Peng Yuancheng was caught in the middle of the battle, but his mind was on the overall situation. If he suffered too many losses in this battle, he would be unable to attack Thunder City in the short term. If that continued, his dream of dominating all of Yu Province would be shattered. The angrier he became, the more ferocious he became. Xiao Lin barely managed to withstand his spear, but he could not stop Peng Yuancheng from slaughtering his own men.
"Old thief, this is your trick!" Peng Yuancheng roared, his hair and beard standing on end, completely losing his usual refined demeanor. Xiao Lin's helmet had been shot off at some point, his white-haired head stained with blood, his face covered in blood and sweat, but his expression remained calm.
"You're finished, Peng Yuancheng." Xiao Lin sneered, "Even if you win today, you won't be able to attack Leiming City. When Li Jun returns from Chen, your entire family will be wiped out!"
His words actually calmed Peng Yuancheng down. What Peng Yuancheng was thinking about wasn't the consequences of Li Jun's return, but rather how to torment Xiao Lin severely before Li Jun returned, to vent his hatred.
"Thank you for your concern about my family matters. I will repay you properly." Peng Yuancheng calmed down, and his shots became even more ruthless and accurate. Xiao Lin's surrounding men had already been scattered, leaving only him and Peng Yuancheng. He was now wounded multiple times and unable to withstand Peng Yuancheng's offensive, forced to retreat steadily. But his eyes were filled with hope. He was prepared to die in this battle, but his sacrifice would buy precious time for Leiming City and allow Li Jun to return and rebuild the city. He hoped that Feng Jiutian in Leiming City wouldn't be foolish enough to fight Peng Yuancheng for the city…
His mind suddenly became somewhat dazed. In this perilous situation, he should have been even more cautious. He himself found his dazed state peculiar until he saw Peng Yuancheng's spear pierce his body, at which point he understood why.
Peng Yuancheng stared coldly at the white-haired old general. The old general groaned; the shot, though not fatal, had rendered him incapacitated. Yet, his eyes were filled with mockery and defiance, as if he had transcended the brink of death.
Peng Yuancheng understood the meaning behind his mockery. Regardless of Xiao Lin's life or death, his objective had been achieved: to tie down Peng Yuancheng and inflict heavy casualties on his army. Even if Xiao Lin were to die in battle now, and his men to scatter, Peng Yuancheng would still have to pay the price to eliminate these mercenaries who might attack him from behind at any moment in order to completely eliminate the threat. Unless, at this moment, he had fresh troops to join in and wipe out these vicious enemies.
Xiao Lin forcefully broke free from Peng Yuancheng's spear, which, having pierced through his armor, failed to penetrate from behind. Blood gushed forth, and with each drop, Xiao Lin felt his strength slowly draining away. But this was not the time to bandage himself and stop the bleeding; he had no intention of stopping the bleeding or seeking survival.
"Kill!" He raised his twin blades again, though they were already weak and powerless, he still raised them. As he raised them, his vision became blurry. He cast his empty gaze into the void. At this moment, what he saw might be the bloody scenes of his decades-long mercenary career, or the sincere and absolute trust Li Jun placed in him when entrusting Yu Jiang to him, or perhaps the face of his enemy, Peng Yuancheng.
With a "thud," a stray arrow pierced his chest. The sudden shock jolted him awake. He stared intently and saw that a large contingent of Peng Yuan's reinforcements was surging from behind his cavalry. His troops were already collapsing and fleeing.
"See? I have men even better than Li Jun!" Peng Yuancheng sneered at Xiao Lin as he looked at Guo Yunfei, who had come to meet him. Guo Yunfei's timely arrival allowed him to crush Xiao Lin's remaining forces in the shortest possible time. Xiao Lin's objective of restraining him was not fully achieved.
The knife slipped from Xiao Lin's left hand, and as it fell, he felt his heart slide into the endless darkness along with it. He desperately reached out to grab it, but his efforts were weak and feeble. The knife finally clattered to the ground. Xiao Lin used his right hand to cut the shaft of the arrow in front of his chest, leaned over his horse, and patted its neck. At this moment, the will to survive finally overcame his desire to die in battle, or rather, his last instinct made him choose to flee. But Peng Yuancheng was right in front of him, his spear thrusting out like the wind. Xiao Lin's horse neighed and fell to the ground, throwing him far away. Xiao Lin was too weak to get up. He struggled to sever the ankle of an enemy soldier who tried to take advantage of the situation, but was immediately overwhelmed by more enemy soldiers…
Li Jun's heart inexplicably began to pound wildly.
Having been besieged for over ten days, Cheng Tian has consistently maintained a siege without attacking, despite Li Jun's repeated challenges. Li Jun is preoccupied with Yuzhou but cannot find an opportunity to fight. If he were to launch a full-scale attack, he fears he would be defeated by the enemy's superior forces and lose his escape route.
