Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 494 City Wall
Jiangling parade ground camp.

The disheveled Han soldiers gathered in the parade ground, looking very lazy and confused, huddled together and talking loudly about something.

And in the middle of them, there were two strong men.

One of them was Shi Wansui, and the other was He Ruobi.

The two guys both took off their armor and faced each other naked.

Shi Wansui grew taller suddenly, becoming much taller than before, but looking a little thinner, with extremely long arms, a fierce look on his face, and staring cautiously at the powerful enemy in front of him.

He Ruobi was not bad either, with broad shoulders and a strong waist, and he was fully prepared at this moment.

As the officer gave the order to start, the two men quickly pounced on each other and grabbed their opponents fiercely.

Both of them grabbed each other's shoulders and pushed each other with all their might.

This is sumo, formerly known as wrestling, a sport that originated in China and has a long history.

Military nobles especially loved playing these games, and the rules were simple: the winner was the one who could knock the opponent down or push him out of bounds without directly hitting him with his fists.

The two guys in the field have different physiques from ordinary people. They are the so-called tiger and bear generals. Their fight is also particularly exciting.

He Ruobi launched the attack first, pushing Shi Wansui forward. Shi Wansui was unable to exert any strength, so he tried to throw him down. However, He Ruobi's lower body was very stable, and he just staggered a few times before holding on to Shi Wansui again.

As the two pushed each other, they became angry and their actions became increasingly violent.

The officer acting as the 'referee' did not dare to stop them for fear of being injured by mistake.

The soldiers were enjoying the show and cheered.

Amid the jeers of the soldiers, the two guys became more and more agitated, "Bang!"

They pushed each other harder and harder, like two wild beasts constantly ramming and pushing each other, even starting to trip, elbow and knee each other. This was not even acting.

The atmosphere reached a climax and the cheers of the crowd became louder and louder.

Just as Shi Wansui locked He Ruobi's neck and He Ruobi beat Shi Wansui's abdomen frantically, the cheers of the crowd came to an abrupt stop and disappeared in an instant.

Shi Wansui and He Ruobi were so engrossed in the fight that they did not notice this. After torturing each other for a long time, they realized that something was wrong in the atmosphere.

The two men looked up.

Directly opposite them, Gao Changgong was looking at them with a smile, and two people were standing next to him.

Gao Jiong and Han Qinhu.

Shi Wansui slowly let go of He Ruobi. Both of them looked awkward. They cleared their throats and greeted Gao Changgong together.

"General!!"

Gao Changgong waved his hand, "No need to be polite, just continue."

Shi Wansui and He Ruobi looked at each other awkwardly.

Shi Wansui hurriedly explained: "General, we are taking advantage of the end of the training to have a competition."

"I see it."

"You two are indeed extremely brave."

Gao Changgong looked aside casually, and then began to call out names, "Wang Sheng, Liu Damu, and you."

He called out more than 20 people in a row. These people came out. They were all officers, quite tall. After Gao Changgong called them out, he pointed at the two people in front of him and said, "You should practice with these two. They are both very brave and invincible. There is no need to follow the rules. Go together."

These people were confused, "General."

"No pretense allowed. If anyone dares to slack off, I will punish him myself."

After hearing this, they bowed to Shi Wansui and He Ruobi and said, "Excuse me!"

Then, these people quickly surrounded Shi Wansui and He Ruobi. The two were surrounded by soldiers and were sweating profusely.

These two were naturally strong, but the people Gao Changgong called out were not just trash, they were all good fighters in the army. With bare hands, one against three or one against four was already very difficult, and two against twenty was really a bit...
Shi Wansui wanted to explain something, but these people had already rushed over.

They were simply flooded over. The space was limited and they couldn't leave. There were people everywhere and they couldn't stop them at all.

The two men didn't have time to resist before they were thrown to the ground and locked up, unable to move.

Gao Changgong shook his head and marveled.

"I thought you were both strong enough to defeat ten thousand or even a hundred thousand people, and that I could win by just sending two of you out in battle. But now it seems that you can't even stop twenty people."

He asked the officers to let the two men go, and then looked at the people around him.

"Our army is always victorious in battle, not relying on individual bravery!"

"Even if one is as brave as Xiang Yu, he will die on the battlefield, which is useless."

"The strength of our army lies in harmony! We are united, regardless of region, familiar with the formation, and courageous in our hearts!"

"These days, I've heard many people say that there is discord between the soldiers who surrendered from the west and the soldiers from the east. Some of the leaders even openly competed with each other."

Gao Changgong's eyes swept over the two people in front of him.

Shi Wansui wanted to defend himself, but he chose to give up.

Gao Changgong's expression also turned stern. "In my opinion, this is not competition. This is destroying our military's morale and disrupting our courage. It is a serious crime! If the superiors and subordinates cannot be of one mind and our comrades cannot work together, how can we defeat a strong enemy?!"

"From now on, if anyone dares to violate military law and do such a thing again, they will be executed without mercy!!"

Gao Changgong looked at Han Qinhu standing aside and said, "Take these two people away and give them forty strokes of the cane each!"

