Late Ming Dynasty: Summoning players from Liaodong to support the Ming Dynasty

Another fifteen days have passed.

The revelry in the Later Jin camp eventually cooled into ashes with the passage of time.

Half a whole roasted lamb remained in the commander's tent, covered in a layer of solidified grease, and no one touched it anymore. The half-finished mare's milk wine had also gone bad, becoming sour and nauseating.

The initial clamor and laughter gradually turned into bored yawns and low complaints.

It's been a whole month.

Guangning City was deathly silent.

There were no cries of despair, no riots, and no defeated soldiers kneeling at the city walls begging for surrender. The city was like a giant stone coffin forgotten in a corner; even the sound of the wind blowing across the city walls carried a chilling aura of death.

"Your Highness."

A shrill voice broke the silence inside the tent, and Hu Yongqiang walked in from outside, his body hunched over. His face was paler and thinner than it had been half a month ago, and although his two small mustaches were neatly trimmed, they could not conceal the anxiety that ran deep in his bones.

Amin was idly trimming her nails with a small knife, without even looking up.

"Get out! Can't you see I'm annoyed?"

Hu Yongqiang's knees buckled, and he almost knelt down, but he still gritted his teeth and took a step forward.

"Your Highness, this Guangning City... is too quiet."

"Nonsense!" Amin slammed the knife into the wooden table in front of her with a "clang." "People are starving to death, of course it's going to be quiet! What do you want to hear? Their wailing and howling?"

"No...no." Hu Yongqiang swallowed hard, organizing his thoughts. "Your Highness, according to common sense, when a city runs out of food, internal strife will inevitably break out. Even if Chu Ze can suppress it, those starving people will storm the city gates. Even if they don't dare, some will always sneak out to surrender in exchange for food. But now...there's not a single person, not a single sound. This doesn't make sense!"

Amin stopped moving.

Hu Yongqiang's words were like a thorn, piercing into his mind, which was filled with alcohol and arrogance.

Yes.

It's too quiet.

It was so quiet that it didn't seem like a city where people were starving to death; it was more like a real ghost town.

"What do you want to say?" Amin slowly raised her head, her small eyes narrowing and revealing a dangerous glint.

"This servant...this servant dares to be so bold." Hu Yongqiang lowered his head even further, "The longer we wait, the more things may go wrong. Please, Your Highness, make a decision quickly and attack the city immediately! Otherwise...otherwise, that Chu Ze might try some tricks!"

"Fancy tricks?" Amin seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world. He suddenly stood up and kicked Hu Yongqiang in the chest, sending him rolling twice on the ground.

"What tricks can he possibly pull? A bunch of starving dogs, eating mud, can't possibly fly out of the ground!"

"Are you trying to teach me how to do things?"

Amin's roar echoed in the tent. Hu Yongqiang lay on the ground, repeatedly apologizing, not daring to say another word.

Amin was still furious and paced back and forth in the tent, the tiger-skin carpet under his feet creaking loudly.

Even so, that uneasy feeling grew wildly in his heart, like a poisonous mushroom sprouting in a damp corner.

He walked to the tent entrance and yanked open the heavy curtain.

The scene at the camp made him even more agitated.

The Eight Banner warriors who had previously been lounging in small groups, boasting and joking, were now silent. They no longer gambled or drank; instead, they sat in front of their tents, polishing their weapons, and gazing at the distant, silent city with a mixture of doubt and unease.

The whispers were kept low, yet they crept into his ears like mosquitoes.

"It's been over a month, why is there still no sign of anything?"

"Could it be... that Chu Ze really escaped through the tunnels with his men, leaving us with an empty city?"

"Don't talk nonsense! We've completely surrounded Guangning City, and the Prince's messenger hawk is watching over it. The people in the city are just waiting to die!"

"But this is too creepy, like walking into a mass grave."

These whispers were causing the morale of the troops to slowly slide from the initial relaxed celebrations into another, eerie direction.

Amin felt like she was punching the air, putting all her strength into it, but only hitting nothing.

Like a seasoned hunter, he set a perfect trap, waiting for his prey to let out its final scream. But the prey in the trap melted away silently before his very eyes, leaving not a single bone behind.

This feeling was even more unbearable for him than actually losing a battle.

Hu Yongqiang got up again at some point and followed him closely like a dog, not daring to say a word.

Amin suddenly stopped and turned around to stare intently at him.

"Are the messages from your spies and that eagle all true?"

Hu Yongqiang trembled and immediately swore an oath: "Your Highness, please understand! Even if I had the greatest courage in the world, I would never dare to deceive you on such a matter! The intelligence you sent was obtained by our men in the city at the cost of their lives!"

Amin didn't say anything more.

He believed that Hu Yongqiang wouldn't dare to lie to him.

But he trusts his intuition more.

He felt as if he were playing a game with a ghost, an invisible and intangible ghost that was constantly mocking him.

Chu Ze...

The name lingered in his mouth, taking on a rusty, metallic flavor.

He often thought of the intelligence he had trampled underfoot—"Chu Ze himself is also becoming increasingly insane, often sitting alone on the city wall until dawn."

He understands that feeling a little better now.

The feeling of being tormented by boundless silence and the unknown can indeed drive a normal person insane.

No.

Can't wait any longer.

If we wait any longer, it won't be Chu Ze in the city who goes mad, but Aisin Gioro Amin outside the city!

He suddenly turned around and strode back to the command tent, with Hu Yongqiang quickly following.

Amin stopped in front of the table and grabbed the curved knife hanging on the shelf.

"Prepare the horses!"

His roar pierced through the tent and carried outside.

The guards were stunned for a moment, then hurriedly ran to fetch his warhorse.

Hu Yongqiang panicked completely. He rushed forward and grabbed Amin's leg.

"Your Highness! Where are you going? You mustn't act rashly!"

Amin kicked him away, a near-neurotic ferocity appearing on her face.

He strode out of the tent, mounted the black warhorse brought by his guards, and the horse pawed restlessly and snorted.

Hu Yongqiang scrambled to the tent entrance, and looking at the menacing figure on horseback, he asked in a trembling voice:

"Your Highness! You..."

Amin didn't turn around, but simply pointed the riding whip in her hand at the distant outline of the city, which looked increasingly sinister in the twilight.

"I'm going to go down to the city walls myself and see for myself!"

His voice, distorted and deformed in the cold evening wind, carried a hysterical madness.

"Look at that Chu Ze, what kind of tricks is he playing!"