Chapter Thirty: The Sinner of the Millennium

  Gao Xing halted his pursuit of Chen's army, quietly gazing at the deputy general who led 500 elite soldiers to block his path. The man was about 40 years old, with a face full of whiskers and an air of weariness. He and his 500 elite soldiers all gripped their swords tightly, looking at Gao Xing and his subordinates with determination.

  "Are you Gao Changgong, the King of Langya of the Qi State?" The deputy general Chen, riding on horseback, stared at Gao with a stern gaze and asked in a low voice.

  "Who are you again?" Gao Xing didn't answer, but instead asked back.

  "In the lower Kang Hong, I, Gan Qing, will fight you to the death, and this life will have no regrets!" Chen * Jun, deputy general, made a fist and bowed, his eyes shining brightly, full of strong fighting spirit.

  He looked at the horses behind him, which were covered in sweat and blowing white air, and then looked at their owners, who were also covered in blood. He nodded slightly after a moment of contemplation and said, "Alright, I agree to fight you, but I have one condition!"

  "If it's asking me to surrender, then there's no need to say more!" Kang Hong said solemnly and seriously.

  No one saw, and Gao Xing hid behind his mask, slightly curling up the corners of his mouth. He had originally planned to use this as a condition. Unexpectedly, Kang Hong's temperament was actually strong and chaste, and his reaction was also quick, making Gao Xing somewhat appreciative.

  He smiled happily and whispered: "Ready!"

  A burst of "creaking" bowstring sounds, the knights behind Gao excitedly held up two crossbows in their hands, and the arrows were aimed at Kang Hong and others, with a cold killing intent emanating from them.

  Kang Hong's scalp felt a chill, his heart filled with fear, and the bitterness on his face flashed by in an instant. However, he puffed out his chest and sneered, "What, the renowned Lanling King, who dares to charge into the 100,000-strong Zhou army blockade with just 500 cavalrymen, doesn't dare to engage in a one-on-one battle with me, a nameless nobody?" Kang Hong's face was full of derision.

  Gao Xing smiled lightly, seemingly very pleased, and didn't put Kang Hong's words in his heart at all. Gao Xing waved his hand lightly, let out a soft sigh, and said: "Even if you were Wu Ming Che, the commander-in-chief of Chen Guo's northern expedition, this general wouldn't have taken notice of you, let alone you?"

  "You..." Kang Hong's words trailed off, his anger and frustration getting the better of him as he found himself being provoked instead of doing the provoking.

  "Hey, young man, calm down and don't get excited." Gao Xing said lightly, making Kang Hong feel a bit suffocated. If Gao Xing were to remove his mask and reveal his overly youthful face, Kang Hong might just want to vomit blood.

  Gao Xing said to himself: "General, you know that your purpose is to delay our pursuit of Huang Fa. Don't worry, even if you don't stop us, I will let him go anyway. But without food and grass, how can Huang Fa lead his 10,000 soldiers back?"

  Kang Hong's face changed greatly and looked very ugly.

  Delighted, he didn't bother to care about him and said with a smile: "If you don't give the order to retreat, reorganize your troops, and launch a desperate attack on Yangping City, there is still great hope. Unfortunately, when morale was low, Huang Fa did not mobilize the soldiers' morale, nor did he give them the courage to fight to the death, and now that you have given the order to retreat, the defeat is like a mountain collapse, nothing more than that."

  "It will take at least three days to get from here to Shiliang, how can the hungry soldiers rush? However, there are some villages within a few hundred miles around here, Huang Fa can go and rob food. But this will ruin the reputation of your Chen country, Wu Ming's pacification measures for the past three months will be in vain, I'm afraid that when the time comes, chaos will erupt!"

  Delighted tone somewhat vexed, as if worried about Chen Jun's situation, Kang Hong's face was pale, fists clenched, eyes full of worry and regret.

  Under the mask, he smiled even more radiantly, his eyes narrowing as he said, "I think that with Huang Fa's character, his sharp strategic vision, he definitely wouldn't allow the soldiers to do something like this."

  Kang Hong's eyes lit up, his tense expression relaxed, and a hint of joy appeared on his face. Huang Fa was also strict in governing the army and had always been opposed to soldiers disturbing civilians, so he would never do such a thing.

  But before he could get excited and relaxed, the next words made him fall into an ice cave, his whole body chilled to the bone.

