Chapter Seventeen: Trivial Matters in the County Town

  "Ah, refreshing! Cavalry is indeed more exhilarating than infantry! Having a horse and not having one are two completely different things!" Liu Wei slid down from the horse's neck and sat on the cold ground, cheering and shouting. He was truly exhausted, both physically and mentally. Not knowing how to ride a horse had increased his physical exertion, and he was always afraid of falling off the horse's back, which added great psychological pressure.

  Gongsun Ce found it difficult to dismount, so he first inserted the flag into the square in front of the park gate. The ground began to shake violently, more intense than before. Gongsun Ce was already very tired and was shaken to the point where he couldn't stand still, so he sat down beside Liu Wei. Patting Liu Wei on the back, he said: "Movies are still better with infantry!"

  Liu Wei naturally understood what the infantry card meant, and even the handsome 18-year-old boy Guo Liang heard it and chuckled, lowering his head without speaking, but sat down beside Gong Sun Ce. The three people sat back to back, and the cavalrymen dismounted one after another, starting to prepare dinner.

  Gongsun Ce pulled out some dried persimmon cakes from Xianyang and handed them to Liu Wei, saying: "This is a good thing, easy to store, convenient to carry, rich in nutrition, but I don't know if it's rich or not, but it's first-rate for replenishing energy!" Dried persimmon cake was born as a natural military ration, he planned to scavenge some in the county town. Now that there were more and more people under him, logistics had to be taken seriously.

  Liu Wei, who was chewing on a dried persimmon cake, also said: "This thing is really good. In our troops, this is a common dry ration that can replace glucose injections during combat. It's great as a marching ration, and it's necessary to stock up on some."

  Guo Liang also said: "I saw that in the Warring States period, the Kai army under Takeda Shingen used dried persimmon cakes as military rations. Eating them before battle could make the ashigaru, or foot soldiers, more energetic and last longer. I don't know if it would work for Gong Sun's symbol soldiers." Guo Liang had played Japanese Warring States games and incidentally learned about the powerful daimyos in the game.

  "Fu Bing's physical functions are no different from those of ordinary people, and he is afraid of fire and poison. However, his vitality is slightly higher than that of ordinary people, making it difficult for him to die." Gong Sun Ce was getting more and more familiar with Fu Bing, and in the future, Liu Wei and Guo Liang would also have their own Fu Bing, so they didn't avoid discussing specific information about Fu Bing. As the few people chatted, the underground sleeping Great Qin Army Corps awakened one after another, with a total number of over 2,000, densely packed together.

  A middle-aged Qin army general wearing iron armor and a complex board crown walked over and introduced himself: "I am Ying Bao, the General of the Great Qin Army, with the title of Fifth Grand Master, in charge of military and political affairs in this county." Ying Bao then said that apart from providing supplies to Gong Sun Ce, the county city also had an additional postal function.

  The winning leopard hurried away, the county town had just been occupied, and there were many things that needed to be busy. Before leaving, he also reminded Gong Sun Ce to write a letter to Xianyang if he had any questions. At the same time, some items can also be mailed home, but with quantity restrictions.

  After winning the leopard and stabilizing the county town, a visible light rushed to Gong Sun Ce's waist, his tiger token was upgraded again! Two consecutive upgrades, becoming the sixth-level official Dafu, military officer Sima, can command 500 people.

  He brought with him five Silver Third-Class Gao soldiers who underwent changes, four of whom were promoted to Qian Yao, wearing a board crown, with iron plates attached to their armor and a bronze long sword at their waist. Another soldier was promoted to Bu Geng, becoming the commander of 100 people, and Hu Fu gave him 100 Gao cavalry as equipment.

  "General Tun has arrived to pay his respects to Lord Sima!" General Tun, now fully transformed, clasped his fists and bowed. He was slightly taller than the other halberdiers, giving him a lean appearance. What struck Gong Sun Zan as strange was that Cheng Shen's eyes sparkled with vitality, just like those of ordinary people.

