Chapter 9 Brief Respite

  The next day, near dawn, Feng Feifan received a report from the messenger of Hexi in the inner city lord's mansion of Baihe City: Wugeng Wuwei's 50,000 troops were ambushed and defeated in the hills on their way to Huanyue City; the Huatian army was scattered, with only about 500 people fleeing back to report the situation.

  Feng Feifan's face turned white with rage, and it was still so obvious in the candlelight. After a moment of silence, Feng Feifan finally managed to squeeze out a few words: "Pass on my orders, the entire army is to remain vigilant and not move! Send a messenger to report the situation to the Emperor! Request to annihilate the Jin troops besieging Huangyue City!"

  "Yes!" The guard outside the door rushed out hastily.

  At dawn, Lei Meng ordered someone to bring sixteen thick hemp ropes and dragged Yang Tian, who was still sleepy-eyed, to the edge of the broken bridge. The riverbank in the morning still had some thin fog, across the ten-meter-wide river surface, and saw that on the opposite bank there was a two-meter-long black broken bridge, behind which were densely packed crowds of people's heads.

  Lei Meng saw Tong Da Shuai, Luoyang Tian, Qin Hao, Mr. Wen and Huang Chu walking to the riverbank, pointing at a group of soldiers holding hemp ropes behind him, shouting: "General Tong, there are only sixteen hemp ropes here, now there is no good way, can only climb the rope across the river!" After finishing speaking, Lei Meng shrugged his shoulders, because there was a bridge here, the people here did not build boats, and those with boats had all rotted away; Moreover, the people here seemed to be unable to net fish.

  Tong Dashuai sighed and said, "Then let's hurry over, lest the night is long and the dreams are many."

  "Qin Hao! Go and organize everyone to cross the river." Tong Da Shuai ordered Qin Hao to execute.

  "Attention, the whole army! Form up!" Qin Hao hastily gave the order to organize crossing the river.

  Lei Meng had Yang Tian take a hemp rope and swim to the other side of the river - it wouldn't be easy for others to bring such a big hemp rope over.

  Before long, the sixteen hemp ropes were pulled across the river. Under the illumination of the early sun, Qin Hao had the 5,000 Jin-Yuan soldiers cross the river first, then one by one untied the bound Huāng Tiān soldiers to cross the river, and finally the remaining Jin-Yuan soldiers crossed the river. It took a whole morning for the entire army to finish crossing the river. However, the water was too rapid, and more than thirty soldiers were washed away and drowned. More than fifty Huāng Tiān soldiers tried to take advantage of the situation to escape by swimming, but were shot dead by Yang Tian's soldiers.

  The two armies merged, and everyone was excited for a while. Leiming ordered people to cook and eat, and discussed with Tong Dashuai and others in the main hall of the mansion.

  "General Tong, let's regroup our troops outside the city later. Time is of the essence."

  "Good!" Tong Dashuai responded promptly, but immediately furrowed his brow and said: "I don't know how you plan to deal with the surrendered soldiers, Leiyong?"

  "Hehe, isn't this an example of Liao Yun's work?" Lei Meng smiled.

  "Well, let's try it your way first." Commander Tong couldn't think of a better plan and reluctantly agreed. The others also couldn't come up with any good strategy, so they left it to Lei Ming to handle.

  Around three o'clock in the afternoon, nearly 20,000 Jin Yuan soldiers were escorting more than 14,000 Huang Tian soldiers who were lined up neatly on the school grounds outside the city. ——Lei Ming also captured over 2,000 people in Huáng Yuè City.

  Lei Meng stood in front of the high flag set up by the army, looking at the dense crowd of soldiers who were eager to fight but dared not act. He raised his eyebrows and shouted: "Liao Yun, lead your soldiers out of the formation!"

  "Yes!" Liao Yun responded loudly, then led his thousand soldiers to stand in front of the army formation. Before long, they formed a line on the left side of Lei Meng not far away. For the first time facing such a large army, many standing soldiers were panicked and their legs were trembling.

