Chapter 341 You Chapter Going to Danger Alone
Three days later, Baihu Mountain

Ye Mingsheng, dressed in military uniform and riding on a tall horse, calmly looked at the mountain stronghold in the distance. Behind him, 20,000 Fengzhou troops were lined up at the foot of the mountain, ready to charge and smash everything in front of them at his command.

Although Ye Mingsheng received the news three days ago that Lu Zhan'ao wanted to surrender, Ye Mingsheng did not relax and he was still fully prepared.

First, Ye Mingsheng found Jiang Chong and some surrendered soldiers and asked them to describe all the checkpoints on Baihu Mountain. Then, based on this information, he asked generals such as He Jingyun to make two sets of combat plans.

The first plan is how to launch a frontal assault, and the second plan is how to attack after entering the mountain stronghold and finding that Lu Zhan'ao is pretending to surrender!
With these two plans, Ye Mingsheng felt more confident and no longer worried about what tricks Lu Zhan'ao would play on him...
Because Lu Zhan'ao promised to hand over Baihu Mountain intact, Ye Mingsheng had been waiting for him to take some action on the mountain. The sentry responsible for monitoring Baihu Mountain reported last night that there was a lot of noise and flames on Baihu Mountain, and it seemed that something had happened.

Under normal circumstances, this should be Lu Zhan'ao launching a coup to take down Zheng Xiaolin, so in order to cause some unnecessary misunderstandings, Ye Mingsheng did not take any action.
And today is the agreed time, Ye Mingsheng needs Lu Zhan'ao to give him a result!
If Lu Zhan'ao can't give it to him, then he, Ye, will get a result himself!
Under the watchful eyes of Ye Mingsheng and the 20,000 Fengzhou troops, the gate of the mountain stronghold slowly opened. Liu Qiang, who represented Lu Zhan'ao in the last mission to Ye Mingsheng's camp, walked out of the gate with dozens of people and came towards Ye Mingsheng...
Seeing that these dozens of people were going to follow Liu Qiang to meet Ye Mingsheng, for the sake of Ye Mingsheng's safety, Ye Dong immediately led his personal soldiers to ride forward and stopped all of them, allowing only Liu Qiang to meet Ye Mingsheng.
Walking up to Ye Mingsheng, Liu Qiang said respectfully:

"Sir, our Lord Lu has already taken over White Tiger Mountain and is inviting you to enter the mountain!"

Listening to Liu Qiang's words, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but narrow his eyes and looked up and down at the expressions of Liu Qiang and the people he brought with him. He said calmly:

"Very good, but since we have already taken over White Tiger Mountain, why don't Lu Zhan'ao come out and meet me!"

Liu Qiang looked embarrassed when he heard this, as if he had something to hide. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng snorted coldly and said in a cold voice:

"If you are willing to surrender, why are you being so secretive and hiding it?"

At this point, Ye Mingsheng drew his sword and pointed it directly at Baihu Mountain and said in a deep voice:

"Is there any more fraud going on in White Tiger Mountain?"

After hearing this, Liu Qiang was so frightened that he shook his head and said:
"Master Ye, you have misunderstood. Although our Master Lu succeeded in taking over the stronghold last night, he also suffered some injuries. Now he cannot see anyone. Please understand, Master Ye!"

"Okay! Since Lu Zhan'ao is injured and can't see anyone, Ye can understand!"

"But aren't all the brothers on the mountain injured?"

"Brothers, you have taken down White Tiger Mountain for me, Ye. Naturally, I cannot fail to express my gratitude. I have prepared several thousand taels of silver to reward you. Go back and ask all the brothers to come out to claim the reward!" Ye Mingsheng stared at Liu Qiang with a cold look and said in a deep voice:

Liu Qiang was speechless at Ye Mingsheng's words. Just as he was racking his brains to come up with an excuse, the dozens of people who followed him suddenly attacked with a roar. Most of them drew their swords and rushed towards Ye Mingsheng, while the remaining few took out Japanese cannons from their arms and wanted to aim at Ye Mingsheng.

Ye Dong, the captain of Ye Mingsheng's personal guards, was naturally prepared for the desperate struggles of these desperadoes. As soon as these people started to move, before they got within a hundred steps of Ye Mingsheng, hundreds of his personal guards surrounded them and started fighting with them under Ye Dong's tactics.

Glancing at the fighting in front of him, Ye Mingsheng looked at Liu Qiang and said with a half-smile:
"Liu Qiang, I didn't expect that I really underestimated you. You actually have the guts to be a spy!"

"Since you are so brave, I will certainly fulfill your loyalty. Someone, take him away and cook him to death!"

