Chapter 147

  Tang Yin has a lot of guts, Xiao Mucqing understands him all too well. Not to mention the city of Besa, even if it's a dragon's lair or a tiger's den, Tang Yin would still have the guts to take a chance and charge in.

  Looking at Shangguan Yuanrang's disbelieving face, Xiao Mucqing didn't continue arguing with him and only dryly laughed twice before walking towards the city with him.

  Shangguan Yuan let out a cold sweat, he could see clearly from the city wall, now thinking of resisting the Besa army, he couldn't help but rely heavily on this person, he didn't dare to offend him.

  Xiao Mùqīng led the Wind Corps, almost like a crowd of stars surrounding the moon, welcoming Shàngguān Yuǎn into the city with great fanfare. The latter accepted the adoration of the crowd with ease, sitting on his horse, not even bothering to dismount, holding his head high, with a hint of a smile on his face, looking pleased with himself. In his opinion, it was only natural that people treated him this way; if he hadn't arrived in time, the barbarian army would probably have already breached the city walls.

  As he walked forward, a group of people rushed towards him from the front. The leader was none other than Shangguan Yuanguo.

  Shangguan Yuan's eyes were sharp, and from a distance, he saw his older brother approaching. At first, he was stunned, but then the triumphant look on his face suddenly disappeared. His first reaction was to dismount his horse, forcing out a calm smile as he nodded in greeting to the surrounding crowd. Xiao Mucqing found it strange, unable to understand why Shangguan Yuan had suddenly made a 180-degree turn in his attitude towards their own people.

  After waiting for a while, he also saw Shangguan Yuanyi and others coming quickly, and then he suddenly understood that Shangguan Yuan let his elder brother be very respectful too!

  Shangguan Yuange had never practiced Lingwu, but his three brothers were all highly skilled in it. However, the three brothers' attitude towards him was one of both respect and fear, with the respectful component far outweighing the fearful one. After their parents passed away, the eldest brother took on a paternal role, and no matter how accomplished they became, in front of Shangguan Yuange, they were just younger brothers, juniors.

  Before Shangguan Yuanyi approached, Shangguan Yuanrang hurriedly stepped forward to greet him. When he reached Shangguan Yuanyi's side, he adjusted his clothes and knelt down on one knee. Before speaking, his eyes had already turned red. Shangguan Yuanrang had been traveling the world for many years, away from home for several years, and it had also been several years since he parted with his older brother. At this moment, seeing each other again, his emotions surged, and after a brief pause, he spoke in a trembling voice: "Younger brother Yuanrang, greetings to older brother!"

  Looking at his brother, who had been away from home for many years and was now kneeling in front of him, Shangguan Yuange's tears also fell. He hastily stretched out his hand to help Yueliang up, carefully sizing him up from head to toe, feeling that his brother was much darker than he had imagined, and looked more mature as well. He excitedly nodded repeatedly, choking with sobs: "It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back!"

  The two brothers had not seen each other for many years, and after a long time of separation, they naturally had a lot to talk about. However, Xiao Miaoqing didn't have the time to wait for them to chat about family matters. He leaned in close and smiled, saying: "Magistrate Ouyang having a brother like General Yuan Rong is truly a blessing for the Ouyang family, as well as for Pingyuan County!"

  He spoke with great skill, showing courtesy and respect, while secretly giving Yuan Letian a general title, implying that he wanted to bring him into the Pingyuan army.

  The two brothers Shangguan could not help but hear the implication behind his words. Shangguan Yuangei did not say much, while Shangguan Yuanrang said discontentedly: "I am just a leisurely person, when did I become a general? If it weren't for knowing that Pingyuan County is in trouble this time and my brother being trapped, I wouldn't have rushed back thousands of miles."

  He is telling the truth. At this time, Shangguan Yuan had no intention of surrendering to the enemy. He returned to Pingyuan County only to lift the siege of Heng City and save his elder brother's life.

  Xiao Muqing's old face turned red, and he dryly laughed, looking at Shangguan Yuange with difficulty. Shangguan Yuange thought this person was too arrogant, his arrogance was somewhat unreasonable, and wanted to pull him into the Pingyuan army to help their side retreat from the enemy, but could only start by dealing with his older brother.

  Shangguan Yuange naturally understood Xiao Mucqing's meaning, but he wasn't an unreasonable big brother and wouldn't force his brothers to make a certain choice. He fell silent for a moment before saying: "Yuange, Pingyuan County is our hometown, the people of Pingyuan County are our fellow villagers. Now that we're in a critical situation with 200,000 barbarian troops invading our county, we should do everything in our power to protect our homeland and ensure the safety of our people!"

  Shangguan Yuan let out a faint smile and said proudly, "Big brother can rest assured, with me here, the barbarians of the vassal states will not dare to set foot in Heng City!"

  Hearing him say this, Shangguan Yuanji put his mind at ease. As long as his brother was willing to make an effort, whether or not he joined the Pingyuan army was of no importance.

  Xiao Muqing's mouth twitched, wanting to speak, but ultimately held back. He sincerely hoped that Shang Guanyu would join the Pingyuan army, and now that Zhang Zhou had died, they were short of a battalion commander. If Shang Guanyu took over this position, with his exceptional Lingwu skills, he could completely upgrade the combat effectiveness of the Pingyuan army to another level, and Xiao Muqing himself would also have more opportunities in the future. However, Shang Guanyu was an arrogant and unreasonable person, and if Xiao Muqing pushed too hard, it might backfire.

  Shangguan Yuan looked around and did not see his two brothers. He asked in doubt: "Big brother, where are Yuanwu and Yuanbiao?"

  "The two of them have gone with the adults on an expedition to the barbarian capital!"

