In the end, Lu Yan didn't choose to directly attack Youhu City. Firstly, Youhu was a military stronghold. With the current strength of the Lu Family Army, although they could take it, they would also suffer heavy losses. It would be better to first cross the Kongtong Mountains and capture Haojing. They could not only use the supplies in Haojing for their own use but also recruit more soldiers and then continue to attack Youhu.
Under Wei Yan's persuasion, many people in Haojing, who had long been exploited by the government, joined the army. Just from Haojing, Lu Yan gained an additional ten thousand troops.
Due to the urgency of time, Lu Yan sent Qi Qi to garrison Haojing and train the new recruits. He himself led people to collect all the paper in the city. Then, with one hundred thousand troops, he immediately crossed the Wei River without a moment's delay and set up camp not far from Youhu City.
They didn't need to reclaim farmland because Lu Yan never intended to fight a long - term war from the beginning. Calculating Qi Yang's marching speed, he had nine days left.
Nine days to launch an attack on a city with one hundred thousand troops against fifty thousand in a siege battle was a risky move in military strategy. However, just as Fei Yu had predicted, Lu Yan captured Youhu City in less than five days.
During these five days, the military strategies Lu Yan adopted were worthy of being recorded in history.
Youhu was a military stronghold because it was located on the banks of the Wei River, not far from the Yellow River to the east. Thus, merchant trade thrived there. Water transportation was faster and could carry more goods than land transportation, which promoted economic development. Youhu was equipped with heavy offensive and defensive weapons. The city walls were built extremely solidly with granite transported by water, making it the northern defense line in the non - vassal state area of Lixia. At the same time, due to waterway trade, there were many merchants in Youhu, and most of them were engaged in the timber business, which required transportation. Because the city gates were closed due to the war, there were piles of untransported firewood in many places inside the city. In the Youhu area, poplars and birches, which were highly flammable trees, were abundant.
Lu Yan apparently had a plan. He pointed directly at the map and said to everyone, "We'll use fire attack."
Once the city caught fire, the city defender would surely open the city gates to get water from the moat, which was diverted from the Wei River. That would be a good opportunity to break through the city gates.
However, Youhu City was very large, and rockets couldn't reach that far. So Lu Yan spread out the paper brought from Haojing one by one, asked the soldiers to grind ink, and then waved his hand and said, "Paint!"
The soldiers didn't know what their general was up to, but the soldiers of the Lu Family Army always followed military discipline strictly. Without saying a word, they buried their heads and started painting.
On the evening of the third day, hundreds of Kongming lanterns slowly rose into the sky and flew towards Youhu City with the west wind.
Since the Kongming lanterns were painted with ink, in the dark night, when they flew into the sky, people thought the lights were stars in the sky. It wasn't until hundreds of "stars" began to pour out burning kerosene that the people in Youhu City realized what was happening, but it was too late. Most of the timber piled in the open was ignited, and the whole Youhu City was immediately engulfed in a sea of fire.
As the fire grew more and more intense, the city defender had no choice but to open the gates to get water. Unexpectedly, the Lu Family Army rushed in directly. In just one night, Youhu City was captured.
On the evening of the next day, a fast - running horse galloped into Lige City. As soon as it entered the city gate, it foamed at the mouth and died. A battle report was found on the saddle. Lu Yan's handwriting was powerful and forceful: Youhu City has been captured. If you want to live, hand over Shen Qingfeng.
At this time, Qi Yang, who was taking a rest in Pingyang, also received the battle report. For a moment, he was restless.
He had originally planned to go to Youhu City to help defend it, but he didn't expect that even the most defensible Youhu City had fallen. Who on earth were these soldiers of the Lu Family Army!
His subordinate asked tremblingly, "General, should we immediately march at night and change our route to Anyi to defend against the enemy?"
Qi Yang slapped him across the face and said, "The city gates of Anyi can't even compare to half of Youhu's. It can't defend against anything! Go to a fortress!"
