Fang Fengyi breathed a sigh of relief. If they could press their advantage while the enemy was in a state of fear, they could rout this elite force in one fell swoop. This would be like severing Huo Kuang's arm, preventing him from achieving a complete victory. They might even be able to turn back and strike while Huo Kuang was crossing the river, breaking through the enemy lines. In this way, there was still hope of turning the tide of battle. He brandished his sword on his warhorse and roared, "Fang Fengyi is here! All soldiers, follow me!"
But before the words had even faded, he felt a sharp, needle-like pain in his right shoulder as a feathered arrow pierced through it. He swayed on his horse, trying to stop himself from falling, but he could no longer grip his broadsword, which clattered to the ground.
"Damn it!" he cried out inwardly. Just then, several more arrows flew from the forest. Fang Fengyi, clinging to the horse's back, felt a sharp pain in her right foot; she had been hit by another arrow. The warhorse neighed mournfully, struggling to regain its footing before finally collapsing to the ground. In the instant the horse fell, Fang Fengyi, enduring the pain, flung off the stirrups and tumbled to the ground.
"General Fang!" His men rushed to his aid, but Fang Fengyi broke free from them, twisted the arrow shaft off the man's shoulder with her left hand, pulled the arrow from her foot, and struggled to stand, saying, "I'm alright, come with me!"
The Peace Army soldiers, who could vaguely see him landing in the distance, were greatly encouraged by this and shouted in unison, "Fang Sansui! Fang Sansui!"
The blood gushing from Fang Fengyi's wound was concealed by the darkness, yet his voice remained resolute, and his movements were as agile as if he were unharmed. The enemy archers hidden in the forest attempted to fire more arrows, but were wiped out by a surprise attack from the Peace Army. The remaining Chen troops retreated, and Fang Fengyi, unable to hold on any longer, collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness moments later.
"Retreat twenty li for now!"
Seeing Fang Fengyi's injuries being carried back by the soldiers, which were serious but not fatal, Meng Yuan felt relieved and immediately gave the order.
"Retreat twenty miles? Are you just going to hand over Fenglin Ferry like that?" Wubing asked in surprise.
"I don't want to either, but if we continue fighting, we'll only suffer unnecessary losses and still won't be able to hold Fenglin Ferry." Meng Yuan looked towards the river. Huo Kuang's main force had already begun to land, while only a few scattered Peace Army soldiers were still putting up resistance amidst the embers of the fire. He gritted his teeth and waved his hand, saying, "Let's retreat twenty li to reorganize our troops. It's not too late to fight again once morale has recovered!"
※ ※ ※
"Wang Xian?" Dong Cheng stood with his spear across the battlefield, pointing the endless enemy camps at him. In his eyes, these boundless enemy camps were nothing more than thatched huts, and the 200,000 Su soldiers were nothing more than clay chickens and clay dogs.
Wang Xian stared coldly at Dong Cheng. Dong Cheng's armor gleamed in the sunlight, and his chainmail-clad warhorse moved restlessly. As Dong Cheng moved, the spear in his hand reflected the sunlight onto the Su army.
Wang Xian withdrew his gaze, looked up at the sky, and seemed to be deep in thought. Six years ago, he had followed Lu Xiang and was very familiar with Lu Xiang's figure. Now, he seemed to see Lu Xiang's heroic figure in his opponent.
"Commander Lu..." For some reason, even though he had personally led the assassination attempt on Lu Xiang in the canyon, he still addressed Lu Xiang as "Commander Lu" whenever he thought of him. Commander Lu's spirit in heaven would surely not forgive him. He had followed him for more than a year or two, yet he had betrayed and murdered him. Everyone in the world who heard the name Wang Xian hated him with a vengeance. Even he himself—in the past six years, had he ever had a peaceful night?
Six years have passed in the blink of an eye. Nearly six years have passed since what happened back then, and now the time for resolution has finally come. Wang Xian raised his spear. He knew Dong Cheng well; stratagems were useless against such an opponent. Since his forces held an absolute advantage, he had to fully utilize it before the opponent could find a way to counter it. "Speed is of the essence in war!"
"kill!"
