"I'll spare you for now, but we'll settle the score when we get back to Huai'en!" Xue Qian hurriedly mounted his horse again and shouted, "The entire army, turn back and head back to Huai'en!"
The soldiers were already cold and exhausted, and now that they heard they had to rush back to Huai'en, their morale plummeted. Xue Qian had no choice but to quickly inform the army originally scheduled to be with Baoshan and send them to Huai'en to provide support.
Meanwhile, Li Jun's siege forces were already preparing for the attack. To Xue Qian and Jiang Shidao's surprise, the Peace Army had delivered all of its siege equipment to the walls of Huai'en City. This was partly due to the soldiers' valiant efforts and concerted efforts, and partly because, long after Kuanglan City was basically completed, Mo Rong, at Li Jun's request, had designed a series of transportation tools for the Peace Army to suit various natural conditions. These included wheelbarrows that were still easy to use on rugged mountain roads, sleds that moved like boats in snow and mud, and even a three-wheeled cart designed specifically for the Qiang people, an important force in the Peace Army, who were too heavy to ride horses. As the saying goes, "A skilled craftsman must first sharpen his tools." Although Mo Rong, out of her aversion to war and slaughter, designed tools that lacked offensive capabilities, and even secured all the defensive structures installed on the walls of Kuanglan City to prevent Li Jun from using them for an attack, speed is everything in war. Whoever seizes the opportunity before the enemy gains the initiative and triumphs on the battlefield. With the full force of these transportation vehicles, never before seen in Chen's own territory, and coupled with the large number of livestock Li Jun brought back from the Qionglu Grassland, catapults, battering rams, rams, and giant crossbows were all transported intact to the walls of Huai'en City. Almost instantly, the Huai'en garrison discovered that the purple battle clouds formed by the Peace Army on the city walls seemed poised to destroy the small city of Huai'en.
"What's going on? Didn't the Peace Army go to Baoshan?" the defenders thought in despair. Xue Qian led the vast majority of Huai'en's defenders to reinforce Baoshan, while the city only had five thousand soldiers. More importantly, their commander was absent, and morale was low. The defenders didn't know whether the Peace Army had annihilated Xue Qian before launching another attack, or whether they had used a ruse to distract Xue Qian and then take advantage of the situation. In any case, faced with this situation, they could only either fight to the death against the Peace Army, which outnumbered them six to one, or flee to save their lives.
The vast majority of Huai'en's defenders chose to fight to the death. Their trust in their gods and their spirit of sacrifice inspired awe in Li Jun. Watching the defenders put up a futile but tenacious counterattack under the dense, rain-like long-range attacks of the Peace Army, he couldn't help but think to himself, "What power does their god possess that has turned these ordinary people into warriors who disregard life and death?"
The Peace Army's offensive was so fierce that even the valiant and relentless advance of the Huai'en defenders could not stop it. The raging tide of purple banners surged like a storm at sea, leaving nothing but devastation in its wake. When Xue Qian rushed back to Evil Wind Ridge, Li Jun was already in Huai'en City, inspecting the warehouses and prisons with a cup of hot tea. The scene in the warehouses once again astonished him: mountains of grain, the vast majority of which were over three years old. Despite the natural disaster, the government did not use this moldy and rotting grain in the granaries to relieve the starving people, yet the Lianfa Sect, known as bandits and rebels, seized these large granaries and unhesitatingly opened them to distribute grain. They even mobilized troops to transport the grain to neighboring cities to provide immediate relief to the people. Why was this the way things were? Why were the officials neither officials nor bandits nor people?
"If civil officials didn't just love money and seek promotion, and military generals weren't afraid to die in battle and didn't plunder the people, then the world would be at peace." Lu Xiang's words seemed to echo in his ears again. That was when he asked Lu Xiang when the war in Shenzhou would end, and that was his answer. He had always believed in Lu Xiang's answer and acted accordingly, but now he realized that this alone was not enough.
"No matter what I do, I can only change my surroundings at most. Even if it's Marshal Lu, how can he make that treacherous minister Wu Shu obey the law? To truly bring peace and stability to the world, we still need an effective system." He thought so, but soon he doubted his own idea: "What Marshal Lu said shouldn't be wrong. Do you think I can see further and more clearly than Marshal Lu?"
