Chapter 200

　Along the way, Pang Jun's team kept encountering fleeing remnants. Some of them continued to flee, but more of them joined Songzhou's team. After two days, Songzhou's army reached more than 16,000 people. Although they could not expect these demoralized remnants to do anything to turn the tide, it was much better than being stretched to the limit on their own. At worst, they could serve as soldiers in logistics and food transportation.

　　"Sir, the Japanese have already attacked the city wall of Yanzhou. Now the soldiers of Yanzhou are fighting hard with them. It is estimated that they can't hold out for long. According to our estimation, there are about 7,000 to 8,000 people in the Japanese camp. What should we do next?" asked the scout leader Sun Zihan.

　　Pang Jun remained silent for a moment. He decisively ordered, "All troops, charge! Target the Japanese camp! They have no defenses, so they can only fight us head-on. Let's attack Wei to save Zhao!" He turned his head and said to Lyudmila who was following behind him, "The heavy cavalry will be responsible for the main assault mission. Please, Liu Xia, be careful."

　　The Grand Duchess of Luosha, who stood out among the men, nodded imperceptibly and shouted, "Cavalry, charge with me!" Lyudmila, wearing heavy armor and holding a cavalry rifle, led a thousand carefully trained cavalrymen from the entire Songzhou and charged towards the Japanese camp. Following closely behind, Qi Lin, Hong Yanzhang and others also began to attack the Japanese.

　　"Hold on! Kill!" Shimazu Nobuhisa's face changed. He didn't expect that the other party would launch an attack at this time without hesitation and without fear of the fatigue of traveling. He suddenly felt a headache. However, the people around him did not dare to be negligent, and many Japanese people also killed them.

　　The two sides gradually collided with each other, and the war horses neighed and roared. Although the Japanese also had a lot of cavalry, the Japanese horses were naturally shorter, with good endurance but insufficient explosive power. On the other hand, Songzhou had a thousand unstoppable heavy cavalry. The two torrents collided with each other, and the heavy cavalry was like a landslide. Countless Japanese cavalry were knocked off their horses and finally trampled by the war horses. Pang Jun's Songzhou army gained the upper hand.

　　Pang Jun and Lyudmila led the army and rushed into the chaotic army. Pang Jun was holding a Fang Tian Hua Ji and Lyudmila was dancing with a spear in her hand, which rolled up cold stars. They were like two killing gods, fighting in the chaotic army.

　　"Quick, kill Liu Jun and that tall enemy general! Also, order Tachibana Sorin to retreat in an orderly manner and return for reinforcements!" Shimazu Nobuhisa, who was far away, saw it clearly, but his face changed drastically. The soldiers around him were no match for Pang Jun. He didn't expect that Pang Jun was not only good at martial arts on horseback, but also very skilled on horseback. And the enemy general who was wrapped in iron armor and led the heavy cavalry to charge was even more powerful. If they continued to fight like this, their army would be repelled by the enemy before the soldiers behind Pang Jun could rush up.

　　On the Yanzhou city wall, Fei Longhai, who was directing the battle, also saw the changes in the enemy camp in the distance, and immediately shouted: "Brothers, our reinforcements have arrived, they are raiding the Japanese's lair, hold on, persistence is victory! Hold on, victory is ours!"

　　"Oh!!!!" Upon hearing the news of reinforcements, the morale of the Yanzhou army was greatly boosted. They fought hard and drove back the Japanese who had just regained their foothold.

　　At this time, Tachibana Sorin, who was at the foot of Yanzhou City, was extremely anxious. Seeing that Yanzhou City was about to be captured and his great military merit was about to be achieved, how could he calm down when he encountered such a sudden change? At this moment, the messenger brought news: Shimazu Nobuhisa wanted him to return to the camp as soon as possible, otherwise the camp would be in danger. So, he had no choice but to give the order: "Retreat, return to the camp to help!"

