Chapter 536 The world is for all! (Thanks to book friend 14551 for the reward!)

"Master, this is a letter from the young master to you from Xinle!" The servant handed the letter to Gu Zhongshi and said respectfully:

Gu Zhongshi wanted to come back and read it again after hearing this, but after hesitating for a while, he took the letter and opened the envelope to see the contents on the letter. Gu Zhongshi's expression suddenly became solemn. After carefully reading the contents on the letter twice, Gu Zhongshi actually sat directly on the chair and instructed the servants:

"Go call Zhang Chengzhong over to me..."

"Yes! Master!"

After a while, Zhang Chengzhong, who got the news, came to Gu Zhongshi and asked with some doubt:
"Teacher, what's the matter?"

Gu Zhongshi, who was resting with his eyes closed, heard the words, opened his eyes and looked deeply at Zhang Chengzhong, then pointed to the letter on the table and said lightly:
"Shou Ting just sent me a letter. What do you think he wrote to me in the letter?"

Listening to Gu Zhongshi's words, Zhang Chengzhong seemed to have thought of something, and a trace of panic flashed in his eyes. Seeing this, Gu Zhongshi continued in a deep voice:
"I remember I told you that this matter must be kept absolutely confidential and not told to anyone!"

Although Gu Zhongshi's voice was very calm, Zhang Chengzhong, who was familiar with his teacher's character, could still sense his anger and said honestly:

"Teacher, I went to Xinle to inspect and handle a case not long ago, and Shou Ting suddenly found me and told me about this matter directly, asking me to tell him the truth. I didn't want to do it at first, but I had no choice!"

Listening to Zhang Chengzhong's explanation, Gu Zhongshi looked at him, sighed, and said:

"You, like Shouting, don't want to see this action, right?"

"Teacher, you are wrongly accusing me. Everyone in Youyan knows that I am yours and I follow your lead!" Zhang Chengzhong spread his hands and said as if he was very aggrieved:

At this moment, a servant came over with a scroll and reported to Gu Zhongshi:

“Master, when my lady went back and opened the pine and crane painting that Lord Gu Sansi sent her, she found a note inside. My lady felt that this was a serious matter, so she specially asked me to bring it to you to see…”

Upon hearing that there was a note placed in the pine and crane painting sent by Gu Sansi, Gu Zhongshi's eyes suddenly flashed with a gleam of light. He took the scroll and looked at it. He saw that there was indeed a note lying quietly in the pine and crane painting sent by Gu Sansi. He picked up the note and saw that there were four vigorous and powerful characters "天下为公" written on it!

Although there was no signature on the note to indicate who wrote the four words, Gu Shouting was stunned when he saw them. Although he was not familiar with Gu Sansi, Gu Sansi was an official under the Governor's Office after all. He recognized Gu Sansi's handwriting, which was very neat and regular, and obviously not in the same style as this one!
Since it was not sent by Gu Sansi, why was this note included in Gu Sansi’s gift?

Gu Zhongshi fell into deep thought. A few seconds later, a light bulb went off in his head, and he seemed to understand something. Under Zhang Chengzhong's surprised gaze, he walked quickly to the desk and found the memorial he had placed on top. He compared the comments on the memorial with the handwriting on the note. After comparing them several times and confirming that what he thought was correct, Gu Zhongshi's hands began to tremble slightly involuntarily. Seeing this, Zhang Chengzhong was startled and asked:
"Teacher, what happened?"

Before Zhang Chengzhong finished speaking, he saw Gu Zhongshi's figure swaying. Seeing this, Zhang Chengzhong quickly supported Gu Zhongshi with his hands and eyes. Seeing Gu Zhongshi slowly helped him to the seat, he said with concern:
“Teacher, please wait here for a moment. I will go call the doctor…”

Gu Zhongshi shook his head and said:

"No need! I can just rest for a while!"

Zhang Chengzhong seemed to want to say something, but just as he was about to open his mouth, he saw Gu Zhongshi waving his hand. Seeing that the teacher was so insistent, Zhang Chengzhong could only obey orders and silently guarded and watched over Gu Zhongshi. He sat in the chair and thought for about a cup of tea. He only heard Gu Zhongshi sigh and said a little lonely:
"Tell them to hold off on the action. I still need to think carefully about it! As for the things at the banquet, I won't be going over. Chengzhong, please help take care of it!"

