Chapter 49 Kneeling? Standing?

  In front of Shanhai Pass, the setting sun is like blood.

  The soldiers of Dashun Army were like a tidal wave, attacking for a whole day! The city wall was piled up with a thick layer of corpses, and there was hardly any place to set foot.

  The city wall was pockmarked, with cannonball strikes everywhere, bricks and stones shattered, revealing one gap after another. Each gap had the Big Shun Army constantly surging up, blood staining every brick red.

  His throat was hoarse from shouting, his waist knife had been chopped into a rolled blade, and just as a large Shun army soldier climbed up, he was met with a head-on blow, blood gushing out of his head. As he fell, he suddenly grabbed onto the leg of a Guanning army soldier, and the two of them crashed to the ground below, turning into meat patties!

  The Guanning Army had never encountered such a troublesome opponent. They were not as well-equipped, nor as well-trained, but they dared to kill and fight, completely disregarding their own lives. Faced with such an opponent, the Guanning Army was afraid and retreated.

  The defensive line at Shanhai Pass is on the verge of collapse, and it seems that at any moment, the Dashun Army will be able to charge in...

  Horses' hooves trample on the bluestone road, the urgent sound is the most intense bugle call!

  "The city is breached, the general has given orders, cavalry enter the city!"

  The knight shouted and turned his horse's head, continuing to gallop. Gu Zhenhua heard this order and immediately furrowed his brow. The battle had just begun for half a day, and Wu Sangui was already sending out the last mobile force, showing how fierce the battle was.

  "Brothers, since the general has given the order, let's follow our commander and ascend to the city together, and fight it out with the bandits!"

  "Good, follow the lord to kill enemies and make achievements!" The soldiers were exceptionally enthusiastic.

  In the past few days, Gu Zhenhua did nothing else but visited every military camp, chatted with soldiers, taught them first aid knowledge, competed in archery, ate and lived together, quickly gaining recognition from the soldiers.

  More than 2,000 people closely followed Gu Zhenhua and rushed towards the city wall of Shanhai Pass.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The big cannons outside the city walls kept roaring, and the number one heroic pass in the world was in a state of turmoil.

  "Kill!"

  A general of the Great Shun army had climbed up the city wall along the cloud ladder, he held a knife in one hand and a shield in the other, like a fierce tiger, cutting down two Guanning army soldiers in succession.

  Gu Zhenhua instantly drew out his waist knife and was about to rush up, but Guo Yunlong pulled him back from the side.

  "General, let others take care of the vanguard, if you get hurt, there's no way to report to the commander."

  "Guo Youke, don't you still trust my skills? With just these few bandits, they can still hurt me? It's simply ridiculous!"

  "That won't work either!"

  Kuo Yun-lung said firmly, behind him more than a dozen soldiers had already grasped the hilts of their swords, forming a semicircular encirclement that surrounded Ku Cheng-hua in the middle.

  Gu Zhenhua narrowed his eyes and took a glance at these people, then suddenly burst out laughing: "Guo Youji, I'm afraid you're not here for the safety of this lord?"

  Guo Yunlong slightly lowered his head: "Lord Gu, I admire your talent and demeanor, and I am willing to follow you into battle. However, orders are hard to disobey, so please don't make things difficult for us!"

  "It's possible, but since we're already on the battlefield, can't just be a spectator!" With that, Gu Zhenhua grasped his bow in hand, took out three heavy arrows from his quiver, held them between his fingers, narrowed his eyes and stared at the Dashun army who had already climbed up the city wall.

  Only to see Gu Zhenhua suddenly pull the bow full, the three arrows in his hand were hooked on the string, and in an instant, the three arrows flew out of his hand, forming a "pin" shape, shooting towards that general of Dashun.

  "Not good!"

  This general had experienced many great enemies and felt something was wrong, so he hurriedly used his shield to cover his face. However, Gu Zhenhua's three arrows were incredibly powerful, and the shield could not block them at all.

  Two of the arrows penetrated the leather, shattering the wood inside, while another arrow grazed the edge of the shield and hit the throat. The arrowhead passed through the throat and emerged from the back, and the general's body thudded to the ground!

  The soldiers who were struggling around saw the most troublesome guy fall, and they first stunned, then cheered. Gu Zhenhua didn't stop at all, continuing to draw his bow and shoot arrows. In these days of competing with the Guanning Army, Gu Zhenhua's skills had also increased a lot, especially his physical injuries had healed, and his state was unprecedented.

  A hundred paces away, one arrow at a time, the Dashun Army soldiers who climbed up to the city head were named and fell down one by one. Especially Gu Zhenhua's bow and arrow had great power, as long as they were hit by an arrow, they would definitely die, and the city wall was piled with corpses.

  The Guanning Army was also unprecedentedly encouraged, with high morale, and some soldiers couldn't help but shout: "Long live General Zhongyong!"

  "Long live General Zhongyong!"

  "Long live General Zhongyong!"

  In an instant, a thunderous shout erupted from the city wall, and the soldiers of the Guanning Army plucked up their courage and drove down all the remaining Dashun Army.

