Lei Hun smiled slightly upon hearing his words, then said to Tu Long Ziyun, "You don't need to worry about the city walls for now. Take me to a place to rest; I'm tired."
Tu Longziyun was quite curious to know how Feng Jiutian would use Lei Hun's strategy to solve the problem, but seeing Lei Hun's resolute gaze, he couldn't refuse and led Lei Hun away from the city. About an hour later, the equipment that Feng Jiutian had mobilized was gathered below the city. Kuanglan City was designed with the goal of housing 500,000 households, so there was a lot of fire prevention and firefighting equipment. Among them, there were more than twenty water dragons that sprayed water at the fires on the high-rise buildings. Feng Jiutian set up these water dragons on the city walls in a place where the enemy could not attack, and ordered the soldiers to light fires to boil the water, and then pour it into the water bags of the water dragons. The water bags were made of leather and could not withstand heat, but Feng Jiutian didn't care about that at the moment and ordered them to spray water outside the city.
The water dragons had a range of several dozen paces, and being positioned high above, their nozzles spouting thick steam, they sprayed boiling water across the moat and directly onto the Xuanji Tower. Soldiers hidden inside the towers were scalded as if doused with hot oil, jumping in agony. However, with over twenty water dragons simultaneously spewing boiling water, the towers closest to the city were quickly scalded, filling them with billowing steam, making it feel like being in a steamer. Soldiers directly scalded by the boiling water were even more severely burned and could no longer endure the heat inside, abandoning their towers. Many soldiers who had used the towers as cover to fill the moat with earth were also burned.
After spraying for a while, Feng Jiutian ran out of hot water, so he used cold water instead, soaking the area below the city wall. The wooden wheels of Xuanji Tower were also stuck in the mud, unable to move freely. The soldiers on the city wall laughed heartily, while Peng Yuancheng below the city wall cursed angrily. He was about to succeed, but this trick had ruined everything.
“Only that sorcerer could come up with such a bizarre idea.” Whether it was intuition or something else, Peng Yuancheng was convinced that the idea came from Lei Hun, who had just exchanged a glance with him.
At this moment, Lei Hun found himself in a situation he did not want to encounter. Tu Long Ziyun took him to the branch of the Magic Academy in Kuanglan City, where the teachers and students of the Magic Academy who had retreated from Leiming City settled.
Chu Qingfeng, the supervisor of the Imperial Academy, was already standing at the gate. When he saw Tu Longziyun and Lei Hun, he bowed deeply and said, "I heard magpies perching on branches this morning, so there must be distinguished guests today. Chu Qingfeng greets you both."
As a Taoist priest of the Immortal level, he shouldn't have shown such great respect, but being well-versed in the principles of the I Ching, he deduced that the person in question was no ordinary individual. Most importantly, this person was a key figure in the revival of magic, which was already in decline. Thus, Lei Hun, who left the city wall under the pretext of fatigue, still couldn't find an opportunity to speak privately with Tu Long Ziyun, and instead had to face the respectful greetings of Chu Qingfeng and a group of masters and disciples from the Magic Academy.
Given his personality, he could have easily driven Chu Qingfeng and the others away and then directly asked Tu Longzi about Mo Rong after their separation. However, although he suppressed his feelings for Mo Rong in his heart, his words and actions involuntarily became awkward whenever Mo Rong was mentioned. People are often like this: the more they try not to care about someone, the more they pay attention to them and the more unnatural they become because of them. In matters of the heart, Lei Hun, who had to avoid relationships for some reason, and Li Jun, who was at a loss due to a lack of contact with women since childhood, shared a similar awkwardness.
Seeing his seemingly impenetrable weapons and plans vanish in an instant, Peng Yuancheng was filled with rage. If he hadn't learned his lesson from his slip of the tongue in front of the two armies, he probably would have immediately ordered a full-scale attack.
"No problem. I think Feng Jiutian used this water dragon spraying strategy simply because he saw that our Xuanji Tower was leaking. We just need to cover the top of the Xuanji Tower with cowhide, and we won't have to worry about the boiling water scalding the soldiers. As for the mud, the soldiers can use wooden planks to pave the ground. In this way, the Xuanji Tower can move freely again." Shi Ze was also unwilling to let his carefully designed equipment fail, and he had a flash of inspiration and found a new solution.
Peng Yuancheng was overjoyed upon hearing this and, as advised, reorganized his troops to attack the city again. This made the attack much slower, and it was clearly impossible to fill the moat within a day.
That night, Peng Yuancheng ordered his soldiers to rest and prepare to breach the city the next day. But he had just fallen asleep when he heard a sentry report: "There is unusual activity on the city walls again."
"They must be trying to use us again to kill our captured soldiers." Peng Yuancheng was furious. He had been tricked last night, and he would be an idiot to fall for it again tonight. But then he thought, it was unlikely that Feng Jiutian would use the same trick twice in a row. Could there be another trap after this?
