Bright Sword: I don’t want to be the king!

Chapter 141 Breaking through the air, the hidden truth is revealed

Zhao Gang mentioned again that if Cao Geng had not devised a brilliant plan and taken the lead in raiding the central magic formation of the demon coalition, these more than 700 elite Netherworld monks would not have been defeated so easily. When Ding Wei heard this, he was even more shocked.

Taking Cao Geng as the starting point, he reorganized his own immortal power, and then he quietly sneaked into the enemy's command formation and took down their leader!

Judging from the various magical strategies displayed by Cao Geng in this battle, Ding Wei had to admit that Cao Geng was not much inferior to himself in terms of strategic vision in controlling the overall situation.

The series of tactics planned by Cao Geng indeed gave them great potential to completely annihilate the enemy.

In fact, the result is also like this...

Zhao Gang already had an impression of Cao Geng.

Recalling the previous fierce battle between Cao Geng and the army of demons, he suddenly found that Cao Geng was like a god from heaven, able to fight against thousands of troops alone!

This made Ding Wei even more shocked!

He is good at making plans and at leading troops to fight the enemy!

The new Third Regiment commander Cao Geng in front of him seemed far more unfathomable than he had originally imagined.

Judging from his own magical powers, he seems to be no less powerful than Ding Wei and Li Yunlong, the leader of the New 1st Regiment.

However, while being surprised at Cao Geng's strength, Ding Wei also noticed a secret.

He looked confused.

"However, I remember that there is no New Third Regiment in my Eight Desolate Immortal Army, right?"

It turned out that the New Third Regiment was an independent regiment promoted from the Third Battalion of the New First Regiment. Before this, there had never been such a formation as the New Third Regiment in the northwest of Shanxi.

Since Cao Geng became the commander of the New Third Regiment, both the commander-in-chief and Cao Geng kept the matter secret.

Therefore, Ding Wei had never heard of the name of the New Third Regiment before.

Ding Wei, full of doubts, thought that there was no New Third Regiment in the northwest of Shanxi before, so how come Cao Geng claimed to be the leader of the New Third Regiment?

Just as Ding Wei was lost in thought, Cao Geng's voice fell, and Zhao Gang's expression revealed confusion.

"What? There is no New Third Regiment in our Eight Desolate Immortal Army?! Then Brother Cao Geng...?!"

Zhao Gang widened his eyes, looking quite confused.

In fact, just over a month ago, he had been transferred from the Yan'an headquarters to serve as the political commissar of this independent regiment.

Zhao Gang naturally found many corners of this northwestern Shanxi region unfamiliar to him.

Earlier, Cao Geng introduced himself to him as the commander of the New Third Regiment.

Zhao Gang didn't think much about it at the time and didn't notice anything unusual.

However, Ding Wei, a senior group leader in Northwest Shanxi, immediately realized the problem after a little thought.

Because before that, there had never been a unit called the New Third Regiment in the northwestern part of Shanxi!

Now this person claims to be the leader of the new third regiment...

If Cao Geng had not led his troops to rescue their independent regiment in time, Ding Wei would probably have become wary of Cao Geng by now.

Facing Ding Wei's scrutinizing gaze, Cao Geng naturally understood the doubts in their hearts.

He smiled calmly and explained, "I used to be the battalion commander of the New First Regiment's Third Battalion, Cao Geng. I made some achievements in the New First Regiment's division and combat, so I was promoted to the commander of the New Third Regiment by the commander-in-chief a month ago!"

"Fellow Daoist Cao Geng has never heard of me or the New Third Regiment before. This is not unusual. After all, when I was in charge of the New Third Regiment, I was just an unknown cultivator, not worth mentioning." Cao Geng said this.

"So that's it." Zhao Gang's doubts were resolved.

His face showed a look of sudden enlightenment. Zhao Gang naturally knew that Cao Geng's self-proclaimed obscurity and insignificance were just words of modesty. However, Ding Wei's face suddenly stiffened and he looked extremely surprised.

Cao Geng, the battalion commander of the Third Battalion of the New First Regiment? Ding Wei had long known the monk named Cao Geng of the Third Battalion of the New First Regiment. After all, before this, Li Yunlong and Ding Wei were close comrades-in-arms. Ding Wei naturally knew that the reason why the New First Regiment was divided was due to Cao Geng's careful planning. Later, the Wanjia Town puppet cavalry battalion that Ding Wei had paid close attention to was also defeated by Cao Geng.

Therefore, he paid no less attention to the division of the new regiment, and he paid more attention to Cao Geng than Li Yunlong. On the first day of the division, Cao Geng did not look for a place to stay, but directly conquered Wanjia Town; taking advantage of the empty defense of Huaiyi County, he decisively attacked Huaiyi County. Then, after selecting Xiaweidi Village as the base, facing the fierce offensive of the Japanese First Brigade, Cao Geng actually held on for ten hours! Such military exploits are enough to make any regiment-level unit in the Eighth Route Army inferior.

