The newly appointed Governor of Shaanxi, Lian Guoshi, was riding hard.
He led the Xi'an Right Guard, Front Guard, and Rear Guard, along with a hastily assembled group of local militia volunteers. The column stretched long across the road, armor clanking, breath coming heavy.
Lian Guoshi's heart pounded.
Wuguan Pass could not be lost.
If the rebels broke through Wuguan Pass, Shaanxi would once again be opened wide to bandit incursions. Xi'an itself would be threatened. As a newly appointed governor, if this happened under his watch, his official career would be finished before it even began.
As the army reached the northwestern outskirts of Wuxi County, scouts galloped back at full speed.
"Report! The rebels have already reached Wuguan Pass and are attacking!"
Lian Guoshi froze.
"Attacking the pass?" he asked in disbelief. "Wasn't the Wuguan garrison reported to have fled? If they arrived first, why would they attack? They should have simply occupied the pass and used it to block us."
The scout quickly replied, "There is a garrison inside Wuguan Pass! They are not the original garrison troops. They appear to be household guards and militia from an unknown source. They fly no banners, so I could not identify them clearly."
Lian Guoshi frowned deeply.
"Household guards and militia… from nowhere?"
He couldn't make sense of it.
But one thing was clear.
Anyone fighting the rebels was an ally.
"Press forward!" Lian Guoshi ordered. "Move as fast as you can!"
The three Guards and the militia volunteers broke into a run. Soldiers panted heavily, sweat pouring down their backs, legs trembling with exhaustion. Discipline was poor, formations loose, but no one dared slow down.
When they finally drew near Wuguan Pass, a thunderous roar rolled toward them.
The rebels had already begun their assault.
Because the pass itself blocked the view, Lian Guoshi could not see the battlefield, but he could hear it clearly—
Furious shouting.
Charging cries.
War drums pounding like thunder.
The sheer volume drained the color from his face.
How many rebels are there?
Fifty thousand? Sixty thousand?
Then—
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sharp crack of arquebuses erupted.
Not once, but in dense succession, as if thousands of shots had been fired in the blink of an eye.
Immediately, the rebels' earth-shaking roars turned into screams.
Panicked cries.
Terrified shrieks.
Chaotic wailing.
Then came another sound—
The unmistakable clang of retreat gongs.
Lian Guoshi's eyes widened.
The rebels… were retreating?
So fast?
Although he was a civil official, Lian Guoshi was not ignorant of warfare. Battles were supposed to be drawn-out affairs—sieges, probing attacks, stalemates lasting from morning until dusk, with both sides disengaging only at night.
But this fight—
From start to finish, it seemed to have lasted only a few breaths.
It was over almost as soon as it began.
Lian Guoshi was completely baffled.
"Move up," he said. "I must see this with my own eyes."
He urged his men forward. Soon, they reached the base of Wuguan Pass.
A subordinate stepped ahead, cupped his hands, and shouted loudly toward the walls:
"Which garrison holds Wuguan Pass? We are the anti-bandit force personally led by His Excellency Lian Guoshi, Governor of Shaanxi! Those atop the walls, state your name at once!"
A head suddenly popped up above the battlements.
"This humble general—cough—is Luo Xi," the man said. "Former commander, Luo Xi. Ah! So it is Your Excellency the Governor. Quickly, open the gate and invite His Excellency inside!"
The gates creaked open.
Luo Xi personally came down to greet him.
Lian Guoshi glanced at him and asked curiously, "Former?"
Luo Xi looked embarrassed. "Yes… this humble general has already been dismissed from office."
Lian Guoshi paused.
He remembered now.
This Luo Xi had indeed been dismissed along with the former Shaanxi Governor, Wang Shunxing. Their crime had been the same: spreading outrageous claims and misleading the Emperor.
What had Luo Xi said back then?
Ah—he had claimed that a thousand arquebusiers fired four volleys within ten breaths and repelled Mongol cavalry.
Because of that, he had lost his post.
Lian Guoshi felt a stir of sympathy and sighed.
"So it was General Luo who defended Wuguan Pass," he said slowly. "Although you have been dismissed, you still serve the court loyally. I am very pleased."
"Just now, though I did not see it myself, I heard the battle. It seemed…"
Luo Xi gave a wry smile.
"Just now, the rebel leaders—Stars-A-Plenty and Sweeping King—led fifty thousand men to attack Wuguan Pass."
"This humble general led my household guards… cough…"
He had originally planned to mention the borrowed guards from Shi Jian, but thought better of it. Shi Jian was still within the system and would not want unnecessary attention.
So Luo Xi continued smoothly.
"My household guards used their arquebuses. Two volleys in five breaths. The rebels collapsed and fled."
Lian Guoshi's first reaction was instinctive skepticism.
Two volleys in five breaths?
No wonder he was dismissed…
But then—
He stopped.
Wait.
That battle just now… it really did sound like that.
The first burst of gunfire, then only a brief pause—just a few breaths—followed by another burst, and then the rebels' retreat.
And now, looking at Luo Xi's face—
This man did not seem to be lying.
A strange, absurd feeling crept into Lian Guoshi's chest.
Wang Shunxing had been dismissed for reporting on great iron vehicles.
Yet Lian Guoshi himself had personally seen those iron vehicles. Wang Shunxing had not lied.
And Luo Xi had been dismissed for reporting rapid volleys.
Yet Lian Guoshi had just heard it with his own ears.
So their dismissals…
He didn't finish the thought.
Instead, he walked toward the eastern wall and looked out.
The battlefield lay open before him.
The corpses of rebel soldiers were scattered across the ground. The battle had ended only moments ago, and the field had not yet been cleared.
Across the open terrain, nearly a thousand bodies lay sprawled.
Some were motionless.
Others groaned faintly, writhing or crawling.
This was not something that could be fabricated.
Lian Guoshi stood there, speechless.
Just then, the eastern gate opened again.
Flat Rabbit led a group of militia soldiers out to clear the battlefield.
As he walked, he lectured the new recruits behind him loudly:
"Listen carefully! When clearing the battlefield, the most dangerous thing is bandits pretending to be dead. If you let your guard down, one of them might suddenly jump up and stab you—so whatever you do, don't—"
Before he could finish—
A blood-soaked "corpse" in front of him suddenly sprang up.
"I'll fight you to the death!"
The man swung his blade wildly.
Flat Rabbit swayed aside in one smooth motion, drew his ancestral treasured sword, and roared:
"Heaven Rabbit Rending Overlord Sword!"
Thud.
The blade plunged straight into the man's chest.
Flat Rabbit pulled the sword free, struck a dramatic finishing pose, wiped the blood from the blade on his clothes, and slid it back into its sheath.
The new recruits stared in awe.
"Wow! Rabbit Lord is amazing!"
"What was that move? So powerful!"
"My admiration for Rabbit Lord is like a surging river, endless and unbroken!"
Flat Rabbit laughed proudly.
"Hahahaha! See that? That's what experience looks like! You rookies should watch closely and learn!"
Nearby, Zheng Gouzi shook his head with a smile.
This fellow can only fool the newcomers, he thought. Every veteran in Gao Family Village knows that his so-called 'ultimate move' is just a randomly named slash.
A blind cat catching a dead mouse.
Wuguan Pass stood firm.
And yet another man, wrongly dismissed, had once again proven his worth.