Xie Kun knew that he intended to inflict a heavy blow on Li Jun in the rearguard battle to alleviate the pain of Lu Ye's defeat, so he said no more and went to make the arrangements as instructed.
The spy relayed the news that the Lan army was ready to march to Li Jun in the shortest possible time. Li Jun chuckled: "This old general is still stubborn, dragging it out until now before he's willing to withdraw his troops."
“But he can’t leave yet.” Shi Quan couldn’t help but smile. He reminded him, “Although the overall situation is settled by the estimated time, let’s stall that old general for a few more days as a precaution.”
Wei Zhan fanned himself with a paper fan, which he had somehow produced since winter ended: "Commander, in my opinion, another battle will only increase casualties. If Fengyi and Lu Yuan have not yet resolved the problem, then it will be a defeat."
Li Jun scratched his head and after a moment said, "No matter what, Wu Wei must not be allowed to return to Lan Kingdom alive, otherwise, with his abilities, he will surely be able to rebuild the country. I expect that since he is so stubborn, he will personally cover the rear. Although the rearguard is elite, the number of troops will not be large. If we handle it properly, we can kill him in one fell swoop."
"If that's the case, the best time would be when he receives news of the major changes in the country." Wei Zhan closed his paper fan, his eyes gleaming.
“You seem quite confident that Fengyi and the others will succeed immediately.” Shi Quan glanced at him, clearly disagreeing with his words. The others were already used to his contrarian nature and didn't take it to heart.
The agreement was reached, and Li Jun secretly mobilized his troops, waiting for Wu Wei to retreat before crossing the river to attack. On the tenth day of the second month of the fifth year of Wude in the Chen Kingdom, news from the Lan Kingdom finally reached Wu Wei, who was preparing to withdraw his troops, via an urgent courier.
"What? Jinlun has been captured by the Peace Army?"
Wu Wei stared at the envoy in disbelief. Not only had Jinlun been captured, but the king of Lan Kingdom had also been killed in the chaos of battle. Now, Lan Kingdom was leaderless.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" Xie Kun exclaimed in surprise. "The main force of the Peace Army is all here. How could they have the spare strength to attack Jinlun? Moreover, these tens of thousands of troops are advancing north..." At this point, he suddenly realized something and said, "Grand Marshal, a few months ago, a spy reported that tens of thousands of Rong people were heading north to the Tianci Grassland. Do you remember?"
The envoy prostrated himself on the ground and said, "Reporting to the Grand Marshal, the rebels are Rong people from the Heavenly Gift Grassland. They used their horses' speed to bypass the fortified city and directly attack the capital. Our army fought against them several times and was defeated each time. His Majesty listened to slander and actually led the army in person, but he died in the chaos of battle, and Jinlun was lost as a result."
"Damn it, damn it! Those who advised His Majesty deserve to have their entire families executed!" Wu Wei roared in fury, yet a faint sense of relief lingered in his heart. The fact that the capital was undeniably empty was undeniable. If His Majesty had not perished in the army but had been captured by the Peace Army, he would not only have been hesitant to act, but might even have been forced to surrender with his entire army. Now that His Majesty had passed away, the ropes binding him were gone, and he could finally make his move.
"Don't leak the secret, Xie Kun. You go with him and treat him well." Wu Wei gave Xie Kun a wink, and Xie Kun understood, leading the messenger out of the tent. A moment later, he returned and nodded to Wu Wei. Only then did Wu Wei feel relieved, and his eagerness to retreat grew even stronger. After some discussion, the army quietly left the camp in batches starting on the night of the tenth. Almost simultaneously, a heated debate broke out within the Peace Army.
Led by military generals like Yang Zhenfei of Lanqiao, one side strongly advocated an immediate attack to prevent Wu Wei from retreating easily. However, Wei Zhan and Shi Quan were surprisingly united this time, firmly opposing the attack, believing that Wu Wei's retreat would not be unprepared. The military generals argued that even if the enemy was prepared, they could certainly defeat them, while Shi Quan bluntly stated that while they wanted to gain merit, they shouldn't risk the lives of ordinary soldiers.
