Chapter 1512: Chapter 1513: The Small Attic
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The Chilin Imperial Palace still has three hundred thousand soldiers. Not wanting both sides to fight and harm the innocent people of the Chilin Imperial City, upon seeing the civilians receive grain, Xiao Changyi ordered the arrangement for the civilians to leave the Imperial City.
Once the battle is over, arrangements will be made for these civilians to return.
The civilians were deeply moved. Before leaving the Imperial City, they all bowed to Xiao Changyi and his men, thanking them.
Before Qiao Shouye could say a word for these civilians, Xiao Changyi had already managed to handle everything cleanly and efficiently. Not a single civilian was harmed, and they were all properly accommodated. Qiao Shouye felt even more sure that his choice to lead Shuangli City’s people in surrendering was the right one, thus becoming even more loyal to Xiyun. He did not do it for himself; he only wished for the civilians to live well, and that was all.
After all the civilians in the Imperial City were sent away, Xiao Changyi did not immediately lead troops to attack the Chilin Imperial Palace.
The various secrets confessed by the person who was captured alive during the night reconnaissance now seemed all true; Xiao Changyi and his men no longer had any doubts.
However, because they had just conquered the four gates, everyone’s physical strength was greatly depleted. Even if they were to attack the Chilin Imperial Palace, they would at least need to wait for everyone to recuperate.
Moreover, Xiao Changyi had no intention of proactively attacking the Chilin Imperial Palace. His plan was to wait for the people inside the Chilin Imperial Palace to come out on their own. Otherwise, he would let them starve to death in the palace; after all, they had more supplies than the palace. They could afford to persist.
Previously, he was worried about the 1.3 million soldiers from Chilin moving out entirely, leading to an uncontrollable situation and possible defeat for their side. But now, one million of Chilin’s soldiers had been annihilated, leaving only three hundred thousand. Meanwhile, they had not lost many troops, so there was no need to attack the palace, only to wait for people from the palace to come out and then capture them like catching a turtle in a jar.
Xiao Changyi deployed fifty thousand soldiers who were originally stationed in the military camp to guard the Chilin Imperial City and patrol.
These fifty thousand soldiers did not participate in the battle of the city gates and still had abundant physical strength, making it suitable for them to guard the city and patrol now.
As for the other soldiers, Xiao Changyi arranged for them to properly recuperate.
However, because the palace was right in the center of the Imperial City and they were essentially surrounding the palace, to prevent sudden charges from the people inside, even during rest, everyone had to remain vigilant and ready to fight at any moment.
Inside the Imperial City, to the east, south, west, and north directions, as long as there were houses, they were basically occupied by Xiyun soldiers.
Even though they had taken the four gates, everyone, like Xiao Changyi, dared not be careless. No one dared to take off their clothes when sleeping, fearing the thirty thousand people from inside the palace would charge out and they wouldn’t have time to fight back.
An Jing and Xiao Changyi were staying at an inn closest to the palace. This inn had three floors, and above the third floor was a small attic where An Jing and Xiao Changyi resided.
In the small attic, there was a window open, and An Jing and Xiao Changyi always stood by the window, using a telescope to observe the palace.
Even though this inn was the closest to the palace, it was still quite far in reality, and with the palace walls being very high, An Jing and Xiao Changyi couldn’t actually see inside the palace, but they could observe the situation in front of the palace gate.
A thousand meters in front of the palace gate, some Xiyun soldiers were guarding there to prevent people from the palace from rushing out, allowing them to block them at the first opportunity.
In the blink of an eye, half a month passed, and the Xiyun army had long since recovered. Yet, no one from the Chilin Imperial Palace had come out.
On this day, Ye Zhi came to find An Jing.