Song Niu, serving as the vanguard, led twenty thousand of the front army as planned, driving away enemy scouts that might be hiding nearby and clearing obstacles for the subsequent main force to array the battlefield.

As soon as the five battalions of the front army lined up, the sound of war drums was heard in the distance.

The deep drum sounds, accompanied by desolate horn blasts, spread in all directions.

Although Song Niu was only a Small Commander, his battlefield experience was exceptionally rich. During the attack on Qingzhou, the Nine Directions Commander died in battle, and Song Niu filled the commander vacancy with his military merits.

The warriors under him were also capable and battle-hardened.

Upon hearing the drum sounds, they felt something was amiss and quickly ordered formation.

The massive battle array spread out, soldiers stood like rocks on the plain outside Zhuima City, with formations stretching for miles, swords and spears like wheat stalks, standards waving, connecting heaven and earth.

However, these fifteen thousand troops were not all his own; troops from three other armies had also joined in, and the cooperation was not particularly smooth.

Therefore, when the enemy charged at them, their formation was not yet in place.

The front two rows of Celestial Master Army soldiers were directly cut down by the enemy.

But these enemies were not truly the Yu State Army—instead, they were Celestial Master Army soldiers who had been captured, hastily trained in formations for ten days, and driven forward under the coercion of a few Yu State soldiers.

In Liang Song's eyes, these captives were merely cannon fodder. Besides, he didn't have enough grain to feed tens of thousands of prisoners, so they had been subsisting on one meal a day and were already a starving, struggling mass, not even worth a rabble.

Thus, even though they had seized the initiative, they were still blocked by Song Niu's vanguard.

Without armor, once struck by a blade, they would fall.

They were frightened into retreat.

"Don't retreat, charge for me!"

At this moment, the Yu State soldiers mixed among them took on the role of a supervision team. Seeing the captives fall back, they slashed at them with a blade.

With wolves in front and tigers behind, chaos ensued.

The war drums on the city walls continued to resound ceaselessly, and countless muscular warriors beat the cowhide drums with raised mallets, the resonant drum sounds reverberating throughout the battlefield.

Liang Song climbed high to observe and, with his abilities, could see the chaos unfolding.

He immediately instructed Shi Meng below, "It's your turn now."

"Yes."

Two thousand Profound Leopard Cavalry dashed out from the city, followed by thousands of soldiers—this group was the true elite of the Yu State Army, all clad in armor.

At that moment, Song Niu's vanguard was still embroiled in a melee with these captives, engaging in fierce hand-to-hand combat.

Amidst the thunderous shouting and killing, the soldiers' heart-wrenching screams echoed, blood splattering repeatedly, as sharp long spears and great sabers harvested the cheap lives on the battlefield like wild grass.

Song Niu's vanguard was clearly in an overwhelmingly dominant position.

However, just as Song Niu wiped the blood from his face, the earth began to tremble, and the "dada-dada" sound of hooves approached from not far away.

"Whiz!"

"Whiz!"

"Whiz!"

Looking up, they saw a rain of arrows enveloping them.

The arrow rain spared neither friend nor foe; whether Yu State soldiers, captives, or Celestial Master Army, all were within its deadly range.

"Pfft..."

"Pfft, pfft!!!"

After a volley of arrows, countless lives were reaped.

After firing a round, the cavalry of the Profound Leopard sprang forward at the speed of their steeds; they sheathed their bows and unleashed their sabers, charging into the fray.

The battlefield was already in chaos; the formations had long been disrupted, and in such a scenario, there was simply no room to withstand the cavalry's onslaught.

Anyone not wearing the same battle armor was targeted by the Profound Leopard Cavalry's attack.

Captives and Celestial Master Army fell like wheat fields, cut down piece by piece.

Just as Song Niu wanted to resist further, attempting to single-handedly change the course of the battle,

"Boom-boom-boom..."

the advance drums sounded, and Yu State infantry surged forward. In the chaotic environment, Song Niu's vanguard could not discern how many were coming, but they saw that these Yu State infantry were all fully armored, with no gaps in their heavy armor.

Leading the charge was a general with dark skin, a burly and tall stature, wielding two Pumpkin Copper Hammers, draped in red Iron Armor, with a fiery red battle robe fluttering in the wind.

With a single swing, those hit were flung tens of meters, crashing down and dying instantly.

Even for the armored Celestial Master Army soldiers, there was no resistance.

The opponent had already issued a "Flag Capture and Kill General" order.

Though Song Niu could charge up and engage the opponent one-on-one, observing as the surrounding vanguard soldiers began to rout one by one, he could only grit his teeth and order a retreat.

For once encircled, even he could not escape death.

Upon receiving Song Niu's command, his Personal Guard Battalion also began a large-scale retreat.

At the same time, atop the city, Liang Song issued the order to withdraw troops.

He had discerned that this troop of bandits was merely a vanguard; the main force was still behind, unsuitable for pursuit.

On the battlefield, seeing the opponent retreat, Shi Meng instinctively wanted to give the order to pursue, but he quickly heard the resounding Golden Gong from the rear.