Li Jun was used to such disputes. Since Shi Quan joined his subordinates, these disputes had become more intense, sometimes even to the point of being on the verge of conflict. However, Li Jun always managed to balance the two sides, and this time was no exception.
"Stop arguing. I have a suggestion. What do you all think?" He interrupted the argument and said, "We should pursue them, but we must proceed with caution. Brother Shi, send someone to scout out how Wu Wei retreated and whether there were any ambushes. Lan Qiao, you and the other generals should prepare the troops and be ready to attack at any time."
News arrived a day later that Wu Wei's withdrawal was not a full-scale attack, but rather a division of troops into five units, each thirty li apart, to support each other. Wu Wei himself personally oversaw the rear guard. The generals who had been clamoring for a pursuit were ecstatic, disregarding Wu Wei's plan, and eagerly volunteered for battle.
Three days had passed since the army retreated from the banks of the Liu River. Wu Wei had also learned that a contingent of the Peace Army had crossed the river from Liuzhou and was advancing northward, pursuing him. Therefore, Wu Wei strictly ordered all his troops to be careful and extremely cautious to prevent a surprise attack by the Peace Army.
That night, a fierce wind blew and torrential rain poured down. Wu Wei, who was staying in the camp, listened to the rumbling thunder outside and felt a strong sense of unease. Normally, thunder and lightning would only occur after the Awakening of Insects in this area, but it was only February, yet there was already thunder and lightning. This strange omen from the sky was truly an ominous sign.
"Ten years ago, when Lu Xiang died, a giant star fell from the sky. Tonight, in early spring, thunder rumbles, could it be..." He thought to himself, but unconsciously spoke the words aloud. Xie Kun's heart tightened, and he comforted him, "Grand Marshal, you are overthinking it. This barbarian land is in the south, and when spring warms up, the rising yang energy causes thunderstorms, which is not a strange omen. If the Grand Marshal is still worried, just send more sentries tonight."
Wu Wei sighed and gestured to do as Xie Kun suggested. Night had fallen, and the fury of thunder occasionally intruded into the soldiers' dreams, but Wu Wei found it difficult to sleep. He got up, and as soon as he opened the door, a gust of wind and rain rushed in. He felt a chill seep into his bones and shivered. Just then, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, followed by a continuous rumble of thunder. In such a storm, even if the enemy came, they wouldn't be able to launch a surprise attack.
As he was pondering, a gust of wind, accompanied by large raindrops, lashed at his face. Wu Wei closed the door again and returned to his bed.
Unbeknownst to him, hundreds of men were stealthily making their way towards the Lan army camp. Each wore leather armor, held a bamboo whistle in their mouth, and carried a weapon at their waist. Due to the fierce wind and rain, the torches in the Lan army camp could not be lit, and the area around the camp was pitch black. These hundreds of men used the flashes of lightning to mark their path, remaining still when the lightning struck and crouching forward as darkness returned. The group gradually approached the Lan army camp. Although some torches on the high watchtowers still emitted a faint light, they could not illuminate the spot they had carefully chosen.
The howling wind and rain completely masked their footsteps. Wu Wei wasn't unprepared for a Peace Army attack, but such a night was simply not the right time to strike. The bad weather was certainly disadvantageous to the Lan Army, but the Peace Army was affected as well. How could they distinguish friend from foe in this pitch-black night?
For just a few hundred feet, it took the attackers a full half hour to cross the trench and reach the fence at the edge of the camp. They didn't storm in through the camp gate, but instead used short saws to cut openings in the wooden fence and crawled in one by one. Although Lan soldiers occasionally patrolled in the rain, the light from the wind-blown lanterns was too dim to illuminate the blind spots.
