This time Gong Xiaohua's family made quite a sensation locally, especially her. During the ancestral worship ceremony, the Gong Family Village elders discussed and made an exception that broke the precedent of hundreds of years of prohibiting women from entering the ancestral hall to worship ancestors, just for her sake.
On the day of worshipping ancestors, which was the first day of the lunar new year, inside and outside the ancestral hall were crowded with people from villages within ten miles, who wanted to witness this rare grand occasion, and also to see the exceptionally rarely seen woman general.
Gong Xiaohua walked in front with the Gong Family patriarch, followed by other Gong Family elders and male members of the Gong Family. After them were the men from Gong Family Village, marching majestically towards the ancestral hall.
Gong Xiaohua was dressed in brocade robes and red official gown, with hair in a high horsetail. Her brows and eyes were picturesque, she had an heroic aura, vigorous as a rainbow, making everyone else there feel ashamed of their own inferiority.
"Good gracious, I've never seen such a handsome and awe-inspiring girl, simply more prestigious than the official lords of the County City."
"This is a third-rank woman general personally conferred by His Majesty, earned through battles."
"Incredible!"
Everyone then looked at the group of Gong Family men, also dressed in brocade robes and prestigious attire, it was really enviable to others.
"I heard that relying on her second uncle, the Gong Family is doing booming business in the Capital City. Now they're even bringing their two younger sisters to the Capital City to enjoy prosperity and wealth."
"The Gong elders have now completely turned over a new leaf."
There were also sour people who couldn't stand seeing others live better than them, and said sarcastically: "That girl will sooner or later belong to another family, the elders are muddled-headed and can't think straight."
"Right, look at how their whole family is now holding their heads high."
A group of women chattered on and on.
There were also those who couldn't stand it and scolded: "What do you know, from now on just having this woman general's title in our village, if anyone dares bully us, they'd have to think twice. If you dare gossip again, I'll tell the clan elders."
The crowd then didn't dare gossip randomly.
During the entire new year period, Gong Xiaohua rarely went out. On the occasional times she went out, she was watched from afar by others.
From a distance she also called them Grandpa, Uncle, Auntie, making everyone beam with joy and praise how the girl understood etiquette.
After the Gong Family finished the new year, the only ones with official positions who left to return to the Capital City on the 6th day of new year were Gong Xiaohua's family of three, because the imperial court would resume after Lantern Festival, while the others stayed in their hometown until after Lantern Festival before returning to the Capital City.
Nangong Jue secretly left on the night of the 5th day of new year, they were after all people of different paths, and didn't leave a single word behind.
After Lantern Festival, Gong Xiaohua stopped going to the imperial court. The Xiyuan Army and the City Protection Army officially began special training.
The daily training curriculum was very full, plus devil training once every month.
Training everyday from 4am to 11pm. The special training started everyday with a 10 kilometer weighted run, then finished at night with sparring.
Martial arts, hand to hand combat, every move, every style, had to be practiced 10,000 times everyday; archery, just the aiming posture alone took 2 hours every day.
Gong Xiaohua wanted these moves to be firmly imprinted in every soldier's mind, so they could react quickly, accurately and fiercely in any circumstance.
The later the training went, the more the soldiers respected and feared Gong Xiaohua -- respected because she trained together with everyone everyday, and for others the hardest training was easy for her; feared because when training them, she was utterly ruthless without batting an eye.
Take field survival for example, they were not allowed to bring even a grain of food. Hungry and want to eat? No problem, make do with what's available in nature -- rats, snakes, bugs, tree roots, eat everything edible.
Those who refused to eat were fine too, just go hungry until you have no choice but to eat.
Helian Yu was a typical example. He stubbornly refused to eat at first, after going hungry for 2 days and nights, what were rats and snakes in the face of starvation? After a couple times, he could calmly slit open, cut up, and slowly chew with a straight face.
During the special training period, their clothes were never dry, everyone visibly lost weight, but also visibly became stronger.
Shortly before the end of training, shocking news spread across the court and public -- the Princess of Liang Country died within the borders of Daye, allegedly killed by mountain bandits passing by.
The King of Liang was furious. In anger, he led a large army to attack Ye Country's western border. And at this time, a large army of Wei Country suddenly appeared in the north, clearly having come prepared.
Discerning people all knew that the Princess of Liang's death was inextricably linked to Wei Country, but no matter how Ye Country explained to Liang Country, it was futile.
Ye Country now faced attacks from two great powers simultaneously. Within half a month, enemy troops from west and north broke through two cities swiftly as if smashing bamboo, heading straight for the Ye Capital City, causing panic across the court and public.
King Ye urgently dispatched Grand General Zhenguo Duke to lead the main forces to the north to engage the Wei Country's army.
Meanwhile, an army from the south was transferred to aid the west against Liang's army.
Gong Xiaohua's special training also had to end prematurely. She led the City Protection Army back to the capital city for emergency defense preparations.
The Xiyuan Army stayed in their original location to continue training, ready to move out when ordered.
With the Grand General leading a large force aiding the north, the Wei Country's offensive was temporarily contained. But the west rapidly fell with just one army sent over, the situation was very worrying.
King Ye also kept transferring available manpower and resources to provide aid. Gong Xiaohua's Xiyuan Army was also placed under General Chen, who was defending the west, to support the Western Defense Army.
The City Protection Army stayed in the Capital City. She had petitioned His Majesty to hand its command directly to the Crown Prince -- as the saying goes, when the sly rabbit dies, its running dog is cooked, grasping too much power would have to be returned eventually.
When Qin Chuyuan learned Gong Xiaohua was going to fight Liang's army, he voluntarily requested to accompany her to the western battlefield as supervisor of the Western Defense Army.
The large forces marched day and night towards the west. The defending army was already exhausted during the journey, while the Xiyuan Army seemed to have endless energy, even practicing martial arts during rest breaks.
General Chen came out of the military tent with all the generals under his command, and saw a scene of Xiyuan Army soldiers sparring one against one, one against two, one against three, until fighting evenly against five opponents.
General Chen looked deeply at Gong Xiaohua until Qin Chuyuan blocked his line of sight before he looked away.
When their reinforcing army arrived at the destination, the Western Defense Army was engaged in fierce battle with Liang's army.
They joined the battlefield as soon as they arrived.
When General Chen gave the order to attack, Gong Xiaohua quickly circled her own forces, sternly shouting loudly: "It's time to test the results of your four months of special training. Slaughter all those trashes over there properly!"
During their special training, this was what Gong Xiaohua yelled at them everyday, and it directly became their most direct and violent catchphrase when sparring.
As soon as Gong Xiaohua said this, shouts of "Trash, slaughter them!" surged like tidal waves throughout the army.
Then everyone mounted their horses, grabbed their broadswords, and followed behind Gong Xiaohua, charging straight into the dense enemy forces.
Rushing past the defending army that entered the battlefield before them, they plunged into the packed enemy troops.
The awakened tigers and wolves had already roused. Wherever Xiyuan Army went, soldiers flew and blood splattered, they were invincible.
Perhaps the Xiyuan Army's valor greatly encouraged the other armies, and they all charged forward without fear of death.
No one knew how long they fought until the enemy slowly retreated.
This battle allowed Xiyuan Army to make a name for itself in one fight.
