"Those who surrender will be spared, those who resist will be killed without mercy!" The cavalrymen's shouts completely shattered the remaining fighting spirit of the defenders. Most of them threw down their weapons and surrendered, while the rest silently retreated, acknowledging the fact that Yuyang had fallen.
The battle to capture Yuyang thus ended. In this campaign, Li Jun gained the upper hand in his psychological warfare against Peng Yuancheng. He first used various feints to arouse Peng Yuancheng's suspicion. Peng Yuancheng's guess was not entirely wrong; Li Jun was indeed outside Yuyang City, and his forces were not numerous. However, "know yourself and know your enemy," and one can win every battle. Although Peng Yuancheng anticipated Li Jun's moves, he did not anticipate his own, nor did he foresee that Pang Wu's suspicion would lead to the fall of Yuyang City. In this respect, Li Jun did not defeat Peng Yuancheng in a direct confrontation. If Peng Yuancheng had been the true ruler of Yuyang, and if the relationship between Peng Yuancheng and the people of Yuyang was like that between the Peace Army and Li Jun, the outcome of the war would have been very different. Li Jun only had 8,000 troops, leaving 3,000 men stationed on the riverbank as a show of force. If Peng Yuancheng had not been a shrewd strategist but merely a reckless and impulsive man, Li Jun would have undoubtedly been defeated.
“A wise man is often suspicious, so he can use a feint,” Li Jun said to Meng Yuan with a smile. At this moment, the two of them were standing on the city wall, waiting for Peng Yuancheng’s arrival.
Meng Yuan was not as relaxed as him. He frowned and said, "I'm a little worried about Su Xiang who is left there. What if Peng Yuancheng attacks them recklessly?"
"No, you can rest assured." A cunning glint flashed in Li Jun's eyes, a glint that Ji Su found utterly repulsive. What a cunning man! His heart was truly unfathomable. Was he so overconfident that he didn't even consider the existence of others? These past few days, she had done as Chen Ying had instructed, and although their arguments had decreased considerably, why hadn't he ever treated her with kindness?
"Seeing that Su Xiang and his men were completely unguarded, Peng Yuancheng suspected a trap and wouldn't attack rashly, but would advance slowly." Li Jun finally stopped hiding his analysis and revealed his reasoning. "Once they get close, and our army calls out to him, Peng Yuancheng will definitely come forward to question me personally. When he learns that I'm not in the camp, all his attention will be on me. He won't think about the harmless Peace Army in the camp anymore. If Su Xiang then tells him that I've taken Yuyang with the help of the Yu Yang people, guess what he'll do?"
"Can't you stop being so mysterious? Just say what you want to say." Ji Su couldn't help but interject. Although her words were still somewhat unfriendly, she tried her best to be calm and even managed a smile.
Li Jun glared at her, originally intending to have a big fight with her, but lately they had been arguing less, and Li Jun felt a little uneasy about it. But when he saw the faint smile on her lips, he paused, then swallowed the hurtful words that were about to come out of his mouth.
However, it would be a grave mistake to assume that Li Jun would utter a few kind words. Although his relationship with Ji Su was gradually improving, Li Jun still couldn't treat her the same way he treated Mo Rong or Chen Ying. In a sense, Ji Su was still just a hostage to him, not a reliable friend or subordinate. Although this hostage was beautiful and a woman, this was precisely the crux of the matter; Li Jun simply didn't know how to handle a relationship with a woman of such a complex background.
"If it were me, I would never kill Su Xiang and the others. Firstly, it wouldn't help, and secondly, it would cut off my own escape route. Therefore, I would pretend to surrender and ask Su Xiang to lead his men to hurry back to Yuyang to see me. By the way, how are Peng Yuancheng's family?" Li Jun suddenly asked at this point.
"As ordered by the commander, two hundred-man squads are specifically assigned to protect Peng Yuancheng's family and forbid anyone from going there to disturb them," an officer replied.
"What will Peng Yuancheng do after he returns?" Meng Yuan asked immediately. Judging from Li Jun's tone, Peng Yuancheng's surrender was most likely a feigned surrender. Once inside the city, his forces would still have the advantage. If he suddenly launched an attack, the Heping Army would suffer a major defeat.
