Chapter Thirty-One: Wujang River

  An Meng watched as Gongsun Zan rode out of the village, chasing after the enemy army that had fled without a fight. Gongsun Zan galloped forward, cutting down enemies left and right, as if he was in a deserted land. Along with his cavalry, they hacked and trampled, creating chaos everywhere. The halberdiers following behind him were like farmers, their large halberds like sickles, reaping the enemy heads like wheat, batch after batch.

  Where the soldiers passed, they left behind a field of headless corpses, their skulls rolling everywhere, rotting away. A faint breeze stirred up the dust of the decaying souls, like a white mist shrouding everything.

  An Meng leaned against the chimney on the roof, thinking of Gong Sun Ce. She didn't know how he suddenly appeared in her heart, maybe it was love at first sight. Or maybe she was just a weak woman who needed to find a strong man to seek that sense of security. Guo Liang said Gong Sun Ce had entanglements with three women, An Meng just smiled and let it go.

  It's not like the old days, the original rules don't work anymore. Powerful men can have three wives and four concubines, while weak ones even become eunuchs to make a living. Whether she fell in love with Gong Sun Zhi or needed a sense of security, she has set her sights on him anyway.

  Du Yuanzheng was carried down from the rooftop, and Liu Wei led a few temporary military doctors to start treating Du Yuanzheng's wounds. There were also more than twenty of the Du clan's heavenly soldiers who were seriously injured around them, with blood all over the ground and a strong smell of gore. Seeing Liu Wei, Du Yuanzheng coughed up a mouthful of blood, his eyes filled with disdain, but he didn't say anything.

  "Head, brothers are not seriously injured, just minor injuries, will be fine after some rest." A heavenly soldier saw Du Yuanzheng's eyes constantly scanning among the Du clan's heavenly soldiers, as if knowing what he was worried about, and hastily squatted beside Du Yuanzheng, saying in a low voice.

  "Alright, take the brothers who can still fight and ride horses to chase and kill the enemy! Your combat spirit includes cavalry battles! Although it's dangerous, close combat skills must be honed! Otherwise, you'll suffer greatly in the future, even to the point of total annihilation!" Du Yuanzheng recalled Gong Sun Ce's arrangement for his 200 men, and a sense of resentment arose in his heart.

  He also knew that Gongsun Ce's arrangement itself was not a problem, and the archers were placed on both sides of the roof, which was the most suitable. However, he saw the cavalry at the end of the village, and Liu Wei did not participate in the battle, only protecting Guo Liang and his family. This made him see Gongsun Ce's obvious reserve, if things went wrong, Gongsun Ce could still rely on his own skills to kill his way out of the encirclement.

  But what about the Du clan's heavenly soldiers? They're only good at shooting arrows, and when it comes to close combat with the military soul, they're not even familiar with the techniques, let alone having the courage to fight! In the end, either they'll be killed or they'll flee, and out of 200 Du clan heavenly soldiers, not even half will escape!

  He did not oppose Gongsun Zan's tactical arrangement, but opposed Gongsun Zan's private heart! In short, when one person has an opinion about another in his heart, there will always be suitable reasons to come out for him to use.

  This matter is placed on Gong Sun Ce's shoulders, what's wrong with that? The group of recruited followers are unstable, a strong figure must be in charge to calm them down. Guo Liang is heavily injured, only Liu Wei is suitable. Moreover, the cavalry, the number of Yu's cavalry is too small, unable to exert its due power, rather than being wasted as infantry, it's better to keep it and gamble on that one thread of hope, if we win the bet, the pursuit and slaughter by the cavalry can expand the results several times!

  The cavalry, having finished their morning construction work, hastily ate lunch and rested for nearly two hours. Now they were like tigers descending a mountain, galloping back and forth among the fleeing White Guard troops. They didn't let the White Guards stand firm on their feet, creating chaos everywhere. This allowed the pursuing infantry to always have enemies to kill, without letting large numbers of enemies escape due to killing those in front of them.

  Gongsun Zan saw the heavenly soldiers of the Du clan riding horses and killing, so he handed over the task of disrupting the enemy army to them. He led the Yuji cavalry in a surprise attack, crushing a path through the crowded enemy army, wanting to block the enemy's retreat route. The two or three hundred thousand low-spirited and warless chaotic troops were thoroughly defeated!