Hearing that Ye Mingsheng was so barbaric that he wanted to boil him alive, Liu Qiang was immediately horrified, his legs softened, and he immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed in front of Ye Mingsheng. While kowtowing, he cried bitterly and said:

"Sir, please forgive me. Zheng Xiaolin asked me to do this. If I didn't do it, he would kill my whole family..."

Liu Qiang's words aroused Ye Mingsheng's interest. He waved his hand and the soldiers who were about to suppress Liu Qiang and cook him to death stopped their actions immediately.

"Aren't you here on behalf of Lu Zhan'ao? How are you related to Zheng Xiaolin?"

Frightened, Liu Qiang cried and said:

"When Master Lu took action last night, he discovered that Zheng Xiaolin had been prepared. We all fell into Zheng Xiaolin's trap. Master Lu was defeated and his head was chopped off by Zheng Xiaolin. Zheng Xiaolin knew that I was sent by Master Lu to surrender to you, sir, so he asked me to bring you into the mountain stronghold. I didn't dare to do so, so he threatened to kill my whole family."

After saying this, Liu Qiang, who was kneeling on the ground, looked at Ye Mingsheng with a face full of desire and said:

"My lord, I have told you everything I know. I beg you to have mercy on me and spare my life! I was forced to do this. My lord, please be magnanimous and just let me go..."

Knowing what was going on, Ye Mingsheng glanced at him coldly, picked up the sword in his hand, and slashed it with one blow to take Liu Qiang's life.

Maybe Liu Qiang was really forced into a desperate situation, but the fact that he came to lure Ye Mingsheng into a trap was indeed true. Ye Mingsheng would not keep him alive. Giving him a clean death would be considered mercy from Ye Mingsheng!

Ye Mingsheng killed Liu Qiang, and Ye Dong also dealt with the dozens of people who followed him. These people seemed to be a group of loyal warriors to Zheng Xiaolin. Each of them fought to the last moment, and none of them surrendered.

After getting rid of these people, Ye Mingsheng, who knew that it was impossible to take over Baihu Mountain peacefully, immediately launched a combat plan to storm Baihu Mountain. Following his order, the 20,000 Fengzhou troops immediately launched a charge towards the mountain stronghold in front of them according to the plan...
As the saying goes, sharpening the knife does not delay the chopping of wood, and if you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools. Ye Mingsheng's preparations over the past few days were not in vain. Under the cover of a large number of firearms, the Fengzhou army's advancement speed can be said to be very rapid. In just the first charge, they captured three outer hills.

With such a swift attack, they captured all the outer hills of Baihu Mountain by noon and approached the camp on the main peak of Baihu Mountain.

Ye Mingsheng, who was sitting in the main seat in the tent, closed his eyes to rest, while He Jingyun first counted the casualties of each unit in the morning's attack on the mountain, and reported to Ye Mingsheng:

“Sir, today, Jiang Chong’s troops, who served as the vanguard, suffered the heaviest casualties, with approximately 150 casualties. The casualties of the remaining troops did not exceed 100. The total casualties of our army were approximately 500…”

Upon hearing this number, Ye Mingsheng opened his eyes immediately, a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes, and after a moment of hesitation, he asked He Jingyun:
"General He, what do you think of the fighting spirit of these bandits?"

Seeing Ye Mingsheng asking, He Jingyun hesitated for a moment, but still told the truth:

"From what I can see, the bandits' fighting spirit is very weak today. They can even be described as collapsing at the first blow. However, from what I have learned from the front line, although these bandits are running very fast, they should not be fleeing in a panic because of being beaten."

"It seems more like they had planned it in advance and then retreated after a symbolic resistance. Although the progress was fast, our soldiers did not wipe out many bandits..." Ye Mingsheng nodded in agreement. Based on his previous experience fighting these Baihu Mountain bandits, although they were all called bandits, these Baihu Mountain bandits who belonged to Zhensanshan definitely had combat effectiveness far beyond those ordinary bandits, and were basically on the same level as the Liaoyang Army.

The reason why Jiang Chong was able to lead his troops to capture the outer hilltops of Baihu Mountain within a few hours was mainly because Jiang Chong, who was familiar with the terrain of Baihu Mountain, took an unknown path and caught the Baihu Mountain defenders off guard. As the saying goes, every failure makes you wiser, these paths are now guarded by people and will no longer be used by Ye Mingsheng.

If Baihu Mountain cannot be liberated peacefully, Ye Mingsheng's Fengzhou Army will have no choice but to attack Baihu Mountain head-on!
In the original battle plan, Ye Mingsheng and his generals believed that if they wanted to attack Baihu Mountain by force, the Fengzhou Army could capture the outer hills of Baihu Mountain within one to two days.

So now the combat goal has been achieved in just one morning, which made Ye Mingsheng feel a little puzzled in addition to being surprised.

