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Chapter 204 The Battle for Morale

On top of the city wall in Dengzhou.

Zhu Wen was very upset now and he sighed three times in succession. Staring at the flags of the official troops on the official road, he suddenly felt isolated.

Dengzhou was an ominous place. The city’s defense was now mostly repaired, but Zhu Wen didn’t feel the least bit secure. He felt as though he has been trapped and caged by the city beneath him. There were covetous official troops in all surrounding states and counties and none of them was friendly.

Zhu Zhen was defeated. The five thousand elite cavalries were unable to defeat the three thousand new soldiers. Over half of them were killed and they ended up retreating in panic. Zhu Wen was very unhappy. The soldiers who guarded the city watched the elite cavalries retreating in panic. It was an extremely bad sign and a big blow to their morale.

The civilians who were drafted in the city had been looking at them with a different expression and even with suspicion the last two days. After the troops occupied Dengzhou, they built up an image of valor in the minds of the people in Dengzhou, but that was obviously crumbling.

This was not a good sign. If the official troops attacked the city and the situation was unfavorable, the rich and the civilians in the city would take the lead to revolt, and they would not be able to hold the city anymore.

Zhu Wen knew that Zhu Zhen’s defeat had triggered a series of negative reactions, but he had no way to eliminate this effect for a while. His scout found out that Li Ye had over a hundred thousand soldiers and horses under his command and that the Pinglu Army had fine armor.

The newly defeated Dengzhou Army was in mortal danger.

However, though Zhu Wen wanted to behead him, he still couldn’t blame Zhu Zhen. Even Wujizi was dead, so what could Zhu Zhen do? In the final analysis, this defeat was not Zhu Zhen’s fault. Li Ye was the Grand Prince of the empire with an exalted status and highly regarded by Li Yan, so Zhu Wen couldn’t imagine that such a person would follow the vanguard of the elite cavalries to fight in the battlefield. He acted recklessly and didn’t take himself seriously.

Undeniably, no one expected such a thing, neither did Zhu Wen. That’s why Zhu Zhen was defeated. But even if Zhu Wen thought of it, there was nothing he could do. Even Wujizi, who was the master in the Spiritual Master Realm, was defeated by Li Ye. Li Ye was just at Level 9 of Qi-refining, but how could he be so strong?

Prince An certainly lived up to his name. He didn’t do things the conventional way. Much less can his cultivation be figured out the conventional way.

“I’m not an ordinary person. I emerged from the grassroots and became famous in the bloody battlefield. I’m a true man, but why did I suffer repeated losses this time?”

Heaving another long sigh, Zhu Wen suddenly realized he needed to stop this pessimistic mood, a great taboo of a general. As the chief commander, he must always keep the morale high, or the battle would be lost even without a fight.

When realized this, Zhu Wen hastily coughed a few times, straightened up, and regained his spirit.

“Pang Shigu!” Zhu Wen waved to a junior colonel. “Go. You take people to gather the rich in the city together. Bring them into custody and make sure that they don’t do anything out of the ordinary!”

Pang Shigu was a dark-skinned man. He looked dull and rigid, but at the same time, he was full of vigor and valor. He cupped his fist and said, “Yes, Sir!”

If the official troops attacked the city, Zhu Wen had to prevent the rich in the city from collaborating with them or causing chaos. Things like these often happen. Although Zhu Wen was unwilling to admit it, the people supported the Tang Empire more than the Qi Empire.

The torrent of official troops gathered before Dengzhou was forming an endless sea of armor. Zhu Wen’s expression became gloomy and he shouted again, “Huo Cun!”

A valiant general responded with his fist cupped, “General Zhu, may I help you?”

Zhu Wen looked Huo Cun up and down. Huo Cun was a brave man, but it was a pity that he wasn’t his trusted general. He followed Huang Chao before. This time when Zhu Wen led the troops to attack Dengzhou, Huang Chao sent Huo Cun to help, but in fact, he was Huang Chao’s spy. After all, Zhu Wen led the troops to fight outside, so Huang Chao would definitely send someone to spy on him.

Zhu Wen had no hard feelings towards Huo Cun, but he didn’t like him either. He said, “The troops of Tang Empire will encamp later. You lead your troops to give them head-on blows to strengthen our prestige before they settle down!”

The defending troops in Dengzhou just experienced Zhu Zhen’s defeat. Now the official troops besieged the city in force. They were great in strength and impetus and high in morale. The soldiers on top of the city wall in Dengzhou showed fear and had low morale as they saw the official troops. If Zhu Wen wanted to hold the city, he had to raise the troops’ morale with a victory, otherwise Zhu Wen would lose before the defending battle.

Huo Cun agreed to it with cupped fist as he heard Zhu Wen’s order. Zhu Wen was right, but Huo Cun was not optimistic. There were more than a hundred thousand troops outside the city, so no one would be optimistic when they went out to challenge. If he won, it would be good and it would boost the troops’ morale. But if he lost, he didn’t know whether he could come back or not.

However, Huo Cun also knew that he was going out of the city not to fight against over a hundred thousand official troops, but to make a mess in their weak section while they were not well defended. Dash out, make a quick and decisive attack, and then retreat. He needn’t pay attention to the result. It would be great if he could kill over a hundred people.