  The chaotic army only fled in a hurry, and the military spirit that was willing to fight was also disrupted by its own people and stood unsteadily, and had to flee all the way. Gong Sun's strategy in this battle was bitter first and then sweet, with half of his elite symbol riders lost, Guo Liang almost died in battle, and he himself was injured, so he attached great importance to the outcome of this battle.

  All the way to pursue, pursued to the place where the battle took place in the morning. There was still a faint bloodstain on the ground, he knew it wasn't his but Guo Liang's. Anyway, after the enemy and Fu Bing were killed, they would all turn to ashes and disappear, leaving no blood behind. Gong Sun Ce, who was slightly exhausted, was even more furious, leading the Fu cavalry to kill even more fiercely and violently!

  In the mountainous highway in the northwest, Gongsun Zan showed his mighty power, killing enemies like cutting grass. Gan Ning, who was heading west along the expressway, also didn't slow down and arrived at the second county town that blocked the road by noon. He couldn't help but think of the difficulties he had when attacking the first county town, when he only had fifty symbolic soldiers under him and was trapped in a building in the county town.

  Desperate Gan Hai inserted the flag of Qin into the ground to save his life. The awakened 3,000-4,000-strong army of Qin was slaughtered by less than 1,000 defenders in the county city! It's worth noting that the newly awakened military soul is not strong and has no order, one by one has not yet drilled out of the soil layer, and was beheaded by the surrounding defenders, dying extremely miserably.

  This also made the military achievements of Guan Yu after the war shrink by half, and the commander of the Qin army in the county town didn't have a good face for Guan Yu. Not to mention sending him armor, even food and grass were only given in limited quantities, nothing else!

  This time, Guan Hai's luck was not bad. There were very few defending troops in the county town. He led his 100 elite soldiers and launched a desperate attack before the main force of the county returned. They managed to wake up the Qin army, but facing their own forces that were twice as large, the main force retreated. However, Guan Hai couldn't be happy about it. Although he was promoted to the sixth rank of Daifu, his elite soldiers didn't increase much.

  What's more important is that the main force of the retreating army just blocked his way west, and he had to get rid of this mob. Even the Qin army in the county would have to consider it for half a day, let alone him, Gan Qi? In order to increase the number of soldiers under his command, he began to covet the villages around the county town.

  Chang'an saw several major historical dynasties fight in succession, first the Sui army retreated north, then the Zhou army retreated east, leaving behind the Tang and Han armies to engage in a fierce battle. Each occupied half of the city, occasionally attacking and killing each other, but neither could gain the upper hand. It was only a matter of who had more reinforcements and who made more mistakes, both missing out on the initial golden period of development.

  Other historical capitals were the same, and the most violent was Yanjing. The Ming army joined forces with other small countries to form a loose alliance with Liao, Yuan, Qianjin, and Houjin, making it difficult to distinguish between friend and foe. Interestingly, the chaotic army around Yanjing joined forces with the Ming army, launching a ubiquitous pincer movement against the Hu-Di alliance. The most ruthless were not these military souls, but a young general who inherited the legacy of Qi Jiguang - Lu Yan

  The vast region south of the Yangtze River, the three main forces of Chu, Han and Wu were mutually strangling each other, while smaller forces such as Jin, Chen, Liang and Song, as well as some remnants of the Ming army, continued to stir up trouble for the three main forces from time to time, also fighting fiercely.

  In the Jiangnan region, it is impossible not to mention a resistance army of the original imperial forces. They fought against the military soul from that cruel night until dawn, and the remaining troops spread the news that ancient weapons could kill the military soul ghosts. This caused the surrounding imperial remnants to flock to surrender, but unexpectedly, a fire broke out due to the struggle for military power, which was happening everywhere, making it not seem unusual.

  Unlike other places where power is contested, this time the reason for the contest is because of a woman. They say she's just a girl. On the night of the full moon, when the moonlight had just appeared, she led her father's guards to seize the largest museum in the city. Her father was a legendary military leader, a thorough and ruthless power holder.