Gao Jiong came out in a hurry and said, "General, the two of them did not intend to provoke a dispute. They were just competing in the army. Moreover, they have been training the soldiers recently and have been quite effective and meritorious. I hope the general will forgive them a little."

"Twenty sticks."

Gao Jiong didn't say anything more, and Han Qinhu took the two of them out directly.

Looking at the silent soldiers, Gao Changgong ordered the officers to conduct drills again.

The school ground became lively again.

After conquering the Zhou Kingdom, the Han Kingdom re-established a new defense zone. In the northern territory, the two brothers Hulugu Guang and Huluxian were stationed there. One was stationed in Hengshuo and other places, and the other was stationed in Ganliang and other places to defend against the Hu people outside.

On the direction of Chen State, there are Gao Changgong and Wang Lin.

Wang Lin was in the east, assisted by Chunyu Liang, Yao Xiong, Gao Yanzong and others, and was eyeing Jiangbei covetously.

Gao Changgong was in the west, with Jiangling as the center, assisted by many surrendered generals of the Zhou State, suppressing the Chen State from the north of Jing.

Looking at the soldiers training again, Gao Changgong's stern expression gradually softened.

He looked at Gao Ying who was standing beside him.

Many of the surrendered generals asked to stay on their own initiative by Gao Changgong. Many ministers in the temple believed that these surrendered generals should be deployed separately and sent to those rear areas to prevent them from interacting with the enemy, and at the same time many restrictions should be imposed.

Gao Changgong directly reported to the court, hoping to gather these people around him as one of the main forces for the future attack on the State of Chen. The court agreed very readily.

After all, in terms of official position, he has long been the number one in the military.

"Zhao Xuan knows my heart well."

Gao Changgong whispered, and Gao Jiong chuckled and said, "I hope these two people can learn from their mistakes and not do such things again."

"The East and the West have fought many times in the past, how can it be so easy to ease? He Ruobi and Shi Wansui are both relatively calm generals, but they are still like this. If my useless brother was here, I don't know how bad the situation would be."

Gao Changgong has never been shy about talking about past issues between the East and the West, but Gao Jiong and others were somewhat restrained and did not dare to speak out.

He spent a long time to integrate these two forces in the army.

There were naturally some results. Many surrendered generals gradually let down their guard and became more respectful to Gao Changgong. High-level generals also developed some acquaintance and friendship with each other. However, the discord among them still existed, and they still called each other "Eastern Bandits" and "Western Hu" behind each other's backs.

The new laws of the imperial court have strict regulations in this regard, prohibiting the use of such words. For ordinary people, using such words to insult others will result in a fine, and in the military, using such words to insult each other is a serious crime.

Gao Changgong had dealt with several such guys. Gao Changgong was fair, neither favoring the Easterners nor bullying the Westerners. He treated everyone equally, rewarding those who had made contributions and punishing those who had made mistakes. He was deeply loved by the soldiers and had a high prestige in the army.

Just like Huang Fachi in Jiangbei, almost no one could find any flaws in Gao Changgong, and everyone just admired him.

Even the newly surrendered soldiers such as Gao Jiong became increasingly close to Gao Changgong.

Gao Jiong always felt dazed from time to time. The man standing next to him always inexplicably overlapped with the figure of his former master.

The two of them really look alike, whether it's the smile on their faces, the tone of their voices, or the bright eyes.

While Gao Jiong was still in a daze, Gao Changgong had already taken him into the general's tent.

He sat down, motioned Gao Ying to come over, and then secretly took out a document.

"I think the discord in the army is about to end."

Gao Ying was stunned. "This document..."

Gao Changgong handed the document directly to him.

"You can read it at will, but please do not spread it outside."

"Thank you, General!"

Gao Jiong took the letter and was very surprised after just taking a few glances at it.

The letter was written directly by Zu Ting to Gao Changgong. The content of the letter was simple and crude. Zu Ting only told Gao Changgong one thing, that Chen Xu would soon take action against Huang Fachi, and asked Gao Changgong to be prepared for an attack and a joint attack on Jiangbei. Once the time was ripe, he should not hesitate but take action directly.

Gao Jiong was still a little shocked, but Gao Changgong smiled and said, "I have another letter here, written by another person, so I won't show it to you. Those nursery rhymes in recent times really have ulterior motives."

"Master Chen is not a mediocre person, but some things are beyond his ability to accept."

"As long as we can gain something from this battle, we will be able to eliminate the barriers. After fighting together, the differences between us will become weaker."

Gao Jiong nodded, "However, General, isn't it too hasty to act right away? Many of our preparations are not..."

"No, we can't hesitate. This is the best chance to seize Lianghuai."

As the two were talking, Han Qinhu came in with Shi Wansui and He Ruobi. Shi Wansui and He Ruobi were limping, and there was something strange in the way they both looked at Han Qinhu.

This guy is really good at fighting!!

"General! The execution has been carried out!"

"Well, there's no fake fight, right?"

Han Qinhu said seriously: "No, I will supervise it personally and do it in person."

Han Qinhu is not as famous as Shi Wansui, and his prestige is not as good as He Ruobi, but among these people, Gao Changgong still likes him the most.

