ragginovel Chapter 578 "Training Troops"
Chapter 578 "Training Troops"
Chapter 578 "Training Troops"
When Huang Donglai arrived at Fengmanlou's camp, the rain outside had almost stopped.
"Oh, Brother Ning is here too." He stepped into the tent and greeted Ning casually when he saw him there.
“Um…yes, yes…” But Faning’s response sounded slightly unnatural.
Upon seeing this, Huang Donglai was immediately taken aback.
He knew very well that a seasoned veteran like Faning would not show such "unnaturalness" if he really wanted to hide it, so Faning's current behavior was probably a reminder of something to him.
Feng Manlou, standing to the side, clearly saw through the expressions and thoughts of the two men, but he didn't point it out. He simply said to Huang Donglai, "They're here."
Huang Donglai reacted quickly. Upon hearing this, he immediately regained his normal expression, turned to Feng Manlou, and replied, "Hey! Brother Feng, is there anything you need from me so late?"
After these few days of interaction, Huang Donglai had become quite familiar with Feng Manlou, and this wasn't the first time he had called him "Brother Feng."
Of course...
“Heh… I don’t deserve that.” Feng Manlou’s response was sarcastic. “I think you should just call me ‘General Feng’ like you did at the beginning.” He paused, his expression changed slightly, and he emphasized, “After all… you are a ‘meritorious’ Celestial Master who has protected the country. In terms of rank, your position is not necessarily lower than mine.”
This statement is essentially revealing one's hand.
As for whether this is their trump card, Huang Donglai doesn't know for the time being, but generally speaking... when someone says "one," you should be prepared that there are "ninety-nine" more to come.
"Heh..." Huang Donglai then gave an awkward laugh.
In that instant of laughter, he had already figured out why Faning had changed his expression there, and he had also figured out how to respond next.
“Since General Feng already knows, I can’t hide it from you anymore…” After laughing, Huang Donglai shamelessly began to spout nonsense, “That’s right, I am indeed the Guardian Celestial Master who once saved the emperor, protected the country and the lives of countless people, but I am a low-key and reserved person who doesn’t like to show off, so I won’t go around talking about it unless absolutely necessary. I hope Brother Feng… uh… General Feng will forgive me.”
"Oh..." Feng Manlou nodded, his expression unreadable. "So, in that case, you're truly a paragon of virtue and integrity." He then changed the subject, "Hey? What about your brother who went undercover on the other side? He seems to be 'meritorious in protecting the country' just like you, right?"
"Him?" Huang Donglai pursed his lips. "If I had to say... he did help out a little."
Upon hearing this, Feng Manlou remained silent for a moment, then looked at Fa Ning.
Then he shifted his gaze back to Huang Donglai's face and remained silent.
Although the process only lasted a few seconds, Huang Donglai felt immense pressure for some reason.
"Oh! You should have said so earlier." But after a few seconds, Feng Manlou's expression suddenly relaxed, and he replied in a tone of regret for not having met you sooner, "If I had known a few days ago that you two were such meritorious people, I would have promoted you long ago!"
"Huh?" Huang Donglai was stunned. What was going on? Had he overestimated him? Was General Feng really not as reliable as he had imagined?
"Enough said. Since you have the title of 'Celestial Master' personally bestowed by His Majesty, I no longer need to worry about my subordinates not obeying you. Tomorrow, you will take my command token, mobilize troops on the front lines, and fight against the Yuan army. Let me see your abilities." Feng Manlou began assigning tasks with the next sentence.
"Uh..." Faced with this sudden request, Huang Donglai instinctively wanted to decline, but given the current atmosphere, he couldn't think of a reason to refuse. So after hesitating for a moment, he replied, "Sure, I will not fail in my mission!"
Seeing that the other party agreed, Feng Manlou finally showed a satisfied smile.
Only Faning, watching from the sidelines, broke out in a cold sweat.
General Feng, on the surface, spoke words of flattery and trust... but at the same time, he exuded a pressure that was impossible to ignore or refuse, eventually forcing Huang Donglai into his trap step by step...
…………
The next day, at the Yuan army camp.
This morning, after the rain, should have been a time of joy and invigoration.
However, from the early morning of that day, cries of pain emanated from the Yuan army's camp, and this commotion continued until the sun was high in the sky.
So what's going on here?
Nothing much, just Sun Yixie “training” his troops. However, he wasn’t just training the soldiers of the Fengzi Battalion—he had brought in more than half of the soldiers from Yibula’s original unit to participate in this “training.”
What? You're asking him on what grounds?
Is there even a question? He's a favorite of Prince Yong now. If he just comes out and passes on a message, it's considered an order from the prince. How dare you disobey?
Let alone disobeying orders, even if the order is carried out slowly... this traitor could easily accuse you of treason.
Just two days ago, a general complained a few times while helping the prince collect materials related to strange skills and crafts. In addition, the materials he found were of poor quality, so Sun Yixie slandered him and he was severely punished with dozens of lashes.
In this situation, if "Kameda Kazumine" says he wants to train troops, who would dare not cooperate?
When he encouraged the prince to do those absurd things, anyone who didn't cooperate would be flogged. Now, however, he's going to do something serious like training troops. If you don't cooperate, you might as well die.
So early that morning, Sun Yixie had his soldiers take off their shirts in the dead of winter and then leap and tumble and wrestle on the sandy ground where pebbles were buried everywhere, for more than half an hour.
