Chapter 22: General's Sword

  "Damn, the weather by the lake is really weird." Xingang cursed after taking a look at the sky. At dusk, there were still thousands of miles of sunset glow, and when night fell, you could still see the moon and stars, but now? The whole sky was filled with dark clouds, gloomy and oppressive. The most unbearable thing was that the warm and gentle lake breeze during the day had turned cold and damp, sending a chill down your spine as it blew against your skin.

  After arranging the night watch, Xingang immediately rushed into the camp. The scout confirmed that the thieves had indeed crossed over to Congshu Ridge and gone into Fan County, and Antong immediately led his men in pursuit without saying a word. Xingang was ordered to stay behind and guard the camp and grain, which he was very satisfied with; as a personal soldier, being able to command 300 people, even if it was just a guard duty, made him very excited.

  The bandits are now in Fan Township, surrounded by the large army of An Gongwei, and our side is enjoying a leisurely time. Xin Gang had just fallen onto the couch, stretched his waist lazily, and felt comfortable! If there was a woman to spend the night with, it would be even more perfect, Xin Gang thought to himself, but with strict military discipline, this could only be a fantasy, alas!

  The torches burned, crackling from time to time. In the dim light, Li, the former vice general who had once been in his heyday, cowered in a corner. After being defeated at Qing Shi Gou, although An Tong did not sentence him to death, he was subjected to severe punishment. From being the deputy commander of an army, he fell from grace and became a lowly soldier guarding a thatched cottage.

  What's even more depressing is that everyone else's sentry post is basically in a sheltered spot, while I'm stuck here at the windward side, freezing my butt off. Having stood for half the night, Deputy Commander Li finally couldn't take it anymore and hastily retreated to lean against the haystack behind him, savoring the rare warmth.

  It was frustrating that just after leaning against it for a short while, his stomach suddenly churned and rumbled loudly. Deputy General Li cried out in distress, and had no choice but to get up and say to the nearby sentry: "Ah Si, I've got diarrhea, go take care of it, you keep watch."

  The soldier nicknamed Ah Si said with a bad temper: "Go away, is there still someone who can't even steal the camp? Night watch is just for show."

  "This is indeed the case, the bandits are all on the other side of Fan Township, even if they are nearby, they dare to come...". Suddenly a flash of inspiration flashed through his mind, just as he was about to grasp it, another wave came from his abdomen. Li Deputy General didn't care about anything else and hurriedly pulled up his pants and ran away.

  "Li Huo, run further away, don't smoke me out, haha!" came Ah Si's teasing laughter.

  Li Deputy Commander was still fuming, in the past when he was a deputy commander everyone would show respect, but now? They've even changed the way they address him, Firehead Li, humph! He's just a lowly firehead soldier. Feeling depressed, he ran into the woods, undid his belt and squatted down, mouth and anus open at the same time.

  "Damn it, those thieving bastards are to blame for my father's downfall! Yin Xu, you little scoundrel, if I ever see you, I'll chop you into a thousand pieces! Hmph!" With gritted teeth and curses, combined with the relief of relieving himself, Deputy General Li let out a gentle sigh, feeling quite relieved.

  "Phooey, do you have this skill?" A voice from the distant thicket cursed in a low tone, and then a strange smell wafted over, causing them to hurriedly cover their mouths and noses.

  The cold lake wind blew by, and Li's exposed buttocks felt even cooler. He hastily pulled a few leaves to solve the problem, pulled up his pants and ran back.

  Just a few steps after running out, I suddenly heard several light sounds from the nearby bushes. Immediately afterwards, a powerful hand covered my mouth and nose, and a long sword quietly arrived at my neck.

  "You want to take on our young master? Unfortunately, you're not worthy. What's even more unfortunate is that you no longer have the chance to catch up with our young master." The speaker was none other than Pu Jun.

  Li's eyes widened as he saw a young face, "Our young master"? Who is it? After a moment, he came to his senses and cursed inwardly. Just now, he had wanted to tear the person into pieces, but in an instant, he had become someone else's fallen soul. At the same time, he suddenly remembered that flash of insight in his mind earlier - the bandits were going to steal the camp, no, it had already become a reality.

  They all underestimated Yoon-oh again, thinking the thief was in Banyu, who knew he was in his own old nest. Unfortunately, it was too late to understand, just like last time in Qing Shi Gou, only this time there was no such good luck.

  The blade swept across, leaving a trail of blood. Deputy General Li struggled lightly, his throat moving slightly as he emitted a faint gurgling sound. Pu Jun thought he was trying to call for help and covered his mouth even tighter. In his heart, Deputy General Li bitterly smiled: I only wanted to say, don't dismember me, leave me with a whole corpse. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to say it out loud, his copper bell-like eyes gradually losing their luster...

  Pu Jun didn't hear it, but only stripped off his clothes and didn't chop him into pieces. Li Fujiang also knew about it under the spring, which was considered a blind eye to death.

