Chapter 187: Chaos in Xiaocheng (Twenty-Seven) [Requesting Monthly Tickets]
This night was destined to be anything but peaceful.
The bearded man listened with a grim face as his subordinate reported the losses caused by the fire. Supplies and provisions were severely damaged, eight or nine out of ten were gone, and siege equipment was almost entirely destroyed—most of those were made of wood and would have been unusable once the fire started.
In comparison, the number of casualties was not significant.
More than 200 people died, more than 300 were burned, about 200 were injured or disabled by being trampled by cattle and sheep, and nearly 100 tents were destroyed by falling sparks.
The bearded man's face darkened: "Finished talking?"
His subordinates were chilled to the bone by the icy coldness in his words.
Hesitantly, he said, "Reporting...report complete—"
As soon as he finished speaking, the bearded man angrily raised his hand and overturned the low table in front of him. His face trembled from the force, and his large, round eyes stared intently at his subordinate who dared not utter a sound. He roared, "Report complete? Where are they? Where did they go?"
The crackling sounds and roars blended together.
Sweat beaded on the foreheads of the subordinates, who dared not move an inch.
The atmosphere in the main tent was extremely tense and somber.
"Your subordinate... Your subordinate couldn't stop them..."
The bearded man grabbed something and threw it at his subordinate's forehead, cursing, "Damn it! How many of them are there? You can't even catch them, what use are you? This is a military camp, a place of great importance. Not only can a bunch of thugs come and go as they please, but they even had their supplies burned. Aren't you ashamed!"
The subordinates didn't even dare to dodge.
They took the hit head-on.
A loud bang exploded in my ears.
Warm blood trickled down his forehead, a mixture of sweat and ashes, some flowing down his cheeks and into his chin, others into the corners of his eyes. The official blinked, not daring to wipe it away, letting the filth flow freely over his eyes.
He pursed his lips and swallowed his thoughts.
If we're really going to talk about responsibility, this general who's openly having a passionate affair with his concubine in the military camp, making so much noise that it can be heard in several nearby tents, isn't exactly a good person either.
When it comes to dereliction of duty, we're all equally guilty.
As a subordinate, he couldn't complain, much less dare to voice his true feelings. A sudden thought flashed through his mind, and he remembered someone.
"This subordinate...this subordinate has truly done his best! It's just that two of the four villains were specifically brought in by the young general, and this subordinate dared not use lethal force to arrest them, in case the young general..."
The subordinate paused here, a hint of difficulty in his expression, "It's not that I'm afraid of the young general, but I'm worried that this matter will affect your relationship with him, and also with the old general..."
They were just short of openly telling the bearded man—
It's not that I'm neglecting my duty! Those thugs were brought back by that savage, and he has ulterior motives. If he comes back to settle scores, how can I possibly handle it? Besides, your father is biased; even though that savage committed such a serious mistake, he'll probably get away with it lightly.
This time, the barbarian should take the blame!
The bearded man was already holding a grudge, and after hearing his subordinate's sarcastic remarks, he almost fainted from anger.
Enraged, he crushed the paperweight beside him, his back teeth grinding together, and asked, "Where is that bastard now?"
The official replied, "He is treating the wound with medicine."
The bearded man gave a sinister laugh and said, "Healing? Applying medicine? He can be injured? It's probably a ruse!"
Who is this self-inflicted injury ruse intended for?
It's still that old geezer with the muddle-headed mind who's watching!
He suddenly stood up and strode towards the youth camp.
He wanted to see just how badly that savage could be injured!
The young man was indeed injured.
The injuries are not minor.
Shen Tang's incantation transformed the black and white literary energy into flames, most of which landed on the young man. It was the young man's first time witnessing such a scene; lacking experience, he relied entirely on his own strength.
He deflected, shot down, and shattered the ever-flowing sparks, and for those he couldn't reach, he condensed his energy into a protective aura and withstood them!
While martial energy can resist the sparks from getting close and can also protect against heat and cold to some extent, it cannot completely block out terrifying heat. This is the main reason why the young man was injured—the sparks condensed from literary energy were frighteningly hot, and if they continued for any longer, they could have cooked him.
Although the young man wasn't roasted, large blisters appeared on his back, and his arms and chest were bright red, making him look like a boiled crayfish.
He took off his shirt and casually tossed it around his waist.
Behind him, the doctor carefully popped and squeezed out the blisters, then applied a mint-colored ointment. The ointment provided a cooling sensation, dispelling the burning heat. The young man covered his face with a cool cloth and muttered, "Hmph, luckily this face is still intact."
In his tribe, there wasn't a single handsome face, and no mama was willing to sing with him. His face was just as important as his voice!
"What kind of time is this to worry about your face?" The subordinate stood to the side with a wry smile. "You should be thinking about how to deal with this later..."
The young man pouted: "What are you thinking about?"
The subordinate official said, "Let's think about how to explain this..."
