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Section 2
The army marched silently through the snow, a long line of tens of thousands stretching as far as the eye could see, its beginning and end invisible. Li Jun looked ahead and back, a profound sense of awe rising within him.
If Marshal Lu were alive, he would surely feel how he felt knowing that he was leading a force far larger than the original Invincible Army.
Three days had passed since they entered Chen territory. Before leaving Huichang, he ordered his chief guard, Zeng Liang, and three of his older subordinates to escort the four girls back to Kuanglan City. While they were described as older, this was only in a relative sense; none of them were over thirty. Li Jun had a deeper purpose in having them escort them.
As veteran Peacekeepers, they should be settling down. Ordinary mercenaries are often forced to sell their lives in war due to poverty, but the Peacekeepers are different. They are soldiers with their own bases and homes; they have a public home, and they should also have a private one. Those four guys always talk about what to do when they see a beautiful woman. Now that they've been given the chance, they should know how to act. I can't possibly teach them how to woo a girl.
Li Jun's thoughts were completely out of character for his age, and strictly speaking, he himself was utterly clueless about how to pursue girls. At this moment, he didn't consider that these four delicate flowers, nurtured in a greenhouse, needed someone who knew how to cherish and care for them, someone refined and witty to engage in romantic conversation with, not just warriors who only knew how to fight. Of course, this wasn't Li Jun's fault; he himself was someone who didn't understand girls' psychology.
Li Jun's strategy of advancing during the New Year proved successful. The Lianfa Sect's rebel army had no idea that the Peace Army would march while everyone was busy celebrating the New Year, and therefore was unprepared for Li Jun's route. The Peace Army advanced with unstoppable momentum. Vanguard Commander Lan Qiao frequently sent spies to report what they saw ahead. Along the way, the Peace Army had two minor encounters with the peasant rebels. Thanks to Lan Qiao's valiant efforts, the main force of the Peace Army didn't even have time to catch up before the battles were over. However, Lan Qiao was unable to bring himself to deal a heavy blow to the emaciated "bandits," and instead only managed to rout them, resulting in a kill count of less than three hundred.
"Reporting to the commander." The spy's horse stopped in front of Li Jun, and he shouted, "Ningwang City is just ahead. There are 10,000 rebel troops inside the city. Vanguard Lan has also arrived outside the city. Should we attack or postpone the attack?"
Li Jun frowned. Lan Qiao was a rare and brave general, but not a famous general who could stand alone. He had 15,000 men in the Peace Army and was riding the momentum of two victories. He could have taken the opportunity to launch a rapid attack on Ningwang, but instead he sent someone to ask for a strategy. Although it was a careful choice, it still missed the opportunity.
Fortunately, it didn't matter. Li Jun turned his gaze forward. Since the opportunity to launch a surprise attack and seize the city had been lost, he could take it slow and minimize his losses. "Report to Vanguard Lan: surround Ningwang City. Do not engage in battle rashly. Beware of enemy sneak attacks."
The spy caught his breath, then turned his horse around and galloped away. Li Jun, seeing the dark trail left by the army ahead, shouted, "All troops, speed up!"
When his main force arrived at Ningwang City, Lanqiao had already surrounded the city. The Lianfazong rebels were mostly untrained villagers; their sheer numbers allowed them to drive away the timid and cowardly Chen Kingdom defenders, but they couldn't break the Heping Army's hold. Although they also sent elite troops to attack when the Heping Army had just arrived at their camp, Lanqiao, having received instructions from Li Jun, was prepared. He personally killed a Lianfazong general, forcing them to flee into the city and remain inside.
Li Jun looked towards Ningwang City. The city was not large, and the moats and city walls had been in disrepair for many years. If he were to launch a strong attack, it would not be difficult.
"Lanqiao, you lead the army to launch a fierce attack from the south gate, and I will personally lead the army to attack from the east gate. Mengyuan, you lead 10,000 men to attack from the north gate." Li Jun observed for a moment. The enemy numbered 15,000. If they were to launch a direct assault, even a rabbit will bite when cornered. Moreover, these were desperate rebels. However, as this was the first major battle after entering Chen Kingdom's territory, if they could not quickly capture the enemy with minimal losses, it would greatly affect their morale.
"What about the West Gate?" Several lieutenants stared at Li Jun expectantly, hoping he would order them to capture the West Gate and achieve glory. But Li Jun simply smiled and said, "Do you think I intend to kill more enemy soldiers or seize this city and its inhabitants?"
“Naturally, we’ll capture the city,” said Fan Yong, who was originally a commander of the Silver Tiger Army. After Yu Prefecture was pacified, Li Jun transferred him and Shang Huaiyi to the city.