The gong signaling the withdrawal was sounded.

Discipline, the most fundamental attribute of a strong army.

Whether the Profound Leopard Cavalry or Yu State infantry, both immediately halted their advance.

Only the remaining living captives looked around blankly, uncertain whether to follow the return to the city or run towards the Celestial Master Army.

However, they did not hesitate long and mostly ran toward the Celestial Master Army.

Seeing the situation, Shi Meng started the maximum possible annihilation.

...

Several miles away, in the rear of the Celestial Master Army, the central and rear armies heard the sound of drums. As the commander-in-chief, Lu Yonggang's expression changed; these were the enemy's war drums.

He immediately ordered the troops to form a battle array and dispatched scouts to investigate.

When the scouts reported that the vanguard had already engaged with the Yu State Army, Lu Yonggang was visibly surprised.

The Yu State Army actually dared to come out of the city and fight?

Especially since both sides were unclear about the specifics of each other's forces, the initial step should be to scout the enemy's strength and then engage in preliminary skirmishes to probe.

But under such uncertain circumstances about their forces, coming directly out of the city to fight requires immense courage.

Moreover, under the current circumstances, defending the city was evidently the most stable strategy.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Yonggang quickly ordered Huang Da and Chen Mo to take troops to reinforce the front lines.

Such was the role of auxiliary troops; they were sent wherever needed to fill gaps.

However, by the time Chen Mo and his unit arrived, Song Niu had retreated with less than half of his men, his face gloomy.

...

It was already past noon.

Thirty miles from Zhuima City, the plains were filled with Celestial Master Army soldiers dressed in profound armor, with military flags of all ranks standing tall.

On a clear piece of open land.

"Spare us, Marshal Lu, spare us, we were forced,"

"..."

The newly captured prisoners knelt in rows, pleading desperately for mercy.

However, facing these captives who were once among the Celestial Master Army, Lu Yonggang remained unmoved, ordering, "Execute!"

"No, no..."

As the military order was given, the Celestial Master Army soldiers acting as executioners stood behind them, their swords rising and falling, blood splattered, and heads rolled.

Lu Yonggang knew they were forced, but they still had to die.

The vanguard had suffered over half casualties, and someone had to take the blame.

Furthermore, Lu Yonggang clearly understood the nature of the lower-level Celestial Master Army soldiers; they could only win, and must keep winning.

If they were to lose, especially in the first battle, it would be a huge blow to morale.

"It was them who caused great casualties. As followers of the Celestial Master Sect, they actually defected to the Court, turned their blades against us, and are unforgivable," Lu Yonggang said loudly.

The surrounding personal soldiers spread his words around.

"All the suffering, corruption, bullying, and famine are brought by the Court.

We, the common people, have endured enough suffering, with corrupt officials bullying us at will, the land in great drought, no grain harvested, yet taxes increasing, all because the royalty and nobility are indulgent and greedy for luxury and comfort.

We, the common people, rise up just to go to that Celestial River and demand justice from the high and mighty Emperor of Great Song, yet we are killed for it.

If the Court is unjust, we will overthrow the Court, if the world is unjust, we will destroy this world.

The lives of these thousands of Celestial Master Army soldiers must be repaid with the blood of the official soldiers in Zhuima City."

"Victory is certain!" Lu Yonggang drew his sword from his waist and shouted.

"Victory is certain!"

"Victory is certain!"

"Victory is certain!"

The soldiers below echoed, their unified voices shook the heavens.

The demoralization caused by the vanguard's defeat was, surprisingly, pulled back by Lu Yonggang's speech.

"He does have something," Chen Mo watched from afar, apologizing in his heart for previously underestimating Lu Yonggang.

The Celestial Master Army's growth to such a large scale must be due to more than just riding the trend; their ranks also have many talented individuals.

He was still a long way on "this path," and needed to watch and learn more.

After boosting morale, Lu Yonggang immediately gathered military officers of all levels to discuss strategy.

In the military tent, Lu Yonggang had Song Niu recount the entire process and summarize the lessons learned from the failure.

Song Niu admitted that he underestimated the enemy.

Never expected the opponent to come out of the city at such a time, catching him off guard without even having arranged the battle array properly.

The opponent indeed fought beautifully, progressing layer by layer, step by step, and, most importantly, they didn't cling to battles needlessly.

Chen Mo was taking notes in a small booklet with a charcoal pen, recording everything. These were all lessons to be learned.

After summarizing the experiences, Lu Yonggang started discussing what to do next.

Firstly, Zhuima City must be taken.

Unlike the Yu State Army, they, the longer the delay, the lower the morale, especially after beginning with a defeat.

Moreover, winter was coming.

The harsh weather was not in their favor.

Unless they were to defy the Celestial Master's orders and withdraw from Yu State.

So, they must seize Zhuima City quickly while their morale was still high.

Everyone began to discuss methods of attacking the city.

PS: There will be an additional chapter for the alliance leader at midnight.

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