The Battlefield Survival Guide

  Wu Song and Lu Da hastily turned their heads, only to see Yang Jier, the Chief of Staff, standing behind them, his hands clasped behind his back, with an inscrutable expression.

  Wu Song smiled and said: "Brother, you are knowledgeable and must know what kind of flower this is." Lu Da also looked at him with eager eyes.

  Yang Jian looked pleased with himself, gazing at Lu Da with a "you're coming to me for help" expression, and said: "The drawing on paper isn't clear, take off your collar and let me take a look."

  Lu Da hesitated in his heart, Wu Song's family had a wife and children, not eunuchs, but Yang Jia was indeed a eunuch without a doubt, who knew what kind of bad habits this guy had?

  "I've heard that some eunuchs in the capital like to raise catamites, it's really unbearable. If I were touched by this filthy thing, I'd die of anger. Forget it, first take off my straight robe, if this guy's eyes have even a hint of impropriety, I'll punch him to death!"

  Ruda stripped off his clothes on the street, and the two men saw that he had a muscular body with bulging muscles like a giant python moving under his skin. They both praised him as a good man. Then they saw Ruda's tattoo, which started from his waist and rose up, with a bright red flame in the middle, spreading out to countless petals on both sides, all the way from his back to his chest, even his thick chest hair couldn't cover it. The petals also spread from his two arms to his wrists, and the two sentences were on either side of his spine, with elegant font.

  He has never done good deeds in his life, but occasionally kills people and sets fires!

  The two of them couldn't help but sigh in admiration. Lu Da hastily put on his straight robe, and only then did Yang Jian say: "Indeed, it's just as I expected. With flowers but no leaves, the big red color is like fire. This is the Pheasant Flower that grows by the Weak Water in the underworld, also known as the Mahakala Mandala Flower or Manzhusha Flower. If it were white, it would be a auspicious omen, but if it's red, it would be a disastrous sign of evil spirits. The embroidery on your robe is big and red like fire, with an aura that's too overbearing. Whoever sees it wouldn't be pleased, but if someone from the Buddhist sect saw it, they would be overjoyed and say that you can't help but become a monk.

  Lu Da heard this and became sullen, muttering to himself: "Could it be that some bald donkey took advantage of me while I was sleeping and secretly drew on me?"

  Yang Jian was just the eunuch supervisor assigned to the palace of the Crown Prince, and had never traveled outside. He didn't know about the 108 demons reincarnating, so he thought nothing of it and said: "If you meet a monk who takes you as his apprentice, most likely he's the one drawing flowers on your body. Just kill him with one punch!"

  Wu Song whispered on the side: "Beat him to death, beat him to death!" Because of Wu Song's words, Lu Da indeed caused another accident later. The three arrived at Qin Yue Lou, where Wu Song met with Yu Lian and Jin Lian, telling them about their encounter on the road, and asked the old servant to prepare some wine and dishes.

  Yang Jian saw the two girls were lovely, and couldn't help but want to be sworn sisters with them. He called himself their sister, leaving the two girls stunned. Wu Song smiled wryly and secretly explained things to the two girls, and only then did Yulian and Jinlian feel at ease and truly become sworn siblings with him.

  Yang Jian was overjoyed and said, "My martial brother is a seeker of eternal life. The youth of you two sisters will only last for ten or twenty years, how can it be enough to tie him down? In the early years, our family encountered Zhang Ziyang's transmission of the Tao, and we obtained a method that was suitable for girls to cultivate. Originally, I wanted to use it to curry favor with the palace ladies, but today I'll transmit it to you instead." He found some paper and pen, and carefully copied down a passage from the scriptures, saying: "To cultivate this method, first one must behead the Red Dragon. Once the Red Dragon is severed, eternal life will be achieved, and beauty will remain forever. If you want to give birth to children, simply stop cultivating for a month, and the Red Dragon will reconnect."

  The red dragon refers to the girl's menstruation, and two girls blushed and thanked Yang Jiaolong before retreating. Wu Song and the other two drank wine while competing in spear and stick techniques. This Lu Da was a military officer who had run through Jianghu, and his martial arts vision was higher than that of Wu Song and Yang Jiaolong, making them quite beneficial.

  As they drank, Lu Da found Wu Song and Yang Zong to be more and more to his liking, addressing them as brothers and feeling a deep affection for them. The three of them got drunk, and Jade Lotus hastily had the old servant bring over some chilled sour plum soup to help them sober up, but unfortunately they had drunk too much wine, and when they stood up to leave, they were still stumbling about in all directions.

  Three people returned to the military camp shoulder to shoulder, Zong Shi Dao saw Lu Da mixed with them, and was unhappy in his heart: "Three eunuchs..." wanted to punish the three, but Yang Jia was the emperor's appointed supervisor, couldn't handle him, had to let go of these three.