The key to this battle was to show that our elites had no fear and were able to advance or retreat freely when facing over a hundred thousand troops. This was a battle for morale, not a life-and-death battle.

Huo Cun had a headache as he glanced at the troops outside the city. There were so many people, as many as rice, gathering together like a sea of armor. Even though they set up camp separately, they would not be easy to deal with. After all, this army was able to defeat Zhu Zhen’s five thousand elite cavalries with only three thousand of theirs. Even though Huo Cun thought he was brave, he was also afraid.

Zhu Wen saw Huo Cun’s misgivings, so he patted him on the shoulder and said, “The official troops belong to different vassal states, so they can’t move quickly. With your bravery and skill, you will definitely show our military prestige as long as you advance and retreat quickly!”

Hearing Zhu Wen saying these words, Huo Cun realized there was no retreat for him. Knowing that, his courage increased and overwhelmed his fear temporarily. He shouted with cupped fist, “General Zhu, don’t worry. I will definitely accomplish the mission!”

More than 160,000 troops arrived outside Dengzhou. Li Ye’s arrangement was very simple. Surround three sides and leave one for the enemy. The troops will carry out the defensive formation first before splitting up and setting up camp. It was early, so it wouldn’t be difficult to settle down before sunset.

After the military order was issued, Li Ye rode his horse to inspect the city’s defense of Dengzhou. Observing at close range, he could see things clearly.

A large group of generals stood erect in front of the gate tower and Zhu Wen was surrounded by the crowd. Li Ye waved to him in greeting. After all, they were acquaintances.

Soon, soldiers were in full swing outside Dengzhou. The cavalry riding on horses, the infantry was in formation, and soldiers were cutting trees, digging ditches and setting up camps. They all methodically carried out the work in hand under their generals’ orders.

Suddenly, Li Ye heard a noise beyond the east wall. He turned toward the direction of the noise, but couldn’t see clearly because of the wall.

He rode around the corner on his horse. Having a wide field of vision, Li Ye immediately saw hundreds of soldiers rushing toward the official troops under the leadership of a brave general.

Li Ye stopped the horse to watch. The attacking soldiers were very robust. Choosing sections where there were few mounted soldiers, they smashed into a group of mounted soldiers in front of them quickly and rushed towards the official infantry.

The official archers could not shoot their arrows for fear of hurting their own cavalry, while the few hundred opposing cavalrymen had no scruples. They made a turn in front of the infantry and rode fast parallel to the infantry. The cavalrymen mounted their crossbows and started shooting one after another.

After volleys of arrows, a whole row of official troops, whose shields were not properly arranged, fell screaming like the collapsed wheat. The few hundred cavalrymen didn’t stop at all. They rushed to the official troops who were setting up camp. They attacked the official soldiers fiercely, making them flee in all directions. Thirty or forty people were killed in a short time.

The few hundred cavalrymen still refused to give up and the leading general was brave. The official cavalrymen, who rushed over, were unable to fight against him for even one round and soon most of them were killed by him and his men.

By this time, 15 minutes have passed, but the official cavalrymen hadn’t been organized yet, to say nothing of the infantry running fast to lay siege. In the end, the few hundred cavalrymen showed off for quite a while. They fought in and out the infantry and broke through the cavalry blockade as though they were entering an abandoned building. They were like the immortal soldiers.

When the official troops finally sent a large group of cavalrymen to fight, they had already gone. And they didn’t enter the city through the gate where they came out, but they went around to the north and entered through the north gate.

Seeing the few hundred cavalrymen entering the city, the defending soldiers on the city wall in Dengzhou burst into deafening cheers. Their morale was at its highest.

Generally speaking, the few hundred cavalrymen went in and out of an army of a hundred thousand as though there were nobody there. They killed and injured over a hundred people, while they themselves suffered few casualties. A brilliant feat.

And the official cavalrymen who chased them were forced to stop before the moat because the rope bridge had been pulled up. All they could do was to curse in rage. They looked even worse.

Li Ye’s face darkened as he witnessed the whole scene.

In front of the city tower, Zhu Wen laughed with great satisfaction. The battle made no difference to the big picture because less than two hundred people were killed or wounded. They were a drop in the bucket among the over a hundred thousand troops. It may not have been worth mentioning. But it had a crucial effect on everyone’s morale.

As one could imagine, Zhu Wen would surely publicize the situation of the battle widely. Therefore, the defending soldiers in Dengzhou would have stable and even high morale.

Li Ye asked an orderly to call the Formation Conductor and asked coldly, “Whose camp is that?” It was the Formation Conductor’s duty to divide the areas where each army encamped and guarded.

Zhou Ji, the commissioner of the Zhongwu Army, served as the Formation Conductor at present. Glancing at it, he replied, “Caizhou Wang Shu’s camp.”

Zhou Ji’s expression turned pale as he said this. Although Wang Shu was Qin Zongquan’s general, Qin Zongquan was nominally his general, so Wang Shu was also his man.

That area had a very loose and disorganized defense arrangement. It was in sharp contrast to the neat formation of the other troops.