County Magistrate (for all citizens): I can watch ads and get unlimited resources.

Outside the East Gate,

Du Mingyuan rode on his warhorse, gazing at the distant city wall.

at this time,

The troops on the east, south, and north sides continued to beat drums and shout, trying to attract the attention of the defending troops.

just,

They never actually launched a strong attack.

suddenly,

Du Mingyuan noticed that there were faint lights rising in the west.

Thick black smoke shot straight into the sky.

Seeing this scene,

He was not worried at all.

Instead, a smile appeared on his face.

"It seems a fight has already broken out on Simon's side."

"Such a large fire must mean they are burning down buildings in the city and creating chaos."

The voice just fell,

A scout then rode up on a fast horse.

"Report—!"

"Reporting to General Qi!"

"The western city garrison has been defeated, our army has successfully captured the city walls and opened the city gates!"

"The main force has already stormed into Zhatian County!"

Upon hearing the report,

Du Mingyuan was overjoyed.

"good!"

"Everything is just as I expected."

"Although the crossbowmen of Zhatian County are formidable, their numbers are ultimately limited. Once the western city falls, the remaining defenders will be doomed!"

however,

This joy did not last long.

Another fast horse galloped in.

"Report!"

"General, something terrible has happened!"

"After our troops entered the city, they were suddenly ambushed. The people of Zhatian County set fire inside the west gate, cutting off the troops inside and outside the city!"

The smile that was just there a moment ago,

Disappeared instantly

Du Mingyuan glared at him angrily: "What did you say?! Didn't you just say that we had control of the city gates? How did they set them on fire?"

The scout hurriedly explained, "General, they prepared a large amount of oil and firewood at the city gate beforehand. After our army entered, they lit the fire and completely blocked the city gate passage."

Prepare in advance...

Isn't this blatantly telling him that Zhatian County had already discovered his scheme?

This is for Du Mingyuan,

It was like slapping him in the face.

Now he finally realized what had happened with the sudden flames that had risen in the west of the city.

"so what?"

"What's the situation in the west of the city now?"

"No matter what, put out the fire immediately and help the soldiers in the city evacuate."

just,

The scouts received the order.

We haven't even had a chance to set off yet.

A third scout arrived, looking extremely disheveled: "General, something terrible has happened! Zhatian County has set up an ambush inside the city, unleashing a volley of arrows. More than half of our soldiers have been killed or wounded."

"The city was also attacked by the cavalry of Zhatian County. The soldiers were unable to form ranks and suffered casualties. I only managed to escape in the chaos..."

Hear this,

Du Mingyuan felt a buzzing in his head.

I almost fainted.

Half an hour ago,

He was also smug, believing that his plan was ingenious and could easily conquer Zhatian County.

especially,

When the first scout reported,

I heard that West Gate has been captured.

He was already planning to hold a victory celebration banquet in the city tonight.

result,

Du Mingyuan never dreamed that the situation would turn so drastically. In just a quarter of an hour, five thousand soldiers had already been defeated.

"impossible!"

"Absolutely impossible!"

Du Mingyuan roared involuntarily.

But the shouts of battle grew louder and louder in the distance, and the flames soared into the sky.

They are all telling him,

The scout was not lying.

Critical juncture,

Du Mingyuan's last shred of rationality brought him back to his senses. Since Ximen's main force had been defeated, the remaining troops absolutely could not be lost.

"Quickly, pass on the order!"

"Cease all feint attacks from the east, south, and north!"

"All troops, move towards the east gate!"

however,

Just like last time,

The scout responsible for relaying the message hadn't even had a chance to set off before another scout arrived...

"General, something terrible has happened."

"From the south of the city, we were suddenly besieged by the garrison of Zhatian County. Caught off guard, our army suffered heavy losses."

"No--!!!"

Du Mingyuan let out a roar that sounded inhuman.

These soldiers,

But they were all his own troops.

If he is completely wiped out here, even if he returns alive, his status will drop significantly, and he may even lose all his voice in the military.

The key is,

He had already figured out Zha Tian County's intentions.

The main force on the west side was defeated.

The remaining three troops,

They are located outside the city walls on the east, south, and north sides, respectively.

They are far apart.

Han Yilin is planning to take advantage of their inability to support each other, concentrate his superior forces, and defeat them one by one!

"Quickly, get the people in the north to retreat immediately."

But it was too late.

The lag in message delivery

This prevented Du Mingyuan from immediately ordering the troops at the front to evacuate.

in contrast,

Han Yilin, who always had the upper hand, was always able to strike first, giving the Pingtian Army no chance to catch their breath.

After he defeated the main force of the Pingtian Army at Ximen,

They immediately turned their troops around.

The Pingtian Army besieged the city from the south.

then,

nonstop,

Attack the Pingtian Army outside the North Gate.

At last,

That was the East Gate where Du Mingyuan was located.

Throughout the entire battle,

In less than two hours, the entire 10,000-strong Pingtian Army was wiped out.

At the last moment

Du Mingyuan still wanted to fight to the death, but after losing his numerical advantage, he was completely powerless against Cheng Murou.

finally,

He was killed by Cheng Murou.

The head rolled to the ground.

With the death of their commander,

The remaining Pingtian army completely lost its last will to resist.

When the battle ended

When Han Yilin was preparing to lead his men to count the spoils of war,

A server-wide announcement suddenly appeared.

[Server-wide Announcement!]

[Congratulations to the faction of Zhatian County for becoming the first faction in the entire server to defeat 5,000 regular troops in a field battle!]

【奖励：粮食×50000、木材×50000、石料×50000、铁矿×50000、铜钱×500000、踏霜贯云槊图纸（紫色）。】

...

[Server-wide Announcement!]

[Congratulations to the faction of Zhatian County for becoming the first faction in the entire server to defeat 10,000 regular troops in a field battle!]

【奖励：粮食×100000、木材×100000、石料×100000、铁矿×100000、铜钱×1000000、西冰库大酒店图纸（金色）。】

......

Two server-wide announcements,

Appearing one after the other,

and,

They watched it three times in a row before stopping. Even though Han Yilin had experience with this before, he was still almost shocked this time.

Mainly,

The rewards are shockingly generous.

"My goodness! This is a reward of 150,000 units of each resource? Plus 1.5 million coins?!"

Holy crap!

"This doesn't even include the spoils of war, right? An army of ten thousand men, the weapons, armor, and food they captured—it's probably worth quite a bit of money."

"No wonder those militaristic countries love to wage wars abroad."

Winning would really have its benefits.

Weapons, armor, provisions, and people are just the most basic spoils of war.

If it were to invade other countries,

They could also burn, kill, plunder, and steal gold, silver, and various resources on the other side's land.

When the war ends,

It could also force defeated countries to cede territory and pay reparations.

He pocketed all the benefits while making others bear the costs – a truly lucrative scheme.

of course,

All of this has one crucial premise.

That means we must win.

If we lose,

Then it will be their turn to cede territory and pay reparations.

just,

Before Han Yilin could recover from his joy, Li Zehao, who had just finished the battle and was cleaning up the battlefield, learned something from the prisoners.

After hearing the report,

Han Yilin looked at him with suspicion. "You mean, the reason these people split up their forces yesterday was because their commander received news of the whereabouts of the fallen Empress Ji Yun, so he led his troops there?"

Li Zehao nodded: "That's what the prisoners said, but I don't know if it's true or not."

Rubbing his chin,

Han Yilin's expression was strange: "So, you're saying I was able to win this battle so easily because the Empress helped me share the burden, right?"