Chapter 654

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September 16th.

After five days of marching, the Prince of Huainan and Cui Shang’an led 100,000 Huainan army soldiers to arrive and set up camp under Yingzhou.

After three days of preparation, Cui Shang’an ordered the artillery to bombard Yingzhou City, and Yingzhou City immediately fell into chaos.

“Cannons! Again, cannons! How could the Prince of Huainan have cannons? This must be Xiao Ming’s doing, it must be him!”

In the temporary princely mansion, Prince Yan was furious. The reason he was so confident in Yingzhou City was that it had sixty cannons installed, a portion of the cannons he had purchased from Qingzhou.

It was precisely because he was confident in the defensive power of these cannons that he had disdained the Prince of Huainan, believing that his cannons would surely defeat the Prince of Huainan’s army disastrously.

But now, everything was beyond his expectations. The Prince of Huainan not only had cannons, but their range far exceeded that of Yingzhou City’s cannons.

Now Yingzhou City could only suffer the bombardment of the Prince of Huainan’s cannons in vain, and he could not return fire with his own cannons, which immediately made him furious.

It was then that he realized he had been deceived by Xiao Ming. From beginning to end, Xiao Ming had not sold them true cannons.

“Imperial Father, if this continues, our city walls will collapse,” Cui Cheng’s voice was strained.

One hundred thousand men besieged the city. The densely packed soldiers surrounded Yingzhou City completely. Now they couldn’t fight and couldn’t escape.

“What if it collapses? Are my soldiers born from city walls?” Prince Yan suddenly drew his saber. “This time, I will personally lead the army to fight the Prince of Huainan to the death!”

With that, Prince Yan strode towards the South City, which was the focus of the Prince of Huainan’s attack.

Cui Cheng and Cui Hao did not follow the King of Chu this time. Cui Cheng looked at Cui Hao and said, “Now that the powerful families in the city have turned rebellious, they will absolutely not wholeheartedly resist the Prince of Huainan with us. And Imperial Father refuses to heed advice and submit to Xiao Ming. What should we do now?”

Cui Hao’s face was filled with despair. He said, “I lingered in Qingzhou for over a month, and from what I saw and heard, I had already anticipated that the allied forces of the three princes might collapse. But I never imagined such a complete collapse. Now, Xiao Ming’s power is immense, and Yan will surely bear the brunt.”

“What’s the use of mentioning this now? I only ask if Xiao Ming told you, when you were in Qingzhou, how he would spare Yan,” Cui Cheng asked urgently.

“When this foolish brother was about to leave, Xiao Ming did indeed have Pang Yukun tell me that unless Prince Yan came to beg for forgiveness, actively renouncing his princely title and state, he would not spare Yan,” Cui Hao said.

Cui Cheng fell silent upon hearing this. In his opinion, this was absolutely impossible. He sighed deeply, drew his saber, and pursued Prince Yan.

Seeing Cui Cheng leave, Cui Hao turned and walked in the opposite direction. When Xiao Ming ascended the throne, he had already seen that the allied forces of the three princes would probably achieve nothing.

Pang Yukun had indeed said such words to him, but he had also mentioned that if he were willing to lend a hand, he would be guaranteed wealth and glory in the future.

He was merely the second son of Prince Yan. For him, the land of this state would never be his anyway. In this situation, he was more worried about his own life than about the fate of Yan.

Leaving the temporary princely mansion, Cui Hao walked straight into an alley. He knocked six times on the door of a residence, and then the door opened.

In the courtyard, some powerful families had already gathered. These powerful families were all against Prince Yan continuing to fight the Prince of Huainan. After all, the outcome was already decided, and not everyone was willing to die with Prince Yan.

“Your Highness, when will you raise the army?” a powerful family head asked.

“Imperial Father has already ascended the city walls. We just need to wait for the Prince of Huainan’s cannons to collapse the city walls. At that point, the city will surely fall into chaos, and that will be our time to raise the army.” Cui Hao’s eyes flickered.

He thought to himself: ‘Imperial Father, you treated me unkindly, so do not blame my disloyalty. Eldest Brother enjoyed all the prosperity in Yan, but you sent me to Qingzhou to suffer.’

The powerful families all nodded, simply waiting for the city to fall as their signal.

Outside the city, fifty cannons continuously bombarded the South Gate. The fragile south city wall continuously developed deep craters under the cannon fire. These craters expanded, until with a “boom,” the entire city gate collapsed.

“Imperial Father, the city wall has fallen!” Cui Shang’an said with delight. He immediately prepared to lead his troops into the city.

“Wait! Not yet.” The Prince of Huainan looked at the collapsed city gate on the east side of the main entrance, then looked to the west side. At this moment, the cannons on the west city gate were still intact. He said, “Now, concentrate the artillery fire on the west city wall. Once the city wall collapses, immediately attack the city.”

Cui Shang’an then looked at the west side of the city and realized something. He said, “The cannons His Imperial Majesty gave us are truly formidable. Prince Yan’s cannons can’t even hit us, while we keep hitting them.”

The Prince of Huainan’s expression was grim. He said, “This is His Imperial Majesty’s brilliance. He has long been wary of us vassal princes, which is why he sold some inferior cannons to Prince Yan, Prince Liang, Prince Zhao, and the others.”

“Could it be that His Imperial Majesty foresaw the Great Yu Empire falling into chaos long ago?” Cui Shang’an asked, startled.

The Prince of Huainan said, “Who can know that? But this alone is enough to show that our Emperor is not a simple character.”

As the two were speaking, the city wall on the west side also collapsed with a roar under the bombardment. At this moment, both the Prince of Huainan and Cui Shang’an’s spirits were boosted.

Immediately after, the sound of war drums echoed across the entire battlefield, and the morale-boosted Huainan army soldiers roared as they charged towards Yingzhou City.

Inside Yingzhou City, Prince Yan and his personal guards barely escaped the collapsing city wall. Through the breach in the wall, he saw soldiers surging towards Yingzhou City like a tide.

Prince Yan’s eyes were bloodshot. He wielded his saber and roared, “Soldiers, fight to the death with me and the enemy!”

As his voice fell, except for his personal guards who shouted in response, the other soldiers were indifferent. Some of the able-bodied men who had just been forcibly conscripted even trembled with fear.

When had they ever seen a weapon as powerful as a cannon? Moreover, they had been forced into the army in the first place.

“Kill!”

The Huainan army poured in simultaneously from the two collapsed sections. Well-equipped soldiers immediately engaged the defending soldiers in battle.

Some powerful families loyal to Prince Yan also led their private forces to fight bloody battles with the Huainan army. For a moment, screams and sounds of combat filled the city walls. Bodies of soldiers from both sides continuously fell to the ground, and blood flowed on the earth.

Prince Yan personally led his personal guards into battle. As he was in the thick of the fighting, a loud shout suddenly echoed from within the city. A group of powerful family retainers, their foreheads tied with red cloths, surged out from the streets and alleys.

However, they did not fight the Huainan army; instead, they engaged in a bloody battle with the Chu army and the powerful family retainers loyal to Prince Yan. At this point, the already demoralized Chu army instantly collapsed.

Prince Yan seemed to have lost all his strength at this moment. In his daze, a Huainan army general fiercely plunged his sharp sword into Prince Yan’s chest.

Spitting a mouthful of blood, Prince Yan slowly sank into darkness.