  Pu Jun carried Li's deputy general's clothes, his eyebrows deeply furrowed, silently cursing: How smelly! With urgent matters at hand, he shook them twice and put them on, lowering his head to walk out of the Qin army camp.

  "Firehead Li is back!" Ah Si said with a sly grin on his face.

  It's strange that Huo Tou Li didn't respond to him, but instead walked over with his hands covering his stomach. Ah Si didn't mind that Huo Tou Li wasn't speaking and continued to speak with a low hat brim: "What? Didn't wipe clean?"

  As soon as the words fell, Firehead Li suddenly rushed over and grabbed Ah Si's neck, pinning him to the ground.

  A Si was greatly shocked, using all his might to squeeze out a very faint voice from his throat: "You're crazy, Huo Tou Li, you..." Under the dim firelight, he suddenly discovered that the person under the hat brim had long since changed, it wasn't Huo Tou Li, but... a spy?

  A Si finally reacted, wanting to shout, but it was already too late. Pu Jun's hand tightened even more, and in just an instant, A Si became the second Qin army soldier to fall tonight...

  Pu Jun hastily got up and searched around, beside the thatched cottage was a grain warehouse. Fortunately, he also found several jars of tung oil used for lighting fire at night, and after hurriedly splashing it, he put out the burning torches. Seeing the flames rise, Pu Jun smiled to himself, and in an instant, he disappeared into the woods behind...

  "It's on fire!"

  "Put out the fire!"

  Xin was startled awake by the shouting of his subordinates and rushed out of his tent, only to see flames engulfing the military camp in all directions, with chaos erupting everywhere.

  "Fire!" Xingang shouted, running over to investigate. The grain and hay were already engulfed in the sea of flames. The strong lake wind blew by, fanning the flames, sweeping the nearby tents into the inferno. Soldiers who couldn't escape in time were instantly consumed by the tongues of fire, letting out cries of despair.

  It was already impossible to put out the big fire, Xingang was still in shock and uncertainty, when a swooshing sound started, and bamboo-made crossbow arrows came pouring down from the sky. Most of the Qin army had hastily gotten up without putting on their armor, and it was unknown how many were hit by the arrows. Xingang finally realized - someone was raiding the camp.

  Unable to think much, Xing immediately organized his subordinates to resist. However, the Qin army had already suffered over a hundred casualties from the fire and bamboo arrows, and what was even more fatal was that many of the Qin soldiers were caught off guard while sleeping and rushed out to put out the fire without carrying their weapons.

  Yin Xu gave a clear order from outside, and the thieves rushed up with their sharp swords. After the Qing Stone Gorge battle, each thief held a sharp sword and went up to greet the Qin army without courtesy. The situation was completely reversed, and it can be imagined that the bare-handed and empty-fisted would be no match for the long swords.

  Xing Gang was shocked and pale, shouting that the Qin army was resisting. Fortunately, he had a habit of holding his sword in hand when leaving the tent. So he immediately swung his sword to kill, and only after one exchange did he realize that the thieves were not a group of mobs, but well-trained.

  However, he was from the Northwest Border Army and was agile with his sword. With a few swift strokes, he cut down three bandits, momentarily fierce as a tiger. Yin Xu saw from afar that his brother had been wounded by a sword and rushed over without saying a word, drawing his sword in an instant.

  For ancient swordsmanship, Yin Xu was not good at it, fortunately Pu Jun understood some of it and would study with him in his spare time. Recently after Fan Qing arrived, Yin Xu remembered the clever sword techniques used by the various families when dealing with the Brown Knight, so he took the opportunity to ask for guidance. Afterwards, he combined the Western fencing and slashing techniques from his previous life with his own strength and agility, forming a unique Yin-style sword technique.

  As soon as they exchanged blows, Xingang felt a great sense of unease. He was certain that his swordsmanship was superior to this person's, yet he couldn't counter some strange and unusual moves. After several exchanges, Yin Xu also realized his weakness, knowing that if the fight dragged on and his opponent figured out his tactics, it would be disastrous.

  He took advantage of the opportunity, let out a loud shout, held his sword in both hands and chopped down with the sharp blade. Xingang was greatly shocked, raised his sword to block, Clang! The two swords intersected, and the extremely sharp blade was cut into two pieces under Yin Xu's powerful chopping. The sword's momentum did not decrease, directly chopping towards the face, fortunately, Xingang's body was agile, dodged the fatal blow at the last moment, the price was a half-foot long wound on his shoulder, instantly bleeding profusely.

  Several of his men saw the situation and rushed forward to rescue him, and Xin barely managed to temporarily escape. What kind of weapon was it? It was so sharp! At first, Xin didn't pay attention to Yin Xu's weapon in the chaos, but now he gritted his teeth through the intense pain and looked at Yin Xu's hand.

  In the firelight, he didn't know if he didn't look, but when he did, he was startled. That sword... Xingang's eyes widened and he muttered: "General Sword..."