Just a month ago, Ding Wei was amazed at how Cao Geng led only a few hundred people to resist the ten-hour offensive of the Japanese First Brigade. Now, Cao Geng, with only more than 300 monks, saved the Independent Regiment from danger outside the Yangcun Station of the Independent Regiment. This feat was even more shocking than the news that Cao Geng had just been appointed as the head of the New Third Regiment!

At this moment, Ding Wei was extremely shocked and dumbfounded. "You said you were Cao Geng, the former commander of the Third Battalion of the New First Regiment?" Ding Wei stared at Cao Geng with wide eyes in shock.

As far as Ding Wei knew, Cao Geng had been in the Eighth Route Army for less than three months, but he had already achieved fruitful results in the Eighth Route Army. Even more surprising was that according to Cao Geng, the old commander of the Eighth Route Army had promoted him to the head of the new Third Regiment as early as a month ago.

At this moment, Ding Wei stared at Cao Geng in front of him, his eyes full of shock and complexity. He did not question whether Cao Geng was qualified to be the commander of the Eighth Route Army, but he never expected to meet Cao Geng in such a situation.

"Yes, it is me." Cao Geng responded calmly. Ding Wei had heard about the huge disturbance he caused in the northwest of Shanxi, so it was normal for him to have heard of Cao Geng's name.

Hearing this, Ding Wei couldn't help but gasp. This was all too unbelievable. When Zhao Gang was puzzled, Ding Wei smiled bitterly and said to Cao Geng: "To tell you the truth, I have always been paying attention to you, but I have only heard of your reputation but never met you in person."

In the distant world of cultivation, perhaps few people know that when you locked onto the Evil Cavalry Camp in the Netherworld Wanling Town, that place, surrounded by evil aura, also caught my attention, Ding Wei. But I never thought that you, Cao Geng, would get there first.

Since then, I, Ding Wei, have heard about your various glorious achievements. I had secretly vowed that I would fight you when we meet, because you once took away my coveted Evil Cavalry Battalion. However, today, you not only saved the fate of my Duli Regiment, but also showed great favor to my Duli Regiment and me personally. As for the matter of Wanling Town, let it be written off.

Cao Geng smiled calmly and was about to speak when Zhao Gang suddenly asked, "Why? Brother Cao Geng, when you were in charge of the camp, were you already famous?"

Ding Wei smiled bitterly: "It's more than just a reputation, it's a powerful reputation!"

As he spoke, Ding Wei told Zhao Gang about Cao Geng's past deeds that he knew about. Although the part about Cao Geng was not comprehensive, it only mentioned that he led the troops to conquer the Netherworld Wanling Town and Xuanwu Huaiyi City, and held out for ten years under the hands of the demonic Japanese pirates' First Brigade. Even so, Zhao Gang was still shocked. He had expected Cao Geng to be extraordinary, but he did not expect that he could hold out for so long under the fierce First Brigade with only one battalion. No wonder the Grandmaster made an exception to promote Cao Geng.

Ding Wei sincerely admired him and said, "There are only two people I respect in my life. One is Senior Li Yunlong, and the other is you, Brother Cao Geng. You have achieved great military exploits with only one battalion of soldiers. I wonder how many jaw-dropping things you have done when you were sneaking around under an alias."

Cao Geng snorted. He had indeed left many shocking deeds in North China, but these past events were not suitable to be told to outsiders.

Cao Geng didn't say much, but just ordered his disciples to continue cleaning up the battlefield.

……

At this moment, outside the Duli Regiment, Cao Geng, Ding Wei and others worked together to defeat two Japanese demon regiments and a large group of enemies, and they were congratulating each other and cleaning up the battlefield.

In Taiyuan City, a piece of information about Cao Geng's immediate switch to aid the Duli Regiment after successfully harassing the Shinichimon stronghold was quietly delivered to Shinozuka Yoshio's residence.

After receiving this information, Shinozuka Yoshio's eyes instantly shrank like needles: "Cao Geng! In this dark place in northern Shanxi, I have been looking for you for a long time, and now you have finally shown up!"

At that time, Shinozuka Yoshio didn't know that outside of the Duli Regiment, a regiment and a battalion of enemy troops had been eliminated by Cao Geng and Ding Wei. However, he was well aware of Cao Geng's strength. In addition, Ding Wei, the leader of the Duli Regiment, was able to hold out for nearly forty hours under the siege of a regiment and a battalion of powerful enemies from the First Brigade of the Demonic Japanese Pirates. All of this hinted at——

Obviously, Cao Geng's strength has exceeded his imagination.

As for whether the combined skills of the First Brigade's monk regiments and battalions can defeat the Independent Xuanling Regiment led by Ding Wei and the New Ichijian Sect led by Cao Geng, Yoshio Shinozuka believes that this matter is still undecided.

however,

This did not stop him from mobilizing the two corps of monks entrenched near the outskirts of the Independent Xuanling Regiment immediately after he found out Cao Geng's current location, and immediately cooperating with the Japanese monk troops that were fighting fiercely with the Independent Xuanling Regiment to launch a fierce attack on the mountain gate of the Independent Xuanling Regiment where Cao Geng had newly stationed!

