"My lord! My lord!" Thinking of Tong Sheng's deep kindness to him, Ge Shun was overcome with grief. He was not a member of the Tong clan, but he still held a high position in Silver Tiger City, all thanks to Tong Sheng's appreciation. Now, all of this was about to vanish with Tong Sheng's death.
Tong Chang, who was far behind, saw it all clearly. A surge of anger and grief made him feel dizzy, and everything before his eyes turned bleak. He groaned and fell off his horse, landing on the ground. The guards around him rushed to help him up, and saw that there was a trace of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.
Ge Shun cradled Tong Sheng's head, abandoned his horse, and stumbled back. Instantly, a somber mood descended upon the Tong family army, with cries of grief and wailing filling the air. Most of the weeping was not for Tong Sheng, but for their own families.
Awakening from his coma, Tong Chang held his elder brother's head in his hands. Decades of brotherly affection flashed through his mind in an instant: his brother was five years older than him. When they were little, his brother would lead him around the city. When they were a little older, they would sneak out of the city to play with the children in the countryside. Later, his brother would teach him martial arts and reading. After his father's death, his brother would follow him in battles across the country. After his father's death, his brother would succeed him, defying all opposition to appoint him as the commander-in-chief of the Yu Prefecture army... His brother had once said, "Brothers united can break metal." Now, those words still echoed in his mind, but all that remained of his brother was his head. How could he not feel his heart breaking?
"Reporting to the commander, soldiers who escaped from the city request an audience!"
The soldier who escaped through the back gate of the palace was brought before Tong Chang, knelt down and said, "The governor's dying wish is for the commander to succeed me as governor of Yuzhou!"
Even in death, he did not forget himself! The fall of Silver Tiger City was related to his incompetence, but when his elder brother faced a desperate situation, he did not blame him at all, but thought of passing on the position of governor to him! Tong Chang's grief and indignation reached their peak.
Sorrow was utterly silent. Tong Chang slowly stood up, crimson blood streaming from the corner of his eye. He cast his hateful gaze at the Peace Army's banner atop Silver Tiger City, then glanced back at the guards on either side.
"Things have come to this, there's no going back. I must avenge my brother!" he declared resolutely. "Soldiers, prepare to attack the city!"
Seeing that he was blinded by hatred, Ge Shun had to remind him, "General, you just said that it was not advisable to attack the city..."
"I was worried about my brother's safety just now, but now that he's dead, I can't care about anything else!" Tong Chang roared, expressing his true feelings. The soldiers wiped away their tears and began to consider whether they should abandon their families for the sake of their dead lord.
Just then, Tong Rong arrived with his central army. More than ten thousand men were stationed outside the south gate of Yinhu City. Standing on the city wall, Xiao Lin knew it was time to use his last resort. He waved his hand and said, "Quickly bring the men here!"
A moment later, the Tong family army straightened its formation and began to approach Silver Tiger City. There were only three thousand Peace Army soldiers and mercenaries on the city wall, and it was almost impossible to hold it. But suddenly, shouts rang out from the city wall.
"Long'er, are you there?"
"Ah Gui, are you alright?"
"Honey, where are you?"
At the height of the battle, the calls for her husband and children seemed extremely discordant, but this discordant sound instantly shattered Tong's fighting spirit.
"The Peace Army has ordered that those who lay down their arms and surrender may enter the city to reunite with their families, while those who resist the attack will have their entire families killed without mercy!" Hundreds of soldiers shouted loudly, and this heavy voice made Tong Chang spit out another mouthful of blood. The situation was hopeless.
It's unclear who started it, but the soldiers threw down their weapons and siege equipment, responding to the officers' shouts with indifferent eyes. Some officers began whipping the soldiers, which only added fuel to the fire. Immediately, a soldier roared, "Didn't you hear us? Our families are all in their hands, and you want us to fight to the death!" He pulled them off their horses and beat them to death.
"General, let's hurry back to Leiming City. We still have nearly ten thousand soldiers there, enough to defend our territory!" Ge Shun said, pulling hard on the reins of Tong Chang's warhorse.
Tong Chang gave him only a desperate, bitter laugh: "My brother's death was truly due to my incompetence. How can I let him die alone? Ge Shun, you, Tong Rong, and Tong Yan should leave Yuzhou as soon as possible. That brat Li Jun will devour the entire Yuzhou sooner or later!"
Ge Shun tried to persuade him, but Tong Chang whipped his hand away and charged forward on his horse. Hundreds of his loyal soldiers followed closely behind, while most of them, including Tong Rong, watched indifferently as they were shot down one by one by the arrows raining down from the city walls.
Ge Shun's knees could no longer support him, and he collapsed to his knees in front of Yinhu City. In front of him, Tong Chang held up a banner with the character "Tong" in one hand and supported himself with a long spear in the other. His warhorse had been shot dead, and only a handful of people were still standing on the entire battlefield. He had also been hit by several arrows.
Tong Chang moved step by step toward the city gate, finally touching the south gate of Silver Tiger City. He reached out to push, but the gate didn't budge. He slowly slumped down, but then used his spear to straighten himself and whispered, "Brother... I'm here..."
On the cast iron gate, a bright red handprint was left. Tong Chang stood there straight, though he was dead, he still stood proudly.
Ge Shun kowtowed several times to Tong Chang's corpse, gritting his teeth and saying, "I have been deeply grateful to the Tong family for their kindness, and I will definitely avenge this blood feud for them. Li Jun, you wait!" He snatched a warhorse from a soldier and headed north alone.
He walked a short while, and Tong Yan arrived with the rearguard troops, but there were only a few more surrendered soldiers. Tong Yan killed several soldiers, but still couldn't get them back into the battlefield. One soldier shouted angrily, "Go yourself! Li Jun is right behind us, go on!"
