Chapter Eighteen: Ambush

  "These are three sets of armor captured within the city, a small token from me." After Winning Leopard finished speaking, six personal guards carried the three suits of armor and placed them in front of Gong Sun Ce. On top of each suit was still attached a museum label that detailed the history of each set of armor, all of which were complete sets of Mingguang armor. Two of the sets were iron black in color, while the third had been silver-plated on the surface, shining brightly and looking very beautiful and exquisite.

  "Thanks to General Ying's generosity, with these three sets of armor, we can finally have a thrilling battle!" Gong Sun Ce was overjoyed and gave Ying Bao a fist bump as a salute. Ying Bao pulled him back and said repeatedly, "Don't mention it, don't mention it. This is just a small gift from me to congratulate General Gong Sun, just a tiny token of my appreciation."

  Ying Bao said, while taking out a white silk handkerchief to give to Gong Sun Ce: "This is the latest dispatch from Xianyang, Lord Gong Sun has been promoted to Da Fu, and awarded seven mansions, 70 hectares of farmland, food allowance for 300 households, and 50 households of civilians to help with farming. Furthermore, Lord Gong Sun is permitted to nurture scholars!"

  Gongsun Ce looked at the silk with Qin's seal, feeling a bit painful. Beside him, Ying Bao kept explaining, and he finally understood what "Yang Shi" meant. It meant that he could recruit his own vassals and guests, and openly have his own attendants. In a strict sense, Liu Wei and Guo Liang were just his colleagues, affiliated with the Qin state. But vassals and guests directly belonged to him, loyal only to him, not managed by anyone else.

  In the future, wherever he goes, as long as he meets someone with the right talent, he can summon them as a gate guest. This gate guest automatically has civilian status, and their immediate family members also have civilian status, and they can follow him to conquer everywhere. If discovered by the Qin army, the Qin army will not say anything. Before this, the people he met were simply not qualified to be recruited or employed.

  The guest is also called the food guest, you recruit and take care of their clothes, food, housing and transportation, and in return they will serve you. Although the winner did not mention the quantity limit of the guests, Gong Sun Ce also knew that this thing had implicit rules and explicit rules. The explicit rule is how much salary income one has, and how many guest to raise. The implicit rule is that there must be a number, and the number of guests should be moderate.

  Different identities should raise different numbers of guests. Otherwise, if a high-ranking official raises 300 scholars and someone with a higher title only raises dozens of scholars, this matter will spread out and he will lose face, but the one who will really lose face is Great Qin. Great Qin was founded on the basis of law, and its core is the twenty-level military merit title system, which advocates for fairness, and the greatest fairness is that the higher the title, the higher the status, and the more face you have!

  Farewell to the victorious leopard, Gong Sun Ce and his three men wore bright armor, rode tall horses with two hundred cavalrymen, each carrying some dry rations, and set off directly. Wearing helmets and armor, Gong Sun Ce finally had a sense of substitution, feeling like a commander-in-chief. Unexpectedly, at the beginning, wearing ancient Qin army uniforms, the three of them were dressed in modern attire, no matter how they tried, there was always a sense of detachment in their hearts.

  "Brother Gong Sun, there are five hundred Liao soldiers ahead, they're marching towards us and holding over a thousand civilians!" Guo Liang said, using his binoculars to observe the front. Because of last night's rain, it was a bit chilly this morning with some morning fog. Gong Sun Ce took the binoculars and looked, judging that they were about two kilometers away from each other.

  "Guo Liang, you go and lure the enemy! Bring that group of Liao soldiers over here, we'll divide and conquer them. If we attack directly, although we may win, it will result in great losses and unnecessary harm to the civilians!" Gong Sun Ce chose a wheat field as the ambush location based on the terrain, and divided his cavalry into two teams. He and General Shu Cheng led 100 riders each, hiding in the orchards on both sides of the wheat field. Guo Liang saw that the ambush was set up properly, so he rode out alone to lure the enemy.

  This group of coolies started from the county town, chasing along the highway, killing several groups of rioters after occupying a township with few people, and then transferring the people to the county town. Of course, all kinds of luggage that can be collected are carried by the people or transported by handcart.

  A hundred Liang soldiers heard the sound of horseshoes coming from the fog in front, raised their arms and stopped the team. Except for a hundred Liang soldiers left to monitor the crowd in the middle, all began to move forward in an orderly manner. Their movements made the numb crowd start to panic, and the remaining Liang soldiers drew out rusty swords, and the crowd soon became obedient.

