Yang Long and Huang Fang

  "I heard you guys bullied the new kid?" Zheng Kezang's voice was calm and flat, even He Qian beside him couldn't see his intentions, let alone those immature boys. "Tell me, what's going on?"

  "It's really those newcomers who are too stupid." Yang Long looked around, among the group of dejected young men, except for him being the class leader from the beginning, the rest were either promoted from storm officers or newly promoted to storm officers. He had no choice but to force himself to answer hesitantly. "Everyone is tired every day and has to eat the instructor's military stick. It's really unbearable, so I privately taught them a thing or two, thinking that they shouldn't drag everyone down."

  "Oh? Is that so?" Seeing Zheng Kezang's gentle attitude, the officers who were about to charge forward all echoed in agreement. "That's right! Just because they ate a few military sticks, they're taking it out on the new recruits." Zheng Kezang sneered a few times. "Good, good men, really giving me face!" Zheng Kezang's tone became more intense. "In the beginning, you all took almost a year to learn how to line up, turn around, and march in step. How long did this new recruit take to learn, and yet you're so impatient?" As he said this, Zheng Kezang pointed with his hand. "Gao Yan, what did you get the Loyalty and Diligence Medal for?"

  "Reporting in a very low voice: 'The return of the officer is due to the unity of the whole group and the effectiveness of the training.'"

  "Everyone was once united, why can't we be now? Is it because you think you've been in the youth camp for a year longer than those newcomers and consider yourselves seniors here?" The group of young people couldn't help but lower their heads. "The Book of Songs, Qin Wind says: 'Is it said that there is no clothing? I will share my cloak with you.' Is this how you treat your future comrades?"

  Zheng Kezang's purpose in building the Tongziying was not just to establish a loyal military force of his own, but also to build it into a military school. However, after he had finally managed to obtain funding and new members from Chen Yonghua, he did not expect that the old members would bully the new ones, which made him feel very emotional. Is this really human nature?

  "That's it, I don't want to mention this matter again. You all don't have to be squad leaders or vanguard officers anymore." Amidst the chaotic reactions of the young men, Zheng Kechang instructed He Qian, "Re-select a batch of squad leaders and vanguard officers from the innocent students of Class A, and let them start anew."

  "Yes!" He Qian responded with a single word and led the dazed young men out of Zheng Kezang's tent.

  Just when Zheng Kezang thought the matter was over, he didn't expect that when he came again the next day, he actually received a report that Yang Long had run away: "Have you sent someone to look for him? I've looked for him and couldn't find him. These two places are by the sea, with only one main road. Where could he go alone in one night? Have you notified the people of Yang Fu and Chengtian Fu?"

  "People have been sent to report the news to Chengtian Mansion and Yang Mansion." Sun Youlao's face also turned pale. If nothing happens to Yang Long, it would be fine. But if something does happen, Zheng Kechang will not take responsibility for sure. The one who will bear the blame is him. At this moment, he regretted why he had been so foolish as to join Tongziying. "The night patrol has already been arrested, should they be publicly punished?"

  "Just hold on for now." Zheng Kezang said weakly, if Yang Long were to get into trouble, the Tongzi Camp would likely collapse as well. This made him, who had invested a great deal of effort, feel unbearable. "Let's talk about it after we find the person, I reckon the camp is already in an unstable state, and adding fuel to the fire at this moment would be asking for a blast."

  Zheng Kezang slowly observed, the training of the Tongziying was still in progress, but Yang Long's escape news had already spread, and many of the Jiaoyinsheng's faces showed unease. For this reason, Zheng Kezang immediately decided to stop the normal team training and instead organized a Cuju match. Only when the attention of the young people was shifted by the ball game did Zheng Kezang feel slightly relieved.

  At this time, the Chengtian Mansion and Wannian County, which had received the notice, had sent yamen runners to search for him in the Li Jia area of Kunshan Peninsula and Wannian County, and the Yang Mansion had also sent many family members and servants to participate in the search. However, it was as if he had sunk into the sea, and there was no news of Yang Long's whereabouts until now, which further increased Zheng Kezang's anxiety.

  It's almost time for dinner, and Zheng Kezang usually gets up to return to the Anping Castle at this hour. However, he had to stay today to wait for news. Fortunately, there was finally a result. But this result did not come from the Chengtian Mansion, but from the Rongyiwei who guarded the Anping Castle.

  "Sir, I don't want to run away, I just want to go to Anping to find the camp officer and admit my mistake."

  Yang Long, with his disheveled hair and dirty face, looked like he had been through a lot of hardships. This was to be expected, as a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy who had traveled from the San Kui campsite to the Anping Castle in one night without any light would have had a tough time. Moreover, since he had sneaked into the restricted area, even if he revealed his identity as a Boy Scout, he would still be locked up for half a day for verification.

  "It's all right." Zheng Kezang let out a sigh of relief. "Someone, go inform the Yang and Chengtian estates that the person has been found." As he spoke, Zheng Kezang had someone bring over some water. "You can't wait for Yu to arrive before apologizing, do you know how many people were worried about you?" Although he said this, looking at the stubborn youth standing there, Zheng Kezang sighed again. "Alright, alright, the camp officer accepts your apology. Hurry up and wash your face, Yu will take you back to the troops. It's settled, next time don't do something like this again."

