Xiahou Li led an army of eighty thousand, joining forces with E Zhese’s fifty thousand Qiang soldiers. Together, this 130,000-strong force tightly surrounded the encampment where Kebineng and his people were stationed.
As previously mentioned, the Qianghu are a nomadic people; they have no cities of their own, only encampments. The construction of Lotus City was solely to provide a better base for the Lotus Cult.
With only fifty thousand men at his disposal, Kebineng found himself hopelessly pinned down by the combined strength of the larger army. E Zhese, unwilling to see the Qiang people slaughter one another, refrained from launching a full-scale assault. Instead, he repeatedly sent letters urging Kebineng to surrender. Kebineng, however, used every opportunity to stall, hoping this tactic might buy him a chance to prolong his survival.
Chapter 796