Chapter 28: Battle Again!

  "Gongsun, the enemy army that came this morning is back!" Du Yuanzheng shouted outside the door in a flustered manner. Because Yu Jiang was guarding the door with his sword, he couldn't get in for the time being and had to shout from outside. At this moment, Gongsun Ce was enjoying a massage from An Meng, dozing off and digesting the information Li Si had given him. Upon hearing that there was military news, he suddenly sat up, startling An Meng.

  "Sister, thank you. Big brother is going to go chop those ghost things, you clean up and then go find Li Jing and the others!" After speaking, he grabbed the cold tea on the table and drank it all in one gulp, with two small tea leaves still stuck to his mustache, which he wiped away with a swipe of his hand before turning around and leaving.

  "Big brother!" An Meng chased out the door and shouted, Gong Sun Ce had just grabbed the Qinglong spear, his body involuntarily stunned for a moment. He found himself being hugged from behind by An Meng's hands around his waist, with a somewhat strange feeling. An Meng sniffed a mouthful of the slightly bloody sweat smell on Gong Sun Ce's body and said softly: "I'll be back, wait for you."

  Gongsun Ce looked up at the sky and blinked, things seemed to have changed, it was no longer something he could simply control. All he wanted was a little sister, someone with whom he could share his innermost thoughts, relax and unwind, not a woman. When facing women, he had the same tolerance and benevolence as most men.

  "Alright, hurry up and pack your things, then go find Li Jing." He said, An Meng cooperated and let go. Her mind was a bit messy, she had just prepared herself to be kissed, but seeing Gong Sun Ze leave like he was being chased by wolves, in her heart she was saying that her big brother is not the material for grand things, won't be sentimental...

  Gongsun Zan arrived at the village entrance, climbed up the ladder and stood on the rooftop looking north, seeing the enemy army coming like a white wave, he smiled coldly. Without crossbowmen, he dared to fight against the enemy with the three defensive walls, let alone now having 100 sets of five-linked light crossbows in hand!

  "Cao Teng, Li Gui!" Gong Sun Ce turned around and looked at the row of officers standing beside the ladder, shouting loudly. Two newly promoted spear-wielding officers stepped forward with their fists clenched, bowing their heads to receive orders.

  Standing on the rooftop, he pointed at the two generals with both hands and ordered while scanning the rest of the people: "You two lead the troops to the second line of defense to array against the enemy, consume the enemy's forces while retreating. After retreating to the third line of defense, without my military order, fight to the death!"

  The two men clasped their fists and bowed, full of energy. They turned around and went to lead the troops, advancing to the second line of defense to deploy and defend.

  Gongsun Zan continued to order: "Bai Ta, Zhao Jia! You two lead the crossbowmen to form an array behind the third line of defense one hundred meters away, and listen for my command to shoot arrows!" Bai Ta and Zhao Jia bowed their fists in response and left.

  Gongsun Zan's most valuable subordinate, Yu Ji, is the one who listens to him. Gongsun Zan deliberately creates an atmosphere of intimidation in order to deter Du Yanqing and his troops. The Du clan's heavenly soldiers under Du Yanqing have a strong sense of modern consciousness, advocating for so-called freedom. In the army, especially during battles, what is most detested is freedom and laxity!

  Gongsun Ce turned his head to look at Du Yuanzheng, who was still thinking about Gongsun Ce's majestic and heroic appearance when he was commanding the troops earlier. Suddenly seeing Gongsun Ce looking at him, he subconsciously stepped forward, clasped his fists in salute, and then, imitating Fu Jiang's manner of listening to orders, bowed his head and looked down at the ground beneath his feet.

  "Take the Du Shi Tian Bing to climb up the rooftops on both sides of the street, shoot at will, and prioritize killing the enemy's elite troops. If necessary, cover the retreat of the halberdiers!" Gong Sun Ce was worried that if the first obstacle could not effectively slow down or delay the enemy's advance speed, it would make the enemy's human wave tactics unrestricted. The fully played out human wave tactics, his own halberdiers could hold on for a while, but absolutely no more than five minutes!