"Assemble three thousand archers and have them lie in ambush outside the city walls. If anyone comes down from the city walls to cross the river, shoot them dead with a hail of arrows! Order the entire army to be on high alert, especially the Xuanji Tower; make sure to deploy more guards there," Peng Yuancheng commanded. If the invaders were prisoners of war captured by his own troops, the Peace Army would definitely not allow them to build a bridge to cross the river. If they were preparing to build a bridge, it would mean the Peace Army thought he was being careless and intended to launch a sneak attack. Better safe than sorry. If he didn't give the Peace Army an opportunity, no matter how cunning Feng Jiutian was, he wouldn't be able to survive tomorrow's siege.
The figures descended from the wall briefly, but seeing no movement from Peng Yuancheng's army, they were lowered back down. This repeated itself, leaving the three thousand archers on watch bewildered. They didn't know what the Peace Army was planning. Peng Yuancheng eventually stopped sleeping and carefully examined the city gate. As he looked, a thought struck him: "Could it be that Feng Jiutian's actions have no real purpose, but merely serve to keep me from having any peace, thus preventing me from attacking the city the next day?"
After much thought, he still couldn't understand. As dawn broke, he realized that those hanging on the city wall were still his own men who had been shot dead that day. The Peace Army dragged their bodies up and down, and with only a hundred or so men, they had disturbed his entire army. If the Peace Army had made a big show of it, Peng Yuancheng would have understood their intentions, but the Peace Army remained silent and acted quietly, forcing Peng Yuancheng to treat the situation with caution.
The next morning, the weather cooperated, dispelling the gloom of the past few days. A gentle sea breeze arose, and Peng Yuancheng rallied his spirits, personally standing before the battle lines. A strange scent wafted from the sea breeze; besides the stench of corpses, there was a strong fragrance of sandalwood. Peng Yuancheng couldn't help but sneer. Could it be that Feng Jiutian also knew the city would fall today, and thus spent the night burning incense and praying to the gods for protection?
"Attack!" Peng Yuancheng shouted. After yesterday's efforts, the trench was almost filled in. In half a day at most, he would see hundreds of Xuanji Towers leaning against the city wall, their wooden doors opening, and tens of thousands of elite soldiers rushing onto the city walls in a spectacular display. At that time, the more than ten thousand Peace Army defenders on the city walls would be powerless to resist. Once this most important stronghold of the Peace Army was cleared, he could let the four allied forces capture Silver Tiger City, while he would personally lead the westward advance, keeping Li Jun, who was preparing to return after learning the news, out of Yuzhou. As long as Liu Guang cooperated well, Li Jun could be buried in the Chen Kingdom and never be able to set foot in Yuzhou again.
Although he had a perfect plan in mind, he dared not be careless. He still hadn't figured out Feng Jiutian's purpose in harassing him all night. As the attack began, the Peace Army on the city walls used boiling water to fight back, just like yesterday. However, on the cowhide roof, the boiling water flowed down from both sides, causing no harm to the soldiers inside. Although the ground was muddy, Xuanji Tower could still move freely after being padded with wooden planks. Seeing that there was no way to stop the ditch from being filled in little by little, the shouts from the city walls subsided, and eventually even the boiling water stopped spraying out.
Seeing that the trenches that had caused his army so much trouble had finally been filled in, creating several main roads, Peng Yuancheng's army was greatly encouraged. At his command, 20,000 elite troops entered Xuanji Tower, and Xuanji Tower also changed from a single-line formation to an attack posture using the newly filled roads. These 20,000 elite troops were selected by Peng Yuancheng from veterans in Dagu City and Yuyang City. They were the main force of Peng Yuancheng's army and had made great contributions in both the ambush of Xiao Lin and the attack on Leiming City. Seeing that the time was ripe, Peng Yuancheng ordered them to be the main attack force, intending to achieve a decisive victory in one battle and crush the Heping Army.
Peng Yuancheng laughed and said, "Shi Ze, you are indeed resourceful. According to your plan, Kuanglan City is already in my pocket!"
Shi Ze laughed as he watched Xuanji Tower begin to pass through the filled-in moat and approach the city wall. Just then, a strong smell wafted over on the sea breeze.
Peng Yuancheng sniffed carefully and felt that besides the strong sandalwood scent, there seemed to be a strange smell mixed in. He squinted and thought for a while, then suddenly shouted, "Retreat! Retreat! We've fallen into a trap!"
But before his roar could reach the city walls, the water jets on the walls, which had already stopped spewing water, began to violently spew out black liquid. The strong stench of oil could no longer be masked, and in an instant, Kuanglan City seemed to be soaked in oil. Before the soldiers in Xuanji Tower could realize what was happening, fire arrows began to be fired from the city walls at Xuanji Tower.
