Chapter Seventeen: An Expected Outcome

  It's delightful to know that Gao Zhang Gong, despite having a noble royal bloodline and an esteemed status, had a rather embarrassing identity. This was because his mother was a courtesan, with no records of her in the historical books. Although he was exceptionally talented, skilled in battle, and refined in appearance, standing out among his six brothers, he never gained the favor of the previous emperor, and could only silently endure the scornful glances and mocking from others.

  For many years, Gao Changgong has been humble and courteous in his dealings with others, extremely low-key, but his cousin, the current ruler of Northern Qi, Gao Wei, is extremely jealous of him, always on guard against him, wanting to get rid of him.

  Gao Chang Gong, as a member of the imperial family of the Gao clan, has now fallen to the point of being a historian in a small county castle. His life is not his own, and this is how sad and suffocating it is.

  Looking at Gao Changgong's obviously aged, tired and helpless face, Gao Xing secretly thought: "In history, you are a hero, kind and generous to others, with great ambitions, and loyal to Northern Qi. But your ending is so helpless and tragic, often making people sigh in regret. I am here to change the course of history, and I will definitely change your fate!"

  "Dad, there must be a road before the mountain of Che Dao. Worrying is useless. It's better to rest early and nourish your spirit, that's the right thing to do. I don't want people to say that I won unfairly." He stood up excitedly, his handsome face radiating great confidence.

  "Good kid, where's your confidence? I'm going to rest now, let's see how you can beat me tomorrow?" Gao Changgong glared with his eyes and stood up to leave.

  Delighted, she saw Gao Zhanggong off with a smile, and just as she was about to go down to rest, Zhengshi had already come forward with a hangover soup.

  Seeing Zheng's worried, concerned and slightly reproachful eyes, Gaoxing felt a warmth in his heart. He finished the hangover soup in one gulp, bid Zheng goodnight and advised her to go down and rest before returning to his own room.

  He was delighted to not be sleeping, and as usual sat cross-legged on the bed to cultivate. He usually used cultivation to replace sleep, but last night he had been too exhausted, his body and mind needing thorough rest and relaxation.

  Today's battle, happily looking like there is still energy left, winning extremely easily, but in fact, he has already burst out all his potential.

  Xiao Mohe, as a general, was actually skilled in weapons, and his best skill was throwing darts. However, during the daytime duel with Gao Xing, due to the limited space and also because Gao Xing deliberately did so, Xiao Mohe's darts were completely unable to be used.

  Killer, not necessarily a master, but he can kill the master. Gao Xing is a highly trained super agent and also an excellent killer. The combat skills he possesses are all serving to kill people. In his decade-long career of blood and fire, Gao Xing has extremely rich fighting experience and very keen combat instincts.

  Xiao Moye returned to Chen Xin's heart, the floating bridge was originally dissatisfied with the battle, and he was very anxious about this war. Gaoxing looked like a child, which made him have a slight disdain from the bottom of his heart. Gaoxing took advantage of Xiao Moye's mentality, constantly provoking and teasing Xiao Moye, exhausting his energy, and finally grasping the opportunity to win with one blow.

  The north wind blows, war drums beat.

  Outside the city walls of Xingyang, the military camp was filled with the sound of drums, and the flags were waving in the wind, exuding an atmosphere of solemnity and majesty. The day before, Gaixia had already ordered people to set up two high platforms, standing opposite each other at a distance of 400 meters. Gaixia and Gao Changgong stood on one platform each, their faces stern, gazing at each other from afar.

  Below the high platform, more than 3,000 soldiers from both sides stood upright with their long spears tightly grasped in their hands, the blades gone. The sleeves of some soldiers were wrapped with a strip of white hemp. With the dull and rhythmic drumbeats, everyone's hot blood was gradually ignited, and their eyes slowly welled up with excited and eager bloodshot, and a faint aura of killing intent was slowly triggered from deep within their bones.

