Section 2
Just as Li Jun and his companions were engaged in a fierce battle with the dragon spirit, Tonghai Port was plunged into a huge crisis.
Ten days have passed since Li Jun and his men eliminated the dragon spirit. The Tong family's spies have also discovered that the guards protecting Tonghai City are only a mere two thousand Peace Army soldiers. Although small groups of mercenaries have entered Tonghai in recent days, the total strength will not exceed three thousand. Meanwhile, the Rong people have been plundering within the Tong family's territory and are retreating back to the Qionglu Grassland. The Tong family can now free up some of their forces to deal with the Peace Army.
Tong Chang remained the commander of the Tong family. Having not encountered the Peace Army during the Battle of Leiming City, they were not afraid of their fighting strength. This time, Tong Chang led 10,000 troops, including 1,000 light cavalry, 3,000 armored infantry, and 6,000 soldiers, vowing to recapture Tonghai City and capture Li Jun alive. Meanwhile, in Tonghai City, when news arrived from Zhao Xian and Wang Erlei's Orphan Battalion, the nominal city lord, Hua Xuan, could only cower in his bedroom, trembling. All of this had to be handled by Yu Sheng, Zhou Jie, and Su Xiang.
With Li Jun and Meng Yuan absent, and the Peace Army's two most capable and courageous generals struggling for their lives on the vast sea, the lack of a leader truly reveals the fighting capabilities of an army. To Yu Sheng's relief, who had been deeply worried, the soldiers, under the leadership of Zhou Jie and Su Xiang, not only did not lose morale but were instead highly motivated.
"Commander Li and General Meng went to subdue the monsters. If anyone dares to attack us now, we can fight them to the death here and save face for them. We can't let them come back and curse us for being useless!" This was the soldier's reply when Yu Sheng subtly inquired about it. It seemed the soldier was holding a grudge and determined to make the enemy who dared to attack while Li Jun was away suffer a great deal.
This is largely due to Li Jun's unique formation method, with twelve men per squad, which allows officers to stay informed about the soldiers' situation and makes it easier to boost morale.
“The morale is high and the troops are in good spirits,” Yu Sheng said when discussing with officers Zhou Jie, Su Xiang, and Shu Na. “But that’s not enough. If the people of Tonghai City are not of one mind with us, we will face the danger of being attacked from both sides.”
Zhou Jie and Su Xiang, both of whom were originally from the regular army and had been through many battles in the Invincible Army, understood this very well. Zhou Jie said with a wry smile, "That's true, but we've only occupied Tonghai City for a little over a month now, and the people's hearts haven't yet been won over. It's already good enough if they don't secretly restrain us, let alone expect them to be of one mind with us."
“I don’t think there’s a big problem with that.” After thinking for a while, Yu Sheng said, “Decades ago, the Tong family did nothing for the people of Tonghai. Now that Commander Li is risking his life to get rid of the dragon in Tonghai, the people of Tonghai know that. Unless there are a few die-hard Tong family members, the vast majority will choose to remain neutral.”
“If we can let them know that even without the commander, the Peace Army can still win battles and defend this city, they will definitely take the initiative to show us goodwill.” Zhou Jie’s eyes gleamed. “Therefore, we need to fight a battle to boost morale and stabilize the troops.”
"We cannot start with a defensive battle; we must win a battle against the enemy outside," Su Xiang said. "If the city is besieged as soon as the war begins, the morale of the people in the city will immediately fall apart."
Yu Sheng was quite impressed by their analysis. He hadn't expected that Li Jun's subordinates had such people. A strong general has no weak soldiers under his command. No wonder the Peace Army was almost invincible. "When it comes to fighting, I'm a complete novice. I have to rely on the two generals for everything."
The group spread out a marching map. Zhou Jie and Su Xiang looked at the map for a long time and both sighed. From Tong Family's Silver Tiger City to Tonghai Port, the route was all plains, with almost no places to launch a surprise attack on the enemy. The terrain was more suitable for a large number of enemies.
“We have no choice but to do this. Without suitable terrain, we have to disperse the enemy. The enemy is still four days away from us. According to the news from the Kuer Camp, the enemy's vanguard is light cavalry. As long as we can widen the distance between the light cavalry and the main force, we can take down these thousand light cavalry. Even on the plains, we are absolutely confident.” Zhou Jie, contrary to his usual taciturn nature, became more talkative when planning tactics, which had become a habit.
"Fortunately, it's all flat land. Although there's no terrain to ambush, the enemy probably won't expect us to ambush them on the way." After a while, he added.
“That’s not too difficult,” Su Xiang thought for a moment, then suddenly laughed. “We can just tell them that Commander Li isn’t in Tonghai, right?”
Zhou Jie and Yu Sheng were taken aback, not understanding what Su Xiang was referring to. Su Xiang explained, "They know that the commander and General Meng are not here. We will pretend that the morale of the army is wavering and that we will plunder the city's wealth and abandon it. After the recent victory against the Rong people, the Tong family soldiers will surely fall for the trick of arrogance. Their vanguard will be eager for credit and will speed up their advance. As long as we act quickly, we can wipe them out when the follow-up troops arrive!"
“Exactly, the enemy must have spies in Tonghai City. We can use these spies to spread this message,” Zhou Jie added.
"And another thing!" Yu Sheng suddenly had an idea and smiled. "To make a deeper impression on them, we can also have the wealthy merchants in the city send someone to deliver a message to them, asking them to come quickly."
The three of them burst into laughter and brainstormed together. They devised a clever plan, but they were stumped as to which wealthy merchant in the city would carry out this feigned surrender.
"Boss Jia Tong requests an audience with Mr. Yu." The sentry's report delighted Yu Sheng. Jia Tong had left a deep impression on Yu Sheng during the meeting with the businessmen that day. This time, he could see if he could use him to carry out the plan devised by the three of them.
