"To all soldiers of the Peace Army and non-Peace Army! Before the battle, you all fought bravely, never fearing to save yourselves. Even in peacetime, you diligently trained and never oppressed the people. Yet, those nobles and relatives, living in luxury in the rear, blame us for our poor fighting. We used our blood and flesh to carve out territory for these rats, and we still suffer their endless humiliation. The vast majority of us have no clothes to return home, and some are even over forty and still alone, while those in high positions have beautiful wives and concubines, and countless beauties! From now on, such a situation will not be allowed in this city! Any man or woman of marriageable age, who is in love with another, and whose soldiers are over twenty-six years old, may marry. Anyone who dares to obstruct this because of their lowly military background will be severely punished. This new city, Kuanglan City, is your home! You must swear to defend this home to the death!"
The soldiers standing in formation around them were filled with fervor. Most of them had become mercenaries out of necessity, and starting a family was only possible after they had saved enough money and retired. Many ordinary mercenaries even lived lonely lives; the longing for a family always resided in their hearts. However, a mercenary's life was worthless in chaotic times, and no parent would willingly marry their child to a poor and dangerous mercenary. Li Jun addressed a concern shared by all mercenaries in his oath, which greatly inspired them.
"Fellow citizens! The war in Shenzhou has raged for a thousand years, and the chaos in Yuzhou has lasted for many years as well. Everyone lives in fear, their lives hanging by a thread. You have all worked hard your whole lives, accumulating some wealth, only to have it all destroyed in the flames of war. Some have even lost their wives and children, their homes torn apart. From this day forward, in this City of Raging Waves, we will unite as one and work together to build a world where everyone can live in peace and prosperity!"
Without much preamble, Li Jun addressed the people directly, posing the issues that concerned them most. This convinced those who had previously harbored doubts about his slogan of equality between the noble and the common people. As long as the world is at peace, what does it matter whether the noble or the common people are equal?
"Long live!" Someone started shouting, and the soldiers began to shout even louder than their battle cries. Soon after, the people also joined in shouting "Long live!" The foundation stone laying of Kuanglan City began amidst the shouts of "Long live!"
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Note 1:
The Four Seas Khan was the greatest leader in the history of the Rong people. He led the Rong people from the Menghao Grassland west of Lan Kingdom across the entire Shenzhou (Shenzhou), transforming them from a concentrated population on the Menghao Grassland into scattered groups across the grasslands of Shenzhou. The Rong people on the Qionglu Grassland were one of his remaining descendants. That unprecedented war lasted forty years, with a single major battle resulting in the beheading of a million. The Rong people had a custom of cutting off the ears of their enemies to prove their achievements, hence this war was also known as the War of the Million Ears. However, the Rong people's rule over Shenzhou was extremely unstable. Less than ten years after the Four Seas Khan's assassination, uprisings broke out in various places. After driving the Rong people to several grasslands, the forces that emerged from the uprisings began to fight amongst themselves, thus beginning a thousand-year war.
Note 2:
Both retainers and servants are private armed forces in the world of Shenzhou. Some powerful families with large estates and fields often possess a considerable number of private armies, and some even use them to establish their own independent regimes, such as the Hua, Tong, and Zhu families of Yuzhou. Their soldiers are actually retainers.
Chapter Three: A Sudden Tide
Section 1
For busy people, time always seems to fly by.
A month has passed since the Oath of Kuanglan City, and Tonghai City has been officially renamed Kuanglan City. In the past month, Li Jun has spent his time either working with Mo Rong on the city construction site or training the newly joined soldiers of the Peace Army.
Because Li Jun explicitly stated in the Oath of the Raging Waves that all races would be equal in the Peace Army, a large number of ordinary people, Qiang people, and Yi people joined the Peace Army. In addition, there were small mercenary groups who voluntarily joined because they were attracted by the reputation of the Peace Army, and the eight hundred troops brought by Sima Hui. The strength of the Peace Army increased to three thousand, more than doubling.
However, Li Jun has always followed Lu Xiang and firmly believes in Lu Xiang's elite force strategy. He believes that the number of troops deployed by both sides on the battlefield can reach hundreds of thousands or even millions, but the final decisive factor is still a small but elite force. Li Jun's goal is to make the Peace Army an invincible and unconquerable elite force.
