Thief Emperor

Chapter 354: Divine Weapon Tempering
At this moment, it is already late at night.

Major General Zhou Chang was so furious!
He stood on a high place, staring with wide eyes at Li Yun who was almost rampant on the battlefield, stunned.

After hearing his subordinates report on the situation on the battlefield, he felt a tingling sensation in his spine.

"It's really a ghost, it's really a ghost..."

The major general held on to the tree with his hands and almost fell down!

He never dreamed that this group of Jiangnan soldiers who came out of nowhere, with their small number of troops, could actually fight a head-on battle with his own 5,000 troops!
The difference in troop strength between the two sides, and the back-and-forth fighting, meant that the casualties on both sides were disproportionate!

The two sides had been fighting for just over an hour, but Ji's army had already suffered nearly a thousand casualties, and the number of casualties was still growing!

More importantly, the five thousand men he brought were already some of the more elite battalions of the Pinglu Army!
"Major General!"

The old captain stood in front of Zhou Chang and said with a serious face: "Our infantrymen are already exhausted. If we continue to fight, I'm afraid we won't even have the energy to retreat. We must be decisive at this time!"

Zhou Chang stood firmly, still feeling a little dazed.

This time, it was the first time since he became an adult that he led a force of more than a thousand people to do something alone. He originally thought that occupying Chuzhou and Yangzhou with 5,000 people would be a piece of cake.

Who would have thought that not long after entering Huainan Road, they would suffer a loss outside the city of Yangzhou!

Seeing that Zhou Chang was still hesitant, the old captain grabbed his sleeve and shouted, "Major General, order the troops to withdraw. At least half of the 5,000 men can be saved!"

"If we don't retreat now, I'm afraid that by daybreak not even half of the people will be able to escape!"

Zhou Chang was still unwilling to accept the defeat. He pointed at the battlefield and said angrily, "These Jiangnan soldiers have never been to any battlefield before. Won't they suffer casualties?"

The old captain sighed and said with a wry smile: "Major General, our Pinglu Army has gone through two generals. When the old general was alive, he did lead the brothers to fight many battles, but in the last twenty or thirty years."

He whispered, "The Pinglu Army rarely fights. If there is a war, it will go north to help the Fanyang Army fight against foreign enemies."

"Give a hand to the Fanyang Army."

"Among our five thousand people, how many of them have actually experienced the battlefield?"

The Pinglu Army was not a border army.

Or rather, they used to be frontier troops.

At the earliest time, the Pinglu Army and the Fanyang Army were both stationed in the northeast of the Great Zhou. The two sides were separated by only one state, and there were two Jiedushi who together guarded the northeastern border.

Later, after a series of battles, the Pinglu Army quietly moved south and began to station troops in Qingzhou, changing its name to Pinglu Ziboqing Jiedushi.

At this time, the Pinglu Army no longer faced foreign enemies directly and was not even on the border, so it could naturally not be called a border army.

This is actually a separatist force.

In other words, the imperial court, with nowhere else to place them and unable to deal with the Pinglu Army, allocated a new area in the south for them.

In the earliest days, the Pinglu Army was certainly combat-capable, and was not much worse than the Fanyang Army, and was even stronger.

But in the army, there is a new generation every ten years, and now the young people in the Pinglu Army have been replaced by countless generations.

After hearing what the old captain said, Zhou Chang finally came back to his senses. He continued to look at the battlefield, then pointed at Li Yun, who was fully armored, and said angrily: "Send a good fighter over there to kill this guy for me!"

"If it weren't for him, this situation would never have happened."

Even though the Pinglu Army was tired, there was no obvious difference in the combat effectiveness of the two sides. In fact, if the Pinglu Army could hold on to its full potential and not be exhausted by the Jiangdong Army, they might have won.

But on a battlefield like this, having a figure who is like a god of war really boosts morale!
Especially someone like Li Yun, who is a ruthless person who can decide the outcome of a small-scale battle by himself!
His presence affected the balance of the war to a certain extent, and made the victory tilt towards the Jiangdong Army little by little!

The old captain naturally also noticed Li Yun on the battlefield. Even at night, Li Yun's brilliance on the battlefield was difficult to conceal.

He whispered, "Major General, this man has at least a hundred people guarding him. He must be a general of this Jiangdong army, or even the leader."

"It takes too much time to surround and kill him!"

"The leader..."

