Chapter 41

  "General Zong Zheng, farewell!" Mei said, and without lingering, turned around and walked down the tower.

  Qiu Zhen saw Tang Yin standing still, afraid that he would be stubborn again and insist on staying in Tongmen. He quickly pulled his sleeve and said in a low voice, "We should leave too."

  Tang Yin didn't plan on staying in Tongmen, he was just thinking about things.

  He nodded at Qiu Zhen, indicating that he should calm down, then said to Gu Yue and Le Tian: "You two come with me!"

  "What?" Gu Yue and Le Tian were both stunned. As the guardians of Tongmen, how could they leave with Tang Yin?

  "Look at the bloodstains and wounds on both of you," said Tang Yin, "You two are now injured, let alone fighting, even moving around is a problem, what can you do by staying here?"

  Gū Yuè heard this and became enraged, saying: "Do you think I'm a person who fears death and loves life? General Zōng Zhèng and Dǐng Wēi have shared life and death together, how could I possibly shrink back?!"

  Tang Yin burst out laughing and said: "Do you think that making unnecessary sacrifices is what they call loyalty to the country?"

  "If it weren't for the fact that Tang Yin's official rank was higher than his own, Gu Yue would have really liked to rush over and punch him a couple of times. Of course, whether or not he could actually beat him was another matter altogether."

  The originally descending Wu Mei stopped in her tracks, turning around to curiously look at Tang Yin, not understanding why the normally cold and unfeeling Tang Yin was so determined to take these two people away.

  Actually, Tang Yin had his own plan.

  Since he decided to stay in the army and develop his career, he wanted to make himself stronger.

  Although Mei gave him the position of commander of the second infantry battalion, it was just an empty position. The second infantry battalion had already been defeated in the Hedong region and would have to be rebuilt after returning to Yancheng. As for what kind of people he could recruit, he wasn't sure, but he did think highly of Gu Yue and Le Tian's abilities and wanted to bring them under his command. Moreover, people he personally selected would be easier to cultivate into loyal followers. If there was only one Qiu Zhen, how could he use him?

  Wu Mei didn't understand what Tang Yin was thinking, assuming that he had developed feelings for Gu Yue and Le Tian after fighting side by side with them all day, and couldn't bear to see the two of them stay at Tongmen to die.

  She shook her head and smiled, saying: "These two are General Zong Zheng's men. Tang Yin, don't make things difficult for them!"

  Gu Yue and Le Tian had not been in the army for long, and their ranks were not high. They were only in charge of a hundred people's team leader. Zong Zhenguo didn't know them at all. Seeing Tang Yin insisting on taking them away, and they were indeed injured, Zong Zhenguo was willing to do a favor, saying to Gu and Le: "General Tang is right, I think you two are not lightly injured, even if you stay here, it's unlikely that you can do anything, so follow General Tang!"

  "General Zong Zheng..." Gu Yue and Le Tian knelt down together, saying in unison: "Your subordinates are not afraid of death!"

  "I know." Zong Zhenghao smiled and said, "Actually, as General Tang said, making unnecessary sacrifices is not as good as leaving behind a useful body to serve the country again in the future!"

  "General Zong Zheng..."

  "No need to say more, you two can go!" He then turned to Wu Mei and said: "I didn't plan on troubling General Wu again, but there are many injured soldiers in the city, I wonder if General Wu could take them away as well?"

  This is a troublesome matter, with over a thousand wounded soldiers and not many usable troops in her hands. How can she take away so many people? She hesitated for a moment and said: "I'll do my best, whatever I can bring away is what I'll bring."

  "What a bother General Wu is."

  "General Zong is being polite."

  In this way, Wu Mei and others left Tongmen, Tang Yin also took away Gu Yue and Le Tian as he wished, at the same time, they also brought hundreds of heavily injured defenders.

  On their way back to Yancheng, Gu Yue and Le Tian both had cold expressions and remained silent, not giving Tang Yin a good face.