Regarding this battle, he believed that whether his Japanese monk tribe could capture Yangcun Xianju, which was guarded by Ding Wei and Zhao Gang, was not the key.

What is crucial is that the two rescue teams he sent out must be able to bury Cao Geng and his disciples together in front of the mountain gate of the Independent Xuanling Group!

Helpless,

Cao Geng led his troops in the northwestern part of Shanxi and brought great trouble to the monks of the First Legion led by him.

If Cao Geng hadn't died, I'm afraid that Shinozuka Yoshio would still have troubles in the future!

In Yoshio Shinozuka's heart, Cao Geng's status can be compared with that of the Marshal of the Eight Desolations Army in his heart!

Cao Geng will surely perish!

——This is what Yoshio Shinozuka is thinking at this moment!

"In this decisive battle, I will not only avenge my beloved disciple Yamamoto Ikki, but also avenge the more than 200 high-level monks and generals who died in my army... Cao Geng, in twelve hours, I will take your head!"

Yoshio Shinozuka snorted coldly at last, already impatient for this long-planned battle.

The monks under him who received his order immediately hurried forward to convey the order.

……

At this moment, in the besieged Independent Xuanling Group, the disciples led by Cao Geng and Ding Wei had collected all the magic weapons and tools left behind by the remnants of the Japanese cultivators who had been annihilated before.

However, long before Cao Geng led his disciples to support the Independent Xuanling Group, Ding Wei and Zhao Gang had been fighting fiercely with a regiment and a large group of Japanese cultivators on the outskirts of the Independent Xuanling Group for nearly thirty-six hours.

Most of the magic weapons abandoned by the Japanese cultivators were badly damaged and became like scrap metal.

In addition, due to the long-term continuous fighting, the magic weapons and elixirs left by the Japanese cultivators are also scarce, so the magic weapons and resources seized from the periphery of the Independent Xuanling Group are not abundant...

Fortunately, there are only about 200 disciples left in the entire independent Xuanling group...

Their total number was almost equal to the number of new disciples of the Sword Sect brought by Cao Geng.

It seems that even if the magic weapons seized from Rixiu are not many, it is still more than enough to arm the entire Independent Xuanling Group and the disciples of the New One Sword Sect.

He returned to the mountain gate with his troops. In fact, Cao Geng's mission to support Ding Wei had been successfully completed. If he wanted to leave, he could set off at any time.

But before leaving, Cao Geng still had more than 200 soldiers and horses under his command. Obviously, the existing force was still insufficient for the combat plan he wanted to implement next.

...

Cao Geng pondered for a moment and came to Ding Shang's side. If Ding Shang could dispatch the cultivation power of his independent regiment to assist Cao Geng in achieving the goal of the next stage of cultivation, the two regiments with a total of about 400 cultivators might be enough to realize his next battle plan.

Cao Geng asked, "Captain Ding, what are your independent regiment's plans for the future?"

This moment is the critical moment when the evil Japanese invade the entire northern Shanxi Fairyland for the third time. In this vast northern Shanxi Fairyland, even the main force of the cultivation world - the Eighth Route Army has begun large-scale migration.

Although the independent regiment shoulders the heavy responsibility of stopping the evil Japanese from pursuing their steps, now, their independent regiment has successfully eliminated the evil Japanese forces. However, the independent regiment has limited strength and lacks supplies. Let alone resisting the powerful force of a regiment of the evil Japanese, even if it faces the invasion of a battalion of the evil Japanese, I am afraid that the independent regiment will face the fate of annihilation.

Therefore, the next step is that the independent regiment must leave the Yangcun stronghold here, otherwise it will be difficult to escape the fate of being destroyed by the evil Japanese.

Ding Shang thought for a while and replied, "Brother Cao, the mission assigned to our independent regiment by the headquarters is to hold on to this stronghold for forty-eight hours!"

"Right now, one regiment and one battalion of the First Brigade have been completely wiped out by our two regiments. However, there are still eight hours left before the deadline for the mission assigned to our independent regiment by the headquarters."

"In the remaining eight hours, we cannot rule out the possibility that the evil Japanese troops will attempt to capture our independent regiment's base and pursue the retreat of our cultivator army..."

"Therefore, my plan is to lead my troops to hold on to this independent regiment base for eight hours. After completing the mission, I will follow the pace of my cultivator army's withdrawal and gradually launch a transfer operation..."

It can be said that Ding Shang's answer was completely within Cao Geng's expectations. After all, for a cultivator, the master's instructions are above all else.

However, both Cao Geng and Ding Shang knew that after a regiment and a battalion of the evil Japanese were completely destroyed in the previous battle, the evil Japanese would launch a fierce attack on the independent regiment within the next eight hours. This was an unchangeable fact.

Although it is still unclear when the evil Japanese will launch an offensive, this is undoubtedly like a sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of Ding Shang and the monks of the independent group.

It is obvious that Ding Shang has already made up his mind to fight this battle and sacrifice his life.

Hearing this, Cao Geng couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

"Captain Ding, you have limited manpower and supplies. If the evil Japanese send more troops, I'm afraid your independent regiment will be destroyed."