Chapter 44: The Decisive Battle of Tongguan

  "Finally caught up with this big show!" Ma Cheng had already changed into the Shanwen armor sent by Gongsun Zan, and was now fiercely commanding his troops to launch a desperate attack on Gongsun Zan's symbol array.

  "Take your men and get out of here quickly, or I'll destroy everything you own!" In the dark of night, soldiers on both sides were fighting for their lives, while the two commanders stood behind the lines, shouting nonsense at each other.

  "Impossible! The power to command them was granted by Commander Song, if he falls, I'll lose the authority to command these troops! If we can't save Commander Song, I'll be finished!"

  "In that case, I'll help you one last time! Remember, Qin's army will unify the northwest sooner or later, don't be a fool who tries to stop a chariot with bare arms!" Gongsun Zan secretly manipulated his troops to open up a gap, and Ma Cheng hastily led his elite Liangzhou soldiers forward along the gap.

  "Gao Shun, except for Ma Cheng, the rest of the enemy troops were beheaded!" Gongsun Zan stroked his chin whiskers, his eyes shining brighter in the dark night.

  "Yes!" Gao Shun turned around and left, gathering the surrounding ambush troops, and launched a sudden attack on Ma Cheng and his 200 old Liao soldiers who had just arrived at the camp gate.

  He pulled out a cigarette, Gong Sun Ce lit it and took a drag. In this battle, as long as there were no other Huang Que, the biggest winner would be Gong Sun Ce himself, followed by Ma Cheng, and Song Pei who neither won nor lost. All the losers were people who had lost their lives. These people existed in all three camps, making up the largest proportion.

  "Soul is extinguished!" Looking at the five or six days of following himself, the three moves and two styles were cut into a withered gray by the Trapping Heaven Soldier. Many Trapping Heaven Soldiers still stretched out a middle finger to him before leaving. Ma Cheng's heart was extremely angry, and he roared wildly: "Despicable! How can you be so despicable!"

  Ma let out a long sigh and asked, "What does he mean?"

  "The master's intention, Marquis Hou should be able to understand." Gao Shun turned around and led the Trapping Array Heavenly Soldiers back to Gong Sun Ce. His biggest responsibility now was not to charge into battle, but to protect Gong Sun Ce's safety. After all, Gong Sun Ce had not fully grown up yet; in terms of martial skills, Gui Mian Qing Shan could heavily injure him; in terms of military strategy and combat, An Meng that little girl even had more potential than Gong Sun Ce.

  "Who knows what he's thinking! He cut off my power base in one breath and still has the nerve to say it's for my own good?!" Ma Cheng thought about it and suddenly understood. In an instant, he burst into a loud scolding: "You greedy bastard, didn't I give you half of my gold and silver?! Didn't I just give you experience for free?!"

  "His face must be very interesting, and there's no need to act anymore. Kill all of Song Pei's men, then let him and Ma Cheng leave."

  "Alright!" Gao Shun once again led his troops in a retreat, leaving behind Gong Sun Zan's army, which was still shrouded in smoke.

  "Do you want to kill your friend? Do you need me to take care of it?" The ghost-faced green shirt suddenly appeared beside Gong Sun Ce again, and throughout this battle, Gong Sun Ce had no idea how the ghost-faced green shirt disappeared, what he was doing, or how he could appear in such an unconventional way.

  "I want to kill him, and I also want to uncover your mask and see your true face!" Gong Sun Ce said as he shifted his body, making his posture more suitable for battle. He clearly showed that he was on guard against the Ghost Face Green Shirt, who simply shook his head silently in response.

  "Why don't you just kill him? I've heard that what you hate the most is trouble, so wouldn't it be better to eliminate the trouble at its root?"

  "I hate trouble because I'm not familiar with it, and dealing with unfamiliar things is a waste of time. If you're familiar with it, all kinds of troubles are interesting games. Games should be played well, and the basic rules should be followed, even if I have the ability to break the rules into pieces."

  Gongsun Ce and Gui Mian Qing Shan chatted with each other, while in the military camp, all of Song Pei's men were killed, leaving only Ma Cheng still fighting desperately. He had to fight desperately because this group of heavenly soldiers was clearly going all out, his body already having several wounds.

  Fortunately, no bones were broken, only flesh wounds. But the appearance was too miserable, the whole body was stained with blood, and it looked very tragic. The surrounding ambushers suddenly retreated like a tide, and Gong Sun Ce's voice came: "You can go, I don't want to kill you."

  "I'll thank you heavily another day!" Ma Cheng left these words behind, leaning on his long spear, limping away one step at a time, blood dripping into the wet mud, and soon disappeared.

  "Thanks to General Hengye for sparing my life, I will repay you heavily in the future!" Song Pei also left immediately. If he didn't leave, and waited until Ma Cheng was far away, Gong Sun Ce might change his mind.

  "It's still a dead duck virtue, rather die than change my words!" Gong Sun Ce's heart was empty and did not know whether what he had done that night was right or wrong. With confusion, he annihilated the remaining soldiers in Chongxin County, revived the Qin army's morale, and then took a long sleep.

  "How could Big Brother fall ill?" Guo Liang asked, arriving at Gong Sun Ce's bedroom after dawn, full of puzzlement. Since they had obtained the military legacy, their physical constitution had been constantly strengthened, and their recovery ability was extremely strong, how could they possibly fall ill?

  "What's wrong? Bring them all here?" Gong Sun Ce had only slept for a while, but his face seemed to have been scraped off a layer of flesh, and he looked gaunt.