  "Ah!" Du Yuanzheng looked at the order again, still shooting arrows without close combat, his tribesmen and brothers didn't have to die in vain, he responded loudly with great joy. He turned around and took big strides to give orders to his heavenly soldiers, leaving Qin Jun Tunjiang and Cheng Shen who had not yet received military orders. The two Tunjiang looked at Gongsun Zhan, eager for combat missions, the good fight was etched in their bones.

  "You are to deploy your troops in front of the crossbowmen, and not let a single enemy soldier reach the crossbow formation!" Gong Sun Ce didn't know the name of this Qin army general, but it didn't hinder him from giving orders. The Qin army general, who had just regained consciousness half a day ago, clasped his fists in salute and turned to deploy his troops. Although he was not under Gong Sun Ce's command, during wartime, the Qin army followed the highest commander based on their noble ranks!

  "Let the remaining 100 elite riders rest and recover their strength behind the formation!" The most precious thing in Gong Sun Ce's army was these last 100 elite riders, all of whom were top-notch and had the potential to be promoted to officers at any time. Keeping them, even if he lost the battle, it wouldn't be a problem for him to rise again and raise another army.

  "Ah!" Cheng Shen, although a symbol general, had no family, no home, no relatives, and no friends. The various benefits of the Great Qin military's merits and ranks held little significance for him. However, he could continually rise through the ranks within the symbol army, which was his greatest wish. As for Gong Sun Ce letting him temporarily stand by and watch others kill enemies and accumulate military merit, he felt somewhat uneasy in his heart. Nevertheless, the symbol soldiers were most bound by military orders; after receiving an order, he turned around and left.

  Gongsun Zan looked at the enemy army, which was now within a mile, and said to Liu Wei: "You go to Guo Liang's place. If the battle is unfavorable, take Guo Liang and them, abandon the heavy baggage and retreat first, and gather in Du Village!" He was somewhat worried about that group of people managing the logistics, so he had to let Liu Wei go to calm them down, just in case.

  Liu Wei puffed on his cigarette, taking a deep drag. He knew what Gong Sun Ce meant - as long as they protected Guo Liang and the two women and retreated safely to Du Village, everything would be fine. Everyone else was expendable. Still, he feared that Gong Sun Ce might fight to the death for military merit and get himself killed by the enemy, so before leaving, he asked: "What about you? If you die in battle, I'll have a hard time explaining it when I get back."

  Gongsun Zan knew that he was both careful with his life and eager for achievements. If things didn't go well, he might really do something desperate to gain military merit, but as long as there was still a way out, he wouldn't put himself in a situation where he would certainly die. How many people chose to put themselves in a desperate situation, and how many survived afterwards?

  "The turtle son who can take Laozi's life is still in his mother's belly! Hurry up, remember to bring my set of tableware well, if you lose it I'll make you wash the horse for me!" Gong Sun Ce said, focusing on watching the battle ahead. Liu Wei smiled and walked towards the village tail with a cigarette and a long gun.

  An Meng hugged a pile of small toys collected from the village and sat down beside Li Jing to play with them. The eyes of several classmates around her were somewhat evasive, a short-haired girl turned her head away, staring at the sky thinking about something. And that group of brave drivers seemed to have some respect for An Meng.

  Guo Liang's face turned pale, and he looked at An Meng and asked: "You won't like Gong Sun big brother, will you? Gong Sun big brother is a good person, the people he cares about will not be harmed. I hope you don't cause trouble for him."

  An Meng had just divided the things in her hand into three piles, intending to share them with Li Jing and the short-haired woman. After hearing Guo Liang's words, she was stunned for a moment, as if she had thought of something, her face pale and listless. The various cosmetics and exquisite toys she had collected seemed to have turned to dust, no longer able to attract her attention.

  "Gongsun's brother is heading west to find his family, where there is also a woman he needs to protect and an arranged fiancée from his family. That's why he ran from northwest to Xianyang. Moreover, in Xianyang, he has a childhood friend who now lives in his mansion under the name of Gongsun's family member." Guo Liang didn't want his iron brothers to get hurt by emotions, as emotions become harder to deal with the longer they drag on.

