Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Old Man's Madness

  Inside and outside the city of Yang, various forces and people of all colors are doing their best for their own future. Zhao Bin, the county magistrate of Yang, has been busy like an ant in a storm, constantly repairing his nest, but unfortunately, he found that many of his efforts were in vain.

  North Gate

  Right in front of a straight path, the terrain is flat and there are no dangers to defend. The central army of Liu Bang's forces is facing this place. In the past five or six days, most of the allied forces' attacks have started from here, and several times the vanguard of the allied forces has climbed onto the city wall. If it weren't for this heavy snowfall, the large flag on the city tower would have been replaced long ago.

  "Guān Yuǎn, why hasn't the conscription of civilians been completed after half a day?"

  "Where is the County Magistrate of Fan, he thinks that by hiding, I can get away with it, but when the city falls, everyone will be beheaded together." Zhao Bin is now anxious and irritable, his eyes are sunken, and his temper is also extremely violent.

  Zhao Bin was busy directing the soldiers to defend the city, and his control over the city's internal affairs had weakened somewhat. As for his ally, the Censor Wang Ming, during this period, Old Master Wang almost every night stayed in the Peony Pavilion, truly living a carefree and joyful life like a young man.

  "Father, my heart is racing wildly, feel it!" A soft cry suddenly rose from the top floor of the Peony Pavilion, where the courtesan lived. The red waves had been turned over, her buttocks half exposed and half hidden, a true picture of spring radiance.

  "Haha, Little Xiang's chest is so smooth, I'll give her a kiss." An old and hoarse voice was filled with lust, followed by the sound of indecent moaning.

  The old man is reminiscing about his youthful recklessness, with one shot to the left and one shot to the right, each shot hitting the red heart of his beloved. Wang Ming was just a minor official in Xianyang, and at home, his wife kept him on a tight leash, so he didn't have much money to indulge in extravagance. But this time, on an outing to Xingyang, he unexpectedly experienced the greatest pleasure of his life.

  Wang Ming naturally didn't know that his every move, every word and action had been reported to Lady Gongsun by the charming woman in his arms without missing a single detail. With Wang Ming's information, the anti-Zhao faction now knew each other inside out.

  Li Xiang'er has been taken care of by Wang Ming recently and has become even more charming. Originally, she was just an ordinary courtesan in the building, and her skills were only average. Compared to Gu Yunniang, not to mention others, many sisters were stronger than her. This time she leaned on Wang Lao Yushi, and her status rose suddenly. Gong Sun Danni also spoke out and raised her treatment to the level of the top courtesan in the building.

  Of course, there are gossips, but Li Xiang'er doesn't care. What's wrong with getting old? Getting old has its charm, getting old is obedient, as long as you use a little trickery, you can get Old Wang to deliver the money, even if Wang Ming returns to Xianyang in the future, she'll have money to rely on and won't suffer too much. At that time, finding a young and handsome young man, who knows how beautiful life will be?

  Let those gossiping, envying, jealous and hateful people go ahead then.

  ——。

  Overcast.

  A speedboat was moving rapidly on the big river after snow, and the cold winter wind became even colder. After blowing over the river surface that had already formed ice floes, the temperature dropped a few more degrees.

  Liu Bang led the army to attack the city for more than ten days, and the troops were mainly concentrated on the north gate and east gate. Only a few cavalrymen were sent to intercept the messengers who came to send messages at the south water gate and west gate. Last time, Gu Yun entered the city by sneaking in from the water gate under the cover of night, but this time it was not necessary.

  Heavy snow fell, the sky was cold and frozen, Liu Jun's officers and men all hid in their tents early to make a fire and warm themselves. They came to get rich, not to suffer.

  Gu Yun stood upright, wearing a flat hat on his head, with armor and sword hanging from his waist, looking like a handsome young man. As for the cold, he didn't feel it at all. At this moment, his heart was burning like a fire.

  "Li Yuan, General Li, Li Dazi - aren't you underestimating Madam? Now, let me show you how efficiently I, Gu Certain, can handle things."

  Gu Yun was very pleased, this time entering the city she had made a military order in front of Li Yuan, if it didn't work out, without others saying anything, just looking at Li's expression that seemed to say "I knew you weren't capable", would be enough to make her angry.

  "General Xiao Gu, I heard that Yuan Geer killed hundreds of enemy generals at Baima, is this true?" Just as Gu Yun was immersed in her own joyful thoughts, she heard the creaking sound of the cabin door opening behind her, and Li Bi's figure appeared before her eyes.

  "Little Li, I'm older than you, so you should call me General Gu. Moreover, if you want to hear about General Li's exploits, you'll have to pay a price for it, won't you?" A good-looking smile spread across Gu Yun's face, like a spring breeze thawing frost, making people feel dizzy and enchanted. For a moment, she seemed to have transformed back into that slender-waisted, sword-dancing, song-singing woman.

  "Ah, Sister Gu is right, Li Bi was wrong." Li Bi stared blankly at Gu Yun's face, nodding repeatedly in agreement. But as soon as he spoke, Gu Yun's expression changed.

  "Hmph, who's the sister? Call General Gu!" Gu Yun let out a cold snort, her powdered face pale. Having said that, she didn't wait for Li Bi to respond and strode into the cabin with quick steps.

  "General Gu, General Gu, this is just a little girl, what general?" Li Bi muttered. Gu Yun was clearly male or female, as long as he wasn't blind, it was very clear, but this little General Gu insisted on treating himself as a man, which made the half-grown Li Bi somewhat perplexed.

  However, thinking that he would see Li Yuan soon, Li Bi became excited again: "Yuan Ge, I don't know if you still recognize me, haha, it's Xiao Bi!"

  ——。

  Li Yuan, who was being mentioned by Li Bi, did not have the leisure to think about irrelevant things at this time. He was leading his personal bodyguards in a busy activity in the marshy area on the south bank of the Great River.

  The weather is cold, what's the big deal? Think back to when your grandfather was in the army camp, it was below minus 30 degrees and he still trained as usual. He endured the bitterest of hardships, only then can one become stronger, a true soldier, a true warrior, that's what I want, someone with an even stronger will than ordinary soldiers.

  More than 300 elite soldiers, under Li Yuan's demonstration, began to undergo arduous training on the icy surface of the frozen marshes, crawling forward, standing and shooting arrows, long-distance marching. Li Yuan took the standardized infantry drill manual of later generations and slightly modified it to start training this batch of elite soldiers who had been carefully selected from among thousands.

  These few months of solitary struggle have been suffocating for Li Yuan, with no status and no prestige. Don't even mention recruiting famous scholars, even those with some reputation won't come; previously he had also read a lot of crossover novels on that big starting point website, especially two books "New Three Kingdoms Strategy" and "The Legend of the Little Soldier of Great Qin", which were written in a particularly unconvincing way, saying that as long as you persist, you can always wait for the day when the clouds will clear.

  Now that the clouds have opened and the fog has dispersed, Li Yuan is also a general leading thousands of people. Hasn't any famous historical figure come to surrender to him? Jingjingliang, you eunuch, even if you want to harm someone, don't do it in such a way.