With a furious shout, the drums of the 200,000-strong army of the State of Su thundered, and two light cavalry units charged out from the left and right, like the two horns of a charging bull, stabbing straight at Dong Cheng's army.
Dong Cheng's army consisted of only about 10,000 peaceful soldiers; the rest were mostly officers and soldiers of the State of Su recruited during this period, as well as mercenaries from various regions, totaling less than 50,000 men. Qinggui was originally in the heart of the State of Su, with no formidable passes or cities to defend, so Dong Cheng chose open field battles for this engagement.
The raid was a resounding success; two light cavalry units swiftly cut into Dong Cheng's army, separating them. Dong Cheng, his face pale, suddenly ordered, "Retreat!"
"Retreat?" The soldiers around him could hardly believe their ears. The two armies had just clashed, and although the enemy's light cavalry had broken into their lines, the outcome was still uncertain. Dong Cheng himself hadn't even fought the enemy yet, and he was already talking about retreating!
"When Commander Li Jun left, he promised me full authority, and anyone who did not retreat would be executed!" Dong Cheng coldly met the suspicious gazes around him and turned his horse around first.
"Reporting to the commander, the enemy cannot withstand our attack and has begun to retreat!"
The scouts reported back on the battle situation that Wang Xian had witnessed. Wang Xian simply nodded slightly. The enemy army collapsed at the first contact. This reminded him of the Invincible Army. Wasn't there a unit in the Invincible Army that was extremely good at luring the enemy into retreat? Li Jun had deeply inherited Lu Xiang's military strategy. It was not surprising that the Peace Army he had trained had such a unit that could collapse as realistically as the enemy.
"Pass on my orders: do not pursue the enemy for personal gain. Just capture their camp. Carefully inspect the water and soil within the camp," Wang Xian said. As long as he maintained his numerical advantage, it didn't matter if the enemy escaped. His goal was not to kill more enemies, but simply to reclaim the lost land.
After fleeing for thirty miles, Dong Chengjun finally regrouped in another camp, the entire army dejected and crestfallen. Since its inception, the Peace Army had never suffered such a humiliating defeat. Occasionally, when they encountered setbacks, they would retreat only after fighting to the point of exhaustion. To retreat with almost no losses was an unbearable experience for the Peace Army, which was accustomed to celebrating their victories with the blood of the enemy.
"Regroup and fight again!" Dong Cheng's expression had returned to normal by now. Seeing that the Su soldiers were not pursuing, he gave the order.
Upon hearing that another battle was to be fought, the soldiers' spirits lifted slightly. They had originally thought that Dong Cheng intended to return the land seized by the Peace Army to the State of Su. Since another battle was to be fought, it seemed that they had misunderstood him.
"The enemy has regrouped?" Wang Xian was taken aback. If Dong Cheng's purpose was to lure him into a trap, then the enemy should have collapsed completely. However, the enemy regrouped after a slight retreat, which puzzled him.
"Advance!" he ordered, determined to remain calm and wait for the right moment. No matter what tricks Dong Cheng had up his sleeve, as long as he proceeded step by step and did not give him any opportunity, he would eventually drive him out of the territory of the State of Su.
However, the two sides clashed again, and Dong Cheng ordered a retreat once more when the Su troops broke into his formation. Wang Xian still refused to pursue, until he heard that Dong Cheng had regrouped his forces and was coming to challenge him again.
After this happened several times, almost all of Dong Cheng's men, except for the 10,000-strong Heping Army, deserted and many of them simply took their weapons and surrendered to Wang Xian.
"Are you saying that Dong Cheng really didn't have any ambushes?"
After listening to the words of these surrenderers, Wang Xian couldn't help but ask again, "Without any preparation, this kind of unreasonable and irrational behavior is nothing like Dong Cheng's fighting style."
“Indeed, there was no preparation. If the commander doesn’t believe me, he can ask the others. Since Li Jun left, Dong Cheng has been busy with water conservancy projects. When someone said that government troops would come to suppress him, he made excuses by saying that he had already submitted a memorial to the court to plead guilty. He did not devote any energy to preparing for war. How could there be any ambush!” The defector was obviously angry, as if he still could not understand Dong Cheng’s way of fighting.