Zhang Chengzhong's eyes flashed with an imperceptible gleam when he heard this, then he nodded and said very respectfully:

"Yes, teacher, I know what to do!"

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In the central part of Youyan, Heishi Slope.

Thousands of well-equipped Yan troops are quickly passing through this strategic point on the road from Shunping to Xinle. Leading these Yan troops is a seven-foot-tall, black-tower-shaped, strong man holding a spear. His name is Zhao Su, and he is the Yan army's garrison commander in Shunping!

Zhao Su was very anxious at this time. Just three days ago, Gu Shouting's Fengwu Army, which had been attacking Xinle, suddenly arrived at the city of Shunping. They were going to join forces with Ma Zhongjun's Fengwu Army, which had been attacking Shunping, to attack Shunping together. Although Zhao Su was a little surprised, he was not panicked.

After all, the city of Shunping he guarded was strong, and he had thousands of elite soldiers, which could be said to be well-equipped. So even if Gu Shouting came with thousands of his men, Zhao Su was confident that he could defend Shunping to the death and defeat the Fengwu Army. The battle situation at the beginning was quite normal. The Fengwu Army launched several tentative attacks on Shunping City, but they were all repelled by Zhao Su. Since yesterday, the Fengwu Army had been silent. Just when Zhao Su thought that the Fengwu Army knew how powerful he was and dared not attack the city again, and was feeling a little complacent, the spies of the Yan Army reported to him!

It turns out that the Fengwu Army was just setting up a false front in Shunping. Their real tactical target was not Shunping, but Xinle...
The reason why they surrounded Shunping was just to make the Yan army in Xinle relax their vigilance. In addition, they wanted to make the Yan army in Shunping think that they were the target and would not leave the city to support Xinle!

As soon as this information was delivered to Zhao Su, Zhao Su suddenly realized it. He used to think that the Fengwu Army was too arrogant. Although Gu Shouting and Ma Zhongjun joined forces, their total strength was only more than 10,000 people. It was a foolish dream for such a small number of troops to capture his Shunping City. But now it seems that the Fengwu Army is very cunning, and it is just a feint in his eyes!

Zhao Su was a little scared after realizing this. Although Shunping was stronger than Xinle and had a larger population, the two cities were mutually dependent. If the Fengwu Army succeeded in their treacherous plan and captured Xinle, Shunping would be in a very difficult situation! Therefore, even for Shunping's sake, Xinle must be saved. Now, if he reported to the commander-in-chief of Zhuo County and then dispatched troops from Zhuo County to help, there was not enough time. Therefore, the task of helping Xinle could only be done by him!

Although he believed the information brought by the spies, Zhao Su had developed a habit of caution after decades of military career. In order to avoid falling into the trap of Fengwu Army, he did not send a large number of troops directly out of the city to support Xinle, but instead sent a small group of troops to attack the Fengwu Army camp outside the city.

Just as Zhao Su imagined, the Fengwu Army camps that were full of military flags were just empty shells with only a few hundred people inside. After being attacked by the Yan Army, they fled in all directions...
After confirming his judgment, Zhao Su no longer had any worries. On the one hand, he sent a pigeon letter to Zhao Fuqu in Zhuo County to request support. On the other hand, he led his troops out of the city to rescue Xinle. He wanted to arrive near Xinle before Xinle was broken by Fengwu Army, to tie down part of Fengwu Army, to reduce the pressure on Xinle defenders, and wait for the arrival of Zhao Fuqu's reinforcements.

Just when Zhao Su was so anxious that he wanted to grow wings and fly to Xinle, one of his sentries came over on horseback and reported to him:

"Commander, the brothers have been marching for three hours and are exhausted. Can we take a break?"

Facing his subordinates' request, Zhao Su said without any hesitation:

"Speed ​​is of the essence in war. Xinle is under pressure from the Fengwu Army and is in imminent danger. We must reach Xinle as quickly as possible. Let the brothers below hold on for a while. When we get to Xinle, I will ask Huotou to make stew for the brothers!"

Seeing that Zhao Su's attitude was very firm, the sentry could only accept the order helplessly. After this little episode, they marched quickly for about an incense stick of time. Seeing that the road ahead began to widen, Zhao Su immediately realized that he was about to finish the Black Ship Slope, and after passing the Black Ship Slope, he would not be far from Xinle City.