  The soldiers cheered loudly after their victory, but when they turned around, they found that Gu Zhenhua's original standing position was already empty, and the soldiers were all confused.

  ……

  In a quadrangle near the city gate, Gu Zhenhua sat steadily in the middle, surrounded by soldiers of Gu Yunlong.

  At this moment, someone rushed over and handed a handwritten order from Wu Sangui to Guo Yunlong. As soon as Guo Yunlong took it, his eyes almost popped out of his head, he couldn't believe it, and stood there like a wooden statue.

  "Kuo Yu-kei, what orders did General Wu give you that put you in such a difficult position?"

  "Big, Big Commander wants to invite Lord Guo over for a chat." As Guo Yunlong spoke, his eyes darted around, not daring to meet Gu Zhenhua's gaze directly.

  Gu Zhenhua smiled slightly: "Guo Youji, I'm afraid you're going to take Gu's head over there?"

  From the Battle of Shanhai Pass, Gu Zhenhua knew that his cooperation with Wu Sangui had come to an end. The big traitor would definitely clean up the ministers of the Ming Dynasty in order to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, and he, as a loyal minister, could not escape.

  Guo Yunlong brought him to this courtyard house, and Gu Zhenhua was prepared.

  "General Guo, this order must be wrong, I'll go find Generalissimo right away!"

  Kuang Yunlong immediately turned around and was about to walk outside. Although he didn't often interact with Gu Zhenhua, he still admired him from the bottom of his heart. Wu Sangui actually wanted to kill such a talented pillar, he really couldn't accept it.

  Before he could leave, Yue Po Xu suddenly rushed in with two people, covered in gunpowder, with two arrows still stuck on his armor.

  As soon as he entered, he said loudly: "The bandits are attacking the city again, why don't you let Lord Gu lead the battle?"

  Guo Yunlong shook his head painfully: "The general wants to kill Lord Gu!"

  "What? You're not joking, are you? Lord Gu is intelligent and brave, how could General be so foolish as to want to kill him? Is he afraid that the bandits won't be able to break in?"

  "I don't know either." Guo Yunlong said firmly: "I'll go find General Zhang right away, can't just sit around like this!"

  It wasn't until then that Gu Zhenhua slowly stood up, with a faint smile: "Guo Youji, Po Xu, don't worry, I've got everything under control."

  "Master, speak quickly!" Yue Poqiu asked anxiously.

  Gu Zhenhua sneered slightly: "Wu Da and Li Zicheng fought, he had no reason not to use me. Even if Benbo committed a crime, he should have been executed openly and fairly. Why did he want to kill me without making it clear?"

  Gu Zhenhua muttered to himself with a general smile: "I heard that more than ten days ago, Wu Da Shuai had already sent someone to contact the Qing dynasty."

  Yue Po Xu nodded: "That's right, the general has already told us that this is a borrowed sword for revenge, and together we will eliminate the bandits. I have a deep blood feud with the Manchu Tartars, but the bandits are too powerful, and there is no way to deal with them."

  "Hahaha! Gu Zhenhua laughed loudly: "Borrowing the teacher to help cut, it's just a deceitful talk. Will the Qing court be foolish enough to shed blood for the Ming dynasty? Wu Sangui has reached this point and can only surrender to the Qing court. He is ready to use his own head as a gift of surrender. It's just a pity that the fine sons of the Guanning Army will have to wear pig tails from now on and become slaves of the Qing court!"

  "No!" Yue Poqi was struck as if by lightning and sat down on the ground with a thud. He had never dreamed that one day he would actually have to surrender to the Qing, which would be like acknowledging the enemy as his father - how could he bear it?

  Kuo Yun-lung also clenched his fists, his eyes turned red with rage, and panted: "I don't believe it, this is just Lord Gu's speculation, the General would never surrender to the Qing!"

  "Wu Sangui's uncle is Zu Dashou, what's impossible? Guo Xian, you can't not believe me, right?"

  As the sound came from outside, a war horse walked in, with a knight in his thirties sitting on it. He was tall and majestic, with facial features as if carved out of sculpture, rough and heroic. Especially his eyes were full of spirit. However, when he spoke, he seemed to lack energy.

  "Big Brother Li!"

  Kuo Yun-lung suddenly stood up and asked in surprise: "You, your wound is healed?"

  Li Xu smiled slightly: "Thanks to my younger brother for introducing me to Lord Gu, otherwise I would have been completely finished."

  As they spoke, Li Xu's war horse arrived in front of Gu Zhenhua. He jumped off the horse, knelt on one knee and said loudly: "Lord Gu, I will never forget the kindness you showed me in saving my life. Now that Wu Sangui has surrendered to the Qing dynasty, I, Li, will never kneel down to the enemy! I swear to follow Lord Gu to death, please give your orders."

  "Haha, Brother Li, there are two ways to live. One is to stand up straight and be a man, regardless of wealth or status! The other is to bow down and be a slave, maybe you'll eat well, live well, have high rank and great fortune, but no matter what, this kind of person is a dog, a despicable loser!"

  Gu Zhenhua stared at the crowd in front of him, his sharp eyes scanning every face.

  "How do you want to live, on your knees or standing?"