Chapter Five: The Crisis Arrives

  "The King has arrived!"

  At the loud shout from outside, I and Shi Bingyu immediately stood up - whether we can eat well in the future depends on the impression given to the servant king.

  The curtain was drawn and several people with flushed faces walked in. The one with a red face like Guan Gong at the front was Shi Wang.

  "Sit down! Hehe, you two young brothers hurry up and sit down!" Servant Wang said with a belch: "I don't know what the names of the two young brothers are?"

  "Returning to serve the king, I am called Shi Bingyu. This is my elder brother - Yang Husheng." Little Historian said with a bow and a fist, as he had learned from ancient etiquette on TV.

  "Alright then, I'll just call you Shi Brother and Yang Brother from now on."

  "It's too kind of you!"

  "Haha, it's nothing! Heaven is full of brothers ~ It's only right."

  A strong smell of wine hit his nostrils.

  "I wonder what you two young brothers think about joining my team?" asked the Servant King, staring at us with his bright red eyes.

  "The Shuai Wang is invincible, with unparalleled bravery and charm. His wisdom is as deep as the ocean, and his benevolence is unmatched. He is a brilliant and powerful leader, a rare talent in the world. His army is unbeatable, with strict discipline and exceptional military prowess. Who wouldn't want to join such an army? I lavished praise on Shuai Wang (of course! If we didn't know anything about him, our Taiping Army would have been doomed long ago - no more good food or drink, not to mention keeping our heads attached!). Shi Bingyu gazed at me with a look of adoration, his eyes seeming to say 'Wow, big brother is truly extraordinary!'."

  Plop! The attendants on either side of the king fell over in a heap.

  "Great, great, great! You're absolutely right!" Servant Wang's eyes narrowed with laughter, and he laughed so hard that he forgot who he was: "Brother Yang is indeed sharp-eyed and eloquent! Hahaha!"

  "There! I'm telling the truth! Being able to serve under General Shi is a blessing that my brother and I have accumulated through eighteen lifetimes of good deeds! General Shi, isn't it Xiao Shi?"

  "Right, right! My brother and I feel like we're on cloud nine now that we've joined the Servant King's team. It's like a dream come true, like winning first prize or reuniting with an old friend in a foreign land!" The guy said this without batting an eyelid.

  "Great! Great! Enough, enough. Hehe. You two are really something! Why didn't I meet you two earlier?" Servant Wang sat down in his chair with a big laugh, the people beside him staring at us with jealous eyes, if looks could kill, we would have died a thousand times already.

  "Shunde, what do you think we should arrange for these two little brothers?"

  "General Wang, these two have just joined our army and haven't achieved anything yet. I think it's better to let them train with the vanguard regiment for now!"

  "Yes indeed! I was just thinking what General Mo said is absolutely right!"

  "That's right! The two of them should go downstairs first!"

  Those generals below all echoed Lu Shun-de's opinion, if the fire spewing from my eyes could kill people, then Shi Bing-yu and I would probably have been roasted ducks by now.

  "Hiss~ Shun De ah! I think we can reuse them! Hehe, you're so powerful, can two people eliminate thirty or so Qingyao?"

  "No." Lu Shunde said with a red face.

  "What's wrong?" Li Shixian said.

  "The end is near!"

  "Can you make the Qing demon who just surrendered immediately obey you with a determined heart?"

  "...it's useless! Can't be done."

  "So I think they can be reused for both of them!"

  "Long live the King!"

  "What the King of Shu saw was indeed true!"

  "What the King of Fighters sees is beyond our reach!"

  Those generals immediately echoed the words of the Crown Prince.

  "You two... Ah! Come here!" The attendant king said to us.

  "Yes!"

  "I now appoint you..." He pointed at me and asked: "What's your name?"

  "I'll call Yang Huisheng later!" I replied with a lowered head.

  "Ah! I now appoint Yang Huisheng as the commander of the Right Wing Brigade of the Front Army!" The King pointed at Shi Bingyu again: "You... (he forgot Shi Bingyu's name) will be the deputy commander of the Right Wing Brigade of the Front Army!"

