Knowing he couldn't persuade Qian Sheye to change his mind, Ma Jiyou could only think of this: "Your Majesty, since we are pursuing the enemy's retreating army, there is no need for a large force. It would be enough to have the Right General lead 10,000 soldiers and 2,000 light cavalry into battle."
Qian Sheye was already worried that if Ma Jiyou caused any trouble in Tianhe City, he might not be able to control the large number of troops he had sent out. Now, upon hearing this, he was overjoyed and said, "In that case, Jiyou, your light cavalry, the Gale Army, is known for its bravery. May I borrow it?"
Ma Jiyou shuddered. If he couldn't sense Qian Sheye's suspicion at this moment, he wouldn't be Ma Jiyou. He pondered repeatedly, recalling the contributions he had made to Hongguo over the years, and then glanced at Qian Sheye's expression, which remained unchanged. Yet, he was still undecided.
"What, Jiyou, are you reluctant to part with them?" Qian Sheye laughed heartily and said, "I know that the Kuangfeng Army is a treasure in Jiyou's heart, so I deliberately said this in jest. Wan Yongchun, gather the loyal soldiers who came with Jiyou, and I will also allocate two thousand light cavalry from the Imperial Guard to you. Go quickly."
Hearing that Qian Sheye would no longer ask him for the Kuangfeng Army, Ma Jiyou felt somewhat relieved, but he could no longer dissuade Wan Yongchun from transferring his own soldiers. The palace fell silent after Wan Yongchun left. After a while, Qian Sheye said, "Alright, I am a little tired. All of you may go and rest."
Wan Yongchun reappeared before Qian Sheye two days later. This time, he no longer possessed the heroic spirit of that day, but was covered in blood, his helmet had been stripped off at some point, and even half of his left ear had been cut off.
"Your Majesty, I deserve to die a thousand deaths..." Wan Yongchun sobbed uncontrollably, "That old traitor Liu Guang laid an ambush with a large force, and my troops were too few. Although I fought valiantly all night, but... but..."
"Alright, go and rest now," Qian Sheye said impatiently. Wan Yongchun sensed danger in his voice, kowtowed three more times, and retreated, panting.
"Useless thing!"
After receiving Wan Yongchun's message, Qian Sheye finally erupted, pacing back and forth in the hall. Apart from a few trusted ministers, even Ma Jiyou was not present.
“Your Majesty, if our army launches a full-scale attack, the outcome will surely be reversed,” said Chai Zifeng, a Gentleman Attendant at the Palace Gate, in a low voice. Ever since he was rebuked by Ma Jiyou in court that day, he felt deeply ashamed. Moreover, Ma Jiyou later told others that he would persuade Prince Hong to dismiss him sooner or later. Therefore, he harbored resentment and was always thinking of slandering Ma Jiyou in front of Qian Sheye.
“Exactly. Even if Liu Guang had some ambushes, how could he possibly stop my army of over 100,000?” Qian Sheye nodded emphatically. He was stubborn and never admitted his mistakes. Sometimes he would reluctantly admit them, but he was extremely unhappy inside.
The pursuit of Liu Guang was originally his own plan. If he were to admit that the plan was flawed, it would be tantamount to admitting his incompetence, something he absolutely refused to do. Therefore, with just a little provocation from Chai Zifeng, he readily agreed: "If it weren't for Ma Jiyou's cowardice and mistakes, I would have surely captured that old scoundrel Liu Guang alive if I had launched a full-scale attack!"
Unbeknownst to him, Liu Guang's ambush was originally intended to launch a full-scale attack. If he pursued with his entire army, Liu Guang would surely turn back and send his elite troops to slaughter him amidst the chaos, recapture Tianhe City, and repeat the situation of the Battle of Chiling. However, when Liu Guang realized that his pursuing forces were limited and that Ma Jiyou had seen through his scheme, he made the charade real and actually retreated back to Chiling Pass. But during this period, the seeds of discord he had sown between Qian Sheye and Ma Jiyou, the ruler and his minister, had quietly sprouted and grown rapidly.
"Could it be that the General intends to spare Liu Guang's life..." Hong Wang's trusted eunuch He Li added fuel to the fire. On that day, Qian Sheye made up his mind to get rid of Ma Jiyou, and only he knew it.
