Chapter 81 Is she sick?
Lu Jinlan led a group of soldiers and three thousand elite troops toward Qiulong Pass. Zuo Suizhi, as the scout vanguard, hurriedly came to report.
"Reporting to the general, a large number of Ling family troops are withdrawing from Qiulong Pass and heading towards Beizhou City."
Yan Wuxin exclaimed in surprise, "So fast? The Ling family army is in too much of a hurry! At least pretend to fight a few battles at Qiulong Pass before running away. You just retreated from Qiulong Pass and immediately withdrew. Is it a rest stop?"
Xiang Ruzhen also sighed, "We rushed as fast as we could, fearing something might go wrong, but we didn't expect this group to move so quickly."
Lu Jinlan frowned and said in a deep voice, "The Ling family army still has at least 370,000 to 380,000 troops. If they can't recruit them at Qiulong Pass, the troops that are withdrawing may not be the original 50,000 troops stationed in the city."
She asked Zuo Suizhi, "Are there close connections between their teams?"
Zuo Suizhi hurriedly said, "They are not very close together. Some are two or three miles apart, and some are four or five miles apart. The troops led by different generals rarely stick together."
A smile appeared in Lu Jinlan's eyes. "Then they're too slow. We can still get something out of it. Let's go, let's sneak around and take a look."
The Qiulong Pass is flanked by steep mountain peaks, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. As the saying goes, "One woman can hold the pass against ten thousand."
If the Ling family army hadn't deliberately retreated, holding out for a month or two wouldn't have been a problem.
Lu Jinlan and several generals dismounted and climbed a small hill on the side, watching the Ling family army retreat in a grand procession into Beizhou City.
Zuo Suizhi pointed to a carriage with four horses: "That is the carriage of Ling Xin, the current supreme commander of the Ling family army. General, should we get out and stop her?"
"No, no, no! Why should we stop her?" Lu Jinlan laughed. "Her official rank is higher than mine, and she has nearly 400,000 troops under her command. I only have 3,000 soldiers. Why bother going to her?"
"If she wants to withdraw, let her withdraw; we can't stop her. But as the commander-in-chief, she should be the one to hold the rear; she only has a few tens of thousands of troops behind her. Let's let this big fish go and eat the small shrimp behind her."
*
As the Ling family army was retreating, Lu Jinlan seized the opportunity and led her three thousand troops to cut through the gap.
The vanguard, several miles away, continued marching forward without realizing that the rearguard had been blocked.
Lu Jinlan, holding the imperial edict, announced loudly, "The imperial edict has arrived!"
The generals at the rear were startled and hesitated for a moment before dismounting to receive the imperial decree.
Lu Jinlan read aloud the imperial edict appointing her as General Zhenbei, and then said, "His Majesty has appointed me as General Zhenbei and put me in charge of Qiulong Pass. Why are you all retreating without a fight? Quickly retreat back into the pass."
The generals exchanged bewildered glances, thinking: Is she out of her mind? How dare the son of the Song family army take charge of our Ling family army? Even Song Jingxiao wouldn't dare come here to command us.
One of them said, “Reporting to the general, the imperial edict says that you are to mobilize the 50,000 troops at Qiulong Pass. We are not the garrison of Qiulong Pass. Our 30,000 troops are here on the orders of former General Ling Xin to withdraw to Beizhou City. Please forgive us, General Lu.”
Lu Jinlan said, "Nonsense! Do you think I don't know you're going to retreat to Beizhou City? But guarding the pass is the priority. I've already sent someone to borrow troops from General Xiang. You'll come back with me to the pass to garrison it."
Borrowing troops? The group was quite skeptical, unsure whether she was genuinely interested or just pretending. But they figured that a third-rank General of the Northern Garrison wouldn't just spout nonsense.
But Ling Xin probably won't lend it, right?
The group exchanged several suspicious glances, and then another person stepped forward. "General Lu, you may not know, but the Jiang Kingdom reinforced its troops again yesterday, bringing the enemy force to 450,000. The commander-in-chief is the Jiang Kingdom's Grand General, the renowned general Suo Hongzhu. Even if we stay at Qiulong Pass, it will be of no use. Why don't you come with us to retreat to Beizhou City?"
Lu Jinlan's face darkened. "Do you think I, this general, am as cowardly as you are?"
One of them said defiantly, “General Lu, it is your business to guard the Prison Dragon Pass, but don’t expect us to die with you. Don’t blame me for speaking frankly, but Suo Hongzhu has won every battle and never been defeated in his half a lifetime of military service. He is highly skilled in martial arts, and is excellent in both riding and archery. He can shoot an arrow sixty feet away.”
"General Lu, you are new to the field. Even if you had the feat of assassinating Xiao Chengying, it was purely by chance. How can you possibly resist Suo Hongzhu?"
