Both sides knew that the outcome of this battle would directly determine who would win or lose this time when the Tianlan Empire conquered the southern territory of Say.

Originally, this was not the case, but now the army of the Tianlan Empire, in the rear base on the southern side of the Sai Empire, under the strong harassment of the troops led by Li Yi, is no longer at all. It can even be said that now, except for the side of the Ram Fortress, the northern territory of the southern border of Sayi can hardly be called the territory of the Tianlan Empire.

In the shortage of grain and grass, and the rear base is constantly damaged, the army of the Tianlan Empire, which is mainly attacking Xicheng, has no other place to replenish military food except for tightening their belts and saving money to eat and use the grain and grass in their hands now.

Originally, when Luo Ning realized the sinister intentions of the Yanlong Legion, he also thought that since the Yanlong Legion had done such a desperate thing, he didn't need to pay any attention to benevolence and righteousness. Previously, when he heard that the army of the Tianlan Empire had soldiers who caused trouble to the people after capturing the city of the Yanlong Legion, Lieutenant General Luo Ning would punish them with death.

However, in this time of crisis, Lieutenant General Ronin also had to send a force to collect food in some cities near the Ram fortress. With such a bad move, the Tianlan Empire also collected some grain and grass in a short period of time.

However, the effect was not very obvious, because it was not until the troops who collected the grain and grass returned that Luo Ning noticed that the Yanlong Legion should have already known about their lack of food and grass. Because in some of the cities that Lieutenant General Luo Ning can now control, there is not the slightest stock of grain in the official granary. Although there is also food for the people, Lieutenant General Luo Ning also knows that in this kind of situation, which is hindered by Xicheng in front and harassed by the ambush of the Yanlong Legion in the back, the Tianlan Empire can no longer cause a riot among the inhabitants of the southern border of Sai here.

If it was just to forcibly requisition some grain and grass in the hands of the people, it was still okay, but if those people were unable to sustain in order to feed their own soldiers, then it would be really whimsical for the Tianlan Empire to want to gain a foothold in this moment of crisis.

Therefore, although the implementation of the plan to collect grain and grass in the private sector was not very complete, Lieutenant General Luo Ning also knew that there was some restraint, and after collecting enough grain and grass for half a month for the army, Lieutenant General Luo Ning also stopped in time.

However, although the problem of military rations has been temporarily solved, Lieutenant General Luo Ning still has a sad face now, because Luo Ning originally did not have much hope for the attack on Xicheng, and later, although after continuous pressure on the imperial capital, he had to forcibly attack Xicheng, but through the observation of these days, the situation of the siege did not make Luo Ning feel optimistic.

Xicheng's defense can be described in those four words - impregnable. When the Sayi Empire built Xicheng, it was because it was important, so it took a lot of manpower, material and financial resources to build this city.

Although Creek City is not comparable to the Seine King City, its scale can be regarded as the forefront in the entire southern territory of Said, and even in the entire Shengyuan Continent. And in today's Creek City, there are hundreds of thousands of troops of the Yanlong Legion stationed there.

In the previous expeditionary army of the Tianlan Empire, the whole army believed that the current Yanlong Legion had been completely beaten by itself like a lost dog. In their estimation, the defenders in the city should not be too strong in terms of combat effectiveness or army morale.

But when the war really started, all the soldiers of the Tianlan Empire realized that their thoughts were really wrong.

This army, which had been beaten without momentum in their opinion, showed combat effectiveness and tenacious fighting spirit when defending Xicheng, which was not at all different from what they thought.

After nine days of siege, the powerful Tianlan Empire's conquest army finally saw the strongest combat power of the Yanlong Legion here in Xicheng.

They finally came to their senses, and this legion, which was originally composed of militia, now had the strength to compete with them. It was only now that they gradually came to their senses, perhaps since the start of the war, the Yanlong Legion had only blindly deliberately shown weakness, so they would behave so vulnerable.

Although in some previous occasional resistances, the Yanlong Legion has also shown strong combat effectiveness. It's just that at that time, the Yanlong Legion still didn't show the strongest combat effectiveness when Bettina and Elena deliberately released water.

Now in the battle to defend Xicheng, the Yanlong Legion has no way to retreat, and of course they no longer think about retreating at all. So this time, all the soldiers of the Yanlong Legion finally broke out completely. Thinking of the hatred of the country more than 20 years ago, and then thinking about the blind forbearance in the previous half a year. These former inhabitants of the Sayy Empire, and now the most heroic soldiers of the Yanlong Legion, are finally ready to flex their strength and fight to the death against these minions of the Tianlan Empire who are trying to conquer them again.

