I, the villainous eldest prince, will suppress everything!

"I say, does it really need to go through all this trouble, necessitating another day, for my nephew's wife's second uncle?"

"This Huozhou city is not as well-fortified as Fengcheng. I can take it in less than half a day, just two hours!"

Outside Huozhou City, Wang Bao, riding on horseback, reached out and rubbed the back of his neck.

He looked at Pei Yunhe, who had just returned from Huozhou City, with a puzzled expression, and said...

When Pei Yunhe returned, he brought him news that was neither good nor bad.

Pei Yunhe said he entered the city as an envoy, asking him and his Liangzhou cavalry to postpone their attack by one day.

They also assured him that this time, they could take over Huozhou City without losing a single soldier.

"My lord, please calm down."

Pei Yunhe cupped his hands and said:

"It's only for one day, it won't be long."

"If Huozhou City does not surrender after one day, it will not be too late for the Marquis to lead his army to attack the city!"

To everyone's surprise, Wang Bao completely ignored the explanation, waved his hand, and said:

"Every day counts. If we delay the attack on the city, my nephew will be in control of Jiangnan for a day longer."

"If he blames you then, can you afford to suffer the consequences? You know my nephew's temper."

After saying this, Wang Bao ordered his army to attack the city, determined to capture Huozhou City within two hours.

After conquering this city, he still has several more to conquer. There are many unruly families in Jiangnan, so he can't waste too much time in Huozhou City.

Seeing that Wang Bao was about to order a forced attack on the city without listening to his explanation, Pei Yunhe quickly stretched out his arms and used his body to block Wang Bao's warhorse.

"My lord, please wait."

Wang Bao reined in his horse and glared at Pei Yunhe: "Second Uncle, what are you doing? Didn't you hear what I just said? If my nephew blames you later, can you afford to suffer the consequences? You'd better not."

Wang Bao didn't want to say anything unpleasant.

Of the six great families in Jiangnan, only the Pei family survived.

Qin Li not only intends to marry Pei Qingluan of the Pei family as his crown princess, but also plans to heavily rely on the Pei family in the future.

Pei Yunhe not only didn't know how to be grateful, but he even tried to stop him from attacking Huozhou City. He really didn't appreciate the good offer.

Pei Yunhe stood his ground, saying, "My lord, if you forcibly attack Huozhou City, His Highness the Crown Prince will blame you."

Wang Bao, on horseback, frowned: "What do you mean? Explain yourself clearly."

Pei Yunhe explained, "Along the way, several wealthy cities in Jiangnan have been destroyed by your horse, my lord. At best, you breached the city walls and killed people; at worst, you massacred entire cities. We can't continue like this."

"If things continue like this, what kind of Jiangnan will His Highness the Crown Prince ultimately obtain? You, Marquis, know better than I do what use such a Jiangnan would be."

"We have already achieved our goal of intimidation by massacring several cities. We should stop massacring cities and instead make them open the city gates and surrender. We should take Jiangnan at the lowest possible cost."

"If you continue slaughtering like this, won't His Highness the Crown Prince blame you? And if His Highness does blame you, Marquis, can you bear the consequences?"

A few words left Wang Bao speechless; he opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word for a long time.

Although he knew in his heart that Pei Yunhe was right, Wang Bao was still unconvinced.

With a flick of his whip, Wang Bao said viciously, "Fine, I'll give you one day. If Huozhou City doesn't open its gates and surrender after one day, I will immediately lead my army to attack the city, and you won't be able to escape then."

"Yes."

Pei Yunhe bowed and accepted the order.

Wang Bao snorted coldly, turned his horse around, and left.

……

Sunset.

Central command tent.

Wang Bao sat sprawled in a chair, holding a bowl of wine in his hand, listening to a report from his personal guard.

The guards said that Huozhou City had no intention of surrendering. At present, the city gates are still tightly closed, showing no sign of opening. On the contrary, the number of soldiers on the city walls is increasing, and they are on high alert.

After listening, Wang Bao gently swirled the wine in his bowl and said:

"I knew Huozhou wouldn't surrender easily. My eldest nephew killed the Third Prince and the Emperor's wife. Both mother and son are from the Dong family of Huozhou, so how could Huozhou possibly surrender?"

"If I were a member of the Dong family, I wouldn't surrender either. I'd rather die fighting, taking a few people down with me."

The guard, exasperated, scratched his forehead. "My lord, are you referring to us as the scapegoats?"

With the Crown Prince far away at Yellow Crane Tower, the Dong family couldn't possibly use him as a scapegoat; only those of them who worked for the Crown Prince could be used as scapegoats.

"Get lost!"

Wang Bao cursed, "You're just saying things I don't like to hear."

The guard scratched the back of his head sheepishly, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and turned to leave the central command tent.

"Wait a moment!"

Wang Bao called him back in time.

The guard turned around and asked, puzzled, "My lord, is there anything else you require?"

Wang Bao tilted his head back, downed the wine in his bowl in one gulp, wiped his mouth, and said, "Go, find two people to keep an eye on that guy surnamed Pei."

"He made us waste a whole day. Afterwards, I will settle the score with him properly."

"yes!"

After the guards left the tent, they dared not disobey Wang Bao's orders.

He personally led two people to watch over Pei Yunhe to prevent him from escaping.

"Dad, what's going on here? Why are these people looking at us like we're criminals?"

Pei Jiu was terrified and stammered as he spoke to Pei Yunhe.

Pei Jiu was the ninth child in the Pei family and was the son of Pei Yunhe.

He was intelligent from a young age and skilled in both literature and martial arts, but he lacked experience and needed training.

This time, Pei Yunhe took him by his side, intending to hone his skills.

Upon hearing this, Pei Yunhe glanced at it but didn't take it to heart at all; his eyes were only on the city of Huozhou in front of him.

This time, they can no longer kill and massacre the city as before.

Otherwise, the people of Jiangnan would unite to resist the Crown Prince.

Even a rabbit will bite when provoked, let alone these powerful families rooted in Jiangnan.

The deterrent effect has been achieved, and it is now the most appropriate time to stop.

"Father, are you mistaken? Huozhou City doesn't look like it's about to surrender at all. On the contrary, there are more and more soldiers on the city walls," Pei Jiu said.

Pei Yunhe chuckled and said, "What's the rush? We can't draw any conclusions yet. We'll have to wait until tonight to see what happens."

"The Dong family doesn't want to surrender, but there are plenty of people who will force them to."

"Who?"

Pei Jiu asked curiously.

Pei Yunhe remained silent, simply placing his hands behind his back, turning back to the army formation, and quietly awaiting the arrival of night...

……

sunset.

The entire city of Huozhou was bathed in the orange glow of the setting sun.

The city was filled with a sense of tension and urgency before the great battle.

In the back alley of the Dong family mansion, several horse-drawn carriages were quietly parked.

Before long, several women with children peeked out from behind the doors.

Seeing that no one was in the back alley, they waved to the children to get on the carriage first.

However, before all the children could board the carriage, a series of orderly footsteps and the clanging of armor came from the alley entrance.

The women were terrified and tried to pull the children back into the mansion.

But it was too late. A squad of fully armed soldiers poured out of the mansion, led by Dong Jin!

They surrounded the woman and children in the back alley, putting them in a difficult position...