Chapter 27: The Envoy from Xianyang Arrives

  The rebel army did not come with a strong pursuit, and Gong Sun Ce's 800 men managed to hastily build defensive fortifications before noon, using the existing houses and streets of the small village, building three rows of low walls. Gong Sun Ce only required solidity, as long as it could withstand the enemy's impact. The three rows of low walls could not only slow down the enemy's advance but also allow a large number of enemies to pass through, making it impossible for them to launch a human wave attack on him. This way, he could annihilate them with his halberd troops in the center of the village!

  The enemy army did not pursue, and Gong Sun Ce also took a breather. He ordered the troops to rest and cook, and he took out the topographic map to analyze the route. If possible, he would choose another road, bypassing the enemy army in front of him, and directly attack the next county town. As long as he was promoted to a higher military rank, he could have 1,000 symbol soldiers, plus the remote strike of Du Shi's heavenly soldiers, grinding those enemy troops to death was not a problem.

  "Big brother, there is a team of Qin soldiers coming from the south." An Meng brought in a bowl of rice and dishes. Gong Sun Ce picked up his rice and listened to the news that the Qin army was approaching, put down his rice and limped out saying: "Sister, eat first, I'll go take a look. It's probably people from Xianyang, just in time."

  An Meng nodded, picked up another small bowl, and seemed to have no appetite. She took the map left on the table by Gong Sun Ce and looked at it, seeing the various marks made by Gong Sun Ce on the map. The administrative villages and towns that had been fought over were all marked with a cross, along with brief descriptions of the battles and summaries. In her mind's eye, she couldn't help but conjure up images of Gong Sun Ce charging forward on horseback, spear in hand, his bravery and martial prowess inspiring awe.

  Liu Wei saw Gong Sun Ce come out, jumped down from the roof of the house, pointing to the Qin army in the south and said: "I think that is a team from Xianyang, only Xianyang has a large number of Qin soldiers with swords." The basic soldiers in the Qin army were all holding spears, only the elite or high-ranking Qin soldiers would wear swords. All 50,000 middle-ranking officers in Xianyang wore swords, and they were all elites.

  "I hope Xianyang can bring us some good news, the enemy we're facing is not easy to deal with." Gong Sun Ce leaned on the green dragon halberd standing in front of the door and walked towards the south of the village. Along the way, the Yu soldiers were all eating, seeing him coming, they stood up one after another, he gestured for the Yu soldiers to continue eating, and gathered the surrounding Yu generals together to welcome the Xianyang delegation at the village entrance.

  The team had only about two hundred people, escorting ten horse-drawn carriages. Judging from the speed of the horse-drawn carriages, the weight of the loaded goods was not light. At the front of the team, an officer wearing iron armor and a helmet rode a warhorse. Gong Sun Ce judged that the other's title was one level lower than his own, and like Fu Zhang Cheng Shen, he was also a fifth-grade Daifu.

  "Junior General Zuo Jun, Commander Qin Lang, pays his respects to General Gongsun!" As he walked to the village entrance, the officer dismounted and saluted with a fist. He and Gongsun Ce were not from the same system, although there was a difference in rank, so they just exchanged a fist salute. Moreover, he came from Xianyang, representing the will of Xianyang, so even if he didn't salute, it wasn't a big deal.

  "This is a handwritten decree by Lord Li Si, the Magistrate of Xianyang. Please verify it, General Gongsun." Qin Lang retrieved a sealed bamboo tube from behind his back and handed it over with both hands. A personal attendant behind General Gongsun took the tube and then handed it to General Gongsun. Meanwhile, Qin Lang caught sight of more than ten military officers standing behind General Gongsun, as well as numerous black-clad Qin soldiers packed tightly in the village, and he couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

  This Gong Sun Ce's development speed is too fast, the original twelve teams sent from Xianyang to open up the road have already been annihilated by the enemy in four routes. Only three people took the county town, and the other two were clever, letting the revived Qin army suffer heavy losses and being unable to clear the villages and towns in the county. Only Gong Sun Ce completely cleared the enemy forces in the county town, allowing the newly awakened military soul's strength to be preserved.

