C49

At the end of the morning, the sky was covered by dense, bright clouds. The howling cold wind swirled, sweeping up a large amount of dust and dead leaves and scattering them high into the air.

On the main arena of Ji County's North City, over ten thousand soldiers wearing white robes and white hats were solemnly standing in the cold wind. Their hands and faces were flushed red from the cold, but no one was casually walking or talking. Everyone knew that today was the most important day since the establishment of the White Horse Camp. No one wanted to ruin this solemn atmosphere.

Gongsun Xu raised his hand and pressed down, causing the two Gongsun Jia Brothers who were on the two sides to immediately stop. After the drum had stopped, Gongsun Xu turned and nodded to Guo Jia.

Today, Guo Jia was wearing a pure black embroidered robe, a black crown on his head, and black deer leather boots. He took two steps forward and stood in front of the high platform. He cleared his throat and loudly shouted, "The time has come. May we welcome your honorable tablet!"

Yang Hong and Wang Wei carried a soul luring flag each, and walked out of the camp building on the left side of the camp first. Behind them were five hundred white garbed soldiers wearing white clothes and white hats, each of them holding a black ranking plate with the name of a fallen soldier engraved on it.

Forty white-robed drummers were already standing guard outside the barracks. When they saw that everyone had come out, they began to blow and beat their way toward the platform.

Yang Hong and Wang Wei walked forward, with five hundred people following closely behind.

He stopped in front of a row of wooden racks that were about ten feet tall and stood by the side with his hands hanging down.

Yang Hong and Wang Wei respectively walked to the two sides of the wooden shelf, and stuck the soul flag on the ground, standing there motionlessly.

The five hundred white clad guards stepped forward one by one, placing their positions on the wooden shelf in succession.

After they were done arranging the items, Yang Hong and Wang Wei raised the soul flag and walked towards the place where they came from. Arriving at the left side of the living quarters, five hundred white clothed soldiers walked in and brought out another five hundred positions, blowing and beating them up before placing them on a wooden shelf in front of the stage. Only after doing this seven times did he manage to arrange all three thousand or so rankings.

Guo Jia bowed three times to the rankings below the stage, then stood up and cupped his hands towards Gongsun Xu.

Gongsun Xu walked to Guo Jia's side and bowed three times towards the rankings below the stage. Then, he took the three incense sticks from Gongsun Yi's hands.

Guo Jia continued to shout, "Please recite the sacrificial scripture to comfort the heroic spirit!" With that, he took out a white cloth from his sleeve and placed it on his head while bowing.

Gongsun Xu took the cloth scroll from Guo Jia's hands and slowly opened it. If the heavens were separated, wouldn't it be sad that the king had a spirit and was enjoying his joss stick? Ah, death, separation. Be faithful to his duties, and be merciful to his virginity. With the return of his soul, he could appraise his own heart. wuu, vuu

After he finished chanting, Gongsun Xu placed the sacrificial text onto the torch that Gongsun Yi took over. In the blink of an eye, the sacrificial culture turned into ashes and disappeared into the cold wind.

Guo Jia mournfully shouted, "Ahh, wow, my soul has returned!" He shouted once, and everyone followed him and shouted once again, repeating this three times before stopping.

Yang Hong and Wang Wei worked the hardest. Not only did they have to follow the commotion, they also had to wave the twenty feet long soul flag in their hands non-stop.

The shouts became louder and more sorrowful. A strong sense of sorrow spread rapidly. The soldiers could not help but feel their noses sour as they remembered the familiar appearance of a fellow soldier. Tears welled up in their eyes. It was unknown who cried out first, but soon after, the sound of the students crying shook the sky. The sound echoed several miles away, attracting the attention of the passersby.

Ku Le, who was lined up on the far left, cried the most. The people who died were practically related to them, and many of them were even siblings from the same family. Ku Le pounded his chest and stomped his feet, crying extremely miserably. Without a powerful army, where would his place in the White Horse Camp be?

Gongsun Xu had seen too many life and death battles, so he did not feel much about it, but in this situation, no matter what, he had to accompany him with a few tears, wailing out in pain.

Yan Rou was the same as Gongsun Xu, there was no sadness in her eyes.

However, Zhao Yun was truly saddened. This time, a few people had died to help him escape danger, and had always been the most loyal to them. At this moment, he rubbed his eyes and cried non-stop.

Amongst the few people on the stage, the one crying the most was Guo Jia. Although he was powerless, he yearned for that kind of iron-blooded ruthlessness the most.

The crying sound became weaker as Guo Jia continued to shout, "Please give the order to kill the enemy leader and console the Heroic Spirit!"

Gongsun Xu waved his hand, causing the Gongsun Jia brothers to rush down the stage and escort a person out from their living quarters.