  "Thanks, Servant King!" we replied.

  "I don't know how many people we are commanding?" I humbly asked Servant Wang for guidance.

  "Hmm... I'll give you two thousand men now."

  "Thank you, King Servant!"

  "No need for courtesy, haha, you should know why our army came to Ningbo, right?" Servant Wang smiled and said.

  "Eliminate the Qing demon in Ningbo!" I and Shi Bingyu answered simultaneously.

  "Yes! However......" said the Servant King slowly: "The foreigners in Zhenhai have more than a thousand 'foreign gun troops'. This is our greatest worry in fighting against the Qing dynasty!"

  "Shuai Wang, let's hand those foreigners over to our brothers!" Shi Bingyu shouted loudly before I could even open my mouth.

  No way! Are those foreigners that easy to deal with?! It's obvious that Servant King is cunning and slippery, wanting us to take the bait, but you little brat got deceived by him just like that?!

  "Haha, great! Heroes emerge in youth indeed! Shun De and Tian Chen, you should learn from them!" Servant King laughed.

  "Right! We're going to learn from both of them!"

  "Indeed! Truly remarkable for someone so young!"

  How can I bear those generals looking at us with such fervent eyes?!

  "Shi Fu is really handsome and elegant, a true talent!"

  "With your leadership, the Japanese devils will definitely flee in terror!"

  "Exactly! Exactly!"

  Shi Bingyue felt that he was indeed an idol for everyone, with his chest out and belly in, giving people a tall and majestic feeling.

  Damn it! You little brat! Others would be delighted if we two were dead!

  "Heh heh, alright alright, in order to annihilate the Foreign Gun Brigade, I'll give you a battalion of Firearm Troops!" Servant King laughed.

  "That's great!" I replied happily, feeling a bit more at ease with the extra troops: "I wonder how many men are in a battalion of riflemen?"

  "Five hundred guns." Li Tianchen replied beside him.

  "Does our department have a firearms team?" I asked cautiously.

  "Heh heh... The Right Camp of the Front Army doesn't have a rifle squad!" Lu Shunde replied with a sly smile.

  “……？！”

  How can soldiers armed with big knives and long spears fight against devils with foreign guns?

  It seems more likely to be sending oneself to death!

  ※※※

  "Ah!... Big brother, don't kick me?! Does it hurt?!" Shi Bingyu cried out in a shrill voice. As soon as we left the big tent, I started kicking him.

  "Ah! You little brat still know what pain is?! Son of a... I'll make sure you don't know what pain feels like soon!" I cursed, kicking Xiao Shi while scolding him.

  "What did I do to offend you? Why are you hitting me?" Shi Bingyu asked while dodging.

  "Who do you think you are?! You think the foreign gun squad is easy to mess with?! If it's so easy to beat, why doesn't anyone else dare to speak up?!"

  "Aren't we over two thousand? Which broken foreign gun team only has one thousand people?!"

  "Still talking back! Damn it! The foreign gun squad has another thousand foreign guns, and who knows, maybe even cannons! Look at us! Two thousand people with only five hundred broken rifles! The rest are just big knives and spears! Want to kill the foreign devils? We're not even worthy of being their targets!" I cursed angrily. Damn it! This kid! He's so arrogant he's forgotten his own name!

  "Big brother, don't we still have two automatic rifles? The modern formation is dense and packed, just use continuous fire to wipe them out!"

  "Damn it! ... How many bullets do we have left now?! They've got over a thousand men! You stupid bastard! When the bullets are gone, an automatic rifle is no better than a fire poker! Damn it! Why didn't you bring your bayonet when you left home?!"

  "What?! I forgot we didn't bring enough bullets! My gun still has eight rounds left, how about you, big brother?"

  "More than you, eleven more."

  "So we still have a total of... three hundred minus sixty two hundred four, two hundred four plus ten... nine two hundred fifty-nine?! Oh my god?!"

