"I have another piece of good news to share with the entire army." Seeing that the soldiers were gradually quieting down, Li Jun said, "Naval Commander Tu Longziyun has captured the tyrannical Emperor Li Gou and the treacherous minister Wu Shu alive at Lujiabao, and they will be escorted to Liuning soon!"
Compared to the news just now, this news seemed more natural to the Peace Army. Although they didn't know that Tu Longziyun's navy had been deployed by Li Jun to cut off the retreat of the Su Kingdom's ruler and his ministers, they all thought that it was only a matter of time before the Su Kingdom's ruler and his ministers surrendered. Therefore, their cheers were quieter than before.
Tu Longzi stretched lazily, a cunning glint in his eyes: "Mr. Ren, don't say anything when you get back to Kuanglan City."
"Hehe, of course I wouldn't speak carelessly, I'm just telling the truth." Ren Qian pursed his lips and cast his gaze towards the distant wilderness. Lujiabao was originally a small village inhabited by people surnamed Lu. It gradually developed after the capital of the Su Kingdom moved to Liuzhou, becoming an important town in northern Liuzhou. Its territory expanded to the sea and a seaport was built. The surrounding area is mostly gentle hills with no natural defenses. Apart from the city walls, it is easy to attack but difficult to defend. The resources are not abundant either, with only lodestone produced in the hills west of the city. In the depths of winter, everything withers, and the wilderness, already a gray and desolate color, is made even more bleak by the scattered winter rain.
"Mr. Ren, Brother Ren, please don't tell!" Tu Long Ziyun's face showed a bitter expression. "How about I treat you to a big meal at Hai Tian Lou after I return to Kuanglan City? That should be fine, right?"
"Hmph, I know you too well. If we go out for a big meal together, you'll definitely be the one who eats the most, and I'll definitely be the one paying the bill." Ren Qian snorted and glanced at Tu Long Ziyun with his one eye. Ever since he went to fight the Japanese pirates with Tu Long Ziyun, the two of them had formed a deep friendship.
"If that's the case, then so be it. Anyway, I didn't force her. The woman and I were both willing." Tu Longziyun twisted his arm. Among the generals of the Peace Army, he was the most unchaste, often associating with flirtatious women.
Ren Qian ignored him, only looking at the terrain outside the city, pondering how to defend the city if the enemy attacked. After a while, he said, "Others won't interfere in your business, but I'm afraid Xiao Tian will have a hard time if she finds out."
Tu Long Ziyun was naturally a womanizer, and Lü Tian was particularly fond of him. However, while Tu Long Ziyun felt affection for her, it was only as a brotherly love. The entanglement of love and resentment between them was not something an outsider could resolve. Tu Long Ziyun feared nothing but Lü Tian's tearful complaints. Therefore, he was relatively restrained within Kuanglan City, but now, commanding troops in the field, he was allowed to indulge himself. Fortunately, Li Jun knew he wouldn't let this cause him to misbehave and didn't overly restrict him; anyone else would have been dealt with according to military law long ago.
Therefore, upon hearing Ren Qian mention Lü Tian, Tu Long Zi Yun's face immediately fell, and he said, "Brother Ren, I'm afraid of you. You absolutely mustn't mention Xiao Tian, or I'll be in big trouble."
"You too, if you're afraid of hurting Xiaotian, then don't go looking for other women outside. Just get married to Xiaotian as soon as possible, wouldn't that bring peace to the world?" Ren Qian glared at him. Lü Tian was well-behaved and cute with a pitiful background. Besides being on good terms with Mo Rong, she was also favored by the officers of the Peace Army. Therefore, everyone wanted to help her resolve this matter.
Tu Long Ziyun's expression shifted slightly. He was well aware of Lü Tian's feelings, but recalling his dissolute life, he felt he shouldn't tarnish the pure and elegant young girl's reputation. Although Lü Tian was now twenty, in Tu Long Ziyun's heart, she was still the thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl he had brought from the ship.