The subordinate covered his face and said, "But there's only one military fortress, Mingxiao, on the way for the Lu Family Army to reach Lige. If it takes us half a month to reach Mingxiao, what about the King..."
Qi Yang covered his face and said, "Going to Anyi is just going to our deaths. If you want to go, go by yourself. Don't drag me along!"
He paced back and forth in the military tent, rubbing his hands so hard that it seemed as if a layer of skin would be rubbed off.
"Listen up," Qi Yang said, sweating profusely. "The whole army will stay in place. We'll go to Mingxiao at night tomorrow. If the King asks, tell him that we were unexpectedly attacked by the Lu Family Army and had no choice but to change our route to Mingxiao. Do you understand?!"
"…Yes!"
-
In Bian Palace, Shen Qingfeng, supported by Liu Mei, came to Xia Chuli's bedroom.
Before they reached the bedroom, they could hear the singing and dancing coming from inside the palace from afar. Shen Qingfeng stopped and said softly to Liu Mei, "Do you regret it?"
Liu Mei paused, as if not knowing how to answer.
Shen Qingfeng gasped for breath and said again, "Seeing Xia Chuli like this now, do you regret it?"
His voice was extremely weak. In the past year, Liu Mei had watched his health deteriorate day by day. Every time she went to see him, she would see the imperial doctor shaking his head as he walked out. No matter how she asked, the doctor would only prescribe one medicine after another without saying anything.
"You made the wrong choice, Liu Mei," Shen Qingfeng's voice was as weak as a sigh. "You wanted to help the Xirong Kingdom, but Xia Chuli is not a wise king. You thought it would be easy to talk to him because he has Xirong blood, but he hates Xirong. If it weren't for the absurd decision of the Xirong King, Princess Liuli wouldn't have been given in marriage to King Xia Jie. Moreover, do you know what we've been selling to Xirong even though we've opened the border trade?"
Liu Mei trembled all over, her beautiful eyes wide open.
This was something that had happened in the previous life, but Shen Qingfeng knew that in this life, Xia Chuli still did whatever he wanted and never repented: "Moldy rice and rotten meat. There are a few basins of moldy rice in each bag, and the rotten meat is mixed with good meat. You won't notice until you get diarrhea."
Shen Qingfeng took a deep breath. "The Xirong people traded their high - quality mountain treasures and timber for these. He's sucking the blood of Xirong."
"What do you think will happen to Xirong when all its blood has been sucked dry?"
Liu Mei trembled all over. "You're lying to me."
"You can send Sen Ya to investigate," Shen Qingfeng covered his mouth and coughed a few times, with traces of blood showing. He waved away Liu Mei's hand and said, "It's already like this. I don't want to say more. Thank you for bringing me here. I'm going in."
Inside the bedroom, red silk fluttered, and the air was filled with the fragrance of wine and meat, presenting a scene of luxury and debauchery. Shen Qingfeng walked weakly into the main hall. Looking up, he saw Xia Chuli nestled among several beautiful women.
He seemed to have been drinking, and his face was flushed. When he saw Shen Qingfeng, he chuckled a few times, put his hand on a woman's private parts, and leered, "Why has Queen Shen come? Do you want to come and play with me?"
Disgust flashed in Shen Qingfeng's eyes. "Ten days ago, Lu Yan captured Youhu, right?"
Xia Chuli stopped the hand that was holding the grapes and said, "So what? Are you here to laugh at me? Hmm?"
"He's asking you for me, right?"
Xia Chuli laughed loudly, picked up the wine cup, and drank it all in one gulp. "Shen Qingfeng, you're dreaming."
Shen Qingfeng straightened his body, looking like a proud phoenix on the verge of death. "Xia Chuli, you've already got what you wanted. Do you want to die like you did in the previous life?"
Xia Chuli overturned the table. Bottles and jars shattered on the ground. He kicked away a trembling beauty and cursed, "Shen Qingfeng, do you believe that I'll kill you right now and make you accompany me to the underworld!"