The Peace Army soldiers gradually dispersed, disappearing into the darkness. A patrol of Lan Kingdom sentries, their leather boots creaking in the rain, slowly approached. Just as they passed the Peace Army's ambush site, a blinding flash of lightning ripped through the sky. They saw more than ten figures leap from both sides, followed by the whistling of deadly weapons. Only two or three of the sentries were able to react, parry, and raise an alarm. The alarm quickly spread; the Peace Army had launched an attack from several locations simultaneously. The Lan Kingdom soldiers, though alert, remained calm and listened intently to pinpoint the Peace Army's location.
But the Peace Army attacked and retreated, disappearing back into the darkness. The Lan Army dared not light any fires, fearing they would become targets for the enemy archers. However, the Peace Army's attacks continued unabated. The Lan Army soldiers emerged from their tents, and the torches they brought out were extinguished by the torrential rain. Even the lanterns, in such heavy rain, offered limited light, making the soldiers holding them easy targets for archers in the darkness. After several soldiers died, the tents remained shrouded in darkness. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed, and the earth appeared eerily sinister under the intense white light. The Lan Army soldiers looked around in panic, but all they saw were warriors in their own armor. As the visual impact of the intense lightning faded and darkness returned, a faint sound of bamboo whistles rang out. The Lan Army soldiers, bewildered by the sound in the wind and rain, were then jolted awake by the wailing cries that followed. They forgot about the whistles and instinctively brandished their weapons to protect themselves.
As weapons were swung, those of similar soldiers clashed, each thinking an enemy was attacking them, and immediately charged towards the other, igniting a fierce battle. While most of the Lan army knew there wouldn't be that many enemies attacking, at this moment, it was a fight to the death; who cared about such things?
Wu Wei roared, "Don't attack! Don't attack!" He channeled all his spiritual power, and his voice carried far despite the wind, rain, and shouts of battle. Hearing his voice, Lan Jun gradually stopped fighting. Just then, another bolt of lightning illuminated the sky. The Lan Jun soldiers looked at each other and saw many corpses lying haphazardly on the ground.
Wu Wei said, "Everyone, return to camp! Except for the sentries, everyone return to camp. Anyone who does not return to camp will be killed on the spot!"
The Lan army began to return to their tents, but as soon as the light from the lightning disappeared again, the sounds of fighting and screams immediately resumed. A Lan general, hearing a scream beside him, thrust his spear towards the source of the sound. The spear pierced a limp body, and he was overjoyed, shouting, "Killed one, killed one..." Before he could shout it a second time, a long sword pierced his abdomen from below.
This time, Wu Wei was no longer able to control the entire army. The Lan army camp was engulfed in chaos. When lightning flashed, the soldiers would occasionally stop fighting. But later, when everyone realized that as long as there were others standing, their lives would be in danger, even when lightning flashed and they clearly saw that their opponents were their comrades, they still tried their best to kill them.
The chaos lasted for a full hour. Wu Wei had no idea what kind of trick the Peace Army was using to distinguish friend from foe in the dead of night. With a major calamity befalling the country and the army now in disarray, he couldn't help but sigh in despair. Had he not been in his tent, he too would likely have been drawn into the chaos.
The battle raged fiercely inside when suddenly a great shout of battle erupted outside the camp, as if a thousand troops were charging in. The remaining Lan soldiers in the camp finally had a clear enemy. Without waiting for Wu Wei's command, they broke out of the camp to meet the approaching army. In the darkness, the two armies clashed. In the flashes of lightning, they could vaguely see that the other side wore Lan army uniforms similar to their own, but the uniforms were covered in mud and water, so they both mistook the other for an imposter. They fought from the fourth watch of the night until dawn, when they finally realized something was wrong and stopped.
Wu Wei stood woodenly at the camp gate, coldly watching his bewildered subordinates. He now understood perfectly. Li Jun, seeing his army split and retreat, knew the two armies would support each other. Therefore, he sent elite troops to infiltrate his own army under cover of darkness, using some unknown method to distinguish friend from foe, making his camp uncontrollable. Simultaneously, he lured his vanguard into the enemy camp, making them believe a large number of Peace Army soldiers had infiltrated their camp, thus inciting infighting. The losses from this night's infighting were no less severe than those in the Battle of Green Field. Both his first and last battles against Li Jun ended in crushing defeats, even the capital, Jinlun, fell into Li Jun's hands. He had always thought that after Lu Xiang's death, there were no more rivals in the world, yet Li Jun had manipulated him like a puppet… Thinking of this, he couldn't help but cough up blood and collapse into the muddy water.