“Let’s not talk about this.” He changed the subject, raising his eyebrows. “I have a vague feeling of unease. Where exactly did the vanguard of the Lan Kingdom go that day?”
Ren Qian was also slightly moved. With the strength of the Lan Kingdom's army, they would naturally not be afraid of them. The fact that they did not take advantage of the momentum to attack the city proved that the general was cautious. The enemy general they obtained was Wu Wei's trusted and beloved general, the barbarian Lü Jianzhong. It was said that this man was both wise and brave, and it seemed that he lived up to his reputation.
"Luckily we arrived early, otherwise this tyrant would have really been taken away by them." Ren Qian scratched his head, a relaxed expression on his face: "They are barbarians. No matter how cautious Lü Jianzhong is, I have a plan to make him suffer a great loss. Let's first severely damage Wu Wei's morale!"
two,
"Damn weather, my hands and feet are covered in chilblains," Lü Jianzhong cursed. Just then, the soldier next to him cheered, "Wild boar! It's a wild boar!"
Lu Jianzhong drew his bow and nocked an arrow. As a barbarian, his archery skills were naturally excellent. The arrow whistled through the air and pierced the neck of the fleeing wild boar. The wild boar ran forward for a while with the arrow in its throat before collapsing to the ground and convulsing.
"General's archery skills are unparalleled!" the surrounding soldiers praised. A look of pride appeared on Lü Jianzhong's face, but he sneered inwardly. If it weren't for his official rank and the favor of Grand Marshal Wu Wei, how could these ordinary people respect a barbarian like himself? Moreover, while his archery skills were superb among ordinary people, they were nothing special among barbarians.
The group searched for a while longer, but found no prey. Lü Jianzhong was somewhat disappointed. He had been stationed outside Lujiabao for several days, hunting on horseback every day, but had not caught any ferocious beasts like tigers.
"Reporting to the general, the enemy has moved out of Lujiabao!" Just as he was feeling disappointed, a scout rushed over to report.
"They've finally come out!" Lü Jianzhong was greatly encouraged. After hunting for several days, he finally lured the enemy troops from Lujiabao out. He was leading 30,000 cavalry, which was advantageous for field battles but not for sieges, so he appeared relaxed.
"Hmph, this beast is not easy to hunt." He thought to himself, but ordered aloud, "Tell the generals to act according to the plan, and remember not to be reckless!"
The spears held aloft by the soldiers stood in orderly rows, like a forest. The cold glint of their spear tips sent a chill down one's spine, especially in the freezing rain. This silent force moved swiftly forward, mostly without horses. The blue and purple dragon flags fluttering among them proved that this was the navy of the Peace Army.
Lu Jianzhong looked at the team with great admiration, but a hint of reluctance also arose in his heart. Most of the people in this navy were barbarians. Even though they had left the sea and come to this land, they were still a force to be reckoned with.
"Wave the flag!" he shouted in a deep voice. For the past few days, he had been hunting near Lujiabao, feigning a relaxed state of mind, in order to lure out the Peace Army defending the fortified city. Now that his goal had been achieved, the cavalry that had been waiting for so long should be put to use.
"Kill!" roared the Lan Kingdom cavalry, who were lying in ambush in the hills, as they surged through the valleys between the hills like a torrent. Their gray-brown armor covered the earth like locusts, and the hills trembled and groaned under their thunderous hooves. Wherever their killing intent was directed, the Peace Army's advancing formation could not help but fall into disarray.
"Form ranks! Form ranks!" the generals roared hoarsely, barely managing to pull the Peace Army back from its panic. These skilled naval warriors, facing the enemy cavalry's swift, wind-like charge, set up their lances on the perimeter, while archers unleashed a rapid barrage of arrows, hoping to thwart the enemy's advance. But their resistance only splashed a few drops of water in the giant waves of Lan Kingdom cavalry; it couldn't truly halt the enemy's advance. Warhorses roared, slamming the Peace Army soldiers to the ground, forcing them to tumble and roll for survival beneath the dense hooves.