And this is just a warm-up...
Those who haven't finished warming up and are still lying down vomiting blood will then face hellish training such as "repeatedly rolling down a hillside covered with loose rocks" and "rapidly climbing upside down on a rope net with sharp wooden stakes at the bottom."
After a morning of training, how could there not be cries of agony everywhere? If he continues training like this, the casualties in less than three days will probably be greater than in a direct battle with the Ming army.
Finally, as noon approached, Yibula, who had been hiding in his tent drinking alone and pretending not to hear, could no longer bear it.
He rushed out of the tent, spurred his horse to Sun Yixie's horse, and shouted angrily, "Kame-kun! Don't go too far!"
Upon hearing this, Sun Yixie slowly turned his face.
Now, the obsequious look on Yibula's face was gone. In its place was a typical smug, petty person's face: "Oh~ who is it? It's General Yibula." Brother Sun said this in a contemptuous tone, as if addressing Yibula as an equal, and then immediately added, "You've come at the right time. I was just about to ask you... how did you train your soldiers before? It was like good-for-nothing training good-for-nothing."
"You!" Normally, Yibula is a man of some composure and shouldn't be so easily swayed by a few words. However, he had been drinking in silence all morning, and Sun Yixie's attitude was just too infuriating. As a result, upon hearing this, he felt a rush of anger to his head, a wave of dizziness, and almost felt his blood vessels burst.
"You..." Despite his anger, Yibula dared not say anything too harsh to Sun Yixie in his current state. He could only suppress his rage and reason with him through gritted teeth, "...Training troops with your methods will inevitably result in casualties and will make it difficult to win the hearts of the soldiers!"
"Nonsense!" Sun Yixie retorted without hesitation, "To train a fierce and powerful army, we must train these soldiers' bodies to be as tough as steel... Anyone who can't withstand it deserves to die!"
"Kameda Ichimine! Don't think that just because Prince Yu is giving you a position of power, you can talk to me like that!" Ibrahim was truly exasperated now. "Don't forget that I was the one who promoted you in the first place..."
"Military law is impartial!" Sun Yixie interrupted him loudly before he could even finish speaking, "Yibula, now is not the time to try to build rapport. Don't try to be a villain in front of this general."
Upon hearing this, a thousand curses surged through Yibulana's mind.
It wouldn't matter if someone else called him a villain, but this ultimate villain turned the tables on him right in front of him, which completely shattered his worldview.
So... he threw up.
Of course, he didn't vomit because he was nauseous; it was just because of intense emotional fluctuations and excessive drinking, which caused his stomach to cramp.
"Hmph... Yibula." At this point, Sun Yixie simply stopped calling him "General" and addressed him by his name, saying, "I think you should go back to your tent and rest. Don't embarrass yourself here."
"I..." Yibula wiped his mouth, looked up and glared fiercely at Sun Yixie, "I'm going to see Prince Yong and impeach you for recklessly training troops, which has only increased casualties!"
With that, he turned his horse around, preparing to ride toward Tawu's camp.
“The Prince…” But Sun Yixie suddenly raised his voice and said those three words, stopping the other party with a sentence, “…is discussing important matters with the Fairy Consort in the camp.” He paused for half a second, and then said, “Moreover, the Prince already told me last night that no one is allowed to disturb them before sunset today, and anyone who disobeys will be punished according to military law.”
He only got halfway through his sentence before Yibula had already reined in his horse and stopped.
Even if he was 99% convinced that Sun Yixie was talking nonsense, Yibula didn't dare to take that 1% risk and continue to storm the camp.
"What 'discuss important matters'!" But Yibula was still unconvinced and retorted, "I think it's 'let's go to Wushan together'!"
“Hey~” Sun Yixie immediately showed an expression as if he had caught the other party in a compromising situation. “Yibula, you have to watch your words… There are so many people watching here. Between the Prince and the Princess… whether it’s official business or private matters, you can’t use such words… and talk about it so loudly.”
His sinister tone was like a bucket of ice water, sobering up Yibula Jiu considerably.
At that moment, Yibula realized that in his anger, he had spoken out of turn in front of everyone.
"I...I'm a little drunk," he quickly tried to cover up. "General Kameda, I'll head back to my camp to rest now. Farewell."
As the saying goes, the more you say, the more mistakes you make. Yibula knew that things had come to this point, and that too much explanation would only backfire. So he left only the words "I'm drunk" and quickly ran away, hoping to make a big deal out of a small one.
Sun Yixie sneered but didn't stop him.
And so, their minor conflict came to a temporary end.
Half an hour later, Sun Yixie felt that the "training" had gone on long enough. If he continued, his undercover work would be too obvious, so he ordered the training to stop and the group to disperse.
It was nearly noon, and lunchtime was approaching. Sun Yixie's current rank allowed him to eat alone in his tent, with someone delivering his meals in advance. So, after finishing his training, he leisurely walked back to his tent to prepare for lunch.
However, when Brother Sun lifted the tent flap today, he realized something was wrong...
Because at this moment, his tent not only contained food and drinks, but also an uninvited guest.
Now, the beautiful woman, her clothes half-open, her eyes alluring, half-reclined, lay down behind Sun Yixie's dining table, staring straight at him.
Judging from this body language, Fairy Shuiyuan is basically implying that she is the other party's "lunch." Of course, we all know that she is actually the one who came to "eat."