Fang Zetao of the Unrivaled Manor was dead, killed by the demonic woman Wanwan of the Yin Kui Sect. That was an ironclad fact witnessed by many. So after discussing it, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling naturally decided not to spread the complicated relationship between him and the demonic woman Wanwan.
Next, they learned that the army leaving the city wasn't coming to capture Wanwan. It was the former garrison commander of Jingling, Qian Yun, who had fled with six thousand elite guards and most of the supply train. Seeing Fang Zetao's death had frightened him, and he'd decided to desert. Shocked, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling ultimately had no choice but to decide to intervene and save the tens of thousands of innocent people in Jingling.
After all, they knew the Jianghuai Army was renowned for its cruelty and bloodlust. Jingling had already refused to surrender, and if the city fell, there was a very real chance its tens of thousands of innocent residents would be massacred. Neither of them could bear to see that happen.
But after Qian Yun fled with those thousands of elite soldiers, only about five thousand defenders remained in the city. A considerable number were old, weak, sick, or injured, or newly recruited soldiers with little training. With so few men and what little food and money remained, holding Jingling was impossible.
So!
After surveying the terrain around Jingling, they discovered that the nearby Flying Horse Ranch—famed for breeding and training warhorses, and for supplying horses to the various powers—was close by and situated in a naturally defensible location. More importantly, it belonged to no faction, so it should be able to shelter Jingling's people, and Du Fuwei's men wouldn't interfere. The two immediately got to work.
Soon, they contacted the Flying Horse Ranch.