  He knew that the two of them were uncomfortable, and Tang Yin didn't think it was strange either. He walked up to the two of them and said: "Don't think that not being afraid of death means you're loyal or noble. There are many people in this world who aren't afraid of death, but dying without a reason only represents foolishness and ignorance!"

  Tang Yin speaks straightforwardly and doesn't save anyone's face.

  Gu Yue and Le Tian's faces turned even uglier upon hearing this.

  "Death can be heavier than...heavier than a mountain, but it can also be lighter than a feather. If you two are determined to choose the latter, then I won't stop you. It's not far from Tongmen, you two can go back now!" He originally wanted to say that death is heavier than Mount Tai, but he thought for a moment and realized they wouldn't know what Mount Tai was, so he simply omitted it.

  Gǔ Yuè wanted to speak, he had already taken a deep breath, but his mouth opened and not a single word came out. After a moment of silence, the air he had drawn in dissipated again.

  Actually, Tang Yin was right. With their current situation, even if they stayed in Tongmen, it would be useless, and could only add two more heroic souls to the defenders of Tongmen.

  The two were dissatisfied with Tang Yin's attitude of making decisions without consulting them, which hurt their self-esteem.

  After a long silence, Gu Yue finally squeezed out two words from between his teeth: "Thanks."

  Anyway, in fact, Tang Yin was rescued by him and Yue Tian, so he felt that he should thank them.

  Tang Yin looked deeply at Gu Yue for a moment, and the corners of his mouth slightly rose.

  "You two follow me!" He threw down a sentence and turned around to leave.

  "I may thank you, but that doesn't mean I'll do things for you in the future!" Tang Yin's tone was as if it were only natural and not open to refusal, which made it difficult for people to accept. Moreover, he was a cultivator of dark arts, and although they had fought side by side for an entire day, Gu Yue still had a subtle sense of rejection towards him.

  Tang Yin didn't even turn his head back and just hummed a laugh, casually waving his hand as he said: "If you two have a better place to go in the future, I don't mind if you leave."

  "You..." Gu Yue pointed at Tang Yin's occipital bone, unsure of what to say.

  Cold, arrogant and invincible, this is Gu Yue's current feeling towards Tang Yin.

  Soon after Tang Yin left, Qiu Zhen came again and handed them two small medicine bottles, intentionally explaining that they were the hemostatic and analgesic medicines that Tang Yin had asked Dancer Mei for.

  The medicine was indeed what Tang Yin wanted, but it was only because of Qiu Zhen's reminder that he did so.

  Tang Yin had the intention of recruiting these two men, and Qiu Zhen was all for it. To achieve great things, one naturally needs a large number of capable people to assist him. In Qiu Zhen's opinion, Gu Yue and Le Tian were both quite capable, and they were also loyal and dependable. Once they truly pledged their allegiance to Tang Yin, they would be trustworthy.

  All the way, they did not encounter any reinforcements heading to Tongmen, nor did they know where Liang Qi had taken his troops. Wu Mei and Wu Ying looked gloomy, knowing that without reinforcements, Tongmen could not withstand Ning Jun's next attack, and this farewell with Zong Zhenguo would be a permanent one.

  What's more serious is that if Tongmen is lost, Fengdu will have no place to defend, and Wang Tinghui will be threatened by the Ning army at all times, and Fengguo will never have a peaceful day again.

  She pays close attention to the situation at Tongmen, sending out dozens of her men on fast horses to shuttle back and forth between Tongmen and the troops, so that she can be informed of any news from Tongmen at all times.

  The next day.

  The first wave of scouts brought back the news that Ning's army had launched another massive attack on the city at dawn today. This news also made the hearts of Wu Mei and others hang in suspense.

