Chapter 945 - 947: Persuasion, Vomiting Blood_1
What a scene, it wasn’t just the people from Firehead Camp causing a ruckus, it seemed like the entire army had shown up, completely surrounding the members of the Right Vanguard Team. Some had even been hit, their cheeks swelling up.
Bai Ruozhu took one glance and felt somewhat moved, these were the same men who had gone to Jiangnan with her last time. She had simply done what she had to do, but they had taken it to heart. You could say the soldiers were crude and ill-tempered, but they were also straightforward and frank, genuinely admiring those they respected, willing to use their own strength to stand up for her.
The people of the Right Vanguard Team had not gone to Jiangnan and were clueless about what had happened along the way. Therefore, when Lao Feng and the others came to make trouble, they looked down on the people from Firehead Camp. A few words later, a quarrel broke out, and amidst that, some insulted Bai Ruozhu. So it wasn’t just Firehead Camp, but nearly everyone in the camp was furious.
It was also because Jiang Yichun had primarily transferred those two hundred elite troops who had gone down to Jiangnan last time, which contributed to the current momentum.
If it was just Firehead Camp, Lao Feng and his group certainly wouldn’t have dared to make too much trouble. But with many more people involved, it was a different story; there’s strength in numbers, a concept everyone understood. Besides, the people of the Right Vanguard had always been rather arrogant and were completely unwilling to back down. Hence, someone among those being surrounded received several unexpected punches. But because it was night and there were too many people, they couldn’t see who had thrown the punches.
"Dare to curse Lady Jiang and even try to harm her, you won’t be able to get by in the Northwest Main Camp anymore!" Lao Feng’s voice was the loudest, "From now on, our Firehead Camp won’t bother cooking for you guys!"
"We won’t cooperate with you from now on either. If you want to earn military honors, go fight on your own," Zhang Dazhu also shouted. Bai Ruozhu hadn’t approached yet when she recognized his voice.
"Exactly, you’re too arrogant. You should apologize to Lady Jiang!" someone else yelled. Soon after, many people joined in the call for an apology.
Bai Ruozhu glanced discreetly at Jiang Yichun and saw his face was extremely somber. Both of them had heard about the disturbance from their subordinates earlier: they knew Li Maoshi had badmouthed Bai Ruozhu, and by chance, it had been overheard, which caused the uproar in the camp. But only now did they realize Li Maoshi had done more than just insult Bai Ruozhu; he had encouraged his men to harm her, which was the equivalent of touching Jiang Yichun’s raw nerve.
Listening through the noise of the crowd, they gathered that Li Maoshi had mentioned that once they went up the mountain, he wouldn’t protect Bai Ruozhu, hoping to see her suffer a bit. Bai Ruozhu herself was indifferent when she heard this; she had dark guards, and she had never expected anyone else’s protection. However, Li Maoshi’s behavior, which mixed public and private interests, was indeed hateful. If it had been someone else without the protection of dark guards, they might have lost their life due to his pettiness when facing danger, wouldn’t they?
No wonder the other soldiers were so outraged. Batianzhai was filled not only with skilled and unique individuals but also mechanical arrays and formations. What if they deliberately failed to protect Bai Ruozhu and disaster ensued?
Seeing Jiang Yichun’s chilling aura, Bai Ruozhu tugged at him and whispered, "We can deal with it under military law back at camp, but we can’t let them continue making such a fuss now or it will throw the army into chaos."
Jiang Yichun met Bai Ruozhu’s gentle eyes, and the anger at the bottom of his own slowly dissipated, and he calmed down.
"Fine, I’ll listen to you and properly discipline that Li Maoshi when we get back," Jiang Yichun said softly, as if mentioning it casually, but Bai Ruozhu knew that Li Maoshi was in for it. Even if he didn’t die, he’d be severely punished and truly wouldn’t be able to get by in the Northwest Main Camp.