An increase in numbers does not necessarily equate to an increase in combat effectiveness, a point Li Jun was acutely aware of. These three thousand men were the result of his initial selection process; he hadn't abandoned those who were eliminated, instead incorporating them into an auxiliary force under the Peace Army, numbering approximately four thousand. He also gave this auxiliary force a resounding name: the Tiger Wing Battalion. Li Jun intended to prevent arrogance and complacency within the Peace Army by creating an internal competitor.
For the Peace Army, Li Jun further developed his basic organization of twelve-man squads. In response to the problems shown in recent battles, he dispersed people of different races into squads. During combat, the squads would gather or disperse according to the commander's flag, changing their formations flexibly.
Each squad attacks in a peculiar spindle formation. Typically, a Qiang man with a shield leads the charge, responsible for breaking through the enemy lines. Behind him are two strong men, each wielding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, protecting the flanks of the squad and defending the Qiang. Next, two more men wield spiked clubs, sweeping attacks from left and right. Following them are two Yi archers with swords and bows, capable of both ranged attacks and close-quarters combat to support their comrades. Then come two spearmen, delivering fatal blows to the enemy who are thrown into disarray by the attacks from the front, or assassinating any enemies who dare to approach the archers. After that, one man wields an axe in both hands to hack and slash at the enemy. Finally, two more warriors with swords and shields form the rearguard.
Because the Qiang people were few in number, some squads had to use ordinary people in place of Qiang soldiers. However, after training, these squads became extremely flexible in battle, capable of both large-scale encirclement attacks and individual combat when separated by the enemy. Li Jun was extremely satisfied with the hybrid formation he had created, believing it only lacked testing in actual combat. Later, in actual battle, this formation was called the Crimson Dragon Formation by the enemy, partly because each squad moved with the agility of a dragon, and partly because Li Jun, the creator of this formation, had the title of Dragon-Headed Demon King.
What made Li Jun happiest was the addition of Lan Qiao, who was using the alias Song Yun. Although Lan Qiao was rough, forthright, and unpretentious, his fighting skills were unexpectedly strong. As a result, Lan Qiao was promoted from an ordinary soldier to the head instructor in charge of the entire army's combat training at lightning speed.
Lan Qiao also employed all the training methods the old man in the deep mountains had used to train him. He found it incredibly enjoyable to have so many others experience the "torture" he had endured. He particularly enjoyed physical training exercises such as running thirty li (approximately 15 kilometers) carrying sandbags before meals and doing two hundred push-ups before bed. Initially, the soldiers were full of complaints, especially the mercenaries who had been soldiers for years and lacked interest in formal training. However, Li Jun's military discipline was extremely strict, and all the officers personally demonstrated the exercises during each training session. Even Li Jun couldn't outrun Lan Qiao, and everyone had to admire his physical prowess.
The Peace Army soldiers, who had lived since the Invincible Army era, were no strangers to the training at Blue Bridge. The reason why the Invincible Army had never been defeated in the two countries of Su and Lan was because of its extremely strict training requirements, especially the soldiers' weighted running. Recalling that Lu Xiang had specifically asked the soldiers to learn how to escape before going to the battlefield, the generals couldn't help but smile knowingly.
While organizing the army, Li Jun also asked Sima Hui to oversee the recruitment of displaced people. Sima Hui came from a prominent family in Yuzhou and enjoyed high prestige there, so he handled the task with ease. In just one month, as many as 8,000 households moved into Kuanglan City. This was also thanks to Jiang Tang and Yu Sheng. During that month, Yu Sheng, as an envoy of the Peace Army, went to Yinhu City of the Tong family and Leiming City of the Hua family. After some persuasion, he convinced them to recognize Hua Xuan's rule over Kuanglan City. In fact, in the letter Tong Chang left for Li Jun when he fled, he mentioned that he was willing to exchange Tonghai City for a strategic alliance between the Peace Army and the Tong family to jointly oppose Hua Gong in Leiming City. Of course, this recognition was only temporary, but it ensured that Kuanglan City would not be threatened by war in the short term, so the people were happy to move in. More importantly, this allowed goods from various places to pass through the territories of the Hua and Tong families, arrive in Kuanglan City, and then be transshipped to various places via Tonghai Port. Meanwhile, the Peace Trading Company, jointly established by Jiang Tang and other merchants, opened branches in all major cities of Yuzhou within a month, and trade flourished in a very short period of time.
