His thirst for talent fueled his desire to unify Yuzhou as soon as possible and invite Feng Jiutian, whose abilities even Lu Xiang admired, to govern. However, distant water cannot quench immediate thirst, so he could only assign Sima Hui and Yu Sheng, one to govern Yinhu City and the other to Leiming City, to handle his daily affairs. Most of the talented individuals in the regions were still observing, and when entrusting this task to the two, Li Jun repeatedly instructed them to seek out more capable advisors. The two understood this, and therefore, when they repeatedly sent urgent messages via post to appoint someone as the head of a certain place, Li Jun approved them all without hesitation, which brought him some relief.
But something even more troubling him was that Ji Su's wariness of him had intensified after her conflict with Li Jun that day. No matter how Li Jun explained the benefits of Rong people befriending ordinary people and treating each other as equals, she remained silent. Li Jun dared not let her out of his sight, though he knew in his heart that if Ji Su wanted to leave, she would have already escaped. The reason she stayed was likely to seek revenge. Therefore, the two appeared inseparable, surprising Yu Sheng with the fact that Li Jun had taken both a Yue woman and a Rong girl, causing him deep concern about the future of the nation. In reality, however, each harbored their own ulterior motives, and they would likely fight whenever no one else was around—more like a newlywed couple arguing. The guards were already used to it; they only felt uneasy if the two were laughing and chatting.
Some people abhor war in times of peace, but in war they spare no effort to inflict maximum damage on the enemy. Li Jun is such a person. Although under Lu Xiang's influence, he developed a rebellious aversion to war, which he was originally accustomed to, when war comes, he will ruthlessly crush his opponents by any means necessary.
Now, Li Jun is in a state of peace. For the Peace Army and its auxiliary forces, Tiger Wing and Silver Tiger, the war has dragged on for far too long. It's essential to use these brief lulls in the fighting to allow the soldiers to truly experience the happiness of peace, to let them understand what kind of life they are fighting for, and to heal the wounds left by war—both physical and psychological—in this new life. If they are driven solely by brute force to engage in bloodshed, no one can endure it.
“I want the soldiers to receive more training and have a better life.” Li Jun said this to Meng Yuan after inspecting a group of very young and energetic soldiers who had just joined the Peace Army.
"So you gave up the opportunity to pursue the five minor forces and the Zhu family when they were defeated, and instead chose to give them a chance to catch their breath?" Meng Yuan waved his hands. For him, who had just recovered from his serious injuries, fighting a fierce battle was a good medicine to help his body recover.
"Haha, you seem to be in high spirits. How about we have a fight first?" Li Jun said half-jokingly. He knew Meng Yuan's personality and abilities well. Being cooped up in Kuanglan City for nearly five months was truly a difficult thing for someone like him. Although he loved and was willing to risk his life to protect peace, war could also stir up his passion.
"Come on, I see you fighting with that Rong woman every day, it must be quite a hard fight. But that woman is really formidable," Meng Yuan laughed.
"What did you say?" Ji Su was right next to Li Jun. The two of them were practically inseparable. She didn't know when it started, but she and Li Jun had both gotten used to being with each other, used to eating together, used to one of them handling official business while the other silently accompanied them, used to going to the construction site of Kuanglan City, which was almost fully built, together, and even used to fighting every day. The only thing they hadn't gotten used to was trusting each other.
"It's nothing, I'm not afraid of you." Meng Yuan wasn't really afraid of this woman, but his pride as a man wouldn't allow him to actually fight Ji Su. Besides, he knew that this woman could fight Li Jun to a standstill every time, so her fighting skills were no less than his.
"Speaking of which, there's something I'd like to ask you." Taking advantage of Ji Su's rare initiative, Li Jun finally asked the question that had been weighing on his mind for days: "Why hasn't your father sent anyone to negotiate? Does he simply not care about your life or death?"
Ji Su's beautiful eyes, hidden behind her menacing helmet, rolled at him fiercely, completely ignoring him. Li Jun could only smile wryly as he looked at Song Yun's wife, Chen Ying, who smiled slightly.
"Sister Ji Su, what if the people your father sent had an accident on the way? You've been in Kuanglan City for ten days now," she said. Although Ji Su ignored Li Jun, she was very friendly to Chen Ying, who was also a woman, and Mo Rong, who was currently busy directing the work at the construction site. Women are always the best at communicating with each other, so Chen Ying asked Ji Su after understanding Li Jun's pleading look.
“My father Khan loves me very much. He must be convening a meeting of all the tribes on the grasslands right now, to wash away my shame with blood.” Cold words came out of Ji Su’s mouth. The Rong people worship the war god Potian and have always regarded war as an ordinary thing.
