I became the God Brother of the Regent King after Transmigration!-Chapter 338 - 258: Biting the Bait

At nightfall, a hundred thousand troops were in the Wei Army camp, torches ablaze.

Lu Jian stood at the entrance of the barracks, raising his head to gaze at the towering, pitch-black city walls in the night.

As Gu Lan and Rong Heng had surmised, the entire day’s assault on the city was merely a test.

Now, he had gauged the depths of Yinzhou.

At most twenty thousand defenders, among them five thousand being the Heavy Armor Pingnan Army, a few thousand cavalry; indeed formidable for the time being.

Despite the successful battle, there was no joy on Lu Jian’s face, something flickered in his eyes.

Withdrawing his gaze, he looked in another direction.

There stood the Bian of Wei Country.

In just a few days, the Young Prince, who carried the hopes of his master and Princess Consort Jin, would be born. Unlike those princes in Bian, he was an infant, easy for the Princess Consort to control.

Lu Jian had once vowed to present the Young Prince with a grand victory as a gift for his birth.

However, recalling Gu Lan’s calm demeanor defending the city during the day, Lu Jian’s eyes dimmed, showing a trace of regret.

Nobody knew, this grand victory might not be in Yinzhou but on the snowfield a thousand miles away. If both the south and north battlefields were destined to sacrifice one side, it seemed now, he himself was the one to be sacrificed.

Beside him were the Wei Army officers, oblivious to everything, each offering suggestions.

"General, why don’t we continue attacking the city tonight and swiftly take Yinzhou."

"Our hundred thousand troops are many, but we are deep in enemy territory, and if time drags, Yan reinforcements will surely arrive; we fear delays might lead to changes."

"Yes, General, although we claim a hundred thousand troops, there are only seventy thousand now, and forty thousand are auxiliary soldiers of little use. To prevent the Yan from discovering, we should, like the Cang City battle, attack fiercely without rest for three days and quickly capture Yinzhou."

The last speaker was the deputy general who has followed Lu Jian for many years.

The deputy knew well, the claim of a hundred thousand troops was an exaggeration. In reality, there were only eighty thousand, with ten thousand at Ling Port, and the remaining seventy thousand included forty thousand auxiliary soldiers, with only thirty thousand usable, some still injured.

An old general also stepped forward, looking at Lu Jian with eyes hiding deep contempt, saying:

"Before leaving, the Great General said, if Prince Rui of Yan Country were dead, we could attempt to attack the city. But proceed with caution; if Prince Rui were not dead, retreat immediately. Now that Prince Rui is indeed dead, we should take Yinzhou all at once to avoid long nights of endless dreams. Yan reinforcements are surely on their way. General Lu, you wouldn’t want to defy the Great General’s orders."

Lu Jian was unlike Wei Junzhuo. He came from a poor background, yet under Wei Junzhuo’s guarantee, became the commander. Many in the army did not respect him.

This old general was among them, a descendant of a prestigious lineage, often disparaging the Wei Army, living off his reputation, avoiding battles as his favorite move, now unwillingly stepping out seeing Lu Jian lead.

Such people, too numerous in the Great Wei army, were the reason they were always oppressed by the Yan.

Lu Jian’s gaze swept over their faces, deep and sharp, speaking lightly:

"Given the situation, I won’t hide the truth from you. What if the reinforcements arriving are Dingyuan Marquis and the Yan cavalry? This might be the miracle that the Great General meant the Yan people love to create."

At the mention of Dingyuan Marquis, the Wei Country generals’ expressions changed, a chill settling in their hearts.

The old general trembled violently, instinctively turning around to stare into the night behind him, as if the ferocious, arrogant Black Armored Cavalry might emerge from their rear at any moment.

"General, what do you mean by this?"

Lu Jian’s eyes flashed with insight, responding unhurriedly:

"I’ve always been wondering what Gu Lan was waiting for. Now I understand; nothing escapes my master’s calculations. Gu Lan is waiting for Dingyuan Marquis, and I am waiting too, afraid he will come, more afraid he will not come.

Actually, the reinforcements I brought were not forty thousand regular troops and forty thousand auxiliary soldiers, but... twenty thousand regular troops and sixty thousand auxiliary soldiers."