The influx of refugees also brought problems of employment and food. Kuanglan City was located in a remote coastal area, and although the soil was suitable for agriculture, Li Jun aimed to build a massive new city, leaving little land for farmers to cultivate. Apart from the Yi people, skilled in fishing, who provided some food, the vast majority of grain had to be transported. Fortunately, sea transport was smooth, and Yi fleets came and went in a constant stream. It's unclear when Jiang Tang spread the news, but batches of Yi ships arrived one after another, bringing large quantities of grain and suppressing the rising rice prices in Kuanglan City caused by the rapid population increase.
For the refugees who had no assets, Mo Rong proposed a work-for-relief program. Yue craftsmen, hired by Mo Rong, led them in digging trenches, and the Peace Army paid them wages. As a result, the influx of people did not cause many security problems; on the contrary, it made the merchants in the city very happy.
During this period, Kuanglan City had become a complete construction site. Seeing the city's scale growing rapidly and the construction progressing faster than expected, Li Jun began to plan his next strategy.
"Make friends with distant states while attacking nearby ones, and combine kindness with force"—this was the strategy he had once proposed to Hua Feng for unifying Yuzhou. Now he was about to personally implement this strategy. However, Yuzhou at this time was vastly different from Yuzhou a few months ago.
After a month of chaos, the three major powers in Yuzhou suffered heavy losses. Although many mercenaries had come to replenish their ranks over the past two months, neither the Hua family, whose main fighting force consisted of mercenaries, nor the Zhu and Tong families, whose main forces were their retainers, had recovered to their pre-war levels. Meanwhile, other smaller powers, taking advantage of the three major powers' preoccupation, began to fight amongst themselves, attempting to establish a fourth force capable of rivaling the three major powers through mergers and acquisitions. This, to some extent, accelerated the migration of refugees to Kuanglan City.
For Kuanglan City, the advantage is that it controls the throat of the entire Yuzhou leading to the sea, while the disadvantage is that it is sandwiched between the Hua family of Leiming City and the Tong family of Yinhu City. If it wants to develop, it must first attack two of the three major forces.
"How much longer is left before the time limit for Li Feng the Madman is up?"
On this day, when Li Jun came to Meng Yuan's tent as usual to visit Meng Yuan, who was still in bed, Meng Yuan asked...
Meng Yuan's injuries have improved significantly. During this time, Li Jun's dragon-head helmet played a significant role. Chu Qingfeng mentioned this more than once, expressing his admiration for Lei Hun's healing magic that enhanced the dragon-head helmet.
"It's alright, there's still plenty of time." Li Jun silently calculated the time; it had been one year and two months since he parted ways with Feng Jiutian. Unifying the chaotic Yuzhou in ten months was bound to be stressful, but to comfort Meng Yuan and allow him to focus on recovering, Li Jun could only hide his worries.
Although Meng Yuan disliked politics and wasn't as cunning in military strategy as Lu Xiang or Li Jun, he was by no means lacking in strategic vision and a sense of time. He understood Li Jun's meaning and laughed, "That's good. I was really afraid that you would pacify the entire Yu Prefecture before I recovered from my injuries, then I would have nothing to do."
"In that case, I'm actually considering leaving you one or two battles to fight." Li Jun smiled and talked with Meng Yuan for a while before going to the central command tent. Meng Yuan's reminder made sense. It seemed that he had gotten used to peace recently and was looking forward to sweeping away Yuzhou.
Recalling his former commander Xiao Lin's comment that he was "born to fight and wouldn't adapt to peaceful life," Li Jun secretly marveled at the extent of his own change. Xiao Lin was his mentor who guided him onto the battlefield. Although he had only ever served as the commander of an obscure mercenary group, his command and tactical skills had greatly helped Li Jun. If possible, Li Jun would like to give Xiao Lin a force of ten thousand men and see what miracles he could create with that force.
