Chapter Seventeen: Sudden Attack on Qi's Camp

  The military of Qin needs a reason for war, and Qin Lei gives it to them: there is no better reason than the Crown Prince being attacked by the Bai Sheng army on his way back home.

  Through increasingly mature scouts, Qin Lei knew that the two battalions of Bai Shengjun were stationed on both sides of Yingzhou, and no matter how violent the riots inside and outside the city were, they did not participate in the war. According to the early dispatched fine work report from Yingzhou, at least three groups of people with unknown origins are waiting for themselves in the city. This is the reason why Qin Lei was slow in the first half, he wants to give the enemy enough time to choose the best sniper location - the chaotic Yingzhou undoubtedly meets the requirements, and it is easiest to shirk responsibility here.

  ~~~~~~~~~

  Qin Lei woke up to a sky full of stars. He took off his long gown and removed the six heavy bags from his body, which contained eighteen kilograms of iron sand that he had been carrying with him since his basic recovery.

  From the large package carried with me, I took out a piece of hemp cloth and arranged everything inside on it. A familiar feeling, before going out on a mission in my previous life, I would always fiddle with it like this, it felt great.

  Qin Lei first put on a close-fitting soft armor, made from a blend of black gold silk, heavenly silkworm silk and ice crystal silk. This soft armor was light and comfortable, impervious to swords and guns, and had been given by Shen Luo. The only drawback was that it didn't breathe well, and wearing it for long periods in the summer would cause prickly heat.

  Then he put on a black combat suit that was extremely strange in this era, wore combat boots, and inserted two daggers into them. He also fixed an arm crossbow on his left arm. Next, he tightly tied a wide leather belt around his waist, hung up five or six bags such as flying knife bag, explosive bag, etc., as well as two special hand crossbows. Finally, he inserted a long-handled machete behind his back. The total weight of the equipment was eighteen kilograms, which was exactly equal to the weight he had lost.

  Qin Lei opened the tent and strode towards the outside of the camp, Shen Qing silently followed up to replace Tie Ying's duties, her small face was slightly tense. In the open space outside the camp, Huo Tou Jun had already been busy preparing breakfast, several large pots were cooking thick meat porridge, emitting a tempting aroma.

  Qin Lei nodded, and Shen Qing hastily raised the horn at his waist to his mouth and blew it. The low, mournful sound reverberated across the vast expanse of the wilderness. The team members had long been accustomed to being commanded by the horn, and almost simultaneously woke up, got dressed quickly, and gathered in front of Qin Lei. In the darkness, three hundred pairs of eyes gazed intently at their leader - Qin Lei, who instructed them, encouraged them, and cared for them.

  Qin Lei said in a low voice: "Dinner is served." The team members silently found their own positions, the squad leader filled a large bowl of meat porridge for each person, and Qin Lei was no exception.

  Half a moment later, the full-stomached warriors reassembled and found Qin Lei transformed. His usual easy elegance had been replaced by an unspoken majesty, as if a lone wolf was coldly gazing at its own people, ready to lead them in pouncing on their prey or engaging in mortal combat with powerful enemies.

  After a brief eye contact, Qin Lei took off his helmet and held it in the crook of his arm. His long hair fluttered in the night wind as he shouted: "My soldiers!"

  All team members punched their left chest with their right fist, their voices were in unison, and there was a kind of captivating charm.

  "We used to have nothing, now we have three hundred sworn brothers! Tomorrow, what we'll still have are these brothers!"

  "We are all still young, we all dream of fighting for our country, we all dream of making a name for ourselves, we all dream of being remembered for generations to come! Right?"

  "Right!" was the wolf pack's reply, in unison and loud.

  "Of course, the most pressing issue is that we need to go home, back to our beloved hometown that we have been thinking about day and night." Qin Lei's expression eased slightly.

  The team members hehe smiled, as if embarrassed by this idea. At this moment, some thought of their old mothers at home, some thought of the girls who had been engaged, and some thought of the big locust tree in the east of the village, and the nostalgia spread rapidly.

  "Now someone wants to block our way home and strangle our dreams, what should we do?" Qin Lei bellowed in a hoarse voice, his eyes wide with anger.

  "Kill!!!!!!" The team members also stared with their eyes wide open and shouted in a loud voice. Someone shouted: "We want to go home! Whoever dares not let us go home, we will fight his eight ancestors!"

  "Yes, whoever doesn't let us return home, we'll make him pay for eight generations!" Qin Lei 'swooshed' out his sword. Held it upright in front of his chest, and shouted with all his might: "Honor shared with you, hardships borne with you!"

  The team members pounded their left chest fiercely and shouted in unison: "Honor shared, hardships shared!" Their emotions had been stirred up by Qin Lei several times and had already reached a boiling point.

  "Let's go!" Qin Lei sheathed his sword and mounted his horse, taking the lead as they set off.

  More than 300 riders followed him to live and die together.

  ~~~~~~~~~

  The Qi army that participated in the suppression of the rebellion in Pingzhou was a state soldier from the four neighboring states, with more than 20,000 people, led by General Xue Qi of Lingzhou. General Xue has been somewhat proud and arrogant recently: because he arrived just in time to rescue, the rebel peasant army did not capture the prefectural city, but instead collapsed into Zhu Lu Yuan under internal and external attacks, and was eventually surrounded by his troops, on the verge of destruction.

  Last night, General Xue and his colleagues drank and had fun until midnight. He returned to the commander's tent in a daze, vomited several times, and didn't fall asleep until after 2 am. Not long after falling asleep, he felt the ground shaking slightly. General Xue muttered to himself: "Can't drink so much anymore, getting dizzy even when lying down..." He turned over and continued sleeping.

  Strictly speaking, Qin Lei's guards belonged to the infantry, and it wasn't that riding a horse made one a cavalryman, even though all the young men of Qin could ride horses. Qin Lei was very clear about this, so he ordered his troops to advance repeatedly, taking advantage of the awkward coordination between the Qi state's armies, fiercely inserting themselves into the gaps, relying on the impact force of the hundred riders' charge to try and break through the enemy camp. In choosing the point of attack, the scouts' opinions played a leading role, further increasing the scouts' status in Qin Lei's army.

  Those two battalions of victorious troops were stationed ten miles away on both south and north sides.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~

  The entire Qi army was focused on besieging the isolated peasant army and did not expect anyone to attack from behind. It wasn't until the first horse jumped over the two-foot-deep, three-foot-wide trench and crashed through the sparse fence that the alarm bugle sounded in the main camp.

  Soldiers in their sleep did not have time to put on armor, they randomly picked up a weapon and rushed out. In this era where the flames of war still raged, it was common sense that those who advanced lived while those who retreated died. Although some people rushed out of their tents only to find that they were holding kitchen utensils such as water scoops or rolling pins.

  The disheveled General Xue, with the help of his personal soldiers, finally managed to put on his armor and emerged with his precious sword. However, apart from the equally disheveled state troops, there were no enemy forces in sight. General Xue muttered to himself, "Was it all just a dream? Did I sleepwalk?" He slapped himself hard on the ear, letting out an "aiyo" as he almost fainted.

  "It wasn't a dream, then where did the enemy troops that charged into our camp just now go?" General Xue wondered.

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  Today, the editor of Starting Point asked me if I wanted to sign a contract, and I was surprised and delighted. Please everyone support me! Vote for me, thank you.

  The editor suggested I change the name to "Authority", and said it with great fanfare.