?

  Yuwen Yong returned at dusk, his heart heavy with thoughts, pacing back and forth with his hands clasped behind him.

  After a while, he finally sat down and ordered Zhang Qi: "Qi, play a piece of music for me." In the blink of an eye, he said again: "Just hum a tune instead."

  Zhang Qi responded with a soft hum and began to sing softly.

  She sang a popular song in South Chen, "Swallows Return", with a gentle melody, as soft as the spring breeze.

  In Yuwen Yong's humming voice, Yuwen Yong slowly calmed down.

  Zhang Yi walked to one side, holding up the cooked wine and came to his side. She knelt down in front of him, pouring wine for him while softly saying: "Your Majesty, what troubles you?"

  She wasn't asking a question, just casually saying something to help Yuwen Yong relieve his pressure through talking.

  Yuwen Yong closed his eyes.

  Zhang Qi walked up behind him and began to massage his brow on her own initiative.

  Zhang Yi's thoughtfulness was what Yuwen Yong liked most. Among the Xianbei women he had seen, almost none could achieve this level of tact and understanding, knowing both her husband's intentions and when to advance or retreat.

  So many times, he allowed her freedom.

  Of course, Zhang Gui deeply understood that no matter how free she was, her every move was under the scrutiny of Yuwen Yong and Yuwen Hu, as well as the group of ministers. If she didn't make any unusual moves, it would be fine, but even if she saw more people or said something, someone would specially record it in a case.

  With his eyes closed, Yuwen Yong slowly said after a while: "The Turkic forces are strong... Today they just tried to attack the city, our soldiers have casualties of over a hundred, but they have less than a few people killed and injured. This is still our side occupying the geographical advantage. I don't know, if we really deploy troops for battle..."

  Upon hearing this, Zhang Gui couldn't help but think: Why didn't you listen to Gao Changgong's plan? First, create discord between Rouran and Tujue, then find ways to deal with them one by one.

  However, she didn't say anything. With Yuwen Hu's arrogance, he was not aware of his own shortcomings and saw Gao Changgong's 50,000 cavalry as quite brave, without caring where the other party came from, only wanting to bring them under his command to direct together. If Yuwen Yong hadn't spoken up, Gao Changgong would have fought alone. It's likely that there would have been another big dispute.

  Just as Zhang Qi was thinking this way, Yuwen Yong suddenly said: "Ah Qi, you're not bad, you're very clever!"

  Zhang Qi looked up at him.

  Yuwen Yong slowly said: "Separate the Turks and Rouran. This point Gao Changgong can think of, you can also think of it with just a few words. However, it's useless, Yuwen Hu won't listen, I also can't strongly oppose him, I still can't..."

  At this point, Yuwen Yong didn't know what he was thinking of. He suddenly stood up and turned around to walk outside.

  Watching his back as he left, it wasn't until a while later that Zhang Qi let out a soft sigh.

  The next day, Zhang Gui didn't see Yuwen Yong until evening, when they briefly met. At this time, Yuwen Yong's face was gloomy. As a young man who had just ascended to the throne and had no experience in military affairs, he was somewhat overwhelmed by the situation. This, Zhang Gui could clearly sense.

  Yuwen Hu's troops were facing daily attacks from the Turks, which may or may not have been real. Meanwhile, in a nearby location, Gao Changgong's troops were receiving frequent reports of victories.

  "Report! The Qi people have appeared outside Diyi City and killed 5,000 Turks, with 200 casualties."

  "Report! The Qi people have appeared at Lake Nahanshe, annihilating over 3,000 Turkic people and suffering more than 100 casualties."

  "Report! The Qi people have appeared at the old Suzi River Castle and annihilated 6,000 Turks. Casualties are ninety!"

  ……

  One piece of good news after another arrived, but none dispelled the gloom on Zhou's face.

