Meng County had once been ravaged by the Xiongnu. After Zhao Hanzhang took office as Yuzhou Governor, she had expended considerable effort to restore it to life. The specially-made city gates existed in only two cities in all of Chen Commandery.

One was Meng County, the second was Chen County.

Zhi Xiong thought she couldn’t bear to destroy Meng County, so he acted without fear. She truly couldn’t bear to, but between bearing and not bearing, there had to be priorities.

Between houses and people, Zhao Hanzhang never hesitated. In her view, people were the foundation of everything. As long as she had people, she would have everything.

Even if afterwards it would cost more manpower and resources to restore all this, as long as there were people, there were infinite possibilities.

Conversely, if she had no people, what use was leaving behind this empty city?

The aristocratic families and warlords of this era all felt people were the most base. After exhausting the people at hand, they just turned around and recruited more.

In this world, grain was hard to come by, oxen and horses weren’t easy to obtain—only people, who came at a wave, who would gather in countless numbers for just a mouthful of food or a weapon in hand.

But they forgot that even without considering this issue from a humanitarian perspective, simply viewing people as commodities, their value shouldn’t be lower than grain and oxen and horses.

For a person to grow to the point where they could create value required at least ten years.

Only children over ten could farm, fight, and reproduce.

The soldiers under Zhao Hanzhang’s command had all been trained. She had carefully nurtured them for four years to develop them. How could she bear to throw them into the meat grinder?

Never mind them—even the elderly, weak, women, and children in the enemy-occupied areas, she couldn’t bear to sacrifice.

So two days of yielding was already the limit. Once everything was arranged, Zhao Hanzhang launched a fierce attack on the Stone Army.

Zhao’s army already had the advantage in street fighting, and their weapons were superior to the Stone Army’s. The spiked carts she had temporarily modified were pushed forward at the very front, directly blocking an entire street.

The Stone Army found it difficult to mount a charge, because the spikes on the carts were long and sharp. If the people behind pushed, they might end up spread on those long sharp points, directly pierced through the intestines—just thinking about it was terrifying.

So the Stone Army was forced to retreat step by step. But after retreating more than ten steps, the supervising officer shouted loudly, forbidding them to retreat further. The Stone Army had no choice but to wave their long spears forward, wanting to use them to stab the Zhao soldiers behind the spiked carts.

But Zhao’s army had long prepared countermeasures. Just as they came forward, before they could get close to the spiked carts, the squad leader gave an order. The spearmen walking behind the cart soldiers took one step out, then another step forward, shouting in unison as their long spears thrust out swiftly. They didn’t even look at the result, directly withdrawing their spears.

Most of the withdrawn spears were bloody.

A group fell at the front of the Stone Army. When the group behind reacted, they retreated repeatedly, but street fighting meant people crowded against people. When those behind didn’t retreat in time, some people’s feet got tangled together and they fell…

Seeing this, the supervising officer ordered the archers to shoot.

Zhao Ze, who had been watching their movements, saw this through the telescope and immediately gave orders. The signal officer waved the banner. The supervising officer in the formation saw it and immediately commanded loudly: “Shields—”

The shield soldiers in the back row took a step forward, while the spearmen simultaneously took a step back to withdraw. The shield soldiers swiftly raised their shields in front. The Stone Army’s arrows shot out, most blocked by the shields.

When Zhao’s army shields lowered, almost as they were lowering, before the Stone Army could react, a hundred or so arrows flew out shooting forth. Screams arose…

Zhao’s army advanced at extremely fast speed.

Zhi Xiong, left behind in the rear, saw this and couldn’t help shouting: “After retreating from the main street, burn that row of houses for me. Take the opportunity to kill your way back.”

His words had barely fallen when rumbling earth-shaking sounds came from behind him. He felt the building shake along with it.

Startled, he stuck his head out to look in the direction the sound came from: “Where has Zhao Hanzhang summoned heavenly thunder again?”