  Tong Da Shuai, Luoyang Tian and several other important generals stood on the right side of Lei Meng's platform, looking puzzled and scanning back and forth as if trying to figure out the meaning behind Lei Meng's actions. Yang Tian seemed to be thinking deeply, as if he had some idea about what Lei Meng was going to do next.

  "Listen up, Heavenly Soldiers! I am Lei Meng, a general of the Jin Dynasty!" His voice was somewhat shrill but very loud, causing everyone's ears to ring. The over 14,000 Heavenly Soldiers who had been looking down all lifted their heads to look, and saw that on the platform stood a small child about 1.34 meters tall, holding a sword in his left hand and giving orders.

  "Hey, is this just some little brat?"

  "Haha, Jin Yuan has no one left, letting a little kid take the stage..."

  "Is that person the one who made the thunder?"

  "I heard that Jin Yuan has two incredibly talented kids, is this one of them?"

  "Humming" The heavens descended with soldiers discussing and whispering to each other, their voices growing louder, with a hint of thunderous momentum.

  "Silence!" A loud shout from Lei Meng thundered over the entire scene, stunning everyone into silence. Next, Lei Meng glared fiercely at Huan Tianbing, scanning him back and forth, and the entire scene fell silent like a dead crow. Suddenly, a sharp-tongued person appeared in front of Huan Tian's army formation and sneered, "Heh, isn't he just a little brat? What's with the airs? Why not have your family's adults take you home to drink milk instead?" After finishing, he still looked around proudly seeking praise.

  The people around heard loud laughter.

  Lei Meng's heart was filled with rage, and he turned his head to see that the spearhead was six meters away, in front of the Heavenly Soldier Array. He immediately took two steps forward on the high platform, and then jumped off from the edge of the platform, soaring through the air towards the spearhead. The people around him were shocked by this sudden move, their mouths agape as they stared intently at the scene unfolding before them. The spearhead suddenly felt a chill run down its spine as it sensed that something was amiss, and quickly turned its head to see Lei Meng flying towards it, causing it to let out a loud "Ah!" of terror as it tried to turn around and flee. However, its legs had gone soft, and it couldn't even manage to turn around properly. The next thing it knew, Lei Meng's sword flashed downwards in a swift motion, striking true with a loud "Whooshing" sound. The spearhead felt a surge of pain as its head was split open from top to bottom, and then everything went black. In reality, Lei Meng had used his inner energy to unleash a powerful slash that cleaved the spearhead's body in two, sending blood splashing everywhere. However, Lei Meng himself remained spotless, having used his internal energy to deflect the blood away from him. The people around him, however, were covered in bloodstains.

  Lei Meng lightly swung the Tang knife, flinging off the blood that had stuck to it, revealing the silver-gray luster of the Tang knife. He then "swished" it back into its scabbard and coldly swept his gaze over the surrounding Heavenly Soldiers, who were so frightened that they retreated in a flurry. Two of them even urinated and fell to the ground, trembling with fear.

  Lei Meng didn't care about them, turned around and flew up to the high platform. Looking at the vast school grounds where a needle could be heard falling, Lei Meng smiled with satisfaction. He was satisfied, but the Haotian soldiers below looked on with a chill in their hearts, this person's martial arts were too terrifying, and he was also too ruthless.

  Lei Meng continued in a slightly softer tone: "Listen carefully to what I'm about to say, or else... heh heh..."

  The heavens descended with troops, risking their lives to nod in agreement.

  "First, let me tell you the reason why I want you to surrender: Firstly, it's not possible to just release you all and send you back, because that would be like releasing a tiger back into the mountains. If you were to capture prisoners, you wouldn't treat them well either; Secondly, even if we were to release you, Lord Huanghai won't let you off easy; Thirdly, the people of Huanghai and Jin Yuan are originally from the same ethnic group. Look at your soldiers and those of Jin Yuan, what's different? Hair, skin color, language? No, it's just that you belong to different countries; Fourthly, a few days ago, Jin Yuan received a batch of surrendered soldiers from Huanghai, they're right here on my left side, and they're doing well. Their leader is still the original Liao Yun, I'm sure some of you know him; Fifthly, our military tactics are always divine, you know we defeated Wu Yue, so don't worry about being caught and beheaded."