  "Damn it! In this era, before you've fired over 200 bullets, you're Superman, but after that, you're just a piece of trash! Do you understand, idiot?!"

  “……”

  "What should I do, brother?" Shi Bingyu asked with a sorrowful face.

  "You lit the fire and now you want me to put it out? Now you're asking for my opinion? Why didn't you ask me earlier before hastily agreeing with others?"

  "Reporting to General! Liu Fa Wu, captain of the Fire Gun Battalion, reports to you!" A tall and sturdy young man ran over from beside.

  "What? Oh! Alright, alright!" I finally came back to my senses from being furious with Shi Bingyu.

  "What's your name?" I asked. (I was too angry just now and didn't hear clearly.)

  "Report! I am Liu Fa Wu, captain of the Fire Gun Battalion!"

  I took a closer look at this young man, who was about our age, over 1.8 meters tall, with a slightly dark complexion and a pair of spirited big eyes. However, for some reason, his face didn't look very good now.

  "Oh, you're Captain Liu. How old are you now? How many years have you been in the army?" I asked.

  "Report! I'm twenty this year! I joined the Taiping Army eight years ago and it's been three years now!" Liu Fa Wu replied loudly.

  Shut up! Nobody thinks you're mute! Why are you yelling so loudly?! I asked how many years you've been in the army, not what time you enlisted! Geez!

  "Captain Liu, I don't know if you know what our current mission is?"

  "I know!" Liu Fa Wu replied loudly: "General Li told me, it's the foreign devil's Foreign Gun Squad to wipe out the foreign devils!"

  "Alright, alright! I'm not deaf, you don't have to shout so loudly!" I furrowed my brow and said: "Which General Li?"

  "Report! It's General Li Tianchen."

  "Alright, Captain Liu, can you just give us a brief report next time? You don't have to go into so much detail. What's your take on our mission?" I asked.

  "Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"

  "Nonsense! What's the point of listening to lies?!"

  "The truth is — we're going to our deaths!"

  "Oh?! You're so bold?! Can you tell me why it's going to be a death sentence?"

  Liu Fa Wu looked at me with a hint of arrogance: "You're the new commander who just joined our Taiping Army, aren't you?"

  "Yes." I replied.

  "No wonder! The new one is eager to make a name for himself, huh? 'Impudent!' Shi Bingyu scolded. I glared at him, 'Let others finish speaking!' Do you know how easy it is to mess with the foreign gun squad?"

  "I don't know, so isn't this a question for you?" I said.

  "That leader of the foreign gun squad is Hua Er, with over a thousand men under him! There are thousands of foreign guns alone, plus ten large cannons! I've seen on the battlefield that one shot from their cannon can kill more than a dozen of our brothers! If we send just two thousand men to fight against the foreign gun squad, it's like throwing meat buns at dogs!"

  Liu Fa said angrily.

  "If you think it's a death sentence, why did you come?" I asked curiously.

  "Since the general has ordered me to come, I'll just have to die if I must!"

  "Aren't you afraid of death?" I asked.

  "I'm not afraid of death!" Liu Fa Wu's face turned red and his neck thickened as he said, "I'm worried about my brothers under me!"

  "Good job!" I nodded and said: "That's what soldiers should be like! Not afraid to die! But I won't let you go to your deaths either!"

  "Huh?......"

  "I really admire you! As a person, one should speak their mind! (I forgot that I myself am someone who doesn't speak my mind) You've been in the army for three years, how come you're only a squad leader now?"

  "I'm not afraid to fight and die, but I've always been offending my superiors with my words, so I couldn't get promoted. This time, they even pushed me into the fire pit." Liu Fa Wu said with embarrassment.

  "What about my vanguard right camp?"

  "War is a gang of desperados, however..." Liu Fa Wu hesitated and looked at me, I smiled at him: "Specializing in doing business that offends people. No one wants to go there to be an official!"

  "Good! That's great!" I exclaimed happily: "Shi Bingyu, it seems we're in luck! The foreign rifle squad looks like they've reached their last day!"