One moment he thought his strategy was the best, the next he thought only Lu Xiang's words were truly the best. Caught between these two conflicting thoughts, Li Jun went to the prison. He wanted to see what kind of people were imprisoned in the Lotus Sect's jail, a place where his actions had so far contradicted the label of "thief." It was for this reason that he noticed the unconscious Wei Zhan. The fact that Wei Zhan was the only person in the empty cell naturally caught his attention. Upon questioning him, he was shocked to discover that his scheme had almost been ruined by this man.
If it were anyone else, they might have been wary of Wei Zhan, but not Li Jun. If he could get Wei Zhan on his side and make him his advisor, then Wei Zhan could point out any oversights in his thinking. If he were to leave and become Wei Zhan's enemy, then Wei Zhan would inevitably cause him trouble. Therefore, he had to either subdue him or kill him. With this in mind, Li Jun summoned the best doctor in the city and had Wei Zhan revive as quickly as possible.
"Sir, our spies report that Xue Qian has returned." Li Jun smiled and said, "In your opinion, how should we deal with Xue Qian?"
Wei Zhan stared at him for a while, noticing a hint of testing on Li Jun's face. "Beneath that hint, there's something deeper hidden, like probing his loyalty," Wei Zhan thought to himself.
“Xue Qian is easy to deal with,” Wei Zhan said. “He is stubborn and self-willed, and although he is thoughtful, he is also somewhat irritable. Therefore, he will not wait for Baoshan and the originally planned reinforcements to attack the city. However, he is not ignorant of the situation. After the siege is thwarted, he will definitely wait for reinforcements. To eliminate him, we need to give him a surprise attack before he attacks the city.”
"What you mean, sir..."
"Evil Wind Ridge. Xue Qian is in a hurry to return to save himself, and he will definitely pass through Evil Wind Ridge. The commander only needs to ambush a force there and severely defeat him. In his shame and anger, he will act blindly and recklessly. I predict that he will most likely commit suicide."
Li Jun laughed heartily and said, "Sir, your plan is exactly what I wanted. It must be a rare privilege for Heaven to have you, sir. To be honest, I have already ordered 30,000 Peace Army soldiers to ambush him at Evil Wind Ridge, waiting for his return!"
Li Jun's praise only made Wei Zhan smile slightly. He then asked, "I wonder if the commander intends to take Huai'en first and then conquer Baoshan and Yuanding one by one, or to take all three cities at once?"
Li Jun said, "Naturally, we should seize these three cities at the same time. Once we have these three cities, together with Ningwang which we have already recovered, it will not be difficult to quell the Lianfa rebellion in eastern Chen State."
"If that's the case, then Commander, you shouldn't linger in battle with Xue Qian. You only need to defeat him without annihilating him completely. Then, take advantage of the victory to intercept Baoshan and the originally planned reinforcements on the way. Wouldn't it be far better to engage the enemy in the open field than to attack a city?"
“What you say is absolutely right, sir.” Li Jun said after recovering from his brief moment of thought, “To be honest, sir, I do not know the details of Xue Qian and Baoshan’s original troop strength. The Lianfa Sect is quite good at keeping secrets, and it was difficult for my spies to infiltrate. Therefore, I dared not rashly seek a decisive battle with them. That is why I used the strategy of luring the tiger away from the mountain to trick Xue Qian away from Huaien. Now I know that Xue Qian’s army has about 30,000 men, but I still do not know how many troops Baoshan and Yuanding originally had.”
“The garrison at Baoshan also numbers 30,000, whereas the original plan was only 18,000 or 19,000.” As Xue Qian’s strategist, Wei Zhan was naturally aware of this. “Even if they leave some troops to defend the city, if these three armies are combined, their numbers will still exceed the 30,000 peace troops sent by the commander. To achieve a complete victory, we must defeat them one by one!”
Section 3
When Xue Qian's 30,000 troops returned to Efeng Ridge, they were exhausted. They had traveled 300 li back and forth, and were still nearly 100 li away from Huai'en City. In addition, the weather was bad, and although the soldiers ran with all their might, they could not feel any warmth. Every now and then, soldiers would collapse while walking.
Such a forced march is a major taboo in warfare, but given the current unfavorable situation, Xue Qian couldn't afford to worry about that. He had only one thought: Huai'en could not be lost. If Huai'en was lost, he would take it back before Li Jun could consolidate his position. Although Li Jun didn't know his true strength, Xue Qian knew the exact number of Li Jun's Peace Army—no more than 50,000 men in total. Adding to this the need to defend against Ningwang and transport supplies, and the fact that attacking Huai'en would result in losses, Xue Qian could at least maintain a stalemate in terms of troop strength. He still had Baoshan and the originally planned reinforcements to rely on, while Li Jun had nothing.
