Peng Yuancheng took the leather bag off his horse, weighed it in his hand, and found that it was full of water. He then noticed a letter on the bag. Peng Yuancheng opened it and read: "Remembering that today is Lord Peng's birthday, I specially present this leather bag of water as a birthday gift. This is just as the saying goes, 'The friendship between gentlemen is as pure as water.'"
Peng Yuancheng laughed heartily. Li Jun's offer of water was a pretense; his true purpose was to spy. He must be utterly perplexed by Peng's reluctance to surrender. Since a gift had been sent, a return gift was in order. Therefore, he ordered, "Go and bring the fish!"
It turned out that a few fresh fish could be caught from the water bucket every now and then, and two had been caught that morning. Peng Yuancheng summoned a soldier and said to him, "Take this basin of water and fish to that kid Li Jun and tell him it's my way of returning the favor."
Seeing the fear in the soldier's eyes, Peng Yuancheng laughed again: "Don't be afraid. Although Li Jun is cunning, he would not kill an envoy. I will not harm you."
The soldier had no choice but to go to Li Jun's camp. When Li Jun saw the basin of clear water and the live fish in it, he asked without changing his expression, "Lord Peng sent you here. Is there anything else you need me to do?"
The soldier said, "The city lord said this is his way of returning the favor."
Li Jun couldn't reveal his true feelings to the soldier. He just laughed and said, "Report to Lord Peng for me that you thank him for the fresh fish. Although the fish has bones, I will still eat it."
The soldier reported back to Peng Yuancheng as instructed, and Peng Yuancheng smiled and said, "Alright, Li Jun is about to withdraw his troops."
The aide asked, "How do you know? Didn't Li Jun say that he would eat the fish even if it had bones?"
Peng Yuancheng said, "To eat fish, you must first remove the fish bones. The fish bones of Dagu City are me. Without removing me, Li Jun cannot eat this fish. He should understand this principle himself. If he tries to attack by force, he will only get the fish bones stuck in his throat, making it impossible for him to advance or retreat. Moreover, Zhu Wenhai will not give up this opportunity when he sees that Li Jun is hesitant to attack Dagu City. He will definitely send people to harass Li Jun and may even personally lead the army to attack Leiming City. If that happens, Li Jun will have no choice but to retreat."
Seeing that his staff were still not entirely convinced, Peng Yuancheng laughed and said, "Let's wait and see. Li Jun will surely retreat within three days."
Sure enough, on the third day, Li Jun received news that Zhu Wenhai had once again sent troops to Leiming City. The Peace Army had indeed broken up its camp and retreated in full force. Seeing the Peace Army's retreat, the advisors all breathed a sigh of relief. One advisor asked, "Why didn't the city lord go out of the city to pursue them?"
“Li Jun is actually quite cautious in his military tactics, as can be seen from the fact that he has besieged the city for many days but has not launched a full-scale attack.” Peng Yuancheng narrowed his eyes and looked at the Peace Army in the distance, and slowly said, “I think that his previous ingenious plans were all choices he had no choice but to make under the circumstances. This time, he has more troops but failed to attack the city. When he retreats, he will definitely order his brave generals to cover the rear. If we go after him now, it will be like sending meat to the tiger’s mouth. We might even be counterattacked by Li Jun and take advantage of the situation to seize my Dagu City.”
“However,” he added after a moment, “I would like to give Li Jun a chance and see if he dares to turn back.”
A short while later, a small force left Dagu City and pursued the Heping Army. Not long after they set off, Peng Yuancheng also personally led three thousand troops out of Dagu City.
After receiving news from Meng Yuan that the enemy was attacking, Li Jun's first thought was to ask how many enemy troops there were. When he learned that they numbered only a mere thousand and had already been defeated by Meng Yuan, he sighed and said, "Peng Yuancheng has never given me this opportunity. He ordered Meng Yuan to return to his camp. We must hurry to relieve the siege of Leiming City."
No sooner had Meng Yuan returned to the central army than the rear guard was thrown into chaos. Peng Yuancheng, personally leading the second pursuing force, caught up and used superior numbers to confront the Peace Army's rearguard. Had the Peace Army not undergone a period of training and managed to form the Crimson Dragon Formation to defend themselves even when surrounded, Li Jun would have suffered his greatest defeat since arriving in Yuzhou. By the time Li Jun reorganized his troops and returned, Peng Yuancheng, seeing that he could not shake the Peace Army's main force, had already retreated swiftly back to Dagu City. Li Jun arrived at the ravaged battlefield, looking at his soldiers lying in pools of blood, and was filled with deep remorse.
"The reason for this defeat is me," he muttered to himself.
Section 3
Strictly speaking, the number of casualties on both sides during the siege of Dagu City was roughly equal, and Li Jun was not completely defeated.
