Chapter 22: Fa Mulan

  Yang Xiong and Liu Bang engaged in a fierce battle at Quyu Xi, with 30,000 Qin troops facing off against the 60,000-strong anti-Qin coalition forces. Yang Xiong was once again lured into a encirclement by Liu Bang, and the situation became perilous.

  Liu Bang did not know that Li Yuan was not in Yang Xiong's army. According to the scouts' investigation, after meeting with Yang Xiong, Li Yuan should have been in the army as well. However, unexpectedly, Li Yuan suddenly decided to lead his troops to defend the White Horse Crossing. Liu Bang's soldiers launched a fierce attack, disregarding their lives, which shocked the Qin army greatly. Until then, Liu Bang's troops had not been known for their strong will to fight; among the rebel armies against Qin, only Xiang Yu's Chu army was truly capable of competing with the Qin army.

  For the time being, let's put aside the battles between Yang and Liu. At Baima Ford, Li Yuan led his troops to arrive just in time, and without stopping to rest, they began preparations for battle.

  Yang Xiong's Qin army logistics supply line currently has two lines, Yaojiazhen is the main one, and there is a backup line which is Baima Du. Due to concerns about Yang Xiong's defeat, Li Yuan quickly ordered the requisition of ships and supplies near Baima, in preparation for any unexpected needs. At the same time, since Yang Xiong had already promised, with the idea that one more force is one more force, Li Yuan set up a temporary recruitment agency in Baima to recruit soldiers who signed up to join the army.

  Recruitment, first created by the famous general Wu Qi of the Spring and Autumn Period, he recruited good materials in a simple way, and formed the first special elite force of the state - the Wu Zu, not in the traditional form of conscription. The standard for the Wu Zu was very strict, with basic conditions including: wearing three sets of tight-fitting armor, being able to draw a 12-stone bow, carrying a quiver that could hold 50 arrows on his back, shouldering a spear and wearing a helmet, hanging a sharp sword at his waist, and bringing three days' worth of dry rations and marching 100 miles in half a day.

  Li Yuan's main goal now is to make up for the shortage of soldiers, in preparation for the intense battle that may come soon. Therefore, the standard for recruiting soldiers will not be as strict as Wu Qi's. Moreover, although the three rivers area has been conquered by Qin for many years, it originally belonged to Han, and Li Yuan does not have a good grasp on how much recognition the people here have of the Qin army.

  Baima Ferry

  Only thirty miles away from Yang City, this place is due to the developed transportation, merchants gather, and the brought wine houses and Yu Ling and other entertainment industries are also relatively developed.

  On the second day of Li Yuan's recruitment, an unexpected yet reasonable person also arrived at Baima, and her approach to Li Yuan was so unexpected.

  Zhou Xing, who was in charge of recruiting new soldiers, had been feeling depressed for the past two days. Wang Shang, Zhou Xing, and Gan Houbao were all military commanders, and this time Li Yuan ordered them to recruit soldiers, they were all eager to outdo each other. Wang Shang had the prestige of having killed Fan Qiang, was handsome, and could speak eloquently, so his department had the most recruits. Gan Houbao's honest and simple appearance made people feel that they would not be treated unfairly under him, and many new soldiers signed up with him as well. Only Zhou Xing, who looked ordinary, had no notable achievements to boast of, and was not very talkative, found it difficult to recruit soldiers.

  "Gu Yun, a native of Xingyang, was eighteen years old when he enlisted as an infantryman and excelled at sword fighting." Just then, a short, pale young man appeared at the recruitment office of Zhou's army.

  "Take out your sword and dare to try it on the spot." Zhou Xing became interested, compared with Wang Shang and Gan Houbao, his way of recruiting soldiers was not attractive at all. This time, when he heard that the new young man was good at sword fighting, Zhou Xing's eyes lit up instantly. Isn't a sword fight the most exciting thing to watch?

  The young man's eyebrows slightly raised, and he smiled: "What can't be done? However, knives have no eyes; we'll use bamboo as swords, and stop at a touch, how about that?"

  Zhou Xing thought only of how to attract people at this time, and didn't care about anything else. He responded: "That's great, come on, take the bamboo sword over."

