Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 310 Xue Rengui in White Robes! [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

Xue Rengui, a historical figure, was a young general who emerged during Li Shimin's eastern expedition against Goguryeo. At that time, he wore a white robe and turned the tide of the battle, leaving a deep impression on Li Shimin.

Although Li Shimin would no longer personally lead expeditions against Goguryeo, Xue Rengui, eager to make a name for himself, still signed up when Li Jing recruited good men from Guanzhong to join the army before his expedition.

And so, he followed Li Jing and Li Ji on a forced march from Guanzhong to Yingzhou, where he witnessed the vastness and abundance of the Tang Dynasty, as well as the brutality and cruelty of the Goguryeo people.

Now, upon hearing Li Jing call his name, Xue Rengui readily agreed without hesitation.

"If we cannot defeat the Goguryeo cavalry, this humble general is willing to offer his head in return!"

Li Jing pointed to a soldier holding a drone beside him and said to Xue Rengui:

"He's a drone scout sent to you by the Central Army. He can help you see the enemy's situation clearly. Don't mention bringing your head back. I only have one request... no prisoners!"

"Leave no prisoners" meant to kill them all, and Xue Rengui instantly understood:
"Rest assured, Duke Wei, this humble general will certainly complete the mission successfully!"

No sooner had Xue Rengui left than a messenger from Chang'an rode into the central army camp. He dismounted just outside the tent, panting heavily, his horse drenched in sweat.

The distance from Chang'an to Yingzhou is thousands of miles, making it extremely difficult to transmit intelligence or report on the battle situation.

Even though Li Shimin set up a 600-li express line at post stations along the way, there was still a serious lag in the transmission of news from Chang'an.

The captain of the central army ran over, verified his identity with the messenger, and took a bamboo tube sealed with wax, about two feet long and as thick as a bowl.

The bamboo tube was delivered to the central command tent. Li Jing personally scraped off the sealing wax, opened the lid, and took out a sealed bag. Inside the bag was a stack of photocopy paper with tiny, densely packed notes written in carbon pen, all of which were Li Shimin's analysis of the battle situation.

Wrapped inside the photocopy paper was a dark, black token. Li Jing held it in his hand and examined it closely, marveling at its exquisite craftsmanship; it was clearly from the celestial realm.

He flipped through the contents of the photocopy and finally found the description and usage of the token:

"Can it summon divine lightning to strike down those who deserve to die? The gods have bestowed such a treasure upon me; I, Li, am truly ashamed!"

As Li Jing traveled, his health improved and his spirits became more vigorous. When he left the pass, he didn't even take a carriage, but rode a horse for a whole day, outrunning Li Ji, the Minister of War who was traveling with him.

It must be said that some people are truly born for war. Even when they are seventy or eighty years old, they are still full of energy and eager to take up their spears and personally fight the enemy once they are close to the battlefield.

As he was examining the token, the walkie-talkie on the table crackled to life:
"Reporting to the Duke of Wei, the Khitans have returned, and their leader is a tribal chief. How should we respond?"

From the day they left the pass, the Khitans from the north kept harassing them, sometimes trying to steal their horses, sometimes asking to borrow grain, showing their despicable and thieving nature to the fullest extent.

Li Jing originally intended to annihilate one or two Khitan tribes to teach them a lesson, but the Khitans were all light cavalry, moving like the wind, giving the Tang Dynasty's iron cavalry no chance to perform.

Hearing that the Khitans had returned, Li Jing picked up the walkie-talkie and issued the order:
"The cavalry retreat, let them in. I will personally deal with these ingrates!"

The Khitan, Xueyantuo, Xi, Shiwei... these were all foreign tribes that barely survived under the oppression of the Turks. The Tang Dynasty drove out the Turks and liberated them, but instead of being grateful, these foreign tribes took advantage of the situation.

Now that he has the token bestowed by the gods, Li Jing intends to give it a try and see how effective the summoning of divine thunder really is.

He mounted his horse and led a group of central guards away from the camp, heading north. Before long, he spotted the shadowy figures of the Khitans in the woods.

The leader was shirtless, his hair shaved like a bald man's, and when he saw Li Jing, he patted his chest provocatively.

Li Jing stroked the token for a moment, then suddenly raised it forward:
"Thunder comes!"

With a loud shout, a bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, turning the Khitan tribe leader, who was cosplaying as a silverback gorilla, into a charred corpse.

The leader's entourage was terrified, and Li Jing's guards were also quite frightened.

No one expected that Li Weigong could summon divine thunder so easily... Is there any suspense left in this battle?

The captain of the central army asked:

"Duke of Wei, are you a deity?"

Li Jing laughed heartily:
“I am not a god, but this token is a divine object… Go, use arrows to drive away that group of Khitans. After this incident, they should behave themselves for a while. We can deal with them after we have destroyed Goguryeo!”

With the black iron token, Li Jing quickly devised several tactics.

However, it's not necessary now. We need to get to Liucheng as soon as possible and meet with Su Dingfang before we can formulate a comprehensive plan to destroy Goguryeo.

Early the next morning, the young general Xue Rengui, dressed in white, led two thousand cavalrymen on their journey.

Although he is called a young general, Xue Rengui is already thirty years old this year. He is a wealthy man in Longmen County and has been learning martial arts since childhood.

Now that he finally had the opportunity to sell his goods to the emperor, he cherished it greatly.

Not long after the group left the camp, they encountered a light cavalry unit from Goguryeo. Just as Xue Rengui was about to charge forward, he suddenly remembered the drone as an add-on:
"Scout, show me what's behind them!"

