Chapter Twelve: The Ancient Town of Guo Liang

  "His Excellency Li Si has specially sent me to report that, as Gongsun is already a high-ranking official, he can reside in two mansions, cultivate three hectares of land, and have five slaves and one servant. The junior officer on the side kept explaining, letting Xue Ling and her sister know what these rewards meant. Two mansions meant double the living space, which could be expanded, and were connected together; someone would come to renovate them soon. They also knew that a mansion didn't necessarily mean only residential buildings, but also included courtyards, vegetable gardens, and other things."

  They also understood that one mu of land was equivalent to 100 mu in the Qin and Han dynasties, which is equivalent to about 30 mu now. Three mu of land would have nearly 100 mu of land. A courtyard with an area of five mu could allocate five slaves to serve them, but unfortunately they could only choose specific requirements for the slaves, not a specific person. There was also a household from the people, which was a dependent farmer of Gong Sun Ce, with a scale of one household, and its function was to cultivate land on behalf of Gong Sun Ce.

  "Gongsun master's monthly salary of 10 stones of rice has arrived. If Gongsun master is promoted again this month, the salary will be issued according to the highest rank, and the difference will be paid at the end of the month." The small official's words solved the most important problem in front of Xue Ling and several women, that is, there is nothing to eat!

  They were then surprised by the amount of salary brought, as it was a total of fourteen bags of rice and flour, all twenty-five kilograms in size, with seven bags each. There were also five female slaves who came at their request, all of whom were good at household chores and were diligent and unmarried young women.

  The little official said as he was about to leave: "Although Lord Gong Sun's current position is low, he will surely become a pillar of the Great Qin in the future. Therefore, the safety of Lady Gong Sun cannot be taken lightly. There are heavily armed elite guards from the Great Qin outside the mansion, so please do not go out unless necessary, madam. Later, various household items will be sent over, and I ask that you, madam, count them and sign for them when they arrive." He bowed with his fists clasped together and left with his entourage.

  Li Qingxuan instructed several frightened female slaves, "Move the rice and flour in, find a place to put them. Then do what you need to do on your own. Now that you're here, live at ease, we're not unreasonable people." These female slaves had already received relevant training before they arrived, Qin Jun's whip and the severed heads had already taught them how to behave from now on.

  As soon as Li Qingxuan spoke, she felt a lot more at ease. She moved the rice and flour into the house and started cleaning up the yard. Li Qingxuan pulled Xuelin into the house and said, "They can dispel their inner panic by finding something to do. Now our Xuelin has also become a noblewoman!" Xuelin's face turned red again at this.

  Xue Ling thought for a moment and said: "Liu Dage is going to fight with him, Sweetie Jie is alone and lonely, let's pick her up and live together. I don't know if there's anything to eat at Sweetie Jie's place..." Sweetie Jie was Liu Wei's family member, Xue Ling's words made Li Qingxuan smile with narrowed eyes, and then nodded.

  The ancient town, along the quiet streets, Gong Sun Ce and his men slowly advanced. After walking 500 meters, two military souls suddenly jumped out from the corner and ran towards the center of the town. Gong Sun Ce and his men couldn't catch up with them, and in no time, there were 200 military souls before their eyes, led by two hundred captains, who were under the command of a young man.

  That young man was tall and slender, with a handsome face that didn't lose his heroic spirit, and still had a hint of innocence. He wore a light denim suit, looked like a living person, holding a spear in his hand, and behind him were three or four young men leading horses. The young man shouted from afar: "Who are you? What brings you to our ancient town?"

  "I am Gongsun Ce, now under the Great Qin. I came here to expand the territory of the Great Qin and gain military merit." His straightforward expression conveyed his intention to conquer, causing the young man on the other side to clench his fist around the hilt of his spear, his two sword-like eyebrows furrowing upwards in a majestic manner.

  The young man looked at Gongsun Zan and his twelve men, sneering: "Just the twelve of you? You still want to come to my ancient town and be arrogant! I advise you to leave early, don't lose your lives in vain." As soon as the young man's voice fell, a shocking drumbeat suddenly sounded from the western slope of the mountain where the General Temple was located.

  "Liang'er, bring them over." A thick voice came from the mountain slope, and Gong Sun Ce looked up to see a wolf smoke rising. The young man on the other side directed his troops to open up a path, looking at Gong Sun Ce with a smile and asking, "Dare to come?" Gong Sun Ce didn't feel any killing intent from the opponent, what's there to be afraid of? He took a step forward, Liu Wei could only follow reluctantly, and those ten Yu Bing naturally followed closely behind, their heads held high.