What troubled him most was still morale. The enemy's brazen pursuit of attrition had greatly deepened the soldiers' suspicions. They had initially completely disbelieved Cheng Tian's account of the internal strife in Yu Prefecture, but now they were becoming skeptical. If something happened to Yu Prefecture and Peng Yuancheng was unable to come to its aid, then the main force of the Peace Army would be like a fish out of water, deprived of support. Although Huai'en City had ample supplies, it was ultimately not comparable to Yu Prefecture.
Even so, Li Jun had never felt his heart pounding so wildly as he did now. He stood on the city wall, looking up at the sky, which remained gloomy and seemed to press down on him, making it hard to breathe.
"Commander, the enemy seems to be making unusual movements." For the past ten days or so, the Lianfa Army has shown no signs of attacking the city, which has been quite troubling for Wei Zhan. Today, however, he noticed some unusual activity in the enemy camp and alerted Li Jun.
"It seems there's something else to say." Li Jun's face was cold and sullen. The pounding of his heart made him extremely unhappy. If he didn't know that being impulsive was a major taboo in the Hou family, he might have already rushed out to find the enemy for a decisive battle.
Sure enough, three riders emerged from the Lianfa army camp. One, a rather thin man, walked in front, while two others followed on horseback. As the three drew closer to the city, Wang Erlei suddenly exclaimed, "It's Ge Lu!"
Li Jun looked down and saw the man walking ahead, bound with ropes, gradually approaching the city walls. "Are you one of your men?" Li Jun asked.
"Yes, he's one of Zhao Xian's men. I don't know why he's here!" Wang Erlei's face showed surprise. It seemed like Shang Huaiyi's head was right in front of him that day. This Ge Lu was a capable messenger of the Ku'er Camp. I don't know why he was captured by the Lianfa Army.
Li Jun's first thought was to find a bow and arrow and shoot Ge Lu dead beneath the city walls. He knew without asking what news Ge Lu had brought; if it were good news, why would the Lianfa army have allowed him to come to the city? This news would surely severely damage the morale of the Peace Army. But in that instant, Lu Xiang's words seemed to echo in his ears: "When the battle is going badly, it's mostly the commander-in-chief's fault. How can you take your anger out on your subordinates because of a temporary setback?"
He couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine at his earlier revelation of wanting to kill Ge Lu to silence him. As a mercenary, killing one or two "own men" to protect himself wasn't uncommon, but those "own men" were limited to allies from different mercenary groups. Under Lu Xiang's command, such a thing had never happened, nor had he even considered it. Now, it seemed that with the passage of time since Lu Xiang's death, the cold-blooded nature within him was beginning to resurface.
"Don't shoot arrows! Don't shoot arrows! We are here on the orders of the sect leader to deliver this man to Commander Li!" The two horsemen behind him pushed Ge Lu with their weapons, and Ge Lu twisted his body and quickened his pace.
Li Jun's eyes flashed several times before finally dimming, and he waved to signal the city gates to open. The two escorts also acted accordingly, stopping beyond firing range, while only Ge Lu limped forward. It seemed that falling into the hands of the Lianfa army had caused him considerable suffering.
Once inside the city, soldiers quickly untied him, and the two escorts had quietly left. Upon seeing Li Jun, Ge Lu knelt on the ground, weeping, "Commander, Peng Yuancheng... Peng Yuancheng has rebelled!"
Li Jun had anticipated this news and was mentally prepared to accept it, but when the news reached his ears, he still couldn't help but be stunned. Looking back now, he realized how incredibly foolish he had been to leave Peng Yuancheng in Yuzhou. Feng Jiutian had discussed this matter with him before, and had repeatedly advised him to transfer Peng Yuancheng from his post, but he had refused, arguing that "a newly appointed general's heart is not yet with him; a hasty transfer would surely arouse suspicion." Only recently had he considered bringing Peng Yuancheng to his side, but now it was too late…
"I understand. You must have suffered a lot. You should go and rest first..." Li Jun's daze did not last long. At this moment, his composure, honed through years of battle, came into play. He ordered his men to settle Ge Lu down.
"Commander, I am here on the orders of Mr. Feng. He asked me to convey a message. I did not tell the scoundrels of the Lotus Sect about this. Commander, he has already sent Mr. Yu to Silver Tiger City."
"What?" Li Jun was taken aback. Why would Feng Jiutian send Yu Sheng to Silver Tiger City? Thunder City was in dire need of manpower at the moment.
"It is said that Sima Hui of Silver Tiger City is also showing signs of instability," Ge Lu said, seeing Li Jun's surprise.
"Did Mr. Feng order you to tell me that Sima Hui also shows signs of instability?"