Chapter 49: The General Who Pacified the West

  "I thought this battle would have some twists and turns, but I didn't expect that Li Sihao guy to actually lead his troops in a retreat!" Gong Sun Ce stood on the city wall, gazing out at the chaotic Pingliang Prefecture.

  The city unfolding before his eyes was huge, extremely large. But the core area was right under his feet, and other places were just crooked skyscrapers, various rusty cars lying on the road, iron street lamp posts mostly heavily rusted, broken in half.

  Looking at this boundless city, Chu Mengmeng felt very comfortable in his heart. Because at this moment, he was one of the few people who had the highest power to control this city.

  "Cities have become ruins, if the surrounding areas cannot produce enough food, many big cities will disappear." The original world's big cities were all built on economic and industrial foundations. In the future, big cities will only be established in strategic locations that are conducive to defense, with sufficient food supplies and convenient transportation routes nearby.

  "So when the Qin state grants fiefs and lands, they must choose a good place. I feel that the time for me to be granted land is not far away, and even before reaching the Jade Gate Pass, I may already be enfeoffed as a lord!"

  "The Lord's western expedition can be said to have won every battle. Expanding the territory, no one can compare. The story of buying a horse with a thousand pieces of gold is old-fashioned, but practical. I estimate that Qin will grant the Lord a county town, a village is too small, just the Lord's affiliated private slaves cannot make a living, and a county is too big, we do not have the strength to guard it yet." Chu Mengmeng has been studying this for a long time and also started thinking about how to recruit some Confucian successors.

  "The first time we captured the county town, there were no less than 2 million people here, mostly young and strong. If we don't sweep them up, I really can't rest assured. I'll assign Jiang Peng to you, and after the order in the city is restored, you go recruit some talents. One hundred blacksmiths, one hundred carpenters, fifty doctors, ten traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, all Western doctors with surgical expertise. Also, recruit other useful craftsmen to make up a total of three hundred people." Gong Sun Ce didn't want to discuss the matter of fiefs anymore. In fact, he had no choice but to accept the fate arranged by the Qin state and talk about it later.

  "I wonder how much they've collected, I'm really looking forward to it!" Chu Mengmeng suddenly pointed at the horse cart that Du Yuanzheng had escorted over and sighed. Gong Sun Ce was also very much looking forward to it, according to Zhu Ge's words, Li Si Gong had been hiding in Pingliang and refused to go out and plunder because, apart from lacking troops, the biggest reason was that he was searching for gold and silver treasures within the city. Now that they had taken down this city, these gold and silver belonged to them.

  As she was about to leave, Chu Mengmeng suddenly said: "Also, Master, this Pingliang Prefecture has tens of millions of people, and the number of women who survived is no less than one million, most of whom are young and beautiful. I need a batch for training. After all, I am the heir of the Ghost Sect, and my specialty is still intelligence analysis."

  "Alright, just arrange the number of people yourself, as long as it's not more than my troops." After hearing Gong Sun Ce's words, Chu Meng Meng was overjoyed. He finally wasn't a lone commander, and he finally had some men under him.

  On the city wall, Gong Sun Zan was alone. His heart felt empty and the joy of occupying the county town had been driven away by loneliness. Smoke was the best friend of a lonely man, and he started smoking again.

  "The landscape is like a painting, without your embellishment, it's just a painting! " A heavy punch hit the city wall, and Gong Sun Ce felt that he had wasted too much time. It has been half a month since the great change on August 15th. There are too many possible accidents during this period, and the longer the time drags on, the slimmer the chances become.

  He thought that after all his efforts, he would only end up with eternal separation. He thought he would go crazy. Everything now was based on his eagerness to return home. If this foundation collapsed, Gong Sun Ce dared not imagine what the outcome would be.

  Li Si-xiao's sudden withdrawal allowed the people of the county town, who had been enslaved for half a month, to thoroughly erupt. Without the military soul that could not be killed to suppress them, they desperately released the demons in their hearts and rampaged everywhere.

  After re-experiencing freedom, facing the sudden appearance of the Qin army, some attempted to escape, while others were confused and wanted to slaughter the Qin army. There were also those who set fires everywhere, attempting to perish together.

  "Gold, no less than three tons! Silver, about twelve tons! Diamonds and jewels are all here, almost crushing me to death!" Liu Wei slung a snakeskin bag over his shoulder, slammed it to the ground with a loud thud. He sat on the ground panting heavily, and also pulled open the mouth of the snakeskin bag.

  Gongsun Ce crouched down and picked up a handful of diamonds, rubbing them between his hands. The sound of the diamonds scraping against each other entered his ears, but in his heart, he didn't feel much joy. He tossed one into a snakeskin bag and said: "This is still my first time touching diamonds, it feels about the same as crystal glass. These things aren't very useful right now, keeping your life is more important than anything else. As long as you're alive, everything will be fine, but if you lose your life, everything is empty!"

