His tone showed no sign of visiting a dead person; he was even more respectful than when he spoke of Lu Xiang in life. The soldier led him into the valley, winding through it several times until they arrived at a stone wall.
Wu Wei strode to the soldier. Lu Xiang's body leaned against the stone wall, sitting upright. If Li Jun had seen it, he would have assumed there was a book on his lap as usual. Lu Xiang was pierced by countless arrows, but surprisingly, not a drop of blood stained his face. A serene smile still lingered on his pale face, his eyes thoughtfully fixed on the ground.
Following his gaze, Wu Wei saw four characters drawn on the ground with a sword: "Heaven and Man bear witness."
"Should we behead him and send him back to the capital?" A lieutenant interrupted Wu Wei's thoughts.
With a fierce glare at the lieutenant, Wu Wei suddenly knelt down on one knee, saluted Lu Xiang's body, and then shouted: "The death of Commander Lu was not the work of our army! He died at the hands of his own people! Commander Lu was a model soldier in both his character and his military leadership. Issue the order to prepare appropriate and lavish funeral for Lu Xiang, the deputy commander of the Su army. Our army will observe three days of mourning!"
The vast majority of generals looked at their commander-in-chief, who had made this decision, with understanding and respect. Wu Wei's order could very well cause him trouble in the court.
Shortly after Wu Wei discovered Lu Xiang's body, Meng Yuan, bearing dozens of wounds, lay sprawled on his horse, galloping wildly.
After breaking out of the Lan army, he discovered he had lost contact with Lu Xiang and immediately charged back into the midst of the enemy forces. By this time, the great battle between the two sides had ended, and the Lan army was searching for and killing the scattered invincible soldiers, so it did not cause him too much trouble. As he left the battlefield in disappointment, he happened to encounter a Lan soldier announcing Wu Wei's orders.
"Lu Xiang is dead!" The devastating news struck him like a thunderbolt, causing him to cough up blood. If it were Li Jun, he would have suppressed his emotions and used reason to determine whether it was true or false. But the straightforward Meng Yuan could not contain his anger. After spitting out blood, he let out a deafening wail, brandishing his broadsword and charging into the enemy ranks. The messenger from Lan Kingdom, Dao Xian, was reduced to pieces by his blade.
"Impossible, impossible! Commander Lu can't be dead! Lu Wudi can't be dead!" Roaring wildly, Meng Yuan charged through the enemy ranks like a madman, eventually collapsing unconscious on his horse, letting it carry him aimlessly. If he hadn't encountered Li Jun's spy again, he might have become a prisoner of the Lan Kingdom.
"Marshal Lu... has passed away..." He only managed to tell Li Jun this one sentence before fainting again.
Li Jun, fighting off the dizziness, shook Meng Yuan violently and roared, "Wake up! How dare you joke about Marshal Lu! Wake up!"
The soldiers around Li Jun pulled him away, and only then did Li Jun realize what he should be doing. He climbed all the way up to the earthen city wall. In the distance, torches were as dense as the Milky Way, and the Lan Kingdom army, which had followed Meng Yuan, had begun to besiege the earthen city.
Looking around, Li Jun saw fear on the faces of his nearly one thousand invincible soldiers, something he had never seen before. Even in his grief, Li Jun realized that if he couldn't boost morale, the Lan army could easily capture this small earthen city with a single charge, and all the thousand-plus men here would become prisoners of war.
"Open the gates!" Li Jun roared as he descended from the earthen city wall. By this time, he had regained his composure and focused his attention on how to escape from this extremely unfavorable situation. One of the reasons why Xiao Lin had once said he was a born soldier, and how quickly he could recover from the loss of his most important person, was this.
His subordinates dared not disobey. At this moment, Li Jun exuded an almost tangible fighting spirit and killing intent. Whether it was heaven, earth, gods, or ghosts, as long as they disobeyed him, he would kill them without hesitation.
Li Jun mounted his warhorse and gripped the long halberd hanging from the horsehook. The halberd was icy cold, seemingly drawing all the heat from his body. Li Jun pointed and said, "Who dares to accompany me to take the enemy's first kill?"
The Invincible Army's morale soared. From Li Jun's natural and graceful movements, they seemed to see the shadow of Lu Xiang. Dozens of cavalrymen immediately followed behind him, and the infantry also charged out closely.
