The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Zhuge Ke retreated even faster than he had come, cursing as he fled, "Damn Guan Xing, where did he gather so many people from?"

Upon receiving news of Guan Xing's attack on Gu Family Village the day before yesterday, Zhuge Ke decided to send troops to rescue it without much hesitation.

He and Gu Mu were best buddies who had fought side by side in the trenches. How could he sit idly by and do nothing when Gu Mu was in trouble?

However, the Zhuge family were outsiders rather than local gentry, so their strength in Jiangdong was limited, and the number of private soldiers they could mobilize was also limited.

Helpless, Zhuge Ke went to other aristocratic families to borrow troops. How could he not be polite and courteous when borrowing troops from others? How could he refuse a meal offered by them? This back and forth has delayed him until now.

Having gathered his troops, Zhuge Ke did not dare to delay and rushed towards the Gu family manor. He originally thought that Guan Xing was still attacking the manor and was not prepared, and that his sudden arrival would catch him off guard.

Who would have thought that Guan Xing, that bastard, would dare to launch a preemptive attack with several times the number of troops he had when he left Jianye? How the hell are we going to fight him?

With an army of over ten thousand, stretching to the horizon, Zhuge Ke suddenly realized that his relationship with Gu Mu wasn't as close as he thought.

The situation is bad, we should retreat quickly. Our troops are all borrowed, and if we suffer too many losses, we won't be able to explain it to them.

With this in mind, Zhuge Ke ran incredibly fast, so fast that Guan Xing couldn't catch up at all.

Guan Xingchong was at the forefront and dared not look back. The most important thing in charging forward is momentum. He was afraid that if he looked back and saw the villagers' miserable state, he would lose the motivation to continue charging.

He thought he was rushing fast enough, but the enemy was running even faster than him. He used all his strength but not only failed to catch up, the distance between them widened, which surprised him greatly.

Are all aristocratic private soldiers this cowardly?

After chasing for seven or eight miles, Guan Xing was too exhausted to run any further and had to stop, leaning on his sword and panting heavily, while waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

After waiting for nearly half an hour, the villagers gradually gathered around him. Guan Xing pointed his sword at the departing enemy soldiers and said, "Fellow villagers, you all saw it, didn't you? Even the private armies of the gentry are afraid and run away. As long as we are united and fearless enough, they will turn around and fear us."

Education cannot be confined to the classroom; it must be a continuous process of teaching by example and subtle influence.

The villagers never expected that the enemy troops who had come charging in with such ferocity would be so frightened that they would turn and run away without even daring to look at them. Watching the enemy troops disappear, they felt a complex feeling they had never experienced before.

After Guan Xing's guidance, this feeling instantly transformed into an unprecedented surge of pride.

It turns out we weren't as cowardly as we thought; it turns out even the high and mighty gentry were afraid of us.

"Go home and collect your rations."

Guan Xing didn't launch into another long speech. Instead, he turned around and called everyone back, while ordering Xie Chong to lead the rearguard to prevent Zhuge Ke from returning.

Although I didn't see Zhuge Ke's face just now, the fluttering battle flag was enough to prove Zhuge Ke's identity.

On the way back, Guan Xing didn't go with the soldiers. Instead, he put his arm around a young man who was also panting heavily from running and struck up a conversation with him, asking as they walked, "Brother, what's your surname? How many people are in your family?"

Guan Xing engaged in a friendly conversation with the young man, and nearby villagers, seeing how down-to-earth he was, joined in. The two walked and talked, and before they knew it, they had arrived at the Gu Family Manor.

Back at the manor, without further ado, he immediately opened the granaries and distributed grain. The villagers lined up to receive it, and the scene was both harmonious and lively.

"The general is wise, and the King of Hanzhong is wise."

The villagers who received the grain cheered excitedly, while those who didn't receive it were equally grateful.

They had just won a great victory with Guan Xing, and although they hadn't come into contact with the enemy, they had still formed a bond of camaraderie. Now that they had received benefits from Guan Xing, they naturally developed a sense of identification with him and the Han army behind him.