  At night, her father was about to scold her when he received the highest instructions from the Yanjing side. Then this girl immediately said something that made the powerful teacher tongue-tied. Thinking of his extraordinary daughter since childhood, the teacher immediately ordered the guards to equip these ancient weapons just looted from the museum.

  Afterwards, the issue of contention itself was not big, his father had prestige to command the court to resist the army, but he couldn't bear to give his own daughter to that group of anonymous scientific madmen. In order to get this girl for research purposes, this military commander of three generations was marginalized, and later died in battle, and the direct lineage troops became a remnant of defeated soldiers.

  When this group of scientific lunatics went to find the girl, they found that she had been rescued by her father's guards and was gone. Following the clues, the newly appointed commander launched a massive pursuit of the girl! He also wanted to know why the girl was so prescient, and another reason was that he wanted to win people's hearts. Those mad scientists had already sent him to heaven to discuss Newton's first, second, and third laws with God.

  Gongsun Zan had forced the enemy to surrender, and the sky was already beginning to darken. At the same time, downstream of the Yangtze River, three fishing boats were rowing northwards towards the northern shore. The rowers were all robust men, each wearing iron armor, their muscles tense and bulging, sweat dripping from their exposed skin as they strained at the oars.

  "Uncle, the pursuing soldiers are getting closer and closer!" A young man with a wooden board-like face walked into the cabin, holding a snowflake knife, and said to a middle-aged man with one arm.

  The middle-aged man with one arm, the gauze wrapped around his severed left arm was still seeping blood. His dark face, weathered from wind and sun, looked somewhat pale. He stared at the woman sitting in the main seat, turned his head to the young man and said: "That scoundrel Ye has no intention of giving up! I was in the same new recruit company as him back then. Whatever he's thinking, I can see right through it even from hundreds of meters away! He wants to capture Xiaoying alive? Even if I die, I won't let him have his way!"

  The young man clearly misunderstood the middle-aged man's intention, and suddenly raised his knife to stand in front of the woman with a sorrowful face. He glared at the middle-aged man with a cold tone, full of murderous intent: "You dare to lay hands on Xiaoying, don't blame me for killing you first!"

  A middle-aged man with a bitter smile on his face scolded the girl named Xiaoying, "You little rascal, I'm your uncle! Who do you think you are? My intention is that he, surnamed Ye, wants to find Xiaoying. Even if I die, I won't let him have his way!"

  However, the middle-aged man was very satisfied with his nephew's loyalty and continued to say: "Our family has been grateful to Xiaoying's family since my father's generation. Three generations have received kindness, so we should repay it for three generations. If you were a bit smarter, I would also be at ease!"

  The young man looked suspiciously at his uncle, sat down beside him with a gloomy tone: "Xiao Dao betrayed me, I only trust Xiao Ying, others, including myself, cannot be trusted!"

  "We, the Ye and Lu families, are the shield and sword of the Xiao family. The sword has betrayed its master and will eventually be broken! Our shield will not abandon its master unless it is discarded, and we will block all disasters for our master until we shatter! Don't waste any more words, go and pass on my orders: divide the fleet into three groups and have them head in different directions to distract those wild dogs!"

  "In front of us is a tributary of the Wujang River, we'll move forward along the tributary, when we reach the shore, you and Xiaoying will get off, while I'll take them to make another round." The middle-aged man with one arm spoke in a cold tone, things were far from being that simple.

  The young man didn't want to bother with how his uncle got away either, in his opinion, there weren't many people under the sky who could trap their own uncle, even if he had lost an arm.

  "As expected, those with the surname Ye are indeed suspicious and won't let go of any oversight." The middle-aged man exited the cabin, at which point the sky had already darkened. Looking back at the pursuing fleet, more than half were gone, and only a few blurry ship silhouettes could be seen in the distance.

  "Take Xiaoying to the northwest, go to Xiaoying's mother's house! Her several uncles have strong vitality and should still be alive!" The middle-aged man said, saluting his nephew with a military salute. The young man in diving gear, holding a girl in thickened diving suit, looked at his uncle, didn't say anything, and jumped off the boat together.

  A middle-aged man with one arm gazed at the splashing water, ran to the side of the boat, and the dark water surface was undulating without any trace, he felt slightly relieved.