Feng Jiutian and Ji Su were both taken aback. How could someone in the main army stop them from doing their thing?
A flash of golden light appeared, and a slender figure emerged from the source of the voice.
"Mr. Lei... how did you get here?" Unable to hide her surprise, Feng Jiutian asked. Ji Su also looked curiously at this man who had once slain the dragon alongside Li Jun. Although the two had met a few times, Lei Hun had always been aloof, seemingly oblivious to everyone else. It was astonishing that such a person could be with Li Jun.
Lei Hun stared sternly at Feng Jiutian, his gaze as sharp as lightning, forcing Feng Jiutian to lower his head slightly. After a moment, Lei Hun said, "I just arrived in the city. I heard you had already gone out to meet the enemy, so I used earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of magic or technique) to get here. Mr. Feng, I'm glad I'm not too late!"
A glint flashed in Feng Jiutian's eyes. His plans and intentions could be kept secret from others, but there was one person he could never hide from. He had originally wanted to end everything before the other person returned, but now it seemed he had been too late.
"Li Jun sent me to deliver four words." Lei Hun glanced at Ji Su, who was staring curiously at the two of them, and said coldly, "Do not act rashly!"
"Do not act rashly..."
Feng Jiutian's face turned ashen, and he murmured those four words repeatedly. Li Jun had probably brought more than just those four words with Lei Hun; otherwise, Lei Hun wouldn't have looked at him so sternly. Lei Hun hadn't said this in front of everyone, especially Ji Su, out of good intentions. Although his voice was cold, his insight and cunning were probably no less than Feng Jiutian's. Back then, when Peng Yuancheng besieged Kuanglan City, it was Feng Jiutian's fire oil plan that broke Peng Yuancheng's Xuanji Tower.
"Did Miss Mo Rong send you?" Feng Jiutian asked Lei Hun, looking up at him. Lei Hun wasn't in Kuanglan City, but resided at the Magic Academy in Leiming City. Even Li Jun, from the Peace Army, would have difficulty persuading him; only Mo Rong could have appointed him as a messenger. When Feng Jiutian came to Changcheng, he had tried to request assistance from the teachers and students of the Magic Academy, but Lei Hun had completely ignored him. Mo Rong's request for him as a messenger meant that she also knew about his arrangements. She sent Lei Hun because she feared others might not be trustworthy, because time was of the essence, and because she wanted Lei Hun to use his powerful strength to stop her if necessary. The thoughts of these young people were indeed beyond the reach of an old man like Feng Jiutian.
"Miss Ji, please set off!"
Feng Jiutian's expression changed in an instant. He then turned to Ji Su, his gaze resolute: "A general in the field may disobey the emperor's orders. If we cannot temporarily repel Liu Guang, Yuzhou will fall before Commander Li arrives. Only by making Liu Guang suffer can we buy time. Therefore, we have no choice but to do it!"
Section 02
Following Huo Kuang's advice, Meng Yuan looked upstream and his expression changed drastically.
With the river current, a long ribbon of fire was flowing downstream at an extremely fast speed. Meng Yuan only paused for a moment before realizing that it was a raft burning with black oil. If this raft were to collide with a boat, smaller boats would likely sink immediately, while larger ones would certainly be set ablaze. In addition, with flames raging like locusts on the opposite bank, the more than one hundred boats of the Peace Army would instantly become a sea of fire.
"Full speed retreat!" Meng Yuan roared, snatching a powerful bow from a barbarian warrior beside him. He nocked an arrow and aimed at Huo Kuang, who was sneering atop the sedan chair. He knew that retreating was now too late; he was about to suffer a crushing defeat, an unprecedented loss since joining the army. The cause of this defeat was his own carelessness and the scheme of the man in the sedan chair.
His tiger-like eyes seemed to spit fire, and with a shout of "Die!", an arrow shot out like a meteor. Although it was already a hundred paces away from the riverbank, the arrow reached Huo Kuang in an instant.
With a sharp "thud," just as the arrow seemed poised to eliminate this formidable threat, a massive shield rose up, blocking the flying arrow. The arrow pierced the iron shield an inch deep, its fletching whirring in the air. Huo Kuang couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat; if it weren't for his deputy's timely rescue, he would have inexplicably died just as victory was about to arrive.
Meng Yuan angrily snapped the bow in two, his gaze fixed on the enemy general who had saved Huo Kuang. He was taken aback; the man was at least eighteen feet tall. He hadn't noticed him standing behind the sedan chair before, but now he stood in front of Huo Kuang, shield in hand. Judging from his physique, he must be a Qiang warrior.