  Order in the city was slowly restored, Chu Mengmeng gathered three hundred craftsmen and their few family members. At the same time, he also selected two hundred beautiful young women, each with a stunning appearance, although they were frightened and at a loss, but still unable to conceal their beauty.

  Zhuge Shuang also selected two hundred of the most satisfactory and robust ones, each merging with the war soul, standing in place, digesting the information of the war soul's inheritance. In front of them were piled up armor from the museum and Li Sikong, waiting for them to fully merge with the war soul before starting to arm themselves.

  Gao Shun also selected 300 reserve soldiers and made them temporary charioteers. Whenever the heavenly troops suffered losses, they could be replenished immediately.

  From Pingliang City, they rescued over a thousand people, and their families were about to reach two thousand. The family members couldn't follow the army, so Gong Sun Ce could only send them to Xianyang and hand them over to Xue Ling. Seeing that there was nothing else to plunder in the city, Gong Sun Ce grabbed the Qin army flag and inserted it into the ground.

  This time, it's not just the ground beneath our feet that's shaking, but even the celestial phenomena have undergone a slight change. In the sky, five-colored air currents are swirling, like five pythons, biting and devouring each other, with the black air current representing water virtue ultimately emerging victorious, transforming into a mysterious bird, letting out a long cry, and diving into the Great Qin flag.

  A giant, two meters five or six tall, crawled out of the ground, shaking off the mud all over his body, looking up at the sky, taking a deep breath, exhaling loudly, and narrowing his eyes in enjoyment. Gong Sun Ce and others looked up at this Qin general, feeling slightly shocked in their hearts, not expecting there to be such a tall general, it was simply like a giant Ming Yan.

  The giant Han general lowered his head and looked around, finally facing Gong Sun Ce with a fist in his hand: "General Gong Sun, I am Wei Di General Weng Zhong!"

  Gongsun Zan accepted the gift from Weng Zhong, and he felt the tiger tally in his bosom burning with heat. He knew that he would be promoted again. Although it was expected, he couldn't help but feel a surge of joy in his heart.

  He had no relation with Weng Zhong and nothing to say. After formally handing over the Pingliang County city to Weng Zhong, this conversation ended.

  Weng Zhong, originally a strongman during the Qin Shi Huang era, was named Ruan Weng Zhong. Legend has it that he was 1 zhang and 3 chi tall, with bravery unlike ordinary people. Qin Shi Huang ordered Weng Zhong to lead troops to garrison Lintao and resist the Northwestern Hu. He repeatedly achieved military merits, intimidating the Northwestern Hu Di.

  After Weng Zhong's death, Qin Shi Huang cast a bronze statue of him and placed it outside the Sima Gate of Xianyang Palace. When the Xiongnu people came to Xianyang, they saw the bronze statue from afar and thought it was the real Ruan Wengzhong, so they did not dare to approach.

  Later generations called the bronze or stone men standing in front of palaces, temples and tombs "Weng Zhong".

  Moreover, after Qin Shi Huang collected the weapons of the world, he cast twelve giant bronze statues, and Weng Zhong also had a connection with them. The twelve giant bronze statues were melted down by Dong Zhuo during the late Eastern Han period due to the court's financial deficit, and ten of them were cast into copper coins to alleviate the economic crisis. The other two were looted back and forth, and finally taken to Chang'an by Fu Jian of the Former Qin, where they were melted down. What a pity.

  After Weng Zhong left, Gong Sun Ce only understood who Weng Zhong was through the explanation of his subordinate generals. He didn't have any particular feelings towards Weng Zhong, and his only regret was that it's getting harder to get promoted. At first, military achievements could lead to promotion anywhere; later on, promotion only happened when reviving a fallen army soul; now, after receiving Weng Zhong's bow, he finally got promoted. It's likely that in the future, without an edict from the Xianyang side, he won't be able to get promoted.

  "Weidi General is a miscellaneous general, one level higher than my current position as Deputy General!" Gong Sun Ce played with the tiger tally in his hand, somewhat dissatisfied.

  He thought that he had captured the two counties of Jinhe and Xincheng, beheaded nearly 10,000 enemies in a row, and with this merit, he could be promoted to a higher military rank. Adding the great achievement of capturing Pingliang, he should have become a formal general, but unexpectedly, he was only promoted by one level!

  However, what made him slightly satisfied was that the number of Fu soldiers doubled to 4,000! The soul energy accumulated in the Tiger Talisman was immediately consumed, and batches of Fu soldiers were produced. The original officers were also promoted one after another, and a new Fu soldier system was established.

  The tiger tally's symbol horses were summoned again, with Cheng Shen as the first of the four great marshals, commanding 1,200 symbol cavalry; next were Bai Ta, Cao Teng and Li Gui, each commanding 1,200 symbol soldiers. Among them, one of Bai Ta's units had 300 sets of five-linked light crossbows.

  The number of troops under Fu Bing's command is four thousand, plus the personal soldiers of Fu Jiang, a total of four thousand eight hundred people, nearly five thousand! Under Gongsun Zan's command are the five generals: Gao Shun, Du Yuanzhen, Zhuge Shuang, Jiang Peng and Li Zixu. These are the one thousand heavenly soldiers, plus five hundred carters and three hundred craftsmen who follow the army, as well as two hundred female spies to be trained by Chu Mengmeng.

