But Zheng Dingguo didn't care at all. The fifteen spears pierced Shang Huaiyi's body, but each time they were withdrawn immediately after touching him, tearing Shang Huaiyi's clothes before retracting. Only then did he calmly parry the spear, deflecting Shang Huaiyi's attack. His movements didn't seem fast, but they were completed in such a short moment.
"Ah!" With a furious shout, Shang Huaiyi felt his blood surging in his chest. The spiritual power his opponent was channeling this time was twice as strong as during their first clash, and judging from his opponent's demeanor, he clearly had some reserves left. Only now did he truly understand what despair meant. He couldn't win by fighting head-on, and he was unwilling to surrender. His only option was to flee.
Seeing Shang Huaiyi's ever-changing expression, Zheng Dingguo smiled coldly. He enjoyed this feeling, watching his enemy go from hope to despair, and from despair to utter hopelessness under his gun. Therefore, he did not seize the opportunity to attack, but waited to see how Shang Huaiyi would react when faced with a desperate situation.
Shang Huaiyi unleashed a furious roar, thrusting his spear toward Zheng Dingguo's face. Zheng Dingguo smiled mockingly. Shang Huaiyi's spear, though seemingly fierce, was actually a feint. After this move, Zheng Dingguo would surely have to flee.
As expected, Shang Huaiyi disregarded his opponent's reaction after his thrust and turned to ride away. Zheng Dingguo waited until Shang Huaiyi had gone about ten paces before turning back to look at him before spurring his horse to give chase. At first, Shang Huaiyi was pleased to see that Zheng Dingguo seemed unresponsive, but suddenly he heard Zheng Dingguo give a soft shout, and the sound of hooves was as rapid as a sudden downpour. In an instant, Zheng Dingguo was right behind him. He looked back in alarm, and Zheng Dingguo's face was less than six feet away, and he could almost feel the hot breath coming from his mouth.
Just as he was in shock, he suddenly felt a chill in his back as something cold pierced his body. He looked down and saw a spear tip protruding from his chest. He heard Zheng Dingguo's sinister voice say, "Be more skilled in your next life, so you won't be able to withstand three of my moves again."
"You will also encounter..." Knowing he was doomed, Shang Huaiyi tried his best to shout, "You will also encounter someone who can't last three moves. Commander Li and General Meng can kill you like a chicken." But halfway through his sentence, he found that his voice had completely disappeared. His head drooped limply. The last thing he saw was the horse that had lost its master gradually running away.
Zheng Dingguo raised his gun with one hand, the spear impaling Shang Huaiyi's corpse, and shook his head, saying, "So utterly pathetic. I truly don't know why Xue Qian died at the hands of this rabble. Men, behead him and send his head back to Ningwang City!"
If Shang Huaiyi were still aware of this, he would be even more astonished. Ningwang City was originally in the hands of the Heping Army. Li Jun left 8,000 troops to defend Huai'en and other cities when he went to attack them. But Zheng Dingguo said that he would send his first victory back to Ningwang. Doesn't this mean that Ningwang has already fallen? So, where is Li Jun now, who lost Ningwang and Huichang, two cities on the only way back to Yuzhou? And how will he deal with this crisis?
His death relieved him of this worry, something the living could never do so easily. Feng Jiutian in Leiming City hadn't received any news from west of Dagu City for three days; neither messengers nor grain convoys had returned. His attention, initially drawn to Peng Yuancheng, was now temporarily shifted to Pingyi and Huichang cities west of Dagu City.
One of the key reasons Li Jun launched his campaign against Chen was his deep understanding that the powerful clans of Pingyi City, such as Sun Qing, and Huichang City, including Jiang Runqun, would never genuinely follow him. While his military strength was high, they would rely on him for self-preservation, but if he faced danger, these four city lords would surely rebel. Coupled with the instigation of local aristocratic families, they would undoubtedly deliver a fatal blow. Rather than letting them lurk in his territory, it was better to give them a chance to expose themselves, using that as an excuse to eliminate them. Enemies in the open were much easier to deal with than those in the shadows. However, Li Jun hadn't anticipated their swift and coordinated actions, nor had he suspected that Liu Guang was among those strategizing for them.
Li Jun's biggest worry was Peng Yuancheng. He always had a complex feeling towards Peng Yuancheng. On one hand, he admired his talent, but on the other hand, he was worried about his ambition. This military expedition was also to test Peng Yuancheng's loyalty. If Peng Yuancheng did not rebel now, then he could be more confident in letting him lead independently in the future. Therefore, Li Jun and Feng Jiutian were so concerned about Peng Yuancheng's movements. It was also for this reason that they were not too worried about Jiang Runqun and Sun Qing, who had always appeared timid. Little did they know that these two were the ones who started the uprising. Most importantly, they cut off Li Jun's connection with Yuzhou. No matter what strategies or tactics Li Jun had to devise, they could not reach Leiming City for the time being. Feng Jiutian could only rely entirely on his own abilities to deal with the crisis before him.
This was precisely Liu Guang's plan. To achieve this, he even launched a fierce attack on the Lianfa army in southern Chen, leaving them only one route eastward to Ningwang City. At this time, in addition to his own 50,000 troops, he still had more than 100,000 Chen soldiers and Lianfa troops who had been incorporated into his forces. Under his fierce attack, the Lianfa army in southern Chen was forced to turn eastward. Moreover, he ordered someone to suggest a plan to Cheng Tian, one of the five leaders of the Lianfa sect, to pretend to be starving people and sneak into the city for food. As a result, he captured Ningwang in one fell swoop. Although the 8,000 Heping soldiers in the city fought fiercely, they had no choice but to abandon the city and retreat to Huai'en.