  Take a closer look and you will find that in the eyes of Gao Changgong's soldiers, there is a faint killing intent and anger. This is because they are overly excited, what's the reason? Envy, jealousy and hatred are common human emotions. If it were Langling Wang who was in command abroad, those soldiers would be extremely happy, as Langling Wang is a kind and gentle person who loves his soldiers like his own sons, which is good news for them.

  It is said that when comparing goods, one will be thrown away, and when comparing people, one will be resentful. When Gao Changgong's department was living a happy and fulfilling life, they suddenly learned that Gao Xing's department was eating big fish and meat every day, occasionally drinking small wine to enjoy themselves. How could this balance in their hearts? After asking Gao Changgong, they only then learned that the wine and meat were paid for by Gao Xing himself, not within the financial budget. When Gao Changgong's department sighed helplessly at the sky, they accumulated even more resentment towards Gao Xing's department.

  A month passed, with 2,000 people eating meat every day, which was absolutely luxurious and extremely costly in this era. However, they didn't care at all because the bills were paid by those big landlords and wealthy merchants. It was also very worthwhile to do so, just look at the soldiers under High's command, one by one with robust bodies and full of energy, far surpassing those under Gao's command. The body is the capital of revolution, without a strong physique, how can you endure the hardships of training, and how can your combat effectiveness be rapidly improved?

  Suddenly, the slow drumbeat of Gao Changgong accelerated its rhythm, beat by beat, like pounding on people's hearts, making them unconsciously tense up. Gao Xing knew that this was a signal for Gao Changgong to launch an attack.

  "Let's go." He said seriously without looking back.

  "Yes." The herald responded with a single word, and then the sound of the drums also changed.

  "The war——" The thunderous roar of anger still echoed far and wide.

  "War! War! War!" The troops under his command all let out a thunderous roar, the sound waves shooting straight up into the sky. They held their long spears at an angle across their chests and began to move forward slowly. As they advanced slowly, a powerful aura was emitted and gradually grew stronger, slowly pressing down on Gao Changgong's troops.

  "Charge." He said calmly when the soldiers of both sides were still a hundred meters apart.

  The drumbeat changes again, dense as a sudden rain.

  "Kill!" - Shang Buqi roared loudly, all the excited soldiers followed suit, and the earth-shaking battle cry mixed with the majestic killing intent. The Gaoxing army slowly began to accelerate, their footsteps neat and tidy, without any signs of disorder.

  The soldiers, although running and charging, were like a single entity, very neat. The soldiers' footsteps accurately stepped on the drumbeat, the drum sound was majestic, and the morale borrowed from the drum sound.

  "Spears!" Just as the two sides were twenty meters apart, Shang Bu shouted loudly. All the excited soldiers on both sides lowered their long spears with a "whoosh", pointing the spearheads at the enemy, tucking the handles under their armpits, and grasping the spears tightly with both hands.

  "Kill!" At the moment when the two armies met, Shang Bu discarded his great roar, his voice icy and piercing.

  "Kill!" The entire army shouted in unison, their killing intent filling the sky, and their morale instantly reached its peak.

  "Ugh...""Ah..." The continuous and dense sounds rose, a moment later, the soldiers in front of the High Long Gong department were knocked out by the soldiers of the High Xing department, and the miserable cries merged into one piece.

  Charging and thrusting, such a simple action, under the enthusiastic demand, all soldiers from the initial one thousand plus times a day to now three thousand times, this action has long been integrated into their bodies, their souls. Therefore, it was just a brief encounter, and the soldiers of Gaoxing's unit would knock down the soldiers of Gaolong's unit, causing them to fall over, opening up a large gap in the formation.

  They advanced about ten meters before the momentum of Gao's forward charge was finally checked, and both sides fell into a melee.

  Gao Changgong furrowed his brow and quickly issued the order to encircle and compress. As the messenger conveyed the order, the flag signals and drumbeats changed, Gao Changgong's troops swiftly and flexibly changed their formation. Gao Changgong's troops slowed down their pace, with the center slowly retreating, while the two sides pressed forward and converged tightly, forming a dense formation. Before long, Gao Xing's troops were surrounded by Gao Changgong's troops and compressed towards the center.

