Invincible Iron Man 28, The Unlucky Signaling Soldier Book Flag

  The messenger was soon surrounded by Wang An's troops. Jiang Cai shouted, "Monkey steals the peach!" Li Li shouted, "Leaf under the peach!" Zhang Wan shouted, "Immortal steals the peach!" Du Lu shouted, "Yan Wang steals the peach!" Wang An rushed up, but he had not practiced martial arts either and was anxious, so he could only shout, "Cut off descendants' legs!" The poor messenger fell to the ground. After all, it was still a weak spot that couldn't withstand multiple attacks.

  The orderly fell to the ground, pointing at Wang An and said: "You dare to beat up an orderly soldier, do you know what a crime this is?" The soldiers beside him immediately stepped forward and attacked.

  The orderly was twitching on the ground, feeling wronged in his heart and thinking that these guys were really reckless. The orderly was about to accuse them of something when he saw Wang An and other soldiers drawing their waist knives, apparently preparing to kill him. However, he wasn't very afraid in his heart, thinking that as a representative of the governor, killing him would be equivalent to treason, and they absolutely didn't have the guts to do it.

  Jiang Cai said to Wang An, "Brother Wang, killing the messenger is against the law." Wang An replied, "I know." Jiang Cai asked, "Then why did you order the soldiers to prepare their weapons? Don't you plan on living?" Wang An said, "Who says I want to kill him? I just wanted to bury him." Jiang Cai said, "Isn't that the same thing?" Wang An replied, "Of course not. This messenger died heroically in battle against the Xiongnu, out of revolutionary humanitarianism and affection for his comrades. I have decided to bury him."

  The messenger was shocked and said, "No, I'm not dead yet!" Wang An scolded him, saying, "Don't talk, the dead should keep their mouths shut, or they'll scare the living." The messenger said, "The governor ordered me to pass on a message. You can retreat and return to Yucheng City." Wang An's soldiers immediately cheered. Jiang Cai blamed the messenger, saying, "Why didn't you say so earlier? We wouldn't have taken such a beating otherwise." The messenger replied with infinite grievance, "I hadn't even spoken yet and I got beaten up so much. It's really unjust!"

  Wang An said to the soldiers, "What are you staring at? This soldier is already dead, hurry up and bury him." The soldiers were stunned, and Jiang Cai said, "Brother Wang, have you gone mad? Killing a messenger is punishable by death." Wang An said, "I'm not crazy. I ask you, what crime is it to beat up a messenger?" Jiang Cai said, "That's also punishable by death." Wang An said, "Then that settles it. This messenger died heroically in battle against the Xiongnu, out of revolutionary humanitarianism and affection for his comrades. I've decided to bury him." The messenger soldier suddenly understood and hastily said, "Don't kill me! These wounds were left from bravely fighting the Xiongnu, they have nothing to do with you." Wang An immediately put on a smiling face and said, "Messenger Officer, you just heroically fought the Xiongnu, killing many Xiongnu soldiers. There are witnesses, when we get back to Yucheng, I'll definitely request rewards for you. Someone, bring the Xiongnu heads to Messenger Officer." The soldiers nearby handed over the heads.

  The orderly was still somewhat resentful in his heart, but seeing the ferocious appearance of Wang An and others, he indeed did not dare to say anything else. Wang An deeply understood the principle of giving a sweet date after slapping someone, so he said to the orderly soldier: "The border area is very generous in rewarding military achievements. If you take these heads back, you will be rewarded with military achievements, promotion and title are no problem, and you can also receive rewards."

  The messenger's face showed joy, knowing that Wang An was telling the truth. Wang An continued to say to him: "If you say these injuries were inflicted by us, then you didn't fight with the Xiongnu, and your military merit is also fake. At that time, falsely reporting military merit is a capital offense." The messenger's face suddenly showed fear, and he hastily said: "I won't say it, I'll just say it was done by the Xiongnu." Wang An said: "But the commander-in-chief is not stupid either. She has been fighting with the Xiongnu for a long time and knows that they use bows and arrows. You have fist and foot injuries, if the commander-in-chief finds out, it's also a capital offense." The messenger hastily said: "Then what should I do according to your idea?" Wang An said: "According to my idea, Messenger Officer, you should at least pretend a bit, how about getting pierced by a few arrows?" The messenger hastily said: "That makes sense, come and get me pierced by a few arrows." Jiang Zai looked on with wide eyes and thought to himself: This is also possible? There are actually people who actively seek this out.

  Wang An no longer paid attention to the messenger soldier, and looking at the distant mountain peaks, he said: "I don't know which troops will come to rescue us, but we'll meet again." "Don't say that, I'm coming to see you now," which made Wang An's body feel a chill. He thought to himself, could it be that the opposing army has someone with superhuman hearing, able to hear our conversation?

