Chapter 40: The Fighting General

  The town, through the efforts of the original military soul and tens of thousands of civilians, has been thoroughly transformed into a small earthen castle. The city wall is three meters high, not very neat, and looks like a winding snake from afar.

  When Gong Sun Dazhi appeared, Yang Yang and Ma Cheng, who were standing on the city wall, reacted differently. Ma Cheng was naturally like Gong Sun Ce, first surprised and delighted, then immediately calm, thinking he had thought too much, but still secretly hoping that the commander opposite him would be his good friend Gong Sun Ce.

  The Gong surname disappeared after Zhu Yuanzhang drove the Mongols out of the north. Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely hateful towards foreigners and issued a decree to eliminate foreign surnames. Many so-called "foreign" surnames were actually compound surnames, which many foreigners who moved inland changed their surnames to, such as Murong, Yuwen, Dugu, etc. Even the original Han people's compound surnames, such as Gong and Huangfu, were all changed to single-character surnames. The Gong family branch of Gong Zhan, from his great-grandfather's generation, restored their surname to Gong and stopped using their original surname Sun.

  Yang Yang was excited, and that day he marched forward, winning every battle. His confidence overflowed from his heart to his face. He had the conditions for confidence: he was originally a university sports major with an exceptionally good physique and athletic talent. That night, he obtained the legacy of Suo Bo, the Western General of Former Liang River.

  Who is Suo Bao? Actually, Yang Yang wasn't very clear either. A physical education major, how much history can you expect him to know? Historical figures with the surname Suo, in his mind there was only Suo Chao, the swift and fierce general from Water Margin, and another one who often appeared in Qing dynasty palace dramas, Su E Tu.

  Suobo is a person from Dunhuang, and the Su family is not only a prominent family in Dunhuang but also one of the most powerful families in Hexi.

  He had both literary and military talent, was recommended as a filial and incorrupt official, and was appointed as a court gentleman. Every time he went on a campaign to conquer the enemy, he showed great bravery and was considered the best among the three armies. People at that time compared him to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. When Song Chen, a descendant of the Song family, was besieged by 3,000 Qiang infantrymen in Jincheng, he was on the verge of defeat. Suo Hu led 5,000 cavalrymen to break through the enemy lines, entered Jincheng, and sat with Chen on the city wall, laughing and talking while beating his head and clapping his hands, completely disregarding the powerful armor and mighty army of the Qiang people below the city.

  The Qiang troops attacked the city from all sides, and Suo Fu said to Song Cheng: "You just rest assured, watch me attack them." Then he drew his bow and shot arrows in succession, and the Qiang troops fell down as soon as they were shot. More than 30 people died on the spot, and nearly 100 Qiang soldiers were killed. The Qiang troops immediately fled in defeat, proclaiming Suo Fu's mighty power like a divine general.

  Su Bo is also known as Sai Guan Gong, not only in his own country but also in other countries. According to the evaluation of the Three Kingdoms series, his personal martial arts score is around 95 points. In an era like the Three Kingdoms where heroes rose together, he can be compared with Taishi Ci.

  "According to General Song's military order, we must capture Jinghe County before nightfall. If we are trapped here by the Qin army outside and fail to complete the mission, how can we go back and report to General Song?" Yang Yang held his large knife high, his voice loud and clear. He had already begun to fantasize about himself leading the charge out of the city, beheading the invading Qin generals one after another, then riding the momentum all the way to capture Jinghe County. By that time, General Song would at least have to grant him a title, such as Colonel or Lieutenant!

  "Besides, you're just going to get a light or heavy military punishment when you go back. After all, in Commander Song's eyes, you're like his nephew. Unlike me, no one takes care of me, and I might even have to start from scratch!" Yang Yang said with some disdain, looking at Ma Cheng.

  "Alright, let's go down to the city and have a final battle with them!" Ma Cheng had already discovered through his binoculars that among Gong Sun Ce's central army, some people were wearing clothes that were randomly mixed and matched, with various brand names slapped on their bodies, without even bothering to remove the logos. More importantly, he had discovered women!

  To know, the resurrected military soul has no distinction between men and women in their eyes. As for marching and fighting, it is strictly forbidden for women to carry or hide them. If there are women among the enemy's army, it means that the enemy commander must not be a resurrected ancient general. Moreover, each military soul is resurrected with complete armor, so they don't need to be interested in modern clothing.