  "A small accident occurred, and Xiao Na ran away. Everyone else brought back the goods, but only half of the gold and silver were missing, all the other tents and carts were intact! Guo Liang's tone was filled with anger towards Xiao Na, his words laced with a heavy accent, which caught Gong Sun Ce's attention."

  Kuang Liang handed a note to Gong Sun Ce, who glanced at it and crumpled it into a ball, shredding it into pieces. His tone was icy: "Your classmates are really thoughtful, aren't they? She actually wants to follow Ma Cheng to mix things up? I'm looking forward to seeing how Ma Cheng will deal with her."

  "This person, whether man or woman, as long as desire overwhelms reason, will always do some absurd things. Her affairs don't need to be managed anymore, wait until next time and encounter Ma Cheng again, it's not too late to talk!" Gong Sun Ce didn't have much anger, just smiled that little Na girl was too silly and naive.

  Xiao Na is the short-haired girl who has been by Li Jing An's side. Perhaps seeing her two close friends' identities change, while she remains unchanged. She directly gave up on Gongsun Ce and Guo Liang, first going to find Liu Wei, but Liu Wei directly sent her away; then she went to find Du Yuan Zheng, but Du Yuan Zheng was gentle and only tactfully told her that he likes Lolita and has someone in his heart.

  As for the god general Gao Shun, Li Ziqi and Jiang Peng these two surrendered generals, although they all have a not low status, but Xiaona's taste is not so heavy. There is still one Chumengmeng, she doesn't even dare to come up with any courage. Chumengmeng would invite the ghost girl to dance every night to help with the wine excitement, it has long been a well-known secret.

  She saw Ma Cheng when she was in distress, a dull-headed youth with potential only slightly inferior to Gong Sun's. She didn't dare bid farewell to Gong Sun and the others face-to-face, so she left a note behind and slipped into a large trunk filled with gold and silver. She was taken away by Ma Cheng in a daze, seemingly hidden in some mountain cave. She should be grateful that it wasn't because of the heavy rain, according to Ma Cheng's character, he would have buried everything underground...

  She knew a lot about Gong Sun Ce's internal affairs, which was very deadly! What's even more deadly is that she ran to Ma Cheng, and Ma Cheng was ruthlessly calculated by Gong Sun Ce. He couldn't say he hated Gong Sun Ce, but at least he had some resentment.

  "Ma Cheng was given a good scolding by me, and for a short time, he won't have the strength to come looking for trouble. As time goes on, I'll be an existence that's even harder for him to shake off. These are all small matters, there's something big that needs you to take care of." Gong Sun Ce pointed at two bamboo tubes on the table beside him, and Guo Liang turned his head to look over.

  Gongsun Ce said, "There are two letters. One is for Li Si, the Magistrate of Xianyang, and the other is for my family. In addition to the letters, I have also prepared some snacks, so please take them with you."

  "I've been uneasy at home, so I'll take ten of the Trapping Heaven Soldiers with you to Xianyang." Gong Sun Ce couldn't help but think of Xue Ling after seeing Ma Cheng, that little girl who looked just like Pang Fei Yan. It had been a long time since they last communicated, and he didn't know how she was doing. He felt a pang of longing in his heart, as if it was just a simple longing.

  "Shall we set off now?"

  "In three days, it's enough to go and come back. After you return, we'll start attacking Pingliang County City. Now, let's first stabilize the surrounding areas, so that we can make big strides forward later!" Gong Sun Ce nodded and said, Guo Liang indicated that he understood. Carrying two bamboo tubes, he set off immediately, and soon Gong Sun Ce heard a group of horses neighing, the sound of horseshoes fading into the distance.

  "My lord, the military advisor says he has an important matter to report." A guard outside the door inquired.

  Gongsun Ce rolled his eyes weakly, as the old man had too many things to do. He was now anxious and didn't have the heart to deal with things, yet they all came to ask him about every little thing. Was it that he hadn't delegated power thoroughly enough, or was it that he used to be too hands-on in everything?

  "What brings Ah Meng here?"

  Although Chu Mengmeng called Gong Sun Ce "master", he felt it was the same as calling him "brother", only that calling him "master" fit the atmosphere better. So, in front of Gong Sun Ce, Chu Mengmeng's attitude was still very casual, and he started nibbling on the crispy pastries on the table by himself.

  He gnawed and said: "It's about the intelligence inside Pingliang Prefecture, I just processed Song Pei's military documents and saw that there was still unburnt intelligence information."

  As Chu Mengmeng introduced, Gong Sun Ce frowned and fell into deep thought.

  Dingnan Army was originally a military unit, and Tuoba Sigu was appointed as the Dingnan Military Governor for suppressing the Huang Chao Rebellion on behalf of the Tang Dynasty. He was also granted the surname Li, and from then on, the Li family hereditarily held the position of Dingnan Military Governor. The Dingnan Army became the private army of the Li family, and with the political title of Military Governor, the Li family prospered.

  The Tang Dynasty collapsed, and during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of great chaos, the Li family still held the Dingnan Army, occupying a region, with the name of the regime also being the Dingnan Army. In the end, they surrendered to the Song Dynasty at the beginning of the Song Dynasty, becoming one of the strongest generals in the northwest border army of the Song Dynasty.

  Later, Emperor Song of the Great Xia offered wine to the generals of the Forbidden Army and successfully took away their military power. Then he wanted to summon Li's family to the capital and take back the military power of the northwest border army.

  Li Jiqian, the leader of the Li family, rebelled against the Song Dynasty and defeated them, gaining independence from the Song. He then sought help from the Liao State, which held off the Song. Later, Li Jiqian's grandson, Li Yuanhao, declared himself emperor, establishing the tripartite situation of the Song, Liao, and Xia states.