Shen Hong withdrew his army.
The Marquis of Northcloud turned a blind eye.
He had only promised Xi Yang that he would hold this city, not help him wipe out Wu'an Prefecture's army.
Holding the city alone and forcing Shen Hong to take a detour was already doing everything he could.
As for anything else...
The Marquis of Northcloud had no intention of getting involved.
For Shen Hong, with the Marquis of Northcloud stationed in the city, there was no hope of taking it unless he was willing to fight until both sides suffered grievous losses.
But committing everything to a siege...
Was something he was unwilling to do.
Wu'an Prefecture's army was not the only force in the allied armies of the feudal lords.
Although breaching the Imperial City was their primary objective now, once it fell, the struggle for the throne would be another matter entirely.
Thus...
Shen Hong also needed to preserve his strength, lest he narrowly lose to someone else when the time came to contend for the throne.
Doing all the work only for someone else to reap the rewards...
Was something he neither wanted nor intended to do.
Although Shen Hong's efforts had fallen short because the Marquis of Northcloud was stationed there...
The other two allied forces swept forward unstoppably, completely shattering the Imperial Court's advantage.
The Imperial Court had suffered defeat so quickly...
First because Count Qin Yang and the West Chong Army he commanded had rebelled.
The second reason was that the Marquis of Pingchuan, Duan Ze, had also turned against the Imperial Court at a critical moment.
The rebellion of two feudal lords...
Instantly obliterated the Imperial Court's advantage.
And that was not all.
Their betrayal also inflicted heavy losses on the Imperial Court's armies, ultimately forcing them to abandon