"Doesn't he care about your life or death? You can stay with us."
"Hmph, the Rong people are not cowards, and they are definitely not weaklings who will be threatened!" Ji Su had always held a grudge against Li Jun for threatening him with the lives of his own men, and now he took the opportunity to mock him.
Li Jun frowned, knowing the problem was quite troublesome. If what Ji Su said was true, then the Rong people and the common people, who had thought they could coexist peacefully, would inevitably have another major war. The only fundamental solution was to extinguish the sparks that could ignite a war before it even started.
And this Mars is Ji Su, who is being held hostage. Since she has lost her value as a hostage, it's better to release her.
“This… Miss Ji Su, I will have someone send you back tomorrow. I hope you can persuade your father not to start a war lightly,” Li Jun said.
Ji Su looked at him with some surprise. Although she mentioned her father's large-scale attack on her behalf, she didn't think Li Jun would be afraid and release her. On the contrary, she just wanted to annoy Li Jun. For some reason, as long as she opposed Li Jun, as long as she could make him frown, she felt happy.
Are you serious?
"When have I ever lied to you?" Li Jun was not at all calm and composed in commanding the army. In fact, he was somewhat dejected. He really had no way to deal with women, especially young women.
"Why should I listen to you? You can arrest me and I'll come, you can release me and I'll leave? I'm not leaving!" Ji Su shouted loudly, as if she was arguing with Li Jun, completely unaware of the astonished looks from the others present.
"So what do you want? Have your father lead a large army here, and I'll cut off his head for you to see?" Li Jun's reply was quite harsh, which made Ji Suteng stand up and take a few steps closer to him.
Li Jun thought she was going to start a fight again, so he quickly stood up. But Ji Su didn't make a move. Her chest heaved rapidly. Because her helmet couldn't be seen, she looked extremely excited. Suddenly, she let out a sharp snort, turned around, and ran away.
"That strange Rong woman!" Li Jun breathed a sigh of relief and sat down, but when he thought about the unimaginable consequences if this terrifying woman were to go on a rampage in the city in a fit of rage, he quickly said, "I'll go see if she'll cause any trouble," and ran out again.
"What a strange Rong woman!" Meng Yuan also found it puzzling, and Song Yun nodded in agreement, "Yes, yes!"
"You're kidding me! All men like you are big idiots!" Chen Ying shoved him hard, then stood up and said, "I'll go see if those two will do anything reckless." He then left the tent.
But her mind wasn't that simple. She was an experienced woman and knew perfectly well the circumstances under which a woman would act that way towards a man.
"Could it be... that the somewhat strange young commander is about to have a stroke of luck with women?" she wondered.
The final outcome was that Li Jun silently backed down in exchange for Ji Su writing a letter to her father. After receiving a letter from his beloved daughter, who was unharmed and subtly mentioned that Li Jun had removed his helmet and that Li Jun was the one chosen by the God of War, Hulei Khan, while filled with anxiety, finally abandoned his plan for a large-scale attack.
"The God of War wouldn't choose an ordinary person, would he..." Hulei Khan sighed as he thought on the vast grassland.
While Li Jun was overwhelmed with these matters, the five minor factions united by Peng Yuancheng split up. Originally, they had united to prevent the emergence of a dominant force in Yuzhou, but now that such a dominant force had emerged, their alliance had lost its meaning. At first, they were engaged in open and covert struggles, but later they simply disbanded. Except for Peng Yuancheng, the other four families successively sent envoys to Kuanglan City, wanting to discuss cooperation with Li Jun.
Li Jun accepted all offers. His battle plan was to befriend distant forces while attacking nearby ones. Four of the five smaller forces did not border the Peace Army's territory. Only Peng Yuancheng's Dagu City was located in the heart of the Peace Army's development, controlling the upper reaches of the Yu River. If Li Jun could capture Dagu City, he could further annex the other smaller forces, forming a three-sided encirclement of the Zhu family.
Peng Yuancheng understood this as well. However, he was inherently proud and arrogant. Having conquered Dagu City and become its lord with only a few hundred troops, he was naturally unwilling to easily hand over his city to someone else. Moreover, the responsibility for the previous major defeat did not lie with him; he had not made any mistakes in command. It was the Zhu family's hasty escape that exposed the weakness. Therefore, he was far less afraid of the Peace Army than other forces. With his elite troops trained over many years, and with Dagu City's strategic location atop a rocky mountain in the middle of the river, he was confident he could fight Li Jun to the death.
