Chapter Thirty-Two: The Three Men in Green

  Gongsun Zan rushed along the highway, breaking through the fleeing White Wave army and continuing to advance. In the next small village and nearby town, he planted the great Qin flag. The awakened military spirit blocked this wave of white waves with him, and the white waves had pursuers behind them, no way forward, no war heart, low morale, and surrendered one after another.

  The rabbit was anxious and wanted to bite people, let alone the tens of thousands of military souls? Gong Sun Ce accepted the surrender of this batch of military souls, only to feel that the tiger token in his arms suddenly became hot, and when he looked again at the military souls kneeling on the ground, they were scattered with a faint red and yellow color, forming an orange cloud that merged into his brow.

  The surface of the Tiger Token cracked again, turning into a silver white color. The entire token was covered in golden patterns, with each pattern being lit up, emitting a faint golden glow under the clear and serene night sky. Under the illumination of the glow, the surrendered military souls underwent a huge transformation. The weak military souls turned into farmers wearing short shirts, while the strong military souls transformed into Qin army halberdiers. Even stronger military souls were transformed by the Tiger Token into token soldiers. Originally, the token cavalry also had promotions, and the token generals were promoted in sequence. Gong Sun Ce knew that in this battle, his strength had increased exponentially!

  A Qin army commander who had revived from the surrounding towns saw the change in the tiger tally, and with a face full of envy, he clasped his fists in congratulations: "Congratulations to Lord Gong Sun on being promoted to the rank of Gong Cheng!" The tone was filled with envy, just now, Gong Sun Ce was still at the same sixth-grade official Da Fu as him, but now Gong Sun Ce had surpassed the seventh-grade Gong Da Fu and became Gong Cheng, only one level away from the rank of General!

  "Minister Cheng will pay his respects to General Gongsun!" Cheng Shen, clad in exquisite fish-scale armor, knelt on one knee and saluted with a fist. Gongsun Zan turned his head to look, seeing row upon row of officers kneeling behind Cheng Shen, some familiar faces and others new ones he didn't recognize.

  Looking closer, behind Cheng Shen were eight Qujiang, followed by twenty or so Tunjiang, and then a team of fifty or sixty people! Most of the original Fu riders had been promoted to officers, and the remaining ones were all elite, standing in the last row.

  Gongsun Zan showed his intention, and the tiger tally would soon transform over 10,000 surrendered soldiers. The quality of these soldiers was not high, with more than 8,000 being transformed into ordinary civilians, forming eight units of a thousand people each. Over a thousand of the strongest soldiers were transformed into symbol soldiers, forming twelve units of a hundred people each, waiting for Symbol General to receive them. The remaining ones were converted into Qin army, five hundred people per unit, a total of five units!

  "Cheng Shen, Fu Qi returns to me directly, you command 500 halberd soldiers as the vanguard!" Gong Sun Ce couldn't bear to let Fu Qi die in battle, planning to keep him by his side. Later, when they won a few more battles, he would let them gain some experience. Because he discovered something very interesting: the Tiger Tally strictly controlled the number of soldiers, but seemed to have no limit on the number of generals.

  At this moment, his talisman could fully support a command system for 2,000 people, but his talisman army only had 1,500 people. He thought that the talisman soldiers could be trained slowly, but there must be more talisman generals. The talisman generals were strong in combat and had consciousness, carrying them with him could become a sharp sword. At critical moments, they could turn the tide of battle.

  Cheng Shen received the military order, selected two Qujiang, five Tunjiang, and eleven Duizhang to go ahead and set up his own vanguard department. In the Qin army, a commander of 500 people can have their own personal soldiers, which is one-tenth of the size of the lower-level units. The shortage of Hu Fu will be supplemented. The consumed soul energy will be paid by the main general of the personal soldiers, that is, Cheng Shen himself.

  Unfortunately, Gong Sun Ce did not have such benefits. In a certain sense, all the Yu Bing were Gong Sun Ce's personal troops. However, the final command was not in his hands, but belonged to Da Qin. The Yu Bing were not his personal troops, and he also had actual personal troops, which accounted for one-tenth of the army under his command, that is, the Tian Bing. But he couldn't find the war souls to create the Tian Bing, nor did any divine generals surrender to him.

  A god like Du Yuanzheng is not loyal to him, but to the Du clan. Whoever holds the Du clan in his hands will be served by him. The god that Gongsun Zan needs is one who is only loyal to himself, such as Gao Shun's loyalty to Lü Bu. A god who always puts Gongsun Zan's interests first, not just a freeloader who comes to gain experience together.