  At noon, Yuwen Yong returned to the mansion and slapped his palm on the table several times. He gritted his teeth and said angrily: "Less than twenty days. Fifty thousand Qi people killed eighteen thousand Turks, while we, with an army of six or seven hundred thousand, suffered nearly two hundred thousand casualties ourselves, but inflicted less than ten thousand casualties on the Turks! Good! Very good indeed!"

  Yuwen Yong's anger silenced the four directions. Gao Changgong is only twenty-one or two years old, yet he has such divine bravery; in a few more years, who will be able to resist him when he raises the great Zhou nation?

  In a silence that was hard to express, Zhang Gui felt that Yuwen Yong's gaze towards her had become even more complicated.

  Before I knew it, another half month has passed.

  Yuwen Yong, who had just walked off the battlefield, returned to his room and ordered Zhang Qi to play the guqin. As the melodious sound of the guqin filled the air, Yuwen Yong finally closed his eyes, which were already red from lack of sleep.

  The sound of the zither was like flowing water. Just as Zhang Ju thought Yuwen Yong had fallen asleep, she suddenly heard him say in a low voice: "I really wish I could kill that old scoundrel!"

  His voice was very low, yet more menacing than ever. It seemed that he had tolerated Yuwen Hu's stubbornness, which even the emperor himself did not dare to speak out against, to the extreme.

  Just as Zhang Qi lowered her head and the sound of the guqin became more fluent and melodious, a sudden, urgent and muffled drumbeat sounded from the city wall!

  "Bang! — Bang!" "Bang! — Bang!" "Bang! — Bang!"

  Upon hearing the drumbeat, Yuwen Yong suddenly sat up and shouted in a hoarse voice: "Quickly, help me put on my pants!"

  Zhang Qi hastily stepped forward, and as she helped Yuwen Yong put on his clothes, a flurry of panicked footsteps came from outside, followed by the sound of a minister shouting: "Your Majesty, something's gone terribly wrong! The Tujue tribe suddenly added 30,000 troops last night and is now attacking the city with all its might!"

  Listening to the loud rumbling outside, the minister exclaimed: "Their catapults are extremely powerful, and our casualties are severe!"

  Yuwen Yong suddenly pushed Zhang Qi away and strode out in big steps.

  He walked for a whole day and night, while the Turks also attacked for a whole day and night.

  In the Turkic people's case, they were not good at attacking cities and did not like to attack cities. However, this time, they somehow managed to get a powerful catapult, which shook the city of Wuwei every time it was launched. Listening to the dull thud of the city wall, Zhang Gui had an illusion that the city would be breached at any moment.

  It's not just her who has this feeling.

  After all, Wuwei City has been besieged for more than three months, and the city wall has been damaged four or five tenths. If it is attacked with full force again, no one knows how long it can withstand.

  What's even more frightening is that, according to the scouts' reports, there are still Turks pouring towards Wuwei City like a flood! They seem to have mobilized all their small tribes for this battle.

  It seems that these Tujue Rouran people have made up their minds this time, and they must capture Wuwei City in order to gallop freely in the vast territory of Zhou.

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  "Report: The main force of the Turks has gathered at the two city gates northwest of Wuwei. The north gate has been destroyed by seven or eight tenths, and Zhou Zhuo urgently requests that the king send troops to support!"

  "Alright, go ahead."

  "Yes."

  Na Zigu retreated. The crowd of officials and officers all stared at Langling Wang, waiting for his decision.

  "In the silence, the young literary attendant slowly said: 'Your Highness, Fang thinks that it would be better for us to drag this out for a few more days.'"

  In the face of the gaze of the crowd, he grinned with his snow-white teeth, like a wolf, and said: "Only when the Zhou people are desperate can we rescue them, can our merits be revealed, and the Duke can also rely on this battle to shake the world!"

  He shook his head and was about to say something else, but Langling Wang raised his hand.

  With a wave of his hand, the surroundings fell silent once more, and all eyes were fixed on him.

  With his eyes fixed on the map, Prince Langling, still wearing a mask, showed no expression. "Prepare immediately, depart at once!"