It was already dark. Under the torchlight, the Lan Kingdom army had no idea how many invincible soldiers lurked in this small earthen city, nor had they anticipated that after their great victory, enemy troops would still dare to launch a counterattack. Li Jun brandished his halberd; his blood-red helmet and mask appeared particularly ferocious and terrifying in the fierce torchlight. The Lan Kingdom cavalry at the forefront watched this terrifying man approach, sensing the aura of death emanating from him. In the darkness, Li Jun seemed like the Grim Reaper from another world, his roars the hatred of a god from beyond the heavens. The fighting spirit of the Lan Kingdom vanguard crumbled the moment their auras clashed; hundreds upon hundreds turned and fled, wanting to get as far away from this grim reaper as possible.
The invincible army that followed roared in unison, creating a sound like a landslide or a tsunami. Li Jun led them in a frenzied pursuit. The Lan Kingdom's rear army, completely unaware of the situation in the darkness, was thrown into disarray by the retreating vanguard and fled in disarray, even turning on each other in the chaos.
Chapter Six: Crimson Blood Across Ten Thousand Miles—The Birth of a New Mercenary Group
Section 1
After slaughtering countless Lan soldiers in the chaos, Li Jun finally managed to quell his troops. Upon returning to the earthen city and counting his men, he found that apart from two who had suffered minor injuries from falling from their horses, no one else was missing. Li Jun shouted, "The Invincible Army is invincible! Even without our deputy commander, we cannot disgrace him!"
The invincible army, emboldened by their great victory, began to regain their fighting spirit, having recovered from the despair they felt upon learning of Lu Xiang's tragic news. Li Jun then ordered a fire to be lit and food to be prepared, and the group began to eat their fill.
Tonight should be peaceful. Li Jun, having managed to eat a little, drank some water while gazing at the twinkling stars. After the initial rout, the Lan Kingdom's army needed reorganization and was unsure of the true strength of the Invincible Army, so there was no immediate concern. However, by tomorrow morning, when the Lan army discovered that the city's defenses numbered only a thousand and were launching a full-scale attack, that would be the moment the city fell and the army was defeated. With no natural defenses and no troops to hold, even with ample supplies and weaponry, defeat was inevitable.
Staring blankly at the hot water in his hand, Li Jun began to wonder what ingenious plan Lu Xiang would use to turn the tide if he were here. Time passed slowly, and the soldiers still hadn't slept. Li Jun knew that if he couldn't come up with a plan that would reassure them, the morale he had just built up would soon dissipate.
He slowly took a sip of water, but then realized the hot water in the cup had somehow cooled down. The icy water cleared his head, and he suddenly stood up, shouting, "I've got it! This earthen city can be defended!"
The soldiers looked at the excited Li Jun in bewilderment. Li Jun shouted, "Watch me build an impregnable city overnight!"
After a night's rest, Wu Wei moved the central command tent to the front, fearing that the vanguard might waver and cause chaos like the previous night. After a night of investigation by spies, the locals told him that there were only about a thousand Invincible Army supply troops here. He was prepared to eat his fill in the morning and then capture the earthen city to wipe out the last Invincible Army.
But when he got up, he heard a commotion outside. Wu Wei was somewhat dissatisfied; with victory already assured, his troops were performing poorly. So he asked, "What's going on?"
The guard rushed in somewhat flustered and reported, "The rebel soldiers of the State of Su have built a city overnight!"
Wu Wei was taken aback. Even if all the Legalists in the country were to join forces to cast spells, it would be impossible to build a city overnight. He quickly left the main tent, mounted his horse, and rode to the front of the camp.
Bathed in the morning light, a small, crystal-clear, and dazzling city stood before him. Though not particularly tall, it exuded an overwhelming chill. Wu Wei was initially taken aback, then exclaimed in admiration, "Excellent!"
In the blink of an eye, Li Jun took advantage of the extremely low temperatures to boil snow into water and thoroughly soak the entire earthen city. The water froze as soon as it touched the city walls, transforming the simple earthen city into a sturdy ice city. The ground around the city was also soaked and frozen into large patches, making it impossible to stand firmly, let alone attack.
Wu Wei's resolve began to waver. He had initially thought that with Lu Xiang's death, the Soviet army was entirely incompetent, but now it seemed there were still resourceful individuals within the Soviet ranks. Wu Wei even had a feeling that he was about to forge a new invincible general who might surpass Lu Xiang in prestige.
After banishing the thought, Wu Wei looked around and asked his astonished subordinates, "What do you all think we should do?"