  On the second day, the army set out and marched rapidly for several days, arriving at Taiyuan Prefecture around the middle of the month, where they met with General Zhang Jie.

  Zhang Jie was the governor of Jingyuan Road, and Zhong Shidao was the governor of Jingyuan Road. Several tens of thousands of troops were stationed outside Taiyuan City, setting up camps and resting for a few days. As they were about to face a major battle, the atmosphere in the barracks became increasingly tense. Zhong Shidao led the army out to the drill ground, where they practiced martial arts and arrayed their formations, training the soldiers. After a few days, seeing that the troops' morale was high, he requested permission from Zhang Jie to go into battle.

  These days, Zhang Ke's general Guo Cheng and Zhe Keshi led the cavalry to meet with the Western Xia general Mei Letao, and they had several battles, each having victories and defeats. Mei Letao commanded two routes of large armies, with more than a dozen generals under him, nearly 10,000 cavalrymen, and countless infantrymen, and behind them was the Western Xia's six-route commander Wei Mian'ai's army of 100,000 men.

  The Song army had already captured the Wusong Gorge and was preparing to advance on Xiangzhoukou, where they would engage in a decisive battle with the Western Xia army. If they could capture Xiangzhoukou, the Western Xia state would lose this strategic stronghold, and the Song army would be able to advance or retreat at will.

  Unexpectedly, yesterday, several Tibetan monks came to the Western Xia, performed magic in front of the array, and a dark fog rose into the sky, flying sand and walking stones, causing the Song army to suffer a great defeat, and they lost the Wuyan Gorge that had just been captured. Zhang Ke was at a loss for what to do when he heard Zhong Shidao ask for orders, and he was overjoyed, inviting Yang Jie, Guo Cheng, Zhe Keshi, and more than ten other generals to discuss how to deal with the Western Xia army.

  Wu Song and Lu Da were both infantrymen, one was an infantry commander, but their official positions were too low, they didn't have the right to participate in decision-making. These days Wu Song has been learning the rules of the military camp, he had never been in the army before, so he couldn't help feeling a little nervous, and humbly asked Lu Da for guidance. But Lu Da was illiterate, couldn't explain things clearly, and after stammering for half a day, finally concluded with one sentence: "Just follow the big flag and run, wherever the big flag goes, you charge there, it's absolutely right!"

  Wu Erlang was so anxious that he sweated, and pulled over a few old soldiers to ask. Those old soldiers smiled and said: "The commander is right, when the battle starts, it's crowded with people, and it's impossible to distinguish between orders. As long as you listen to the drumbeat, follow the big flag forward, see someone kill, if it's a head then chop, don't care about the back, chop until there's no one in front, your life will be saved."

  Wu Song's blood boiled with rage as he asked further: "What if the big flag falls?"

  Those old soldiers laughed and said, "The big flag has fallen, let's turn around and run back as fast as we can. Don't care about others, just run as fast as you can. As long as we can make it back before the city gate closes, we'll be able to survive. And don't look back, or your head will be gone. Don't worry, Wu Du Head, even if we die, those who carry the big flag and ride horses will die the fastest, it won't be our turn, the infantry battalion..."

  These words are like a basin of cold water, pouring Wu Song's hot blood into ice. Before, I saw those online novels, saying that the main characters came and went freely, as long as their martial arts were good, they could kill whoever they wanted, taking the enemy general's head was like picking something from their pocket. I didn't expect the actual situation to be so terrifying!

  "No way, I need to get some life-saving equipment, otherwise I'll die as soon as I go on stage. And what's the point of asking for a fairy road? I still have to go find Yang Jian and ask if he has any life-saving treasures. That little black flag of his looks pretty good, I wonder if I can borrow it..."

  Zhang Fei and the other generals discussed matters until nightfall, when they dispersed. Wu Song found Yang Ren and told him about this matter. Yang Ren smiled and said: "Don't worry, Commander Zhang is easier to talk to than that little scoundrel. We'll get you and Lu Da over here. Commander Zhang has ordered me to lead the third army, with three thousand soldiers, divided into six battalions. Lu Da is in charge of the first battalion of the right wing of the third army, with five hundred soldiers. You are in charge of the second battalion of the right wing of the third army, also with five hundred soldiers. Commander Zhang said that we don't have any heavy responsibilities, just protect the great banner and prevent it from falling. I was afraid he would change his mind, so I specially drew up a military order..."

  Wu Song's head buzzed and he was stunned, stuttering: "Brother, my dear brother, you've made a military oath! Do you know what it means to protect the great flag?"

  Yang Jiaolong felt a bit guilty and said: "Isn't it just sitting in the rear array, guarding one's own great flag?"