Zhao Shen led his less than two thousand brothers toward the imperial palace villa, while Commander Shi closed the city gates, taking responsibility for guarding them and preventing enemy forces from entering the city.
However, Zhao Shen felt that if Xun Xiu had harbored rebellious intentions long ago, he surely would have already smuggled troops into the city, with no need to assault the gates only today.
Therefore, the places where Zhao Ming and the young Emperor were staying must be extremely dangerous right now.
After much deliberation, he didn’t think his mere thousand-plus men could win the fight, so he stopped a few brothers and pulled over members of the Zhao Family Army who were serving as their guides, saying: “I already know where the imperial palace villa is, so you needn’t lead the way. Take them through the streets and alleys, beating gongs and drums, gather all the city’s commoners, find all the ‘Zhao’ character banners, and have them dress up as Zhao Family Army.”
The soldier was stunned and asked: “How can this method possibly work? The city’s commoners have never received training.”
On this journey, Zhao Shen had witnessed how many cities fell and people perished—how many of the soldiers defending cities had actually received training?
He said: “Don’t you all say that the General has high moral standing among the common people and can rally support with a single call? If so, then we should use this advantage.”
“I don’t know all the insider details of the Xun Family Army’s rebellion, but the Xun Family Army was once under the General’s command and received many favors from her. I don’t believe all the soldiers are willing to follow Xun Xiu in rebellion,” Zhao Shen said. “They may just lack a trigger, while we lack time. The commoners in this city can awaken that trigger and also buy us time.”
This soldier had learned to read following logistics and volunteer workers from the academy, and had also attended Zhao Hanzhang’s lectures. Hearing this, he disagreed: “This exposes all the city’s commoners to danger. The General once said that we defend the city to protect the commoners. If the city stands, the commoners stand. For the commoners’ survival, we can abandon the city, but we cannot disregard the commoners’ lives and deaths just to defend one city.”
Zhao Shen looked at him in surprise and asked: “What’s your name?”
The soldier said with a serious expression: “I am Feng Wei. Even if you punish me under military law, sir, I must still say this.”
“I’m not your general and have no authority to punish you under military law,” Zhao Shen said. “From what you’re saying, you’d rather give up an entire city to protect the commoners?”
The soldier nodded with a serious expression.
Zhao Shen then asked: “Then what about His Majesty and Zhao the Commandery Governor and the other ministers?”
The soldier was stunned. He actually didn’t care much about the young Emperor, because he wasn’t the young Emperor’s soldier—he was the General’s soldier. But he couldn’t ignore Zhao Ming.
That was the General’s uncle.
The soldier felt a headache coming on.
Zhao Shen then said: “For the sake of the realm, we can only employ this risky strategy. You say the Xun Family Army only has ten thousand men in the city, but I know there must be more than that. Xun Xiu can also be considered a famous general. That imperial palace villa is just an ordinary large mansion—how long can it hold out? Therefore, we must have enough manpower to execute a strategy of illusory troops.”
“The messengers for reinforcements have already left. At the latest, they’ll arrive by tomorrow morning, so no matter what, we must hold out until tomorrow.”
Feng Wei gritted his teeth and finally turned to leave.
Taking the men Zhao Shen gave him, he beat gongs through the streets and alleys, loudly recruiting commoners to serve as soldiers.
At first, everyone kept their doors tightly shut, but when they heard that Zhao Hanzhang’s uncle, Zhao the Commandery Governor, was also trapped in the villa, people began opening their doors and peering out.
Seeing the soldiers, a young man dressed in brown cloth couldn’t help but grit his teeth, went inside to fetch a long fork, and asked: “Are you Zhao Family Army?”
Feng Wei’s eyes brightened immediately, and he said: “Yes, look at my face. I often guard the East City Gate—do you recognize me?”
The man examined his face carefully and found he did look familiar, so he walked out the door with his fork, saying: “I’ll go with you.”
As soon as his voice fell, the neighbor next door also opened the door and peeked out. After pausing, he withdrew and closed the door, but soon came out carrying a hoe and silently followed along.
The doors in this alley opened one after another, and able-bodied men came out with whatever weapons they could find. Several households even sent out two able-bodied men. One young boy followed out with a fire poker but was pushed back by his older brother.
Then came women in their prime—after all, there weren’t actually that many able-bodied men in the city.
Feng Wei wanted to refuse when he saw them, but a thin, bitter-faced woman of about twenty-four or twenty-five calmly said: “The General is also a woman, and the General’s forces include female soldiers. What you men can do, we women can also do.”
Hearing this, Feng Wei no longer refused. He went through the streets and alleys, calling out all the commoners he could. Meanwhile, Zhao Shen had long since led his troops to the main street of the villa, encountering the Xun Family Army besieging the imperial villa, and the two sides engaged in fierce battle.
Just as Zhao Shen had predicted, this so-called imperial villa couldn’t be defended at all. Xun Xiu had already led men inside.
This was originally just an ordinary large mansion belonging to a local wealthy clan in Meng County. To command the front-line war operations, Zhao Ming and the young Emperor had fallen back to this location, and the owner immediately vacated the mansion for them to reside in.
Because it was the Emperor’s residence, it was given the grand name “imperial palace villa,” but in reality, the surrounding walls were less than two meters high, and aside from the main gate, all the other side gates could be kicked down with one foot.
Therefore, when Xun Xiu suddenly launched his attack, this mansion couldn’t withstand his assault at all.
Oh, and the ten thousand Zhao Family Army troops in the city weren’t all at the villa—of course not, how could this mansion possibly hold so many people?
Inside the mansion, patrolling soldiers and officers numbered less than a thousand, but the surrounding mansions had all been requisitioned by Zhao Ming, with Zhao Family Army camps stationed all around, so reinforcements came quickly. But in the end, they still couldn’t withstand Xun Xiu’s attack.
After all, the Zhao Family Army had also divided forces to guard the city gates and other important locations. Xun Xiu must have secretly smuggled troops in.
At this moment, Zhao Ming stood in the great hall holding his sword, with the trembling, pale-faced young Emperor behind him. The court ministers could barely maintain their composure, though their faces were also somewhat pale.
The front gate was tightly closed, and outside, three teams of soldiers were struggling to prevent Xun Xiu from breaking in.
Hearing the sounds of battle drawing closer, with arrows occasionally shooting through the doorway into the hall, the soldiers inside immediately raised their shields and formed a barrier, blocking the incoming arrows.
One stray arrow shot in from above the door frame, heading straight for where the young Emperor sat. The guard beside the young Emperor swung his blade and struck it down.
This arrow had lost some force after piercing through the door frame and was easily deflected, but it still startled the young Emperor. His legs went weak, and seeing the broken arrow at his feet, the ten-year-old couldn’t help but cry out.
Zhao Ming glanced back at him, emotions churning in his eyes. Just a moment ago, a thought had flashed through his mind: if Xun Xiu broke through, he could lead the young Emperor and the Prince of Yuzhang to die for the country, and all of Xun Xiu’s schemes would come to nothing.
If he wanted to learn from Zhao Hanzhang and control the court by holding the Emperor, then without the Emperor, what would he use to resist Zhao Hanzhang?
As long as Hanzhang returned, she could rally the Zhao Family Army with a single call and attack him. The realm would quickly be pacified.
But if the Emperor fell into his hands, Xun Xiu might truly be able to use the Emperor to oppose Hanzhang, and the realm would descend into great chaos again.
However, such thoughts contradicted everything he had always stood for. Zhao Ming’s heart was in turmoil. He must have been bewitched by Zhao Hanzhang—how could he harbor such treasonous thoughts?