A family of loyal martyrs, starting with nine wives to continue the family line.

"not yet."

Liu Jingshuang handed her the letter.

"But it will be soon."

After Su Qingyun finished scanning, the corners of her mouth curved slightly.

She turned her head and looked at Liu Jingshuang.

"We can't play too conservatively."

Liu Jingshuang narrowed her phoenix eyes.

"What do you mean?"

Huo Qingluan raised her hand and pointed to the three gaps in the west side of the city wall that had not yet been fully repaired.

"At the very least, the main force, which the Barbarian King is stationed far away, should also participate in the battle!"

Su Qingyun stopped fiddling with the abacus.

Liu Jingshuang stared at Huo Qingluan without replying.

Huo Qingluan's voice was very soft, but it sent chills down the spines of the officers beside her.

"What if we lose the bombing?"

"Explain in detail."

Liu Jingshuang turned to Huo Qingluan, her phoenix eyes narrowed, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword.

Huo Qingluan took two steps from the edge of the battlements and, without saying a word, spoke directly.

"We wish we could chop Tuoba Ye up, and he knows it in his heart."

Her voice wasn't loud, but she chewed each word carefully before uttering it.

"Similarly, he hates the Wei family to the core."

"Batu died under Wei Zhao's spear, the throne was seized by Tuoba Yue, and his direct descendants were either dead or scattered. What does he have left now?"

Liu Jingshuang didn't reply, and waited.

"There was nothing left, so he became even more irrational."

Huo Qingluan paused for a moment.

"If we use Jiangnan City as bait today—and defeat it by bombing, we can voluntarily abandon the outer city walls and retreat the entire army to defend the main city."

She raised her hand and pointed to the three gaps on the west side that were not yet fully repaired.

"What if he rushes in?"

Liu Jingshuang clenched her fists.

you still need to ask?

If Tuoba Ye, that mad dog, saw the Wei family army abandoning the wall and retreating, even if the barbarian king Tuowuhu tied him up with a rope, he would bite through the rope and rush in.

"Definitely."

Liu Jingshuang spoke slowly and deliberately, her voice as cold as the wind blowing from the city wall.

He charged forward recklessly; he couldn't stop himself.

Huo Qingluan nodded.

"But Tuoba Ye is not the key."

Liu Jingshuang's eyelids twitched.

Huo Qingluan moved her hand away from the three gaps and pointed into the distance, towards the camp of the main force of the Southern Barbarians.

The endless array of animal banners pressed densely against the horizon, forming a black line that seemed to merge with the sky.

"The key is over there."

Her tone grew slower and slower, as if she were weighing each word carefully before letting it out.

"If we just watch as Tuoba Ye breaks through the city first, ransacks all the granaries, salt warehouses, and banks in Jiangnan City, and then packs his bags and runs back to Xiqiang with the money and grain—"

"What do you think the Barbarian King will think?"

The image of Tuwuhu flashed through Liu Jingshuang's mind.

With over 400,000 troops pressing down, a defeated general from the Western Qiang was the first to break through the city, grab the spoils, and escape.

She shook her head, her voice flat, as if stating a fact that had long been established.

"impossible."

Huo Qingluan continued:

"Regardless of the relationship between Tuoba Hu and Tuoba Ye, even if he believes that Tuoba Ye will not hold back, he will never let this opportunity pass him by."

She tapped the city brick lightly with her finger.

"The city has fallen, the defending army is collapsing, and if his main force is still holed up outside at this time—"

"He must be out of his mind to do that."

Liu Jingshuang took over those words.

At that moment, she understood.

Before Huo Qingluan could finish speaking, the battlefield map in her mind had already unfolded on its own.

Once the main force moves, the formation will be stretched out. With over 400,000 men pressing from the camp towards the city, the rear will definitely be empty.

Meanwhile, Wei Zhao, leading 100,000 cavalrymen and rattan armor crossbows, was circling around the southern barbarians from the rear.

In front lies Jiangnan City, and behind are Wei Zhao's iron cavalry.

The main force of the Southern Barbarians was caught in the middle, like dumpling filling squeezed shut by two pieces of dough.

"So we'll fight our way out from the main urban area again."

Liu Jingshuang slowly loosened her hand from the hilt of the knife, her voice deepening and carrying an indescribable strength.

"A pincer attack from both sides, victory is assured."

Huo Qingluan nodded slightly.

The two words came out of her mouth without any emotional fluctuation, but Liu Jingshuang knew that Huo Qingluan never spoke without being sure of her words.

She was confident of victory; she had already mentally rehearsed that battle formation countless times.

Su Qingyun stood to the side, her hands that had been working on the abacus long ago had stopped, and now she stuffed the bill into her sleeve.

"That girl, Wanqing."

She said it casually, a smile playing on her lips.

"After holding it in for so long, it turns out it was something big."

Liu Jingshuang didn't respond to that, and her gaze returned to the outside of the city.

Tuoba Ye held his scimitar horizontally at his side, his gray-maned warhorse trotting on the ground, not far from the city wall.

She knew that face too well. After Xiaoyue was injured, she etched that face into her memory, just so that one day she could recognize it.

She swallowed her anger.

No rush, let's get the main force of the Turkic Tigers moving first, then we'll talk.

"Dealing with the Southern Barbarians is different from dealing with the Western Qiang."

Liu Jingshuang turned her head, her voice turning cold.

Huo Qingluan looked at her and waited for her to finish speaking.

"Xiaoyue is still in Xiqiang."

Liu Jingshuang gently tapped her fingers on the city brick, the skin on her knuckles turning white from the pressure.

"She is the new queen of the Western Qiang. With her in charge of the royal court, the tribes are appeased and the rear is stabilized. She is our support and the link between the Western Qiang and the Great Wei."

She paused here, glancing towards the southern barbarian camps outside the city before looking away.

"But those barbarians from the south—"

She paused, her voice completely flat.

"Kill as many as they come."

Huo Qingluan's lips twitched slightly.

She didn't laugh, but that one word told Liu Jingshuang that she understood.

The Western Qiang can be reorganized. With Tuoba Yue as a link, those 200,000 surrendered soldiers can become the garrison force of the western border in the future.

But the Southern Barbarians were different. Without an inside accomplice and with no way out, their king, Tuowuhu, would not surrender, and Tuoba Ye was even less likely to defect.

There is no draw in this game; only defeat.

Either the Southern Barbarians will die here, or the Wei family army will die here.

There are only these two options.

The wind was strong on the city wall, and the cloaks of several captains were flapping loudly, but no one spoke.

Zhao Yuezhi stood behind the battlements, the handkerchief in his hand crumpled into a ball at some point, his knuckles already white.

He didn't say a word the entire time.

It's not that there's no chance to insert it—it's that it can't be inserted.

The two women talked at a pace like a battle, one sentence after another, without any nonsense or pauses, and every word carried weight.

He was about to speak when the next sentence cut him off.

Zhao Yuezhi spent half his life in officialdom, guarding Jiangnan for more than a decade, providing disaster relief, suppressing bandits, and dealing with peasant uprisings.

He thought he had seen it all.

But now, standing atop the city wall, with the schemes of the two women in his ears, the string in his heart slowly, gradually loosened.

He made the right decision to relinquish power.

The women of the Wei family are truly ruthless!

The two women immediately started discussing how to wipe out the more than 400,000-strong Southern Barbarian army.

His biggest goal was to defend Jiangnan City.

Protect the people from being burned, killed, and plundered.

The two women immediately started discussing how to wipe out the Southern Barbarians!