Soon, the drone took off, and the scouts used it to survey the area, discovering that there were many Goguryeo people digging horse traps in the rear.

Horse traps were a common tactic against cavalry. Numerous small pits, about the size of a bowl, were dug into the ground. When a warhorse galloped, it could easily step into them, breaking its hooves or legs. Xue Rengui, seeing those densely packed pits from the air, broke out in a cold sweat.

Fortunately, they didn't rush over, otherwise they might have had to go back to see Li Weigong with their heads on their hands.

The drone then conducted another reconnaissance mission in the vicinity and discovered a secret camp in a mountain hollow to the south. Goguryeo people were seen coming and going, which was probably where they hid supplies and rested.

Xue Rengui immediately had an idea. He left 500 cavalrymen, each of whom used ropes to pull themselves along tree branches to create the illusion of a main force. Then he led the remaining 1,500 cavalrymen diagonally into Goguryeo's secret camp.

Inside were not only Goguryeo people waiting to be slaughtered, but also a large amount of grain and supplies. Once captured, it would have an immeasurable boost to the morale of the Tang Dynasty.

They quickly arrived at the camp. Xue Rengui, wielding a long spear, charged in first, stabbing and stabbing anyone he saw... Since they didn't want prisoners, there was no need to leave any survivors.

Thus, while the Goguryeo cavalry were harassing the Tang Dynasty's grain supply lines, Xue Rengui secretly destroyed their crystal tower.

When the news reached the central army camp, Li Jing was overjoyed. He immediately submitted a memorial to Chang'an to request that Xue Rengui be rewarded and recommended him as a guerrilla general. Before the great battle began, it was crucial to establish role models to boost morale.

Inside the Hunyuan Palace, Zhou Yi looked at the newly added merits in the black notebook and was somewhat surprised:

"Wow, Xue Rengui is starting to show his talent now?"

Just as he was about to study Xue Rengui's life, Gongsun Da Niang, dressed in sportswear, walked in:

"Master, didn't you say there was a feast today? When are we leaving?"

Today is Wang Shuangqing's grandfather's 80th birthday. The neighbors in the town will go to the banquet. Zhou Yi also thoughtfully prepared a peace talisman for the birthday celebrant, the Antarctic Longevity Emperor.

Zhou Yi glanced at the clock on the wall and said:

"It's only a little past nine o'clock now. Going too early will make us a laughing stock. Let's wait a bit longer."

Upon hearing this, Granny Gongsun plopped down on Zhouyi's bed and said with a wronged expression:

"Master, now that I have local household registration, what should I call myself? I can't just call myself Gongsun Da Niang, can I? They'll definitely think that name is very strange."

The name Gongsun Da Niang translates to "eldest daughter of the Gongsun family" in modern terms. This was normal in ancient times, but it is somewhat inappropriate in modern times.

The Book of Changes says:

"In games and your fan-created works, there are characters who call you Gongsun Xiu and Gongsun You. Which one do you prefer?"

Gongsun Da Niang curled her lip:

"It feels so ordinary, not very eye-catching. Give me a more modern name, so that when I put it on my household registration, people can immediately tell I'm a big shot."

Zhou Yi thought for a moment, then tentatively asked:

"How about calling him... Gongsun Tiechui?"

No sooner had she finished speaking than the gluttonous girl grabbed a pillow from the bed and hit him with it:
"Can't you be a little more mature like me?"

Zhou Yi was terrible at naming things, so he eventually gave up and decided to hand the reins to Wu Zetian or Li Qingzhao. One was an empress, and the other was a talented woman; they would have been experts at naming things.

At 10:30 a.m., Aunt Gongsun rode her fully charged electric scooter, carrying Zhou Yi, to the banquet.

As they passed the statues of the Four Heavenly Kings, Zhou Yi noticed that a lot of fallen leaves had been blown into the doorway by the wind, which looked rather jarring. So he got off the vehicle to clean them up, then got back on the electric cart and, with his arm around Gongsun Xiaoni's slender waist, headed down the mountain.

Upon arriving in town, Aunt Gongsun skillfully turned into Wang Shuangqing's old house, which was right behind Brother Wang's seed and pesticide shop.

At this time, Wang Shuangqing's house was decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers, and various cooking utensils were set up at the door. Master Shen, who was in charge of catering large banquets in town, was busy cutting various meat ingredients, which made Aunt Gongsun's mouth water.

Zhou Yi led her into Wang Shuangqing's house, where they met the birthday celebrant, presented gifts, and gave him two hundred yuan on the gift table. Then, he grabbed a handful of melon seeds and led Aunt Gongsun to Wang Ge's shop next door, where they would eat together when the banquet started.

Seeing Zhou Yi enter, Wang Ge busied himself serving tea and water. Gongsun Da Niang glanced at the various seeds on the shelf and asked Wang Ge:

Is Xisen VI the highest-yielding crop?

Wang Ge shook his head like an old expert and said:
"Strictly speaking, the Xisen No. 6 is just the highest-yielding potato variety. When it comes to crops, it has to be ranked a little lower, as there are crops with much higher yields than potatoes."

Gongsun Da Niang became interested:

"What crops? It's not sugarcane and bananas, is it?"

Wang Ge pulled out a picture of a crop from the brochure at the counter and showed it to everyone:

"Sugarcane and bananas have to take a backseat to this stuff... It can be used as animal feed, and you can also extract sugar and plant protein. This is the world's largest grass with an annual yield of over 30 tons per acre—sweet elephant grass!"

(End of this chapter)