"General!" The soldiers beside him rushed to help him up. Just then, the soul-stirring bugle calls rang out all around. The rain seemed to be intimidated by the formation of the Peace Army and stopped falling. The cold light of the weapons flashing like stars was as dazzling as the majestic army formation slowly approached. The faces of the Peace Army soldiers were solemn and excited.
Exhausted and panicked, the Lan army had no fighting spirit. Wu Wei was unconscious and his fate was unknown, and they were without command. They fled in all directions, but the Peace Army's blades and guns left them with nowhere to hide.
Li Jun watched the massacre, a cold smile flashing across his face. He knew he had completely defeated Wu Wei this time. From now on, if Wu Wei were to fight him again, he would be timid and hesitant. Last night, he ordered brave warriors selected from among his troops to infiltrate the enemy ranks, using the sounds of bamboo whistles to distinguish friend from foe. After several successful ambushes, they feigned death on the ground, taking the opportunity to ambush the surrounding enemy troops. This strategy proved effective; even Wu Wei could no longer control his own army. At the same time, Li Jun sent men to attack Wu Wei's vanguard, luring them over. Initially, the sounds of battle outside Wu Wei's camp were simply Li Jun having a hundred or so loudmouths shout and then disappearing. However, the arriving vanguard mistook the enemy for the Peace Army, while Wu Wei's bloodthirsty troops inside mistook the Peace Army for the outside, leading to another melee and allowing Li Jun's plan to succeed.
“Wu Wei has reached his limit.” Li Jun watched as his troops pursued and routed his own men, yet he felt no interest in joining the battle. He turned his horse around, no longer looking at the battlefield. How long had it been since he had personally fought on the battlefield? At first, whenever he encountered a highly skilled enemy general, he always felt the urge to challenge him. Now, he rarely felt that urge anymore. Did he really no longer want to fight?
"Reporting to the commander, urgent military intelligence!"
As he was deep in thought, a messenger rushed in, presenting him with a letter wrapped in oiled paper. A soldier nearby came over and held up an umbrella. Upon seeing the letter, Li Jun's face twitched involuntarily, and he almost burst into a tirade of curses.
Wei Zhan leaned closer to take a look, his expression changing as he clicked his tongue in disbelief and indignation. It turned out the letter was from Fang Fengyi. Although they had stormed Jinlun and killed the King of Lan, Liu Guang seemed to have anticipated Li Jun's move, secretly shifting the main force originally stationed on the border of Su and Chen to the north, taking the opportunity to also invade Lan. The remaining forces of Lan, having lost their king and with their main force entangled in battle with the Peace Army in Su, were utterly unable to resist. Liu Guang had advanced rapidly; if he hadn't been preoccupied with seizing cities and people instead of fighting the Peace Army, they might already be at the gates of Jinlun. Fang Fengyi's letter also stated that he had acted on his own initiative and retreated from Jinlun to the Qionglu Grassland, requesting Li Jun's decision.
"Fengyi's retreat was good. If she hadn't, the entire army might have fallen into Liu Guang's hands," Shi Quan nodded, though he remained unmoved upon hearing the news. Just as Li Jun was about to reply, a general rushed from the battlefield, saying, "Commander, Wu Wei has escaped!"
"Let him go for now. Let him go back and fight Liu Guang to the death." Li Jun sighed. He had planned this Long Fei strategy for a long time, but Liu Guang had easily snatched away half of the victory. Wu Wei was no match for Liu Guang. After returning, he could only cause some trouble for Liu Guang. But if he were to be wiped out here, it would save Liu Guang trouble and cause the Peace Army to lose soldiers. It would be better to let him go back and follow him into Lan Kingdom. Anyway, Lan Kingdom's focus was in the west. Wu Wei's first priority after returning home would definitely be to go back to Jinlun to reclaim the territory occupied by Liu Guang.