  "Oh?" Xiao Muqing said so, Shangguan Yuanrang didn't believe it, but his older brother also said the same thing, and he couldn't help but believe it. Could it be that Tang Yin really dared to infiltrate deep into the barbarian state's capital alone? This was too unbelievable. At this time, Shangguan Yuanrang became very interested in Tang Yin, wanting to see what kind of person he was.

  He thought so in his heart, but he didn't say it out loud. He muttered: "This county guard^H? If he wants to die himself, that's fine, but he also wants to drag my two brothers down with him. If something happens to Yuan Wu and Yuan Biao, I will never forgive him!"

  Xiao Muzheng's body shook slightly at the words, and he secretly stuck out his tongue. Duanmu Yuanji's face turned solemn, and he scolded in a low voice: "Yuanrang, do not speak nonsense, and do not be rude to His Excellency!"

  Seeing Big Brother's poor complexion, Shangguan Yuan let out a hasty bow and acknowledged it.

  Returning to the mansion of the Shangguan family in the city, everyone took their seats as host and guest. Shangguan Yuan looked around, feeling that there were many changes in the house. Originally, he thought that since his older brother had become the deputy county governor, the family's circumstances would have become even more prosperous, but unexpectedly it was completely the opposite. The valuable things in the house had decreased by a lot, the number of guards had increased, but there were only a few servants left, and it was clear that life was not as good as before.

  Others get richer the more they serve in office, but his own brother gets poorer. Yuan Letian didn't know whether to cry or laugh, he walked back and forth in the courtyard with his hands behind his back, shaking his head and sighing from time to time.

  Not long after everyone sat down, Bai Yong, Zhuo Nu, Gu Yue and Li Wei, the four battalion commanders, also walked in from outside, bringing with them the statistics of their own casualties.

  Every time they see the statistics of their own casualties, people are quite distressed, especially today, after a fierce battle all day long, the outer city wall was once occupied by the enemy, and the Pingyuan army suffered heavy casualties.

  Five legions, originally eighty thousand men, now less than forty thousand soldiers can still take up their weapons to fight, with more than half casualties. Even among those who can fight, almost all are wounded and exhausted. With our combat effectiveness reduced to this extent, can we still withstand the barbarian army's strong attack?

  Seeing the crowd bowing their heads in silence, Xiao Muqing said seriously: "Our army has suffered heavy casualties, and the barbarian army's losses are even greater. Moreover, we now have Yuanrang... Brother Yuanrang's assistance, defending against the enemy is not a problem!"

  Shangguan Yongji said: "If our military strength is really insufficient, I can organize the citizens within the city to assist our army in defending the city!"

  Xiao Muqing hastily shook his head and said, "This won't do! The common people haven't received formal training, let alone seen the bloodshed on the battlefield. If we send them to fight against the barbarian army, it will not only increase casualties but also lead to a large-scale rout, affecting our military morale and boosting the enemy's momentum, making the situation even more unfavorable for us!"

  After listening to Xiao Muqing's analysis, Shangguan Yuangei nodded in agreement, feeling that what he said was very reasonable. It was okay to let the civilians help transport some city defense facilities, but it was indeed too risky to organize them on the battlefield.

  Junuo snorted and said, "If the county can send reinforcements, how would Heng City fall into such a predicament?"

  His words immediately resonated with the crowd, at this time both sides had already fought to exhaustion, and were at their last gasp, if even a relief force of 10,000 men was sent from the prefecture, it would be enough to turn around the passive situation.

  Everyone was indignant, only Qiu Zhenxin knew what was going on. He wouldn't let go of the opportunity to stir up people's dissatisfaction, his eyes rolled around and he chimed in: "Yu He is just a greedy little man, if we can send him a large batch of gold, silver and jewels, maybe he'll be so happy that he'll dispatch the reinforcements, without money, he won't care about the lives of our Pingyuan army and the people of Pingyuan!"

  "That scoundrel of an official!" Juno clenched her fist and slammed it onto the table.

  Everyone's eyes were blazing with fury.

  Shangguan Yuan stepped inside at this moment, glanced around the crowd and said in a low voice: "After the barbarian army retreats, I will go to Shunzhou to take his dog's head!"

  Shangguan Yuanji furrowed his brow, but before he could speak, several battalion commanders chimed in: "Right! Brother Yuanshang, we'll go with you then. We can't let that dog official Yu He off the hook. It's an insult to our fallen comrades and especially to General Zhang who died for the country!"

  Under Qiu Zhen's subtle provocation, the crowd's hatred for the barbarian army suddenly shifted to Yu He, and at this time, Yu He was still organizing troops in Shunzhou, preparing to reinforce Yancheng, completely unaware that he had become the target of the Pingyuan army's arrows.

  Shangguan Yuan let La pull up a chair and sit down, saying: "The barbarian soldiers are not to be feared, we don't need to stay in the city and defend it to the death. Tomorrow when the barbarian soldiers come again to attack the city, I will go out of the city to meet them."

  "..." Xiao Miao Qing hesitated for a moment, worriedly saying: "Yuan Rang brother can't be careless, the barbarian army is numerous, if we go out of the city to fight, I'm afraid..."

  "Hmph!" Shangguan Yuan let out a cold laugh, turned his hand to grab his own three-pointed double-edged knife, and said: "What's there to fear? To kill one enemy, just one stab of the knife is enough. To kill a group of enemies, just one swing of the knife is enough. Even if the enemy army has hundreds of thousands of soldiers, in my eyes, they are nothing but a herd of cattle waiting to be slaughtered!"

  This remark is indeed extreme, but Xiang Yu has enough capital to be extremely arrogant. On the battlefield, he had the courage of a million men, and in future battles, he was indeed given the nickname "Enemy of a Million Men" by Tang Yin, who was called the "Invincible General", with a three-pointed two-edged knife, sweeping horizontally.