Chapter 37: Pride Goes Before a Fall (2/2) Seeking Recommendations

  Deng Jie can finally breathe a sigh of relief!

  Anyway, at least for now, there won't be any more danger. Turning his head to look at Cao Peng, he found that Cao Peng had already run back to help Wang Mai at some point. Deng Ji was now in the front, with two wooden poles, each side lined with Yi Yang Wu soldiers.

  The spear is in front and the sword is behind.

  Wei Yan handed the Dragon Sparrow Great Ring over to the black iron tower named Tang Ji, and took a step forward to hold onto Deng Ji's arm.

  "Welcome, Mr. Deng!"

  "Deng Jie from..."

  Even when he became the assistant historian in Jinyang County, Deng Ji had never been as proud and arrogant as he was now. In his heart, there was a feeling called pride. The soldiers from Yiyang who looked somewhat shabby were actually brave warriors who had fought countless battles. These men would not blindly obey you just because of your position. To make them accept you, you at least needed to have enough courage.

  Deng Jie felt that what he had done was not good enough.

  Today I can walk into Yiyangtun, it's all because of Ah Fu.

  This Ah Fu... indeed fulfilled an old saying, success or failure all because of Xiao He. Now it's success due to Cao Peng, failure... If he hadn't provoked Huang She, Deng Ji wouldn't have come to Jiu Nu Cheng either. However, Deng Ji won't blame Cao Peng, if not, how can one recognize a true hero?

  "Are you okay?"

  Cao Peng was supporting Wang Mai, just about to leave, when he was blocked by a black iron tower.

  Cao Peng remembered that this guy was called Tang Ji.

  "Wei Ge said, let me take you guys to rest first."

  Tang Ji spoke as he reached out and grasped Wang Mai's arm, "Let's go, I'll take you to the camp, you can rest for a bit first."

  Cao Peng is fine, but Wang Mai is indeed a bit overwhelmed.

  This is not just physical harm, but also a psychological blow.

  He launched a fierce attack for a long time but didn't even hurt a single hair of Wei Yan. As a result, Wei Yan struck out with one knife and directly KO'd Wang Mai.

  Wang Mai also has his pride!

  This failure really made him somewhat disheartened and disappointed.

  Cao Peng cupped his hands together and said, "Thanks for your trouble, Tang."

  "What's the fuss about... Haha, you're indeed clever, one sentence and my brother fell for it. And you, not bad either, able to withstand my brother's attack without dying, there aren't many people in this camp who can do that. Don't think that just because my brother looks gentle, he's not skilled. He joined the army at 15, fought for six years, and went through countless battles before achieving what he has today... Our Yiyang Wu Zei, from the initial 1000 men, to now only having us 43 people left, do you think it was easy?"

  Cao Peng heard this and sucked in a breath of cold air.

  One song with five hundred people, now forty-three people still together, what kind of troops is this?

  Cao Peng had never seen the scene of ancient warfare, but he had heard that on a battlefield, when casualties reached one-tenth, defeat would occur. Five hundred men, fighting to this day, could still hold together... probably even later generations' armies wouldn't be able to do more than this.

  No wonder, Wei Yan's body has such a strong murderous aura!

  It was actually the murderous aura condensed from one fierce battle after another.

  Looking at Tang Ji's straight and upright waist, Cao Peng suddenly had an epiphany in his heart: perhaps the Wei Yan in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was not arrogant, but proud. This pride may have originated from the Yiyang Wu soldiers in front of him, from these forty-three heads of brave lions who had fought a hundred battles.

  "Tang big brother, can you tell us about the Yiyang Wugrad incident?"

  "This is easy, wait until we get back to the camp, I'll tell you slowly then..."

  Just then, a commotion suddenly came from behind.

  Cao Peng turned his head to look, and it was Ma Yu and others who were blocked outside the camp. More than a dozen swordsmen lined up in a row, with their swords drawn and hooks on their hands, shouting loudly: "You must stop immediately."

  Ma Yu saw Deng Jie enter the camp and felt extremely disappointed in her heart.

  On the one hand, he secretly cursed Cao Peng for being cunning and treacherous, while on the other hand, he showed disdain for Wei Yan and his men.

  A bunch of gutless guys! If you have the ability, stop Deng Shunzi! You put on such a strong posture, but in the end it's all bark and no bite...

  Muttering softly in their mouths, thirty-seven convicts marched towards the camp.

  They followed Deng Ai here, now that Deng Ai has entered the main camp, while they are still outside. Once the roll is called and it's discovered that someone is missing, whether it's Wei Yan or Deng Ai, there will be enough excuses to put the 'deserter' hat on their heads.

  Desertion on the eve of battle?

  That's directly violating Article 17, Clause 54!

  Whether Ma Yu and others are willing or not, their names have been put on the list. Moreover, in terms of affiliation, they belong to Yiyang Tun.

  Unexpectedly, just as they were approaching the camp, they were blocked by someone.

  Ma Yu was displeased at once, "This brother, we followed Deng Jie over here and are also from Yiyangtun, why block us?"

  The leader of the swordsmen sneered coldly, "Since you are under Deng Jie's command, why didn't you charge into battle just now?"

  "Huh?"

  Just now Deng Jie personally led the charge, but there were only three people.

  "You all stand by with folded arms, as if you were deserting the battlefield. My family's general has spoken, you bandits are not worthy of being called Yiyangwu soldiers. Therefore, Yiyangwu will not accept you, go back where you came from, and don't bother us again, or else don't blame me for being ruthless with my sword."

  Where did you come from?

  Where are you going?

  And even if his name was already on the roster of Yiyang Village, no one would be willing to run back to the labor camp for punishment.