  An Meng's pair of bright eyes seemed to have a layer of ash, somewhat dull, and Guo Liang felt sorry for her. Although An Meng was crazy and unconventional in the past, with an alternative look and a university student label, hanging out in various bars all day, he knew that An Meng was actually a very traditional girl, just with some mental issues.

  Looking at An Meng's appearance, Li Jing gave Guo Liang a white eye and pulled An Meng's hand, but didn't know what to say. Although she was a rational woman, when it came to emotional matters, she was very contradictory. If it were in the past, she would have encouraged An Meng to pursue bravely and snatch the person he wanted from someone else's hands.

  But times have changed, everything is different now, and past notions no longer apply. If An Meng had withdrawn early on, she might have ruined her own happiness for life. If she had insisted on pursuing her own happiness, she would have been more likely to exhaust herself to death on the road, unable to catch up with the radiant sun. Li Jing could only hold An Meng's hand and offer her the little warmth she had.

  An Meng's mind was in a mess, she recalled the first time Gong Sun Ce appeared before her. He wore silver armor, tall and majestic, surrounded by his entourage, who were all respectful and courteous. His heroic and handsome appearance, as well as the arrogant look in his eyes, the carefree air about him, and the short layer of stubble on his face, all exuded a strong masculine charm. It was exactly the kind of image she had been dreaming of, with a distinct personality and unique thoughts. An Meng, who had always scoffed at the idea of love at first sight, believed in it at that moment.

  Others feared Gong Sun Ce like a tiger, and she didn't understand him much either, so naturally, she was also a little afraid. Seeing Gong Sun Ce injured, she finally gathered the courage to take a bottle of mineral water to find him. As a result, Gong Sun Ce's easy-going nature made her overjoyed, and in that moment, she became Gong Sun Ce's younger sister in a daze.

  When she thought of holding Guo Sun Ce, the sweat and faint smell of blood on his body made her a little dizzy. Her originally somewhat dull eyes brightened again, and she waved her fist at Guo Liang, saying fiercely: "A man as flavorful as him, I've finally met one, how can I bear not to try? How can I know it's impossible? You just take care of your illness, what I hate most is being buried by others!"

  Guo Liang rolled his eyes at An Meng and said in a bad mood: "You're determined to stick with Brother Gong Sun, go ahead! Your personality is still liked by your brother, otherwise he wouldn't care about you. Remember, if he bullies you, tell me, even if I'm lying on the ground, I'll help you deal with him."

  "Shut up, let's see what you have to say! Take care of your wound and stop talking nonsense, or I'll bury you alive!" Li Jing also showed off her toughness, pinching the skin on Guo Liang's hand. Leaving Guo Liang with a painful expression, she pulled An Meng's hand and ran to the side to whisper something, followed by the short-haired woman.

  The so-called Han Zhengbei General Li Le led the three thousand vanguard troops to stand at the entrance of the village, two hundred meters away, observing the surrounding terrain. Seeing that both sides of the small village were continuous hills, the small village was divided into two by the highway in the middle, and the road in front of him had only one way, which was to crush it all the way along the highway.

  Li Le has already seen hundreds of archers standing on the rooftops on both sides of the road, his dreaded archers, fortunately not many in number, as long as they charge into the village, those archers on the rooftops will not escape!

  What made him frown was the low wall at the village entrance, which was about three meters high and had a rough surface with dense thorns, making it extremely difficult to climb. There were only narrow passageways of about one meter wide on both sides of the low wall between the houses, although they could be passed through, but the efficiency was very low, and the charging military souls could not form an advantage in number, and would be easily strangled by the opponent. No matter how many soldiers he had, it was not enough to consume like this.

  After some deliberation, Li Le drew his treasured sword and pointed it at the small village, shouting loudly: "This battle will be won in one swift stroke! If anyone shows cowardice, they will be beheaded!"