The Xuanji Tower was originally doused with water, which prevented the rockets from igniting it. However, under the spray of those twenty water dragons, the Xuanji Tower was now covered with black oil, especially the cowhide on the roof. Once soaked in the black oil, it caught fire immediately. In an instant, flames soared into the sky below Kuanglan City, and more than half of the hundred-plus Xuanji Towers were set ablaze. Even those that were not hit by the rockets were set on fire by the Xuanji Towers next to them. Moreover, those twenty-plus water dragons continued to spew out black oil that ignited the hellish flames.
The soldiers inside the Xuanji Tower were like being trapped in a fiery coffin, howling and laughing madly. Fighting for escape, they turned their weapons against each other, but the raging fire was unstoppable. Before they could even break free, they were already engulfed in flames and burned to death. Those burned clung to those beside them in terror, crying out, "Help me! Help me!" But they inadvertently set others ablaze. A few soldiers who managed to escape the Xuanji Tower rolled on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames, but before they could even get up, they found themselves exposed to the Peace Army's arrows. The sound of clappers, like the howling of death itself, filled their ears, and arrows rained down like a storm. The soldiers desperately tried to dodge the rain, but the barbarian archers' unerring eyes and sharp arrows simultaneously targeted their vitals.
Almost instantly, Peng Yuancheng and Shi Ze, who had been overjoyed, were plunged into extreme fear and rage. The victory they had almost won vanished in an instant, and they had even lost 20,000 elite soldiers. For Peng Yuancheng, this was a fatal blow. At this moment, they fully understood that the sounds of dragging corpses through the city had been used as cover to cover up the sounds of black oil being transported to the city walls, and the strong fragrance of burning sandalwood had masked the stench of the black oil. Just when they thought they had succeeded, they were falling into the deadly trap set by Feng Jiutian.
"Ah...hahaha..." Peng Yuancheng was deeply shocked. For a moment, he let out a terrifying laugh that sounded like crying, pointing at the sea of fire and saying, "Look...look...it's on fire...my Kuanglan City, my Yuzhou...it's on fire..."
Shi Ze was also thrown into disarray. He turned his horse around and galloped away. Peng Yuancheng's horse, without needing any command, also turned and fled. Peng Yuancheng's army had long been demoralized, and the only reason they had managed to avoid collapse was because of the rear guard. Now that they saw their commander fleeing, the rear guard was the first to give way, fearing that if they fell behind, they would also be plunged into the inferno beneath Kuanglan City. Song Xi's courage came into play at this moment. He quickly rode over, cut in front of Peng Yuancheng's horse diagonally, and shouted loudly, "Commander Peng! Commander Peng!"
At this moment, Peng Yuancheng's mind was scattered, and he only knew that his situation was hopeless. He could not hear his cries at all. Song Xi had no choice but to reach out and grab his horse's reins. The horse was startled and reared up, throwing Peng Yuancheng off the horse.
Normally, with Peng Yuancheng's intelligence and martial prowess, he wouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state. But for anyone, the greatest blow is when a long-awaited dream is shattered just as it's about to be realized. Even someone like Peng Yuancheng was momentarily stunned by this attack. Falling from his horse jolted him back to his senses.
“Commander Peng, our army still has an absolute advantage in strength, why do this!” Song Xi advised, “There are only 20,000 soldiers in the city now, while our army still has 60,000 to 70,000. Why do you want to run away? Look, no one in the city came out to chase after them, which shows that Feng Jiutian was just lucky for a moment.”
Peng Yuancheng regained his composure and looked around. Sure enough, over ten thousand soldiers still followed him closely, but the vast majority of his troops were running around like headless flies. He knew that his loss of composure had caused this, so he laughed loudly, his voice echoing across the land: "Hahahaha, I was careless for a moment and let the bandits outmaneuver me, but my army is numerous and powerful, and we also have the support of the three cities of Dagu, Yuyang, and Leiming, while the bandits are just an isolated city with few soldiers and generals. What is there to fear?"
Hearing his seemingly self-talking shout, the surrounding soldiers felt much more at ease. Peng Yuancheng nodded to Song Xi and said, "Song Xi, you are the military judge. Anyone who dares to escape, shout loudly, or cause trouble without cause will be killed without mercy!"
Song Xi shouted, "Understood!" and spurred his horse to survey the surrounding area. His personal guards followed beside him. After killing a few soldiers who were still trying to escape, Peng Yuancheng's army had settled down. But the soldiers were only temporarily at peace. At the slightest disturbance, they would still flee for their lives.