  Ma Yu said: "You have bullied people too much."

  "Do you think you're worthy of our contempt?"

  "You think you can scare me with your knife? I'm going in anyway, see if you dare kill me!"

  Ma Yu said, and stepped forward.

  But just as the school knife hand didn't say a word, he pushed forward with a hook and a push, and the wrapped first knife swung up and chopped straight at Ma Yu. Ma Yu was so frightened that he let out a loud cry, shrinking his head and falling to the ground, barely dodging the school knife hand's knife. However, even though it was like this, the wrapped first knife fell from his chest, if he hadn't taken a step back earlier, this knife would have directly cut open his belly... This school knife hand is absolutely not joking around.

  "Brother, we've already enlisted, if we can't enter the barracks... everyone is a soldier eating rations, why make things difficult for us?"

  Ma Yu didn't dare act arrogant anymore and hastily lowered his head to plead.

  Following Cao Peng's idea, Ma Yu and his men are a bunch of useless soldiers, no need to keep them.

  Moreover, this guy has a lot of resentment towards himself, and it can be seen that he belongs to the kind of person who must take revenge, staying in Yiyangtun will always be a disaster.

  But Deng Ai couldn't bear it and repeatedly pleaded with Wei Yan.

  After all, they are all from Xingyang County, and this hometown friendship cannot be forgotten. Otherwise, even if one returns, how can they face their parents and fellow villagers? The ancient people's concept of native land is undoubtedly very strong. Even including the Yiyang Wu Ze, if they were not all from Yiyang, it is unlikely that they would have been preserved until now. Wei Yan's feelings towards Ma Yu are similar to those of Cao Peng. He feels that no matter what personal grudges there may be, when facing the enemy, the main generals launched a charge, while Ma Yu and his ilk were rejoicing at their misfortune on the sidelines, purely a harmful presence.

  But Wei Yan finally nodded in agreement after Deng Ai's repeated pleas.

  "Entering the camp is possible, but......" Wei Yan smiled coldly, "Don't expect me to treat those guys as brothers!"

  "Come on, set up your spear!"

  Twenty men of Yishang Wu stood in two rows of ten people each, with long spears resting on their shoulders, forming a passageway.

  "Enter the camp, come crawling under this long spear."

  "Ah!"

  Ma Yu and others looked at each other in dismay, and after a moment, they stepped forward.

  But just as they approached the formation, they saw that the long spear hands on both sides suddenly lowered their long spears.

  "Tu Jiang said, climb over."

  The height of this fence is just above the waist, and if you want to pass through, you really have to crawl over it.

  "It's all because of you. Just now I said to help out, but you disagreed... You have a grudge against Deng Zuo Shi, why drag us down to suffer humiliation with you?"

  The eyes of prisoners, desolate and cold.

  Ma Yu stood in front of the array, and suddenly felt a little regretful.

  "Climb, or not climb?"

  Han Xin suffered humiliation back then, I... will endure it too!

  Ma Yu is the kind of person who will never reflect on his own actions. In the matrix, he crawled with his limbs on the ground, secretly vowing: If I can turn over one day, today's humiliation must be returned double. Deng Shusun, and his wife's brother, and this Tun Jiang... wait for it, one day Laozi will come to power, at that time I will not let you be so proud!

  Cao Peng looked on from the side, but couldn't help frowning!

  ——————————————————————————

  "How was it? Was it a fight?"

  Huang Sha returned from Yu Yang and immediately found Chen Jiu, asking excitedly.

  Chen naturally knew what Huang was asking, and couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh, nodding his head and then shaking it.

  "What does this mean? Did they really fight? Were Deng Ai and those three people killed by Wei Yan?"

  "General, the fight is over, but..."

  "What?"

  Chen said: "I will send someone to follow Deng Jie and others. As a result, outside the camp of Yiyang, Deng Jie and others were indeed blocked."

  Both sides had a dispute, and Deng Ai's three men even charged into the camp of Yiyangtun. Later, Wei Yan came forward and stopped them. However, at first, he seemed to be not very supportive of Deng Ai taking over as commander-in-chief, for which one of Deng Ai's attendants even fought with Wei Yan. Wei Yan knocked down that attendant with just one move... but after another attendant intervened, the situation took a drastic turn. Wei Yan not only admitted defeat but also agreed to let Deng Ai take over as commander-in-chief. He led Deng Ai and his three men into the camp of Yiyangtun together...

  Chen told Huang She in detail how Wei Yan made a bet with Deng Ji, and how Cao Peng won the bet.

  Huang Sha was initially very angry.

  But as he listened on... a strange smile suddenly appeared on his face.

  This Cao Peng is indeed capable, no wonder Yue Ying wants to be with him, he really has some skills, and unexpectedly makes Wei Yan admit defeat without a fight.

  Well, he's really a talented person!

  No matter how outstanding you are, I won't let you tarnish the reputation of the Jiang Xia Huang family...

  He suddenly asked: "Are you saying that only Deng Jizhong and three others charged into the formation? Why didn't those bandit prisoners who came with him charge together?"

  "It's strange to say, by rights they should all be from the same origin and have one mind."

  But for some reason, from start to finish, these bandits didn't lift a hand. According to the people I sent to investigate, those guys seemed to be watching from the side, and some of them even appeared to be gloating. General, do you think it's possible that this group of bandits had a grudge against Deng Ji, so they just ignored him?

  Huang Sha didn't rush to answer, his eyes rolling around in circles.

  A moment later, he said with a smile: "Jiashi, you immediately send someone to Jiuyang County to find Kuai Zheng and bring back the files of these thirty-seven people."