Chapter 461: Reprimand

After saying this, he returned to the room. The cup placed on the ground disappeared with a 'whoosh', as if it had been dragged into the ground by something.

The corner of the courtyard returned to normal.

￥￥￥￥￥

He Lingchuan blinked, looking at the hole in the roof, and it took a long time for him to realize that he was in the Soul Village.

The starry sky in reality and in the Soul Village dream was equally brilliant.

He sat up and stretched.

The Broken Blade Squad, like the rest of the Panlong Army, had already left the capital of the Western Ji Nation and arrived at the easternmost city of the former Western Ji Nation, just one step away from the border.

The permanent population here exceeded ninety thousand, making it the fourth-largest city in Western Ji, and it could barely accommodate the Panlong Army's garrison needs. Of course, Western Ji had already been destroyed. According to Zhong Shengquan's request, General Hong renamed this place Yuheng City.

"The Yuheng star is the brightest star in the Big Dipper; every night, it illuminates the way home for the soldiers of Panlongcheng."

The army had been reorganizing here for two days, waiting for orders to move east.

Just as he finished stretching, Liu Tiao's call came from outside: "Hey, everyone come out to eat dumplings, you lazy ghosts!"

He Lingchuan flipped over, jumped up, and walked out. The Door Panel, who had been snoring in the corner, ran faster than him.

A large pot was set up on the open ground outside, and white, plump dumplings were rolling up and down in the boiling water. A few had burst open, coating the soup with a layer of shiny, glistening oil.

Looking at this pot, one could tell that Liu Tiao's cooking skills were probably on par with He Lingchuan's. The Door Panel sat down and fished out a few dumplings to eat, while being scalded and hissing, praising Liu Tiao for doing a good job.

One's own wife must be praised by oneself.

No matter how thick-skinned Liu Tiao was, she blushed a little: "Several of the ones I wrapped broke; these good ones were all wrapped by Old Man Liu."

The ones that were torn and broken were all wrapped by her.

Old Man Liu was right there, over fifty years old, dark and thin, with a slightly hunched figure and a headscarf tied around his forehead, which fit He Lingchuan's impression of the hardworking and simple laboring people.

He brought over two more steamers of raw dumplings, placed them by the pot, and smiled until his eyes narrowed into slits: "Eat more, there's plenty!"

"Thank you for your hard work, Old Man Liu."

Just as He Lingchuan sat down, Old Man Liu fished out a bowl of dumplings for him, but the one he fished for Liu Tiao was filled almost to the point of overflowing.

The Broken Blade Squad sat down and gorged themselves.

Theoretically, the army's food was very simple, consisting only of radish lump soup that was plentiful and filling, steamed buns made of dead dough, and a little dried meat and pickled vegetables.

However, the Western Luo elders nearby, having heard the news, led pigs and drove sheep, carrying cakes and sending food, constantly sending things to the Panlong Army.

Therefore, the Panlong Army had several extra meals. Tonight's dead-dough steamed buns were also replaced with dumplings, and there were even two flavors: pork with green onion and carrot with egg.

Liu Tiao and A Luo had gone over in the afternoon to help wrap dumplings. When the finished products were brought out, each was half a palm wide, plump and solid, and one bite was full of oil.

Old Man Liu, who had trekked over twenty miles to send meat and vegetables, was from Rongshan. He liked Liu Tiao very much when he saw her and insisted on adopting her as his goddaughter. Later, everyone learned that he had come to Western Ji from the Panlong Wasteland in his early years, and his wife and only daughter had died in the Rongshan riots a few years ago.

No one had the heart to refuse his kindness.

For the past two days, Yuheng City had been full of laughter.

Even though everyone was on the front line.

To the east was another small country, Jin Tao.

However, this country was terrified by the Panlong Army's move to raid and destroy Western Ji, and now they had stationed heavy troops at the border, confronting the Panlong Army.

If He Lingchuan climbed a tree now, he could even see the firelight on the other side of the boundary line.

That was the Jin Tao army.

It was said that the entire country of Jin Tao had been mobilized, prepared to protect their home and country at all costs.

With the two sides staring at each other like this, it was uncertain if sparks could fly.

He Lingchuan understood that the reason the Panlong Army attacked Western Ji like entering an uninhabited land was nothing more than the word "fast"—before the other side could react, they had already crossed the Western Ji mountains and killed their way into the plains where there were no dangers to defend.

In He Lingchuan's view, the current Jin Tao had both caution and preparation, and it was also a mountainous region. It would be quite difficult for the Panlong Army to achieve a quick victory with few casualties as before.

It could be said that the Panlong Army's pace of returning east would only encounter real resistance from now on.

This point, high-level officials like Zhong Shengquan should know best.

It just depended on how they planned.

He Lingchuan sat up halfway; there were still firelight and human voices nearby.

Because of the previous great victory, the entire army's mood was high.

He heard one of the soldiers say: "Last year, I accompanied my uncle through Longhou Pass. A small leader there saw that we were from Panlongcheng and wanted us to unload all six hundred pieces of cargo from the cart to check for contraband! We had a bit of a conflict at the time, and he even spat at us. Hehe, why is it such a coincidence? I ran into him on the street yesterday!"

"How did you deal with him?"

"I followed him home and then said the neighbors reported his family for hiding weapons!" This person laughed. "He was so scared he almost knelt. I made him move his household goods out one by one for me to check. Hey, don't say, we really found two long sabers! Then his whole family knelt to me!"