Just when Zhao Su felt relieved, he heard deafening cannon fire from the hillsides on both sides. Countless Fengwu Army soldiers stood up, and cannons and muskets fired at the same time, pouring firepower on the Yan Army soldiers. Before Zhao Su, the commander, could react, a cannonball fell ten feet away from him, and the shock wave generated by the cannonball directly knocked him to the ground...

On the hillsides on both sides, Ma Zhongjun on the artillery position was observing the bombardment with a telescope. He saw with his own eyes that the commander of the Yan army was thrown to the ground and his life or death was unknown. The Yan army suffered heavy casualties and was leaderless. Ma Zhongjun was overjoyed and said to the artillery sentry Liu Sanpao beside him:

"Liu Sanpao, you are really good at shooting. After this battle, your artillery will be credited with first place!"

Listening to Ma Zhongjun's praise, Liu Sanpao smiled and said:
"General Ma, I am not bragging. The best artillery of the Fengwu Army is in our First Division. The best artillery of the First Division is right in front of you!"

"He said you were fat and you gasped!" Ma Zhongjun laughed and scolded:
This time in the plan formulated by He Jingyun, in order to achieve the established combat goal of conquering Shunping, their military and the Coordination Office worked together. The Coordination Office released false information, and the First Division and the Sixth Division made mobilizations to lure out the snake, making Zhao Su mistakenly believe that they had noticed the Fengwu Army's plan to rush to Xinle, and thus ambushed at Heishipo, an important node on the road, in order to annihilate the main force of Zhao Su's troops and then conquer Shunping City!

After half a cup of tea, the fire attack of the Fengwu Army ended, and the infantry troops began to clean up the mess on both wings. Although the surviving Yan Army began to prepare for a counterattack under the organization of the generals at this time, the fire attack that had been prepared for a long time caused a lot of casualties.

In addition, the supreme commander Zhao Su's life or death was unknown after the bombardment, and the command of the Yan army fell into chaos and fought on their own. The ambushed Fengwu army soldiers did not spend too much effort to divide and surround the remaining Yan army on the Black Stone Slope and annihilate them on the spot...
Half an hour later, the Fengwu Army, which had completely ended the battle, began to clean up the battlefield and count the casualties and prisoners. Ma Zhongjun and Gu Shouting, who were in charge of this battle, also came together. They won a great victory. Both Ma Zhongjun and Gu Shouting were very happy. After the two sides praised each other for a few words, Gu Shouting looked at the team of prisoners being escorted and suddenly said to Ma Zhongjun:
"Chen Su brought as many as 3,000 men with him this time. The troops in Shunping City should be very scarce. Shunping City is now in our hands. After this battle, Zhongjun's position as the general of the Seventh Division is probably set in stone!"

Although he didn't know why Gu Shouting suddenly mentioned this, Ma Zhongjun still didn't get carried away and said very cautiously:
"I'm just a rough man who only knows how to fight. The matter of promotion still needs the decision of the commander-in-chief!"

Seeing Ma Zhongjun's cautious tone, Gu Shouting nodded calmly. Although he had not joined the Fengwu Army for long, because he was the general of the Sixth Division, one level higher than Ma Zhongjun who was the deputy general, Ye Mingsheng still appointed him as the chief general for the sake of hierarchy and let Ma Zhongjun assist him in this battle.

Although there was Ye Mingsheng's order, Gu Shouting also knew that Ma Zhongjun was a veteran in the Fengwu Army and was highly regarded by Ye Mingsheng. Sooner or later, he would be on equal footing with him, so he did not put on airs as a commander and treated Ma Zhongjun as an equal. Ma Zhongjun was not an arrogant and domineering person, so the two of them got along quite well these days.

A moment later, General Chen Chuanwu, a tall, ragged senior general of the Yan army, came to the front of Gu and Ma and said happily:
"Generals, this man is Zhao Su, the Yan army commander in Shunping. This bastard was really lucky. A cannonball only knocked him unconscious. When I caught him just now, he still didn't admit that he was Zhao Su. I had to give him some hard time before he admitted it!"

The captured Zhao Su looked at Gu Shouting in front of him and seemed to recognize Gu Shouting, the former proud son of Youyan. He suddenly snorted coldly and turned his head away, cursing:

"A traitor! You have no sense of shame!"

As soon as these four words came out, Gu Shouting, who was still calm and composed, suddenly became gloomy. At this time, Chen Chuanwu kicked Chen Su to the ground and cursed fiercely:
"You, a defeated general, dare to speak so shamelessly here? Believe it or not, I will chop off your head with one blow..."

(End of this chapter)