"What!?"

"The hundred thousand claim was an exaggeration, but not being forty thousand regular troops. The sixty thousand auxiliary soldiers, what can they do but consume supplies? Lu Jian, do you intend to get us killed?"

"Dingyuan Marquis? Yan reinforcements... is it Dingyuan Marquis Gu Chengzhao?"

"Is the Dingyuan Army coming to Yinzhou?"

The numerous generals visibly panicked, staring in fear at Lu Jian, waiting for his explanation.

Generals who have fought wars know that regular troops are the core of an army.

Auxiliary soldiers, on the first battlefield, are merely laborers to make up numbers!

If their regular troops numbered only twenty thousand, wouldn’t that be just as the Yan inside the city? If the Dingyuan Army were to arrive now, wouldn’t they just be sending heads to Gu Chengzhao!

The one with the greatest reaction was the Qiangrong man, Gesang, his face instantly blanching white as paper, shaking his head as if once frightened out of his wits by Dingyuan Marquis.

Indeed, he was frightened out of his wits by Dingyuan Marquis.

Previously, the Pseudo Royal Court in Jiang Qu was driven out of the Snowfield by Dingyuan Marquis in alliance with Marquis Zhongcheng, prompting them to travel thousands of miles to the Southern Border.

Gu Chengzhao’s terror was deeply imprinted on Gesang’s heart, something he would never forget in his lifetime.

And now, Lu Jian was saying, Dingyuan Marquis would come to the Southern Border?

Lu Jian smiled, observing the expressions on each face, every word laced with mockery and coldness:

"With so many of us attacking Yinzhou, the Yan scouts aren’t fools, they would naturally perceive something. As proof, before this, I dispatched ten thousand navy troops as advance forces to try and attack Ling Port. The main purpose was to ascertain the troop strength of various states in Yan’s Southern Border.

Today, scouts report that Southern Border states are preoccupied with their own issues and cannot dispatch reinforcements exceeding ten thousand to Yinzhou. Hence, their only hope for reinforcements is the Dingyuan Army. I suspect that, at this very moment, Dingyuan Army, under Gu Chengzhao’s leadership, is on its way to Yinzhou."

"Dingyuan Army is brave and battle-hardened, their cavalry able to fight tenfold, not something we can withstand. If Gu Chengzhao comes and cuts off our retreat..."

The old general who previously spoke staggered, whispering in fear.

He didn’t need to say more, as the surrounding generals also looked at Lu Jian with terror.

What they didn’t understand was why Lu Jian’s expression remained so composed, even with a hint of amusement on his lips.

Such an expression struck fear into their hearts.

Gesang, trembling, said: "The Chanyu’s Royal Court was trampled by Dingyuan Marquis; this person is a demon, not someone a normal person can defeat."

Lu Jian said blandly: "You Qiangrong people fear so easily, and that is why you can never defeat the Yan people."

Gesang murmured softly: "Your Wei Country, can’t defeat them either..."

Lu Jian’s deputy general, witnessing this, steadied his mind, stepping forward to clasp his hands in respect:

"Since the General says the Great General and he have anticipated Gu Chengzhao’s arrival, it indicates they have devised a response strategy. Everyone, please calm down and listen to the General’s plan."

In the military camp, torches burned one by one, casting flickering light on Lu Jian’s stern and grim face.

All eyes were on Lu Jian’s sharply contoured face, with unprecedented focus and tension.

Lu Jian’s gaze was calm to the extreme, yet tinged with a hint of madness.

"Let Dingyuan Marquis bring his forces. Heh, as long as he dares leave Yunzhou... where do you think those twenty thousand regular troops vanished to, and why have we been surrounding Yinzhou for so long?

The Great General and I had long contacted Jiang Qu and dispatched twenty thousand soldiers on an expedition to Yan’s Dingbei Pass. We will assist the Snowfield tribes in re-establishing the Royal Court, causing Gu Chengzhao, this Dingyuan Marquis, to take the bait and perish."

"The bait, what is it?"

The deputy general asked tremblingly.

Lu Jian, smiling with delight:

"The bait is me, is all of you."