But deep down, Li Jun felt utterly defeated. Since arriving in Yuzhou, he had never suffered such a defeat. For the Peace Army, whose foundation was gradually being consolidated, the loss of over a hundred men and the injury of three hundred men were not considered a great loss. However, for Li Jun, it was a completely different feeling.
"With Lu Xiang in command, we wouldn't have suffered such a defeat!" Li Jun deeply realized the gap between himself and Lu Xiang. With Lu Xiang in command, he wouldn't have wasted time in Dagu City. He would have retreated on the day he realized it was difficult to capture, instead of dragging it out until the Zhu family felt they had an opportunity. As a result, he was forced to retreat hastily and was tricked by Peng Yuancheng. Peng Yuancheng first used a feigned attack to deceive Li Jun, causing Li Jun to recall Meng Yuan, and then launched a surprise attack with the main force, causing losses to the Heping Army.
The root cause of this unnecessary loss was that Li Jun was a bit too arrogant. For the still young Li Jun, this setback came at just the right time, sobering him up from the joy of consecutive victories.
"The blow we suffered at Peng Yuancheng's hands must be returned tenfold!" This was Li Jun's plan. Naturally, the best target for this return was Zhu Wenhai, who dared to harass the Peace Army's supply lines and attack Thunder City.
Although Zhu Wenhai initially promised Peng Yuancheng that he would definitely send troops to help if he was in trouble, the crushing defeat he suffered nearly two months ago left him with lingering fears, and he dared not immediately send troops to restrain Li Jun. Instead, he ordered his spies to inquire in detail about Li Jun's siege of Dagu City every day. When he learned that Li Jun was helpless against Dagu City, his courage gradually grew, and he finally personally led 20,000 men to attack Leiming City. At the same time, he also sent out scouts to cut off the supply line from Leiming City to Dagu City.
Upon learning that Li Jun had lifted the siege of Dagu City and was rapidly returning with his army, suffering minimal losses despite being pursued by Peng Yuancheng, and that Li Jun would soon be closing in, Zhu Wenhai began to feel uneasy. Without Li Jun, he felt fearless, but with Li Jun's return, the mere thought of facing this man who had directly killed his father, indirectly caused his brother's death, yet helped him ascend to the position of Governor of Yuzhou ahead of schedule, filled him with a deep-seated dread. He hadn't directly confronted Li Jun, but he had witnessed Li Jun's ambush of Zhu Mao, watching helplessly as Li Jun beheaded his father with a single wave of his hand—a horrific image that had deeply ingrained his fear. Furthermore, his subsequent repeated defeats against Li Jun's Peace Army only fueled his deep-seated apprehension towards Li Jun.
"Do you all think we should fight this battle with Li Jun?" In the military tent, he sat on a tiger-skin chair and asked his advisors. These advisors, like Sima Hui, who had once been the strategist of his brother Zhu Wenyuan, were all from prominent families in Yuzhou.
From his words, everyone could tell that he really didn't have the courage to fight. After thinking for a moment, his advisor Huo Ze said, "Our army's intention was to relieve the siege of Dagu City. Now that the siege of Dagu City has been lifted, our army no longer needs to fight Li Jun. It would be better to return to the capital to rest and recuperate."
The other staff members echoed this sentiment, and Zhu Wenhai went along with it, saying, "In that case, you should all issue orders to the three armies to retreat tonight."
Zhu's subordinates, like him, were eager to leave as soon as possible, but dared not speak up since their commander hadn't given the order. As soon as the order to retreat was announced, the soldiers prepared to depart at more than twice the usual speed. Seeing this, Zhu Wenhai couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Are we really that afraid of Li Jun?"
Regarding the retreat route, Zhu Wenhai believed that it would be best to retreat along the same route they had come from. This route was both closer and far from the route the Peace Army had taken to retreat. None of the staff dared to raise any objections. However, they did not know that after Peng Yuancheng retreated, Li Jun immediately ordered Meng Yuan to lead the cavalry lightly armed to advance directly towards their retreat route.
"This could result in our army being isolated deep in enemy territory!" Xiao Lin had to warn. The Peace Army didn't have many cavalry units. After capturing the Tong family's ranch in Silver Tiger City, they only managed to form a cavalry unit of about a thousand men. Using a thousand men to block ten thousand men who were eager to return home, especially when they were in enemy territory, was indeed quite risky.
"Our army is eager to avenge the defeat at Dagu City, while the enemy is eager to return home and lacks fighting spirit. Our army is attacking them with a deliberate intent, and we can defeat them in one battle and boost their morale," Li Jun explained his reasons for the attack. He then added, "Moreover, our main force will arrive soon and head straight for Zhu Jia's Yuyang City. We will make the Zhu family taste the bitter fruit of daring to hold us back!"