Evil Wind Ridge was originally Jiang Shidao's ambush site, so he was extremely familiar with the terrain. It was nearly noon, and the entire army had only rested for less than three hours in all this time. Therefore, he advised, "Master, with the blessing of the great gods, our army need not rush. It would be better to rest here for a while, allowing our men and horses to rest, so that we are not too exhausted to fight the enemy when we reach Huai'en City." He deliberately avoided the word "siege," but in reality, he and Xue Qian both knew that in such a long time, even without any siege equipment, the Peace Army could easily break through Huai'en with its numerical superiority. The key was how much damage the defenders of Huai'en had inflicted on the Peace Army.
Xue Qian's disgust for Jiang Shidao was palpable at this moment. He began to find Wei Zhan's blunt and uncompromising attitude when he stopped him to offer advice far more endearing than Jiang Shidao's obsequious manner. People are often like this; they only realize the value of unpleasant advice after they've suffered a loss. Xue Qian could now believe Wei Zhan was acting in his best interest because he had discovered the battle situation was as Wei Zhan had predicted. If Wei Zhan were there, he would surely have a plan to deal with this crisis. However, Wei Zhan had left him imprisoned in Huai'en's cell, seemingly oblivious to his fate, while Jiang Shidao, who had brought false information, was by his side. If it weren't for Jiang Shidao, how could he have fallen for the tricks of that brat Li Jun?
Therefore, although Jiang Shidao's suggestion was good, and could even be said to be the only correct one, Xue Qian completely ignored it. After a while, Jiang Shidao boldly said again, "Master, let's take a rest. Look at the soldiers, they are all complaining. If we continue to make them run without letting them rest, it may incite a mutiny!"
Xue Qian turned and looked around. The soldiers were all staring at him with resentment, a look he rarely encountered before. Since the Lianfa Sect raised its army, he had always treated his soldiers like his own children and avoided disturbing the people, thus earning the deep respect and love of both soldiers and civilians. Although he wasn't exactly a capable, independent military commander, there was no denying that he was a popular figure among soldiers and civilians. If they weren't extremely dissatisfied with his decisions, these soldiers, who had recently been civilians themselves, wouldn't have looked at him like that.
He looked up at the sky and sighed, saying, "Let's rest then. Send down the order to rest on the spot and cook a meal."
By this time, the Lianfa army had entered a narrow road in Evil Wind Ridge. The 30,000-strong army snaked along the mountain road like a long serpent, with its head and tail out of sight of each other. When the rear guard received the order to rest on the spot, they cheered. After this arduous journey, they could finally take a short break.
Meanwhile, the Peace Army, led by Meng Yuan and Lan Qiao, ambushed at the mouth of the canyon, waiting for the Lianfa Army to rush over so they could take advantage of the terrain to wipe them out. However, Xue Qian unexpectedly set up camp in the canyon. Scouts on the mountain saw that the Lianfa Army had stopped advancing and hurriedly came to report to the two of them.
"What should we do now?" Lan Qiao was a brave and valiant general on the battlefield, but he wasn't particularly adept at tactical judgment, and therefore lacked adaptability. Li Jun initially judged that Xue Qian wouldn't return so soon because he didn't yet understand Xue Qian's character and thought that Xue Qian wouldn't urge his exhausted troops to march so hastily. Moreover, Li Jun believed that Xue Qian would rest and recuperate along the way before breaking through Evil Wind Ridge and heading straight for Huai'en City. However, he didn't expect Xue Qian to be so impatient, completely disregarding the cardinal rules of warfare, and only stopping to rest at Evil Wind Ridge. To some extent, Li Jun overestimated Xue Qian's rationality, and was caught off guard by Xue Qian's unwise move, which exposed his ambush.
Fortunately, Meng Yuan was leading the 30,000-strong Peace Army. If Lan Qiao saw that the battle situation was not in line with Li Jun's expectations, he would surely send someone to report to Li Jun first, and then wait for Li Jun's further instructions before making a decision. In doing so, the opportunity would inevitably be lost, and Xue Qian would discover Li Jun's intentions and thus come to his senses.