“He’ll act according to circumstances. If I’m not prepared, he’ll trick us into opening the city gates and letting him in, then suddenly raise an army and kill us.” Li Jun couldn’t help but chuckle at this. They had initially used this tactic to conquer Yuyang, and if they were fooled by Peng Yuancheng with the same strategy, they would make a fool of themselves. “Therefore, after he arrived, we asked his family to speak with him. Let’s go see his family.”
The group arrived at the Peng residence. The Peng family was not large; besides some servants, there was Peng Yuancheng's wife, Madam Sun, his concubine, and his two sons. Upon hearing that Li Jun, the conqueror, had come to request an audience, Madam Peng was somewhat apprehensive, but she still asked a servant to politely say, "There are no adult men in the family, so it is not appropriate to receive outside guests. Please make yourself at home, Commander Li."
Li Jun and Meng Yuan exchanged surprised glances. Within the Peace Army's jurisdiction, many barriers between men and women had been broken. They found it both amusing and frustrating that Madam Peng had refused them with such a reason.
"Hehe." Li Jun shook his head and had his family report again: "Please tell Madam Peng that this matter concerns the safety of Lord Peng and his family, as well as the lives of tens of thousands of Peace Army soldiers and Lord Peng's subordinates. It would be better if she met with us."
The family member went in and then hurriedly came out, his face showing embarrassment and fear. Clearly, the words that Madam Peng had asked him to say were not pleasant. Under Li Jun's questioning, he stammered, "Madam... Madam said that it's nothing more than death. What Commander Li... Commander Li couldn't get from her husband on the battlefield, he can't get from her either."
"What!" A Peace Army general was so angry that he reached out and grabbed the family. He did not expect that Peng Yuancheng's wife would still be so stubborn under such circumstances. If the Peace Army were not so disciplined, the families of defeated soldiers like them would have been tortured beyond recognition long ago.
"Stop! When did the commanders of the Peace Army start scaring the people?" Li Jun shouted to stop him, then frowned at Meng Yuan and said, "With a wife like this, one can imagine how heroic her husband must be. Let's leave."
"Wait a minute," Ji Su suddenly said. "Let me do it. I'm a woman, so she can't find an excuse not to see me."
Meng Yuan and Li Jun were both taken aback. Although there were various rumors in the Peace Army about Li Jun's relationship with this Rong princess, they knew all too well that Ji Su was staying by Li Jun's side for revenge. But now she was offering to solve a problem for Li Jun, which surprised them even more than when they first heard Madam Peng's refusal.
"Don't you trust me? That's exactly what I wanted to tell her how to deal with you!" Ji Su saw the astonishment in Li Jun's eyes and felt a pang of sadness. She had gone to such lengths to help him, yet he still didn't understand her feelings and didn't even believe her. Was this man's heart made of iron? But why was it him who took off his helmet? Why was it him who defeated her?
"Ah? No...no, thank you." Li Jun said hastily, not quite sure what he was thinking. He looked to Meng Yuan for help, but Meng Yuan took two steps away and started chatting with a Peace Army general, seemingly leaving this troublesome problem entirely to him.
"In short, should I go and talk to Madam Peng?" Ji Su stared intently at Li Jun. Li Jun had never treated her as one of his own, so he had never given her any tasks or instructed her to do anything. After being inseparable for the past few months, she had come to understand Li Jun's personality. If he agreed to ask her for this favor, it would mean that he would treat her as one of his own.
Li Jun felt more embarrassed than ever before. In the sharp gaze of the Rong woman, he sensed a peculiar meaning, but he couldn't understand what it meant. "This is troublesome," he thought to himself, lowering his gaze reluctantly and saying, "Well, then I'll leave it to you."
Ji Su suppressed her joy and said, "I know what to say, don't worry."
After she followed the Peng family into the back room, Meng Yuan returned to Li Jun's side with a grin.
"So, what did you say to her?" he asked with a malicious look.
"What? What and what?" Li Jun pretended not to know, hoping to get rid of this embarrassing question, but Meng Yuan obviously had no intention of letting him off the hook. Although there was a hierarchy among them in the military tent, Li Jun and Meng Yuan, as well as Jiang Tang and the others, did not have any superior-subordinate boundaries when they were together. In a sense, Li Jun regarded them as his comrades-in-arms and partners who shared joys and sorrows in his adventures.
"It's nothing, I just asked her for a favor." Under Meng Yuan's persistent questioning gaze, Li Jun finally gave in and had to tell the truth. Meng Yuan responded with a soft whistle, seemingly wanting more.
