Li Guang nodded and continued to discuss with the others, finally deciding on a plan to capture the city.
At the third watch of the night, Meng Liang led 10,000 rattan armor soldiers and quietly arrived at the western city wall of Shitai City.
The soldiers used vines to climb the city wall, enter the city, and lie in ambush in the woods inside the city.
The next morning, just as dawn broke, Li Guang led 10,000 soldiers to the city gate and began to challenge them.
During this time, Corden couldn't sleep at night. He knew that Merlin had fallen and the Northern Dynasty's army was about to attack Stone Terrace.
With only a little over ten thousand troops and dwindling food supplies in the city, the soldiers would fall into disarray without a fight.
Moreover, the current situation is unfavorable to the Jin army, and there is little point in defending Shitai City. He wanted to withdraw his troops back to Panzhou, but without Somailong's order, he dared not withdraw his troops on his own.
Just then, horns and war drums sounded outside the city, and soon someone reported that 10,000 troops from the Great Northern Dynasty were challenging them outside the city.
Now that the enemy's troops have arrived at the front lines, we cannot afford to be cowards. Although we do not have many troops, we absolutely cannot lose in terms of morale.
He personally led 10,000 troops out of the city to meet the enemy, which left very few Jin soldiers in the city, just as Li Guang wanted.
Corden has several lieutenants under his command who are highly skilled in martial arts; this may be his only asset at present.
Before the two armies, the troops lined up in battle formation. Li Guang spurred his horse forward, and an enemy general charged up to fight him.
"General, summon your commander, Corden, for a talk. I have something to say to him," Li Guang said.
“If you want to see General Ke, of course you can, but you must defeat this great sword in my hand,” General Jin said.
Li Guang glanced at the large sword in the Jin general's hand, then shook his head.
"This general is clearly highly skilled in martial arts, and I am no match for him. Please don't make things difficult for me."
Although I am from the Northern Dynasty, I am an old friend of General Ke. We haven't seen each other for many years, and I never expected to meet him on the battlefield. I only wish to say a few words to General Ke, nothing more.
"So you are an old friend of General Ke. I'll go back and inform him first. What's your name?"
"I am just an unknown nobody, so I am too embarrassed to reveal my name. General Ke will know me as soon as he sees me."
“Alright then, you wait here, I’ll go tell General Ke.” After saying that, General Jin turned his horse around and went to see Ke Deng.
Corden was observing the battle and was very puzzled as to why his beloved general had returned after exchanging a few words with the other side.
King approached Corden and said:
"The other general wanted to speak with General Ke, saying he was an old friend of yours."
Corden was taken aback. He had basically no contact with the Northern Dynasty, so how could he possibly have an old friend?
"Who is this person? What's their name?" Corden asked.
"He didn't say it, but you've not seen each other for many years, so you'll know as soon as you meet."
Although puzzled, Corden still spurred his horse to the front of the two armies, looked Li Guang up and down, and became even more puzzled.
Li Guang was very young, while I was nearly forty, old enough to be his father. How could this person be an old friend? Besides, I really didn't know this person in front of me.
Seeing that Corden was staring at him intently, Li Guang knew he was completely bewildered, so he spoke up:
"Greetings, General Ke. I am Li Guang. I have long admired your name and am deeply honored to finally meet you today."
Corden had never heard of Li Guang before, but the young man before him was so polite, so he treated him with courtesy, cupping his hands in a respectful gesture and saying:
"My name is Corden. My subordinates told me that General Li is an old friend of mine, but I really don't know you. How come that's the case?"
"General Ke certainly doesn't know me, but my master does. He once told me that all the world's geniuses are concentrated in the Great Northern Dynasty, but there is one exception, and that is General Ke of the Jin Dynasty."
General Ke was a master strategist and a highly skilled warrior, truly a man of both literary and martial talents.
My master told me that if I ever meet General Ke in the future, I must respect him and never make things difficult for him.
This general was ordered to attack Shitai City, but I never expected that we would meet on the battlefield. So I have come to see you.
"So that's how it is," Ke Deng thought, feeling a surge of joy upon hearing Li Guang's words. He hadn't expected to be so famous, that there were still people in the Northern Dynasty who admired him.
"General Li, you flatter me. May I ask who your master is?"
"I can't say that yet. My master warned me not to mention his name on the battlefield. But I can tell you that my master is a monk. I can't say anything else."
"Your master is a monk." Corden began to mutter to himself. Nowadays, monks are either Buddhist monks or Taoist priests, but in his memory, he had never met such a person.
At this moment, Li Guang suddenly became serious and said, "General Ke, I have something important to say, but I don't know if I should."
"General Li, please speak freely, there's no need to be so polite."
"This time I led 30,000 soldiers to attack Shitai City. I also had two deputy generals with me. One was Yue Heng, who came from the border and was a subordinate of Marshal Han. The other was Meng Liang, who came from the ancient castle and was the chief of the Nanyi tribe of the Great Northern Dynasty."
Last night we discussed the siege, and the three of us each had our own strategies.
General Yue's tactic was to poison the river leading to the city. As long as General Ke's soldiers drank the poisoned water, they would immediately fall ill and die within three days.
Chief Meng's battle strategy was the simplest: he simply stormed the city walls.
On the northwest city wall of Shitai City, there are many vines. To us, they are nothing, but to the rattan armor soldiers, they are ladders for attacking the city.
They could easily enter the city by following these vines. General Ke only had a little over 10,000 soldiers, but Chief Meng had 20,000 rattan armor soldiers.
I do not agree with their tactics. I want to talk to General Ke and ask him to withdraw from Shitai City to avoid a major conflict.
Unexpectedly, the two of them had already taken action last night. General Yue had put a large amount of poison into the river leading to Shitai City, and now the water in the river is unusable.
What surprised me even more was that Chief Meng had already arranged for 10,000 rattan armor soldiers to infiltrate Shitai City last night and lie in ambush in the woods in the northwest of the city, preparing to launch a surprise attack at night.
However, it was later discovered that General Ke did not have a main camp in the city, but was staying in government offices and people's homes, making it impossible for him to launch a concentrated attack on you. He planned to launch the attack the next morning.
Since things have developed to this point, I have no choice but to ask Chief Meng to refrain from launching an attack for the time being, while I go to meet with General Ke.
If General Ke is unwilling to withdraw from the city, you can fight later. Chief Meng had no choice but to agree.
So early this morning, I led my troops to the city gate to challenge them, my purpose being to inform General Ke of this matter.
At this point, Shitai City has fallen into the hands of the rattan armor soldiers. General Ke, please make a decision immediately.
Corden was shocked upon hearing this.
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