"Who is that Qiang warrior?" Meng Yuan asked in a loud voice. Although the Peace Army was screaming in terror amidst the sea of fire, and the sound of the wind fueling the flames was like the wailing of ghosts and wolves, his voice still pierced the darkness and reached the ears of both sides.
“I am Xiao Guang!” the Qiang man uttered in a deep voice.
"I, Meng Yuan, will surely take your life!" Meng Yuan shouted. "Just you wait!" His voice carried an undeniable force of pressure. To the enemy, it was clear that he was not just spouting nonsense. To his own men, who were in a state of confusion, it greatly boosted their morale.
"General Meng is unharmed. Everyone, calm down and listen to his commands!" The officers stopped the soldiers from moving around and began to move in an orderly manner through the log rafts that were rushing down from upstream.
"Use long poles to prop up the rafts!" Meng Yuan's voice rang out. Chaos is the worst enemy in a fire; remaining calm will minimize losses. He then ordered, "Abandon ships that are beyond saving; those still intact, focus on rescue!"
"So it was Meng Yuan. No wonder he remained calm under pressure." Huo Kuang stroked his long beard on the shore, listened quietly for a while, and then said, "Even if he escaped from the sea of fire, he is doomed to defeat today! Pass down the order to prepare to cross the river!"
Gazing at the raging flames rising into the sky above the river, Lü Wubing almost cried out in alarm. These past few days, he had spent much time with Meng Yuan, and a strong affection had grown in his heart for this valiant general, who was as generous as an elder brother. Therefore, without hesitation, he said, "Follow me!"
Seeing him rush towards the warship, Fang Fengyi reached out and grabbed him, her face as heavy as lead: "No, General Meng is in a state of chaos right now, if you go there, it will only make things worse!"
"General Meng instructed us to provide support for him before he went into battle. Are we just going to sit here and watch?"
"The best support is to remain calm." Fang Fengyi's eyes flashed with a fierce light, and then he said, "Order the small boats out of the water fortress, push aside the floating logs in the river, and clear a path for General Meng to retreat!"
Just then, the Peace Army on the shore also erupted in commotion. The rafts drifting downstream had set fire to the Peace Army's naval fortress. Warships moored within the fortress lowered their sails to avoid it, but the fire, fueled by the wind, engulfed the entire fortress in mere moments. A strong southerly wind swept the flames, which had risen more than ten feet high, ashore, igniting the withered trees along the bank. In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the fire had spread from the water to the shore, and then from the shore to the town of Fenglin Ferry on the riverbank. Even the city walls, as high as three feet, could not stop the wrath of the fire god. If the townspeople had not fled because of the war, they would surely have been wailing in despair.
Amidst the thick smoke and raging flames, Fang Fengyi and Lü Wubing were also filled with panic. The two gathered their troops, wanting to leave, but worried that Meng Yuan's retreat would be cut off by the fire. Just then, a warship ran aground on the riverbank with a bang, and the ship was also engulfed in flames. The soldiers of the Peace Army jumped into the winter river, but most of them were wearing armor and could not float after falling into the water.
"Stop trying to put out the fire!" Seeing that putting out the fire was hopeless, Fang Fengyi shouted, "Saving lives is the priority. Wubing, you stay here and save lives. Come on, someone, follow me!"
Wu Bing was puzzled that Fang Fengyi was leading thousands of soldiers up the river during this crisis, but he had no time to concern himself with it. The warship was not far from the riverbank where it had run aground. He ordered the remaining small boats to rush to the rescue, while he cut down the flagpole pole nearby and dipped it into the water for his soldiers, who were being tossed about in the waves, to grab onto.
Just as the Peace Army warships that had launched their night raid were retreating back to shore, another shout erupted from upstream. Wu Bing glanced over, but could see nothing in the firelight, only the incessant clash of weapons and shouts of insults. The crackling of the flames only added to his unease. That was where Fang Fengyi had led her troops, and now Wu Bing understood why she had gone there. Huo Kuang's preparations for today's battle had clearly taken place over a long period. While avoiding the Peace Army's notice, he had been cutting timber and building rafts upstream. Although rafts couldn't carry large groups of soldiers across the river like warships, they were sufficient to transport elite troops divided into smaller units. Moreover, rafts were less prone to running aground and had less stringent requirements for the riverbanks compared to warships.
"General Meng! General Meng!" Wu Bing asked the soldiers on several warships, but they all said they hadn't seen Meng Yuan. He grew even more anxious, as if the fire of the battlefield was burning in his heart. He leaped onto a small boat and shouted, "Quickly, let's go get General Meng!"