"My esteemed ministers!" Qian Sheye finally gritted his teeth, determined to take another gamble. Now that Liu Guang had withdrawn his troops, Ma Jiyou's importance had greatly diminished.
two,
"Ren Qian was seriously injured?"
Li Jun was taken aback and jumped up from his seat, his eyes wide open. He asked anxiously, "Where are you injured? Is it dangerous?"
The Peace Army naval soldier who came to deliver the message lowered his head and said, "The wound is in the left eye. If Mr. Ren hadn't been observing the battle situation with his binoculars at the time, I'm afraid... I'm afraid it would have been an arrow through the skull."
Li Jun took a breath. Although the soldier didn't say it directly, Li Jun already understood that Ren Qian was seriously injured.
"Summon the best doctor immediately," Li Jun said to Feng Jiutian, pacing back and forth a few steps after leaving his seat.
"Don't worry, Commander, I will arrange everything." Feng Jiutian nodded.
Seeing that Li Jun gestured for him to continue, the soldier said, "In this campaign, our army fought the Japanese pirates seven times, capturing five large pirate ships and more than twenty small warships. We completely burned down the four good ports that the Japanese pirates used to harass China, and killed and wounded countless Japanese pirates. In the final battle, we unexpectedly encountered the Japanese chieftain Kiyota Yoshinobu. Fortunately, Mr. Ren devised a plan to use a feint, which disrupted the morale of the Japanese army and caused them to disintegrate..."
"Was Ren Qian injured in the final battle?" Li Jun interjected, his ears listening to the battle report, but his mind still preoccupied with Ren Qian's injury.
"Indeed, it was the arrow shot by the Japanese chieftain Kiyota Yoshinobu himself." As the soldier spoke, he pulled out a feathered arrow from behind his back and handed it to Li Jun. Li Jun examined the arrow carefully and saw the words "Kiyota Yoshinobu" on it.
The arrowhead had barbs, and traces of blood could still be faintly seen.
"The arrow shattered the glass on the telescope and pierced Mr. Ren's left eye, causing him to fall unconscious immediately. The ship's medic said the arrow could have pierced his brain, and if it wasn't removed, it would continue to travel along with the bloodstream. Commander Tulong acted decisively, personally pulling the arrow out of Mr. Ren's eye..."
"I understand, Tu Long Ziyun did a good job." Li Jun could almost picture the scene in his mind: Ren Qian lying in a pool of blood, barely alive, while the army doctor was helpless against the barbed arrow. At the critical moment, Tu Long Ziyun used his dragon-slaying hands to pull the arrow out. The eyes are one of the most delicate and sensitive parts of the human body; the pain at that moment must have been excruciating for Ren Qian.
After a moment's hesitation, Li Jun said again, "Kiyota Yoshiki... I will definitely use this arrow to take his life!"
The messenger said, "I'm afraid Kiyota Yoshinobu won't live to see the commander. Mr. Ren lied and killed him. His men scattered. Afterwards, spies brought news that the Japanese pirate chiefs were fighting fiercely for the position of General Kiyota Yoshinobu. Kiyota Yoshinobu himself disappeared without a trace. Rumor has it that the Dragon Slayer General did indeed kill Kiyota Yoshinobu on the enemy ship. Others say that the people on the ship were Kiyota Yoshinobu's shadow warriors. After he escaped ashore, he was ambushed and killed by the local people in the mountains."
"Shadow Warriors... the local lords? Ren Qian mentioned them to me last time." Li Jun didn't feel relieved upon hearing this. Whether Kiyota Yoshiki lived or died was not important; what mattered was Ren Qian's injuries.
Since he raised his army, aside from Xiao Linsuxiang who died in Peng Yuancheng's rebellion, the senior generals of the Peace Army had navigated dangers with ease. However, since last year, Li Jun had noticed that his luck, which had been helping him, seemed to be changing. First, he suffered an unexpected defeat at the Battle of Fenglin Ferry, with Fang Fengyi seriously injured. Then, in the battle against Liu Guang, he almost lost Feng Jiutian and Ji Su. In his anger, he nearly blamed Meng Yuan. This year, he had only been fighting against a few Japanese pirates, yet Ren Qian was seriously injured and on the verge of death. Thinking of this, a shadow crossed Li Jun's mind. His heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he unconsciously thought of Ji Su again.
