Chapter 21: Cruel Joy

  Seeing the enemy general charging towards him, why should he be afraid? Gao Xing let out a loud whoop, pulled on the reins, and turned to face General Chen. Gao Xing's long spear danced up and down with agility, like a playful water dragon, each strike accompanied by the loss of a life.

  The joyful mount's footsteps were almost without any delay, maintaining an extremely swift speed as it charged towards the commander.

  "Ah!" The general had long been infuriated, the anger in his chest had reached an unbearable level, the long sword in his hand was raised high, using the force of the horse, he roared and struck down at Gaoxing's neck with all his might.

  "Whoosh——" Just as Gao Xing was about to raise his gun to block, a sharp whistling sound suddenly came from behind, and then a dark shadow flashed across the corner of his eye, piercing into Chen Jiang's throat. It was a foot-long crossbow arrow.

  Chen's eyes suddenly widened, and his arm holding the long sword fell weakly. Fresh blood flowed from the window. He turned his head with difficulty, and his eyes blurred as he looked at his own soldiers crying and fleeing in all directions, like weak lambs wailing under the iron hooves of the Qi army.

  Chen coughed, his mouth open as if to say something, but suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. He looked up at the sky again with excitement, but could no longer hold on, and his head fell to one side, and he died. His weak body fell off the horse, lying supine on the ground, eyes wide open, with a hint of relief, self-blame, more humiliation and unwillingness, truly dying with his eyes open.

  It's fortunate to know that General Chen took responsibility for himself, as the commander-in-chief, he was remiss and led to the defeat of the entire army, which may also change the situation on the front line; He defended his mission with his own life, no need to suffer from inner torment, nor worry about harming his family, he is relieved; As a general who has fought in many battles, the best, most dignified and glorious way to die should be at the hands of an enemy general, unfortunately, he was killed by an ordinary soldier, under an ordinary crossbow arrow, this is extremely humiliating.

  He let out a sigh of relief, feeling somewhat melancholy, and glanced at Zhang Shun behind him, saying: "Shun, you shouldn't have interfered."

  Zhang Shun's face tightened, and he said with a mixture of confusion and fear: "General, I'm sorry. Please punish me!"

  Delighted to have spoken again, looking at his still somewhat immature and blood-stained face, he sighed again: "Shun, I know you're worried about my safety, so you took action to help. But you don't understand the mind of a brave warrior, a general!"

  After finishing speaking, Gaoxing looked at the corpse of Chen Jiang again with a happy expression, then rode his horse slowly out of the battlefield. With a mask covering his face, no one could see that a hint of sorrowful smile appeared on Gaoxing's face, and a hint of vicissitude and helplessness was revealed in the depths of his eyes.

  He walked slowly with a happy expression, as if the mournful cries and loud shouts of killing around him did not exist. He held his long spear, which was stained with fresh blood, and stepped out one step at a time in a slow and leisurely manner.

  Zhang Shun closely followed behind Gao Xing, vigilantly paying attention to the surroundings of Gao Xing's body, guarding against Chen Jun's sudden attack. However, until Gao Xing walked out of the battle circle, not a single enemy soldier dared to rush forward.

  Delighted, Zhang Shun stood at the edge of the field, just like two spectators, quietly watching the Qi army gallop and cut down one by one Chen's soldiers. At this time, the shouting and killing sounds on the field had weakened a lot, and it didn't take long to completely stop.

  Just then, Shang Buqi dismounted his horse and came forward to report: "General, Chen's army has surrendered completely. What do you think we should do with them?"

  Joyful silence, looking at Chen's army not far away, who had been disarmed by the Qi army and were tightly surrounded. Their faces were filled with intense fear and deep helplessness, their eyes revealing a plea for life and hope.

  "Kill without pardon!" A moment later, a cold and excited voice floated into Shang Buqi's ears.

  He still didn't abandon his entire cleverness, suddenly lifted his head, looking at him in disbelief, he simply didn't dare to believe his ears. In his mind, the gentle and broad-minded general, how could he give such a ruthless and merciless order.

  "Execute the command, kill without pardon!" Gao Xing cast a glance at Shang Buqi who was standing there motionless, his voice growing even colder, like it came from the ninth underworld. The cold air seemed to freeze the air itself. At the same time, a torrent of murderous aura burst out from Gao Xing's body, surging towards him in an overwhelming manner. Shang Buqi's whole body trembled, deep fear instantly shrouding his heart, his back chilled to the bone. In just an instant, cold sweat had soaked through the clothes on his back.

  Zhang Shun's eyebrows kept jumping, his heart was terrified, and he looked at the back of the person sitting on the horse in front of him with a worried face. The horse under him was neighing restlessly, pawing the ground with its forehooves, and retreated several steps backward.

  "Yes, General." Shang Buzhi's voice was slightly trembling as he replied and immediately went to execute. Gao Xing jumped off his horse and followed closely behind Shang Buzhi towards the surrendered soldiers.

  The happy footsteps were not fast, but very heavy. The sound of landing one by one seemed to knock on Zhang Shun's heart, making him feel extremely oppressed, and his breathing was a bit unsmooth.

  When Shang Buqi announced the happy order, all the Qi army cavalrymen looked at him in astonishment, their thoughts were the same as Shang Buqi's. Gao Xing was strict in training every day, seemingly a bit cruel, but that was just for training purposes. Gao Xing had always been generous and kind to these soldiers and generals, as well as the beggars and refugees in Xu City.

  The Qi army heard the order, and Chen's army naturally also heard it. A desperate dog will jump over a wall, let alone a person calling out? The hopeless soldiers of Chen's army knew they were doomed, and suddenly became frantic.