Hearing the hidden meaning in his words, Xiao Lin glanced at him sideways and saw that Li Jun's expression was very calm. Xiao Lin asked, "Is that all? Although Yuyang is the gateway to Zhu family's main city, Yujiang, it is a city with high walls and deep moats. It is said that it is no less than Yujiang City. Zhu Wenhai is afraid of the might of the Heping Army and will definitely have a large number of troops defending it. It will not be easy to take it in a hurry."
"Haha." Li Jun could only laugh when Xiao Lin saw through his intentions. He said, "Actually, this is just a bluff. It's because Zhu Wenhai is cowardly that if I launch a full-scale attack, he will definitely ask Peng Yuancheng to come to his rescue. Peng Yuancheng knows that if Yuyang is lost, Yujiang City will also be hard to defend. Then, all of Yuzhou will only have Dagu City left, which will no longer be worth defending. Therefore, he will definitely invade and come to his aid. He may even be prepared to abandon Dagu City."
"Impossible. Dagu City is Peng Yuancheng's base of operations. How could he easily give it up? If he were willing to give up Dagu City, why wouldn't he simply surrender to our army?"
Li Jun turned his gaze toward the direction of Otani City, seemingly looking at the enemy who was not in front of him, his desire to bring him under his command growing stronger. "A man's character can only be known after fighting. This is a sentence that Luger once said to me. I didn't understand its meaning before, but now I do."
Hearing him suddenly mention the Qiang people who had died in battle, Xiao Lin fell silent. But the astonishment in his heart was like a raging storm. In his memory, Li Jun had always been a cold, arrogant, and murderous young mercenary, but at this moment, Li Jun seemed more like someone who loved to reminisce about the past.
Is this still Li Jun? He wondered to himself, glancing sideways at Li Jun. He felt that besides the young commander, there seemed to be another person sitting there.
"Lu Xiang... Lu Wudi, the changes he's undergone are truly astounding. To transform him so much in just three years, that man is truly remarkable. But why do I always feel that something is subtly amiss with these changes?" Xiao Lin asked himself repeatedly, habitually stroking his chin as he continued to ponder.
At this moment, Li Jun was further analyzing Peng Yuancheng's possible strategies. After the battle of wits and courage in Dagu City, he had gradually come to understand Peng Yuancheng. This man possessed considerable strategic acumen, and even knowing that he wanted him to leave Dagu City, he would inevitably abandon it to gain strategic maneuvering. In Yuzhou, relying solely on Dagu City to confront the Peace Army was futile. If he wiped out the Zhu family's forces and annexed the other four smaller forces, then used a strategy of gradual encroachment to trap Dagu City, its destruction would only be a matter of time. To contend with the Peace Army, one first needed a powerful army like the Zhu family of Yujiang with sufficient supplies to sustain the war effort, and secondly, a general with strategic acumen and tactical skills like Peng Yuancheng. Zhu Wenhai and Peng Yuancheng would see this sooner or later. Rather than waiting for them to unite willingly and become difficult to break up, it was better to force them to unite now.
Moreover, for Peng Yuancheng, Dagu City does not play a decisive role in his Yuzhou strategy, but for him, this seemingly useless piece can become the key to victory or defeat.
Thinking of this, Li Jun smiled. Ji Su immediately understood that he had a bad idea. This wicked smile was a sign that Li Jun had a good plan.
The Zhu family army that retreated from Leiming City did not encounter any pursuit from the Tiger Wing Army in Leiming City, and their journey was relatively smooth.
However, Zhu Wenhai was not misled by this safe situation. Spies and scouts brought him a constant stream of enemy military intelligence: whether the Tiger Wing Army of Leiming City showed any signs of leaving, where Li Jun's Peace Army had gone, and whether there were any suspicious people within a five-mile radius.
Li Jun knew that he would admire his caution, even though it stemmed from fear rather than a desire to gain the upper hand on the battlefield. However, it must be admitted that his caution was effective; he knew about Meng Yuan's cavalry before they even got close.
"What to do?" Knowing the enemy's actions was half the battle, but the other half depended on the commander's strategy. Unfortunately, judging from his personal abilities, Zhu Wenhai wasn't someone who could remain calm under changing circumstances. Li Jun's method of not returning with all his might but instead sending light cavalry to intercept his retreat route truly frightened him. If the retreat route was cut off, his more than 20,000 troops would likely become withered bones in the wilderness.
"Our army has 20,000 men, while Li Jun's cavalry has less than 2,000. We can definitely fight them!" Huo Ze said with courage. "Our army might as well set up camp here and wait for the enemy to attack. We can then use our fortifications to meet them head-on and we will surely win a complete victory."
“This is all flat land, with no natural defenses. How can we fight against cavalry? Besides, I don’t think Li Jun would send only a thousand cavalrymen to their deaths. There must be a deeper reason behind it!” said another advisor, Pang Wu.
"What other deeper meaning is there?" Huo Ze asked in return.