  Gongsun Ce led the central army and the vanguard to merge, and the leaders of the central army each took out a telescope to observe the defense of the small town. Not one of them didn't frown, because this was a small town that had been thoroughly renovated. They had encountered it before, and with ample time, capturing it wasn't difficult. But here, things were not so easy.

  "There are 2,000 defenders. This place is only an hour's ride from the county town of Chongxin. So we don't have much time and must capture this small town before the reinforcements from Pingyang arrive! Otherwise, we can only retreat and our previous plan will be completely disrupted!"

  Gongsun Ce had just finished speaking when Guo Liang pointed ahead and said, "Big brother, the Liao army has come out of the city!"

  "Heaven gives it to him, but he doesn't take it, what a sin!" Gong Sun Ce clapped his hands and laughed loudly, never expecting the commander of the Liao army to be so eager for merit, actually wanting to engage in a field battle with himself. Should we say that Sima Yang was overconfident, or should we say that he didn't understand the situation, being extremely foolish?

  "General Gong Sun Ce's order was passed down, and the army began to form up. The right wing was led by Cheng Shen Bu, with Du Yuan Zheng's archers as support; the left wing was led by Cao Teng Bu, with Jiang Peng Yi Qu as support; General Gong himself led the central army. Meanwhile, Li Zi Kui Yi Qu guarded the rear logistics and supplies, and Zhao Jia Bu's symbol soldiers were deployed as the whole army's reserve!" With General Gong Sun Ce's order issued, the entire army began to form up, deploying a powerful arrowhead formation. As they formed up, Yang Yang led 2,000 men out of the city, also forming up about 300 meters in front of Gong Sun Ce's army.

  After resting for a night in the county seat of Jinghe, Gong Sunzhi's troops had 3,000 men. The Fu army had 2,000 men, and with the addition of 200 personal soldiers from the four Fu generals, as well as Du Yuanzheng, Jiang Peng, Li Ziqi, and Gao Shun, each with a team of 100 men, totaling 800 men. Adding them together made exactly 3,000 men.

  However, the direct vassal forces belonging to Gongsun Zan himself only had 600 men in three units under Jiang Peng, Li Zicheng and Gao Shun.

  It wasn't until Yang Yang lined up his troops that he realized the Qin army had set up their formation with about a thousand more men than him. Moreover, they also had cavalry, although not many. He was already regretting his rashness, worrying on one hand whether the Qin army would attack while he was setting up his formation, and thinking on the other hand how to take them down.

  Due to the inferior number of troops compared to the Qin army, dividing the troops was obviously a foolish move. This would make it easy for the Qin army to defeat them one by one, and he also didn't have any extra generals to command the troops. As for Ma Cheng, Yang Yang wouldn't divide his troops to give him. Only by merging the troops into one could Yang Yang firmly grasp the right to command the army.

  So, Yang Yang set up a square array. He pointed his big knife at Gongsun Ce and said: "We won this battle! Originally it was still a bit suspenseful, but that idiot surnamed Gongsun gave us the opportunity!" After finishing speaking, Yang Yang couldn't help but feel joyful in his heart and burst out laughing loudly.

  Ma Cheng put down the binoculars, rarely revealing a smiling face, and asked Yang Yang: "How can you say that? Are you very confident?" His heartfelt joy was revealed in his smile, but at this moment, it seemed to have a flattering meaning in Yang Yang's eyes. Yang Yang was even more delighted, suddenly feeling that Ma Cheng wasn't so annoying after all.

  "This battle should have been a 50-50 win rate, but the opposing commander made two mistakes, so they were doomed to lose!" Yang Yang stretched out two fingers and said with confidence: "Firstly, when we were setting up our formation, they missed the best opportunity to attack us! Secondly, that idiot surnamed Gongsun actually led the vanguard himself!"

  Yang Yang obtained Suo Chuan's legacy, and in the Song Pei army, he competed with other generals in martial arts, also ranking among the top three. He is now only initially grown up, and he still has great potential, so he doesn't think much of other military legacy holders. Pointing at Gong Sun Ce, he continued: "Does he think he's Lü Bu? As long as we behead him and break through his central army, this Qin army may have many people, but they will also collapse and scatter! At that time, we'll bite their tails and chase them all the way, just thinking about it feels great!"

  Gongsun Zan put down his telescope, beaming with joy, and turned to those around him with a smile: "This battle will be a fight to the death! Who dares to go and provoke them first?"