  Zhou Xing's swordsmanship was mediocre in the Qin army, slightly inferior to Wang Shang and slightly better than Gan Houbo. Since becoming a military marquis, Zhou Xing has been mindful of his command ability and personal bravery, after all, it's not easy to have the opportunity to rise from the bottom, if he doesn't work hard and gets suppressed, there will be no chance to turn over again.

  It's crucial for a grassroots person to find the right mentor, or else they can forget about getting promoted or rich. Why? Because those born into powerful families have a huge advantage, and with just one sentence, all their efforts can be destroyed. Now, Li Yuan is also considered a grassroots success story, and so far, Zhou Xing hasn't seen him collude with any particular faction. The people Li Yuan promotes are mostly chosen for their ability, not their background, which really moves Zhou Xing. This is also why he wants to compete with Wang Shang and Gan Houbao.

  Everyone eats according to their abilities, this is the true nature of a man.

  A bamboo sword match began, and Zhou Xing was still cautious, relying on his identity without rushing to attack. However, Gu Yun was not polite at all, holding his sword with a flourish and stepping forward with a familiar shadow and pace. It seemed that he had been immersed in swordsmanship for many years. The two sides exchanged blows, and the more Zhou Xing fought, the more surprised he became. Gu Yun's swordsmanship was indeed impressive, not only were his moves numerous and dazzling, but also exquisite, with some sword poses being elegant and beautiful, making people feel enchanted and mesmerized.

  In the blink of an eye, the two had exchanged several moves, and Gu Yun, this young man, was actually able to fight Zhou Xing to a stalemate. Looking at his momentum on the field, he was subtly on the offensive, which suddenly excited the surrounding crowd, even Wang Shang and Gan Houbo heard the news and ran over to watch the battle.

  "Come on, Old Zhou! Don't lose face for your brother!" Wang Shang's face turned red as he shouted loudly to cheer Zhou Xing on.

  "This young man is quite good, he's not only handsome but also talented. I wonder which family's daughter will be lucky enough to have him." The onlookers had already begun to speculate and calculate their own chances.

  Zhou Xing was now in a difficult situation, unable to express his frustration. The bamboo sword was different from the solid bronze sword, and the bamboo was slightly lighter, requiring less strength from the swordsman. Moreover, since this match had been declared as "point-to-point", life-or-death tactics were also not feasible.

  At this point, Zhou Xing also understood that he had fallen into Gu Yun's trap from the beginning. What was said to be just a test with bamboo swords and stopping at the first touch was actually a way to restrain Zhou Xing's power, preventing him from going all out. Meanwhile, Gu Yun's strengths were even more fully displayed due to the lightness of the bamboo sword.

  "Sly little thing!" Zhou Xing secretly cursed in his heart, but for the time being, he couldn't think of a way to deal with it, and could only try to use force against force, clashing bamboo swords, hoping to intimidate Gu Yun with the shock of his wrist.

  The crowd gathered more and more, Li Yuan accompanied by his personal bodyguards and cavalrymen in leather armor, also happened to come to inspect the recruitment situation, saw Zhou Xing fighting with someone, and couldn't help but stop and watch.

  "Douwei, this kid who's competing with Zhou Junhou isn't bad at all. My personal troops are still short-handed, can we fill the gap first?" Lu Jia stared at Gu Yun, admiringly clapping his hands, unable to contain the excitement in his heart.

  "Ah, this young fellow is indeed not bad, but putting him in the Imperial Guard may not be suitable. Let Old Zhou bring him along for now!" Li Yuan said with a glance at Gu Yun, after a moment of contemplation.

  "But!" Jiao Ya still insisted, trying to change Li Yuan's mind.

  "Military orders are like mountains, no changes can be made. After Zhou Junhou's trial, let him come see me immediately." Li Yuan said and turned to leave with big strides.

  Others may not be able to tell, but Li Yuan, who has seen countless naked, transparent, and cross-dressing pictures of women online, can immediately distinguish whether Gu Yun is a man or a woman.

  A woman, disguising herself as a man to sneak into the military camp, what is her purpose? Is it not another Mulan in the army? How is this possible? The biggest difference between recruiting soldiers and drafting soldiers is that one is voluntary and the other is mandatory. Without any mandatory constraints, what is Gu Yun's true intention for coming to Li Yuan's military camp? Before clarifying the truth, Li Yuan does not want to have such a dangerous person among his own troops.