Chapter 8: The White Horse Hero

  It was Long Fei's cane. The bloody cane was under Hei Da Ge's armpit. Although it didn't hurt Hei Da Ge, this slight touch made Hei Da Ge's curved knife stop its attack. Everyone felt surprised.

  Long Fei smiled and exerted a slight force with the crutch in his hand, causing Hei Da Ge to involuntarily take several steps back. One of his hands lightly touched his own armpit. Long Fei hastily nodded: "Excuse me, excuse me!"

  The translator rushed over to support Hei Da Ge, anxiously asking. Hei Da Ge touched himself and found that he was not injured, but there was a dark purple red spot under his armpit. It was the mark left by the tip of Long Fei's crutch. Hei Da Ge said a few words in a hurry. The translator quickly translated: "What is your name? Our leader wants to know what your name is? Your martial arts are very different from those Han people's guards, he thinks it's very interesting, who did you learn from?"

  Long Fei stuck out his tongue, licked his lips, shook his head and sighed, then said to Hei Da Ge: "I... how should I put it? Forget it! Just tell him that I'm just an ordinary Han person. As for my name, don't bother asking!"

  Hei Da Ge flipped over onto his horse, shouting loudly. The Xianbei people quickly turned their horses around and gathered beside Hei Da Ge. It seemed they were about to leave. Long Fei repeatedly waved goodbye: "Farewell, farewell! This time was really awkward, next time there's an opportunity we'll come again to rob!"

  He turned back and glared at Long Fei fiercely, then urged his warhorse to chase after Hei Da Jia. The vast grassland stretched out endlessly before them. At the edge of the sky, a large cavalry was rapidly moving in their direction, like a cloud or a flock of sheep grazing. These people wore white clothes and rode white horses. The lead horse was exceptionally fine, and at a glance, it was clear that it was a rare and excellent horse from outside the Great Wall.

  The Xianbei people cried out in terror one by one. Some even ignored Hei Da's shout to stop and turned their horses around to run away. Hei Da stared with wide eyes, gripping his curved knife tightly. Long Fei took a glance at the cavalry team in the distance, although they were still some distance away, the rumbling sound of horse hooves and their uniform pace, as well as their skilled horsemanship made Long Fei feel that these people were not ordinary.

  "What are they doing?" Long Fei turned his head and asked Wang Wei.

  Wang Wei's teeth were all chattering, and his words were somewhat trembling: "White, white, white horse, righteousness, righteousness, follow!"

  "White Horse Righteous Army, are they Gong Sun Zan's White Horse Righteous Army?" Long Fei hastily asked.

  Wang Can and Hua Tuo also got down from the carriage. Upon hearing this, Wang Can glanced at Long Fei: "Do you know Gongsun Zan?"

  Hua Tuo burst out laughing: "Who doesn't know General Wei's Gong Sun Zan? His White Horse Army is the shield of our Great Han Empire's northern border. Just make a round trip to the north and everyone will know! Little brother, it's not surprising that you know!"

  "Really! Really! I'm half a Beijiang person too!" Long Fei chuckled and winked at Wang Qian.

  Wang Qian turned her face away: "Let's hurry up and leave while they haven't arrived yet! Those people are all ruthless killers, they'll definitely have a big battle with these Xianbei people, I don't want to get involved in it."

  Just as they were speaking, a whole team of white horses had arrived in front of the Xianbei people. The leader, a man in his thirties with a square face, big eyes and two small mustaches that stood out particularly, wore a sword at his waist and held a silver spear in his hand. With one rein, the war horse's front hooves were raised high, and in the afterglow of the setting sun, its posture was especially handsome.

  "Awesome!" Long Fei couldn't help but exclaim.

  The white-clad figures behind the white-clad figure each had a gloomy expression, and at a distance of over a dozen steps behind the white-clad figure, they also stopped their warhorses. A long line, neat and tidy, all the horse heads were in a straight line, not differing by a single hair.

  "How dare you cause trouble on my territory? Are you Xianbei people tired of living?" Gong Sunyan pointed his gun at Hei Da.

  Fan Qiang hastily accompanied a smile and said: "No, no, no, Gong Sun sir calm down, we just came back from grazing and didn't think of doing anything else."

  "Hmph!" Gong Sun Zan snorted: "You can't even tell a good lie, what about the corpse over there? Wasn't it you who killed him?"

  "Of course not!" The translator's eyes rolled: "Those two dead men have nothing to do with us, maybe it was the people on that horse carriage over there who did it, Lord Gong Sun can go ask them!"

  Gongsun Zan glanced back at the Xianbei people. Next to a luxurious carriage, four people were standing. An old man with white hair and beard, a woman who looked quite good, a lame person being supported by a boy in front of him. Gongsun Zan smiled, stretched out his arm, and the tip of his spear pressed against the translator's throat: "Take a look back, can those people behind also kill? Say, are those two killed by you? Dare to tell one lie, and your head will fall to the ground immediately!"

  "Sir, the arrow in his chest is from the Xianbei people!" A young man with a childish face dismounted and walked to the corpse of Che Buji, examining the arrow that killed him.

  Gongsun Zan's eyes widened, and his spear advanced a few more inches. The translator's throat had already begun to seep with fresh blood: "Is there anything else you want to say? You Xianbei people don't have a single true word in your mouths! Kill them all for me, and avenge our fallen comrades!"