"Could it be that Dong Cheng is simply out of options and is using this as a delaying tactic? Impossible. Even if he is using it, no one will come to his aid." Wang Xian frowned, pondered for a while, and finally said, "Let's wait and see."
"As expected, they're no longer going to fight."
After Wang Xian refused to fight in several consecutive challenges, Dong Cheng finally smiled. He was indeed using delaying tactics; he wasn't waiting for reinforcements, but rather for all his arrangements to be in place.
"You must all be wondering why I retreated 150 li in two days without firing a single arrow." He looked around at the soldiers, almost all of whom were from the Peace Army. Even among his trusted confidants from Yunyang, only Mo Zidu remained by his side.
"Please enlighten me, General." Only Mo Zidu responded to him; the other Peace Army generals stared at him coldly, as if waiting to see how he would defend himself.
“Commander Li Jun appointed me as the garrison commander of Qinggui, and I’m sure you’re all dissatisfied with that. Therefore, my greatest threat to the enemy is not their numbers, but the lack of unity among my soldiers,” Dong Cheng said calmly. “Now, I urge you all to join me this once and for all. I’m going to flood Wang Xian!”
Section 03
"This woman is truly fierce!" A lieutenant general stared in disbelief at the two sides fighting below the hillside. He could hardly believe that such a brave and fierce woman existed in the world.
Ji Su challenged Liu Guang in battle and had already slain three Chen generals. She even led her 500 Rong light cavalry to break into the left flank of Liu Guang's army, charging left and right through the formation, forcing Liu Guang to order his left flank to retreat slightly to avoid her attack. Not long after she returned to her army, she came out to challenge again, but the famous and valiant generals of Chen all looked ashen-faced.
"Indeed a brave general, it's just a pity she's a woman, born with a flaw." Liu Guang stroked his beard and smiled; among his own side, he was the only one who could remain calm.
"What? Are you all afraid of a woman?" He seemed to only then notice the ashen faces of the generals around him, a hint of mockery in his smile. "I didn't know you were all afraid of your wives; this is quite a rare thing." The generals all felt quite ashamed. No matter how brave or strong the Rong woman was, she was still just a woman. Pang Zhen also laughed, "This Rong woman is extremely fierce. Although she has a good figure, I bet her face beneath that mask must be hideous and terrifying." Liu Zheng, however, said, "No, I've heard that this woman is a beauty of unparalleled grace and charm. Li Jun has seen many women; if this woman's appearance were ordinary, how could she have caught Li Jun's eye?"
Liu Guang's smile deepened. At this moment, his two strategists understood his thoughts perfectly, which pleased him greatly. Mentioning women was not usually appropriate in military formation, lest it dampen morale and fighting spirit. However, with the enemy's female general seemingly invincible, discussing women was actually beneficial to his own army.
"Such a fierce woman must have some interesting moments in her boudoir." He narrowed his eyes, seemingly lost in thought, and stroked his beard, saying, "If this woman is exceptionally beautiful, I would quite like to take her into my golden palace to enjoy my later years. What do you all think?"
"Hahahaha..." The generals burst into laughter, their previous dejection vanishing instantly. One general said, "No, this woman is so fierce, how can we allow her to approach our lord's precious body? Let's give her to this humble general." "We haven't even captured her yet, and you're already arguing with me." Liu Guang glanced at him and saw that he was Cui Shaolin, a brave general under his command. He couldn't help but smile slightly: "Alright, if you can capture her, I will reluctantly part with her and give her to you!" His words were imposing, as if Ji Su, who was swaggering in front of the two armies, was already his for the taking.
"Understood!" The general bowed and spurred his horse to charge into battle. Liu Guang laughed, "Shaolin, be careful, lest you lose more than you gain." Cui Shaolin's eyes gleamed, and he laughed loudly, "Don't worry, my lord. I was a little afraid of her just now, but now I think that once I capture her, I can do whatever I want with her. Hehe, my lord, just watch!" The generals all burst into laughter. Cui Shaolin's lustful nature was well-known among Liu Guang's subordinates. He had taken three of Liu Guang's favorite singing girls. It seemed that as long as you promised him a beautiful woman, he would become twice as powerful.