  Upon arriving at the Three Forks, Gong Sun Zan saw that on both roads leading west and northeast, there were formations of 500 vengeful spirits each, with their backs to them, clearly defending against enemies from two directions. A middle-aged general wearing fish-scale armor and a red cloak was already waiting for them.

  "Liang'er pays respects to Master!" The young man bowed his hands and saluted the general, who waved his hand and said in a gentle voice: "Your family has been sweeping and dusting my temple for generations, repairing and making up for deficiencies. I've watched you grow up, you're like my own child, don't be so formal." The young man listened, blushed and smiled, and stood aside.

  The general asked Gong Sun Ce, with a stern tone: "Has the Great Qin already established its foothold in Xianyang?" This place is less than 50 kilometers away from Xianyang. Even if Gong Sun Ce doesn't come, it won't be long before the Qin army's spirit revives and expands to a massive scale, which will be beyond his ability to resist.

  "The 50,000-strong Weiwei army has already occupied Xianyang this morning. Li Si, the magistrate of Xianyang, has dispatched us, sons of military families, to conquer and expand the territory of Great Qin and improve our own cultivation." Gong Sun Ce replied truthfully, without any intention of deceiving him.

  He closed his eyes as if in thought, and after a moment said: "I was originally the Eagle General Fisherman of the Great Sui Dynasty's Folding Shocking Prefecture, who blocked the rebel army here and died with all my troops. Later, the local residents built a temple to worship me, and the incense fire has never been extinguished. Along with my soldiers, I came back to life. Last night, there was an omen in the sky, and evil spirits were causing trouble. I led my army to eliminate them. Then, I moved the people to the mountain, and I led my troops to guard at the foot of the mountain, to repay the kindness of a thousand years of incense fire."

  "I also know that this place is very close to Xianyang, and sooner or later the Qin army will come to attack. I just didn't expect it would be you." The general's expression was somewhat relaxed as he continued, "Wherever the Qin army passes, no one is left alive. Even if you want to surrender, you won't necessarily be accepted. So, I have an unpleasant request..."

  Listening to Wu Jiang's self-narration, it's possible that he embellished some parts, but the fact that he was willing to sacrifice himself shows that he's a brave and fierce person. Otherwise, people wouldn't have built a temple in his honor after his death. Now, he can also bring peace to the people of this region, even if it's out of gratitude. This shows that Wu Jiang is also a kind-hearted person, not a bad one. If Wu Jiang were to surrender, and he himself had the right to accept the surrender, then this would be a great achievement from heaven! Gong Sun Ce's inner joy was evident from the corners of his mouth curling up into a smile.

  "General Fish, this still needs to be tried." Gong Sun Ce took the Great Qin flag from Liu Wei's hand and inserted it into the road surface under his feet. The oily road surface began to shake and crack, and even Yu Shi Ji started to change, a black gas spreading from his feet, slowly extending up along his calf, Gong Sun Ce discovered that the black gas was transforming Yu Shi Ji from bottom to top.

  In the time it took to take a few breaths, the dark energy had already spread to Fish's neck, and his face changed colors in a chaotic manner. The young man Guo Liang held onto his spear tightly, his expression tense. Gong Sun Ce also held his heart in his throat, if this succeeded, he would be greatly rewarded. If it failed, Fish would die because of it, and he would be hunted down by thousands of vengeful spirits until he was dead.

  Yu Shi Ji let out a long whistle, and a five-colored airflow burst out of his mouth, all of which was absorbed and refined by Gong Sun Ce's iron halberd. For thousands of years, he had been worshiped, and the miscellaneous thoughts and beliefs he had received were all spat out. The black air also merged into Yu Shi Ji's body, and his armor changed as well. After observing for a while, Yu Shi Ji burst out laughing.

  Among his laughter, the soldiers under his command also began to be transformed by the dark energy, spewing out their beliefs and miscellaneous thoughts from their mouths, which were absorbed and refined by Gongsun Zhan's iron halberd. The total number was roughly the same as that of Yu Shi's illness. The iron halberd in Gongsun Zhan's hand shone with a dazzling light, undergoing a transformation, changing from an iron halberd to a single-eared green dragon halberd.

