One saying was pretty accurate… “I love the way you hate my guts, gritting your teeth, yet unable to do anything to me.”

The sentence made complete sense when viewed in the context of the relationship between Qiguan Rang and the Red Lotus Group.

Qiguan Rang was a low-key person, but it didn’t mean that he behaved low-key on the battlefield. On the contrary, he was rather high-key on the battlefield.

With him defending a city, the enemy couldn’t even get water past the city gates and walls. With him attacking a city, one’s defenses were basically useless.

Despite facing a lack of manpower within the city and having to deal with diehard believers causing trouble, Qiguan Rang still kept the situation under control. With sufficient defense equipment and his commands, the Red Lotus Group failed to get within 100 meters of the city gates for three days straight. Every time they attacked the city, shouting curses, the Red Lotus Group could only leave hundreds and thousands of bodies behind, looking at Jinmen District and sighing in defeat.

In just seven or eight days, the situation in Chengde County had changed a few times.

First, it was Jinmen District that fell into the hands of Jiang Pengji. Then, Honglian District was taken over by the second-in-command of the Red Lotus Group. Next, the rebels of the Red Lotus Group laid their eyes upon Qiuyu District. They used the second-in-charge’s title of protector of the Red Lotus Group to trick the guards into opening the city gates and took the city by surprise.

The onlookers had initially thought that the Red Lotus Group and Liu Xi would each occupy one district while the rebels occupied two.

They didn’t expect that in just one day, the situation would change drastically again.

Liu Xi conquered one more city. Honglian District was now in her hands.

As compared to Jinmen District, Honglian District hardly posed any difficulty. This was mainly because An Cui had arranged for informants to support their actions from within.

Although An Cui’s sworn brothers were rather uncultured, they were smart and compliant. They obediently followed An Cui’s plans, drinking the head guard under the table in the name of hosting a feast, and at the same time using the opportunity to bribe the guards at the gates. Taking advantage of the dark night, they quietly opened the gates and led Jiang Pengji into the city.

The ones who were as drunk as skunks were either tied up in their sleep or beheaded.

The civilians in the city only realized that the flag on the city gates had been changed after waking up the next morning.

Jiang Pengji deliberately blocked the passage of information after taking over Honglian District. The members of the Red Lotus Group preparing to start a civil war inside and outside of Qiuyu District knew nothing about it at all.

“The execution of the plan went smoothly… Have the scouts we sent out come back yet?”

She had conquered half of the territory of Chengde County and was only two districts away from uniting Wanzhou.

“They’re back. Here is the information that the scouts have gathered… At the moment, Fenghu District is strong in appearance but weak inside. It seems to be heavily guarded, but actually, the defense is really weak.” Yang Si took a roll of parchment out from his sleeve and handed it to Jiang Pengji. “My lord, do you want to take over Fenghu District in one go or rest for one or two days first? The troops have been marching day and night and are really tired. For the sake of our combat power, I’d suggest that we rest for a day first.”

Jiang Pengji was very face-paced when it came to staging battles, but it didn’t mean that she was unaware of her army’s limits.

Her physical ability could keep up, and she was still active and vigorous after so many days, but it was different for her soldiers.

Over the past few days, they had spent most of their time marching rapidly. Sleep and rest were scarce, making them really exhausted.

“Rest for one day first…” Jiang Pengji smiled and said, “By the way, the recruits deployed from Fengyi County should be arriving soon. Even though they have only been trained for one to two months, they can be of use too. Oh yeah, who is leading the army?”

Yang Si answered, “Zixiao.”

Hearing the name, Jiang Pengji furrowed her brows and said, “His health is not good. What’s he doing running around in the death of winter?”

Yang Si didn’t know whether to cry or to laugh. “Even though Zixiao suffered from a cold body due to external factors, he is a good doctor and is experienced in nursing himself back to health. He has been recuperating for a few years and his present condition is far better than it was in the past. Despite always looking fragile, he isn’t that weak. He can ride a horse and pull a bow well enough, no worse than the rest. My lord, you always talk about him being weak and unhealthy… But men don’t like it when you refer to them that way.”