Time passed slowly, and the feeling of waiting was like a cold front from the north, blowing in gusts until the last enduring green leaf fell. Although Li Jun remained calm, his subordinates gradually became anxious and uneasy.
Finally, Ji Su came out accompanied by an older servant and said, "Madam Peng sent this old man to serve you."
The old servant bowed to Li Jun, who hurriedly reached out to stop him, saying, "It should be me, the younger generation, who should be bowing to the old man. Now, I have to trouble you a lot, please forgive me."
A slight smile spread across the old servant's wrinkled face, and his initial unease lessened considerably. He said, "No, no, this old servant is merely relaying a few words for the lady; I cannot be of any help to the general."
Just then, Zhao Xian rushed in to report: "Peng Yuancheng's troops are at the gates of Yuyang City!"
"You've come at the perfect time." Li Jun chuckled and strode towards the door, then stopped after a few steps and asked, "Zhao Xian, have you run into your kite-flying buddies yet?"
"Found it." Zhao Xian smiled. In this battle, to avoid being discovered by the spies sent by Peng Yuancheng, Li Jun and the main force of the Peace Army secretly lay in ambush in the distance. Peng Yuancheng's attention was drawn to the Peace Army by the river. Although he had sent people to search around, they hadn't searched that far. Li Jun didn't dare send anyone to scout near the city either, so he had Zhao Xian find the homeless children in the city in advance and ask them to fly the huge red kite after Peng Yuancheng left. This way, if the Peace Army spies saw it, they could report it to Li Jun, allowing Li Jun to accurately grasp Peng Yuancheng's movements and capture Yuyang in one fell swoop.
"Take good care of them, make proper arrangements for them, and if possible, send them to Leiming City." After giving these instructions, Li Jun went to the north gate of Yuyang City.
"You really didn't lie to me," Peng Yuancheng said to Su Xiang with a smile.
“Of course. Commander Li’s military tactics are always unpredictable. If he says he’s taken Yuyang City, he definitely has.” Su Xiang smiled and pointed to the purple flags all over the city, saying, “It won’t be long before the entire Yuzhou is under the rule of these purple flags!”
Peng Yuancheng stared at the proud and excited look on his face for a moment, then asked thoughtfully, "How many troops does Commander Li have in the city?"
Su Xiang opened his mouth as if to speak, but then stopped, and said with a half-smile, "Lord Peng can ask Commander Li himself later. The entire Peace Army would wholeheartedly support someone like Lord Peng becoming a comrade-in-arms."
Peng Yuancheng smiled deeply and said, "Don't you trust me yet? Actually, I already know that Commander Li's forces are not many, at most seven thousand, and with you, it's only about ten thousand."
"How did you know?" Su Xiang asked in surprise.
"The reason is simple. If Commander Li has a large force here, it cannot be kept secret no matter what. It is impossible for him to launch a sneak attack on Yu Yang while I am not here. Moreover, if he has a strong army, you don't need to keep it a secret from me."
Su Xiang was silent for a while, then slowly said, "You are indeed terrifying. No wonder Commander Li always praises you as the number one general in Yuzhou." Although he did not say it explicitly, he had actually admitted that Peng Yuancheng's guess was correct.
"So what? I've already surrendered, haven't I?" Peng Yuancheng spoke expressionlessly about his surrender, as if he wasn't talking about himself at all.
"It's strange, I don't know why you would surrender to me with 15,000 troops?" Su Xiang couldn't help but ask. Although he was not the most outstanding general in Li Jun's army, he was quite capable in terms of tactical deployment. Otherwise, he would not have been promoted to a general in charge of the Peace Army. However, he still found it difficult to understand people like Li Jun and Peng Yuancheng.
Peng Yuancheng cast his deep gaze toward the walls of Yuyang City and said, “If I were to order an attack, I could easily kill you all, but so what? With Yuyang fallen, Dagu City and Leiming City will surely be heavily guarded. I will have nowhere to go but to surrender. Commander Li must know my thoughts, which is why he allowed you to be so bold as to be unprepared. It seems that since the Battle of Dagu City, Commander Li has studied me very thoroughly.”
Su Xiang was speechless for a moment. Peng Yuancheng continued, "A true wise general does not fight pointless wars. Commander Li knows this well, so I had no choice but to surrender. Now do you believe me?"