  However, the starving soldiers wouldn't care about that much; when the time comes, they would rise up together and Huang Fu's fate would be worrying. If a famous general were to perish like this, it would really be a pity! The tone of excitement was filled with regret.

  "It won't work, General Huang has a lot of prestige among the soldiers, he won't take risks!" Kang Hong said with a terrified face, his eyes wide open and staring tightly at Gao Xing, but all he could see was that ferocious and cold mask.

  "Do you think it's possible?" He let out a cheerful hum, but it was like a heavy hammer that pierced through Kang Hong's heart, making his whole body tremble and his face pale with fear.

  "Good luck!" A loud and cheerful toast.

  Kang Hong raised his head and looked at Gao Xing with a somewhat wooden expression in his eyes.

  "It's all because of you, your wrong orders led to the failure of the war, it was you who killed Huang Fa, it was you who will make the achievements of Chen Guo's northern expedition in three months go down the drain, you are the eternal sinner of Chen Guo! You deserve to die!" He Xing's eyes suddenly widened, and he let out a loud roar, his voice like thunder, shaking the nine heavens.

  Kang Hong's whole body trembled violently, as if struck by lightning. His mind went blank, his face turned a deathly pale in an instant, and he muttered to himself: "I am a sinner for all eternity, a sinner for all eternity! I deserve to die!"

  In an instant, Kang Hong suddenly burst into a mad laugh, his voice hoarse and shrill. "General, it was I, Kang Hong, who wronged you, wronged you! I deserve to die, deserve to die!" As he spoke, Kang Hong pulled out the blade from his hand and slashed his throat, a fountain of blood spurted out, and Kang Hong's life came to an end. His round eyes were filled with remorse and self-reproach.

  "General!" Kang Hong's movements were too quick, and by the time those bodyguards wanted to stop him, it was already too late.

  "Brothers, our general is dead! How can we live on? Let's avenge the general!" One of the bodyguards' leaders shouted loudly with red eyes.

  "Hurrah!" The crowd echoed in agreement and rushed towards excitement with a loud shout.

  "Whoosh", no need for a loud command, the cavalrymen behind him pulled the trigger, and over a thousand crossbow arrows flew towards Chen's army like rain. Chen's army let out a mournful cry, and fell down quickly like wheat being cut, just one round of crossbow arrows, and not a single one of Kang Hong's 500 personal soldiers was left standing.

  The miserable ones were covered all over their bodies with crossbow arrows, like a porcupine; the lucky ones, although not dead, had to endure the pain that spread throughout their bodies.

  "General, we've come to accompany you!" The head of the bodyguards was a survivor, with an arrow in his abdomen. He looked at the fallen comrades around him and let out a mournful cry towards the sky. With both hands grasping the crossbow bolt, he thrust it downwards with force, and followed Kang Hong with a "plop" sound, without any hesitation.

  Dozens of other soldiers who still had a breath of life also followed suit and killed themselves one after another, the scene was extremely tragic.

  "They're all good men, bury them well together!" He exclaimed with excitement, then rode his horse to the side, and a sigh of delight and helplessness came from the wind, "It feels great not to use violence!"

  Wang Lin didn't chase far before turning back, not because he wanted to, but because he was powerless and also afraid. The remaining regular army in Yangping City had only about a thousand people, while the others were about three thousand armed civilians, which seemed to have some momentum, but in reality, they couldn't withstand a single blow. If Huang Faqian could reorganize his troops, it's not impossible that he would be able to wipe them out in one fell swoop.

  Wang Lin ordered his deputy general to arrange for sentries to be posted around the perimeter, clear the battlefield and take prisoners into custody. He himself rode swiftly towards Gaoxing.

  The horse had barely stopped when Gaoxing jumped down, ran quickly to Gaoxing's face, and bowed to the ground, saying: "Wang Lin, thank you for your great kindness in lending a helping hand!"

  Delighted, he jumped off the horse's back and grabbed Wang Lin, saying in surprise: "Uncle Wang, what are you doing?"

  "You're not Langling Wang, are you, wise nephew?" King Lin looked at Gaoxing with some confusion and surprise.

  "It's me, Uncle Wang." With a smile, he removed his mask, revealing that resolute yet still fair and handsome face.

  "It's really you! Good, good!" Wang Lin was quite excited and grasped her happy arm, saying two delighted words.