Upon hearing this, Tong Yan flew into a rage and roared, "I'm going to kill Li Jun right now to avenge the governor and Commander Chang!" He charged towards the rear alone, and Li Jun's troops followed closely behind.
"Li Jun! Li Jun!" Tong Yan shouted repeatedly in front of Li Jun's formation, "Come out and fight me to the death, Li Jun!"
"I'll let you die with your eyes open in peace!" Li Jun sneered as he slowly spurred his horse forward. Now, his wisdom was enough to win over the defeated soldiers of the Tong family. So, he was going to show them the invincible combat skills of the Dragon-Headed Demon King.
"Commander Lu, watch from heaven, I will use the skills you passed down to me to carve out my own territory!" he silently prayed, completely ignoring the child rushing over.
"Take this!" Tong Yan thrust his spear forward, the tip of which pierced Li Jun's throat like a meteor. Halfway through the thrust, the internal energy contained within the spear had already reached Li Jun's front.
"So the Tong family has such a brave general!" Li Jun was slightly surprised. He was unaware that Tong Yan had exchanged three blows with Song Yun. With a flick of his halberd, he charged out like a dragon emerging from the sea, clashing with Tong Yan's spear.
With a loud "bang," Li Jun swayed twice on his horse, and Tong Yan immediately retaliated with a spear. He realized that Li Jun's arm strength was not as good as his own, so he poured all his spiritual power into this spear, intending to knock Li Jun's halberd away with one strike.
Li Jun suppressed the surge of blood and qi caused by the initial head-on collision, and increased the Prajna spiritual power transformed from the dragon's power in his body to eighty percent. He then defiantly deflected Tong Yan's spear, causing Tong Yan's entire body to tremble, and even his warhorse neighed wildly.
Li Jun twisted his right hand, and the halberd spun out, creating a powerful airflow around the tip of the halberd. Tong Yan didn't know why Li Jun's strength had increased so much in an instant. He tried his best to block, but the spear was deflected by the airflow from Li Jun's halberd and was involuntarily knocked away.
"A Heaven-Asking Halberd!" These were the last words Tong Yan heard. Li Jun's halberd suddenly swung upwards, piercing Tong Yan's chin and lifting him up. He struggled on the halberd like a flag for a couple of moments before stopping.
Seeing that even the bravest general of the Tong family had lost his life in just three rounds at the hands of Li Jun, the few Tong family soldiers who still wanted to fight lost their will to fight. They could only stare at Li Jun, this conqueror, with hateful eyes.
Li Jun slowly rode his horse through the Tong family army. He gently laid Tong Yan's body on the ground and coldly said to the soldiers, "Take good care of him. He died a man's death."
The soldiers lowered their heads in embarrassment. Li Jun walked proudly through the army, seemingly disregarding the more than 10,000 hostile enemy soldiers. This was not because he intended to show off his arrogance, but because he knew that the morale of the Tong family soldiers was still unstable. If he could not suppress them in terms of morale, they could still pose a fatal threat to the Peace Army.
Upon arriving at the south gate of Yinhu City, Tong Chang's body stood there, facing away from Li Jun and towards the city. Li Jun halted his horse behind the body, stared at it for a long time, and then gave a perfectly standard military salute.
The Tong family soldiers, who had expected him to kick Tong Chang's body away, were taken aback. They couldn't understand why he showed such respect to the dead. But in their bewilderment, their hostility and hatred towards Li Jun subsided.
"Look...look..." The soldiers cried out in terror. After Li Jun finished paying his respects, Tong Chang's body bent his knees and slowly fell to the ground, lying quietly. It seemed that the resentment that had kept him from falling after his death had dissipated into nothingness because of Li Jun's bow.
Li Jun waved to signal the city gates to open. He ignored the Tong family soldiers behind him because he felt that he had begun to be accepted by them.
After the city gates opened, Li Jun entered the city, but the gates did not close. After a while, Li Jun appeared on the city tower.
"Soldiers of Silver Tiger City! From this day forward, Silver Tiger City will be under the jurisdiction of Young Master Hua Xuan. Young Master Hua Xuan will submit a memorial to the State of Chen, requesting to assume the post of Governor of Yu Prefecture." Li Jun raised one of his banners in an unquestionable tone to reassure the soldiers of Silver Tiger City.
The war was temporarily over. Li Jun reorganized the soldiers of Silver Tiger City. Those aged 28 or under were all sent home to reunite with their families. The remaining nearly 10,000 men were organized into the Silver Tiger Army. Thus, in addition to the Peace Army Headquarters and Tiger Wing Battalion, the Peace Army now had the Silver Tiger Army.
Immediately afterwards, Li Jun ordered the entire Tong family clan to be placed under house arrest. He then distributed the land that the Tong family and other powerful clans in Yinhu City had annexed over the years to the soldiers' families. When the soldiers learned of this unexpected news, Li Jun said gently, "You have fought for many years, and the Tong family should pay a price for you." In this way, the Tong family was separated from the majority of the hundred soldiers in Yinhu City, and the interests of these people were linked with those of the Peace Army.
However, Li Jun did not make things difficult for the Tong family. They were allowed to take all their valuables with them, and he said that he would send them to settle down elsewhere on a chosen day. Therefore, although the Tong clan was uneasy, they were not desperate enough to launch a counterattack.
Next, Li Jun made a decision that was opposed by the other generals and officials of the Peace Army. He ordered the Peace Army to withdraw from Silver Tiger City and hand over everything in the city to the Silver Tiger Army for management, while he himself remained in the city.