Liu Cong ground his teeth but truly didn’t dare provoke greater conflict with Zhao Hanzhang at this moment.

If she were injured and the Zhao Family Army without a leader, he would dare make a move on not just the forces in the city, but those outside as well.

But she was clearly unharmed. If they fought, and in street fighting no less, who would win and who would lose was uncertain.

In urban combat, Xiongnu people were inferior to Han people.

Zhao Hanzhang was contemplating the same question. Street fighting—Xiongnu people were inferior to Han people. The Zhao Family Army had its own small formations to respond, because this era often saw city massacres, so she had specifically trained for street fighting.

She was confident that even facing the fierce Xiongnu army, her Zhao Family Army could win in street fighting.

But it would also come at an enormous cost.

This personal guard force was one she’d recruited after leaving Luoyang, training them until now. With each battle, a batch would die and be replaced by another batch.

She had always been careful, unwilling to see casualties too severe.

So unless absolutely necessary, she was unwilling to clash head-on with Liu Cong at this moment.

Moreover, she knew her own situation. She was injured, which would still affect army morale somewhat.

Zhao Hanzhang’s eyes blazed as she stared at Liu Cong, continuing until he turned away in irritation and returned to his army.

Zhao Hanzhang sat on her horse waiting—waiting for Zhao Erlang to come, waiting for news from various parts of the city, and also waiting for news from the palace.

In this exchange of arrows, both sides had some casualties. Wounded soldiers were taken to the rear.

At this moment, everyone was very quiet—so quiet that Zhao Hanzhang could hear the shouts from the palace tower in the distance. Judging by the sound, they had once again held the tower.

Liu Cong returned irritably to the residence where he was stationed. Hearing that the palace in the distance had stopped its attack again, he couldn’t help interrogating Wang Mi. “Why haven’t you captured the palace yet?”

Wang Mi replied, “They were well-prepared. The palace tower is solid and naturally easy to defend and hard to attack.”

“I think you’re just not putting in effort.” Liu Cong glared at him with angry eyes. “Perhaps you’re afraid I’ll steal the glory, so you’re deliberately delaying breaking through the tower?”

Liu Cong directed all the anger from his encounter with Zhao Hanzhang at Wang Mi. “Otherwise, the palace tower is far inferior to Luoyang’s city tower. Why could Luoyang be broken in two days, yet this palace tower still can’t be broken after nearly three days?”

Wang Mi sneered. “If General Liu is so capable, why don’t you try it yourself?”

He snorted coldly. “There weren’t many defending Luoyang, yet the palace now contains all the soldiers, officials, and their retainers and household servants. How can it be broken so easily?”

He discreetly scanned Liu Cong, noticing damage to his chest armor. His eyes flickered slightly as he mocked, “What’s this? Did General Liu have a bad outing today and lose to that Zhao Hanzhang?”

Liu Cong sneered. “Ridiculous! Would I lose to a mere woman? She’s already taken one of my arrows. The loser is her, not me.”

“Is that so?” Wang Mi’s face showed mockery, clearly not believing him.

With Liu Cong’s personality, if Zhao Hanzhang had truly been hit by an arrow, he would have already led his army to fight the Zhao Family Army. Coming back in such a fury to trouble him obviously meant he hadn’t gained any advantage with Zhao Hanzhang.

Unable to win an argument with Wang Mi either, Liu Cong grew even more furious. He turned and headed back to his own command post.

In his rage, he smashed a table with one palm, his eyes full of hatred. “Wang Mi is arrogant and cruel, showing me no respect. If not for the battle at hand, I would dearly love to kill him.”

The generals on his left and right had long held grievances against Wang Mi. When attacking Luoyang, they had clearly drawn a large portion of the forces and should have been first to break into Luoyang, yet Wang Mi, that scoundrel, had seized the advantage.

Especially Liu Yao—he and Liu Cong were clan brothers and currently still on good terms. Thus he said, “He’s a minister while you’re a prince, General. He should treat you with respect. Yet from the expedition until now, he’s competed for advantage in everything. Luoyang has already been breached, so the people of Luoyang are subjects of our Han state. Their lives are in your hands, General, yet he overstepped you to loot and kill Han people. Clearly he doesn’t regard you at all.”

Another man, Shan Li, also said, “Wang Mi’s achievements make him powerful and arrogant. He doesn’t even regard His Majesty. If this continues, it will be a disaster, not a blessing. Now the Jin Emperor is surrounded with only one palace gate remaining. Even just by surrounding them, we can starve them to death. Why not take this opportunity to kill him and eliminate future trouble?”

Liu Cong glanced at him. “If we weren’t Xiongnu, I’d suspect you were a spy sent by Zhao Hanzhang.”

If Shan Li weren’t Xiongnu, Liu Cong would really suspect he was a spy Zhao Hanzhang had sent.

Liu Yao also felt Shan Li’s suggestion was too terrible and was about to speak when his heart suddenly stirred. He lowered his voice. “If we found an excuse to invite Wang Mi here and killed him privately, with Wang Mi’s army leaderless, couldn’t you take control of them, General?”

Liu Cong was tempted. After a moment, he shook his head. “No. Zhao Hanzhang is right here. If something goes wrong, or if we can’t control Wang Mi’s army, it will be a catastrophic disaster for us.”

Liu Yao and Shan Li could only acknowledge this.

After waiting at the army’s front for over two quarters of an hour, Zhao Erlang finally arrived with Xie Shi at full gallop. “Elder Sister, you…”

Zhao Hanzhang turned to look at him coldly. Zhao Erlang swallowed all his words back.

Zhao Hanzhang said, “I’m tired. I’m going back to have a meal and rest. You and Xie Shi guard this place. Don’t let the Xiongnu people advance beyond this street. Send people to guard each intersection and beware of ambushes.”

Zhao Erlang acknowledged the order.

Zhao Hanzhang led Ting He and a squad of personal guards back to the camp outside the city.

Fu Tinghan had received news ahead of time and was waiting at the tent entrance. Seeing Zhao Hanzhang riding back, except for slightly pale lips, showing no other signs, he paused.

Then he saw Zhao Hanzhang’s feet unsteady as she dismounted. Alarmed, he quickly reached out to support her, lifting her down from the horse. “You’re really injured?”

“Put me down.” Zhao Hanzhang said quietly, “I need to walk in myself to avoid disrupting army morale.”

Fu Tinghan set her down, supporting her waist and drawing her into his embrace as he brought her into the tent. “Where are you hurt?”

Ting He was nearly in tears. She removed the cloak to show Fu Tinghan. “The lady was hit by an arrow.”

Seeing this, Fu Tinghan’s expression changed. He quickly said, “Have the army physician come in immediately.”

The army physician had been waiting and, hearing the order, immediately entered with his medicine box. Seeing it was an arrow wound, and moreover in a position below the shoulder, he hesitated. “This… how can I extract it from this location?”

“Isn’t it easy to extract?” Fu Tinghan frowned. “I looked—the arrowhead didn’t penetrate deeply. It shouldn’t have injured the bone.”

“That’s true, but the general is a lady…”

Zhao Hanzhang lifted her eyelids to look at him. “I don’t mind. What do you mind?”

The army physician looked at Fu Tinghan.

Fu Tinghan said, “I don’t mind either. What do you mind?”

The young master was quite open-minded.

Since both had said so, the army physician began to act. However, he still didn’t quite dare to personally intervene. His hand holding the scissors wavered, wanting to cut but not cutting.

Seeing this, Fu Tinghan grew angry. He snatched the scissors and cut away all the clothing around Zhao Hanzhang’s wound. He removed what armor could be removed and cut through the rest at the joints.