"This won't do, this won't do! Business is getting harder and harder these days!" Before Li Jun could shake off the gloom in his heart, Jiang Tang strode into his tent and threw a large pile of account books onto the table in front of him with a "bang".
"What, do you want me to eat you?" Upon seeing Jiang Tang, Li Jun recalled the days when they slew dragons together and Lei Hun. For some reason, when Lei Hun's gloomy and indifferent face appeared in his mind, he suddenly felt at ease and joked with Jiang Tang.
"Hmph, you'll starve to death the moment you eat me. Don't you even consider who's managing your business?" Jiang Tang, no longer intimidated by Li Jun's banter with Tu Longziyun, rolled his eyes at him and said, "You're in the mood for joking? Why aren't you out working in this beautiful weather? Do you think you can just stop doing business?"
Li Jun exclaimed in surprise, as it was extremely rare for Jiang Tang to speak so unfriendly. He said, "What, did you lose your purse on the way?"
"Look, this is our income from last year's business, and this is our expenditure." Jiang Tang opened the ledger, and Li Jun felt dizzy as soon as he saw the densely packed tiny characters on it. He couldn't help but cover his head and said, "Forget it, just say what you have to say. Don't make me look at this deadly stuff."
Jiang Tang rattled off a long list of figures, and finally said, "In short, last year's sales expenditures far exceeded our income. All the money I've painstakingly saved over the years has been squandered by you, you spendthrift! Now you want to build some kind of post road on the Qionglu Grassland. Where am I supposed to get the money for you?"
Li Jun smiled bitterly. When it came to money, no one in the Peace Army was as sensitive as Jiang Tang. Although the Peace Army's military pay and logistics had never had any problems under his management, the entire Peace Army would turn pale when Jiang Tang was mentioned—getting money from Jiang Tang was even more terrifying than fighting a battle with Liu Guang.
"You told me back then that taking over Qinggui was a sure-fire way to make money, that Qinggui was rich and fertile, and that I'd be rolling in wealth just by taking it over. How could I have fallen for your trick and invested my money in this damned losing proposition? Now, six months after we got Qinggui, not only have we not seen any returns, but we've kept losing even more!" Jiang Tang shouted. "You don't care that this money wasn't earned by you? You...you stay away!"
He shouted for a while, then his voice suddenly lowered. It turned out that Li Jun thought what he was saying was really outrageous, so he drew his flying chain short sword and started slashing at his neck.
"Say what you want to say quickly. Why do I always have to point my sword at you?" Li Jun said with a stern face.
“Our business is almost out of money. If we encounter a famine this year, I’m afraid we’ll have to use our reserves.” Jiang Tang sighed a few times. “I asked Lei Hun, and he said that according to his observation of the celestial phenomena, a comet will be in opposition to the sun this year, which means there will be floods and droughts. In recent years, Yuzhou has seen a boom in industry and commerce, but crops have been gradually declining. If we don’t plan ahead, not only will the army run out of food, but the people will also complain.”
Li Jun was taken aback. He had never believed in gods or ghosts, but he was still deeply impressed by Lei Hun's accurate predictions of celestial phenomena based on the three teachings. However, the fact that Jiang Tang, who had always only cared about the interests of industry and commerce, could make such a statement surprised Li Jun.
"What do you mean?" Li Jun asked.
“It is said that every spring, the rulers of ordinary people would personally plow the fields as a model for the world,” Jiang Tang said. “Whenever you have a less busy day, go find a field to cultivate.”
Li Jun leaned back, stared intently at Jiang Tang for a long while, and said, "Is this the only thing?"
"Oh, and also, you should order the people of Qinggui in Yuzhou to be diligent in farming. We have a batch of excellent rice seeds that can benefit farmers. You should order local officials to urge the people to use these rice seeds. This is a great business opportunity."
Li Jun burst into laughter. It turned out that Jiang Tang had been beating around the bush all day just to get involved in the rice seed business. How much profit could rice seeds possibly generate? Was it really worth Jiang Tang's fuss? After laughing for a moment, Li Jun remembered that Jiang Tang was the kind of person who wouldn't get up early without a profit. If he was so eager, there must be another reason behind it.