"If we surrender without even fighting, others will look down on us!" he said angrily when his advisors advised him to surrender. "Besides, we have well-trained troops and ample supplies, and we have the advantages of favorable timing, terrain, and popular support. How can we be subordinate to Li Jun, that mercenary of dubious origin?"
What he said wasn't untrue. Although Dagu City was small, with a population of only fifty or sixty thousand households, it wasn't as fragmented as other forces in Yuzhou. The hearts and minds of the people and the army were tightly united around Peng Yuancheng. If Li Jun was a hero in the eyes of the people of Kuanglan City and Yinhu City, then Peng Yuancheng was the hero of the people of Dagu City. However, at this time, the Peace Army had its own base, its own organization, its own stable source of income, and its own strategic goals. Mercenaries were just a name; in reality, it had already become a separatist force.
After a brief period of peace, the sky over Yuzhou was once again filled with the shadow of war.
Chapter Eight: The Siege of Ōtani Castle
Section 1
Among all the cities in Yuzhou, Dagu City is considered a fortified city with natural defenses. Even Leiming City, with its high walls and deep moats, cannot compare. Located on a rocky cliff on a peninsula jutting into the Yujiang River, the city's population is relatively small due to limited space, numbering only twenty to thirty thousand households, with about ten thousand residing within the city walls, the rest scattered in the surrounding villages. However, only one post road connects the city to the outside world, carved into the rocky cliffs, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. If both sides of the cliffs are controlled, even an army of one hundred thousand would find it difficult to conquer this city defended by fewer than ten thousand men.
On the other side of the city lay the most turbulent section of the Yu River, riddled with hidden reefs, its banks pounded by crashing waves, and sheer cliffs rising dozens of feet above the water. At the base of these cliffs, eroded by the river, the crashing waves produced a thunderous roar. For a city like this, a direct assault would clearly be the most foolish tactic.
After much deliberation, Li Jun was forced to adopt this most foolish tactic. At this time, after a month and a half of expansion, rest, and training, the Peace Army had grown from less than four thousand to seven thousand men. The Tiger Wing Army expanded even faster, reaching as many as ten thousand men. In addition, there were twelve thousand Silver Tiger soldiers stationed in Silver Tiger City. Li Jun possessed a force nearly equal to that of the Invincible Army at its peak. Furthermore, he had recruited a total of five thousand mercenaries. The Peace Army's power had firmly established itself as the strongest force in Yu Province.
Although these troops seemed numerous, Li Jun still felt they were insufficient. Silver Tiger City needed 8,000 defenders. While Raging Waves City didn't need to worry about land attacks, it still needed to guard against potential enemies from the sea. Leaving at least 4,000 Silver Tiger soldiers as a contingency plan was essential. Thunder City was a strategically vital location, and even 10,000 Tiger Wing soldiers were barely enough to defend it. The Hua family had used a full 50,000 men to hold this largest city in Yu Province. Although the recent fighting had caused most residents to flee, they gradually returned home as the situation stabilized after the Peace Army entered the city.
Therefore, Li Jun could only deploy 7,000 peace troops and 5,000 mercenaries this time. However, for Li Jun and Meng Yuan, an army of 12,000 was still a massive force they had never commanded before, and compared to the mere 8,000 defenders of Da Gu City, they were more than half again as numerous. It could be said that this was the first time Li Jun had commanded a superior force against an enemy.
In the twelfth year of Chongde in the Chen Kingdom, on the tenth day of the second intercalary sixth month, Li Jun swore an oath in Kuanglan City and led his army straight towards Dagu City. Accompanying him on the expedition were Meng Yuan, who had recovered from his injuries; Song Yun, a master of infantry combat; Xiao Lin, the veteran mercenary leader; and Ji Su, the Rong princess whom Li Jun could not shake off, but with whom he either ignored each other or fought fiercely when they met. Sima Hui and Zhou Jie were in Yinhu City procuring provisions, Yu Sheng and Su Xiang were in Leiming City preparing military funds, while Mo Rong, Jiang Tang, and Chen Ying remained in Kuanglan City to continue the construction project that was nearing completion. Accompanying him were also the teachers and students of the Magic Academy returning to the Academy.
"After we take Dagu City, we'll be able to see the new city!" Li Jun said to Mo Rong before setting off.
"It should be fine, right? But is this battle really unavoidable?" Mo Rong looked worried, which was quite a rare sight for the optimistic Yue people.
Li Jun knew that she wasn't worried about him; she was more concerned about the carnage and destruction brought by war. Mo Rong was very averse to war, but out of consideration for her friendship with Li Jun and because of the Yue people's love for construction and design, she agreed to help him build Kuanglan City, for which Li Jun was already very grateful.