The young man tossed the warmed towel into the copper basin filled with cold water, saying nonchalantly, "There's nothing to explain, and he can't do anything to me. If he wants to hold me accountable for 'inadvertently letting a wolf into the house,' he should be held accountable for 'dereliction of duty.' We should be punished together..."
The subordinate official was speechless.
The young man shrugged and said nonchalantly, "I didn't know those two were problematic, so how can you blame me? I tried my best to stop them, but it was one against four, two of whom were quite strong literary scholars. How could I possibly stop them?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a roar came from outside the tent from a bearded man.
"You beast! You still think you're innocent?"
The young man was not surprised at all that the man was eavesdropping outside the tent. He said innocently, "I was wrong, but at most 30% wrong. Besides, I tried my best to make amends. How long did I delay those four people? If my sworn brother had sent someone to help in time, those four people would not have escaped."
The bearded man was so angry that his beard trembled.
After the doctor finished bandaging him, the young man propped himself up, lazily pulled his shirt back up from his waist, straightened his collar, and wore an innocent expression that carried a fearlessness that annoyed the bearded man.
"It's true that I brought back two of these thugs! But the other two were brought back by soldiers sent out by my sworn brother. It's still unknown which two of the four made the move."
The bearded man was so angry his eyes were practically popping out of their sockets!
"How dare you—"
The young man smiled and narrowed his eyes, directly retorting, "How could I not dare? As for right and wrong, it's better to wait for my godfather to arrive and let him decide. If my godfather deems me fully responsible, I'll accept any amount of military punishment."
Suddenly, the bearded man's eyes widened.
He was astonished by the young man's shameless, "what's the worst that can happen?" attitude. Was he absolutely certain nothing would happen?
This is outrageous!
This is outrageous!
"Judging by the pace, our godfather will not arrive for another six or seven days, and our army's food supplies are already exhausted. Why don't you gather your troops and discuss how to survive these next few days? It's not a big deal if we can't take Xiaocheng, but it would be truly shameful if we were wiped out by those shrimp soldiers!"
The barrage of words made the bearded man's aura much stronger.
He flared his nostrils slightly, exhaling hot breath tinged with anger.
The young man didn't even look at him, and lowered his eyes to see the guest off.
The bearded man gritted his teeth and said, "You wait! I'd like to see how you get away with colluding with foreign enemies! Men, keep an eye on him. He's not allowed to step out of the tent now!"
The young man didn't care. He kicked over the low table blocking his way, not even bothering to maintain basic etiquette. His subordinate thought to himself, "What bad luck!" He quickly bowed and hurriedly followed, not caring whether the bearded man was furious.
Hearing the bearded man angrily slam the curtain down and his footsteps fade into the distance, the young man's depressed mood improved considerably. He took out a box of large longan pearls of different colors, beckoned his subordinate over, and said with a smile, "Now that everything's alright, play a couple of rounds with me."
Subordinate: "..."
The young man said again, "Alas, what a pity."
The subordinate official, unable to contain his curiosity, asked, "What is it that's a pity?"
The young man said, "What a pity about my soulmate."
Subordinate: "..."
He didn't understand what was so regrettable.
Although he wasn't on the battlefield and didn't witness the confrontation between Shen Tang and the young man, he knew the final outcome. It was precisely because of this "kindred spirit" that the young man would likely receive a beating from the military, otherwise, the public anger wouldn't be appeased… The young general felt sorry for that man?
The young man sighed, "Gold is easy to come by, but a true friend is hard to find... Mama is perhaps the only person in the world who can sing with me..."
The subordinate was about to say something.
He suddenly stopped talking.
The official had been by the young man's side for some time and knew him neither too much nor too little. He wanted to say that the young man still had clansmen, but then he remembered that the young general's clansmen were all gone, and he was the only remaining member of the entire clan.
indeed--
There is no one who can sing with him.
The subordinate official said, "So you let them go?"
The young man looked at him with a half-smile.
The official's face changed drastically. Realizing his slip of the tongue, he knelt down and begged for forgiveness: "That's not what I meant. I meant to say..."
He racked his brains but couldn't come up with a suitable excuse. He was so anxious that he was sweating profusely, which quickly soaked the inner shirt under his armor.
The atmosphere inside the tent was extremely tense. Just as the subordinate was wondering if he would be silenced, the young man spoke up.
He said, "Get up."
The subordinate was surprised, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief as if he had escaped a disaster. When he stood up, he found that his hands and feet were weak: "Thank you, Young General!"
The young man said, "No rush, we'll meet again."
The subordinate official dared not speak again.
He didn't want to make a mistake by saying too much, and he didn't want to lose his life for no reason.
Whether the young man intended to let them go was unknown to anyone but himself. The two played marbles with the pearls for a while, when suddenly the young man remembered something and asked his subordinate, "Knowing my sworn brother as you do, will he withdraw his troops after this defeat?"
The subordinate official replied, "This humble official dares not speculate."
Youth: "You say so!"