"It won't be long, right?" Shen Qingfeng's voice was determined and solemn, like the last glimmer of light from a burning candle. "Half a month, that's what the imperial doctor said."
Xia Chuli stared at him fixedly. After a long while, the corner of his mouth slowly curled up, and he laughed maniacally.
Shen Qingfeng looked straight ahead. "Xia Chuli, I don't consider myself a beauty, but what you want more is the throne, or rather, to stay alive, right?"
Xia Chuli bent over with laughter. "Half a month? Hahaha… Half a month! You won't tell him, will you, Shen Qingfeng?"
Shen Qingfeng pursed his lips and said nothing.
"Then tell me, what will his expression be when he holds your corpse in his arms?" Xia Chuli laughed until tears ran down his face. "Oh, I remember. It'll be exactly the same as in the previous life, in the Mountain and River Hall!"
Shen Qingfeng closed his eyes and turned around to leave.
Behind him came Xia Chuli's crazy laughter. "Hahaha! Shen Qingfeng, I'll let you go! I can't wait to see that expression on his face again! Hahaha…"
-
At dawn, there was no trace of gunpowder smoke in Anyi City, which had just been captured by Lu Yan.
Before that, the Lu Family Army had been waiting outside Anyi City for a full five days.
After capturing Anyi, they would attack Mingxiao. Mingxiao was located in the Central Plains, surrounded by mountains on two sides and water on one side. Its geographical location was excellent, and it was the only way for Lu Yan to enter Lige City. Moreover, Mingxiao was even more difficult to capture than Youhu. So Lu Yan needed to preserve his combat strength. He was too lazy to launch a full - scale attack on the city and just sent people to shout at the city one after another.
The day before, after Lu Yan had made his intentions clear, he received letters from Chen Luo and Chu Jietian. Both of them said that Xia Chuli had asked them to send troops, but no one was willing to support a despised and unpopular monarch. So they both wrote letters to mock Xia Chuli.
Chu Jietian was focusing on restoring the vitality of Qimen and could only offer verbal support to Lu Yan. Although Chen Luo said that he would send troops to help, everyone knew that the soldiers in the southwest were not under his control. Without the approval of his general, Chen Luo couldn't send out a single soldier. So Lu Yan directly threw Chen Luo's letter into the brazier.
Although he hadn't received any news from Su Huanyu, Lu Yan knew that that guy wouldn't send troops to help Xia Chuli. Moreover, Cen Shuning had already hidden himself in Yushan and refused to see anyone.
Therefore, Xia Chuli was just a trapped beast, waiting for the fangs of the Lu Family Army to arrive.
Before dawn, Xia Yanhe rode his horse and stood in front of the army. Behind him were Lu Yan's one hundred and fifty thousand troops. Soldiers in the army continued to shout, "The King of Li is tyrannical. There are starving people everywhere in the city, while corrupt officials are getting rich! No one can bear such tyranny. Blood will flow! Look at this tyranny. Isn't it as cruel as a tiger! It's better to surrender to a wise lord and find a new way out!"
With the fall of the military stronghold Youhu in the front and several vassal states standing still in the back, and now Lu Yan's army pressing on, the common people, who had long been tortured by Xia Chuli's tyranny, were living in misery. Before long, there was a commotion inside the city. Then the city gates were opened, and the city defender led all the soldiers in Anyi to surrender to Lu Yan.
Anyi City was captured.
Shen Qingfeng led his horse. He was still dressed in white and walked slowly on the streets of Anyi City.
Around him were soldiers in a hurry. One of them wasn't looking where he was going and accidentally bumped into Shen Qingfeng. Shen Qingfeng's body tilted, and his already unsteady steps staggered. He almost fell into the man's arms.
"Tsk!" Yu Shuang cursed under her breath, helped up the man in white, and said, "In this chaotic time of war, why are you aristocratic young masters still running around? Where are you from? I'll send you…"
Yu Shuang suddenly stopped. The man in her arms slowly lifted his hat. Yu Shuang stared fixedly at him, and her eyes immediately turned red.
"…Young master!"