  "But, Your Highness!" The scholar seemed somewhat anxious.

  The King of Lanling turned his head and glanced at him, smiling faintly, saying: "Why the hurry, young master Fang?" He drew a stroke with his right hand. Solemnly he said: "I didn't say I must go to Wuwei City and guard Laoshizi City together with that old scoundrel Yuwen Hu!"

  The eyes of all the generals lit up at once. The King of Lanling had already swung his black robe and strode out in big steps.

  The city of Wuwei is getting harder and harder every day!

  The Turks' dozens of catapults, day and night, threw giant rocks at the city wall. Yuwen Yong's 200,000 elite troops from home, although each was brave, but they didn't have the courage to rush out of the gate and fight the Turks one-on-one in the vast outside world.

  Within the city walls, Yuwen Hu was still boasting, "What if the Turks broke into the city? I have 200,000 elite soldiers in Wuwei County alone. We can drag them to death!" He completely disregarded the great harm that would be caused to the people of Wuwei if the Turks were to attack and plunder the city.

  Who can stop the Turks from rushing and looting on flat land, leaving no grass growing wherever they go?

  Yuwen Yong, who had not forgotten to pretend to be weak in front of Yuwen Hu, had secretly placed his hopes on Gao Changgong.

  At night, he looked at the vast land outside the city and said seriously to Zhang Gui: "In my opinion, only Gao Changgong dares to fight one-on-one with the Turks outside the city! He is a fine soldier and will surely win! I need a victory to restore the morale of the soldiers."

  Sometimes, he also felt that it was not quite right to place his hopes in an outsider. Most importantly, the outsider might not be willing to sacrifice his own life and brothers for the sake of the Zhou kingdom's mountains and rivers, and instead fill them into the hooves of the Turks. Therefore, he would carefully ask Zhang Qi about Gao Changgong's personality and character.

  In a dull and suffocating wait, Gao Changgong suddenly lost contact!

  He lost his voice!

  Although all the envoys have returned and said that Gao Changgong has agreed, but it's been a long time since we haven't seen those 50,000 black armored soldiers arrive!

  In the siege warfare between Zhou and Turks, casualties mounted day by day. As the morale of the Zhou army sank lower and lower, even to the point where soldiers wailed in sorrow at night, Yuwen Yong's face grew darker with each passing day.

  He was not as optimistic as Yuwen Hu. In his view, with the current morale of the Zhou army, once the city was broken, the most likely outcome would be a large-scale collapse and fleeing of soldiers!

  The strongest troops and the most powerful soldiers, those who are most familiar with this terrain, as long as the soldiers appear to flee in defeat, even if Sun Wu were reborn, he would be powerless to turn the tide!

  If he can't win once more, even a small victory to boost morale, he can already see the complete collapse of Zhou's forces!

  Anxious and annoyed, Yuwen Yong ordered Zhang Gui to play "Spring Breeze Melody" and "Carefree Journey" repeatedly, but it was all in vain.

  Yuwen Yong had never once felt like he did now, yearning for a life of solitude, and that person was even from the imperial family of an enemy nation!

  Just then, amidst this unspoken oppression and suffocation, a sudden burst of footsteps came!

  "Your Majesty—"

  Because of the messenger's voice being full of surprise, Yuwen Yong involuntarily stood up, and after a while he let his own voice calm down and asked, "What is it?"

  "Gao Zhang Gong has news!"

  "Speak!"

  "They have penetrated deep into the Turkic rear, and after beheading 8,000 troops who came to reinforce them, they will arrive in Wuwei at noon tomorrow, forming a pincer movement with us against the Turks!"

  "What?"

  Yuwen Yong's eyes lit up and he trembled with excitement, saying: "Immediately inform the generals and soldiers of this news!" This news was too timely, too timely!

  What a clever move by Gao Changgong, he has saved himself!

  ##

  This is a necessary setup and it's actually quite hard to write, everyone please be patient for another one or two chapters.