  At this time, several richly dressed men walked out of the forest and came to Wang An's side, saying: "We are local merchants who saw General Wang use flags to hold back the Xiongnu troops. We joined forces with other wealthy merchants, officials, and hunters in the area, contributing money, effort, and manpower to set up flags behind the Xiongnu, scaring them off. Today we were lucky and managed to hold them back for a day, but we don't know how to retreat now. If the Xiongnu discover our true intentions, they'll chase us with cavalry and we'll be killed without a burial place." Wang An asked: "How did you manage to get here?" The man replied: "We were led by these hunters who found a small path in the mountains, bypassing the Xiongnu army. There are several thousand people, but we don't know what to do next." Wang An said: "That's easy to handle. The Xiongnu won't dare come out at night to fight us. You lead these men and join me, and we'll retreat together. Remember to light many fires in the camp, as many as possible, to create the illusion that there are many soldiers camping here, holding back the Xiongnu army." The man immediately nodded in agreement.

  The Xiongnu chanyu gazed out at the sprawling campfires covering the mountains and valleys, a look of worry on his face. He thought to himself that the Jin dynasty had many powerful men, and if they were to set up an ambush here, taking advantage of the favorable terrain, it would certainly inflict great harm on the Xiongnu. The Right Wise King spoke boldly, "Even if they do launch a surprise attack, we can still defeat the enemy army." The Left Wise King remained silent, thinking to himself that he was indeed too arrogant, and wondering if the Jin dynasty's troops were all just weaklings. On the second day, the Xiongnu army continued to probe the enemy forces in the forests on both sides.

  When the Xiongnu Chanyu realized that there were no troops in the forests on both sides, it was already noon on the second day. A Xiongnu soldier brought a letter written on cloth and handed it to the Chanyu. The Chanyu, who understood Chinese, took a look and saw that it read: "The great Jin army is full of heroes, its military flags make the enemy tremble. The people of Miyang are waiting with bated breath, all the Xiongnu soldiers will be killed." The Chanyu smiled and did not comment, but the Right Wise King cursed loudly, saying: "The people of Jin are good at plotting and scheming, they never dare to engage in a real battle with us." The Left Wise King said: "It is clear that the Jin army is using all sorts of tricks to buy time for Miyang. This means that the defensive situation in Miyang is not very optimistic. We must speed up our attack and capture Miyang before the enemy is fully prepared, so we can avenge the Right Wise King's son and gain great wealth." The Right Wise King gritted his teeth and said: "Let's hurry, I want to slaughter the city, kill all the people in Miyang, and avenge my son."

  Wang An had already arrived at the city of Yu Yang, and when he led a team of nearly 5,000 people into the city, Yu Yang was shocked. However, upon seeing that the soldiers' uniforms were not very neat, with some having injuries and bloodstains, he thought they were a defeated army that had retreated back, and his eyes revealed a hint of disdain.

  Wang An's expression changed slightly, but he ordered his soldiers to enthusiastically greet the residents of Yu Yang. Jiang Zai whispered to Wang An, "Brother Wang, I think the residents of Yu Yang seem to be looking down on us." Wang An replied, "I've already noticed that."

  Jiang Zai asked, "Then why are you still so enthusiastic about greeting others?" Wang An said, "How others look at you is not important; what's key is how you look at yourself. If we act dejected and disheartened, it's as if we're admitting defeat. But we haven't been defeated - on the contrary, we've won several battles."

  When Wang An arrived at the mansion of the Jiedushi, he found Liu Jiao walking out of the mansion to greet him, and the defensive envoy was lined up on one side. This was the formation for welcoming a big man. The soldiers on both sides were lined up neatly, looking at the returning hero with their eyes. People walked here, with a kind of proud and arrogant atmosphere. Drums and music sounded on both sides, and the mansion of the Jiedushi was also decorated with lanterns and streamers. Wang An walked forward in big strides, without paying attention to the grandeur.

  Liu Jiao walked up and said, "We welcome you, you have won precious time for Puyu." Wang An immediately said loudly, "Protecting the country and defending the land is the sacred duty of a soldier." Liu Jiao said, "Well said, please come in." Wang An walked forward without hesitation, causing Du Lin and other Jiedushi to shake their heads behind him. They thought that this Wang An didn't understand etiquette at all. The Jiedushi was just being polite to you, but you were so arrogant.

  Liu Jiao whispered to Wang An, "How do you feel about the grand welcome I arranged for you?" Wang An replied, "What welcome? I didn't notice anything." Liu Jiao gave Wang An a white eye and didn't say anything else. Wang An asked, "How many reinforcements have you called in?" Liu Jiao said, "There are no reinforcements. They all made excuses not to come. I think they believe that Puyu will definitely fall, so they are not actively rescuing us here. We still have to rely on ourselves." Wang An was shocked and thought, "Why didn't you tell me earlier? If I had known this, I would never have returned here to die."

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