Or they would secretly dig tunnels under the city walls, trying to breach the city from underground."

"I will immediately arrange for men to bury jars at the base of the west and north city walls to listen in."

"We must not allow them to use gunpowder to penetrate the city from under the wall."

"Furthermore, I believe there is one more move we can take proactively."

"Continue to focus on the ancestral tablets."

"Send people from the city to collect other old items belonging to Emperor Taizu."

"For example, imperial documents, copies of imperial edicts, and decrees once issued to Shandong were all displayed in various places on the city wall."

"Spread these things out."

"So that no matter which direction the Yan army looks from, they can see the traces left by the late emperor."

"In this way, every step the Yan army takes forward will be burdened with a heavy psychological shackle."

Tie Xuan listened silently and nodded slowly.

"You take care of this."

Han Qingshan responded and immediately turned to make the arrangements.

But after taking a few steps, he suddenly stopped and turned back to add a sentence.

"Lord Tie, I have an even more important suggestion."

"Make sure Nanjing knows about this arrangement in Jinan as soon as possible and to as many people as possible."