  The waiting time always passes slowly. From dawn to dusk, the second wave of scouts returned with a desperate message that Tongmen City's defense had been breached and Ning's army had entered Tongmen. Zong Zhengguang led the remaining garrison into the city to fight against the enemy in an alley battle.

  The enemy broke through the defense and entered the city. This was almost equivalent to losing the city. After receiving the news, everyone fell silent.

  Then, from time to time, scouts returned and reported on the specific situation of the Tongmen attack and defense battle.

  The Ning army entered Tongmen and started a massacre, killing both soldiers and ordinary civilians indiscriminately.

  Zong Zhengguo, who was besieged by the enemy in the city, broke through the siege after a fierce battle and gathered the scattered defenders in the west of the city, then launched a counterattack against the Ning army.

  The battle was extremely fierce, and under the circumstances of being outnumbered, Zong Zhengguang led his troops to kill Ning's army back to the east of the city. Later, Ning's army added more troops to counterattack, and both sides fought back and forth in the central area of Tongmen, with dozens of battles taking place, each refusing to yield an inch of land.

  This truly verifies the saying 'every inch of mountain and river is paid for with an inch of blood'.

  In the end, with Zong Zhengguo as the leader of the defenders, they were outnumbered and forced to retreat from Tongmen through the west gate. From then on, Ning's army completely occupied Tongmen.

  Then, a dramatic event occurred. Just as Ning Jun had just occupied the entire Tongmen and was slaughtering the civilians in the city, starting to massacre the city, the 1 million Feng Guo reinforcement troops led by Liang Qi suddenly appeared.

  The east side of Tongmen faces Ningguo directly, with high and thick city walls that are exceptionally strong, and the city defense is also perfect. The west side of Tongmen is the territory of Fengguo itself, where the city wall is only symbolic, almost non-existent. Liang Qi's 100,000 relief troops basically didn't expend much effort to break into Tongmen, and they engaged in urban warfare with Ning's army inside Tongmen.

  The Ning army's advantage lies in its long-range archery, while the Feng army excels at close-quarters combat. By using their strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses, and fighting on home turf, with the added bonus of Tongmen City being relatively small, the Ning army's numerical superiority is neutralized as they cannot all fit inside the city walls, rendering them unable to fully deploy. How could the Feng army not emerge victorious?

  Alas, the Ning army had a large number of troops, but they were suddenly attacked by the Wind Army and were caught off guard, losing their helmets and armor, and fleeing in disarray. The battle only lasted for two hours, and the Ning army, which had just entered the city, was immediately driven out.

  This time, the defender of Tongmen had changed to Liang Qi, and the defending army had also changed to ten battalions under Liang's command. For Ning's army, which had been fighting continuously for two days, it was even more difficult to break into Tongmen again.

  As for Zong Zhenghao, he was indeed lucky to have escaped death. However, Liang Qiyue, relying on her noble birth, was arrogant and ignored him directly, putting him aside without a care.

  The city defense was not yet thoroughly consolidated, and this eager-to-establish-merit eldest son of the Liang family began to have people move away the obstacles blocking the city gate, preparing to launch a counterattack against the Ning army outside the city.

  The outcome of the battle at Tongmen was beyond everyone's expectations, and Ning Jun's side was also baffled. Who could have guessed that Liang Qi and his men would suddenly appear out of nowhere at this critical moment?

  PS: Finally modified at 12:30, thank you again to the brothers and sisters who support Liu Dao! The work will be launched on February 21st (the eighth day of the first month), with a minimum update of 20 chapters. If you have flowers, I hope you can leave one, and when the time comes, the more flowers, the more explosive it will be!

  Also recommend a very good new book "Yi Jin Jing" Book number: 131187! Been chasing to watch every day!

  Qin Ci, a simple young man who followed his grandfather to live in seclusion in the deep mountains of Northeast China to practice the Tian She She Qi Lian Qi technique. When he deciphered the ancient body-refining technique from an old animal skin, what kind of waves will he stir up after entering the city?