Almost the instant the two armies clashed, the Peace Army's hastily erected formation was broken, and the Lan Kingdom cavalry quickly separated them. Fortunately, the Peace Army often trained in small groups using the Crimson Dragon Formation, so even though the units were separated, the soldiers began to fight independently, causing the Lan Kingdom cavalry to continue to suffer strong counterattacks.
However, when the bright yellow banners waved again from the high ground, large numbers of Lan Kingdom cavalry appeared on the hills. This shattered the last remaining courage of the Peace Army, and the sound of retreat rang out from within their ranks.
Upon hearing the signal to break out, the soldiers of the Peace Army mustered their remaining courage and charged back the way they had come. The two armies were locked in a fierce melee, and even the barbarian archers were unable to use their skills effectively. If the Lan Army had not lacked armored infantry to form a defensive formation, they would likely have been unable to break through the encirclement.
Just as the trapped Peace Army was desperately fighting back, shouts of "Long live! Long live!" suddenly rang out from behind the Lan Kingdom cavalry. Standing on high ground, Lü Jianzhong looked towards the source of the sound and saw two groups of about five thousand men each, charging like bull horns from behind the Lan Kingdom cavalry who had cut off the Peace Army's retreat. The besieged Peace Army, realizing reinforcements had arrived, were greatly encouraged. In their fierce charge, they managed to cut the Lan Kingdom cavalry in half. Losing the distance to launch their attack, the Lan Kingdom cavalry, facing the surrounding spears and arrows, fell from their horses one after another.
A cold glint flashed in Lü Jianzhong's eyes. He saw a general holding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other. The flying dragon pattern on the shield, even from hundreds of feet away, looked ferocious and terrifying. The general wasn't riding a horse; he used the shield to protect his body and rolled among the Lan Kingdom cavalry. Lü Jianzhong craned his neck, watching the general dart and weave beneath the horses' bellies. The dense horse legs and the weapons thrust out from the Lan Kingdom cavalry on horseback seemed nonexistent to him. He moved like a gray shadow beneath horse after horse, and wherever he went, warhorses either had their hooves cut off or were gutted, throwing their riders to the ground, groaning and neighing.
Lu Jianzhong gripped his pistols tighter. That valiant general must be Tu Longziyun, the commander of the Peace Army. He stared intently at Tu Longziyun's figure, and as Tu Longziyun charged into the battle formation, about to reunite with the surrounded Peace Army soldiers, Lu Jianzhong raised his pistols.
"Kill!" From the valleys on either side, two more cavalry units from the Lan Kingdom charged forward. Both men and horses were clad in heavy armor, and the Peace Army soldiers, who came to meet them, thrust their spears but could not penetrate their sturdy armor. The Peace Army, which had initially turned the tide of the battle, was once again plunged into a fierce struggle under the onslaught of these two fresh forces.
Tu Longziyun felt that no matter how he wielded his Dragon-Slaying Blade, the number of Lan Kingdom cavalry around him never seemed to decrease. On the contrary, the two Peace Army units that had come to his aid were slowly squeezed out and forced to retreat into one place by the newly added armored cavalry's rapid and tight formation. He knew that if the armored cavalry formed an encirclement, this Peace Army navy, lacking weapons and experience in breaking cavalry formations, would likely be wiped out. Therefore, he disregarded everything else and shouted loudly, "Stop fighting! Retreat!"
The piercing sound of retreating bells rang out again from the Peace Army. The Peace Army, locked in fierce combat, desperately tried to break free from the enemy's entanglement and retreated back the way they came.
"The enemy has been defeated!" a general beside Lü Jianzhong exclaimed excitedly. "General, order the entire army to charge! Don't let the enemy escape!"