The wind and rain had stopped sometime earlier. Li Jun gazed at the blood-soaked earth before him and sighed deeply. The Peace Army, the Peace Army—he had named this army in the hope that one day it would bring peace to the land, but the earth had drunk its fill of blood, and would continue to do so. Ten years of war, ten years of bloodshed, and all they had gained was the first step.
"Commander... Mr. Feng has sent a letter."
It seemed they arrived at the same time, as Feng Jiutian's letter also came from Yuzhou. Li Jun gripped the letter, wanting to tear it open, but then gently put it down. He roughly knew what Feng Jiutian was saying. In fact, for the past two or three months, Feng Jiutian had sent a letter almost every few days, and this letter was still nothing more than urging him to establish himself independently. Did he want to become king? Did he want to inherit the throne of this corrupt monarch? Did he want his descendants, regardless of merit or virtue, to forever worry in this lonely, isolated position? Did he want someone, hundreds of years later, to trample his purple dragon banner in the mud and sneer in disdain? Although he had bestowed the title "Marquis of the Broken City" upon Zhong Biao that day, he now hesitated.
"Commander, let's take a look. I see Su Bai's name is also on the signature."
Shi Quan guessed the general content of the letter and offered his advice. Li Jun finally tore open the letter, which read: "Your humble servants Feng Jiutian and Su Bai bow in reverence: We have received the Commander's reply and understand the Commander's intentions. In ancient times, our ancestors ate vegetables and drank blood. Then a sage appeared, drilled wood to make fire, and from then on, people could cook food. In the middle ages, our ancestors slept in the shade of the forest in summer and huddled in caves in winter, eating insects and beasts, unable to protect themselves. Then a sage appeared, broke wood to make nests, and from then on, people could live in peace. In recent times, people suffered from the cold and heat, and many died young. Then a sage appeared, tasted all kinds of herbs, and cured them." As medicine, the people lived long lives. These three sages all cared deeply for the people, therefore the people called them emperors. The people had cooked food, lived in peace, and lived long lives, and thus a nation was established. At the beginning of the nation, five beasts plagued the four directions. A wise man appeared and taught the people archery, and from then on, the people were no longer afraid of the beasts. Fifty years later, thunder and fire struck, the grass and trees withered, and all beasts disappeared. A wise man appeared and taught the people boats, and from then on, the people could fish. Fifty years after that, rivers and lakes dried up, and fish and shrimp disappeared. A wise man appeared and taught the people farming, and from then on, the people had no worries about food. Fifty years after that… As the population grew, conflict arose. A wise man emerged, creating characters based on pictographs to educate the people. From this, rites, music, and morality arose. Fifty years later, the heavens and earth collapsed, and a great flood raged. Another wise man appeared, digging ditches to create rivers and opening up depressions to create lakes. From then on, the people enjoyed boundless happiness. These five wise men all rendered meritorious service to the people, rescuing them from suffering. Therefore, the people elected them as emperors. If a leader has no intention of becoming a king, he can become an emperor. This allows him to remember the achievements of his ancestors and inspire future generations. A leader can also use this as a self-encouragement. An emperor is one who has rendered meritorious service to the people, elected by them. The imperial succession, regardless of whether the emperor is legitimate or illegitimate, young or old, can be chosen by the people from among the virtuous and meritorious descendants of the ruler. Now that the former Su has fallen, Liu Ning has come to our aid, and the treacherous Wu Wei is not difficult to control. The matter is settled. If we do not reward him, it would be foolish; if we do not bestow gifts, it would be unwise. If we are foolish and unwise, the soldiers will be disloyal, and I fear our collapse will be imminent. I respectfully request that the ruler consider the well-being of the people and assume this arduous position. If so, peace throughout the land will be within reach. If the ruler wishes to abandon the people and not assume the throne, then Heaven will grant my resignation.”