　　Hearing the commander's order, the Japanese soldiers had to suppress their reluctance and retreat. However, Fei Longhai knew that if all the enemies here came back to help, the reinforcements outside the city would be surrounded. Once the reinforcements were defeated, it would be a matter of time before Yanzhou City was broken. So he made a prompt decision and ordered: "Cavalry, follow me and charge out! Don't let them get away so easily!" He was wearing black armor and riding on a warhorse. With a loud roar, he opened the city gate and killed the retreating Japanese army. At this time, more than a thousand cavalrymen behind him rushed out like a tiger descending from the mountain, and the whole mountain was filled with shouts of killing.

　　Although there were only more than a thousand people, the Japanese morale was low at this time. They were eager to return for reinforcements and had no intention of fighting. Faced with the harassment of these cavalry who came and went like the wind, they could only sacrifice their chariots to save their kings, leaving thousands of infantry to intercept the rear, and the rest of the people rushed back as quickly as possible.

　　Pang Jun received the news that Tachibana Sorin was returning for reinforcement. Even though his side had the upper hand and almost broke through the enemy's camp, even if they succeeded, the enemy's main force would return here and he would have no way to retreat. Moreover, the original goal was to rescue Yanzhou City, and now the goal had been achieved, so he gave the order to retreat without hesitation. Therefore, when Tachibana Sorin's main force returned to the battlefield, Songzhou's troops had already retreated.

　　After this battle, the 60,000-strong Japanese army, including the losses from the siege for several days and the impact of the Songzhou army, suffered more than 10,000 deaths, and countless injuries. On the Yanzhou side, the defenders suffered heavy losses, with only less than 5,000 people left, and the Songzhou army also suffered more than 3,000 casualties. Fortunately, after this battle, the combat strength of this Japanese army was less than 30,000, and it no longer had the ability to attack Yanzhou. The other two troops seemed to be able to only trap Ji Yanrao's border guards but could not cause any substantial damage to them. Shimazu Nobuhisa also knew that the situation was hopeless, so he ordered a retreat.

　　"Good, good, a hero emerges from youth, what a great Marquis Changning!" In the lobby of the Liaodong Governor's Mansion, the always calm old Governor Fei Lin seemed somewhat excited, his old face flushed red. Not only him, but other officials in Yanzhou also had smiles on their faces.

　　"Master Fei, you are too kind. If it weren't for General Fei's courage and bravery in the end, using Yanzhou's best cavalry to hold back the Japanese army, it wouldn't have been so easy for me to escape and turn danger into safety." Pang Jun said with a smile, "Although we won this time, it was a pyrrhic victory. However, I'm afraid the Japanese will not enter our Central Plains in the short term. They will probably turn their spearheads and cause trouble for the Koreans."

　　Fei Lin nodded and said, "Yes, I think so too. The Japanese attacked Liaodong because they wanted to take advantage of the chaotic situation when His Majesty passed away. They wanted to make a quick decision. Now they are obviously in a stalemate. This is not the result they want. They need to gain benefits in a short period of time to make the daimyo who support the war continue to support them. If they can't get anything good from us, they will definitely turn to picking on the weak. Chaoguo is the best choice. But once the Japanese destroy Chaoguo and digest Chaoguo, Liaodong will inevitably become their target again. By then, they will be even stronger and more difficult to deal with."

　　Pang Jun agreed with Fei Lin's analysis. He said, "What Mr. Fei said makes sense, but the trend of the Japanese to annex Korea is irreversible, so we have to find a way to slow down their pace, such as secretly sending some spies to help the Koreans collect more intelligence so that they can make more adequate preparations, or constantly harass the Japanese in the rear, or even send people to assassinate their commanders when necessary. At the same time, we should also find a way to increase the strength of the Koreans and do our best to delay the Japanese attack and buy us time to recover." What Pang Jun meant by "enhancing the strength of the Koreans" actually meant selling some of the military supplies and even strong soldiers they needed to Korea, and sending some military talents to help them, and Fei Lin also understood this.