Lu Jianzhong shook his head. The Peace Army was indeed retreating, but it was clear that this retreat was organized, not a complete rout. Pressing them now would inevitably force the Peace Army to turn back and fight to the death. Even if they were completely annihilated, their own losses would be heavy. What he needed was not just to ambush this Peace Army that had come to attack him, but more importantly, the city of Lujiabao.
"Beat the drums!" Lü Jianzhong ordered. Powerful drumbeats resounded across the hills, and upon hearing the sound, the pursuing Lan Kingdom cavalry slowed their advance, allowing the Peace Army to retreat.
"If we are trapped in a deadly situation, we must fight to the death; if there is even a glimmer of hope, we will not fight to the death," Lü Jianzhong thought to himself. Most of the Peace Army had escaped from the melee. When these defeated soldiers realized that the enemy was not pressing them urgently, the Crimson Dragon Formation they had formed collapsed, and everyone fled for their lives.
Lu Jianzhong spurred his horse forward a few steps, his eyes fixed on the fleeing ranks of the Peace Army. When the two armies were about three hundred paces apart, Lu Jianzhong gave the order again: "Charge!"
The Peace Army, having just escaped the enemy's encirclement, had barely caught their breath when the Lan Kingdom cavalry charged again. The Peace Army soldiers lagging behind didn't even have time to turn around before being overtaken and killed by the Lan Kingdom cavalry. Tu Long Ziyun, turning back to see this, was filled with rage. He roared, "Follow me!" and led several hundred Peace Army soldiers in a counterattack. These hundreds of soldiers were all elite troops; their sudden counterattack pierced through the Lan army like sharp swords. The fleeing Peace Army soldiers also turned back to fight, and in an instant, the two sides were locked in a fierce battle once more.
Lu Jianzhong snorted, realizing that his order to pursue had been premature; the enemy still had the strength to counterattack. He then ordered, "Beat the drums again!"
Tu Longziyun led the Peace Army away from the battle for the second time. This time, he was more vigilant and did not rush to flee. Instead, he personally led two thousand soldiers to cover the rear. The Lan Army pursued closely and fired a barrage of arrows, shooting the leading Lan soldiers off their horses.
The Lan Kingdom cavalry seemed somewhat afraid of them and dared not press too hard, simply chasing after them at a leisurely pace. If the Peace Army relaxed even slightly, the Lan Kingdom cavalry would launch a charge, slaughtering the lagging Peace Army soldiers.
"Nothing special." Lü Jianzhong shook his head. The outcome of this battle was already decided. The enemy's two-legged infantry could never outrun their four-legged cavalry. He only needed to keep them under pressure, and this defeated contingent of the Peace Army would become the vanguard in their assault on Lujiabao. From here to Lujiabao was only about twenty li. In at most two hours, he would be able to enter Lujiabao and open the gateway for the Lan Kingdom's army to march south. During this twenty-li pursuit, he feared that half of the less than twenty thousand Peace Army soldiers before him would be killed.
"Hmm?" As he continued his pursuit, Lü Jianzhong suddenly realized that the direction of the retreating Heping Army was somewhat off. They weren't retreating towards the north gate of Lujiabao, but rather westward. Lü Jianzhong felt a slight disappointment. If he couldn't drive this defeated army to Lujiabao to open the city gate for him, his plan would have failed halfway. The enemy wasn't choosing the shortest route to escape, but instead circling around to the west gate. Could it be that someone in the enemy army had seen through his intentions?
"Order the vanguard to hurry and drive the enemy into the city." Lü Jianzhong deflected a stray arrow with his left hand and flicked his right spear, lifting up a wounded and out-of-place Peace Army soldier in front of him. As if understanding his intention, his warhorse took off and leaped forward several times, trampling the Peace Army soldier who had fired the arrow to the ground.
The defeated troops of the Peace Army were finally driven toward the west gate of Lujiabao, but just as Lujiabao was in sight, an unexpected event occurred.