Chapter 1296 - 319: Bad News (Part 3)

Chapter 1296: Chapter 319: Bad News (Part 3)

"Yes, my lord."

Soon,

the Chu soldier was brought up and sent over.

The clothing and hairstyles of the Yan, Jin, Qian, and Chu, the four states, all originated from the ancient Xia, and can be said to have the same roots;

but over the long years that followed, each developed its own changes.

The Yan people prefer simplicity and have simplified the original Xia hairstyle; the Qian are fond of coil hairstyles, while the Chu, whether nobles or commoners, like to deliberately keep the hair on both sides long, ideally so that after removing a hat, the side hair covers the ears, and the longer, the better. There are no restrictions on lengths in other areas.

So, this Chu scout, although stripped of armor, could still be clearly identified as a Chu based on his hairstyle.

A guard stepped forward, pointed at several civilian corpses on a rack, and asked:

"Which one is his son?"

At this point, many people’s eyes fell on Guo Dong.

Guo Dong stepped forward two steps, wiped the tears from the corner of his eye, and said;

"It’s me."

The guard drew his saber and threw it on the ground, pointed to the Chu soldier held down by two fellow soldiers, and said:

"Lord Pingye said, a man sheds tears grudgingly; on the battlefield, our Yan sons bleed but do not cry. Whoever makes me cry, I’ll make bleed."

With that, the guard stepped back two steps, exchanging glances with the two fellow soldiers.

He let out a long breath because he had expanded on that message himself.

As a guard, one must have this awareness when conveying messages.

Of course, doing it well is like adding flowers to embroidery; doing it poorly is superfluous. When conveying messages to other important figures, there’s no room for improvisation, but with these auxiliary soldiers and civilians, it is possible.

Earlier, on the way to fetch this Chu scout, he was preparing this draft, now speaking it fluently was not easy.

Guo Dong looked dumbfounded at the saber on the ground, while the remaining civilians and auxiliary soldiers began to look around.

Finally,

they saw the man dressed in black standing in the distance.

Lord Pingye,

it is Lord Pingye!

Guo Dong swallowed, picked up the saber from the ground, turned, glanced at his father’s body on the rack, then let out a roar at the Chu in front, raising the saber and striking down!

The first strike was off, the blade hit the opponent’s shoulder blade, and Guo Dong couldn’t pull it out at first. If it were an experienced soldier, he might have gripped the saber with both hands and kicked to extract it, but Guo Dong had no experience in killing, and his training mostly involved running and shield raising.

So, he tried several times in vain to pull out the saber, while the Chu soldier screamed in pain, making Guo Dong even more frustrated.

In a fit of anger,

Guo Dong directly lunged at the Chu soldier, pinning him down, disregarding the saber, and began choking the Chu soldier’s neck with both hands, using all his strength!

The Chu soldier struggled, but shortly after, his body trembled twice and then went limp.

Guo Dong, panting, stepped off the Chu soldier, his gaze again fell on the distant black figure.

"Thud!"

Guo Dong knelt down,

shouting:

"Lord Pingye, Lord Pingye, Guo Dong from Gu County is willing to die for you!"

Standing nearby, Hui An watched Guo Dong. Of course, he knew what kind of person shared a tent with him: lazy, timid, and he thought himself intellectually superior.

But now, in this environment, Hui An could feel the sincerity in Guo Dong’s shout.

His father was dead, his mother and paralyzed Second Prince were still far away in Yan’s Gu County, in eastern Jin, here, he had long revered Lord Pingye, and now, Lord Pingye was his only support left.

All around, many auxiliary soldiers and civilians knelt down, in the direction of Lord Pingye, shouting:

"Willing to die for Lord Pingye, willing to die for Lord Pingye!"

"Willing to die for Lord Pingye, willing to die for Lord Pingye!"

And in the distance,

seeing this scene, Lord Zheng, calmly said to the blind man beside him:

"Ah, auxiliary soldiers are just auxiliary soldiers, Liang Cheng has arranged correctly, they should continue to practice lifting shields and pushing ladders."

Lord Zheng was a little saddened, the banner of his "hundred thousand army", better not to raise it.

Apart from his own main force, which had been restructured and trained through the Snow Sea Pass and dispatched here, the combat effectiveness of the other parts had to be questioned, and they were deeply uncertain.

So, more soldiers is not better, especially when quality cannot be improved, an excessive number of recruits will not proportionally increase combat power, but rather crush your logistics.

Luckily, it is a siege battle, siege battles, while cruel, are also simplified.

Lives are needed to fill, tasks for the living to perform.

"Did my lord not hear their cheers?" the blind man asked.

"I heard them."

"Although my lord did not plan to put on a show, the effect of this show is much better than stepping forward personally; subordinate now, has somewhat admired my lord for it, perhaps this feeling is what Tian Wujing gives to his soldiers?"

"Old Tian indeed told me not to always listen to those stories of ’sharing food and hardship’ with fellow soldiers or ’sucking the soldiers’ wounds’, those stories seem reasonable, but the ones who write them are all literary men who know nothing of military affairs.