Chapter 63: Gong Sun

  On the night of September 15th, in the county town of Wushan, a vacant lot was lit up with bonfires, on which cows and sheep were being roasted. Under the moonlight, Gong Sun Ce drank wine with Guo Liang and Chu Mengmeng. In the center of the vacant lot, a group of young women wearing white robes were seriously performing a sword dance.

  After three rounds of wine, Gong Sun Ce's mood was bad, he waved his hand and this group of women immediately retreated.

  "There are my relatives in Wushan County, although the relationship is distant, but they have a good relationship with my parents, so I come and go frequently. When I was young, I often came here to play, and later when I grew up, I also came here three or four times. It can be said that I am quite familiar with this place, but today I almost didn't recognize it!"

  The county town of Wushan was surrounded by mountains. When he led his troops along the mountain road and turned to see the county town in the valley, Gong Sun Ce lost his mind for a moment.

  The entire county town, except for a stone castle built by the military on a mountain, was desolate and full of ruins. The original Wushan County was cramped and prosperous due to its geographical location, but now there were only piles of rubble and rows of white bones.

  "This is a piece of jade I picked up at Yuanyang Gorge back then, it was naturally round and I gave it to my cousin's younger sister. Today, when I searched their house, I only found this one, everything else is gone." Gong Sun Ce took out an egg-sized jade bead from his pocket.

  The jade bead is composed of two colors, emerald green and deep red, with a mottled color. The texture is smooth and round, shining with a unique beauty under the moonlight.

  Gongsun Ce had seen places along the way that were even more miserable than this, but they couldn't stir his nerves, none of them gave him a shock as great as Wushan County.

  "I'm afraid that when we arrive at Mountain County tomorrow, all I'll see is a desolate wasteland." Gong Sun Ce spoke to himself, expressing the rare fear in his heart.

  On the second day, General Yokono set out again. The closer he got to his hometown, the more depressed he became. Many of the places he remembered from his childhood had become ruins.

  Inside Shanren County, there are many rivers. Standing at the intersection of three forks, Gong Sun Ce alone looked east along the river. In a place with many mountains, such intersections of three forks are also very common. Three highways converge here, two rivers merge and flow east, this small river is one of the tributaries of the Wei River.

  "Has the county town been taken?" His voice was hoarse, and he had not eaten or drunk anything since last night's drinking bout.

  "Ma Chao has already taken the county, and is setting up a household registry. According to the information given by Master, he is identifying Master's relatives." Chu Mengmeng had received this news for a long time, but didn't go disturb Gong Sun Ce.

  "Pass the order to all departments, rest here for now. Eat your fill and make sure you're in high spirits!" Gong Sun Ce turned around and gave the order, then jumped down into the river, washing his face with the icy cold water, using the river water to wipe away the dust on his armor as well as the scars that would never be erased.

  Gongsun Zan finished washing, and the rest of his troops rushed down, jumping into the river to clean their armor. The clear river water began to become murky. Especially after the soldiers who had been in the battle cleaned their armor, the river water flowing past them all turned dark red.

  In another three-forked mouth five kilometers downstream of the river, three stone walls surrounded a small city inside the three-forked mouth. A group of women who were washing rice by the river suddenly shouted loudly: "Someone's coming! Something has happened upstream!"

  The women jumped onto the highway one by one, gazing anxiously at the river water with a dark red hue. Looking at the rice soaked in the river water, they were heartbroken. The town's reserves were not many, and the rice that had been soaked in the river water mixed with human blood could only be fed to domestic fowl, completely wasted.

  "Fourth brother, go and see what's going on down there!" A bespectacled thin middle-aged man said to a young man halfway up the mountain.

  This young man's face resembles Gong Sun Ce's slightly. The biggest difference is that he has double eyelids, while Gong Sun Ce has single eyelids.

  "Dad, the river is full of blood! It's endless!" At this time, another young man rushed to the middle of the mountain and said to the middle-aged man.

  His face was bad and very angry. The blood in the river would naturally not be animal, only human, and the village upstream might have been slaughtered by ghosts!