　　After discussing, Fei Lin suddenly said to the people present: "I am old, and I don't know how long I can live. This beautiful land should be handed over to the young people to protect."

　　"Mr. Fei, you..." Everyone was shocked when they heard Fei Lin's words and hurriedly said.

　　Fei Lin waved his hand and interrupted them, his tone was bleak: "You don't need to say more, this is a turbulent time. I have been in the officialdom for decades and have experienced so many ups and downs. As a father, I also have a great responsibility for Long Jie's affairs. I am really tired now. The future belongs to the young people. I have already written to the court and prepared to retire. As for the successor, Marquis of Changning, the future of Liaodong depends on you." He pointed at Pang Jun who was stunned and said.

　　Everyone was also stunned by Fei Lin's sudden decision. They had already sensed Fei Lin's intention to retire, but what they never expected was that Fei Lin actually wanted Pang Jun to be the new generation successor of Liaodong instead of his own son, General Fei Longhai. Although the affair between Pang Jun and Fei Qingyu was well known to the entire Liaodong nobles, it was not legitimate after all, and he was only the grandson-in-law. Such a choice puzzled everyone in Liaodong.

　　"Old sir, this is absolutely not possible, this..." Pang Jun refused hurriedly. It's not that he had never thought about becoming the lord of Liaodong, but his plan was to obtain it by strength and momentum, not by Fei Lin's assignment. Fei Lin could see that he would definitely become the lord of Liaodong, and Fei Longhai could not defeat him. Instead of forcing himself to get the position of Governor of Liaodong by force, it is better to retreat directly. In this way, Fei Lin would become a high-profile transcendent existence, and Fei Qingyu's status in his backyard would become even higher in the future. It must be said that Fei Lin was still shrewd and calculating, and he would plan for himself before retreating.

　　"This time, you saved the whole Liaodong. I believe you have the ability to hold up this sky." Then, he turned to the officials of Liaodong and said, "And you, you have your own little tricks in your hearts. Don't think that I don't know. I have made this decision after careful consideration. If anyone has objections, I will not stop you, but there is no place for you in Liaodong."

　　"But, Mr. Fei..."

　　Pang Jun wanted to say something, but Fei Lin waved his hand and said, "I have made up my mind. Marquis Changning, there is no need to say more. When the imperial edict arrives, it will be time for me to retire to the Nanshan Mountains." After that, he issued an order to expel everyone and asked them to leave the Governor's Mansion.

　　"Dad." In the study, Fei Longhai came here to meet Fei Lin after seeing off all the guests.

　　"Hai'er, do you feel resentment towards your father?" Fei Lin asked with his eyes closed.

　　Fei Longhai shook his head and said, "Father, you are very wise. You must have considered this carefully before doing this. I am stupid, but I know that I can only lead troops to fight, and I am not good at being a shepherd."

　　"It's good that you think so. Dad only has two sons, you and Jie'er. Jie'er has fallen to this point. As for you, you may not have the ability to take care of all parties. To protect the reputation of my Fei family, this important task can only fall on Yu'er. Yu'er has been married before, and it may not be possible for her to become Liu Jun's wife. However, through this decision, I can make Yu'er's status higher. In addition, with your status in the military, you can protect my Fei family for another 50 years." Fei Lin said lightly.

　　Hearing Fei Lin's words, Fei Longhai nodded heavily: "Dad, I understand. I will help Liu Jun to defend Liaodong and the Fei family in Yanzhou."

　　"Hahaha," Fei Lin said with a smile, "Silly child, broaden your horizons. Yanzhou? Liaodong? Why can't it be the whole world?"

　　"Dad, you mean..." Fei Longhai didn't dare to say anything else. Seeing Fei Lin nodded, he swallowed the next words back into his stomach.