Since ancient times, hatred is the easiest thing to stir up a person's fighting spirit. All the soldiers of the Flame Dragon Legion, after the extremely incendiary speech made by Bettina and Elena, these fighters finally burst out with the anger that had been hidden in their hearts for many years. With the hatred of losing their country, almost all of the soldiers of the Yanlong Legion showed their combat effectiveness one hundred and two percent in the defense of Xicheng.

Although he couldn't figure out why the soldiers of the Yanlong Legion suddenly burst out with such a strong combat effectiveness, Lieutenant General Luo Ning finally understood one thing after waving his army to attack Xicheng for nine days, that is, this expedition of the Tianlan Empire was finally going to come to an end under the obstruction of this fortress.

Lieutenant General Luo Ning has been fighting all his life, although he does not dare to say that he is an undefeated general, but in all the previous battles, when Lieutenant General Luo Ning failed, he still had a chance to make a comeback.

Only this time, thinking of this, Lieutenant General Luo Ning couldn't help but withdraw his gaze that had been staring at Xicheng, and then turned around and stared at the north, thinking of the imperial capital of the Tianlan Empire far to the north, thinking of those Wenchen in the imperial capital who didn't know anything about the war and the Kaiwen Emperor who had just ascended the throne, Lieutenant General Luo Ning finally closed his eyes in pain.

Kane was right, this expedition was actually a trap set by the Tianlan Empire for its veterans. Regardless of whether this battle is won or lost, when the war is over, his career will come to an end. What's more, while the Tianlan Empire set a trap, Luo Ning didn't know anything about it step by step, and from the very beginning of the war, he walked in according to the trap set by the Yanlong Legion.

Until now, when everything was settled, the Yanlong Legion was exhausted, and the Tianlan Empire had no trust in itself. At this time, Lieutenant General Luo Ning could only continue to shoulder the heavy responsibility on his shoulders painfully, even if he knew that he would die, he had to completely carry out the orders of Emperor Kevin of the Tianlan Empire.

This is Yuzhong, Lieutenant General Luo Ning has fought for the Tianlan Empire for a lifetime, and finally in the face of the emperor's incomprehension and distrust, it is not an angry leader who resists, but a willing to endure this distrust. And the price he had to pay for this decision was to willingly walk into the trap set by the Yanlong Legion at the same time.

It's just that now, Lieutenant General Luo Ning knows that his stubbornness should finally come to an end. Although he is not afraid of death, nor is he afraid of not being suspicious of the emperor, these soldiers of the Tianlan Empire under his command are innocent. They should not sacrifice their lives meaninglessly under Xicheng City because of the emperor's suspicion of themselves.

Just last night, when Lieutenant General Luo Ning ventured to send troops to attack Xicheng at night and failed, an old subordinate who had followed Lieutenant General Luo Ning for more than 30 years finally died under the walls of Xicheng.

Thinking of the tragic death of his old subordinate, Lieutenant General Luo Ning's heart was colic again. It's time for it to end, Lieutenant General Luo Ning thought silently in his heart.

Compared with the well-defended Xicheng in front of him, the ambush of the Yanlong Legion in the rear was relatively easy to deal with.

Although there is not enough food and grass now, if Lieutenant General Luo Ning orders to retreat, at the very least, if he is desperately sacrificing a team of men and horses to stay in the Ram Fortress and drag the troops of the Yanlong Legion in Xicheng, then when he returns to the rear, it is not impossible to eliminate the ambush of the Yanlong Legion that is making trouble in the north of the southern border of Say.

With this idea, Lieutenant General Luo Ning in the siege battle on the tenth day, the attack force arranged by him was completely incomparable to the previous nine days.

Because Lieutenant General Luo Ning has already had the idea of retreating, even if he knows that if he does this, then after returning to China, he will inevitably be punished with the most severe punishment. And whether it will harm the family in the end is unknown.

But now, Lieutenant General Luo Ning can no longer think about himself, in nine days, more than 100,000 elite Tianlan soldiers have died under the walls of Xicheng. If it was just because of his own stubbornness, all the hopes for the future of the Tianlan Empire would be buried here, which would be unacceptable to Lieutenant General Luo Ning.

So after deciding to withdraw the troops, this time Lieutenant General Luo Ning was also ready to return to China to accept punishment.

According to the current development of the situation, if we withdraw our troops now, not only will it be difficult to continue to occupy the areas we have occupied before, but it is also unknown whether we will be severely attacked on the way to withdraw our troops.

But Lieutenant General Luo Ning couldn't hesitate anymore, even if he would be attacked by the Yanlong Army before and after withdrawing his troops, Lieutenant General Luo Ning had to retreat.