Han Qinhu surrendered relatively late, only after the emperor surrendered.

At first, Gao Changgong did not realize that he had such a powerful man under his command. Later, after he brought Gao Jiong to his side, Gao Jiong recommended this young general to him. After the two sides met, Gao Changgong praised him highly, so he kept him by his side and entrusted him with important tasks.

He felt that among all the generals, Han Qinhu was the only one who was not arrogant and was aware of his shortcomings and was able to correct them. He was serious and meticulous in his work and was strategic. He was definitely a general who could be trained.

Gao Changgong looked at the two men who were being beaten.

"I know you are just competing normally, but you still have to think about the consequences before you do anything. You two don't want to fight with the soldiers who are each carrying something, do you?"

He Ruobi lowered his head quickly, "How dare I?"

Shi Wansui directly admitted his mistake.

Gao Changgong then said, "It is understandable that the general wants to win merit, but don't use it in this kind of place."

"Soon, we will be able to see what you two are capable of. Then, you will have to prove yourselves and see who is the true general."

"only!!"

The two men hurriedly answered, their eyes a little excited. Shi Wansui asked first: "General, are we going to go to war with the Chen people?"

Gao Changgong glanced at him, and Shi Wansui slowly suppressed his excitement.

Gao Changgong ordered them to prepare, and then asked: "If we want to attack Jiangbei, how do you think we should march?"

Just as a few people began to ponder, He Ruobi spoke first.

"We should use surprise attack."

"Oh?"

"The enemy has many fortifications in Jiangbei. If we attack fiercely along the way, we will certainly suffer heavy losses. We have the advantage of cavalry. We should organize an elite knight to bypass the enemy's strong checkpoints and attack the rear directly. This will prevent the enemy from connecting with the front and back and lose contact. This will have a miraculous effect."

Shi Wansui then said, "No, although we have the advantage of cavalry, the defenses in Jiangbei are tight, and Huang Fachu is not an ordinary person. If the cavalry rushes in rashly, they will probably be surrounded and killed by him. We should concentrate our forces and go straight to where Huang Fachu is, and then force the other places to surrender."

He Ruobi sneered, "When we were not fully prepared, the general asked us to prepare for the attack and asked for countermeasures. How did you think Huang Fachuo was still in Jiangbei? The general made a hasty decision, so something must have happened to Huang Fachuo, otherwise why would I say surprise attack?"

Shi Wansui was not angry. "This is just your expectation, not the truth I heard."

Han Qinhu said nothing, just stood back and did not participate.

"General Han, what do you think?"

Gao Changgong took the initiative to ask.

Han Qinhu lowered his head and said, "We can send troops along the river to block the enemy's retreat."

Gao Changgong chatted with them about something else for a long time, then told them to train the army well and let the generals leave.

Gao Changgong spread out the map, holding a pen in his hand, and looked at the map of Jiangbei in front of him.

Gao Ying sat beside him, frowning and thinking hard.

"The general wants to."

"Send troops along the river to block the enemy's retreat."

Gao Changgong said softly and laughed again, "This is why I value Han Qinhu. Han Qinhu may seem mediocre, but he is a talented general. Shi Wansui and He Ruobi didn't expect that we would have reinforcements."

"Gao Yanzong, Yao Changying and others have been keeping an eye on Lianghuai for a long time and have made preparations. If a war breaks out, why would we need to travel thousands of miles to attack? They can do it well."

"We just need to block their retreat route and attack the enemy with the reinforcements from the north."

Gao Changgong said approvingly: "Shi Wansui and He Ruobi only saw their own achievements, but failed to see the big picture. Only Han Qinhu saw it most clearly. He will definitely achieve great success."

The army of Jiangling began to enter the preparation stage, and the transportation of food and grass had already begun. However, the army's training was slower than before. Pre-war training is often not too frequent to avoid injuries to the soldiers before the battle. Just as Gao Changgong had expected, Yao, Gao, Wang and others had already begun preparations.

They received Zu Ting's letter earlier than Gao Changgong, and then began to prepare to move south.

Prepare to seize Jiangbei and drive the enemy completely south of the river.

If Lianghuai is lost, it will be almost impossible for the Southern Kingdom to rely solely on the river to resist the enemy. It can only passively take the beating, and strategically it will completely lose the opportunity to attack and divide the enemy. Especially since these people originally failed to participate in the destruction of Zhou, they do not want to miss it again this time, and are eager to try, waiting for news from the Southern Kingdom.

Just as the two sides were eyeing each other covetously, the envoy returned to Jiankang and reported to the emperor in person.

This time, Chen Xu finally heard news that was unfavorable to Huang Fachi.

However, he did not show any joy at all.

Shortly after the envoy returned, several generals including Lu Guangda were quickly summoned and brought into the palace.

It was not until it was pitch dark that these people came out.

When they came out, their faces didn't look very good and they seemed to be holding back some anger. That night, the city of Jiankang was filled with the sounds of soldiers moving around.

The next day, nothing had changed.

Only the road leading to Huang's mansion was blocked by soldiers, and no one was allowed to enter, exit or approach.

(End of this chapter)