The subordinate official said, "Probably... The supplies and provisions have been burned. If the garrison in Xiaocheng finds out about this, they will gather their forces and come out of the city to attack us. Our morale will be low while they will fight with their backs to the wall... Sigh, it would be better to withdraw temporarily and reunite with the old general."
The young man smiled and said, "That's what I think too."
Subordinate official: "...???"
For some reason, he felt that the young general was in an extremely good mood at this moment, and he... seemed to really want to see the army temporarily retreat?
After playing marbles for a while, the young man patted his stomach and said he was hungry.
Just as he was about to call someone to get food, he remembered that the grain and fodder had been burned to ashes, so he reluctantly gave up the idea of having an extra meal.
Before long, a joyful commotion arose outside the tent.
He sent someone out to find out what was going on.
The soldier reported back with a delighted expression.
"Young General, this is great news!"
The young man, bored, crushed a pearl, watching the powder fall from his fingertips, and casually asked, "Oh? What good thing?"
The soldier exclaimed, "The army is here!"
youth:"!!!"
A series of crashing sounds followed from inside the tent, and the soldiers guarding the tent looked at each other in confusion.
Isn't this a good thing?
hehe--
This news was indeed good news for the rebel camp, whose supplies and provisions had been burned and whose morale had plummeted, but it was not good news for the people of Xiaocheng. The young man looked gloomily at the direction of the commotion outside the tent, his fists clenching tightly at his sides.
Before we knew it, the sun was high in the sky.
A messenger soldier arrived outside the tent.
The old general wanted to see him.
The young man pursed his lips, reluctant but still tidied his appearance. Stepping out of the tent, his face once again wore the cheerful and innocent smile familiar to outsiders. Approaching the main tent, he gazed towards Xiaocheng, where he could vaguely see the outline of the towering city walls.
He sighed inwardly—
This is a calamity destined for me; there's no escaping it.
He bent down and lifted the curtain; before he even entered, his voice had already reached the ears of the person inside the tent.
"Godfather, your son has arrived."
————————
"puff--"
With the help of the two scholars, and Zhai Le sparing no effort in using his martial energy, they quickly brought the nearly unconscious Shen Tang to a safe place. As soon as they stopped, Shen Tang leaned against a tree trunk and vomited a mouthful of dark red blood, which made her pale face look much better.
Zhai Le asked nervously, "Brother Shen, what's wrong with you...?"
Shen Tang waved his hand and said, "I'm fine, it's nothing!"
She sat down and regulated her breathing for a while.
The dizziness subsided considerably.
While keeping an eye on Shen Tang's situation, Qi Shan remained vigilant about his surroundings. Suddenly, he looked into the dark depths of the dense forest and drew his sword.
He shouted, "Who is it! Come out here!"
Zhai Le also went on high alert.
Just then, a rustling sound came from the direction of the dense forest, and a face that everyone recognized emerged—it was Commandant Yang, the one escorting the tax silver! He replied, "It's me!"
After a few days apart, Commandant Yang looked much more haggard.
Qi Shan glanced at him, then at Zhai Le who had lowered his guard, and with a swift movement, sheathed his sword and bowed respectfully from afar.
Commandant Yang said to Zhai Le and his companion, "You two have been gone for a long time, and a fire has broken out in the direction of the rebel camp. I suppose your plan has succeeded, so I brought men to meet you..."
Qi Shan's complexion improved considerably.
Commander Yang noticed the two unfamiliar faces, Qi Shan and Shen Tang, and asked hesitantly, "Who are these two...?"
Zhai Huan's lips twitched slightly.
How should I... introduce this?
Zhai Le, with a carefree attitude, introduced with a smile: "Commander Yang, this is Brother Shen, whom I often mention. He is quite capable. This fire was also thanks to his and Mr. Qi's help, which made it a success! Brother Shen, Mr. Qi, this is Commander Yang, the garrison commander of Xiaocheng."
Upon hearing this, Commandant Yang's eyes lit up.
He said, "So you are two righteous men."
Shen Tang forced himself to stand up, his face showing both admiration and respect. He returned the greeting, saying, "I dare not accept such praise as a righteous man. I have long admired Commandant Yang's name, and seeing him today, I can confirm that his reputation is well-deserved." His formulaic smile was flawless.
Qi Shan lowered her eyes and exchanged a brief greeting.
The two exchanged pleasantries without any sincerity, but Commandant Yang didn't mind.
As long as they are fighting against the rebels, they are comrades-in-arms!
"This is not a place to stay for long. Please follow me, righteous man."
Shen Tang's writing style was severely depleted this time.
It took me three or four hours to recover.
It's a two-in-one product.
P.S.: By the way, I'd like to recommend my friend Thorn Song's new book, "Help! I Really Can't Eat Anymore." It's not signed yet, so you can invest! Although the title is a bit lame (this is just a tentative title; it might be changed when the contract is signed), Thorn Song is an experienced author with more integrity than Mushroom Song, so the content won't disappoint you.
(End of this chapter)
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