After Chen Mo and his forces entered the city from the rear gate, they charged straight towards the front gate, without leaving a single person behind to guard it. With tens of thousands of defending troops in the city, some surely managed to escape.

Even though the Divine Brave Guard outside the city was intercepting the defectors, it was impossible to stop them all, so undoubtedly some slipped through.

Those who escaped and returned were the lowest-ranking soldiers of the Huai Army, not even Martial Artists, thus they could only describe the situation at that time.

As for whether Chen Mo was in the Divine Power Realm, how could they know?

The situation was so chaotic back then that they could not hear Xiao Yan's words.

Therefore, based solely on this, Liang Xuan dared not believe that Chen Mo was in the Divine Power Realm.

...

By noon, news of the fall of Huainan and the surrender of Xiao Yan and Li Hanjun had reached Wuguan, causing a panic among the city's military and civilians.

For most people, they don't care about direct lineage or not; they only know that Xiao Yan is part of the Xiao Family.

And the Xiao Family holds considerable influence throughout Great Song.

Thus, Xiao Yan's surrender was bound to cause some unrest.

Liang Xuan ordered the entire city to be locked down and put under martial law, and the whole army to prepare for battle.

Wuguan is the last line of defense in Huai State; there is no way Liang Xuan would abandon it.

...

On the afternoon of July fifth, the Chen Army stopped to set up camp ten miles outside Wuguan.

Chen Mo was pressed for time, and having decided to attack Wuguan, he would not hesitate after preparations were complete, opting to rest for a night and attack the city the next day.

The defenders of Wuguan learned that the Chen Army was camped outside, but faced with overwhelming enemy numbers, and the suspicion that Chen Mo might have Divine Power with the Purple Sun behind him—even though Liang Xuan did not believe it—cautiously he decided to defend the city and observe the enemy's next move.

The result was that the Chen Army sounded the drums and horns the following dawn, initiating the siege.

Liang Xuan was taken aback.

He was also a seasoned general.

From his military experience, facing a fortified city, no commander would opt for a direct assault unless they had ten times the force, otherwise they'd employ tactics like encirclement, bribing the city officials, sowing discord, night raids, etc., to minimize losses in capturing the city.

But clearly, Chen Mo did not possess such numerical superiority.

This straightforward siege shocked him greatly.

So much so that he immediately ordered strict defense of both the front and rear gates of Wuguan, forbidding anyone to enter or leave, and sent his Personal Soldiers to monitor the noble clans in the city, preventing them from colluding with Chen Mo and causing any disturbances within the city.

...

Outside Wuguan, the Chen Army's camp stretched out for miles, with tall wooden walls already erected around, obstacles placed, and teams of archers standing vigilant atop the walls.

Looking through the barriers, amid layers of military tents and numerous spears and halberds, was a vast cyan military tent, guarded by alert Armored Warriors, the Chen Army's flag flying high at the front. This was Chen Mo's Central Army Tent.

At that moment, the tent flap was lifted, and a tall, slender figure emerged; Chen Mo, donned in gold and red Battle Armor, with a Tang Blade at his waist.

As he stepped out of the tent, respectful voices sounded, with Cui Shuang, Lv Tong, and others standing outside: "Marquis."

"Marquis."

"Marquis."

Sun Meng walked up leading a white horse.

Chen Mo mounted the horse, drew the Tang Blade from his waist, and shouted solemnly: "Wuguan is right before us, capturing Wuguan will make Huai State ours. The Guanzhong forces are less than ten thousand; they're already ours for the taking, one battle will break them."

He then waved the Tang Blade and shouted loudly: "Deploy troops!"

"Attack the city!"

"Yes."

In the tent, the various commanders of the Chen Army and Wu Army, each led their subordinates forward in response, and the Chen Army camp erupted with human voices.

Then the camp gates opened wide, the imposing flags following Chen Mo's warhorse out the gate, met with earth-shaking cheers.

As he said, Chen Mo intended to capture Wuguan in one battle, deploying all forces, over forty thousand soldiers plus defectors, totaling over sixty thousand troops, moving forward en masse.

The sounds of horns and drums rang intermittently.

Thousands of Armored Warriors emerged from various camp gates, forming long streams, moving forward orderly under the command of officers at all levels.

However, the soldiers in the lead weren't armored, nor armed, but carried Cloud Ladders.

Indeed, these were the defectors.

To prevent them from turning coats in battle, Chen Mo did not equip them with armor.

And to stop them from gaining momentum, Chen Mo planned to deploy two to three thousand defectors at the forefront each time.

This was Chen Mo's approach.

A siege required filling it with lives.

Chen Mo was certainly unwilling to sacrifice his own men.

He could only send these defectors to serve as cannon fodder.

Of course, among each group of defectors, there was a leading Armored Xianzhen Guard Soldier, guiding them forward.

And repeatedly said: "Our task is to set the Cloud Ladder against the walls of Wuguan, stay alert."

The vanguard responsible for the siege was commanded by Zhao Liang.

Beside him were Xiao Yan and Li Hanjun.

But these two sat on a war chariot, seemingly asleep.

That's right, they were actually asleep.

Chen Mo knocked them out and had them brought out as a token in front of the defectors, claiming they got drunk happily last night and weren't sober yet.

As for whether the defectors believed it, Chen Mo didn't care.

It wasn't that Chen Mo wasn't treating them well as prisoners, under these circumstances, defectors received such treatment.

Chen Mo originally intended to personally command from the Central Army, but now he was beside Zhao Liang, tasked with observing Liang Xuan, to gauge the Third Grade Power of others...

Then he would know his next move.

...

"All troops attack."

With the vanguard already pushed to a certain distance outside Wuguan City, long horn sounds rose from the rear.

"Woo woo..."

"Boom boom..."

Next, the deep sounds of war drums also started pounding.

Chen Mo personally beat the war drums, rallying the soldiers of the vanguard for the siege.

"Forward, charge with us." Mixed among them, the Xianzhen Guard Soldiers shouted, leading over two thousand defectors, charging towards Wuguan City.

...

On the ramparts of Wuguan, the Huai Army was also ready.

Liang Xuan ascended the wall, reaching the gate tower, personally overseeing the battle, watching the enemy troops charging forward, raising his hand, waiting for the enemy to enter the attack range, just about to swing it down to give the order when turmoil appeared on the walls.

"That seems like Hu Zi..."

"It's our people, those attacking the city are our people."

"..."

"General Wei, Chen Army is using our people for the vanguard, what should we do now?" The deputy general beside Liang Xuan asked.

"Seems true about Xiao Yan's surrender." Another deputy general remarked.

"General Wei, they're nearly on us, if we don't act now, it'll be too late." A commander reminded Liang Xuan.

Liang Xuan furrowed his brows, and then with a decisive gaze, said: "Release."

"Release."

"Release."

The command spread layer by layer, and tens of thousands of arrows were launched.

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