  Although this compression made them have little activity space, Gao Changgong found that the speed at which his own soldiers fell was still far beyond that of the other side. His own soldiers not only had a lower morale than others, but also their speed and physical strength were much inferior.

  "Great." He muttered two words with a faint smile.

  With the sound of drums and gongs, the surrounded Happy Troop suddenly dispersed, forming six sharp arrows that charged in six directions.

  With a single point of breakthrough, the encirclement of Gao Changgong's unit was quickly broken through by Gao Xingzu's troops.

  "Hanged."

  With a joyful command, the six sharp arrows of the Happy Troop swiftly surrounded and encircled Gao Changgong, cutting him into several pieces and slowly strangling him to death.

  Kō Chōkyō's face was stern, and he continued to issue orders, but he could not effectively stop the damage inflicted by Kō Kyō's troops. As the stalemate dragged on, the soldiers of both sides became increasingly entangled, making it more difficult for Kō Chōkyō's officers to command and coordinate their troops. In contrast, Kō Kyō's troops were well-coordinated, with small groups working together seamlessly to encircle and attack Kō Chōkyō's forces at high speed.

  When he saw that nearly half of his own troops were standing outside the battle circle, while Gao Xing's had only a third, Gao Changgong sighed and shook his head silently, then stepped down from the high platform and walked towards the command platform.

  Before the battle, Gao Xing and Gao Changgong agreed that any soldier who was knocked down would be considered to have lost his combat effectiveness and would automatically be out of the game. If anyone violated this rule, they would be punished by military law.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, it didn't take long for Gao Changgong's team to be completely defeated by Gao Xing's team, and only two-thirds of them were knocked out.

  The loud drumbeat from the drill ground started, and all soldiers quickly gathered. In just half a beat, Gao Xing's two thousand troops had finished gathering, while Gao Changgong's took two and a half beats. The obvious difference made Gao Changgong feel ashamed and curious about Gao Xing's training methods at the same time.

  "Report to the general, the first brigade has completed its mission, all soldiers have gathered, please instruct." The drumming stopped, Shang Buqi stood opposite his opponent and reported loudly. His face still had little expression, but the bright light in his eyes and the slight tremble of his voice revealed his inner excitement and agitation.

  With a pleased expression, he walked up to the front of the stage, scanning the excited and thrilled soldiers below, nodded slightly, and said loudly: "At ease."

  "Yes!"

  "Take a short rest."

  "With a sharp command from Shang Buqi, all the soldiers of the Happy Division instantly stood up straight, their eyes fixed on the front, their faces stern, and their neat movements made people look sideways in surprise."

  "Dad." He happily retreated behind Gao Chang Gong's body.

  Gao Chang Gong nodded, walked forward, and sternly swept his gaze over the soldiers before slowly saying: "Warriors, since I arrived at this Xuyi City, it has been a month. Today's battle, I lost, but I am very happy and gratified. Whether it is the winning or losing side, in just one month's time, you have grown to such an extent, my great Qi has hope! What is there to fear from Chen* military?"

  Gao Chang paused for a moment before continuing in a loud voice: "Chen Jun is shameless, launching an unprovoked attack on our great Qi and destroying our peaceful lives. Along the Yangtze River, more than ten counties have fallen into the hands of bandits, causing countless compatriots to lose their homes and families, wives and children scattered. In just one short month, over 100,000 refugees have flooded into Xuyi City, they need your protection, our home needs your defense! From today on, all within Xuyi County, whether the original garrison or newly recruited brave warriors, will be under Gao Chang's command and training. I hope that in the near future, you can become the most elite soldiers of our great Qi, the bravest and greatest heroes, and revive the divine power of Emperor Shenwu!"

  "Shen Wu! Shen Wu!" The passion of all the warriors was reignited, their eyes blazing red as they raised their weapons high and let out a loud, hoarse cry.