When the reinforcements of the Luohai Kingdom, having traveled in circles outside the city for hours, began to panic, the fighting between the army of the Great Wen and the garrison of Lishan City had lasted almost two hours in the city and was coming to an end.

Xiao Jiangyue and He Xiao had taken some men to the east city gates and made some defensive arrangements.

“I just deployed an Illusion Formation. It’ll trap them in there for two hours at the most,” Ling Zhang said to Yuwen Tong.

The two of them were also on the ramparts, looking at the enemy reinforcements that could be vaguely seen outside the city and their approaching vanguard.

“Increase the guards by twenty percent. Tell the archers to get ready,” Yuwen Tong said to Xiao Jiangyue. “The enemy reinforcements must be exhausted after such a long journey. When they find out we’ve taken the city, they won’t attack immediately, but we must not give them the impression that the defense of this city is weak, lest they change their mind and stage an offensive.”

After all, the army of the Great Wen had just been through a battle and were now also fatigued.

Xiao Jiangyue soon carried out the orders. There were now more soldiers standing guard on the ramparts than there had been a moment ago. Also, some cheval-de-frise had been positioned outside the city gates and were heavily guarded.

…

The vanguard of the Luohai army reached the outside of the city and were startled as they saw that Lishan City had been taken by a Great-Wen army and was now well defended. They hurriedly returned to the place where the Luohai army was temporarily staying.

“General, Lishan City has fallen. There are Great-Wen soldiers everywhere near the city gates. Their defense is very strong.”

The commander’s countenance changed drastically. Looking at Lishan City in the distance, he asked through gritted teeth, “Are you sure of what you saw?”

“A hundred percent. Those Great-Wen soldiers are vigorous and vigilant and there seems to be no weakness in their defense. I’m afraid we’ll suffer heavy casualties if we launch a frontal attack on the city right away.”

The commander angrily threw his helmet to the ground. “Fuck! We traveled day and night but still failed to make it in time. The commander of the garrison is such a good-for-nothing. With all the strategic advantages they had, they didn’t even hold the city long enough for us to arrive!”

None of the other officers dared say a word.

Consumed with anger, the commander cursed loudly for a long moment before he eventually huffed, “Make camp right here. We’ll attack after some rest and take the city back!”

“Yes, General!”

…

In Lishan City.

The Luohai army deterred, Yuwen Tong immediately gave the order for the troops to rest and regroup.

“Tonight we’ll raid the encampment of the Luohai army out there.”

Yuwen Tong’s decision amazed all the officers, for they had just been through a battle, and their troops were all tired. Raiding the Luohai encampment outside the city in these circumstances would be a very stressful task for the soldiers.

“The Luohai army have been traveling day and night and all their soldiers are drained, their feet blistered. Since this is their first time stopping to rest, their soldiers would drop their guard and be sleeping deeply at night, which would be a golden opportunity for us to launch a sneak attack,” said Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang immediately came to understand what Yuwen Tong meant. The Luohai soldiers were even more tired than Great-Wen soldiers.

Xiao Jiangyue agreed, “Sire is right. When they regain strength, we’ll be faced with an army with well-trained soldiers and sturdy horses, and defeating it will take a lot of doing. This is indeed a good opportunity to deal them a heavy blow.”

“But they have already come to know our defenses are strong, and I’m afraid they would be guarding against a night-time surprise attack,” said He Xiao.

Jiang Ke shook his head and said, “Even if they’re guarding against it, there’s no way they could stay on full alert. They’ve traveled non-stop for days, and that’s the deadliest blow to them. There’s no way their soldiers could stay sharp tonight, even if their commander repeat the orders again and again, because they’re only human.”

He Xiao gave it some thought and said, “How about we put out feelers first?”

“We’ll take them down in one fell swoop. There’s no need to risk alerting them,” said Yuwen Tong. “We got four hours before sunset. Send word for all the soldiers to rest in the city, except for those responsible for clearing the battlefield and those guarding the city gates. Tell the cooks to prepare enough meat dishes for the troops as a treat so that they can sleep with their bellies full. We’ll depart at the end of Zi Hour (23:00-00:59).”

This would guarantee that the soldiers had enough time to rest and recharge. Even if they couldn’t regain all their strength, their level of combat readiness would be far higher than that of the Luohai army!

Nobody raised any objections. The officers immediately set off to carry out Yuwen Tong’s orders.

Soon, apart from army cooks, some local cooks in the city were also summoned. Under close supervision of some soldiers, the cooks quickly prepared a hearty meal. All the fresh meat was provided by caravans that had been following in the army’s wake.

For troops of the Great Wen who had been fighting at the front, Jiahe Chamber of Commerce dutifully providing them with sufficient supplies was no doubt an enjoyable, exclusive, special treatment.

After the army had their fill of food and drink, officers of all descriptions received the order to raid the Luohai encampment after midnight and with that they instructed the soldiers to find places to rest.

Soon, before sunset, silence reigned over the city.

The soldiers who were still clearing the battlefield were keeping their voices down when talking, trying not to make any noises.

The citizens were unaware of what was going on, baffled as to why the city had suddenly quieted down. However, because the atmosphere in the city was too weird and there had just been a battle, everybody was infected by the mood, not daring speak aloud, all their front doors tightly shut.

High-ranking officials of Lishan City were temporarily locked up in cells. Those low-ranking ones were too afraid to do anything and, just like the commoners, were hiding in their respective houses and trembling all over with their doors shut.