However, Li Jun himself currently only has seven thousand soldiers: three thousand Peace Army soldiers and four thousand Tiger Wing Army soldiers. This force is much larger than Xiao Lin's mercenary group of a few hundred, but it's still not enough to dominate Yuzhou. In the past two months, the Hua, Tong, and Zhu families haven't been sitting idly by. After the Battle of Thunder City, the conflicts between the three families have become even more acute and irreconcilable. Their allowing smaller forces to stir during this period is merely a way to accumulate strength for a larger-scale battle.
Li Jun keenly realized this. Although Kuanglan City was developing rapidly, it could not compare with the Hua and Tong families in a short period of time due to its low starting point. In order to make up for this gap as much as possible, in addition to working harder to develop itself, it was necessary to find ways to weaken others. Therefore, it was important not to let the other party easily accumulate strength.
However, given Li Jun's current financial situation, maintaining this rapid pace of development is already a struggle, and it is clearly unrealistic to spend a huge sum of money to compete with them for mercenaries who are coming from all over the world.
"To fight is a dilemma, as our strength is insufficient, but to not fight is to watch the enemy grow stronger." In the main tent, Li Jun shared his thoughts with all the generals of the Peace Army. Yu Sheng sighed. Although he was skilled in administration, he also had some insight into military strategy.
"I don't really have any ideas about that. If it were a battle and I had to cut off the enemy commander's head, that would probably be easier," Song Yun chuckled. "But seriously, I haven't fought a single battle since joining the Peace Army. When will I get to fight one?"
"First, we must determine our objective; we cannot fight on two fronts." Sima Hui stroked his short beard. Among the generals of the Peace Army, he and Yu Sheng were the only two over forty years old.
"Let's choose between attacking the Hua family or the Tong family," Zhou Jie said, staring at a simple map of Yuzhou hanging on a pillar, constantly analyzing the ways and methods of attack. Among the generals of the Peace Army, he was one of the more thoughtful ones.
"Let's start with the Hua family." Yu Sheng felt conflicted about this. He had meticulously planned for the Hua family for twenty years, and now he had to remove what he had carefully crafted. Anyone in his situation would feel uncomfortable. However, considering all factors, the Hua family was easier to deal with than the Tong family.
Li Jun understood his feelings, but for the Peace Army, now was not the time to engage in a decisive battle with the Tong family. Hua Gong was now the governor of Leiming City, and although his jurisdiction was limited to the area surrounding Leiming City, he controlled the city's silver mines, allowing him to hire mercenaries on a large scale. If Li Jun could seize the silver mines in Leiming City, it would be a significant source of wealth for him.
“Our attack on Thunder City cannot be said to be targeting the Hua family,” Li Jun comforted Yu Sheng with a smile. “We are merely reclaiming what belongs to Young Master Hua Xuan. According to the rule of succession by the eldest son, Young Master Hua Xuan should be the master of Thunder City!”
Yu Sheng smiled gratefully at Li Jun, his spirits lifting slightly. He understood that Li Jun had made up his mind to attack Leiming City.
In fact, attacking Thunder City was the best option for the Peace Army. Firstly, although Hua Zi's troops had been defeated by the mercenaries, their foundation remained. The Hua family members harbored no goodwill towards Hua Gong, who had colluded with mercenaries to massacre their own kin. Therefore, if the Peace Army demonstrated the strength to defeat Hua Gong, these people would surely seize the opportunity to rise up and crush Hua Gong's fallen foes. Secondly, although Thunder City was desolate when Hua Feng was alive, he was a benevolent ruler, ensuring the people's livelihood through silver mine revenue. After Hua Gong seized power, he drastically reduced subsidies to the people to satisfy his and his mercenaries' greed, causing widespread resentment and a deep longing for the seemingly weak but benevolent Hua Xuan. Thirdly, the defense of Thunder City and the power struggle among brothers had severely weakened Thunder City. Despite the influx of mercenaries, its current strength was only around 30,000 men. While this was more than the Peace Army, this numerical disadvantage could be overcome through skillful command.
“Everyone knows the weaknesses of Thunder City,” after analyzing the disadvantages of Thunder City, Li Jun began to talk about the enemy’s advantages. “Thunder City also has its advantages compared to our army. First of all, its military strength is far superior to ours. In fact, the city is high and dangerous, easy to defend but difficult to build. Secondly, its economic strength is strong. Our army cannot withstand a long period of protracted warfare, but Thunder City is not afraid of this.”