His commander quickly replied: “It’s thunderclap bombs, General. It seems to be from the direction of the County Office.”

After several days, the Jie barbarians already knew that what Zhao Hanzhang used, these things like heavenly thunder, were called thunderclap bombs. Only Zhi Xiong had been unwilling to change his way of referring to them.

Just as Zhi Xiong was about to send people to inquire about the situation, explosions occurred simultaneously in many places in the south of the city, with flames shooting skyward.

He froze, then his eyes widened: “Zhao Hanzhang has infiltrated our interior!”

Both yes and no. The personal guards Zhao Hanzhang had sent out, with the help of the city’s common people, moved through various streets. After using explosives to clear paths and draw away troops from checkpoints, the Zhao Family Army that had been lying in ambush broke through the checkpoints. Like fish entering a river, they quickly disappeared into the alleyways under the guidance of the city’s common people.

If you asked who understood this city best, it wasn’t Zhi Xiong who occupied it, nor was it its former master Zhao Hanzhang—it was the ordinary common people who had lived there for generations.

Where one could go, where one could hide, from which direction one could most quickly reach another place—no one was more familiar with this than they were.

The people Zhi Xiong couldn’t use, Zhao Hanzhang used completely. The resources he couldn’t obtain, she used entirely.

No one could resent Zhi Xiong more than the people of this city, or want more for it to return to peace.

Once Zhao’s army broke through the checkpoints and entered Stone Army territory, they went into hiding, appearing from time to time to intercept and kill Stone Army soldiers passing through the alleys before quickly disappearing. Over half a day, the Stone Army’s losses weren’t small, yet they couldn’t catch any trace of Zhao’s army.

At the same time, Zhao’s army main force had recovered the main street and was dispersing to systematically clear the side roads.

Watching the territory he occupied gradually being lost, Zhi Xiong shouted angrily and gave orders: “Assemble the soldiers, lure Zhao’s army into the city center. Everyone prepare to evacuate south from Meng County.”

His gaze fixed darkly on this city: “Doesn’t Zhao Hanzhang want this city? I’ll grant her wish. Go prepare fire oil and firewood, distribute them throughout the city. I’m going to send her a great gift!”

He wanted to burn this place to ashes. What he couldn’t have, Zhao Hanzhang could forget about having either!

The Stone Army went down to make arrangements. Zhi Xiong waited a long time without seeing reinforcements return, and couldn’t help asking angrily: “What is Zhai Rong doing? Why haven’t the reinforcements arrived yet?”

Soon the soldier who had gone to call for reinforcements hurried back to report: “General, Assistant General Zhai went out to engage the enemy and was killed. Zhao’s army is fiercely attacking the south gate.”

Zhi Xiong clenched his fists and asked calmly: “Didn’t they say there were only a few thousand men? How did Zhai Rong fight this battle?”

“It’s not just a few thousand. Zhao’s army was cunning—they actually had tens of thousands ambushed twenty li away. General Zhai was lured deep and didn’t notice for a moment.”

Zhi Xiong asked: “Who is leading that Zhao army force outside the city?”

“The scouts report they haven’t seen the main general, but they have two army banners—one bearing ‘Zhao’, and one bearing ‘Xun’.”

The Xun Family Army…

Zhi Xiong’s heart turned cold. Xun Xiu had at least fifty thousand men under his command. Adding Zhao’s army, they could reach a hundred thousand. Under attack from inside and outside, he basically couldn’t escape.

Zhao Hanzhang had also received news from the south gate at this time. Learning that Xun Xiu finally had movement, she breathed a sigh of relief, then said: “We’ve already driven the Stone Army to the south of the city. Send word to Xun Xiu to retreat and leave an opening for Zhi Xiong, lest he become desperate.”

Zhao Hanzhang wanted to kill Zhi Xiong, but compared to Meng County and the cost of the Xun Family Army storming the south gate, she preferred to let him out and fight him.

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