  This young man was as tall as Gong Sun Ce, with a face that was almost identical to his. The only difference was that his eyes were rounder than Gong Sun Ce's. Without thinking, he was Gong Sun Ce's older cousin, Gong Sun Huaiying.

  "Strike the bell!" The slender middle-aged man was naturally Gong Sun Ce's elder brother, Gong Sun Mo. He was a very principled businessman and could be said to be kind and generous. Whenever there were difficulties in the surrounding villages, people would seek his help. The prestige of the Gong Sun family in this village was also very high.

  The bell rang, and the villagers who heard the bell rushed back to the small town. A group of young people also took up their temporarily-made weapons, ready for battle. Those who dare to take up arms against ghosts are either heavenly soldiers or fools.

  "I hope our ancestors will bless us, Huaiying, you take the men down to guard. Huairen, your riding skills are good, go upstream and scout ahead. I hope all this won't be too bad." After finishing speaking, Gong Sunyan turned around and went up the mountain along the stone steps between the mountains, where their ancestors rested, he wanted to accompany them.

  "Fourth brother, if things don't go well, you just run and don't come back! The Gong Sun family can't be exterminated!" Gong Sun Huaiying whispered to Lao Si after they went down the mountain.

  Lao Si's words of gratitude were met with a slap in the face.

  "Eldest brother is dead, Fifth Brother, Sixth Brother, Eighth Brother, Ninth Brother and Little Tenth are all dead! Seventh Brother has been scared silly, Third Brother's life or death is unknown, I am unable to leave this place. The only one who can keep a root of incense for the family is you!" Gong Sun Huaiying said, turned around and left.

  "Second Brother!" The shout from Lao Si was completely ignored by Gong Sun Hua Ying.

  As Gong Sun Huai En rode out of the city alone, another young man said to Gong Sun Huai Ying: "I feel that something interesting might happen today, and it feels like a good thing."

  "I hope your crow's mouth is a bit more auspicious this time." Gong Sun Huaiying was quite helpless and also a little afraid of this friend who especially loved to make prophecies.

  "Smoke?" Lao Si climbed up the mountain slope, lying in the withered grass and gazing at the upper reaches of the Sanjiao River. He was stunned, he saw countless people wearing armor, holding weapons and surrounding the stove to eat.

  "Master, Li Jin said someone is spying on us." Chu Mengmeng suddenly walked up to Gong Sun Ce and said.

  "Get back here!"

  Before long, Li Jin led a horse back, on which a young man was bound with his hands behind him and a piece of cloth stuffed in his mouth, shouting "Woo...ya...ya" as he struggled to break free.

  Gongsun Ce burst out laughing and said, "Little ones, we're going to have meat tonight! Look at this thigh, it's strong and powerful, with a good bite, and not too greasy!" He patted Gongsun Huaien's thigh, scaring him into flailing about. His legs were tied together by Li Jin, making all his struggles useless.

  Gongsun Huaien almost wet his pants when he heard that these ghosts wanted to eat him. He thought of himself being beheaded with a knife, drained of blood and then...

  "Alright, with your little courage, take a look at who I am!" Gong Sun Ce stood in front of Gong Sun Huai En, revealing a mischievous grin. He pulled out the cloth ball stuffed into Gong Sun Huai En's mouth.

  "Third brother? No, you must be a ghost!"

  "You stupid thing, you used to be beaten by me so badly that you sucked your snot into your belly. Now you dare to pretend not to recognize your third brother?" Slapping Lao Si's face, Gong Sun Ce had a lewd and domineering expression.

  He was very mischievous when he was young, a complete little rascal. Any kid that he could beat up had to give him treats, otherwise they would be tormented by him.

  Lao Si naturally got into trouble, was scolded by Gong Sun Ce, and once stole something to eat. When he saw Gong Sun Ce passing by, he was so scared that he inhaled sharply, sucking the two strands of green snot hanging from his nose into his mouth.

  Anyway, with one breath, it's gone, snot can't get into the lungs, only into the stomach...