“These bandits, though they are rebels, are also pitiful.” Lan Qiao looked ashamed. He himself came from a very humble background. If he hadn’t married Pei Ziyu, he would probably have been more inclined to side with these rebellious people. “If the government hadn’t pressed them so hard, they wouldn’t have risen up. I’ve been using my elite troops to fight this rabble all the way here. But there’s nothing special about winning.”
Li Jun gently swung his riding whip and said, “That’s right. Remember, the Peace Army came here to save the people from their suffering, not to be their enemy. Therefore, I will only attack three gates and leave one open so that they have a way to escape. If the enemy sees that there is no way out, they will fight to the death. Now that they see that they have a way out, we only need to slightly dampen their morale, and they will lose their will to fight and collapse on their own.”
After the meal that day, the Lianfa army in the city discovered that the Heping army, which had originally surrounded Ningwang City, had begun to redeploy. The enemy forces in the east, south, and north were greatly strengthened, but the soldiers at the west gate were nowhere to be seen.
“I expect the enemy will definitely focus their main attack on the west gate,” said a Lianfa Sect priest (Note 1). “They are deliberately showing weakness at the west gate to conceal their main target. I don’t believe the enemy will attack from three sides at the same time.”
His words were accepted by the other generals of the Lotus Army. As a result, nearly half of the 15,000 Lotus Army soldiers in the city were concentrated near the West Gate, while the rest of the troops were just making a show of force with many flags.
Seeing the unusual activity on the city walls, Li Jun shook his head with a wry smile: "How clever of them! There are only 15,000 soldiers in the city, yet these three sides are covered with banners. Doesn't this tell me it's a feint? Give the order to beat the drums and attack the city!"
First came a mournful horn call, followed by the deafening sound of drums from the east, south, and north sides of Ningwang City. The massive cowhide drums, struck by the Qiang warriors, produced a sound that even made the earth tremble slightly. Guided by purple battle banners, the armored infantry of the Peace Army led the advance, heading straight for the three city gates.
Upon seeing this formidable force, so different from that of the Chen Kingdom's troops, the Lianfa army commanders in the city exchanged bewildered glances. Before the battle even began, their morale had already waned. Seeing their spirits dampened, the chief priest shouted, "What is there to fear? We fight for the Lianfa sect! The dead merely return to the realm of the gods. Do not be intimidated by the enemy!"
Under his loud shouts and the lure of posthumous honors, the soldiers finally mustered some courage and began to resist. But their resistance made the battle-hardened Peace Army soldiers laugh. Before the Peace Army even entered their firing range, they eagerly began to shoot arrows, which floated lightly down in front of the Peace Army's lines.
"Catapults! Repeating crossbowmen!" Under Li Jun's concise command, the Peace Army's catapults began to creak and groan as huge stones rained down on the city walls. Two-man repeating crossbowmen also fired bolts, each as long as two ordinary arrows, from their crossbows. The defenders on the city walls were overwhelmed by this overwhelming ranged attack and scattered in disarray.
A soldier desperately dodged the whistling rocks falling from the sky, unaware that he had stepped onto the battlements. His foot slipped, and he plummeted from the top of the wall. In his haste, he reached out to grab the battlements, but a rock struck his fingers, shattering them. Before he could even use his other hand, he slid rapidly downwards. The paradise the priests had envisioned during their missionary work seemed to be right before him. He greedily opened his eyes, wanting to take one last look before leaving this world. However, the walls of Ningwang City were not high. The fall only caused him to cough up blood and break his left leg. The immense physical pain jolted him from his reverie, and he let out a heart-wrenching cry. But his helpless and hopeless cry was quickly drowned out by the war drums and battle cries of the Peace Army. Like the raging waves of the East Sea, the Peace Army, with a force these professional farmers and amateur soldiers had never seen before, completely shattered both their external and internal defenses.
Before the battle even began, the Lianfa Sect's garrison had already collapsed. The Peace Army launched simultaneous offensives from the east, south, and north, leaving the garrisons in these three locations unable to support each other due to their own predicament. The only remaining garrison at the west gate, seeing the casualties and carnage of their own men, was filled with terror.
"We were wrong," a soldier said in despair. "The Peace Army didn't come from the west gate at all. They attacked from three other places. They have too many troops, and Ningwang City is small and has too few soldiers. There's no way they can hold it!"
“I have a wife and children at home… I can’t die…” Another middle-aged soldier almost sobbed. “I thought that by following the Lotus Dharma Sect, my family could live a good life, but now… now…” He suddenly threw down his weapon without saying another word and turned to leave.
"Let's go! There's no hope here!" shouted a soldier who had fled from the south gate. "Open the city gates! The chief minister is dead! Let's get out of here!"