#465 - Breakout is imminent
It was the end of Xu hour.
A round moon quietly reflected on the sky, moonlight cutting through the sky, silver radiance scattering a sky full of starlight and frost.
At this moment, Guanghan County was unusually quiet. Countless torches stretched along the city walls, it was unknown whether the firelight adorned the sky, or the clear light illuminated this small battlefield for miles.
Excluding the wounded soldiers who were too injured to fight, all the Shu soldiers who still had the strength to fight were concentrated on the southwest side, totaling 32,000 people.
In order to prevent being noticed, there were still 6,000 people guarding the other sections of the city wall as usual. Once the breakout battle started, they would approach the southwest direction and then join forces to break through the encirclement.
Thirty-two thousand plus six thousand, a total of thirty-eight thousand people, this was all the remaining combat power of the Shu army.
And tonight's breakout battle would kill at least another five thousand people.
That is to say, in about an hour, the 60,000 Shu army would be reduced to only half.
The remaining half would escape towards Niutou Mountain according to the plan, and Han Zhao would order the army to pursue tomorrow morning, so that the more than 200,000 imperial troops would fall into the trap that Wei Changtian had already set up.
Compared with the ambush at Niutou Mountain that was about to happen, tonight's breakout battle, although it could be foreseen to be very tragic, could only be regarded as an appetizer at most.
Especially for Wei Changtian's overall plan, as long as the Shu army could successfully break through and complete its task as "bait", it didn't matter how much strength they had left.
Thirty-five thousand? Thirty thousand? Or twenty thousand?
One thousand more or one thousand less would not have a substantial impact on the battle of Niutou Mountain.
However, even if only ten thousand people could break out, tonight's breakout must succeed.
They only had this one chance.
If they failed, Han Zhao would never be able to open a "back door" for them again. At that time, the Shu army would be trapped in this small Guanghan County, until they were completely annihilated.
And this would also represent the bankruptcy of the overall plan and the demise of the Shu Kingdom.
...
Standing on the city wall, Wei Changtian looked back at the thirty-eight thousand people densely packed at the foot of the city wall, and asked Liang Zhen in a low voice.
"Uncle Liang, how much longer?"
"Less than a quarter of an hour."
Liang Zhen replied with a calm expression, with no abnormal emotions on his face.
On the contrary, Liang Qin was a little nervous at this time.
"Brother Changtian, is General Han really trustworthy?"
She leaned close to Wei Changtian, frowned and whispered: "We are entrusting everyone's lives to him, what if-"
Liang Qin didn't finish her words, but the meaning was already very clear.
Wei Changtian just smiled, not worried about this.
Han Zhao had taken the puppet pill. If he had any thoughts of betrayal, he would have died suddenly.
And since he didn't die, it meant that there was absolutely no possibility of betrayal.
"There is no what-if, don't worry."
Smiling and shaking his head, Wei Changtian chatted with Liang Qin for a few words, and then asked Chu Xianping next to him without showing any trace.
"Brother Chu, where is Xu Sui?"
Although he was going to send this fellow villager away after the breakout, it was not yet time, so he had to protect her.
"Brother Chu, I'll go find her."
"Young Master, why don't I go?"
Chu Xianping persuaded: "Now it's almost Hai time, you should stay with General Liang."
"It's okay, I'll be back soon, it won't delay things."
Waving his hand, Wei Changtian left a sentence and jumped off the city wall, quickly disappearing into the night in the direction Chu Xianping pointed.
Liang Zhen also noticed the situation here at this moment, so he asked Chu Xianping a few questions.
"Huh? What is Changtian doing?"
"General Liang, the Young Master is going to find Miss Xu."
"Miss Xu? What is she doing at this time?"
"Washing her hands."
"Oh..."
Nodding, Liang Zhen retracted his gaze from the direction Wei Changtian disappeared, and after hesitating for a moment, he suddenly lowered his voice.
"Young Master Chu, don't you think this Miss Xu is a little strange?"
...
If someone else heard this question, they would most likely ask, "What's strange?" or something like that.
However, Chu Xianping didn't ask that.
He just exchanged a deep look with Liang Zhen, and then nodded lightly.
Fengyuan, the Imperial Palace of Da Feng.
In the sandalwood-filled bedroom, everyone had withdrawn from the hall, leaving only the man from the Gongji Society standing before the imperial bed.
"Your Majesty."
"I am a man of Wei Changtian, Young Master Wei. There are some words that the Young Master asked me to convey to you..."
Looking at Li Qi, who was smiling foolishly and playing with the corner of his clothes on the bed, the man shook his head helplessly, feeling as if he was playing the lute to a cow.
But since it was a task assigned by Wei Changtian, he could only do it.
So, after a moment of pause, he continued to speak to himself, regardless of whether Li Qi was listening or not:
"Your Majesty, Young Master Wei has now sent seven second-rank masters to Fengyuan to take Princess Wuping to Shuzhou for refuge."
"But the princess is unwilling to live on, and wants to stay and coexist with Da Feng."
"Young Master Wei naturally does not want to see the princess die, and hopes that Da Feng can resolve this crisis."
"However, for some reasons, those seven masters cannot participate in the Da Feng war."
"In addition, Shuzhou is also in the midst of a great war. Young Master Wei is really unable to do anything more, and can only do so much."
"So... Young Master Wei wants to know how Your Majesty plans to do?"
"If the situation in Da Feng is irreversible, then Young Master Wei hopes that you can persuade the Princess to leave for Shuzhou as soon as possible, in case things change if she delays."
"And if you think that the situation in Da Feng still has a chance to turn around, then please clarify it to Young Master Wei as soon as possible."
"Your Majesty, I have finished speaking."
...
After saying all the words that Wei Changtian had told him, the man stood there and waited for a while.
He had been observing Li Qi's reaction when he was speaking, but the latter had never looked at him from beginning to end, and had been smiling foolishly and playing with his fingers.
The man actually knew the intention of Wei Changtian asking him to say these words, which was nothing more than to test whether Li Qi was really stupid or pretending to be stupid.
And based on the current situation, he felt that the probability of "really stupid" was basically 99%.
Born into the high ranks of the Gongji Society, the man was quite confident in his ability to observe words and expressions.
Unless Li Qi's acting skills had reached the pinnacle, otherwise there was no possibility that he would not have shown any flaws just now.
Alas, it seems that heaven wants to destroy Da Feng...
Sighing sadly in his heart, the man finally stopped waiting and turned to leave.
However, just as he was about to reach the door of the hall, a soft sentence suddenly floated from behind him.
"Good man, let Tong'er come to see me... Please don't let others notice."