The crowd exchanged bewildered glances. This earthen city stood right beside the main road leading from Lan Kingdom to Wuyin City. If left unattended, it would threaten the Lan Kingdom army. If they launched a full-scale attack, it would be extremely difficult to capture the city unless the corpses of Lan Kingdom soldiers covered the ice on its walls.
"It's just a thousand or so men." Wu Wei knew his men couldn't solve the problem, so he smiled and said, "Huang Yin, you lead ten thousand men to surround this earthen city. Note that you can only surround it, not attack it. I will lead the main army to take Wuyin City!"
Li Jun stood atop the city wall, watching the main force of the Lan army advance, leaving only a portion of its troops to completely surround the earthen city. He knew the Lan army commander's intention: instead of spending a great deal of effort to conquer this useless earthen city, it was better to let them go for now and attack again when the weather warmed and the ice walls melted. In any case, while the ice walls created a huge obstacle to the siege, they also prevented the Invincible Army from leaving.
The ice city he had built with his ingenious plan had become a prison that bound him. Li Jun concealed his sense of loss deeply, because his subordinates in the Invincible Army were cheering as the main force of the Lan Army departed. At this moment, he couldn't dampen their morale. Li Jun came down from the city wall and fell into deep thought again.
Leaving the icy city wasn't difficult; the challenge lay in what to do next. At this time, Li Jun was unaware that Lu Xiang had been killed by his own people, believing that Lu Xiang had perished in the encirclement of the Lan army. Therefore, he was filled with conflict. Should he inherit Lu Xiang's legacy and reclaim the territory of the Su Kingdom, or break away from the Su Kingdom and establish his own independent state to realize the ambition he had harbored in Linzhou City? This was a difficult choice for him.
At this moment, the besieging army of Lan Kingdom began to shout loudly. In order to undermine the morale of the invincible army in Tu City, Wu Wei ordered the troops left behind to shout out the cause of Lu Xiang's death to the isolated army in the city. His plan made Li Jun determined to act.
"Brothers!" Li Jun shouted from his high vantage point, "Did you all hear that? Lan the bandit said the deputy commander died at the hands of his own men!"
The soldiers, already uneasy from the shouts outside, spontaneously gathered around him upon hearing his loud voice. Li Jun said, "Regardless of whether the deputy commander died at the hands of his own men, it is a fact that Fu Lian's army, which was supposed to come to meet us in the ambush, did not act as planned! The deputy commander was loyal and devoted to the country, yet he was repeatedly ostracized and not given important positions. The emperor favors treacherous officials, and the officials are greedy and fearful of death. Of course, they don't like a hero like the deputy commander! The deputy commander loved his soldiers like his own children, sharing our joys and sorrows. He governed the army without harming the people in the slightest. We soldiers and civilians alike love him!"
The soldiers' morale began to rise. Lu Xiang's invincible army was known for its strict discipline and arduous training, but Lu Xiang loved his soldiers like his own children. Whenever the court bestowed rewards, he would distribute them among his subordinates according to their merits, often taking the smallest share for himself. Therefore, the soldiers were willing to fight to the death for him. Everyone knew that only under Lu Xiang's command could a lowly soldier become a general, and a commoner from humble origins become an official trusted by the people.
"Now that the deputy commander is dead, our brothers in the Invincible Army are still alive. We are unwilling to serve the princes and ministers in the court who caused the deputy commander to fight alone, nor are we willing to surrender to the deputy commander's enemy, the Lan bandits. So, what should we do?"
The soldiers began to whisper among themselves. What Li Jun said was indeed true. They were still able to stay together for now, fueled by their burning desire to avenge Lu Xiang, but they all felt hopeless about the future. If they couldn't secure a future, this isolated army would soon disintegrate.
"My brothers have followed the deputy commander with me for quite some time now!" Li Jun shook his hands, feeling he had so much to say. The memories of the past three years spent with Lu Xiang flashed through his mind, bringing tears to his eyes. But he didn't stop; he decided to indulge his emotions one last time. The soldiers were astonished to see this young general, known as the "Angry Dragon," with tears streaming down his face.
But the soldiers' own vision was also blurry; they could only hear Li Jun recounting, one thing after another, the things he had done with Lu Xiang, some of which were even trivial matters. Suppressed sobs began to rise among the soldiers. When Lu Xiang was alive, they felt as if he would never die, but after losing him, they realized that their dependence on this invincible general was stronger than they had imagined.
"Brothers, we're at our wits' end. Why don't we declare independence!" Li Jun shouted as everyone was lost in grief. "We are no longer the Soviet army! With our deputy commander gone, who in the Soviet Union is worthy of our service?"