This man's hair was disheveled and his entire body was covered in blood. It was King Kuang, Su Puyan. That day, when Su Puyan fled back to the Liucheng, he was immediately imprisoned. Following that, the Youzhou Army attacked the city, and before the city could collapse, he had already abandoned the city and escaped, leaving Su Puyan in Gongsun Xu's hands. Gongsun Xu brought Su Puyan back to the Ji County because he wanted to use his head as a sacrifice for the warriors and raise their morale.

Su Puyan had already been tortured to half of his life, and after falling into the hands of the White Horse Camp warriors, he had suffered a lot, and right now, he was already at his last breath, only to be dragged down the stage until he fell limply to the ground.

Gongsun Xu shouted: "This man is Wuhuan of Liaoxi's Ku Wang Su Puyan, this general wants to use his head as a sacrifice for the Heroic Spirit Slash!"

Gongsun Jia raised his blade and let it fall. Su Puyan's huge head fell to the ground and was picked up by Gongsun Yi and placed in front of the Heroic Spirit tablet.

"Sacrifice ceremony, please instruct me, general." After Guo Jia finished shouting, he retreated to the back of the stage.

The White Horse Camp's fallen soldiers were buried in Liucheng. Today was just a memorial service for the heroic souls, so there was no need to hold a funeral. There were even more important things to announce, so the ceremony was as simple as it was.

Gongsun Xu's gaze swept in a circle from left to right, and wherever his gaze passed, the officers couldn't help but bear the pain, raising their chests and bowing as they looked at him.

"Brothers," Gongsun Xu shouted as he cupped his hands towards the Heroic Spirit tablet below the stage, he waved his arms and roared: "The battle at Liucheng was the first battle since the establishment of our White Horse Camp, and in this battle, our brothers were brave and tenacious, displaying their impressive might and reputation, and also gaining the reputation of the White Horse Camp, from then on, the White Horse Camp will no longer be looked down upon by others."

Everyone followed suit and cheered, "The mighty White Horse Camp! The mighty General Gongsun!"

This happened three times, and their passionate roars had even traveled far to the Marquis of Ji's Mansion in the south of the city.

Gongsun Zan was in the middle of discussing about the Jizhou Army's feelings with the rest, upon hearing the roar, he was slightly shocked. The people's brat actually managed to raise the morale of the soldiers under his command, he did not know how much the White Horse Camp's fighting strength would increase after he completed the military reform.

Everyone present knew that White Horse Camp had made a big move today, when they heard the roar, their faces changed. Guan Jing, who was on good terms with Gongsun Xu previously, felt joy in his heart, and felt that he had made the right decision. They had always maintained a certain distance from Gongsun Xu. Tian Kai and Yan Gang both felt that although Gongsun Xu had been stunning, he was still young, and wanted to observe more before deciding on whether to approach him; however, Gongsun Fan had always felt somewhat indignant in his heart. His nephew, on the other hand, had leaped to become the commander of the White Horse Camp, and his status suddenly jumped even higher than his own.

In Ji County's County Magistrate's Office, Liu Yu and his son were currently discussing the placement of the refugees in their study. When they heard the roar, their expressions immediately changed.

"How is Gongsun Zimin?" Liu Yu frowned as he asked Liu He hesitantly.

Liu Yu's question was unclear, but Liu He understood and sighed: "Father, if Gongsun Zimin is a loyal subject, then he is Yi Yin, Huo Guang; if he is a treacherous subject, then it is Bo Lu, Wang Mang and Wang Mang."

"Sigh." Liu Yu also let out a long sigh, and said dejectedly, "If Gongsun Zanfuzi can be loyal to your majesty, what can be done about Han Dynasty's rise to prominence in the near future?"

"Father, don't worry too much. Your son and Gongsun Zimin still have some friendship, so this matter might not be irreparable."

"I hope so."

No matter whether it was Gongsun Zan's side, or Liu Yu and his son, they didn't think that the excited roars of the White Horse Camp's soldiers was just the beginning.

On the stage, Gongsun Xu continued to shout out loud: "The so called absolute punishment, the achievement rewards for this expedition, we will give you all a reward today, and every time we go out, we will receive 30% of the reward! But everyone, remember one thing, this general will not allow anyone to hide their spoils of war, if they find out, we will not forgive them!"

Everyone in the audience was stunned for a moment before they let out an earth-shattering cheer. In the past, he could rob as he liked when he was on the battlefield, but after all, there were only a few people who were able to get their hands on the items, and most of them had to be handed over to the generals. Now, Gongsun Xu had clearly stated that the thirty percent that they had captured would be given to them as rewards, which was extremely good news for them, at least they wouldn't need to worry about their wealth being devoured by the generals.

Gongsun Xu waited for the cheers to end before shouting out, "Officer Guo has already finished counting the list of rewards, let us publicly announce that if anyone has any objections to the rewards, please state it now, this general will return justice to all of you after verifying the situation."

Guo Jia stepped forward upon hearing his voice, took out a long list from his sleeve, and read it one by one. He first read the names and then read the number of rewards. Every time a person's name and number was spoken, it would cause waves of cheers.