  One day the clouds finally dispersed, but the aftermath of this matter was that the wall of Tongzi Camp was raised by one foot, and all the dog holes and sewers were blocked. Zheng Kezang and Sun Youlao, who still had lingering fears, absolutely did not want such a thing to happen again for a second time.

  "Kill!" The cry of killing sounded again, Zhu Jin made up his mind to pull out the poisonous thorn stuck in his heart, Huang Fangdu, so Liu Yan, Xu Hongbo, Liu Chenglong, Shen Rui and others had no choice but to throw themselves into the bloody model of Zhangzhou City. Another attack began, under the cover of Zheng Jun's red cannon, more than a thousand new attached troops rushed to the city head.

  "Rubble!" Accompanied by a terrified cry, several large bricks fell to the ground with a loud whoosh, not only crushing a section of Zheng's cloud ladder, but also flattening several soldiers who were unable to escape into minced meat.

  "Whoosh!" Taking advantage of the chaos below, many of the Yellow Army's archers popped their heads out from behind the female wall to get a good look at the Zheng Army's sorry state. Only after they had taken in the sight did they nock their arrows and leisurely shoot them accurately into the bodies of their opponents.

  Of course, all transactions have a certain relativity. The Zheng army shooter who provided cover here also took advantage of the opponent's bold counterattack. Just then, a Huang army soldier who had just succeeded tried to repeat his trick, but as soon as he poked his head out, he was shot in the forehead and fell on the wall. His comrades nearby quickly pulled him back, only to find that he had already been shot in the forehead by the opponent.

  What was even more deadly to the defending troops were the Hongyi cannons, which could only fire once every half minute. Amidst the rumbling of the cannons, the lead bullets propelled by gunpowder traversed hundreds of meters in an extremely short period of time and heavily pounded the city walls, not only shattering the facing wall but also turning the splashing bricks into the greatest killer of the defenders.

  "Boom!" Zheng Jun's artillery team fired another shot, this one even more accurate, and it directly hit the bottom layer of the enemy tower on the city wall. The Huang army officers and soldiers inside the tower were instantly killed by flying wood chips. The lead bullet, which had accumulated a huge amount of heat in its high-speed rotation, also ignited the entire enemy tower. But that's not all - the lead bullet, which had passed through the back window of the enemy tower, still hadn't exhausted all its kinetic energy and potential energy. As it bounced and jumped around, it whipped up another bloody storm along the way.

  The city head and the city were in a state of panic, taking advantage of the weakening of the garrison's suppressive force, the Zheng army had already pressed up. Under the city, the Zheng army that rushed to the gate mouth used the battering ram to strike the tightly sealed city gate with great force. On the city head, the Zheng army that climbed up along the cloud ladder also began to fight with the counterattacking Huang army.

  As if knowing their own fate after the city was broken, the commanders of the Yellow Army led the charge. On one hand, they were breaking through the cauldron and sinking the boat, on the other hand, they were forced to launch a counterattack. The mentality of both sides was different from the beginning, so when the joy of climbing the city was worn out in the cruel slaughter, the situation began to turn against the Yellow Army.

  "Die!" Another clash of steel, barely parrying the opponent's powerful and heavy blow. Lifting his head, he found that his own side had already fallen into a desperate situation. Knowing it was hopeless, this Zheng soldier retreated to the city gate in three strides, but before he could grab a cloud ladder to escape, three red-tasseled spears struck him like venomous snakes. The Zheng soldier who was thrown off the city wall by the enemy only spat out a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground, motionless. However, compared to those comrades who would be scalded by boiling oil or molten metal, suffering endlessly for days before dying, he was still lucky.

  With the death of this Zheng Jun, this once successful offensive campaign has come to an end.

  "The king above, just now the minister below sent someone to take a look, and today only about 800 people can return safely, with some injured," In the past three months, after several rounds of attacking the city, the Zheng army has successfully reduced its strength by nearly one-third. However, if this continues, not to mention the new attached army will be frightened, even the original Zheng army's morale will suffer greatly. "The minister below thinks that it is time to change tactics."

  "Oh?" Zhu Jin, who was stuck in the city of Zhangzhou and couldn't advance or retreat, wasn't like a trapped beast, but at the age of 33, he hadn't reached the state of being immovable as a mountain. So when he heard that there might be a way to solve this trouble, he looked over with great interest. "You'd better speak up, what's this new plan?"

  "This time in Zhangzhou, our clan has suffered heavy losses, but the Huang family is not necessarily doing well either. For now, they are just barely holding on." Feng Xifan smiled slyly and said in a low voice, "The Huang family's sun is setting, I think there must be someone who doesn't want to perish with them. In my opinion, we can think of some ways to take advantage of this situation."

  "That's true, but now that Zhangzhou is isolated from within and without, how can you know who has the intention of rebelling?"

  "I think we should first write several surrender declarations and shoot them into the city. As long as it is clear that only the main culprits will be punished, I believe it can attract the attention of those who are willing to cooperate. At that time, there is no need for our side to contact him, he will naturally come to contact us. Of course, if things don't go smoothly, it's not a big deal, as long as Huang becomes suspicious and fearful, it can be considered a major gain."

  "What you said makes some sense, try saying it again"