"Reporting to Mr. Feng, Jiang Runqun, Sun Qing, Luo Qiang, and Zhang Bin have rebelled!" Although he was not very clear about the strategy and tactics, Zhao Xian understood the importance of this news. When his Kuer Camp went through Peng Yuancheng's blockade to deliver the news to Leiming City, he informed Feng Jiutian immediately.
"..."
"Sir! Please order the purge of the traitors immediately!" Zhao Xian couldn't help but shout when he saw Feng Jiutian remain silent with his eyes closed.
"You may leave now. I have my own plans." Feng Jiutian suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze sharp and piercing, a cold smile playing on his lips. Seeing Zhao Xian leave, he added, "Invite Yu Sheng and Su Xiang to come for a meeting tonight."
"What do you think should be done, sir?" The first thing Su Xiang did after arriving was to ask Feng Jiutian for his opinion.
“Luo Qiang and Zhang Bin are alright, but Sun Qing and Zhang Runqun control the vital passage from Yuzhou to Chen State. If we don’t recapture it soon, I’m afraid Commander Li will be in danger at the front,” Yu Sheng added.
"Peng Yuancheng." Feng Jiutian ignored the two people and directly said the name he was most worried about.
"Peng Yuancheng? Sir, are you saying that Peng Yuancheng will also raise an army in rebellion?" Yu Sheng was taken aback.
"Could the rumors about his rebellion be true? If so, that's terrible!" Su Xiang added, looking at the map. "Most of the troops in Silver Tiger City and Raging Waves City have been transferred to Chen Kingdom. Including the garrison in Thunder City, we only have a little over 20,000 men in total. Moreover, we need to divide our forces to guard Silver Tiger City and Raging Waves City. What should we do?"
“I don’t expect Peng Yuancheng to rebel openly; he will definitely rebel under Commander Li’s banner.” Feng Jiutian’s sneer became more pronounced. Although the two men, one a scholar and the other a warrior, both possessed good common sense, they were still lacking when it came to scheming and plotting.
"Does the gentleman mean that Peng Yuancheng will use his position as commander to deal with us? That's unlikely. The commander of Yuzhou entrusted his power to the gentleman when he left. This is something that everyone in the Peace Army knows. How could he use his position as commander to deal with us?"
“Purge the court of corrupt officials.” Feng Jiutian’s cold smile turned into a bitter smile. “He only needs to say that the commander gave him a secret order when he left, instructing him to monitor me. If I show any disloyalty, he can raise an army to attack me. Now the commander is in Chen. Who can verify whether his words are true or false? Moreover, if I am not mistaken, Jiang Runqun and the others’ rebellion must be under the banner of killing me, Feng Jiutian.”
"I understand!" Yu Sheng exclaimed, "They must be colluding with each other. Jiang Runqun and others took the lead in raising troops while Peng Yuancheng remained inactive. This was precisely to make them cut off the connection between Chen State and Yu State before taking any action."
“Wait, there’s a problem.” Su Xiang frowned for a moment and asked, “Peng Yuancheng first had to claim that you had ulterior motives before he could raise an army. Now that you are loyal to your duties and have no other intentions, how did he manage to pin this big accusation on you?”
Feng Jiutian sighed and said, "It's very simple. He only needs to use the excuse of attacking Jiang Runqun and Sun Qing to ask me for the 12,000 troops in Leiming City. If I give them to him, then we will have no more troops to defend against the enemy. If he rebels, who can stop him? If I don't give them to him, he will use my inaction and hidden evil intentions as a pretext to attack me. The people of Yuzhou will not know the truth and most of them will believe him. After all, he is the one from Yuzhou, while I am not only an outsider, but also a newcomer to the Peace Army."
Yu Sheng immediately understood that Feng Jiutian was actually hinting to them, asking them to indicate whether they supported him or Peng Yuancheng. Yu Sheng hesitated for a moment, then said, "I am not talented, but I am honored by the Commander's trust in entrusting me with all the affairs of Kuanglan City. The Commander has great trust in you, sir, and I will naturally obey your orders."
Su Xiang didn't delve into the intricacies of the matter. He simply turned the map around a couple of times and said, "Twelve thousand soldiers, while Peng Yuancheng alone has nearly thirty thousand troops. To fight against them, we can only rely on the city's defenses."
Although he didn't explicitly state his stance like Yu Sheng, his words clearly revealed his position. Feng Jiutian sighed and said, "Although the commander told me about this before his expedition to Chen, and his purpose in going to Chen was to expose these disloyal individuals, even he didn't expect things to turn out so difficult. With your help, there is still hope for us."
"What are your plans, sir? As long as I, Su Xiang, live, I will never let Leiming City fall into Peng Yuancheng's hands."
"That's not quite right. For the Peace Army, the most important city is Kuanglan. If we divide our forces to defend these two cities, we will surely fail to defend either one. It would be better to abandon Leiming City and concentrate our forces to defend Kuanglan City. Mr. Yu, you should organize the evacuation of the city tonight. The Governor must leave first and not fall into Peng Yuancheng's hands. The teachers and students of the Magic Academy are not yet sufficient for combat, so let them leave as well. General Su, you should lead the army to cover the rear, lest Peng Yuancheng discover that Leiming City is an empty city and take the opportunity to pursue us."