As the difficulty of maintaining the siege becomes apparent to the army, Zemnarihah agrees to abandon it, but marches his army northward. The strategy here is apparently to seize control of a more northward location, isolating the Nephites between the Gadianton holdings in the south and this new Gadianton location on the north. Although it was a longer-term plan, it would continue the military pressure on the land of Zarahemla.