  Liang Jun had not yet made preparations when he saw the black shadow in the fog becoming clearer and clearer. Then, Guo Liang's bright voice came over: "Guo Liang is here, the bandit general will take his life!" The voice seemed to appear at the same time as Guo Liang in front of Liang Jun's hundred generals. Guo Liang's spear in his hand grew larger and larger in the hundred generals' dark pupils, and the hundred generals couldn't react at all before being struck through the face by Guo Liang's spear, their entire head shattering to death.

  This hundred-man squad was instantly scattered by Guo Liang's single horse, and the surrounding Liao soldiers saw that Guo Liang had killed their superior, so they rushed forward with guns and knives. Guo Liang swept open several Liao soldiers with one spear, pulled hard on the reins, and the warhorse stood up and let out a long whinny, actually spinning around in place before turning around directly.

  Several nearby Western Liang soldiers saw that Guo Liang was about to escape, and they ignored his dancing horse spear, which was like a wind fan, and rushed up fiercely. The nearest Western Liang soldier, a hundred-man general, drew out his waist knife and stabbed at Guo Liang. Guo Liang struck and killed the first Western Liang soldier who charged forward with his spear, and then shook his spear repeatedly, striking down five more soldiers who were charging over, his horse spear moving like a spiritual snake.

  But he ignored the waist knife that was swung by the hundred men, turned his head to see the waist knife flying in mid-air and slashing towards his neck. The spear in his hand couldn't block it in time, so he could only lean forward on his horse, the blade flew over his head, cutting off his black helmet tassel. He didn't dare think of anything else, he whipped his horse and ran!

  That hundred-man squad picked up their waist knives and, pointing at Guo Liang who was fleeing on horseback, shouted loudly: "Kill! Chase him down and kill him!" In his understanding, as long as they could tightly pursue the invading cavalry, they would be able to force them into the county town. At that time, joining forces with the troops inside the county town, they would be able to finish off those damned cavalrymen!

  But he didn't know that the county town had already changed hands. The lone cavalryman he was chasing was just a poisoned bait! When he bit into it, it would be his own death time! Four hundred Lianjun troops swarmed along the highway to chase and kill, leaving behind one thousand civilians who were guarded by one hundred Lianjun troops.

  A tall, slender woman with a hoarse voice asked in a low tone from behind the protection of a group of young men: "Is that Guo Liang?" Next to her were several other young people, and a man wearing glasses responded hesitantly: "It should be him, his voice sounds like it, but he's wearing a helmet so I couldn't see his face clearly. But turning around on horseback is one of his signature moves at the riding arena!"

  The young man with a wooden expression listened to their conversation, his eyes twitching slightly as he hummed softly: "What's the big deal about him? Can't even beat him, can only flee in defeat! These ghostly creatures are impervious to rocket-propelled grenades, and yet he can kill them - that just goes to show he's already a man from another world! Snap out of it, my friends!"

  After hearing his words, the eyes of these young men and women dimmed. The bespectacled man still spoke stubbornly: "How is that possible? Guo Liang is my brother! We grew up together since childhood. Can you understand him better than me, Li Jian?" The Li Jian in the bespectacled man's words was precisely the square-faced young man.

  Li Jian looked at the bespectacled man with disdain: "We can recognize him, how could he not recognize us? Who doesn't know his intentions towards my cousin? I don't believe he didn't notice Li Jing! But he still ran away like a coward! He's like that to Jingjing, let alone you guys! Zhang Chao, one must rely on oneself!"

  His strange tone of teasing made the high-pitched woman, Li Jing, lower her absolutely beautiful face. Glasses man Zhang Chao let out a cold hum and silently gazed in the direction that good brother Guo Liang had escaped to. Li Jian was the same, he didn't think Guo Liang could come back alive. That's why they spoke without restraint, because living people wouldn't be bothered by a dead person's grudge.

  He had an inexplicable hatred for Guo Liang from the moment he first saw him, hating that Guo Liang was more handsome than him, hating that Guo Liang had more charm than him, and hating that Guo Liang was more popular with girls. In their county's social circle, there could be several "most handsome" guys, but the absolute most handsome one was not him, it was Guo Liang!

  Guo Liang did not flee in a hurry all the way, occasionally turning back to kill. Because the Liang army was chasing tightly and their formation was also scattered, he managed to get away several times. The Liang army behind him began to pursue in formation, but each time Guo Liang would dodge in front of them and then run away. In the eyes of the hundred Liang generals, this move meant that Guo Liang had already discovered the garrison troops in the county and wanted to break through from here!