If you retreat, you may be able to save some of your combat power for the Tianlan Empire. However, if the troops are not withdrawn, then the entire army of this expedition may be annihilated in the southern border of Said.

At that time, after losing such a large number of heroic warriors, it is uncertain whether the Tianlan Empire will be able to preserve the name of the First Empire of the Shengyuan Continent.

For the future of the Empire, in order to stop the needless sacrifice of soldiers. Lieutenant General Luo Ning finally gave the order to maintain the day's offensive and prepare to withdraw his troops during the night.

It was precisely because of this plan that the offensive posture of the Tianlan Empire immediately became very weak on the tenth day. Because in order to allow most of the combat power that could be operated to be evacuated to the greatest extent, most of the soldiers sent out by Luo Ning in the siege battle on the tenth day were some soldiers who were about to fight to the limit.

Fortunately, these soldiers still have a high level of consciousness because they have been fighting with Lieutenant General Luo Ning all year round. Thinking that if they sacrificed themselves, they could buy time for their other brothers to retreat, then they would still be able to accept the last of their blood here.

And after feeling the strangeness of the Tianlan Empire, someone in the Yanlong Legion immediately reacted, maybe the Tianlan Empire was powerless, and it should be time for the Yanlong Legion to attack.

But the soldiers' request was calmly rejected by Bettina, and now the biggest task of the Yanlong Legion is to hold on to Creek City. As long as Xicheng is still there, the Tianlan Empire will not act rashly. At the very least, at this time, with Xicheng as a guarantee, the Yanlong Legion still has a place to live.

When night gradually fell, the Tianlan Empire's offensive finally declined like the previous nine days.

Finally, under the cover of night, the army of the Tianlan Empire began to retreat towards the Ram fortress in an orderly manner, and everything began to prepare for the withdrawal.

As for all the changes in the Tianlan Empire, Bettina also got the news as soon as possible. Because after feeling the strangeness of the Tianlan Empire today, Bettina immediately informed Elena. And after Elena heard the news, she immediately began to speculate about the specific intentions of the Tianlan Empire.

Finally, after analyzing for a long time, Elena felt that the reason why the Tianlan Empire was like this should be that they were preparing to withdraw their troops. After the end of the battle, Bettina actually risked her life and sneaked out of Xicheng alone, exploring the perimeter of the Tianlan Empire's military camp.

When she saw that the troops of the Tianlan Empire began to retreat in an orderly manner, Bettina sighed that the troops of the Tianlan Empire could still maintain such a good military appearance at such a time, and immediately returned to the city to bring the news to her sister.

Hearing the news, Elena finally began to hesitate.

After all, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and since the Tianlan Empire has withdrawn its troops, it means that they have given up this expedition. Because if it weren't for Li Yi's surprise troops, the Tianlan Empire would still be able to use Ram Fortress as a barrier, and then withdraw its troops safely, and finally confront the Yanlong Legion.

However, if the Lan Empire is on the southern border of Sayi today, there is no stable rear at all, so they will withdraw their troops this time, and they will definitely not have the idea of confronting the Yanlong Legion. Instead, he must be ready to gather the remnants of the army, turn back to fight with Li Yi's troops, and then fight his way out and return to the Tianlan Empire.

However, although this analysis is very reasonable, at the same time, we cannot ignore the wisdom of Lieutenant General Luo Ning, an old general.

This veteran has experienced a hundred battles, and Elena can't guarantee it, now looking at the Tianlan Empire as if it is retreating, is it secretly thinking about other things.

So after struggling for a long time, Elena also gave up the idea of going out of the city to pursue while the Tianlan Empire was withdrawing.

Although Bettina also felt very sorry for this, for the sake of safety, Bettina finally agreed with Elena's approach.

But despite this, the two sisters did not have much sadness on their faces. Looking at their appearance, it seems that they are not worried about the withdrawal of the Tianlan Empire's army to Ram Fortress.

When Lieutenant General Ronin finally withdrew to the Ram fortress with the remnants of his troops, he was finally relieved. He was afraid that when he withdrew his troops, he would not be pursued by the Yanlong Legion. For this reason, when Luo Ning actually retreated, behind a valley, he also ambushed two entire regiments of men and horses. I wanted to take the opportunity to strike a final blow at the Yanlong Legion, but I didn't expect the Yanlong Legion to be so forbearing, and just watched them retreat to Ram Fortress.

Sitting in the temporary war hall of the Ram Fortress with a pant, Lieutenant General Luo Ning looked at the empty room and couldn't help but whisper: "Teacher, if it were you this time, would you be as miserable as the students?" ”