  Hao Tian's troops were considering whether what he had just said was reasonable. Lei Ming paused, then continued: "Next, I want to say that if any of you do not surrender, I will not kill him, but it is inevitable that someone will be crippled and have a hand cut off. I won't raise you for nothing. Now give you one minute to think carefully."

  Yang Tian watched Lei Meng's actions and his mind became more agile. Hmm, first kill someone to make a name for himself; then give them a lecture, same kind of people, same kind of talk, maybe there are still relatives between the two countries; afterwards, he cited the example of the people who surrendered a few days ago as being treated equally; and also used divine military tactics, with guaranteed safety; finally, he threatened them again... What a good plan, everything is connected.

  Tong Dashuai, Luoyang Tian and others also nodded frequently, fully affirming Lei Ming's martial arts and mind.

  After a while, Lei Meng spoke again, shouting: "You have already surrendered! Now, are you surrendering or not?"

  Some of the Heaven's Soldiers were timid and immediately knelt down, shouting: "I surrender, I surrender!" Then many more Heaven's Soldiers followed suit, kneeling down and shouting their surrender, wave after wave...

  There were a few who refused to surrender and were beheaded by Qin Hao's orders. The others, hesitant at first, swallowed their pride and quickly knelt down. As a result, Jin Yuan took in over 14,000 of the Heavenly Army, bringing his total forces to 33,000.

  Then, the Heavenly General of Luoyang dispersed the surrendered soldiers and inserted them into the Jin Yuan army. Liao Yun's troops did not move. Tong Da Shuai, Lei Ming, Mr. Wen, and Huang Chu stood at the edge of the high platform, watching the personnel coming and going, all yearning for a powerful military appearance.

  Mr. Wen looked at him with furrowed brows and said, "General Tong, Lei Meng, there are so many people here, I don't know how much grain is stored in Huanyue City."

  "Hmm..." Lei Meng slapped his forehead and said, "Let's not count that for now. Our food supply is probably only enough for a month and a half. Even if we had more grain, it would be useless without connecting with Jin Yuan. I wonder what General Tong plans to do next?" Lei Meng looked at General Tong who was frowning in deep thought beside him.

  Tong Dashuai looked at the large army in front of him, turned his head to gaze at the eastern direction across the river, and sighed: "If it were only a hundred or so people, we could still rush through the mountains and forests, even if we couldn't find a way out, at least we wouldn't be discovered, or starve to death. But with over 30,000 people together, food is already a huge problem."

  Luoyang Tian heard and also expressed his feelings, saying: "Looking at the situation of Wujicheng, He Zhengshan will not come out of the city to join forces with us to attack Feng Feifan's troops. But with our military strength, wanting to pass through Bairen San Cheng, I'm afraid even if we sacrifice ourselves, we won't be able to achieve our goal."

  Moreover, from the mouth of Jiang Bing, we learned that 200,000 troops are stationed in Tianyuan City, a large city 100 kilometers west. Haoyue is a small plain, and only the east and west sides have roads to walk on. The northeast, north, and south are all towering mountains, and it would take a month's journey to pass through any of those directions. So, apart from meeting the enemy head-on, we're afraid there's no other way. Huang Chu also walked over.

  Mr. Wen also came up and suggested: "General Tong, General Luo, since this is the case, why don't we send more scouts to explore the surrounding roads and prevent the Heavenly Army from suddenly attacking? Take this opportunity to train these soldiers a bit, hone them, and improve the overall strength of the army, so as to avoid being caught off guard when the Heavenly Army arrives."

  Tong Dashuai broke out in a cold sweat and then shouted: "Sun Ming!"

  "Will be late, don't know what General's instructions?" Sun Ming quickly ran over.

  "Go! Send out sentries and be on high alert within a ten-kilometer radius around Huáng Yuè!" Commander Tóng ordered.

  "Yes!" Sun Ming quickly left.