  The Green Dragon Halberd, with a single crescent moon blade, has a spearhead shaped like a willow leaf. On the pole is painted a coiled dragon, lacquered for decoration, and hung with a five-colored tassel. The Green Dragon Halberd resembles a dragon, its head like a dragon baring its teeth and claws. Gong Sun Zan wields it with an empty stab, stabbing out as if the green dragon were probing with its claws! The Green Dragon Halberd's appearance is perfect, its power also extraordinary. On the side, Liu Wei took a look at his own long spear, discovering that even his spearhead wasn't as stylish as Gong Sun Zan's Green Dragon Halberd's spearhead, and turned away with a pout on his face.

  Yu Shi wore a suit of bronze-plated leather armor, with bronze plates covering only the vital areas and the rest hidden by leather. He wore a helmet, but it was more complex in design than any Qin army helmet Gong Sun Ce had ever seen. He knew that helmets were symbols of rank among Qin officers - the more intricate and beautiful they were, the higher the officer's position.

  Gongsun Zan couldn't help but glance enviously at Yu Ji's topknot, which was tied up with a board-shaped crown. He clasped his fists together in congratulations and said: "Congratulations, General Yu!"

  Yu Shi hastily smiled and waved his hand, saying: "Can't be called a general, can't be called a general. Yu Mou is only the seventh-level Gong Dafu title, military officer Xiao Wei, commanding the old troops that's all! Also want to thank Gongsun Daoren for helping!" At this time when everyone was congratulating each other, the Qin army's vengeful spirits also emerged from the ground, this time about 500-600 people.

  These Qin troops began to register the population and divide the people's households when Gong Sun Ce's tiger tally in his arms heated up again, he had to take it out and saw that the pattern on the tiger tally changed again, but no new symbol soldiers were produced. He knew that the tiger tally had been upgraded, and the reason for the upgrade was the expansion of territory and population, as well as the surrender of Yu Shi Di's troops. There were military achievements, but there was no soul energy to supply the tiger tally with the production of symbol soldiers, so naturally there were no symbol soldiers produced.

  Yu Shi Ji looked at Gong Sun Ce's tiger tally, turned his head to look at Guo Liang standing behind him, made up his mind and said: "Congratulations to Gong Sun for being promoted to the rank of Cuiyuan, I would like to offer 40 elite soldiers as a gift to make up for the shortage of troops under your command." Gong Sun Ce was promoted to the rank of Cuiyuan, and his military position naturally rose one level, becoming a team leader, commanding 50 people. Yu Shi Ji's old subordinates joined him in surrendering to the Qin army camp, all of whom were Qin state soldiers, not his private troops.

  But he still has a personal army, one-tenth the size of his command. These are at his disposal to use as he wishes, and having given them to Gongsun Zan, the quota is now vacant, which he can fill later. Besides, with 1,500 men under him, a few dozen less makes no difference.

  Unlike Gong Sun Ce, forty men is exactly four times the original military strength! At a cost that can be ignored, this cost is exchanged for human feelings that are not to be ignored by Gong Sun Ce. It's a good deal, isn't it?

  Forty Fisherman soldiers were fully armed, with bows and knives hanging from their waists on both sides, quivers on their backs, and spears in hand. With a wave of his hand, the Fisherman soldiers bowed to Gongsun Zan's tiger tally, which emitted a brilliant light. The light transformed all forty soldiers into halberd-wielding troops, causing their original weapons to disappear completely.

  Then fifty halberdiers stood in five rows, and Gong Sun Ce discovered the difference. His original ten halberdiers had a shoulder badge on their left shoulder with a red copper bar in the middle, while the new forty halberdiers had a white silver bar on their left shoulder. Military rank? Of course not, this is a way to show the strength of the symbol soldiers! This shows that the actual strength of his symbol soldiers has increased explosively, and it's not just four times as simple as that!

  "Lord Fish, you're looking at me with such high regard, I don't know what instructions you have for me." Gong Sun Ce accepted the favor and also felt a great increase in goodwill towards Yu Shi Di. His attitude also became more humble. To say that human relationships are still repaid not according to value, but according to proportion. The earlier one repays, the less the value paid out will be, and there won't be any burden on the heart.

  Yu Shi stroked his short beard, very satisfied with Gongsun Ce's words, and smiled as he pointed at Guo Liang: "What do you think of this kid? If it's okay with you, I'd like to hand him over to you for some proper training outside. He has received my legacy, so he should have the ability to protect himself."