Night fell.
In the New First Army camp, the campfire gradually died down.
Wang Gousheng and several comrades squeezed into the tent, carefully wiping their worn-out leather armor by the moonlight.
"So, what's the background of that Madam An?" Zhao Tiezhu asked in a low voice, touching the iron wristband with fingerprints on it. "Even the strongest butcher in my hometown couldn't bend that lump of iron!"
"Shh!" Wang Gousheng suddenly raised a finger. "The general in the next tent is still awake."
Sure enough, a hoarse, cold laugh came from the neighboring tent.
"What strong woman could she possibly be? Just a woman using some tricks! Back in Liangzhou..."
A sudden thud interrupted his boasting. It sounded like a heavy object hitting flesh, followed by the crash of a wooden table overturning.
"Help! Ugh!"
Suppressed cries of pain, mixed with the crisp sound of bones shattering, were exceptionally clear in the silent night.
Wang Gousheng and the others stood frozen in place. By the dim light of the torches outside the tent, they saw a familiar figure drift out of Kan Dadao's tent...
Under the moonlight, a figure carrying half a stone tablet flashed by.
Wearing an indigo-blue dress and a dark red handkerchief, who else could it be but Madam An?
Lin Anniang seemed to notice the gaze and turned her head to glance in their direction.
Under the moonlight, blood was still dripping from her fingertips, but a faint smile played on her lips.
Despite her gentle face, she terrified them.
"I didn't see anything!" Zhao Tiezhu suddenly pulled the blanket over his head.
"I...I'm already asleep!" Wang Gousheng immediately lay down and pretended to be dead.
Only when the footsteps faded into the distance did the group dare to breathe again. The sounds from the next tent grew fainter and fainter, eventually fading into silence.
The scene inside the tent was horrific.
Kan Dadao lay sprawled on the couch like a lump of mud, his face bruised and swollen, and his chest caved in.
Lin Anniang was squatting on the table, peeling an apple with her precious knife, the peel hanging down to the ground in a long strip.
"I heard the general looks down on women's methods?" She took a bite of her apple. "How do you feel now?"
Kan Da Dao spat out blood, his eyes filled with terror: "You...you're from the desolate mountains..."
"Shh." Lin Anniang stuffed an apple core into his mouth. "Remember to find the strategist tomorrow, he'll save your dog's life!"
After saying that, he smashed the bedpost with a single blow and strode away again.
…
Just as dawn was breaking, the strategist hurriedly arrived with the barefoot doctor.
Lifting the curtain, one could see Kan Dadao slumped on the couch, his chest caved in like a tattered sack, his face a mixture of blue and purple, and blood still clinging to the corners of his mouth.
"This, this is..." The barefoot doctor's hand trembled, and the medicine box crashed to the ground.
Kan Dadao struggled to move his eyes, making a hoarse sound in his throat. The doctor cautiously stepped forward to examine him, but his face changed as soon as he touched his ribs.
"The bones are all broken!"
"Can it be cured?" Ling Xian asked calmly, waving his feather fan.
"Unless you're a celestial being..." the doctor shook his head, "prepare for your funeral."
Upon hearing this, Kan Dadao's eyes welled up with tears. He struggled to grab Ling Xian's sleeve, his voice hoarse as he cried out, "Strategist, save me..."
"General, don't worry." Ling Xian bent down and casually wiped away the blood.
"I will go and invite the female healer from the desolate mountains. Doctor Tong's medical skills are unparalleled, and she will certainly not let you die immediately."
Outside the tent, Jiang Dashan frowned as he looked at Ling Xian: "Why keep him around? Perhaps..."
With a gentle wave of his feather fan, Ling Xian looked towards the training ground, where the new recruits were doing their morning exercises, their shouts of battle deafening.
Further away, the outline of a county town gradually becomes clear in the morning sun, with white smoke billowing from factory chimneys.
The strategist sighed, "The mighty general was once a man of great ambition, but his former ambition has ultimately been corrupted."
“Even if he is no longer useful, I still want to keep him until the end, so that he can see how the people under the control of the barren mountains can live and work in peace and contentment, and see how this new army can be transformed. It doesn’t matter if he dies then.”
"Of course, we also need to show him what a true peaceful and prosperous world is like!"
Jiang Le crossed his arms and muttered, "To kill someone, you have to destroy their spirit..."
“Wrong,” Ling Xian chuckled. “This is redemption.”
"This strategist never attacks someone's heart."
Jiang Dashan, standing next to him, crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.
The damned redemption, it's just that they don't want the mighty general to have an easy time, right?
…
It's another day off.
The drill ground was bustling with activity.
The new recruits were showing off their muscles shirtless, and Zhao Tiezhu was showing off his newly learned moves when suddenly the crowd fell silent.
A white figure approached from afar, wearing a pristine white gauze dress and a jade dagger hanging at her waist.
The woman's face was covered by a light veil, revealing only a pair of eyes as clear as autumn water. As she walked, her skirt remained perfectly still, as if she were stepping on invisible stairs.
"Have you met Madam An?" Her voice was clear and cold, like a jade chime.
Wang Gousheng was stunned, and the wooden gun in his hand fell to the ground with a thud.
Zhao Tiezhu was even more embarrassed, drool dripping down his chest: "Fairy, fairy sister, are you here to find someone?"
"I'm here to train you."
After a moment of silence, the training ground erupted in laughter.
"Is the young lady scolding us with an embroidery needle?"
"How about we dance for the brothers first!"
Before she finished speaking, Wang Wan lightly touched the ground with her toes and stood in mid-air! The jade sword was drawn with a clang and instantly transformed into hundreds of streaks of light.
Before the soldiers could react, they felt a chill between their brows as the tip of a sword touched their foreheads!
"Too weak." Wang Wan sheathed her sword and gracefully landed on the top of the flagpole. "It can't even withstand sword energy."
The drill ground was littered with fallen bodies.
Wang Gousheng covered his burning forehead and suddenly realized that his belt had been torn off at some point and was hanging on a treetop three zhang away, fluttering in the wind!
"Two extra hours of training starting tomorrow." Chen Yan appeared on the sidelines unnoticed, munching on watermelon with a smug grin. "Who's slacking off again!"
He pointed at Wang Wan's departing figure, "Next time she brings the Ice Soul Needles, she'll specifically prick your butts!"
The new recruits all shivered, as if they had been choked.
Zhao Tiezhu, with a long face, went to pick up his waistband, muttering, "Those people from these desolate mountains are all more frightening than the last..."
…
It's almost May Day, so I'm adding an extra chapter. My data usage has dropped recently, so please help me spread the word. If my data usage stabilizes, I'll add a few more chapters.
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