  Qin Hao muttered to himself, "That's my subordinate, I should be the one giving orders. Why does he always give orders bypassing me?" Apparently, he was very dissatisfied with General Tong's habit of giving orders directly to his subordinates.

  Then, Tong Dashuai said to Luo Yang Tian Dao: "General Luo, in my estimation, the large army led by Feng Feifan on the east side should not be able to surround Huanyue, as he needs to guard against Wuji; As for Tianshui City, it's likely that they won't expect Huanyue to be attacked and will need some time to prepare before departing. It'll probably take half a month to arrive after traveling over 100 kilometers. But once they arrive, I'm afraid it will be a siege." After pausing for a moment, Tong Dashuai took a deep breath and continued, "I, Tong, am feeling a bit unwell, so the training matters will be handed over to you, General Luo." As he finished speaking, his forehead broke out in sweat again.

  Luoyang Tian frowned slightly and replied: "Alright, I'll leave the training to Luoyang."

  Yang Tian also rushed over excitedly and said: "How's the training going? I'll join in too."

  Luoyang Tian saw Yang Tian enthusiastically participating, and with a sweep of his earlier gloominess, he turned to smile and said: "Hehe, with you guiding them, these little rabbits are blessed."

  "Haha, I thought so too." Yang Tian smiled smugly.

  "That's it. Your martial arts skills are so good, just teach them some techniques and they will be more confident on the battlefield." Luoyang Tian flattered with a certain purpose in his mouth, but in his heart, he thought that going to battle was different from fighting with martial arts, it was a direct and straightforward fight to exchange injuries for life or life for life.

  Lei Meng rubbed his forehead, Zhang didn't see or hear anything, and quietly turned around to leave.

  Tong Dashuai also exchanged a glance with Mr. Wen and Huang Chu, then quietly withdrew.

  The drill of the Luoyang troops is simple, just spread out the team, with each person two meters apart, switch to swords or long guns, imagine the enemy in front of them, shout slogans "Hey! ~ Hey! ~" and quickly stab forward, if the angle of the stab is off, correct it, if the speed of the stab is slow, go over and kick their feet, urging them to use force...

  Thirty thousand people have arrived, and the scene is magnificent. The vast city of Huáng Yuè only has a little more than half of the troops. The shouting slogans shook the sky, frightening the residents in the city with fear and unease...

  Luckily, Haotianbing was suppressed by the strong Lei Meng before, and the mixed team also played a role, so there was no chaos, otherwise it would be really troublesome.

  Many soldiers were just recruited from the crowd, without any training. After a day of training, they had a better understanding of the thrusting action, and perhaps in the next battle, their opponents would be killed with one blow. However, this thrusting action required sudden exertion of the whole body, and after a day of training, many people were sore all over and extremely tired. They hastily ate dinner and went to sleep. - Is this fatigue another strategy of Luoyang Tian's, making it impossible for the surrendered soldiers to escape? Perhaps if they stayed together for a long time, they would become loyal.

  That night, the main generals gathered for dinner at the city master's mansion. Yang Tian proposed to General Luo: "General Luo, I understand your way of training soldiers, and this method is very effective for ordinary soldiers. But I want to train some strong soldiers, which may play a role in tearing up the enemy's formation."

  "Oh? I wonder what kind of clever move Yang Tian has?" Luoyang Tian found Yang Tian's suggestion to be quite novel, and the others were also very interested, all putting down their food and looking over. Only Lei Ming was uninterested, still focusing on eating his meal.

  Yang Tianlu smiled and said: "Give me three thousand elite soldiers, and as for how to train them, I'll discuss the details with you after we see the results."

  Luoyang Tian nodded in agreement, but didn't say anything about it. He just said, "Okay, but you should go pick those people yourself. Maybe the ones I choose won't be to your liking." Luoyang Tian was quite annoyed at Yang Tian's mysterious behavior and decided to give him a little trouble.

  Yang Tian nodded with a smile, and he was extremely satisfied with this.

  Everyone saw that there were no other proposals, so they hastily ate and went back to sleep. After all, these days have been very tiring, and it's rare to have a house to sleep in. A quiet night passed.