  "Big brother, look at me!" Guo Liang didn't wait for Gong Sun Ce to respond, and with a loud whoop, he galloped off on his horse, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye, leaving behind only a cloud of flying dust.

  "That Yang Yang's formation is clearly intended to break through the central army where our general is located. It seems that he has some reliance on it, Gao Shun, you go and help Guo Liang hold the array! Remember, do not harm that military marquis named Ma Cheng, capture him alive."

  "Ah!" Gao Shun rode out of the formation, and Gong Sun Zan still had some misgivings, leading his entire army forward.

  "I am Guo Liang, who among you dares to fight me alone!" He galloped his horse around in a circle, pointing his spear at Yang Yang from afar.

  "Remember, the one who killed you is Yang Yang!" Yang Yang spurred his horse out of the formation, let out a loud cry, and raised his knife to chop.

  Ma Cheng saw another general rush out, no matter what, Yang Yang was his own sworn brother and comrade-in-arms, he couldn't abandon him. After all, there were more than 2,000 Liang army soldiers watching, and he still wanted to mix in the Liang army camp. If he ignored his sworn brother being beaten to death by a group of people, his reputation would be ruined, and it's estimated that no other Liang army generals would be willing to go into battle with him.

  Ma Cheng rode out of the formation and charged straight at Gao Shun, shouting loudly: "Don't bully the few with the many! Come and announce your name, I am Ma Cheng, General of the Cooling Army!"

  "In the great Qin's wild tent, under the account of the military officer, is General Gao Shun!" Gao Shun responded with a loud voice and turned to kill Ma Cheng.

  Ma Cheng was shocked, and he fought with Gao Shun. He remembered that Gao Shun was a brave general in Gong Sun Zan's army, so he held back his strength. On the other side, Gao Shun had received orders from Gong Sun Zan to exhaust Ma Cheng's energy and capture him alive. Therefore, he defended himself against every attack, allowing Ma Cheng to launch continuous offensives.

  Gao Shun and Ma Cheng were evenly matched, one attacking with remaining strength, the other defending with exceptional skill. The two fought fiercely, even Gong Sun Zan was puzzled, wondering who had passed on their skills to Ma Cheng, allowing him to fight Gao Shun to a stalemate. After all, none of the current military heirs had grown up yet, while Gao Shun was already at his peak strength, fundamentally not in the same league.

  "We will win! We will win! We will win!!" The Qin army's weapons struck the ground, shouting in unison, shaking the heavens. Adding momentum to their own commander, cheering them on.

  "Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!!" The Cool Army was also cheering for their own general, Yang's knife momentum was fierce and ruthless. Coupled with his physical strength being far superior to Guo Liang's, he had the upper hand, his knife was fast, forcing Guo Liang to barely defend himself.

  In less than ten rounds, Guo Liang's strength was exhausted, and he turned his horse around, bent over the horse's back, and pulled out his spear to flee towards his own camp. Yang Yang couldn't let a chance at military merit escape, so he chased after him on horseback, shouting loudly: "Enemy general, don't think you can escape, take one sword from me, Yang Yang!"

  Gao Shun directly opened the horse with a single shot, turned around and rode to chase Yang Yang. His task was first to help Guo Liang hold the array, and secondly to capture Ma Cheng alive. Gao Shun understood in his heart that his master valued Guo Liang extremely highly, and he also thought Guo Liang was a good seedling, so Guo Liang's safety was the most important.

  To say that a man cannot be revived after death, while Ma Cheng is right there and can be captured at any time. This principle is something that anyone with reason can understand. As for the idiot who doesn't care about military achievements, let's just ignore him!

  Yang Yang saw that Guo Liang's horse was fast and couldn't catch up, then he saw Gao Shun chasing towards himself, turned around and killed Gao Shun again. He already knew who Gao Shun was, and seeing that Gao Shun and Ma Cheng were fighting hard, naturally wouldn't care about Gao Shun. So he planned to join forces with Ma Cheng, first beheading Gao Shun!

  "Interesting guy, I feel like he's more like the successor of Lü Bu than me?" Gong Sun Ce turned to ask Chu Mengmeng, who shrugged helplessly.

  "Gongsun Zan is here! The enemy general will surrender!" Gongsun Zan grasped his halberd and patted his horse, charging out of the formation.

  As soon as he saw the main general of the Qin army coming out of the array, Yang Yang was overjoyed and abandoned Gao Shun, turning to kill towards Gong Sun Ce.

  Ma Cheng suddenly shouted: "Be careful! He's very strong!"