Chapter 63: The Ferry

When Ji Yu arrived at the ferry, although it was still congested with men and horses and bustling with an endless stream of traffic, the order was already much better than when it first began. A ferry warden squeezed through with difficulty, cupped his hands in salute, and shouted with a hoarse voice, "Greetings, Your Excellency! May I ask which reinforcement army this is, and which commander is leading the vanguard..."

"Have you been stationed here all this time?" Ji Yu interrupted the warden, asking directly, "When did the refugees and routed soldiers arrive?"

"They... they arrived at midnight yesterday," the warden’s train of thought was disrupted. He paused for a moment before hurriedly answering Ji Yu's inquiry. At the same time, his gaze fell upon the armor Ji Yu was wearing. He suddenly gave a start, hastily bowed, and cried out, "General! You are... you are the General..."

At this, his voice abruptly cut off, and he stammered anxiously, "General, please withdraw for now! This place is crowded and chaotic, and there might be demonic spies hiding among us. You must not linger here, General..."

The warden was deeply worried and babbled on without stopping, but Ji Yu paid him no mind at all. Calculating backward from the arrival time of the refugees and routed soldiers, he quickly reached a conclusion. He then ordered his deputy general: "In five hours at most, three hours at the minimum, the demons will definitely arrive... Separate some men to maintain order and guide the civilians away. The rest of the troops are to eat and rest, and assemble again in two and a half hours to prepare for battle!"

"Understood!" The deputy general immediately relayed the order.

Only then did Ji Yu notice the warden's bloodshot and haggard eyes. Hearing his hoarse voice, Ji Yu waved his hand and said, "With a great battle imminent, you should go and rest for now. Come back to take my orders later!"

"General, how can there be time to rest now..." the warden urged anxiously. "There are countless routed soldiers and refugees. If they don't cross the river in time, their lives will be in grave danger!"

Ji Yu smiled slightly and said, "No matter!" The deputy general at his side hurriedly gave a meaningful look. The warden blankly turned his head, only to see that the river surface was already shimmering with phosphorescent light and spreading ice crystals. An ice bridge was gradually taking shape.

"If you won't leave, then stay at the ferry with me!"

With the construction of the ice bridge and the shouts of the soldiers—knowing that a general was personally holding the line on the opposite bank—the situation at the entire ferry quickly turned around. The refugees and soldiers began to cross the ice bridge in a relatively orderly fashion. When the second ice bridge was completed, Ji Yu immediately ordered refugee women, children, and wounded soldiers to cross via the new bridge and then depart. The first bridge remained as it was, with a checkpoint established at the bridgehead. Every able-bodied man and woman, as well as every routed soldier crossing the bridge, had to be registered, inspected, and drafted into the army.

Ji Yu did not have the Qi practitioners build a third bridge. Firstly, the consumption of spiritual essence was extremely heavy, and the Qi practitioners were already running low on strength and needed to prepare for battle. Secondly, there were no longer any boats left on the river to serve as the structural framework for building a bridge; spanning dozens of zhang in mid-air to construct a bridge was still beyond the current capabilities of these Qi practitioners.

Order on the opposite bank was also gradually improving, and the crowd was settling down. But at that exact moment, a commotion suddenly broke out among the crowd. An officer, escorted by his personal guards, squeezed onto the second ice bridge, rudely pushed aside the women and children waiting in line at the bridgehead, and rushed up.

The path on the bridge was narrow, and the movement of refugees and wounded soldiers was extremely slow. As soon as that officer stepped up, he began charging forward, quickly shoving several wounded soldiers off into the river. The scene instantly descended into chaos. How could those wounded soldiers possibly be a match for these personal guards? Under the watchful eyes of hundreds of thousands of people on both banks, that general swaggered onto the bridge and made his way toward the opposite bank.

Ji Yu saw this clearly from across the river and roared angrily, "Men! Seize this lawbreaker!"

The officer and his soldiers were just about to move, and the general was almost at the bridgehead, when suddenly, a blinding flash of blade-light burst across the void, blocking his path.

The one wielding the saber was a wounded soldier whose head and face were entirely wrapped in coarse cloth. Judging from his injuries, he was in extremely poor condition; the upper half of his face was bandaged, and his bare upper body was wrapped in several crisscrossing strips of cloth, with blood still dripping continuously. His left hand was splinted with a wooden board, and the hand now drawing the saber was precisely his only functional right hand!