  Gongsun Ce opened the bamboo tube, inside was a scroll, unrolled it and found it was a handwritten letter from Li Si, the Magistrate of Xianyang. The font was no longer the annoying Qin seal script, but rather the Clerical script. After reading it briefly, he couldn't help but feel overjoyed. Li Si had written a lot, including the knowledge about the Tiger Tally that Gongsun Ce needed most, as well as a batch of newly manufactured five-linked light crossbows from Xianyang, which could be operated by two people together and had a killing range of 200 steps, or 300 meters!

  "This is the seal of Lord Li Si, he ordered me to hand it over to you." Qin Lang handed over a carved wooden box with both hands, his face solemn. Gong Sun Ce took it and looked at it, inside the wooden box was a silver square seal, four fingers wide and two fingers thick, on top was a silver white tiger, roaring towards the sky, extremely majestic.

  Qin Lang saw Gong Sun Ce playing with the white silver seal, and continued to say: "Please ask Gong Sun Sima to verify that the seal is correct and error-free. If there is no problem, please also inspect this batch of five consecutive light crossbows." As he spoke, he took out another list and handed it to Gong Sun Ce.

  Gongsun Ce stamped the seal on a piece of paper, and the resulting characters were crooked and twisted. After careful identification, they read "Simagongsun Ce Yin" (six words). Confirming that there was no mistake, he asked Qin Lang: "Next time I get promoted, do I need to change another seal?"

  Qin Lang nodded and handed the list to Gongsun Zan, saying: "That's right. Please keep the seal well, General Gongsun, don't lose it. With this seal, General Gongsun can communicate with the surrounding Qin army or ask for help. Moreover, you can also send a messenger directly to Xianyang, and the Qin army along the way will not block him, but will provide various assistance."

  Gongsun Ce nodded to indicate that he understood. When he read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", he saw scenes where the commander's seal was seized and the enemy used it to devise a strategy more than once. Looking at the list again, there were 100 sets of five-linked light crossbows, each set with 60 crossbow arrows. There were also 6,000 spare crossbow arrows, totaling 12,000 arrows in total.

  Qin Lang directed his troops to place the light crossbows at the village entrance, and arranged the crossbow arrows in bundles of sixty. Two hundred bundles were stacked up. Gong Sun Ce picked up a light crossbow, and Qin Lang proudly explained beside him: "This is newly manufactured by the workshop of Great Qin, with tight deadlines, only two hundred units were rushed to be produced, all of which have been sent to the front line. The elite soldiers under General Gong's command are all proficient in handling these light crossbows."

  Qin Lang's words made Gong Sun Ce frown, and he asked: "Elite symbol soldiers? Don't the newly-made symbol soldiers work?" He knew that the so-called elite symbol soldiers were the silver-tier symbol soldiers. However, all his silver-tier symbol soldiers under him were cavalrymen who had already been tempered through several battles and became professional symbol riders. If they were to become crossbowmen instead, his cavalry unit would be ruined. Even if those newly-made symbol soldiers could ride horses, how much combat power would they have?

  Qin Lang continued to explain: "It's also possible that the operation is not skilled, and the true power of the five consecutive light crossbows cannot be brought out. Moreover, due to improper operation, the light crossbow will be damaged." In Qin Jun's eyes, crossbowmen were a noble breed, usually consisting of public officials or high-ranking officers from the Qin army. These Qin soldiers were all elite troops who had taken enemy armor and heads on the battlefield, so the tradition that Qin's crossbowmen should be composed of elites has been passed down.

  He also picked up a light crossbow, disassembled it in two or three moves, and then disassembled another light crossbow, pointing at the scattered parts on the ground: "Even if it's damaged, it won't hinder much. The parts of these light crossbows are all made to uniform standards and can be mixed and matched. Even if some of the crossbow equipment is damaged after the battle, it can be reassembled, reducing the loss rate of the light crossbow to a minimum." After finishing speaking, he used the parts on the ground to reassemble two light crossbows in two or three moves, tested them, confirmed that they were correct, and put them on the ground.