  On the return journey, Gong Sunzhi's troops were reorganized: Cheng Shen's vanguard had 550 men; Bai Ta's light crossbowmen had 200 men in two squads; the remaining three halberd squads each had 200 men, and there was also a halberd garrison with 100 men. Finally, there were Gong Sunzhi's personal symbol guards, led by Qujiang Feng.

  "After this battle, I already have the strength to sweep through the surrounding counties! And with the promotion to the eighth rank of Gong Cheng's title, I can mobilize the surrounding Qin army! Commanding thousands of horses and soldiers is no longer a dream, and I bid farewell to relying solely on talismanic warfare. It seems that the eighth rank title corresponds to the military position of miscellaneous number school lieutenant, and I can have my own title and military flag!" Gong Sun Ce was exhausted after the great battle, even his horse under him seemed listless and dry.

  But he was indeed exceptionally excited, for what men in the world strive for is nothing but fame, wealth, power, luxurious houses, beautiful women and precious horses. First and foremost, they seek fame; once they have fame, won't everything else come rolling in?

  With his own "Gongsun" great banner fluttering, countless fierce generals and elite troops followed the flag's direction, attacking cities and seizing land, attacking without fail, winning every battle! Gongsun Zan was determined to make his great banner a harbinger of doom for his enemies, causing countless enemy soldiers to falter at the sight of the flag, until they collapsed in disarray!

  After the great war, Gong Sun Ce was exhausted and his horse was also weak and dry.

  "Report!" A guard rushed from the front army, interrupting Gongsun Ce's daydream. Gongsun Ce woke up from his daydream, and this guard suddenly pulled the reins to stop the horse in front of him, clasped his fists and reported: "Lord Gongsun, there is someone blocking the way ahead! He says he has an old relationship with you, Lord, and has come to join forces!"

  Gongsun Ce couldn't recall having any relatives or friends in this area, but he had to go and see for himself. Because the Yu soldiers and the Qin army were like ghosts, they only looked at people with abilities differently. Others, such as ordinary civilians without combat power, were just moving spoils of war in their eyes, no different from goods.

  Under the moonlight, Gong Sun Ce arrived at the vanguard department. The road still had the lingering dust of the dead souls, mixed with wet mud, making it look particularly disgusting. The soldiers under Cheng Shen's command were on high alert, forming a halberd array around three men in green robes.

  Facing an army of five hundred halberdiers, the three men were shocked. The man wearing a bronze mask and a green shirt was the most surprised, he still remembered that Gong Sun Zan only had two hundred symbolic riders, in the blink of an eye, less than a day's time, there were thousands of troops, he felt a sense of powerlessness and frustration.

  "I am Gong Sun Ce, what brings the three of you to find me?" The halberd-wielding soldiers parted to clear a path, and Gong Sun Ce dismounted his horse, holding his spear as he walked out of the formation. He saw that all three men wore green robes, but each had distinct differences: the man on the left wore a bronze mask, with a bamboo umbrella and long sword crossed behind his back; the man on the right wore a conical hat, leaning on a long spear; while the man in the middle wore a green turban, with a head of long hair tied back, and had a delicate face like a doll's, with a scholar's short sword at his waist and an embroidered folding fan in his hand.

  "Today, the three of us were blocked by the White Wave Army and had to flee up the mountain. We saw Lord Gong Sun annihilate an enemy ten times our size. I was deeply impressed, like a burst dam on the Yellow River that cannot be stopped! So, I came especially to make friends with you." The young man in the middle said, fanning himself with his folding fan, and as he spoke, the pattern on the fan suddenly changed from flowers to a naked woman, making Gong Sun's eyes widen.

  "I also like making friends, having a few more friends is always beneficial." Gong Sun Ce knew that this world was already chaotic, and the world wasn't a place where one person could survive alone, so he was very interested in making friends.

  "Yes, a fence with three stakes, a good man with three helpers. I wonder what Mr. Gong Sun thinks of us three? I am Chu Mengmeng, who inherited the legacy of Gui Dao Guo Jia. This is Gui Jiang Li Jin, a guardian sent by Guo Jia to protect my younger brother's life. And that is Qing Shan Gege, a ghost swordsmen, whose lifelong wish is to eliminate all ghosts in the world." The young man calling himself Chu Mengmeng introduced himself and his companions, with a somewhat humble attitude and sincere tone.