Knowing this, Peng Yuancheng laughed heartily again. A general beside him, seeing that the earlier panic was gone and the laughter was filled with joy, assumed Peng's mind was clouded again and cautiously asked, "General Peng, why are you laughing?"
three,
Peng Yuancheng glanced at the general; he had been waiting for someone to ask him a question. He looked back at Kuanglan City; in just a short while, his entire army had covered a distance of over a mile, and the fires in front of Kuanglan City were already far behind them. So he said, "I laugh at myself for being so careless that I was defeated by Feng Jiutian, who knows absolutely nothing about military strategy."
"Huh?" The general was puzzled but dared not ask. If Feng Jiutian knew nothing about military strategy, how could he have confronted Peng Yuancheng for nearly ten days at the foot of Kuanglan City, and how could he have repeatedly thwarted Peng Yuancheng's attempts?
“If Feng Jiutian were truly skilled in military strategy, he could easily disrupt our entire army with just two thousand iron cavalry, preventing us from regrouping and thus lifting the siege of Kuanglan City immediately.” Peng Yuancheng’s face showed a hint of contempt. “If I were to use troops, I would definitely send cavalry to launch a surprise attack, taking advantage of our low morale and disorganized state. At that time, although our army would be slightly safe, we would be unable to effectively resist because our generals and soldiers would be unable to see each other.”
No sooner had he uttered the word "doubt" than a sudden drumbeat resounded from the direction of Kuanglan City, and hooves thundered. Tu Long Ziyun led the way, followed by three thousand iron cavalry, sweeping over like a whirlwind. The dust kicked up by their hooves almost obscured the raging flames and thick smoke below Kuanglan City.
"Peng Yuancheng, prepare to die!" Tu Longziyun's voice, though clear, struck Peng Yuancheng's army like a thunderbolt. Peng Yuancheng's entire army was initially stunned, then erupted into chaos. Just as Peng Yuancheng had predicted, their minds were still unsettled after the earlier confusion, and their commander and men were not together. Even if the soldiers wanted to resist, they didn't know how; all they could do was futilely try to stop a chariot. After those who attempted to stop them had been beheaded or had their heads broken by Tu Longziyun's sword and shield over the past few days, Peng Yuancheng's army lost their last shred of will to resist.
Seeing his painstakingly organized troops vanish in the blink of an eye, Song Xi's anger spurred him to spur his horse, spear raised, and charge straight at Tu Long Zi Yun. The moment their horses met, Tu Long Zi Yun's Dragon-Subduing Shield, like a setting sun, deflected Song Xi's spear. Song Xi felt his arm go numb, and seeing Tu Long Zi Yun's sharp eyes, he realized that his attempt to meet the attack head-on was likely a suicide mission.
Tu Long Ziyun was no slouch on horseback, and coupled with his great strength, even though he wielded only a slightly longer Tu Long Dao (Dragon-Slaying Saber) than a regular waist knife, Song Xi, aided by the Fu Long Shield, was unable to pose a threat to him. Song Xi brandished his long spear, attempting to use his distance advantage to keep Tu Long Ziyun at bay. However, each time Tu Long Ziyun's left-hand Fu Long Shield clashed with the spear, Song Xi's arm shuddered violently, almost causing him to drop the spear. After less than five exchanges, Tu Long Ziyun leaped forward on his horse, slicing through the silk threads binding Song Xi's chest armor with his blade. Song Xi felt a chill on his chest and lost all will to fight. He feinted with his spear, then turned his horse to flee.
But Tu Longziyun's Dragon-Subduing Shield struck Song Xi like a boulder in the back. Despite his armor, Song Xi felt a chill run down his spine and tumbled from his horse, blood splattering everywhere. Before he could even recover and get up, a young warrior beside Tu Longziyun leaped down from his horse and decapitated him with a single stroke. The young warrior then lifted the head, mounted his horse again, and tied it to the ribbon around his horse's neck. His movements were incredibly practiced and fluid, earning Tu Longziyun's thumbs-up and the compliment: "Good!"
The young soldier smiled shyly. He seemed to still find the battlefield, where enemies were fleeing in terror, somewhat novel. But as soon as Tu Long Ziyun knocked down an enemy soldier, he would immediately dismount and cut off the unfortunate man's head. In no time, his horse was covered with heads, and he had to tie them upside down to the horse's rump.
Peng Yuancheng originally intended to personally confront Tu Longziyun, but seeing his soldiers in such a sorry state, even blocking his path to turn back, and with Tu Longziyun and his three thousand iron cavalry still in formation, if he charged forward, even if he could defeat Tu Longziyun, he would inevitably be surrounded. Therefore, all he could do was flee.
Tu Longziyun fought his way through Peng Yuancheng's army for a long time, only giving the order to sound the retreat when the enemies on the battlefield either surrendered or lay dead on the ground. Looking at the blood-soaked field before him, he wiped the sweat from his brow and laughed heartily. The pent-up frustration from Peng Yuancheng's rebellion over the past few dozen days was finally released.