  "Ah, you won't let me live, I'll drag a scapegoat down with me! Brothers, these sons of bitches!" One person shouted, and everyone responded.

  Although they had no guns in their hands, the Qi army did, and they also had hands and sharp teeth.

  The surrendered Chen's army, about 400 people, suddenly became like a mad beast, ferociously howling and pouncing on the surrounding Qi military officers.

  In an instant, dozens of Qi army soldiers were pulled off their horses, followed by the sound of intense fighting.

  "What are you still standing there for!" Having already anticipated this scene, Gao was excited and shouted out a sentence. At the same time, he transformed into a red and black shadow and directly plunged into the chaotic surrendered soldiers.

  Suddenly, a shrill and urgent wail of grief rose up, and pieces of deep red blood flew into the sky, drawing beautiful curves under the sunlight.

  "Kill!" Shang Buqi roared, his eyes red with rage, as he charged towards the ferocious-looking but actually fragile enemies with his knife. The stunned Qi army didn't dare to linger, and they too let out a furious roar, their gleaming steel knives wildly slashing at the enemy.

  "Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" A series of sharp blades slicing into flesh accompanied by the enemy's mournful cries. With each slash, a large amount of warm, pungent blood spurted out. However, including Gaoxing, not a single Qi soldier dodged, allowing the blood to splatter on their bodies and faces.

  It was just a meal's work, and on the battlefield, only the Qi army stood, all Chen's troops were slaughtered.

  Fresh blood slowly gathered into a small stream, flowing towards the low-lying areas. As far as the eye could see, everything was red, with countless severed limbs scattered everywhere, some Chen soldiers had their chests and abdomens slashed open by steel knives, fragments of internal organs and intestines scattered all over the ground, and the air was filled with a strong bloody smell.

  "A cavalryman could no longer bear this cruel and nauseating scene, and with a loud retch, he bent over and vomited."

  Since then, a chain reaction has been triggered, and the vomiting sounds have risen in unison. He excitedly removed his mask, looked at the corpses on the ground with a calm face, and watched the soldiers vomit until they were dizzy. A faint smile appeared on his face.

  Looks somewhat helpless, somewhat sad and disappointed, yet also relieved. Still can't help but look at him in confusion, not knowing what he's thinking about right now. He is the only one among all the people on the scene who hasn't vomited except for excitement, yet his face looks extremely unsightly, his eyebrows keep twitching, his eyes are deliberately raised too high an angle, not daring to look down.

  Just as he was still puzzled and happy, wondering why he was laughing, suddenly turned his head around, nodded lightly to him, with a look of appreciation in his eyes, "Go ahead, there will be such an occasion in your life."

  Speaking with joy, he stepped out and walked away, while walking, he took off a red object stuck on his collar and gently threw it away, which fell at the feet of Shang Buqi.

  He hadn't given up yet, and with a downward glance, he saw that it was a piece of human internal organs. His intestines suddenly churned, and he couldn't bear it anymore, bending over to vomit violently. The excitement of walking forward made him laugh even more brightly, his bright and warm voice lightly covering the sound of everyone's vomiting, "One minute later, start cleaning up the battlefield."

  The raging fire dozens of meters away cast a reddish glow on the pale face of Shang Buqi, who was standing behind Gaoxing.

  Burning in the fire, apart from Chen Jun's luggage and grain being transported to the front line, there were also two thousand corpses of Chen Jun's soldiers. The general Chen, under the joyful command, was buried by the side of the road, under a handful of yellow soil.

  "You must think I'm cruel, right!" A cheerful voice rose softly, somewhat ethereal against the crackling of the fierce flames.

  The soldiers of the Zongqi army fell silent, and without turning back, he said in a light tone: "Killing prisoners who are harmless is indeed cruel. But -" His words suddenly turned around, and his tone became serious: "This is war! With war comes bloodshed, means death! They are our enemies, not our friends! We launched a surprise attack, deep into the enemy's rear, how will we deal with those prisoners? As long as one of them survives, our whereabouts will be exposed. At that time, Huang Fa will be in front of us, Wu Ming will be behind us, and our thousand men will be unable to resist the tens of thousands of Chen Jun's army."

  "You come out with me, I hope you go back with me. Remember, mercy to the enemy is cruelty to oneself. Treat our friends and family like spring warmth, but treat our enemies like cold winter! Withdraw!" He said excitedly, swung his large red cloak, turned around and jumped onto his horse's back, then left.

  The Qi army soldiers quickly mounted their horses, chasing after the pursuers' excited backs, heading towards Yangping County. A thousand galloping fine horses kicked up large clouds of dust, and from time to time, Qi army soldiers turned back to look, through the smoke and dust, seeing only a fiery red glow.

  In this battle, Gao Xing led a thousand Qizhou cavalrymen to launch a surprise attack on Chen's army when they were resting and lax. With a small number of troops, he defeated the enemy in large numbers, annihilating their forces, while only twenty of his own men were seriously injured and nearly a hundred received light injuries.

  The reason for the easy victory was that Chen's soldiers transporting grain were all infantry, and the light cavalry lacked a favorable formation, which made them vulnerable to command chaos. Secondly, the weather was scorching hot, and Chen's army was exhausted from their long journey, and when they rested, they relaxed their vigilance, allowing Gao Xing's troops to take advantage of the situation. Thirdly, Gao Xing's troops had sharp crossbow arrows and curved knives that were suitable for cavalry charges, which were important factors in the victory of the Qi army.