Before he could finish speaking, Yan Wuxin angrily rebuked, "Who are you? How dare you speak so disrespectfully to General Lu? Aren't you afraid of being punished according to military law?"
The man scoffed, “This humble general is Yang Ning, a fourth-rank general. I am naturally upright and couldn’t help but speak the truth. If General Lu wishes to punish me for this, then so be it.”
Just as Yan Wuxin was about to step forward, Lu Jinlan waved his hand and said, "It's good that you like to tell the truth. This general also likes to tell the truth. Since you've come to me, then listen to what I have to say."
Lu Jinlan spurred his horse forward and shouted, "Your 400,000-strong army has suffered defeat after defeat, and I couldn't understand why until today. After seeing you today, I understand. It all boils down to one word: cowardice!"
"You heard that the Jiang Kingdom was reinforcing its troops, so you turned tail and ran. Now I've brought tens of thousands of reinforcements with me, why are you still running?"
"You heard that Suo Hongzhu personally took command and were terrified. But don't forget, no matter how brave and skilled Suo Hongzhu is, she is over sixty years old. You are in your prime, are you afraid of a sixty-year-old woman? Aren't you afraid the whole world will laugh at you?"
"If you're afraid of dying, why did you join the army? Farmers have more guts than you!"
"What did General Yang Ning just say? That I, a newcomer, managed to assassinate the Crown Prince Xiao Chengying of Qu Kingdom amidst hundreds of thousands of troops by sheer luck? How laughable! You all give me a chance to be lucky too, let me see."
"Since His Majesty has appointed me to guard the Prison Dragon Pass, he naturally believes in my ability to defend it. Suo Hongzhu can shoot an arrow sixty feet away, so why can't I?"
Yang Ning sneered twice, "General Lu, if you can shoot an arrow sixty zhang away, I will immediately follow you to fight to the death at Prison Dragon Pass without hesitation. But I'm afraid you can't shoot it sixty zhang away. How about this, if you shoot it fifty zhang away, we will follow you into the pass, how about that?"
An ordinary general could typically hit a target about 100 meters away, which is about 30 zhang (approximately 15 meters). A general with great strength could shoot up to 40 zhang (approximately 20 meters). 50 zhang (approximately 160 meters) is beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Lu Jinlan curled the corners of her lips. "What's so special about fifty zhang?"
She raised her chin, making everyone turn to look.
"From here to that Ling-character general's flag on the city gate, it's about sixty zhang, isn't it?"
Yang Ning honestly replied, "It's over sixty zhang, at least sixty-five zhang. Does General Lu intend to shoot the general's flag on the city gate from here? That's absolutely impossible."
Lu Jinlan sneered and took the bow and arrows off his back.
Xiang Ruzhen hurriedly urged her horse forward and whispered, "Are you confident? Why don't you let me shoot?"
Lu Jinlan glanced at her. "Are you confident?"
"No, I've never tried that far, but I've hit it from fifty zhang away. Whether I can hit it from sixty zhang away depends on luck."
Lu Jinlan chuckled, "Then I'll do it. I'm sure I'll be luckier than you."
Recently, Lu Jinlan has been practicing her internal energy in the system every night before bed, and she can clearly feel her strength increasing day by day. In addition, she took the permanent strength pill from the new mother's gift pack, which made her even more powerful.
The advantage of systematic learning is that there are no bottlenecks, no wrong turns, and no stagnation periods; instead, one progresses gradually and without end.
Lu Jinlan was confident that he could do it, so he picked up his bow and arrow and said to the crowd, "If I miss, I will make way for you all immediately and will not stop you from escaping. If I hit the target, I ask you all to keep your promise and enter the pass immediately."
The generals of the Ling family army looked at each other and said, "The reason why Suo Hongzhu is famous throughout the world is because she can do what ordinary people cannot. Even Suo Hongzhu herself is old and can no longer shoot more than sixty zhang. Moreover, this place is sixty-five or sixty-six zhang away from the city gate, so she definitely cannot hit it."
Everyone agreed and said, "Please, General Lu, draw your bow."
Lu Jinlan drew her bow and tightened the bowstring. Her gaze was fixed firmly on the general's flag in the center of the city gate, like a hawk locking onto its target.
With a whoosh, the arrow pierced the wooden flagpole.
The three thousand elite soldiers behind Lu Jinlan immediately roared like thunder: "Good! Good! Good!"
Lu Jinlan curled her lips into a smile, gritted her teeth, and fired three arrows in quick succession.
Three arrows whistled through the air, piercing the pole at almost the same spot.
The flagpole snapped in half with a crack, and the Ling-character flag fell to the ground.
Even the soldiers of the Ling family army were dumbfounded and joined in applause and cheers.
Lu Jinlan put away his bow and arrows and looked at the generals.