After the villagers finished receiving their grain and left, Guan Xing, exhausted, didn't have time to rest. He summoned Xie Chong and the others and instructed them, "The gentry have already discovered our whereabouts and have begun to fight back. Two thousand people came today, and twenty thousand may come tomorrow. We can't stay here any longer. Pack your things and leave tomorrow morning."

The four major families were deeply rooted in Wu County, and Guan Xing did not believe that he could uproot them with his small number of people.

He is currently in a weak position. When one is weak, the best thing to do is not to attack the enemy, but to protect oneself.

Survival comes first, then development.

Xie Chong bowed and said, "Your subordinate will go and prepare immediately, but Captain, where should we go next?"

Guan Xing laughed and said, "Go to Wushang, and at the same time, take back the position of county magistrate that belongs to you."

"Thank you, Commandant Xie." Xie Chong was overjoyed. He no longer cared about the position of county magistrate, but he had to avenge his family.

That damned Zhu Hong not only put him in jail to seize his position as county magistrate, but also killed his brother and slandered his sister-in-law. If he doesn't avenge this, he will be letting down his brother and sister-in-law, and his whole family.

Nothing happened that night, and a new day soon began.

Guan Xing led his army, escorting supplies, to Wushang to begin a new journey.

Unexpectedly, less than two hours after they left, Zhuge Ke led a large army and appeared at the gate of the manor.

After escaping yesterday, Zhuge Ke felt more and more uneasy. Although Guan Xing's side had a large number of people, their formation was chaotic, and many of them were villagers without weapons. Such an army had no fighting power at all.

In other words, if I had gritted my teeth and fought yesterday, there was a high probability that I would have won.

Despite saying that, Zhuge Ke still dared not act rashly without fully understanding Guan Xing's background, so he sent scouts to keep an eye on the Gu family manor and observe Guan Xing's movements at all times.

Upon learning that Guan Xing had led his troops away, Zhuge Ke immediately rushed to take over the Gu family manor.

In any case, recapturing the manor is a military achievement.

Even though Guan Xing had left, the cautious Zhuge Ke still did not dare to act rashly. Instead, he ordered his army to scale the wall and enter the manor. Only after completely taking control of the estate and confirming that there was no danger did he push open the gate and go in.

As soon as he entered, his subordinate rushed over to report: "Young Master, the manor's granary has been emptied. We found over a hundred corpses in the granary, including Young Master Gu Mu."

"What? Gu Mu is dead?" Zhuge Ke's expression changed drastically, and he immediately exclaimed, "Damn Guan Xing, has he gone mad?"

Guan Xing actually killed Gu Mu; this was completely unexpected.

It should be understood that the struggles between aristocratic families were only about victory or defeat, not about life or death. Guan Xing's wanton killing of aristocratic families was a clear violation of the rules.

"Take me to see this." Zhuge Ke followed his subordinates to the granary, and as soon as they entered, they saw corpses and heads all over the ground.

The subordinate pointed to the pieced-together corpse of Gu Mu and said, "Young Master Gu's head was piled up with the other people's heads. It took the brothers a long time to find it. We identified Young Master Gu's body based on the clothing on it, but we don't know if we're right?"

When they came in, heads and corpses were just thrown together like trash. Without heads, it was impossible to identify the bodies. Fortunately, Gu Mu's clothes were different from the others, otherwise they would have had to just use any corpse to make do.

Zhuge Ke looked at the scene with a grim expression and gritted his teeth, saying, "What about the other places? Did you find anything?"

The subordinate replied, "The granaries are completely empty, the bows and arrows in the treasury are all gone, even the bed sheets and blankets have been taken away. The huge manor is now cleaner than if a dog had licked it clean."

"By the way, young master, we've also found out who those ragged people were who chased us yesterday. They're all villagers from the neighborhood. Guan Xing distributed all the grain, farm tools, and cloth from the manor to them. Should we send someone to bring them back?"

Zhuge Ke shook his head and said, "No need. It's not our family's wealth that's being divided. Why should we offend the local people for the sake of the Gu family?"

"Just tell the Gu family the news later. Whether the Gu family confiscates it or not is none of our business. Let's go back and report to the strategist."