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Before long, Lin Xiuming’s scout cavalry arrived beneath Yan County’s city walls, where one of the soldiers shouted, “We are the reinforcement troops sent by the Imperial Court to aid the North Prince, our general is Lin Xiuming, please open the city gates immediately! Let us in!”

Upon hearing this, the soldiers of Yan County were extremely tense. At that moment, a Colonel guarding the city gate promptly replied, “The North Prince is currently holding off the Barbarian Army at the North Gate! Please wait a moment! We will go and report this!”

Hearing this, a soldier instantly became irate, “What’s there to report? The Barbarian Army is already here, hurry up and let us in! If anything happens to the North Prince, can you gatekeepers take responsibility?”

The Colonel spoke again, “Don’t be hasty, this is a critical period, we need to confirm that you are indeed the Imperial Army.”

Hearing this, the scout could only comply with the procedure, showing them official documents to confirm their identity to the soldiers at the southern gate.

Seeing that the soldiers of Yan County seemed to be stalling, Lin Xiuming’s expression grew increasingly grim.

At that time, Lin Xiuming’s deputy, Zhou Yu, said beside him, “General, could it be that Yan County has already fallen to the Barbarian Tribe? I have a feeling that these soldiers guarding the city don’t want to let us in.”

Zhou Yu was a man from Prince Lu Shuyun’s side and naturally wouldn’t mind seeing the North Prince captured by the barbarians. If Yan County were to fall, Zhou Yu wouldn’t feel like it was a loss for Great Sum.

After hearing Zhou Yu’s words, Lin Xiuming just looked at the city in front of him expressionlessly, without saying a word.

He could tell from Zhou Yu’s tone that Zhou Yu seemed quite eager to see the North Prince in trouble, and Lin Xiuming was no fool. He knew Zhou Yu was Prince Lu Shuyun’s man as soon as he left the Capital city.

As a child of the Prime Minister’s household, Lin Xiuming had a profound understanding of the political situation in the court.

Then Zhou Yu continued, “General, if Yan County truly has been occupied by the barbarians, then we should retreat as quickly as possible. If we wait for the Barbarian Army to catch up, I’m afraid all seventy thousand of us will be annihilated.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiuming coldly said, “Deputy General Zhou, you seem quite eager to see the North Prince in trouble?”

Zhou Yu hurriedly replied, “General, you misunderstand me. I just feel that if Yan County has fallen, then there is no longer any need to defend North City.”

Hearing this, Lin Xiuming turned to glance at Zhou Yu, then sternly said, “Today we surrender North City to the barbarians, tomorrow we might as well give the Qi Prince’s territory to them as well, then the day after tomorrow, should we surrender the entire Great Sum to the Barbarian Tribe?”

Seeing Lin Xiuming grow angry, Zhou Yu immediately fell silent, not saying anything more.

Lin Xiuming turned his gaze back to the city tower of Yan County; the flag of the North Prince was still displayed there. He guessed Yan County had not yet fallen and likely, as the soldiers guarding the city had said, the Barbarian Army was indeed already in the Wanning Valley.

All they needed now was the North Prince’s orders. Once the North Prince knew that the Imperial Army had arrived, he would definitely order them into Yan County immediately, to help defend the city against the barbarians.

With their seventy thousand men, holding Yan County was most likely not going to be a problem.

Lin Xiuming tried to think optimistically, and at this point, he could only think optimistically. If Yan County had indeed fallen at this time, then they would certainly not be able to recapture it, and most likely would have to retreat embarrassingly back to the Qi Prince’s territory and then to the Capital city to accept punishment.

About half an hour later, the city gates of the south finally opened.

Seeing the city gates open, Lin Xiuming finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was already prepared for battle.

At that moment, a soldier rode out from the city on horseback and then loudly said, “The battle against the Barbarian Tribe has ended. The Prince has instructed me to inform you to proceed to Wanning Valley quickly to clean up the battlefield.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiuming and the other officers were stunned.

What?

The war is over?

How is that possible!

Could it be that Yan County really has fallen to the barbarians?

Is this a trap?

Do the barbarians want to wait for their seventy thousand men to enter the city and then annihilate them?

While they were entertaining these thoughts, Lin Xiuming still took the lead, charging towards the city gates.

“Soldiers, follow me into the city!”

However, whether Yan County had already been occupied by the Barbarian Tribe or not, Lin Xiuming needed to verify it personally, even if it meant his seventy thousand men might be attacked by the Barbarians in the process.

These seventy thousand men had come to North City to resist the Barbarian Tribe, so how could they just run away without having even seen the Barbarians? Did that make any sense?

Seeing Lin Xiuming set out, the soldiers also began to make their move, with the army slowly following Lin Xiuming into the city.

But all the soldiers were very vigilant; this army of seventy thousand elite soldiers, all battle-hardened, still had their necessary caution.

After entering the city, Lin Xiuming found that there were still sparse commoners on the streets.

However, most of the commoners were inside their rooms, opening just half of their doors, stealthily watching the outside.

The commoners naturally knew that the Barbarian Army was attacking Yan County, so they dared not go out.

Just at this moment, a Messenger Soldier shouted loudly, “Great victory in North City! Great victory in Yan County! North Prince has led the soldiers of North City, slain two hundred thousand Barbarian soldiers, and captured one hundred thousand!”

The Messenger Soldier shuttled nonstop through every street in the city, loudly announcing the outcome of the war.

Soon, the Imperial Army that had entered the city all heard the announcements from the Messenger Soldier.

Hearing the Messenger Soldier say that the North Prince had led the army of North City to kill two hundred thousand soldiers and had captured one hundred thousand Barbarian soldiers, the soldiers of the Imperial Army were astonished.

The first thing they thought of was that this must be fake news!

Most of the soldiers in the seventy thousand army that Lin Xiuming led had fought against the Barbarians before; they were well aware of the Barbarians’ combat strength.

Let alone three hundred thousand, if they were to fight fifty thousand of the Barbarian Army without the protection of a fortress, it wouldn’t be an easy task for this seventy thousand to achieve victory.

And now North City’s Messenger Soldier was saying that the North Prince, with his troops, had defeated the thirty thousand-strong Barbarian Army?

Not just defeated, but had also slain two hundred thousand Barbarian soldiers and captured one hundred thousand, effectively annihilating them?

Could that be possible?

What a joke!

How many soldiers did North City have? Forget beating the Barbarian Army, even defending North City itself was extremely difficult.

If they truly had that strength, the Imperial Court would not have needed to dispatch seventy thousand troops for reinforcement.

Lin Xiuming was puzzled; why would the North Prince spread such false news within the city.

This sounded completely unbelievable upon hearing it.

Anyone with a bit of sense would know that the North Prince could not possibly have defeated the thirty thousand-strong Barbarian Army.

Moreover, the North Prince’s fabricated news was too far-fetched; if he had said they repelled the Barbarians’ attack, perhaps the common folk might have believed it.

But claiming to have slain two hundred thousand of the Barbarian Army and captured another hundred thousand soldiers?

Who would believe that?

There’s always a reason behind everything, and now Lin Xiuming really wanted to know what the North Prince was up to.

He then said to the soldiers behind him, “Pick up the pace, we must rendezvous with the North Prince as soon as possible.”

About half an hour later, Lin Xiuming, leading the seventy thousand-strong Imperial Army, finally arrived at the northern gate of Yan County.

At this moment, Lu Chen was standing on the city tower, gazing toward the north.

A soldier from North City came to Lin Xiuming’s side and said, “General Lin, the North Prince is waiting for you on the city tower!”