"Please come quickly, no, I'll go out and greet you myself." Yu Sheng hurriedly left the tent and arrived at the camp gate.
"Mr. Jia, what brings you here?" Yu Sheng asked after the two sat down.
"According to my information, the Tong family's 10,000 troops are marching towards Tonghai City," Jia Tong said bluntly. "I wonder how Mr. Yu managed to repel the enemy?"
Yu Sheng was taken aback. The news from the Bitter Camp was still a secret, and even the soldiers in the army knew very little about it. Jia Tong not only knew it, but also knew the number of enemy troops in detail. This made Yu Sheng suspect that someone in the army had leaked the information.
"How did you know, Mr. Jia?" Yu Sheng's question made Jia Tong think that the Peace Army had not yet received this news, and he couldn't help but become a little anxious. He said, "We businessmen have our own intelligence. This matter is absolutely true. Now that Commander Li is not here and Young Master Hua is ill, Mr. Yu can be more careful."
Yu Sheng remained silent for a while, wondering how much he could truly trust this businessman. He seemed overly concerned about the Peace Army. After a moment, he said, "Mr. Jia, this matter should not be publicized, lest the people in the city panic. As for a plan to repel the enemy, we already have one."
"So your army was already prepared!" Jia Tong said with a sigh of relief and a smile. "I knew it. With Commander Li's wisdom, even if he went out to sea to kill the dragon, he would have left a plan for the Peace Army to repel the enemy."
Yu Sheng was greatly surprised. Not only did the Peace Army have absolute trust in Li Jun's wisdom, but even a merchant like Jia Tong believed in Li Jun's military talent. This was truly astonishing. Although Li Jun had not actually left any plan to repel the enemy, Jia Tong's misunderstanding could be used to his advantage.
"Mr. Jia, even if you hadn't come, I would have visited your residence anyway. Commander Li repeatedly mentioned relying on your help in his plan to repel the enemy..."
Yu Sheng's words invigorated Jia Tong, who said, "Is that so? I am grateful that Commander Li is willing to serve the Peace Army!"
Seeing Yu Sheng looking at him with a deep gaze, Jia Tong smiled slightly and said, "Sir, please trust me. I am a businessman, and businessmen are all about investment. This time, I have invested in the Peace Army!"
“Mr. Jia is a shrewd man, he certainly wouldn’t be wrong. Your investment will surely be a huge success.” Yu Sheng said slowly, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.
"Hurry, hurry!"
The officers kept urging the cavalry to gallop faster, and four thousand horses kicked up high clouds of dust on the wide post road.
The Tong family's light cavalry enjoys a great reputation in Yuzhou. This is a team trained in battles against the fierce Rong cavalry. They are not much inferior to the Rong people, who are mounted on horseback. For a long time, they have been a major force that the Tong family can be proud of in Yuzhou. They have almost no rivals and can fight against them in the open field.
After receiving a secret letter from Jia Tong, a wealthy merchant in Tonghai City, and combining this information with reports from spies within the city, Tong Chang knew that the Peace Army was aware of their impending attack on Tonghai. He considered this insignificant; he had never intended to launch a surprise attack on Tonghai, and it didn't matter if the enemy knew. However, upon learning that the Peace Army planned to plunder Tonghai completely before withdrawing, he was enraged.
"These bandits, and they call themselves mercenaries!" He cursed at his subordinates. Although Tonghai City had been abandoned as a seaport for decades, it still possessed considerable wealth. If the Peace Army were to plunder it, what use would it be for the Tong family to reclaim an empty city?
"Pass on my command to Tong Yu, instructing him to lead the light cavalry at full speed straight to Tonghai City, so that the bandits have no chance to escape." After giving this order to the general commanding the light cavalry, he added, "Tell Tong Yu not to attack the city, but simply to contain the bandits."
"Could there be a trap here?" an aide cautiously warned.
"It's alright. As long as Tong Yu doesn't abandon his strengths and attack the city, what army in Yuzhou can stop us in the open?" Tong Chang smiled smugly.
"Yes, Commander, you are wise. I was overthinking it, haha." The staff member could only laugh and make a self-deprecating joke. Although he was still a little worried, he thought it made sense. The Peace Army wouldn't be foolish enough to fight against the Tong family's light cavalry, which was known as the "Invincible Army," in the open field.
They all forgot that the predecessor of the Peace Army also had a resounding name: "Invincible Army".
The light cavalry galloped at full speed and quickly left the main force far behind. When they arrived at the village of "Guliu" only ten miles from Tonghai, the armored infantry behind them were a full day and a half behind.
"Hmph, what Peace Army? If it weren't for the commander's order, I would have taken Tonghai City on my own!" Tong Yu was a famous brave general of the Tong family. He looked down on the Peace Army. Although Lu Wudi was famous and the Dragon Head Demon King Li Jun had great achievements, in his eyes, the reason why these two people had such empty reputations was because they had not met him.
Guliu Village has only thirty or forty households. The post road does not pass through the middle of the village, and the fields on both sides are covered with rapeseed that grows up to knee height. This winter has been unusually warm, so the rapeseed has already started to grow and it looks like it will bloom in about ten days.
The cavalry's passage seemed to have gone unnoticed by the villagers, but Tong Yu paid no attention to it. He was now extremely eager to fight the Peace Army, and his biggest worry was that the cowards of the Peace Army would run away beforehand.
Suddenly, a barrage of arrows rained down from the rapeseed flowers. Caught off guard by this sudden attack, the outermost cavalrymen were thrown from their horses and fell one after another. Tong Yu was furious. How dare the cowards of the Peace Army ambush them on this flat ground!