  Gongsun Zhan was slightly puzzled and said, "What a coincidence! I am the successor of Lü Bu from the Three Kingdoms. We are all from the same lineage as the Three Kingdoms. Why are you three all Ghost Dao? Are all Ghost Dao wearing green shirts? Where is the heir of the Military Family?" The heir of the Military Family has single-soldier combat power in the early stage and heavenly soldier warfare in the later stage, with great potential.

  For Gongsun Ce's three questions, Chu Mengmeng shook the folding fan and explained: "It's not all about ghostly ways. Qing Shan Gege is a ghost warrior, with high single-body combat ability, worthy of being called Bairen Zhan! Ghost General Li Jin is a ghost soldier, with single-body combat ability inferior to Qing Shan Gege, but he can command the ghost army."

  To match Chu Mengmeng's words, Qing Shan walked to the roadside in front of a green stone, suddenly drew his sword, and Gong Sun Ce only caught a glimpse of his sword light, without even seeing how it entered the scabbard. Then he heard a soft sound, that head-sized green stone was cut in two, with a smooth cutting surface reflecting the moonlight. It made Gong Sun Ce secretly shocked, as he could also chop a head-sized green stone with one spear, but couldn't do it like Qing Shan's effortless and smooth move!

  The ghost general Li Jin took out a palm-sized golden token with a crimson "order" character on it. He turned around and shouted loudly at the empty space behind him: "Ghost army, appear!"

  Gongsun Zan only saw the empty land emitting large amounts of fog, a vast expanse of white. Under the moonlight, the white fog churned and rolled, and from within it, black silhouettes gradually emerged. Suddenly, the white fog dispersed, revealing ten rows of ghostly soldiers, each row consisting of ten men, standing in a neat square formation.

  Look again, and see these ghostly soldiers each wearing fish-scale armor, with iron helmets on their heads, and a one-foot-long black plume tied to the top of the helmet. With swords at their waists and long spears in their hands, they stand quietly and solemnly, like statues. Only the gentle night breeze makes the hundred black plumes slightly quiver.

  "What a magnificent army, far surpassing my own symbol troops!" Gong Sun Ce's sigh was to no avail. Chu Meng heard this and simply shook his head, saying: "Big Brother Gong Sun only knows one side but not the other. The ghostly army can traverse mountains and rivers as if walking on flat land. However, it has a huge limitation - it can only appear at night. Otherwise, we three wouldn't have been forced to hide in the mountains by the White Wave Army today."

  Chu Mengmeng saw Gong Sun Ce nodding, and continued: "I am the purest ghostly way, can cultivate spies." He swung his hand with a folding fan, shook it towards the empty space beside him, and said softly: "Colorful butterfly, come out!"

  He saw a faint light emanating from the folding fan in his hand, and the breeze generated by the fan seemed to blow this mass of light onto the empty ground. As soon as the light landed, a faint figure began to take shape. It was a woman, about 28 years old, with a beautiful face, lightly made up, slender and elegant, wearing a simple yet elegant silk robe. Gong Sun Ce immediately took a liking to the woman who was gradually materializing before his eyes, because her phoenix-like eyes and willow eyebrows were extremely similar to those of the woman he had been thinking about day and night.

  "I, Caixiang, have seen Lord Gongsun!" The woman spoke softly and gently, looking at Gongsun Ce with a hint of fear. Gongsun Ce nodded slightly, but before he could speak, the woman transformed into a ray of light and merged into Chumu's folding fan. On the blank folding fan, another imperial concubine image appeared, and Gongsun Ce looked over to see that the woman in the fan seemed to be winking at him.

  "A rare beauty, now that I've said it, what do you want? All I have for now are these token soldiers under my command, everything else depends on the rewards from Great Qin." Gong Sun Ce knew that the three of them wouldn't come to his presence without a reason, showing off their skills.

  "Brother Gong Sun is indeed straightforward, now it's a chaotic world. As the inheritors of the Ghost Path, we can't establish our own sect, only your military and Confucian families can conquer the world. We just want to find a place to settle down and follow you to achieve some merits. Our Ghost Path cultivation can't be separated from worldly fame and fortune. Please, Lord Gong Sun, fulfill our wishes." Chu Mengmeng said, bowing her head and clasping her fists.

  Li Jin behind him bowed his head and clasped his fists, while Qing Shan hesitated for a moment before following suit.