Yang Si always behaved in a somewhat improper manner. His last sentence didn’t seem too odd, but men and women of the world could read between the lines and understand what he was hinting at.

But Jiang Pengji said, “I know.”

Yang Si was surprised.

Since their lord knew that Wei Ci’s health was not so bad, why did “he” bring it up now and then?

To an advisor, it was indeed rather hurtful if his lord was to refuse him the opportunity to achieve accomplishments, citing his health as a reason.

Jiang Pengji spoke again. “It’s to kill the monkey to frighten the chicken.”

Yang Si was completely confused.

“Kill the monkey to frighten the chicken?”

What did his lord mean?

If the livestream had been on, the experienced audience would probably have laughed and considered it good news.

Were the streamer’s words not clear enough?

She was doting deliberately on her little princess and being open about it to the others.

They would have fully accepted this almost sickly-sweet public display of affection.

In his past incarnation, Wei Ci had served as a minister in the same court as Qiguan Rang for more than ten years. As such, he had a certain level of understanding of the latter.

Upon hearing that Qiguan Rang was the one guarding the city, Wei Ci came up with a plan for how they could cooperate in encircling and annihilating the enemy.

He brought more than 5,000 recruits with him, and Qiguan Rang had about 5,000 to 6,000 experienced soldiers with him, so they had more than 10,000 men in total.

The Red Lotus Group making a scene outside had started with 36,000 men, but their numbers had been worn down by Qiguan Rang, so there were only slightly more than 30,000 left at the moment.

If they attacked from both the front and the back and took their enemies by surprise, they would have a pretty good chance of annihilating the 30,000 enemy troops with their 10,000 men.

Wei Ci lowered his gaze and thought in detail, feeling that the plan could work.

The Red Lotus Group was just a cult formed by civilians. It lacked cohesion between the upper and lower ranks, and the morale of all ranks had fallen to their very lowest after suffering multiple defeats at Jiang Pengji’s hands. They didn’t have the resolution to fight to the death. On the contrary, they might just desert the army if they saw that things weren’t going their way… Furthermore, Qiguan Rang had been defending Jinmen District well. None of their intense attacks worked, and the attacks only caused them to suffer heavy losses. The soldiers were low-spirited and their combat power was nothing to be afraid of.

If they could hit the enemy head-on at such a juncture, they could dissolve the morale of the Red Lotus Group completely.

As long as the Red Lotus Group’s formation completely fell apart, Wei Ci and Qiguan Rang could win the battle.

Despite having achieved plenty in the battle, only Qiguan Rang knew how difficult it had been.

He hadn’t dared to close his eyes and sleep for multiple days. He was scared that the troops of the Red Lotus Group would attack while he was sleeping soundly.

They had 30,000 men, six times the number of men within the city!

He estimated the time and guessed that he would be liberated in one or two days.

Xu Ke conducted affairs in a staid manner. Since recruits were being sent onto the battlefield, the one leading the army would be one of the advisors from Fengyi County.

Even though Jiang Pengji didn’t occupy a large territory at the moment, she had plenty of top talents working for her. They were somewhat more inclined towards war strategizing than towards anything else.

No matter which of them arrived, it would be a confidence boost for Qiguan Rang.

Just as he had expected, the reinforcements finally arrived the next day at noon.

The Red Lotus Group was cursing provocatively below the city gates. They cursed until their throats were swollen, finally choosing to attack impatiently.

Qiguan Rang stood on the city gates, looking into the distance. He could vaguely see unusual movements behind the army of the Red Lotus Group. His eyes grew warmer.

To show their might and reduce the threat of the crossbows on the city gates, the Red Lotus Group deliberately formed large battle formations.

However, it also caused a certain amount of time lag in their transfer of information.

It wasn’t until sand and dust were flying everywhere behind them, murder cries reverberating through the skies, that the members of the Red Lotus Group in front realized that something was wrong.

At that moment, Qiguan Rang laughed coldly.

He said, “Cooperate with our troops and annihilate the cultists!”