Under the sunset, Lin Xie sat on a rock, not even bothering to sheathe his sword, and directly stuck the tip of the blade into the ground. He didn't look at the pirates who were forming an array closer by, but instead gazed out at the distant lake's glow.

  Under the sunset, Jiuyang Lake is changing with its fascinating colors. The green willows and miscellaneous trees such as poplars are swaying gently, while the wooden boats are rocking on the golden ripples of the lake. In the distance, the water surface reflects the crimson red glow of the evening clouds, shrouded in a thin layer of mist. Even the rice fields that have just been harvested are radiating a light golden hue. If it weren't for the stark black bloodstains nearby, this landscape would be truly beautiful.

  The green armor on Lin Xie's body could no longer be seen in its original color, covered as it was in dark blood. The sword was a good one, the hilt hadn't deformed in the slightest, only the blade had been notched many times. During a brief lull in the intense battle, Lin Xie took out a small bone-picking knife from his waist and cut down the dark red fine hemp rope that had been wrapped around the long handle of the strange sword, which had already been soaked through with blood. Since there was no extra fine hemp rope available, he carefully tore strips from the lower hem of his shirt, which had also been cut to shreds, and used them to bind his wounds.

  "It's gotta be tight, or the knife handle will slip with blood," Lin said as he wrapped the bandage, chatting with the soldier sitting on the ground next to him. "I remember you saying that if you had a partner but hadn't gotten married yet, wouldn't killing some pirates and saving up the reward money to go back home and marry be a good idea?"

  "Killed three, and want to kill two more..." The young man with a childish face next to him answered Lin Xie's question with embarrassment, speaking nervously in front of Lin Xie, taking great effort to say the two sentences, his heart also abnormally excited, others also eagerly gathered around to listen to what they were saying.

  "Three is enough," Lin Xie said with a smile, "I'm afraid you won't be able to attend my wedding banquet, so I'll give you two heads as a gift. I've killed quite a few myself." He instructed the clerk beside him who was recording military achievements, "Remove two heads from my tally and add them to his..."

  The young man was tense and excited, his normally honest and reserved personality didn't know what to say, the person sitting next to him on the muddy ground, holding a weapon, envied him and patted his shoulder, saying: "Damn it, you've taken advantage of the adult's kindness, don't you quickly kowtow to the adult?"

  "What are you bowing for? After we drive the pirates away, I will thank you greatly, and so should all the villagers...". Lin Xie stopped the young man from kowtowing.

  At first, Donghai Kou wanted to eliminate the garrison led by Lin Xie who had moved out of the city. After being defeated, both sides fought for control of the Western Stone Bridge. Donghai Kou wanted to either restrict the garrison to the northern gate area or drive them out of the northern gate area. To gain a strategic advantage, Lin Xie could not let Donghai Kou take control of the key points in the northern gate area. For four days, they fought fiercely over the Western Stone Bridge, with countless battles won and lost. After four days of bloody fighting, less than one-third of Lin Xie's bodyguards remained, and the casualties among the mounted troops were even more severe. The bodies of the dead and the seriously wounded were all pulled back into the city in baskets, and Yang Pu, who had been shot multiple times but continued to fight until exhausted, was also forced by Lin Xie to be tied up and pulled back into the city for treatment. Ao Canghai's more than ten elite bodyguards still stood guard beside Lin Xie, with no one unscathed or unwounded, and fewer than a hundred mounted troops remained outside the city, with half of their horses lost. However, there were many more volunteer soldiers from Jiyang who had come out of the city to fight alongside Lin Xie, as well as civilian militia recruited within the city.

  Within three days, Lin Xie not only prevented the Donghai bandits from launching a direct attack on Jiyang County City, but also prevented them from establishing a solid defense at the strategic point of Xishi Bridge.

  ***************

  Xue Fei Xiong's face was ashen, his expression gloomy to the point of being able to squeeze out water, the scabbard tightly gripped in his hand almost cracking open. His sharp eagle-like eyes, filled with bloodshot, fiercely stared at the area between the Western Stone Bridge and the northern city gate moat bridge of Ji Yang City.

  Ji Yang's initial defeat resulted in the loss of over 300 elite troops. Xue Feixiong could still explain that Ji Yang's bold deployment was beyond anyone's expectations, but the subsequent intense battle made him realize what it meant to have an unyielding will, which was fighting against Chen Zhihu's elite troops under Li Zhuo. Even Xue Feixiong didn't think their bones were so hard to chew on.

  The defenders outside the city walls, some sitting and others lying down, except for the sentries, behind the simple wooden fences that seemed to be pushed over with a single push, there were hardly any people left who had the strength to stand upright with their weapons. The blood on the ground was like congealed pain. However, as he launched an attack on this side, these exhausted defenders, who were almost about to fall at any moment, suddenly became spirited and vigorous, as if possessed by a spirit.

  Across a distance of over 300 steps, Xue Fei could see a young man sitting on a stone bench in the middle of the defending army. He was Lin Fu, the one Qin Zi Tan had mentioned countless times by his ear, and perhaps it was true that he should prioritize attacking Xi Sha Island as Qin Zi Tan had said. Next to the stone bench stood a flagpole over three zhang high, also made from two sections cut off and tied together with ropes, bearing the banner "Lin, the Military Preparation and Grain Procurement Officer of the Investigating Censorate", fluttering in the wind, with only the five characters "Military Preparation...Officer Lin" visible.

  Xue Fei Xiong gazed out, and within a distance of three hundred steps, he could clearly see that the armor on Lin's body had changed from its original cyan color to black. Under the illumination of the setting sun, it reflected a purplish-red glow. How much blood of the Eastern Sea bandits and his own had been stained onto it?