If he could move, he could draw his saber!

Although Ji Yu was far away, he still heard that chilling remark from the man, who asked, "Did you hear the General's military order clearly?"

"Who are you?" The officer was furious. His personal guards immediately swarmed forward, drawing their sabers in confrontation as they shouted, "I am Gongsun Ye, the garrison officer of Yongyi! You mere foot soldier dare to block my way!"

"I only asked if you heard the military order clearly, regardless of who you might be!" The wounded soldier's gaze was ice-cold, staring straight at him. He didn't even look at the personal guards brandishing their sabers, instead continuing, "Are you aware of the recently proclaimed Three Execution Order?"

Ji Yu was observing this from afar. Seeing that this man looked ill-intentioned, the officer subconsciously took a step back, then suddenly shouted, "So what if I heard it? You wouldn't dare kill me, would you?"

"It's good that you heard it clearly..."

As the words fell, the saber in the wounded soldier's hand swept horizontally through the air. A blinding arc of blade-light pierced through the cluster of personal guards and struck directly at Gongsun Ye's face. With a thunderous crash, Gongsun Ye didn't even have time to scream before he was cleaved into two halves, plunging splash by splash into the river.

For a moment, absolute silence reigned. Over one hundred thousand people watched with their own eyes as this general was sliced in two by a wounded soldier. After a brief silence, a wave of enthusiastic applause and cheers erupted from both banks, resounding like thunder. At that moment, the eyes of everyone began to shine, and they even forgot about the pursuing demonic army behind them!

The wounded soldier said nothing more. He turned around and continued walking forward. The personal guards simply watched him go, and not a single one dared to provoke him. He quickly blended into the bustling, crowded throng, moving forward amidst the masses without uttering another word.

Ji Yu beckoned with his hand and ordered, "Bring that wounded soldier here!"

A short while later, the wounded soldier was brought before Ji Yu. Looking at this temporary commander's tent supported by crude wood and covered with thatched mats, the wounded soldier gave a bitter smile before offering a salute.

Ji Yu stood up and returned the salute in kind. Although he hadn't seen the man's face clearly, he had already accorded him a peer's courtesy. Then he said, "General, please sit."

The wounded soldier raised his head slightly, scanning up and down with his single visible eye, and suddenly asked, "You recognize me?"

"I do not," Ji Yu shook his head, "but I know who you are!"

The wounded soldier let out a harsh, rasping laugh, his laughter wretched and fierce: "You know who I am? Ha, even I don't know anymore, yet you claim to know? Isn't that a joke?"

His laughter was miserable, filled with grief and sorrow. Ji Yu could guess a few reasons behind it, but instead said, "General Yingyang once sang against the blood-red moon, holding a pass single-handedly against a thousand, and later galloped across a hundred li to charge and seize the enemy commander's tent, shaking the world with his renown. How could no one know you?"

These were two distinct events: one was when Lie Gang accompanied Huang Chenyuan on an inspection tour when he first ventured into the world. Encountering a blood moon, he spurred his horse and charged through the enemy lines to break the siege for the general, suffering thirty-seven wounds across his body by the time rescue arrived; the other was when, serving as a battalion officer leading troops against the demons during a fierce battle, he led his personal guards on a hundred-li detour to ambush the enemy commander's tent, slaughtering an entire group of demonic elders and forcing the demonic army to retreat without a fight. These two deeds represented the most illustrious personal martial achievements of Lie Gang's career. By bringing them up now, Ji Yu naturally had his own intentions.

This wounded soldier was none other than General Lie Gang, who had escaped with his life from Yunhan Manor. Afterward, through some unknown turn of events, he had arrived in Yongyi and found himself swept up among the wounded soldiers. Had Gongsun Ye not tried to force his way across the river and thus provoked his fierce indignation, Ji Yu might not have recognized him at all.

The wounded soldier's laughter cut off abruptly. After a moment of silence, he said desolately, "General Yingyang is dead. What stands before you now is merely a cowardly wretch. If the General has business, speak your mind. As for anything else... if the General tries to force me, death is the only option!"