Yang Ning turned around, mounted his horse, and headed back to the pass.
The others hesitated and watched, but Lu Jinlan frowned. "What are you looking at? Get back to guard the pass."
The men quickly mounted their horses and ordered their troops to return to the prison.
Lu Jinlan entered the pass with three thousand elite soldiers, and the first thing he did was to order his men to take over all the entrances and exits of the Prisoner Dragon Pass.
Of the three thousand elite soldiers, only one thousand were kept by his side, while the remaining two thousand were stationed at the north and south city gates.
The south gate was guarded by Kong Luan, and the north gate was guarded by Zuo Suizhi.
Lu Jinlan gave them a strict order: "No one is allowed to enter or leave without my permission or the permission of Generals Xiang Yan."
She ordered the imperial edict to be read aloud, taking over the 50,000 troops stationed inside the pass, plus the more than 30,000 soldiers she had forced to return, and the 3,000 elite soldiers she had brought with her, totaling more than 80,000 men.
Yan Wuxin laughed and said, "That was really exhilarating! Your arrows were so powerful they shook the heavens and the earth. It's a pity we have all our people inside the pass, otherwise we should have let them spread the word. She, Suo Hongzhu, shot sixty zhang and became famous throughout the world. You, Lu Jinlan, shot sixty-five zhang, so the whole world should know about it."
Lu Jinlan smiled and said, "Those are all empty titles. As long as this matter spreads among the 80,000 people inside the pass, we can temporarily stabilize the morale of the army."
Xiang Ruzhen said, "I'll go to the drill ground to train them in a bit and show them a few moves. Although they are Ling family soldiers, they don't want to fight like Ling Zhijing. The soldiers below might not be so unwilling to fight. As long as we let them see the hope of winning, even if it's just a small victory, they will support you as their new commander."
Yan Wuxin nodded and said, "Although Yang Ning's words are unpleasant to hear, she keeps her word. I'll go talk to her later, and try to get one of them to come over."
The other generals also said, "Fortunately, General Lu is the highest-ranking general in the pass. Since they can't contact the former general in Beizhou City, they're like headless flies and don't dare to go against us directly. Tonight, a few of us will go to the barracks and stay with the soldiers to prevent them from making any underhanded moves. We can also use this opportunity to get closer to them."
Lu Jinlan nodded repeatedly, "Then I'll have to trouble you generals."
At the Prison Dragon Pass, the broken flagpole was pulled out and replaced with the flag bearing the character "Lu".
The other Ling-character general flags were quickly removed and replaced with the flags of several newly appointed generals, including Xiang and Yan.
As evening fell, Yan Wuxin came to find Lu Jinlan.
"Good news! Yang Ning said that every time the Ling family army and the Jiang Kingdom's army clashed, they would immediately retreat if they suffered a minor defeat. Actually, she doesn't understand either, and she doesn't want to lose battles. Judging from her tone, she's willing to follow us. However, she asked me two questions, and I don't know how to answer them."
Lu Jinlan asked with a smile, "What is it?"
"She asked me, 'You asked Ling Xin to lend you troops, what did Ling Xin say? Did he agree?' But you didn't lend them any. How am I supposed to answer her?"
Lu Jinlan smiled and said, "Who said I didn't lend it? I did lend it, but the former general was busy with military affairs and didn't pay attention to it. You could say I tacitly approved it."
Yan Wuxin asked in surprise, "When did you borrow it?"
"Just now," Lu Jinlan said, demonstrating for her. She then looked towards the back window and said, "General, how about lending me 30,000 troops?"
There was no one outside, so naturally no one answered.
Lu Jinlan: "You see, since she didn't refuse, it's practically the same as agreeing. Next time someone asks, just say that the former general didn't refuse."
Yan Wuxin laughed for a long time, "Alright, then Yang Ning asked me, you said you brought tens of thousands of reinforcements, when will those tens of thousands of reinforcements arrive?"
Lu Jinlan thought for a moment, "Just say that the reinforcements are meant to be a surprise attack, and they will arrive naturally at the crucial moment. The reason they are not here now is to avoid premature exposure."
Yan Wuxin cupped his hands in a gesture of respect and said, "I'm convinced. They say war is all about deception, but I don't think anyone can outsmart you."
Just then, Xiang Ruzhen returned from outside. "Ling Xin sent someone to inquire why the 30,000 men hadn't gone over. Kong Luan gave them the excuse of checking for spies inside the pass and sent them back. They weren't let in at all."
Lu Jinlan laughed and said, "Alright, let's do it this way. We'll delay as long as we can. Suo Hongzhu will be knocking on the gate in the next couple of days. Once the war is over, I'll have a new reason to detain these troops."
Xiang Ruzhen added, "However, I still let two people in. They came all this way to see you, so please meet them."
Lu Jinlan was taken aback. "Who is it?"
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