  Gongsun Ce found him familiar and thought for a moment. This Cheng Shen was one of the hundred generals who surrendered outside Xiahe Village, and he was also the one who suggested that they join forces to resist the pursuit of the Liang army. It seemed that this guy had killed three or four hundred generals of the Liang army in this battle, and the last high-ranking officer similar to a thousand general was also beheaded by him.

  Gongsun Zan hoped that Cheng Yin would have wisdom, but not too high a level of wisdom. Although the Tiger Tally was under his control, he could not use it to precisely control every single soldier. Because people's rebelliousness and ability to resist are directly proportional to their wisdom.

  Gongsun Ce stared at Cheng Shen and said directly: "Introduce yourself, including your strengths and weaknesses."

  "Mo Jiang Cheng, skilled in cavalry battles." Cheng Shen's answer was simple, and Gong Sun Ce saw that his eyes did not seem to be pretending. It seemed that Cheng Shen's wisdom was also limited, and he secretly let out a sigh of relief in his heart.

  "They two are your deputies, you go and do what needs to be done." Gong Sun Ce said, pointing at the two promoted halberdiers who had become officers.

  The three people who heard the order clasped their fists and promised to go and arrange for the 100 halberd-riding soldiers under their command. Gong Sun Ce was left behind, gazing up at the starry sky, thinking about more and more complicated things.

  First, there was the Hu Fu. This thing had been in his hands for two days now, but he still couldn't figure out all its functions. He could only use it to create symbol soldiers and even the method of creating symbol horses were told by Dai Ji herself. Moreover, what made him uncomfortable was that no matter how well the symbol soldiers controlled by Hu Fu were trained, they were still just the symbol soldiers of Great Qin. He only had the right to command them, and if he were to rebel against Great Qin in the future, it wasn't impossible for these symbol soldiers to turn around and kill him.

  The second question is when can he create his own heavenly soldiers? His own heavenly soldiers are the true orthodox troops. The creation of heavenly soldiers, based on the knowledge passed down by Daji and Lü Bu, still cannot leave his consciousness starry sky. The land of his consciousness starry sky is his only foundation. However, the growth of that land has always been inseparable from the soul aura and the power of the five virtues.

  Every time the Fu Bing kills a military soul, they only need to use the power of Shui De, and the remaining four virtues will be absorbed by themselves. The scattered souls of the killed military souls are partially absorbed by the Fu Bing, and most of the rest are absorbed by the Hu Fu! Gong Sun Ce's gains are limited!

  He needs a lot of soul energy to upgrade and stabilize the base in his conscious starry sky. So he doesn't want Fu Bing to kill more military souls, he plans to do it himself! At the same time, Hu Fu is also an indispensable helper, so the function of Hu Fu must be fully developed.

  He wrote a letter to Li Si that night, asking how he could transfer the symbol soldiers. The single halberd soldier was too weak, and the defensive function of the Qin army's armor was even inferior to that of the Liang army's leather armor. It was just a pity that after the Liang army was killed, the leather armor would rot directly and could not be captured for reuse.

  After the transfer, Fu Bing became even stronger. He planned to convert all of his remaining troops into shield soldiers, except for the symbol cavalry. He didn't ask them to kill enemies, but only required their defensive capabilities. Holding back the enemy and consuming the mechanical functions of the military soul was what the future shield soldiers would do.

  Killing the military soul will be done by his heavenly soldiers. What he gets is Lü Bu's inheritance, which can create heavenly soldiers similar to those of the Han army. Moreover, Lü Bu's Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry, he can also possess! It just needs to constantly expand Lü Bu's inheritance, how to expand? Just upgrade the Qinglong spear in his hand continuously, and the Qinglong spear is a direct manifestation and creation of the military family's intention.

  After finishing the letter to Li Si, Liu Wei drank some wine and handed a copy of the letter to him with a self-deprecating smile: "It's interesting, except for writing a few letters in elementary school, I've never written one since. Now I'm actually starting again! This era is interesting, very interesting! This is a letter to Sweetie, thanks."