Zhou Chang took another look at the battlefield and murmured, "Could it be that Li Zhao has come in person?"

He had met Li Yun when he was in Jinling, but the two of them failed to reach an agreement and almost had a conflict.

But at this moment, Li Yun had a mask on his face and it was late at night, so Zhou Chang naturally couldn't tell that it was Li Yun.

Moreover, he didn't know that Li Yun had "changed his name" and still called Li Yun Li Zhao.

Seeing that the old captain was about to lose his temper, Zhou Chang finally stopped insisting. After all, this was an old man left by his grandfather's generation. The young general sighed, pounded the small tree next to him, and gritted his teeth and said, "Retreat! Keep some distance from them first!"

The old captain heaved a sigh of relief, bowed his head, clasped his fists, and said in a hoarse voice: "I will cover you!"

Zhou Chang nodded first, then warned: "Mr. Shen, be careful!"

The old captain, whose surname was Shen, strode away without even turning his head.

…………

On the other side, after Li Yun killed two more enemies, he was exhausted and was escorted back to the central army to rest. He had just sat down when he saw Yang Xi running towards him, lowering his head and saying, "General! The enemy is starting to retreat!"

Li Yun was sitting on a rock. Hearing this, he clenched his fists and took a few breaths. After a long while, he spoke in a deep voice.

"it is good!"

"Go tell Zhao Cheng that if the enemy retreats, have him lead his men to hold on to them and beat them hard!"

Yang Xi bowed his head and clasped his fists: "Yes!"

Up to now, Li Yun has seen several reports.

Although the enemy's casualties have always been about twice that of our side, our number is not enough after all.

If we continue to fight, it will only be a miserable victory.

After all, although the enemy is a little tired, he is not exhausted yet. If he really fights hard, he will always have the strength to swing his sword.

As long as you get into a pursuit battle, the results that follow will be pure profit.

We hardly need to pay any price.

Yang Xi bowed his head deeply and immediately went downstairs to deliver the message.

After he left, Li Yun looked up at the waning moon that was already setting in the west, then looked down at his palms that were covered in dried blood.

Most of this blood belongs to the enemy.

As for himself, he only had some scratches and some skin injuries.

"The quality... has been tested."

Li Yun muttered softly, still looking at the moon.

The quality of this Pinglu Army was stronger than he had imagined.

According to Li Yun's original prediction, in this collision between the two sides, since they are well-rested, their side should not have to face such a difficult situation.

However, this is also a rare opportunity.

The food for the Jiangdong soldiers has always been good. Some of the thin guys before have become much stronger after joining the Jiangdong Army for a year.

The Jiangdong soldiers now have all the hardware qualities that elite soldiers should have, which is what they are lacking now.

It is practical experience and an invincible military spirit and soul!

These two things can only be honed and tempered in actual combat!

And for the new Jiangnan soldiers, this battle was the first step in forging good materials into divine weapons.

In this way, Li Yun rested while commanding the battle formation in the central army.

Before he knew it, because he had expended too much energy, he felt sleepy. He leaned against a tree and fell asleep.

When he opened his eyes again, it was already bright outside. Zhang Hu was standing by his side. When he saw him wake up, he immediately said happily, "Second brother, you're awake!"

"I thought you were injured and passed out!"

Li Yun raised his hand and called him over, smiling dumbly: "You are a little exhausted, you will be fine after two days of rest. How was the battle?"

"It seems like the fight is almost over."

Zhang Hu whispered, "I have been watching over my second brother the whole time and have not gone anywhere, so I don't know much about it."

Li Yun said "hmm", stood up and stretched his body.

After a good night's sleep, I finally feel a lot more energetic, but the muscles in my limbs are still a little sore.

This is a common situation that happens to Li Yun after he charges into battle.

After all, he was wearing full armor weighing dozens of kilograms, and he could kill on the battlefield for an hour or two, or even longer. If an ordinary person were like this, he would probably die of exhaustion when he stopped.

Even if you don't die, you may be left with some lifelong sequelae.

As for Li Yun, it usually only takes three or four days to fully recover.

It's already like a divine body!

After a while, Yang Xi came to report that the war was basically over and the enemy had escaped dozens of miles away, but the casualties had not yet been counted.

Li Yun then stood up, turned his head to look in the direction of Yangzhou, and laughed.

"It's been a hard night."

“It’s time to harvest.”

(End of this chapter)