  After careful calculation, after Pingliang's battle, Gong Sun Ce's troops have doubled! From the original 3,000 to nearly 7,000 now.

  With more people, the combat capability is naturally stronger, but for Gongsun Zan's command ability, it is a great challenge. This challenge not only comes from battlefield command, but also from logistics and other aspects after marching.

  "Liu Wei, you take Jiang Peng and Li Ziqi's two teams, plus one hundred cart drivers to make up a total of five hundred people. Transport all the families of the soldiers here to Xianyang, and at the same time ask Li Si for another batch of crossbows. Seven thousand people, but only three hundred crossbows, this ratio is a bit low."

  Liu Wei followed his own conquest, was wounded twice, and fought bravely whenever he encountered a battle. In this regard, except for Gao Shun who could suppress Liu Wei, no other general could compare to him. Therefore, Gong Sun Ce decided to give Liu Wei a break and let him return to Xianyang once.

  An Meng blinked her eyes on the side, as if she knew that she would be placed in Xianyang sooner or later. Thinking of facing that woman named Xue Ling, she felt very uneasy inside.

  That night, Liu Wei led his men to transport their families towards Xianyang. At the same time, Gao Shun led the vanguard camp and melted down gold and silver into large blocks to prevent loss.

  On the Xianyang side, Dong Zhuo, who had just been appointed as Zhong Jiang and was appointed Ping Xi General, was in high spirits. When he led his guards back to his mansion in Daxin, he found that his neighbors were no less inferior than himself.

  This neighbor surnamed Gongsun, roughly observed, his house is about the same size as Dongfu's, and there are also craftsmen expanding it. Especially the five guards at the door, all of whom are heavenly soldiers, wearing double armor, majestic and powerful. To be honest, these guards' own Flying Bear Heavenly Soldiers seem to be even stronger. What's strong is not only their equipment, but also their momentum.

  Dong Zhuo had been in the military for decades, his eyes were extremely venomous, and at a glance, he saw that these gate guards were all seasoned veterans. He couldn't help but feel very interested in his neighbor, and as soon as he returned, he asked Li Ru to write a gift list and brought gifts to visit his neighbor.

  Dong Zhuo, according to history, was a very capable person. He was from Lintao, Longxi, which is now Min County in Gansu Province. At that time, the Qiang people in the Lintao area were very powerful, and although they had countless cattle and horses of their own, they liked to rob Han people's cattle and horses. The reason was simple: it was revenge. Later, I will slowly reveal the reasons behind this matter and restore Dong Zhuo's true face.

  At that time, Dong Zhuo was very young, but he was famous all around, one of the reasons being his exceptional archery skills. He had strong arms and could shoot arrows while riding a horse at high speed, hitting the target eight or nine times out of ten. In the northwest region, personal martial arts were often showcased on horseback, and Dong Zhuo became famous for this from an early age.

  A Qiang chieftain from a nearby place, who was the head of the Qiang tribe. Led a group of Qiang people to plunder everywhere, but gained little. So he wanted to go to Dong Zhuo's place to get some benefits, before arriving at Dong Zhuo's place, Dong Zhuo received the news and immediately slaughtered all the oxen in his home to entertain this Qiang chieftain.

  The Qiang tribal leader was deeply moved, for the Qiang people had suffered greatly from the harsh rule of the Han court officials in the northwest. Moreover, being respected by someone was even more rare. After all, Dong Zhuo was also a well-known figure in his hometown at that time, and he was warmly received by a famous Han Chinese. The tribal leader was so moved that he immediately regarded Dong Zhuo as an iron brother.

  Soon after, the chieftain came again with a group of chieftains to pay respects to Dong Zhuo and also sent over large quantities of cattle. As a result, Dong Zhuo established connections with the upper echelons of the Qiang people and became wealthy.

  Later, when pacifying the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Lu Zhi was put in jail for besieging Guangzong without real blades and frames with Zhang Jue inside. Zuo Feng's bribery failed, a complaint call was made to Emperor Ling of Han Liu Hong, Lu Zhi was taken back to Yiyang in a prisoner cart, directly thrown into the great prison.

  Dong Zhuo took over and, in accordance with Emperor Ling of Han Liu Hong's intention, had a fierce battle with Zhang Jue, but ended up suffering a great defeat. Dong Zhuo then presented all his family property to the eunuchs, who were actually presenting it to Liu Hong. As a result, he was lightly punished, stripped of his official position, and sent home to live in idleness.

  Soon, Dong Zhuo's old friends, the Qiang people in Liangzhou, could no longer bear the exploitation of officials and took up their knives and guns, seeking to be treated equally with the Han people. As a result, Dong Zhuo was reinstated and led his old troops back to Liangzhou for battle.

  Later, Dong Da led the Western Liang coalition army into the capital in a grand and majestic manner...