  Gongsun Ce took one look at the envelope and saw a line of strong, bold, and elegant calligraphy. He couldn't help but look up to Liu Wei. In this era, people who could write good calligraphy were rare. However, the first line of the letter was a bit too much: "Dearest wife Sweetie".

  Put Liu Wei's family letter in a small wooden box, and there are some dried fruits he collected inside the box, about ten catties. They were all for Xue Ling to take back, but now he thought that at that time, they only helped Xue Ling and others to get their household registration done, and nothing was left for their daily necessities. Although he knew Li Si would not let Xue Ling starve, according to the customs of Qin State from generation to generation, it's already good if they could eat enough.

  "Wine is a good thing, it can make people forget many unbearable things. My comrades were all killed by the Qin army, but I betrayed them for a woman. Hehe, do you want some?" Liu Wei leaned against the chair, looking like he could slide to the ground at any moment, holding two exquisitely crafted wine bottles and smiling foolishly at Gong Sun Ce.

  Gongsun Ce took the wine, twisted off the cap, and the fragrance overflowed. He clinked glasses with Liu Wei and said: "Tonight we can drink a bit more, after all, there are Qin troops guarding outside. There won't be such an opportunity in the future, you understand what I mean?" He used to like drinking, but since he obtained the military legacy, he had some reverence for wine.

  Liu Wei nodded, gulped down the liquor in one breath, stood up and let out a long sigh, saying: "I just can't forget them, their desperate cries for help are still echoing in my ears. It's all in the past now, it's all over..." He gently placed the bottle on the table and said as he was leaving: "I'm going to sleep, won't affect tomorrow's battle."

  Looking at Liu Wei's back disappearing, Gong Sun Ce frowned and pondered for a moment before gently shaking his head. He took a small sip of wine, the fiery sensation rushing straight to his five internal organs, making him feel carefree. Then he took another sip, his worries about his family seemingly leaving his body with the fragrant aroma of the wine.

  Holding his pen, Gong Sun Ce shook his head and started writing a letter to Xue Ling. He began with the two characters "Xue Ling", but then didn't know what to write next. It was as if he were reporting military achievements, listing out everything that had happened along the way, completely filling up space. He really couldn't think of anything else to write. Love? That was something he least believed in. Not just now, but even his past self kept a respectful distance from love.

  He wrote two pages in a row, all in the Gong Sun font. This font is not recognized by many people in this world, each character is very vivid and lifelike, very personified. However, they are densely packed together, line after line, even more rough than a draft. He knew that Xue Ling could recognize it, which was enough.

  In his dream, the land under the starry sky expanded again, about 15 acres in size. He saw Daji digging an irrigation canal for the newly evolved land, helping out in the past. The green dragon halberd in her hand was like a hoe, and the canal was dug up in no time.

  He and Daji sat on the green grass, talking about what was happening outside. Seeing him excitedly say that his hundred cavalrymen could defeat two thousand Lianjun, Daji sighed and said: "It's too dangerous, don't be reckless in the future. These military souls are newly born and have weak strength. Later when you attack other counties, their strength will become stronger and stronger, and tactics won't work much for them."

  Gongsun Zhan thought to himself, now the military soul only has a hundred people with simple wisdom, after a while, every small soldier will have the wisdom of a hundred people, and even fully recover their previous wisdom. At that time, playing tricks again, he was already two thousand years old, but how could he compare with the military soul who made a living by eating this meal?

  As soon as the sky brightened, the military drums in the county sounded loudly. Gongsun Zan woke up to find that the weather had suddenly turned much colder. At this time, there was only a faint white light on the eastern horizon, and he walked around the military camp. Two hundred soldiers were cooking, feeding horses, and packing up their luggage.

  Gongsun Zan carried a wooden box into the military camp and said to Ying Bao: "This is a letter for Li Si, the governor of Xianyang. There are some small things in the box that I want to send to my family. Thank you." Ying Bao weighed the box, nodded and handed it over to his personal soldier behind him.