  That piece of lake stone was like the Dinghai Shenzhen outside the city, when his attack pressed the defenders near the lake stone, Lin Xie would personally pick up the knife and fight, any momentum that rushed over there would immediately collapse, as if the boulder struck the incoming waves into powder.

  At first, Xue Fei Xiong offered a reward of 100 taels of official silver for beheading Lin Tie and other generals guarding the city walls. Many Donghai bandits rushed to compete with each other. At this time, the reward for single-handedly killing Lin Tie had already reached 1,000 taels of official silver, and there were hardly anyone in the thirteen families of Donghai who still dared to try.

  After the battle of Taihu North Bank, after defeating the main force of Ninghai Town's naval forces, Xie Fei led the thirteen Donghai bandits and more than 3,000 complete combat troops to raid Jiyang. The garrison of Jiyang City, even with Gu Wu Chen's guard team, was less than a thousand people.

  Whether it is to capture the city of Jiayang, capture or kill Gu Wu Chen, Chen Xiyan and other bigwigs, or surround the city of Jiayang and break through the reinforcements that rushed to Pingjiang Prefecture, they can thoroughly destroy the situation in Jiangdong County.

  Under such circumstances, the launch of the Jiyang campaign by Xue Fei Xiong can be said to have taken full advantage. Who would have thought that Lin Xie's personal leadership of the relocated garrison outside Jiyang would be so difficult to crack? Xue Fei Xiong couldn't even seal off the Western Stone Bridge, which was the only way for the garrison cavalry to enter and exit, let alone divide his troops to sweep through the countryside of Jiyang, not to mention dividing his troops to launch a head-on attack on the reinforcements rushing from other places.

  The thirteen families of Donghai pirates took turns to go on the battlefield, and perhaps other Donghai pirates still had the idea of preserving their strength and were not willing to fight to the death. However, among the three Donghai pirate families directly controlled by Xia's family, half of the troops were old soldiers brought by Xia Fei Xiong from Jinan. The fierce attacks they launched were all crushed, with extremely heavy casualties. Even Xia Fei Xiong, who was known for his ruthlessness, felt heartbroken.

  Xue Fei Xiong personally witnessed the numerous waves of attacks he organized also dealt a heavy blow and casualties to Lin Ge's troops stationed outside the city, but what surprised him most was that in the past two months, the weak and timid Pingjiang Prefecture military and civilians, who had been ravaged by the Donghai bandits, actually inspired the city's defenders to fight to the death with their bravery.

  In the past four days, no matter how intense and difficult the battle was, there were always defenders or brave civilians coming out of the city to reinforce Lin Xuan's army, joining the troops outside the city, so that the number of soldiers under Lin Xuan's command who could fight bravely and forget about life and death never fell below 300.

  "General, it's time to retreat," said the trusted aide of Xue Fei Xiong, who was known as "General Xiao" in front of outsiders. He was Yuan Tingdong, the powerful General of Donghai, "The remnants of Ninghai Town's naval forces are reassembling outside Jiangkou and can enter Donglai River at any time; The 45 ships of Jiangning Water Camp are also approaching Baisha County, and it only takes half a day to reach the mouth of Donglai River. Pingjiang Prefecture's garrison troops and nearby militia are gathering on a large scale. If we don't retreat now, changes will occur..."

  Xue Fei Xiong has indeed killed Hong, but his rationality is still intact; he's just unwilling in his heart.

  *************

  "Lord Gu, Minister Chen, Magistrate Meng, the pirates are retreating..." Just then, County Lieutenant Yao rushed into the gate tower, tripped on the threshold, and almost fell over. The knife in his hand flew out and nearly hit Chen Xiyan's foot. He didn't care that he startled Chen Xiyan, and with a mixture of surprise, joy, and hesitation, said uncertainly, "It looks like the pirates are retreating."

  Gu Wu Chen, Chen Xi Yan, and Meng Xin Shi all rushed out to the city wall, looking out over the parapet. Although there were still large groups of pirates gathered on the riverbank outside the camp, the pirate ships no longer lined the river, and some had sailed towards the lake mouth where Jiyang Lake and Donglai River meet. Even the East Sea pirates who remained gathered on the riverbank outside the camp began to set up more obstacles to prevent being attacked by the defending troops as they retreated onto their ships from the rear of the riverbank.

  At this time, the guards of the other three gates also sent people to report, and the eastern pirates who had blocked the other three gates began to withdraw. The eastern pirates were going to retreat.

  "Shall we go out of the city and pursue them?"

  "We can't let them get away cheaply, Lord. You can order General Lin to lead the city's outer garrison to entangle the pirates from Donghai and prevent them from boarding their ships smoothly," said County Magistrate Meng Xinshi of Ji Yang, "The reinforcement troops from other counties in Pingjiang Prefecture have already gathered, and they will arrive to provide assistance within half a day..."

  "County Meng, take a look at the city's defenders, how many of them still have the strength to stand up and pursue the enemy?" Yang Pu never interfered with Gu Wu Chen's decisions, but this time he questioned Meng Xin Shi bluntly before Gu Wu Chen made his statement. Regardless of whether the enemy was prepared to counterattack during their retreat, Lin Xie led the city's defenders who had been relocated outside the city and suffered heavy casualties. Lin Xie's injuries were also extremely severe, and it was questionable whether he could stand up. To ask them to hold back the Donghai bandits until reinforcements arrived to eliminate them might be too cruel and too greedy for merit.

  ***************

  P.S: Looking for red envelopes (with money).