  "Halt!" Long Fei suddenly bellowed, taking a step forward with a limp. He shouted at Gongsun Zan: "Hey! I say, Gongsun Zan, are you going to take innocent lives like this? This is Mayi, your territory in Youzhou. No matter whether they're Xianbei, Han or Xiongnu people living here, they should all be your subjects. The imperial court entrusted you with defending the north, surely you won't kill the good and take credit for it?"

  Long Fei's lifetime, although there were ethnic groups, everyone was a harmonious family. In the Inner Mongolia border area, Mongolians, Manchu people, Koreans and Hans, as long as they saw the PLA, would invite them to their homes to drink a bowl of fresh horse milk wine and eat a few pieces of delicious bean curd. As long as you wore military uniform, those ethnic brothers treated you like one of their own family members.

  Long Fei had just fought a battle with Hei Da Ge and felt that Hei Da Ge was a man of his word. If Hei Da Ge gave the order, even if Long Fei was more powerful, he would still obey. The Xianbei people rushed forward, but how could the four of them resist? Long Fei had seen many dead bodies before, and to him, death was nothing out of the ordinary. However, he did not want to see innocent people die unjustly.

  I remember another time, in the western part of Inner Mongolia bordering Xinjiang, three squadrons were dispatched, but when they returned, there were less than half a squadron left. The squadron that Long Fei was in had only him remaining. That batch of terrorists was very powerful and should have been mercenaries. They were well-equipped and well-trained. Watching his comrades fall one by one before his eyes, at first, Long Fei almost went crazy, not caring whether he saw the enemy or not, continuously pulling the trigger until all the bullets in the gun barrel were fired.

  These years, having seen many things, he has become numb. Every time he comes down from the battlefield, Long Fei feels like he has died once. The political commissar tells him that those comrades who have died are heroes who gave their lives to defend the motherland and the people, their deaths are heavier than Mount Tai. Why does the country need soldiers? It's to protect their safety. Being a soldier is to protect the people, as long as it's within one's own territory, whether they're Chinese or foreigners, minority ethnic groups or Han people. This is the responsibility of a soldier.

  Gongsun Zan put down the long spear in his hand, turned his body to look at the person who was shouting behind the Xianbei people. Although he was wearing Han clothes, that short hair was out of place. The translator hurriedly stretched out his hand to touch his neck, took a deep breath. He hastily retreated, quietly turned his head and looked at Long Fei with gratitude.

  "Are you a Han Chinese?" Gong Sun Zan looked up and down at Long Fei: "What about your hair? Your body, skin, fingers, parents, how could you privately cut them off? This is too rebellious and unrighteous!"

  Long Fei bowed his head again to look at the outfit he was wearing, took two steps forward, and looked up at Gong Sun Zan who was sitting on horseback: "What's good about having long hair? It's not only troublesome to take care of, but sometimes it also gets in the way." Long Fei smiled slightly: "So you're Gong Sun Zan? Lu Zhi's student. What a pity! Your teacher doesn't know how to be human, and the student he taught isn't great either!"

  "Hmph!" Gong Sun Zan furrowed his brow, and the long spear in his hand pointed at Long Fei again: "You're so young, yet you dare to insult my master. Don't you want to live?"

  Long Fei used his crutch to deflect Gong Sun Zan's long spear: "I didn't say anything wrong, look at you now, already a general, still so short-tempered, definitely won't end well in the future!"

  Gongsun Zan flew into a rage, glaring fiercely at Long Fei: "You're so young, yet your words are so venomous. You look strange and suspicious, you must be a Xianbei spy! Take him away!"

  "How can you add to the crime without worrying about the words?!" Long Fei sneered at Gongsun Zan: "You say I'm a spy for my predecessor, do you have any evidence? If not, I'd say you're a traitor of Wuhuan!"

  Gongsun Zan flew into a rage: "You scoundrel! How could I, the illustrious General of the Han Dynasty, be a spy for the Wuhuan?! You're slandering an official appointed by the imperial court, your crime is punishable by death, take his head off for me!"

  "No one is allowed to touch my brother!" Wang Wei pulled out his dagger from behind and coldly stared at the several cavalrymen who were charging towards him.

  "It seems that those Xianbei people were right, these two are indeed killed by you!" Gong Sunyan waved his hand, and another 7 or 8 cavalrymen surrounded them: "A life for a life is the natural order of heaven and earth, if I don't kill you today, it will be hard to maintain the laws of my great Han, take him down!"

  "Don't touch them! Those people were killed by me!" Hei Da Ge suddenly spoke in Chinese, and even spoke on behalf of Long Fei, shocking everyone.

  Gongsun Zan burst out laughing: "Haha... You are indeed a gang, today I will help the great Han dynasty get rid of the evil! Surround them, not one can escape!"

  "General, calm down. I think there's more to this matter than meets the eye. Let's investigate further before we do anything!" The young man who examined the body spoke up, "The arrows on the corpse are indeed from the Xianbei people, but these men are Han Chinese. As cavalrymen of the great Han, isn't it our duty to protect our own people?"

  "Zi Long, don't say any more!" Gong Sun Zan's expression turned stern: "You've only just joined the White Horse Righteous Army, there are many things you need to learn. This time, just watch and wait until I've dealt with them, then I'll tell you what it's all about."