There was a burst of laughter all around.

He Lingchuan knew that those were other squads of the Panlong Army.

The Panlong Army was stationed in the Western City of Yuheng. There were many high-gate courtyards here, all inhabited by the wealthy, which were later temporarily requisitioned by the Panlong Army as a camp to avoid disturbing the lives of the ordinary people in the city.

General Hong also specially issued a notice that as long as they were good citizens, their lives in Yuheng City would be protected.

Of course, the subtext was that the final interpretation of the two words "good citizens" belonged to the Panlong Army.

Over the past few days, several main cities had returned to normal life and operation under the watchful eyes of the Panlong Army; shops on the street opened for business, and the flow of people in the markets gradually increased.

The city began to return to the right track, as if the war of seizing the country that lasted for more than half a month had never happened.

In fact, because the Panlong Army attacked the city too quickly, only the palace put up a desperate struggle, and even the city's infrastructure and ecology were only slightly damaged, making it relatively easy to repair.

After the Panlong Army finished resting and replenishing supplies in Yuheng City, they would set off to continue their return east. General Hong had already sent out several scouts to detect Jin Tao's military situation.

This was also the focus of heated discussion among the army over the past few days. A great victory with small costs made everyone full of anticipation for the return journey to their homeland.

War was never simple, but He Lingchuan understood that the truth was far more complex than that.

After finishing the dumplings and soup, He Lingchuan climbed back onto the roof and began to play the xun.

The mice passing by the roof beams listened and stumbled.

As a beginner, he was still lacking in tone and rhythm.

Hu Min rolled his eyes and said to the Door Panel: "Here we go again. The boss won't let us off these few nights."

The Door Panel also whispered: "He's still better at playing the flute."

Playing the xun badly was like a ghost wailing, which was quite fitting on this battlefield where people died every day.

After fighting, killing, and applying medicine, He Lingchuan would start practicing musical instruments when he had nothing to do, calling it the need for music to adjust to military life.

No way, he had to take an exam from Master Sun after going back this time.

Other squads also wanted to protest, but when they got close and found it was Broken Blade wailing—no, playing the xun—they turned their heels and went back.

Combat heroes always enjoy privileges.

Fortunately, Broken Blade couldn't poison them for too long tonight, because a series of military whistles suddenly sounded ahead: "Assemble, assemble, read the major military intelligence!"

Major military intelligence? Everyone threw down their tools and quickly rushed to the square in the west of the city to assemble.

There were originally many buildings here, but most were destroyed in the street fighting when the city was broken, so the Panlong Army simply ordered people to raze them to the ground, creating a square that could accommodate thousands of people.

Very quickly, thousands of people were in place, torches filled the sky, everyone stood straight, but the whole field was silent.

General Hong, in full military attire, walked out with a person.

This person's clothing was different from both Panlongcheng and the former Western Ji.

Under the reflection of the firelight, his expression was very uneasy.

"This is an envoy sent by the capital. First to us, and then to pass the message to Panlongcheng!" General Hong raised her voice to introduce a few words, then said to the envoy, "Come, please read the monarch's edict aloud!"

Ah? The envoy was stunned after hearing the second half of her sentence: "General, this order is only issued to you and Commander Zhong."

"Oh?" General Hong reached out to him, "Then give it to me."

The envoy was very dissatisfied: "It should be received on one's knees!"

General Hong reached out and snatched the edict, so fast that the envoy hadn't even reacted before she unfolded it and read it aloud.

It turned out that the monarch had ordered the envoy to rush day and night to convey a reprimand, reprimanding Zhong Shengquan for raising troops without authorization and ruining diplomatic relations; taking the Western Ji route was not to promote the prestige of the Western Luo Nation, but to harass friendly neighbors and create enemies on all sides, failing to understand the monarch's heart and further plunging the motherland into war and strife.

It also said that Western Luo had never issued a relocation order to Panlongcheng, therefore:

"Order the Panlong Army to return west immediately, to guard our territory, and not to trample on friendly nations!" At the last sentence, General Hong spread her hands, "Finished reading."

There was a commotion under the stage, everyone's eyes widened, and even the Da Feng Army, which had the strictest military discipline, couldn't help but look at each other.

Such a thing! They were actively returning to the country, and the monarch actually ordered a reprimand!

They marched with lightning speed and were invincible, but the motherland didn't take it as an honor but as a shame! The monarch actually wanted them to go back!

To return to an environment surrounded by enemies on all sides and isolated without help.

Liu Tiao whispered: "No way, really?"

The Door Panel's voice was dull: "Dog X, don't let us go back!"

Grumbling like this spread rapidly in the army, and they didn't even care what kind of occasion this was.

The Western Luo envoy in front couldn't bear the angry gazes cast at him, and kept reaching out to wipe his sweat. "This is not in accordance with etiquette, General, you are overstepping!"

Seeing is better than hearing a hundred times; this General Hong's arrogance was even more rampant than the rumors, actually reading the monarch's edict directly to the common soldiers!

This was a major military matter, a major national affair; the monarch had specially ordered him to require Zhong Shengquan to dismiss his attendants when conveying the edict, and no third person could be present.

This was good, this was good, thousands of ears had heard it!

These common soldiers were all one-track-minded, what did they know about national strategy? He must report it truthfully when he goes back! General Hong ignored him and only asked the soldiers under the stage: "Did you all hear clearly?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 462 =====