"Quickly, we must not only go back to inform the Governor-General to prepare for the change, but also report the good news to him." Sima Hui urged everyone loudly. Although the losses were heavy, as long as there were no fundamental changes, Thunder City, which Zhu Mao had long dreamed of, was already in his hands.
"No need!" A shout forced them to rein in their horses. Li Jun and Meng Yuan, armed with weapons, slowly rode up in front of them, followed by hundreds of Peace Army soldiers.
"Li Jun!?" Almost instinctively, Sima Hui guessed who the newcomer was. When his gaze fell and landed on the human head hanging around Li Jun's horse's neck, he was even more shocked.
"My lord... Commander!" He nearly fell from his horse, and the remaining cavalrymen immediately panicked. Meng Yuan seized the opportunity and shouted, "Yujiang City has been captured by the Peace Army! Those who surrender will be spared!"
"What should we do?" the guard cavalryman asked timidly.
Sima Hui looked at the Peace Army that followed Li Jun. Although he was just a civilian staff member, he knew very well that the few dozen cavalrymen he led were not even enough to slaughter Li Jun and Meng Yuan.
“The great cause is lost…” he sighed deeply and lowered his head.
Thus, Sima Hui and these dozens of cavalrymen became Li Jun's prisoners of war.
The fierce battle beneath Thunder City had reached a fever pitch, with both sides committing their full strength. Over two thousand Zhu family soldiers had already stormed the city walls and were opening the gates to let more soldiers in. Zhu Wenyuan personally charged onto the city wall, beheading several Thunder City defenders with his sword, and shouted, "Follow me! Thunder City is ours!"
Just then, a shout came from afar, the shouts of hundreds of people were so unified that they drowned out the battle cries from the top of Thunder City.
"Yujiang City has fallen to the Peace Army, and Zhu Mao has been beheaded!"
Zhu Wenyuan smiled coldly, “It’s finally here,” he thought to himself, “Li Jun’s Peace Army wants to use this trick to disrupt our morale, but that’s impossible.”
"Continue the attack! This is an enemy tactic to demoralize our troops; ignore it!"
So Zhu's soldiers launched another fierce attack. The city gates had been secured, and the defenders of Leiming City were forced to retreat while putting up a stubborn resistance.
Suddenly, the Zhu family soldiers' rear guard fell into disarray. A large black horse led a small troop of cavalry in from behind. Li Jun, on horseback, held a halberd in one hand and Zhu Mao's head in the other, shouting loudly, "Zhu Mao's head is here! Anyone who blocks my way shall die!"
Beneath his dark red dragon-head mask, his eyes gleamed with a cold, ruthless light. As he rode that tall black horse, he exuded a murderous aura, almost like a god of war.
Under their onslaught, the Zhu family soldiers, who were already somewhat scattered, collapsed uncontrollably when they discovered that the severed head truly belonged to Zhu Mao.
The morale of the city's defenders soared, and with a counterattack, they recaptured the city gate. Zhu Wenyuan stood atop the city wall, staring blankly at the head of his father held aloft by Li Jun below, then looked down at Thunder City below, and cried out hoarsely, "Father...look, Thunder City...is beneath my feet..."
But his frantic shouts were quickly swallowed up by the boiling battle cries. An arrow pierced through his armor and pierced his chest. He swayed a few times, knocked down a soldier who was trying to behead him, and murmured, "Li Jun..." before falling from the city wall and dying beneath it.
The flames of war gradually died down, and apart from the mournful neighing of warhorses that had lost their masters, the battlefield returned to calm. The Zhu family had successively deployed 70,000 troops to Leiming City, of whom 40,000 were killed or wounded, 10,000 were captured, and the rest fled in disarray.
Cleaning up the battlefield was much easier. This war involved 150,000 to 160,000 soldiers, more than half of whom were killed or wounded, leaving the entire force severely weakened. The final outcome of this battle was determined by the Rong people's attack on Tongjia Yinhu City and Li Jun's surprise attack on Yujiang City, where he beheaded the enemy's commander.
So how did Li Jun break into Yujiang City and kill Zhu Mao? Hua Feng and Qi Guang both came to the victory celebration banquet that night with this question in mind.
Section 3
The victory banquet was naturally much more lavish than the welcoming banquet for Li Jun that day. This victory not only relieved everyone of their worries, but also the acquisition of the abandoned supplies from the Zhu and Tong families was enough to make Hua Feng beam with joy.
Moreover, this battle resulted in heavy losses for several large mercenary groups that had long been entrenched in Thunder City, with some group leaders even killed in action, significantly diminishing their influence within the city. Until new mercenaries are replenished, Hua Feng can be said to have no immediate concerns about internal or external troubles.
The only thing that made him somewhat regretful was that Li Jun and the Peace Army suffered heavy losses in this battle. No, it could be said that they grew stronger through this battle. Some of the mercenaries whose commanders had died in battle asked to join the Peace Army, and the number of Peace Army members increased from 1,800 to more than 2,000.
"Commander Li, the preservation of Thunder City in this battle is entirely thanks to you." After a few rounds of drinks, Hua Feng deliberately said this. "Now I can tell you all the commanders that when Commander Li left, he made an agreement with me that he would be responsible for taking Zhu Mao's first victory, and we would be responsible for defending the city. As long as we can hold out for four days, we will achieve a complete victory."
Li Jun smiled slightly, and the complex looks on the faces of the mercenary commanders proved that Hua Feng's goal had been partially achieved. Apart from the Peace Army, most mercenary groups suffered nearly half their casualties, yet all the credit went to the Peace Army—something that would make anyone dissatisfied.