At this moment, Ye Dong suddenly walked into the tent and reported:

"Sir, a lame man holding a white flag came down from Sandaokou. Jiang Chong said that this man is... Zheng Xiaolin..."

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng was startled at first, then a faint smile appeared on his face and he said:

"This Zheng Xiaolin is really interesting!"

"Sir, do you want to meet Master Zheng Xiaolin or not?" Listening to Ye Mingsheng's words, Ye Dong was somewhat confused about Ye Mingsheng's thoughts and asked:

"Meet! Of course I have to meet him. Since Zheng Xiaolin dared to enter our military camp alone, if I, Ye, don't even dare to meet him, wouldn't it be a laughing stock if it got out? Wouldn't people all over the world laugh at me for being cowardly?" Ye Mingsheng said calmly:
After saying this, Ye Mingsheng thought for a moment and then said:
"There's no need to search him when he arrives, just bring him in!"

As the captain of the personal guards, Ye Dong immediately expressed his different opinions and said worriedly:

"Sir, Zheng Xiaolin just sent someone to assassinate us. Now he is going to the danger alone. He may have the intention to die. It is better to be safe than sorry..."

"What if? What what if?"

"I, Ye, am a cavalry general. Why should I be afraid of a cripple like him? If he really came to assassinate me, I would chop off his head with my own hands as a sacrifice! You don't need to say more," Ye Mingsheng said domineeringly:
Although he was still a little worried, seeing that Ye Mingsheng had made up his mind, Ye Dong had no choice but to obey the order. A moment later, he led Zheng Xiaolin, who was limping with a cane, to the central military tent.

When he arrived in front of the tent, under the gaze of many bodyguards, Zheng Xiaolin calmly put down his crutches and opened his arms to signal the bodyguards to come and search him.

Seeing this, although Ye Dong wanted to search him, he had to give up when he thought of Ye Mingsheng's explanation. He could only pick up the crutches and hand them to Zheng Xiaolin, then threatened in a low and fierce voice:
"Behave yourself and don't play any tricks, or I'll skin you alive!"

Zheng Xiaolin took the cane and said calmly:
"General, you are worrying too much. How can a crippled man like me stir up any trouble among tens of thousands of your troops?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Dong snorted coldly and said nothing, then let Zheng Xiaolin enter the central military tent.

As Zheng Xiaolin limped into the tent, Ye Mingsheng looked at the thin middle-aged man with a cane in front of him with great interest...

Although he had heard that Fengzhou General Ye Mingsheng was very young, Zheng Xiaolin still sighed in his heart and felt many emotions when he saw the young man sitting in the commander's seat in front of him. It was still hard to imagine that his father Zhen Sanshan, who had been in Liaoyang for decades, would be defeated miserably by this young man who was just starting out in front of him.

Although he was in a complicated mood, Zheng Xiaolin did not lose his manners. He bowed to Ye Mingsheng and said:

"Commoner Zheng Xiaolin greets General Ye!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded with a smile and then instructed his guards:
"See your seat!"

Following Ye Mingsheng's order, the guards immediately brought a chair for Zheng Xiaolin to sit on. Zheng Xiaolin seemed a little surprised, but he bowed to Ye Mingsheng and said:

"Thank you for the seat, sir!"

Seeing Zheng Xiaolin's surprise, Ye Mingsheng smiled slightly and said leisurely:
"Zheng Xiaolin, do you know why I'm giving you a seat?"

Zheng Xiaolin smiled bitterly and said, "Maybe your Excellency feels pity for a cripple like me..."

Ye Mingsheng shook his head and said with a smile:

"Ye is not so kindhearted. I am showing you this seat because I respect your courage!"

"You just sent someone to assassinate me this morning and tricked me into going into the mountains. Now you dare to enter my tent alone. You are really brave!"

"Zheng Xiaolin, although you are disabled, your courage is unmatched by ordinary people!"

"I was a little curious before, how could Lu Zhan'ao, who had 3,000 men, suddenly lose to you? Now it seems that his defeat may not be unfair!"

Zheng Xiaolin's bitter smile deepened upon hearing this, and he apologized to Ye Mingsheng:

"Your Excellency's Fengzhou Army is attacking fiercely and unstoppably. I know I am no match for them, so I resorted to this desperate measure. Please forgive me, Your Excellency!"

“As for Lu Zhan’ao, he was not defeated by me, but by my father. My father had placed pawns around these people more than ten years ago. So I saw every move of Lu Zhan’ao, and that’s why he survived by luck…”

Ye Mingsheng snorted lightly, and did not argue with Zheng Xiaolin on this issue. He looked at Zheng Xiaolin and said in a deep voice:
"Zheng Xiaolin, it's 3:45 pm now. We have half an hour left before we continue our assault on the mountain!"

"If you have something to say, tell me now. If it's too late, you won't have a chance!"

(End of this chapter)