Shen Qingfeng's plan was quite simple. After returning to the Shen Mansion, he quickly wrote a letter to Lu Yan to inform him of this plan. Then he summoned Yu Shuang, gave him a name, and said, "Cut off his head and bring it to me."
Two days later, there was suddenly a loophole in the defense of Liangcheng. While Lu Yan was mobilizing his men to remedy the situation, the Donghu army stationed outside saw the opportunity and immediately launched an attack on Liangcheng.
War was imminent.
This time, the Donghu army had publicly announced that Yuwen Nanwang would lead the troops. However, considering his age, he only lent his name and let his son, Yuwen Qian, lead the army in order to boost his son's morale. Previously, Yuwen Qian had been sent as an envoy to Xirong to seek cooperation, but unexpectedly, due to Chen Luo's interference, he returned empty - handed. As a young and impulsive man, seeing the loophole in Liangcheng, Yuwen Qian couldn't hold back his excitement. He personally led the troops into battle. Just as he had expected, the defenders of Liangcheng were quickly defeated and fled in disarray. After resisting for a while, Lu Yan found it impossible to hold the city gate and had no choice but to abandon the city.
The Donghu soldiers fought with ease and were in high spirits. Lu Yan's repeated retreats further boosted Yuwen Qian's confidence. He directly ordered his troops to pursue the victory and occupy Liangcheng. After a fierce battle, Liangcheng was captured. Lu Yan led his troops to defend Fengping instead. During the escape, Guo Zhuyi, the defender of Liangcheng, saw Lu Yan leave first and knew that he had been abandoned. So he immediately defected and was going to surrender to the Donghu army. But Yuwen Qian, who was already intoxicated by victory, didn't even want to look at him. He directly drew his bow and shot an arrow through Guo Zhuyi's chest.
The Battle of Liangcheng ended in just one day. The Donghu army occupied Liangcheng and captured or killed 3,000 defenders.
It was Yuwen Qian's first time on the battlefield, and in his first battle, he confronted Lu Yan, the God of War of Lixia, and even won a perfect victory. For a while, the morale of the Donghu army was extremely high. They set up bonfires in Liangcheng overnight. Unfortunately, if Yuwen Qian had been a bit more careful, he would have noticed that none of the captured or killed soldiers were from the Lu family army, and the number of displaced people in Liangcheng was significantly less than the previous population of the city.
Inside Fengping City, Xing Zhiyuan walked through the soldiers with a gloomy face. Although the soldiers of the Lu family army knew that he was the so - called supervisor, they didn't really take him seriously. They saw him striding directly towards the residence of the Marquis of Dingbei. Several soldiers stepped forward and blocked his way.
Xing Zhiyuan's face darkened, and he immediately started shouting, "Get out of the way! I'm the supervisor! I want to see the Marquis of Dingbei!"
The soldiers glanced at each other and said, "The marquis is discussing matters inside. No idle people are allowed to enter!"
"Am I an idle person?!" Xing Zhiyuan stamped his foot angrily and pointed at one of the soldiers, scolding, "Bullshit! I'm the supervisor appointed by the king himself! How dare you stop me?!"
The soldier looked straight ahead and repeated, "Sorry, the marquis has given the order that no idle people are allowed to enter!"
"Damn it!" Xing Zhiyuan was extremely angry. He shouted at the top of his voice, "Marquis of Dingbei! Can't you fight a war? You can't even defend Liangcheng! You were beaten by that Donghu brat and fled in disarray! Aren't you ashamed? Now do you want to be a coward and not even allow me, the supervisor, to do my job?!"
Hearing this man's reckless words and scolding Lu Yan in the army, the soldier was about to arrest him. Unexpectedly, Lu Yan's handsome voice suddenly came from behind, "What's wrong, Supervisor? Why are you so angry?"
Xing Zhiyuan suddenly looked up and saw Lu Yan walking out of the door in his armor. Behind him followed a teenage general, Qi Qi, Lu Yan's confidant.
Xing Zhiyuan didn't care about anything. He pushed the soldier away and rushed a few steps forward to stand in front of Lu Yan. Pointing at Lu Yan's nose, he scolded, "Marquis of Dingbei! Look at the war you've fought! Why didn't you defend Liangcheng when that Donghu brat attacked? Why did you leave General Guo's army in Liangcheng without any support? You were beaten so badly by just the Donghu army. Lu Yan! You're not worthy of being a general. I'll report this whole thing to the king exactly as it is. You just wait to go to jail!"