  Several symbols will come back to confirm the integrity of the number of crossbow arrows, without loss. After that, Gong Sun Ce covered Qin Lang's face on the list and stamped his newly obtained seal, and signed his own name and receipt date. Qin Lang checked it again to confirm that there was no mistake, put away the list, clasped his fists and said: "Qin has completed the task, dare not delay. I wish Gong Sun a triumphant journey, victory in every battle."

  According to traditional national customs, after such a handover of materials, at least one should drink and eat together, and then do some activities that are beneficial to physical and mental health. However, in the eyes of Qin people, this is a behavior of seeking death.

  For example, Qin Lang's task is to transport supplies to Gongsun Zhan. Since the Xianyang side was not sure of Gongsun Zhan's specific location, there was no time limit for this. Now that Gongsun Zhan has been found, he must return to Xianyang in a shorter time than it took him to get here.

  Otherwise, it would be a serious crime to delay the military machine, and executing him would still be considered light. Often, a group of people would also be implicated. Moreover, it was stipulated that for those who transported materials like him, when they returned after completing their mission, they had to return empty-handed and were not allowed to load anything unrelated to the task. Because this would affect their return efficiency, the Qin army valued efficiency above all else.

  Qin Lang thought that Gongsun Ce was also unclear about the various rules of Qin State, so he briefly explained them again, took five or six hundred freshly steamed buns and water, and hastily left.

  Gongsun Zan suddenly obtained this batch of five-linked light crossbows, and his mind began to become more agile. He pointed at the two Tu Jiang and ordered: "From now on, you two will be the light crossbow Tu Jiang. This batch of five-linked light crossbows has fifty units per Tu. Two people form a group, one person holds the crossbow with fifteen arrows; the other person is his deputy, carrying forty-five arrows." These two Tu Jiang he vaguely remembered, one was called Baita, sturdy and powerful; the other was Cao Teng, slender and agile.

  "Ah!" The two Tu Jiang heard the appointment, and their calm eyes flashed with a hint of excitement. They each gathered their troops and distributed them according to the abilities of the Fu Bing. Although the Fu Bing were generally similar, in the eyes of these Fu Jiang, they had their own strengths and weaknesses, and must be reasonably arranged so that the Fu Bing could play to their strengths.

  On the other hand, the White Wave Army, Li Le led his troops back to another empty village, rummaging through every nook and cranny, and finally solved the problem of lunch. Then what gave him a headache was the problem of dinner, it was impossible to return along the original road, all the way were places where they had eaten and fought, almost everything edible was left with only dry grass.

  Li Lesi thought for a moment and decided to head south along the highway, with a vague sense that the Han army would appear in the south. In fact, he had no other choice, as he could only find food by continuing south. To thoroughly solve the problem of food, he decided to capture a county town, whose supplies would be enough for his 20,000 men to eat for one or two months without any problems!

  After lunch, Li Le chose the best among them, but unfortunately, the White Wave Army's elite were limited. Li Le had to choose 500 as his personal guards, and another 500 elite and the selected 2,000 brave soldiers formed the vanguard. Li Le rode a mediocre horse and led them out. This time he decided to command in person, using his strongest blow to thoroughly crush the enemy in front of him!

  He recalled the battle with the unidentified cavalry this morning, and nearly 2,000 of his troops were lost. He didn't feel heartbroken for the loss, but he felt heartbroken because his own elite troops would be wiped out. These were all his trusted subordinates, so he still wanted to kill those cavalrymen to vent his anger.

  The scorching sun was overhead, and the White Wave Army set off once again. Three thousand five hundred of the strongest fighting forces were at the front, with a massive number of lower-level military souls following behind them, stretching as far as the eye could see. If viewed from above, the White Wave Army, clad in predominantly white attire, resembled a group of white waves flowing southward along the winding highway.