The soldier on the small boat hesitated and said, "The river is full of fire. Even large ships cannot withstand it, let alone small boats."
"Go quickly!" Wu Bing drew his sword and held it to the soldier's neck. The soldier saw that his originally handsome face was full of murderous intent. Remembering how brave and fierce this man was on the battlefield, he dared not say another word and rowed away.
At this moment, flames were everywhere in the river, including burning rafts and abandoned Peace Army warships that had been set ablaze. Wu Bing sheathed his sword, stood at the bow of the boat with his spear raised, and shouted as he looked around, "General Meng! General Meng!"
"The general is still on the flagship!" someone on a retreating boat responded. "He ordered us to turn back by boat, but he himself is still on the flagship!"
Wu Bing's heart sank upon hearing this. He wished he had been on Meng Yuan's ship back then, so that he could knock him unconscious and take him away, or at least let him leave first. But now, he could only continue his search in this sea of fire.
The river surged, flames soared into the sky, and the Gui River turned crimson like blood. Wubing stared in disbelief, feeling that in this vast sea of fire, only his small boat still had a chance of survival. He felt as if the blood in his body had been dried out by the flames, and the glimmer of hope in his heart grew ever fainter.
"Giggle..." He gritted his teeth, stretched out his spear and pried open a nearly burned raft. The raft crashed into a sinking Peace Army warship and was swept away by the river.
"General Meng!" After the ship sank, Wubing saw Meng Yuan's warship. The ship was mostly burned, charred black in the firelight, and there was no sign of any living people. Wubing felt his legs go weak, and his right knee buckled, and he knelt on the ship, letting out a mournful cry that was almost a groan.
"I'm here!" Meng Yuanzhi's familiar voice suddenly rang out. Wu Bing was overjoyed. He looked in the direction of the voice and saw a person lying on a piece of plank floating in the water. Wu Bing was overjoyed. He snatched the oar from the soldier's hand and vigorously paddled the boat. After getting close, he reached out and pulled Meng Yuanzhi up.
Meng Yuan's face was somewhat pale. This defeat was even worse than he had anticipated. Most of the warships used for crossing the river were engulfed in flames, and the water fortress and Fenglin Ferry Town on the riverbank were also affected. He glanced at Wu Bing, squeezed Wu Bing's hand tightly, and whispered, "I'm sorry, thank you."
Wu Bing paused for a moment, then immediately understood that the apology he was referring to was for not heeding his and Fang Fengyi's advice to send troops across the river. This was not the time to dwell on such matters. On the bank, Fang Fengyi was leading her tattered army to resist the enemy's elite troops who were launching a surprise attack while the fire was burning. The sounds behind them proved that the enemy's main force was also preparing to cross the river. The only thing to do now was to return to the bank and regroup.
In the midst of the crisis, Fang Fengyi managed to gather only a little over a thousand soldiers, and these soldiers were all shocked by the battle situation. Although they hadn't collapsed yet, their morale was certainly low. Fang Fengyi touched his helmet, which originally belonged to a fallen Peace Army soldier. Stroking his beard with one hand and gripping his broadsword with the other, Fang Fengyi roared, "Follow me!"
The words "Follow me" resonated deeply with the Peace Army. Remembering that their general was the wise and courageous commander known as "Fang the Three Followers" for his bravery in the Battle of Wakou Pass, their initial anxiety subsided somewhat. Fang Fengyi, already possessing a commanding presence, moved with agility in the firelight, his expression as dignified as a god. Along the way, panicked Peace Army soldiers frequently joined the ranks. By the time he passed Fenglin Ferry Town and reached the vast maple forest upstream, the thousand-odd soldiers had grown to over three thousand.
Huo Kuang's pre-arranged elite troops, following his plan, were to wait until the fire broke out at Fenglin Ferry, and then, when the Peace Army was in disarray and fleeing, before launching their attack. However, they hadn't anticipated that Fang Fengyi could muster a force in the crisis and rush to meet them. The two sides met before Fenglin Ferry. Fang Fengyi was already on horseback, her broadsword flashing like the wind, quickly slaying several enemy soldiers. The attackers, who had come to ambush them, were caught completely off guard.
Maple Forest Ferry was ablaze, but the area around Maple Forest itself was not yet on fire. In the darkness, the Chen soldiers were unaware of how many Peace Army troops had come to meet them. After a fierce battle, the Chen generals, fearing they had fallen into a trap set by the Peace Army, began to retreat.