While they were talking, a fight had already broken out on the other side, with someone screaming in pain as if they had been seriously injured.
Seeing this, Bai Ruozhu hurriedly stepped forward and shouted loudly, "Stop fighting, everyone! Our enemies are the bandits who burn, kill, and plunder, bringing disaster upon the common people. Tomorrow we go to suppress the bandits, facing great danger. Should we spend our strength on fighting amongst ourselves?"
Having trained in some inner strength, she infused her shout with Qi, making her voice resound loudly throughout the camp, reaching everyone’s ears.
Everyone stopped and many immediately stood up straight, looking toward her with the utmost respect.
Jiang Yichun followed behind Bai Ruozhu as they entered the circle of troublemakers, fearing that the soldiers from the right-wing unit would lose their temper and suddenly lash out at Bai Ruozhu.
"Madam, it’s because they disrespected you, even saying they wouldn’t protect you when going up the mountain. We just couldn’t stand it," the troublemakers said all at once.
Bai Ruozhu raised her hand to signal for them to be quiet and then said, "I am aware of everything and I am very thankful to you all for standing up for me. However, I would rather not have you all break military regulations on my behalf. As for Li Maoshi exploiting his position for personal gain and secretly instigating soldiers to break military regulations, he will be dealt with according to military law upon our return."
Hiding behind his subordinates, Li Maoshi grew anxious upon hearing this and stuck his head out to say, "Military regulations aren’t set by you. How have I broken any? I merely spoke up because I was disgruntled. You woman, you’re just causing trouble with your seductive words!"
Upon hearing this, the crowd became furious, and many wanted to strike Li Maoshi. Jiang Yichun walked over, gave him a fierce glare, and said, "Li Maoshi is narrow-minded, speaks ill of others behind their backs, incites his subordinates to not protect the invited Divine Doctor of the punitive expedition, and even goes so far as to insult her. According to military regulations, he will receive fifty lashes with the military stick and be stripped of his position as Team Leader of the right wing!"
Bai Ruozhu quickly looked at Jiang Yichun, wasn’t it agreed that they would deal with the matter upon their return?
"Members of the right-wing vanguard team failed to discern right from wrong and assisted a tyrant in his wrongdoing. Each of you will receive twenty lashes with the military stick, and this time, the right-wing vanguard team is not needed for the bandit suppression!" Jiang Yichun continued.
The members of the right-wing vanguard team were in an uproar. While twenty lashes with the military stick were the lesser concern, how could they be barred from participating in the suppression of bandits? They were already at the Foot of the Mountain. Were they to be sent back just for a few words spoken?
Bai Ruozhu felt a sense of compassion, seeing that it was Li Maoshi who made the mistake, and the other members of the right-wing vanguard team might just have been following their superior’s orders, or perhaps they had spoken in favor of their own out of unity. To punish them all seemed overly harsh.
She opened her mouth to try and plead, but Jiang Yichun gave her a stern look and she dared not speak the words that had reached her lips. After all, this was a military camp, with strict military regulations, where it would be inappropriate for her to interject.
The others naturally found the decision just and were no longer inclined to make a fuss. At that moment, a painful groaning reached everyone’s ears, and a soldier from the right-wing vanguard team called out, "Not good, Zhou Ying is bleeding from his mouth and nose. Get the military doctor quickly!"
In the crowd, someone quietly said in a shrill voice, "It’s Zhou Ying who has the foulest mouth. He spoke the vilest words about Madam Jiang; if he dies, he deserves it!"
Upon hearing this, others also started to speak up, noting that the injured Zhou Ying had been the loudest in hurling abuses and was no good anyway.
Bai Ruozhu looked over and saw that Zhou Ying was bleeding from his mouth and nose, and the bleeding was significant. His complexion was now a waxy yellow, his eyes tightly shut, and he was having a great deal of difficulty breathing.
This was a severe case of internal bleeding and he was already showing symptoms of shock.