  Soon, Guo Liang escaped to the wheat field by the side of the road, which further confirmed Bai Ren's speculation. He directly dispersed the Liao army and wanted to behead the lone rider who dared to attack them in the wheat field! Behind the wheat field was a large forest, and Bai Ren thought that Guo Liang's horse could not pass through it!

  Kuang Liang was already showing signs of fatigue, his bright armor weighing nearly twenty kilograms. He was only an eighteen-year-old youth, or perhaps a young adult. Although he often exercised to build his physique, it was all for the sake of having well-defined muscles, not endurance. After all, endurance didn't elicit screams from girls, but muscles did...

  Gongsun Ce gazed at the Liao army that had all entered the wheat field, and smiled slightly to Liu Wei beside him, nodding slightly. Liu Wei ran out of the forest, holding high the black-bottomed white-character banner of Qin, shaking it back and forth. Cheng Shen in the opposite fruit forest saw this, directing his soldiers to mount their horses quickly, and before long a row of black cavalry appeared in front of the fruit forest, with black armor and black warhorses!

  The hundred men of the Lü Jun army were frightened as soon as they saw the situation, and they didn't care about Guo Liang anymore. They hastily gathered with other hundred men, formed a group, and slowly retreated, backing away from Gong Sun Ce. Liu Wei, who was shaking the flag, deeply admired Gong Sun Ce's foresight at that moment, just like the Yangtze River flowing endlessly, and like the Yellow River overflowing uncontrollably...

  Gongsun Zan never expected that the Liao soldiers would cooperate so well. He just wanted Cheng Yin to lead the cavalry to attract the attention of the Liao army, and then he would launch a surprise attack from behind the Liao army! Even if they couldn't break through, it would still cause chaos among the Liao army, and when the two groups of cavalry launched a pincer attack, these 400 Liao soldiers would be like cotton in lava, definitely turning to ashes!

  This battle was over as soon as Gong Sun Zan led out his hundred cavalry, and there were no more surprises. Although they were discovered by the Liang army and did not succeed in their surprise attack, the chaos among the Liang army was real. The two groups of cavalry clashed several times, resulting in the deaths of over 300 of the 400 Liang soldiers, with more than 80 others surrendering under the leadership of a hundred-man general.

  Hǔ Fú yòu qiǎng zài Gōng Sūn Cè qián mian, jiāng dé zuì zhuàng de Liáng Jūn, bāo kuò nà ge bǎi rén jiàng zài nèi de shí qī gè Liáng Jūn gǎi chéng fú bīng, yú xià de yīn wèi hǔ fú lǐ miàn méi yǒu duō yú de míng è, méi yǒu gǎi chéng fú bīng, jiù quán diū diào bīng qì, guì chéng yī tuán. Gōng Sūn Cè xià mǎ chí jiǎo, shēn hòu Liú Wēi yī liǎn huài xiào, Guō Liàng bù míng suǒ yǐ, hái shǒu chí mǎ jiān gēn shàng.

  Gongsun Zan walked to the front of the Liao army's vanguard, found a suitable location, and suddenly looked up at the sky filled with morning clouds. The surrendered Liao soldiers saw him approaching with his halberd and were very nervous, but when they saw Gongsun Zan looking up at the sky, the kneeling Liao soldiers also stretched their necks to look up at the sky, wondering what Gongsun Zan was looking at.

  Gongsun Ce's mouth curled up, and with a fierce cry, he grasped his halberd in both hands. With one swing of the halberd, he beheaded four of the surrendering Liang soldiers whose necks were stretched out! The group of surrendering Liang soldiers immediately panicked and scattered in all directions, only to be chased back by Yu Jin's cavalry, even their own centurion who had just surrendered. Since Liu Wei had obtained Yu Jin's cavalry, he no longer engaged in large-scale slaughter. Moreover, with his shining armor protecting him, and the group of surrendering Liang soldiers being unarmed, killing them was especially easy and effortless, and his bravery was all the more evident.

  Kuo Liang stared at Gong Sun Ce's actions, his back chilled. This Gong Sun Ce had been considerate of him all along, and he had almost thought he was a good person. Who would have thought he was so evil! However, being evil is good in this chaotic era, only the evil can survive!

  He was exhausted, standing still on the spot, and the Lü Bu army who tried to escape from him were stabbed to death one by one. Watching Gong Sun Zan and Liu Bei display their divine might, his eyes were filled with envy.

  He thought it was a good idea to follow Gong Sun Zan.