Soon night fell.

The commander of the Luohai army had indeed given the order for his men to stay alert and made arrangements for teams of soldiers to patrol the perimeter according to a strict schedule, but the rest of the soldiers, who could finally have some rest, soon drifted into sleep so deep their officers were having trouble waking them up to relieve the sentries.

…

At midnight.

The soldiers sound asleep on the ground in Lishan City suddenly awoke and rose to their feet one after another. They silently rearranged their armor and checked their weapons, their eyes glinting dauntingly.

Beneath the inky night sky, by the light from the torches on the ramparts in the distance and the sparse street lanterns, the troops mustered soundlessly.

When Zi Hour was almost over, the east city gates were quietly opened.

Under the cloak of darkness, the army of the Great Wen were progressing, staring in the direction of the Luohai encampment in the distance, their eyes as ferocious as those of wolves.

…

Ling Zhang, wearing hauberk under his black night-suit, along with his bodyguards, blended in with the vanguard and were the first to approach the Luohai encampment.

He listened hard for a while before he said to He Xiao and Jiang Xi flanking him, “It’s very quiet in there. Most soldiers were fast asleep, considering their even breathing.”

Ling Zhang possessed very powerful internal energy and was capable of hearing faint sounds from very far away. He Xiao and Jiang Xi had long since come to know about this, so they naturally believed him.

“He Xiao, you and His Highness may take some men and get rid of the cheval-de-frise. I’ll take care of the sentries on the two watchtowers,” said Jiang Xi.

They both nodded and, after the order to attack was given, immediately charged at the encampment with the soldiers.

At the same time, Jiang Xi, along with a row of consummate archers, aimed their bows in the direction of the watchtowers and loosed their arrows, which flew straight towards the Luohai soldiers on the watchtowers like shooting stars and went into their eyes, shoulders, etc. The sentries were either directly killed or sent flying off the watchtowers by the great force of the impact and none of them had the chance to beat any of the big drums.

Ling Zhang and the others reached the watchtowers shortly after the volley of arrows. They lunged at those that had just fallen from the towers and finished them off.

He Xiao and his men sprinted towards the cheval-de-frise!

“WE’RE UNDER ATTACK! WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!”

An army patrol started yelling, but since nobody beat any of the big drums, the alarm only reached the ears of a limited number of soldiers. Most were still deep asleep. Only a small number of men woke up.

Flaming arrows rained down on the Luohai encampment like a meteor shower, igniting tents and everything else flammable.

When Great-Wen troops ferociously flooded into the Luohai encampment, Ling Zhang had found the location where food supplies and fodder of the Luohai army were stored. He also found some oil in that place and started pouring it over the tents, which soon turned into a blazing inferno in which those food supplies and fodder were reduced to ashes.

“Kill them!”

Battle cry filled the whole encampment. Many Luohai soldiers were stabbed to death in their sleep; some awoke to find themselves afire and writhed around on the ground. All was chaos and confusion in the encampment, Luohai soldiers resisting and fleeing hurry scurry.

Yuwen Tong, leading a group of crack troops, sped into the encampment and encountered the Luohai general, who hated Yuwen Tong’s guts and galloped towards Yuwen Tong, face bloodstained, a long knife in his hand. “Yuwen Tong, you despicable bastard actually stooped to sneak attack! I’ll kill you!”

Ling Zhang arrived just in time to see this and spot a Luohai archer hidden in the shadows, who was about to fire an arrow at Yuwen Tong whose attention was drawn to the Luohai general.

The look in his eyes turned cold and with that he hurled his sword at the archer.

With a puff, the blade of Ling Zhang’s sword penetrated the archer’s chest before he could loose the arrow.

Ling Zhang leapt down, retrieved his sword and joined the fight.

…

This battle lasted a whole night. Raging flames could be seen everywhere in the Luohai encampment. There was no telling whether weapons or flames took more Luohai soldiers’ lives.

By dawn, except for a group of soldiers who had fled the battlefield helter-skelter, the whole Luohai army had been annihilated in the night-time raid.

…

Yuwen Tong did not order his men to pursue the remnants of the Luohai force on the run.

“We’ve certainly demoralized the Luohai Kingdom greatly in this battle. Now there’s only one prefecture standing between us and the Luohai capital. It’ll take the Luohai Kingdom quite some time to muster another army strong enough to defend against us without summoning the troops stationed in that prefecture,” said Ling Zhang.

And the army of the Great Wen would not stop advancing in the interim.

The whole army were quite excited about this great victory.

Yuwen Tong gave the order for the troops to have three days’ rest before departure.

Apart from handsome rewards, the soldiers could also use a good rest. They were in no fit state to enter another battle immediately.

Though the Luohai Kingdom would not be able to send any more reinforcements any time soon, it was unwise to let their guard down.

Thus the army made Lishan City a stronghold and spent three days resting and regrouping in it. Meanwhile, news of the Luohai reinforcements being routed spread through all nearby cities. Many officials who had been waiting for the outcome of this battle panicked. Some even gave the order for the city gates to be sealed, though there was no sign of enemy coming yet; officials of the nearest city packed their valuables and directly fled. With nobody organizing the defense, the citizens had no choice but to make their escape as well, and the prosperous city became deserted in less than two days.

…

After that, the advance of the Great-Wen army grew even more inexorable as Luohai cities fell one after another.

When the army closed in on the Luohai capital, Ling Zhang received an urgent letter from Lian Hai.

Dugu Shan was dead.