  "Third Brother?"

  "Hmm!"

  "Third Brother!"

  "Is everything okay at home?" Gong Sun Ce untied the rope and asked, Gong Sun Huai En's eyes turned red and he burst into loud wailing.

  Gongsun Ce took a deep breath, gestured for the people around him to leave, and dragged Lao Si up, bellowing: "You damn well better speak! What the hell is going on!"

  "They're dead, so many people are dead! So many monsters ate humans, one bite and they'd be reduced to bones in an instant, it was terrible. We drove the ghosts away, fortified the village, and now it's still safe."

  "Speak up, how many are left in our household?" Gong Sun Ce let out a relaxed breath, as long as the village was still under his control, at least his relatives wouldn't suffer too great of a loss.

  "Eldest uncle, second brother, I, Little Seven was scared silly, and also Little Rain, plus Third Brother." Fourth said, ticking off on his fingers one by one, suddenly bursting into laughter, quite madly: "Of our ten brothers, only three of us are left! Haha, do you know, Third Brother? Little Seven's behavior is really disgusting! Almost suffocated him to death!"

  "Third Brother, why have you come so late! If only you had arrived a little earlier, we would all be alive now! We would all be alive, how wonderful that would be!" Fourth Brother grabbed hold of Gong Sun's collar and shook him violently.

  He saw countless warriors around him, and he was also merged with the war soul. He could naturally feel that these countless warriors were not empty shells, and their combat capabilities were stronger than his.

  "If you had come a little earlier, we would all be alive and well, my parents wouldn't have died, Xia Ba wouldn't have died, and Xia Qi wouldn't have been scared stupid!" Xiao Si vented her emotions and fell softly to the ground, staring at the sky in silence.

  Gongsun Ce turned around and wiped away a tear. Xia Qi and Xia Ba were twins and both younger brothers of Xia Si.

  "Pass down the military order of Laozi!"

  "Search every inch of the surrounding thirty miles! Except for humans, I don't want any humanoid creatures to survive! Dig out those ghostly things and kill them all! Not a single one will be left, wipe them all out!!"

  "Yes!" Feeling the anger and killing intent in their master's heart, the gods quickly knelt down to receive orders. Without hesitation, they led their troops to kill across mountains and ridges.

  Gongsun Ce and others knew that some ghosts would hide in remote places, waiting for an opportunity to commit crimes.

  The gods understood that what they had to do now was to go to remote places to find those hidden ghosts, no matter where they came from or what they did, as long as they were killed.

  "Execute all the soldiers who surrendered in the county town!" Gong Sun Ce said, Chu Mengmeng quickly wrote a military order, and there were soldiers carrying a wooden box with a seal to Gong Sun Ce.

  Gongsun Ce took out the seal and stamped his name "General Gongsun of the Vast Wilderness" on the military order, which was still wet with ink.

  "Xiao Si, let's go home!" Gong Sun Ce mounted his horse. He now only wanted to settle his family and then hurry to the Western Regions. Maybe if he left a day earlier, the chances of his parents being alive would be greater.

  "So many troops!" Looking at Gong Sun Ce's army, dense and endless, marching along the country road, as far as the eye can see. Gong Sun Huaiying's face turned pale, her usual energetic and heroic complexion lost its color.

  "Haha, congratulations! Your family is prosperous and thriving, it's just a pity about your other brothers. Unfortunately, they don't have enough good fortune to enjoy the future glory and wealth!" The friend standing next to him burst out laughing.

  "I'm leaving, I'll come find you later, hope you can give me a meal to eat." After the friend finished speaking, he limped and walked away, disappearing from sight in an instant, leaving Gong Sun Huaiying very puzzled.

  When he turned around to look again, he saw the black-armored army with the banner of Gong Sun. He also saw Xiao Si and that old three who looked similar to him!

  "Haha, my Gongsun family is indeed blessed with good fortune!" Gong Sun Hua Ying also burst into loud laughter, the heroic and majestic sound of her laughter echoing back and forth between the three forks, wave after wave, lingering on for a long time.