For a commander, having one's entire army annihilated while being the only one to survive—that blow was monumental. Although Ji Yu was commanding troops for the first time, he understood this somewhat. He knew that Lie Gang's psychological knots were difficult to untie and that he was unwilling to dwell on it. Yet, he himself desperately needed a general by his side who was intimately familiar with demonic tactics, and Lie Gang's defeat was solely due to the appearance of a half-step Great Demon, not a failure of military prowess. Therefore, bypassing other topics, Ji Yu went straight to the point:

"Since that is the case, it is quite simple: I intend to keep you by my side to devise strategies and hold back the demonic army. Will you do it?"

Lie Gang gave a miserable laugh and said, "I am merely a defeated general, how dare I speak of valor? If the General wishes for us to join the army, I will obey orders. But as for devising strategies, I simply lack that capability..."

"Whether you have the capability or not, as long as you can kill demons, that's enough!" Ji Yu knew the temperaments of these generals. With the time of the demons' arrival fast approaching, there was no time to dawdle. He had to resort to strong medicine and directly provoke him: "You lost, so you lost. Have you lost a single battle to the point that you no longer even understand the minds of the demons and dare not plan with me?"

A flush of red and white alternated across Lie Gang's face, but he remained silent.

Ji Yu continued, "No more nonsense. I intend to stay here to kill demons and strategize our victory. If your heart and courage have frozen with cold, leave of your own accord; I won't stop you. But if you still wish to avenge your comrades, stay in this tent and take my orders... Go or stay as you please, think it over yourself!"

Having said that, Ji Yu ignored him entirely, walked over to the desk, and sat down to study the battle map before him. At the same time, a personal guard stepped outside and called another man in.

The person who entered this time was a centurion among the routed soldiers. Upon seeing Ji Yu face-to-face, he immediately dropped to one knee and paid homage, saying, "Greetings, Young General!"

Ji Yu raised his head, looking puzzled as he asked, "You are..."

"I served under the Old General for over ten years, and some years ago I even visited your esteemed residence to pay respects to the Old Madam. Because of injuries, I was reassigned to serve as a garrison centurion," the veteran centurion stated his background. Seeing the look of sudden realization on Ji Yu's face, he immediately changed the subject and asked, "Young General, are you acting as the commander-in-chief for this defense?"

"Indeed! Since you retreated from Yongyi, you must know the true strength and weaknesses of the demons. What are your insights?"

"How many troops does the Young General have? Do you have mechanical beasts and heavy bed-crossbows?"

"We do not," Ji Yu sighed. "I arrived in haste; the vanguard has fewer than ten thousand men, and we have neither mechanical beasts nor bed-crossbows. Arrow supplies are also insufficient."

"Young General, to hold this place, you need at least fifty thousand men. Those routed soldiers have had their hearts and courage frozen with fear and are utterly useless. Having barely ten thousand men scattered along the riverbank is already inadequate; how can we possibly defend it?" The veteran centurion immediately made his assessment and stated, "Forgive my bluntness, Young General, but it cannot be held!"

It was then that Ji Yu remembered the veteran's identity. Indeed, he was one of the junior officers who had once served beside his father. The conclusions drawn by the veteran were almost identical to what Ji Yu had observed at the scene. Looking at the veteran's face, Ji Yu was filled with helplessness and let out a long sigh:

"Even if it cannot be held, it must be held!"

Since they had come as reinforcements, it represented a glimmer of hope—both for the heartland of Great Zhou and for the defending soldiers and officers still holding out in resistance. Ji Yu was well aware of the purpose of his expedition: he could be defeated, and he could die, but the one thing he could never do was retreat!

The veteran said somewhat uneasily, "Young General, unless those routed soldiers can be put to use and used as flesh to plug the gaps, we won't be able to resist for even a single hour. We will be defeated without a doubt!"

Ji Yu knew that everything the veteran raised was entirely reasonable. Since forces were lacking, their only hope now lay in those routed soldiers. Many of those soldiers were completely unscathed, having lost not because of actual combat, but because they had fled, swept along by the retreating tide of the defeated army. To have these people re-enter combat and fight to the death was practically an impossibility.

Veterans who had fought the demons had witnessed life and death and could endure the cruelty and bloodshed of the battlefield. New recruits were different—they were extremely easily shaken. And those routed soldiers were even more fragile than new recruits; the psychological shadow cast by defeat made it very likely that they would break and flee before even engaging the enemy, let alone fighting to the death!

Suddenly!

At that exact moment, a voice rang out inside the crude commander's tent. Lie Gang finally spoke:

"Perhaps... I have a way..."