"General Hua is too kind." He glanced at the banquet and said, "The prerequisite for victory in this battle does not lie with the Peace Army. If we are to reward those who have fought so hard in Thunder City, those who were wounded or killed in battle should be rewarded first." As he said this, his expression became somewhat somber. This somberness was not something he deliberately put on, but rather because he was thinking of Lu Xiang.
In the era of the invincible army, after every major battle, Lu Xiang's first task was to comfort the wounded and mourn the dead. Although Lu Xiang himself possessed rare military talent, he was actually quite weary of warfare. More than once, after a victory, Lu Xiang pointed to the hordes of corpses on the battlefield and said to Li Jun, "Look, one general's success is built on the bones of ten thousand. These people were originally just like you and me, living and breathing, but now they are cold corpses..."
When it came to rewarding merits, Lu Xiang always tried to downplay his own achievements in commanding battles or personally charging into battle under the cover of arrows and stones. He attributed the victory to the bravery and skill of the soldiers and to the timely logistical support. These were the precious legacies that Lu Xiang left to Li Jun.
Retracting his remembrance of the deceased, Li Jun stood up and said, "Gentlemen, I suggest we drink a cup together, not only for ourselves, but also for our fallen brothers."
With just two sentences, he dispelled the jealousy that Hua Feng had stirred up among the mercenaries and greatly increased their goodwill towards Li Jun. This "Dragon Head Demon King" who often killed his enemies also had this loyal and righteous side.
"The second-rate credit should go to Mr. Yu Sheng, who wasn't present. If he hadn't been able to persuade the Rong people to attack Yinhu City, the people celebrating here right now would be the Tong family." After finishing his drink, Li Jun praised Yu Sheng again. Naturally, what he said was true; it was precisely because Yu Sheng persuaded the Rong people that the Tong family soldiers withdrew at the last moment.
"Commander Li is too modest. If it weren't for the Peace Army achieving Zhu Mao's first victory, we would still have lost this battle. However, I wonder how Commander Li achieved Zhu Mao's first victory?" Qi Guang's words made it impossible for Hua Feng to continue creating discord between Li Jun and the other commanders.
"Yes, we are also very interested in how Commander Li will conquer Yujiang City," Mo Yunlong, the commander of the Cold Moon Gang, chimed in, and everyone's attention was immediately focused on this matter.
It turned out that after Li Jun led the Peace Army out of Leiming City overnight, they traveled day and night, bypassing the advancing Zhu family army, and then cut off the Zhu family army's connection with Yujiang City. Regarding the situation in Yujiang City, thanks to clues provided by the "Bitter Child Camp," he knew that Zhu Mao was somewhat superstitious. After three consecutive days without receiving battle reports from the front and with his men missing, Zhu Mao left his heavily guarded home to seek divine assistance at a temple.
By this time, Li Jun had already disguised himself and entered Yujiang City, leading dozens of men to ambush the streets leading to the temple. How could a mere few hundred guards possibly stop the elite Peace Army soldiers handpicked by Li Jun? Furthermore, both Li Jun and Meng Yuan had been personally trained in combat by Lu Xiang, and with lightning speed, they killed Zhu Mao and quickly left the city. The city's garrison, alerted to the danger, was about to close the gates when they were killed by Zhou Jie and Su Xiang, who were waiting at the city walls. As for claiming to have captured Yujiang City, that was merely a lie told to demoralize the Zhu family soldiers.
Although Li Jun spoke lightly, everyone knew that it was actually quite a perilous situation. Li Jun entered Yujiang City with only a few dozen men. If the Zhu family hadn't been careless, they would have been lambs to the slaughter. No matter how skilled Li Jun and Meng Yuan were, they couldn't possibly be a match for thousands of soldiers. If the timing had been slightly off during and after the assassination, they would have been sitting ducks.
“Skilled and daring.” Qi Guang sighed again. “Only a young and promising person like Commander Li could accomplish such a great thing. If it were an old man like me, I would probably lose my life.”
The banquet ended in high spirits, and upon returning to his tent, Li Jun realized that he had not yet interrogated the prisoners captured on the road.
"Bring him here." Although he had information about the Bitter Camp, Li Jun still wanted to learn more about Yuzhou. Feng Jiutian had given him a year, and more than nine months had already passed. He needed to speed up his activities.
“There’s no need to kneel.” Li Jun stopped the soldiers escorting Sima Hui from forcing him to kneel. “Get this gentleman a seat.”
Sima Hui sat down with his head held high. At most, he would die. Now that things had come to this, he didn't feel there was anything to be afraid of.
"May I ask your name, sir?" Li Jun asked while looking at the list of soldiers who had recently joined the Peace Army.
"Yu Yang, Sima Hui," Sima Hui said loudly, showing no fear whatsoever.
“Oh.” Li Jun smiled slightly. This Sima Hui was rather bookish. He had only asked for his name, but Sima Hui had already mentioned his hometown. He must be a rather arrogant person. His surname must be quite famous in Yuyang (Note 1).
"To obtain Yuzhou, force alone is not enough; we must gain the support of the local people," Li Jun thought to himself, and then asked, "What are your thoughts on this battle, Mr. Sima?"
"Do you want the truth or a lie?" Sima Hui asked.
"Hahahaha..." Li Jun suddenly found this person interesting. "Mr. Sima, please speak freely. There is no need for you to speak frankly in my camp."