Chapter 2726: Anshi City II

The other generals finally remembered this, and immediately said: “Prince, I am willing to lead troops from the North City Gate to support the West City Gate.”

The North City Gate is the closest to the West City Gate, not to mention the East and South, with mountains in between that require a long detour to reach the other side.

Upon hearing this, the others also immediately requested the same.

Of course, the Second Prince couldn’t allow so many people to leave, so he appointed General Gao, who was the first to request, saying: “I’ll give you ten thousand troops, and you must take the West City Gate from outside the city.”

Second Prince Gao increasingly felt this was a good idea, and said: “Now their city gate is wide open, we can directly charge in from outside.”

General Gao thought the same, which is why he quickly offered to volunteer.

The others turned their heads to look at him, feeling somewhat envious and resentful, wondering why they hadn’t seized the opportunity.

This counts as an achievement.

General Gao then gathered his troops and headed towards the North City Gate.

By this time, dawn had already broken.

Beyond the North City, Heli, who had set up camp to sleep, was awakened by the sunlight. He got up from the leaves, first touching his own arm to feel that the wound was fine, not bleeding anymore. Then he pressed his waist, finding no issue, as the scabbed wound had healed without reopening.

Only then did he lean against the tree, calling over Xue Bei, and asked: “Is there any movement at the city gate?”

“There’s no movement at all,” Xue Bei replied: “General, I see their focus is all on the West City Gate, we’re stationed five li away, yet there’s no activity at the city gate tower.”

Heli pondered, “Could it be because we’re too quiet, so they haven’t noticed?”

Xue Bei: “…Does the general want them to notice us?”

Heli thought for a moment before saying: “Forget it, let’s wait a bit longer. Ashina surely can hold them off, let’s eat something first, then rest a while, if they still haven’t noticed us, then we’ll move out and let them spot us.”

He lamented: “It’s a pity that our plan was a rapid assault, not a siege, otherwise the North City Gate would be perfect for a siege now.”

Xue Bei said nothing.

Ladders, catapults, battering rams, and such were not prepared, how could they lay siege?

Heli waved his hand, “Have everyone take their breakfast.”

Xue Bei passed down the order to eat first.

The soldiers took out their rations from the pouches on their waists, knowing well that they would need to fight hard soon, and since the main tent was arriving, nobody was stingy with their rations, eating as much as they could.

After breakfast, everyone stretched out on the ground, while their horses munched on the sparse grass nearby.

Many of them took out a handful of beans or similar from their waist pouches to feed their horses. Cavalrymen cherished their steeds, and besides their own rations, they often carried some for their horses.

Heli glanced at this and also reached out to pet his beloved horse, pulling a pouch from his waist to feed it a handful of beans, saying: “When the main tent arrives, I’ll let you have a hearty meal.”

The horse snorted loudly, and just as man and steed shared this tender moment, a scout came running over to report: “General, their scouts have left the city.”

Heli straightened up.

When the army moves, scouts go ahead, that’s customary.

Scouts always run behind the main army.

However, Heli had someone keeping an eye on the North City Gate, so as soon as a small door opened on the other side releasing four scouts, they immediately knew.

Heli looked at his team, resting in the woods by the roadside, avoiding the main road, but unless blind and deaf, anyone passing this road would spot them.

Heli thought for a moment and said: “Capture them.”

With such obvious traces, there were many others like him lounging on the grass after breaking branches, making cleanup impossible.

Moreover, it was just five li away, very close, so Heli immediately decided not to bother with this effort.

They came not to set an ambush, but to block those leaving the city, so they didn’t plan to hide their tracks from the start.

The scout took the order and not long after, returned with the four scouts, captured while they were on horseback.

It wasn’t that the Goguryeo scouts were incompetent, but who would have expected enemy troops to suddenly appear on the main road?

But they were trained for such scenarios, so the four of them didn’t panic, simply turning their horses into the woods to try and circle back to report.

However, as soon as they entered the woods, they were immediately knocked off their horses by people jumping down from the trees, ending up as cushions to break their fall…

The Goguryeo scouts felt like all their bones were about to break. Though they used all their strength to throw off the people atop them and got up to run, they had only just lifted their heads to find three or four spears pointed at them.

They were stunned.

Their other three companions were also dumbfounded by the number of people surrounding them.

This was at least two to three hundred men?

Four fists against so many hands, it was futile.

The four were brought in front of Heli.

Heli asked them curiously, “Where were you planning to go?”

The four remained silent, resolute in never betraying their cause.

Heli didn’t press them, instead pondering while stroking his chin, “Could it be that you intend to besiege Liaodong City, forcing us to return and respond?”

The four: …

Xue Bei: “…General, they are likely planning to send troops to the West City Gate, to capture it from the outside.”

Did they forget why they came here?

However, Heli said: “Before dawn was the best time, but now it’s already daylight and our reinforcements are arriving, even if they go now, they might not capture the West City Gate, better to go to Liaodong City directly to cut off our army’s rear.”

Suddenly, Heli was struck by a sudden thought, “Is that really your plan?”

Xue Bei also became uncertain, watching the four scouts, who showed a blank expression, giving nothing away. Growing anxious, he immediately said: “General, we can’t let them leave the city, the Emperor is in the main tent.”

Even if Goguryeo’s troops might not defeat the Jin forces, letting the Emperor be startled would be a great error, they couldn’t take such a risk.

Heli strongly agreed, and immediately mounted his horse, shouting: “Form ranks, we’ll challenge them.”

The soldiers quickly stood up, adjusting their clothes and weapons, then mounted up.

Already at the North City Gate, waiting for the scouts’ report, General Gao was surprised to find the Jin army arriving instead of his scouts.

Heli had his personal guards go to issue the challenge.

His bodyguards took a sip of water, cleared their throats before riding forward, sinking their voice into the dantian, loudly calling out to the city gate: “You grandsons holding the city, Granddaddies have arrived, aren’t you going to open the gates and welcome us…”

Hearing this familiar challenge, General Gao almost fell off his horse, his face turning pale as he asked: “How is the Jin army here?”

The city officials were equally baffled, how were they supposed to know why the Jin army was here?

No, the Jin army being here was normal, weren’t they supposed to lay siege?