A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

"My lord, now is not the time to turn against each other."

Seeing Zhang Huai's angry face, Huang Ce quickly tried to calm him down.

"They still have value now, so we can take our time and use this war to annex the power of the various military governors."

"But we must not be too hasty. If we force them to side with the court, or let them band together for mutual support, it will be the worst outcome for us."

Zhang Huai snorted coldly and said nothing more.

"I'll go check on the wounded, take stock of the losses, and leave the task of rearranging the defenses to you, sir."

"Rest assured, my lord, leave everything to me."

Huang Ce watched Zhang Huai leave, and as he turned around, his gaze inadvertently swept over the tents of the other eight military governors, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

These eight military governors have already met their demise.

I originally intended to keep them around for a while, but now it seems I need to act quickly.

The next day, when the nine military governors sat down again to discuss the siege, the other eight military governors looked at Zhang Huai with some embarrassment.

They also knew that what happened yesterday could not be hidden at all.

Zhang Huai must now know that they have been holding things back.

Not long ago, they swore an oath by killing a white horse in Yunzhou, vowing to fight against the Tang Dynasty together.

The Tang Dynasty hasn't even been destroyed yet, and they're already plotting their own schemes. Everyone looks embarrassed.

Zhang Huai seemed oblivious to everything. "According to the intelligence I've received, the imperial army is less than 12 days away from Fanyang City."

"If we cannot capture Fanyang City within ten days, we may be able to receive reinforcements from the imperial court from Geshu Han and others."

"So, gentlemen, it's time to fight to the death."

"If we can capture Fanyang City within ten days, we will survive."

"If we can't take Fanyang City within ten days, we'll die."

There is no third option.

"Gentlemen, we are all in the same boat now. We share the same fate, and we share the same fate."

"Ordinary soldiers might receive a pardon from the court afterward, and although they would be severely punished, they would not die."

"But as the instigators of this rebellion, the only sentence the court would give us is to execute our entire family."

"Everyone, we have nowhere to retreat."

"Today, during this siege, I expect everyone to give their all, holding nothing back!"

After receiving news of the imperial reinforcements from Zhang Huai, the faces of these military governors darkened visibly.

With Geshu Han guarding Fanyang City, can they take it within 10 days?

Gan!

What incredibly stupid thing did they do yesterday?!

They actually let Goshuhan escape!

What's the difference between this and letting them escape their last chance to live?

These governors now despise their former selves, and if they could, they would even want to sever all ties with their past selves.

It's a pity that it's hard to distance oneself from it.

Even after handing over all their military power, the generals were still unwilling.

This is the inherent weakness of human nature: even when death is imminent, they will never regret it until the very moment of death.

No, even at the moment of death, they will not regret it. It's not that they regret it, but that they know they are going to die.

With the threat of reinforcements from the imperial court, Zhang Huai managed to extract nearly 300,000 elite troops from these military governors.

To prevent a repeat of the command and control breakdown that occurred last night, Zhang Huai forcefully filled the 30-strong army with a large number of key personnel from the Yunzhou Army as his command nodes.

The other eight feudal lords were in the wrong and had no choice but to reluctantly admit their mistake.

Taking advantage of this opportunity to attack the city, Zhang Huai continued to expand his control over the army.

He used to be secretive, but now he's not even pretending anymore; it's obvious he wants to control the army.

Anyway, the other eight feudal lords all saw through his intentions, but now the knife is hanging over their necks, and it will fall in 12 days. If he takes their power, they can still live, but if the knife falls, they will really die.

Furthermore, the eight warlords were in the wrong, and Zhang Huai held the moral high ground as the leader of the alliance, and everything he did was in accordance with propriety and law.

The other eight military governors could only swallow their anger and resentment.

They now only hope that Zhang Huai will return their army to them after capturing Fanyang, even if it is just an unrealistic fantasy.

Alternatively, after Zhang Huai captures Luoyang, they can use these troops to gain a share in the new dynasty and seize some of the interests belonging to the new dynasty.

Although the night raid failed, it did have some impact on the Tang army, but as the defending side, the impact was not too great.

On this day, the rebel coalition left behind even more corpses, but there was no trace of joy on Goshuhan's face.

He saw in these rebels that the rebels, who were originally fighting independently, were gradually being united into one force.

Necessary sacrifices are inevitable in this process.

Moreover, these necessary sacrifices will encourage more soldiers to move towards safer directions.

The safest direction is naturally Zhang Huai's command; whoever follows Zhang Huai's command will have a higher survival rate.

In order to survive, these people would naturally follow Zhang Huai's command and achieve Zhang Huai's goal of unifying the army.

Once Zhang Huai has integrated the entire rebel army, they will be the ones in danger.

Geshu Han now only hopes that the imperial reinforcements can arrive before Zhang Huai completes the integration. Otherwise, once Fanyang is lost, the entire area north of Luoyang will be undefended, and the rebels can advance unimpeded, reach Hulao Pass, and threaten Luoyang.

Logically speaking, Luoyang, as the capital, should have more than one line of defense, but unfortunately, those who are rebelling now are the people in charge of those lines of defense set up by Luoyang.

If it weren't for the rebellion led by An Lushan, the military governor of Fanyang, and Shi Siming, the military governor of Pinglu, which gave them the opportunity to occupy the two important military towns of Fanyang and Pinglu, the rebel army would probably have already marched all the way to Hulao Pass.

Even if the rebels fail to breach Hulao Pass, their advance will still cause a stir throughout the land.

When that time comes, the people will be in turmoil, and under the schemes of ambitious individuals, rebellions will break out all over the country.

If rebellions break out everywhere under heaven, then the Tang Dynasty will truly be finished.

Zhang Huai used an open strategy; he was using the attack on the city as a pretext to train his troops and unify his forces.

It was impossible for Geshu Han to abandon his defense and hand over Fanyang just to prevent Zhang Huai from controlling the army.

Isn't this just plain stupid?

He could only take advantage of Zhang Huai's opportunity to reorganize the army, increase casualties as much as possible, weaken Zhang Huai's future strength, and allow himself to hold out until reinforcements arrived.