Lu Yan lowered his eyes and looked at him. Suddenly he smiled coldly and said, "Lord Xing, which eye of yours saw us being beaten and fleeing in disarray?"
Xing Zhiyuan was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses and scolded, "You've already lost Liangcheng. What are you still arguing about? You also caused General Guo Zhuyi and his subordinates to be brutally killed by the Donghu people!"
Lu Yan waved his hand and said, "General Guo was killed by the Donghu people. What does it have to do with me? There was a loophole in the defense of Liangcheng. As the defender of Liangcheng, General Guo voluntarily led his troops to cover the retreat of the main force. In the end, he sacrificed his life to protect the main force. He died heroically on the battlefield. His deeds are praiseworthy."
Xing Zhiyuan was stunned on the spot and couldn't believe it. He said, "You... What did you say?"
The corner of Lu Yan's mouth twitched, showing a dangerous smile. He said, "Lord Xing, don't forget to ask for military merits for General Guo when you submit your memorial. It's not too much to get an imperial edict to reward him for dying on the battlefield, right?"
Xing Zhiyuan understood what Lu Yan meant. He was so angry that his whole body was trembling. He scolded, "Marquis of Dingbei! You did this on purpose! What on earth are you up to? Aren't you afraid that I'll report this to the king?"
Lu Yan snorted coldly and said, "Do you think I'll let you have the chance to report this to the king?"
Xing Zhiyuan was startled and immediately panicked. Pointing at Lu Yan, he shouted, "Lu Yan, what do you want to do?! I'm warning you. I'm the supervisor appointed by the king! If you dare to kill me, you won't get away with it!"
Lu Yan gave a sneering laugh. He took a few steps forward towards Xing Zhiyuan. Looking at the old man trembling with fear in front of him, he snorted and said, "Who said I'm going to kill you?"
Xing Zhiyuan stared at him, swallowed hard, and didn't dare to say a word.
Lu Yan said, "Lord Xing, let's be straightforward. If you help me this time, I won't hold you accountable for the bribery you secretly accepted from Guo Zhuyi in Liangcheng before."
Xing Zhiyuan was shocked all over.
Lu Yan added, "Oh, I almost forgot. There's also the matter of you almost raping a married woman in Liangcheng."
Xing Zhiyuan's face became paler and paler.
Seeing this, Lu Yan reached out and patted his shoulder. Leaning close to his ear, he said, "Lord Xing, I don't need to tell you how to write the memorial, do I?"
The news that Liangcheng had been captured soon reached Lige. Along with it, there was also a passionate memorial from Xing Zhiyuan.
The memorial stated that everyone had been in a fierce battle with the Donghu army. In the end, to ensure that the main force could escort the people of Liangcheng out of the city, Guo Zhuyi volunteered to lead the defenders of Liangcheng to hold off the enemy. He fought desperately with the Donghu people and finally died for the country. The whole memorial was written from the heart and was very moving. King Xia Jie immediately bestowed rewards on Guo Zhuyi in court and sent someone to deliver them to Guo Zhuyi's widow. Then, Lu Yan's memorial also arrived. First, he praised Guo Zhuyi generously. Then he said that the reason for Guo Zhuyi's defeat was that there was a serious shortage of food and grass in Liangcheng. Due to the uneven distribution of food and grass, Guo Zhuyi selflessly gave a large amount of food and grass to the people. In the end, he was too exhausted to fight the enemy effectively.
This impassioned speech not only gave enough face to Guo Zhuyi but also brought the problem of food and grass in Liangcheng to the surface. As soon as the news came out, King Xia Jie was forced to send people to investigate the whereabouts of the previous 1.2 million dan of food and grass. Since this was the first battle against the Donghu army and they had lost because of the food - and - grass problem, even Lu Yan, the God of War, was helpless. For a while, the public opinion was overwhelming. King Xia Jie had no choice but to start collecting grain across the country and prepare to transport it to Qimen.
That evening, when Qi Shuhuan was about to go to bed, he lifted the quilt and saw a bloody head on his bed. It was the official who had helped him plan and embezzled the grain.
Qi Shuhuan looked at the still - fresh head and was so scared that he almost fainted. The next day, the Qi Mansion "voluntarily" donated 1,000 taels of silver as the grain - collection funds. King Xia Jie was very happy and praised Qi Shuhuan in court. Qi Shuhuan endured the praise with a red face.
With the grain - collection funds, the shortage of food and grass was quickly made up. A full one million dan of food and grass was transported to Qimen. And this time, not a single jin of the one - million - dan of food and grass was missing during the transportation.