Chapter 132: Rewarding Merit

The blood-stained heads of Zhong Yifeng and the other two were hung on the stone pillars around the Parade Ground; all the soldiers were as silent as cicadas in winter, having learned the fate of deserting in the face of battle.

Meng Yifan took out a small booklet and read out again: "Wang Sanmao, Liu Tuntian, Liu Laogen, Cui Dahai, the four of you, step forward."

The heads of Zhong Yifeng and the others were still dripping blood; when Cui Dahai and the other three were called by name, they all trembled all over and walked to the front, terrified.

"During the great battle, you four feared the enemy and did not advance, deliberately hiding at the very back when the charge began, letting your comrades in front block the Lead Bullets for you. What use are cowards like you? I sentence you to twenty strokes of the military rod, expel you from the troops, and drive you outside the city," Meng Yifan loudly declared the crimes of these four.

Upon hearing that they were not to be beheaded, Cui Dahai and the other three could finally heave a sigh of relief, but when they heard they were being driven out of the troops, their faces crumpled like bitter melons, looking as if they had lost their parents.

The four of them were originally refugees from outside the city with families to support, and their entire families were on the verge of starving to death; it was Meng Yifan who recruited them into the troops, and only then did their families manage to eat a few full meals.

Now that they were expelled from the troops, the houses allocated for the soldiers to live in could no longer be theirs, so how were their families supposed to survive in the future?

"Lord Meng, I know I was wrong, please spare me this once."

"I beg you, Lord, to show mercy and give us one more chance."

"Lord Meng, I guarantee that in the next battle, I will definitely charge at the front and kill the enemy heroically."

"Lord, give me more military rod strokes if you must, but don't drive me away; I want to be your soldier."

Cui Dahai and the other three wept bitterly; they knew that after being driven out of the troops, what awaited their families was very likely to be starving to death, so they knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly, longing for Meng Yifan to let them stay in the troops.

Meng Yifan ignored them and shouted loudly: "This is a restricted area of the Parade Ground; if anyone dares to make noise again, they will be beheaded as a warning to others."

Wang Dahai and the other three were given a great fright and could only honestly endure the twenty military rod strokes, after which they were dragged out of the Parade Ground like dead dogs and thrown outside.

Zhang Shagen and the other soldiers who had heroically killed the enemy looked at Wang Dahai and the other three with disdain; during the great battle, everyone was charging forward, yet they hid at the back, letting others serve as Lead Bullets for them. They were ashamed to be associated with such teammates.

After punishing the dregs of the army, the next order of business was to reward merit. Meng Yifan wore a smile and said in a clear voice: "Brothers, you fought very well in this great battle. Every brother present will be rewarded with ten taels of silver, ten catties of Monster Cured Meat, and twenty catties of rice."

As soon as Meng Yifan's voice fell, Zhang Shagen and the other soldiers beamed with joy, feeling extremely excited.

Ten taels of silver could buy some cloth for their families to make a few sets of clothes; with ten catties of Monster Cured Meat and twenty catties of rice, their entire families could let go and eat a few good, full meals.

Take Zhang Shagen for example: he was the only one serving as a soldier, and every mealtime, he could only carry back one basin of food. If he were to eat this food alone, he would certainly be full.

But he had to take it back for his father, mother, wife, and children to eat together. Five people eating one person's portion meant that a strong man like Zhang Shagen could only barely manage to be half-full.

Zhang Shagen's family had fled to Luolong County, and the whole family only had one set of clothes each; having traveled all the way here, they were already in rags, looking just like beggars. With ten taels of silver, if they bought coarse hemp cloth, the whole family could each make a new set of clothes.

Wang Dahai and the other three were still sprawled outside the Parade Ground at this moment; hearing Meng Yifan's rewards, they all regretted their actions, hating themselves for shrinking back at the time—they were truly bastards.

Meng Yifan waited for the soldiers to calm down, then said again: "In this great battle, Zhang Shagen and Xu Lie performed the best. I reward you each with one Great Tonic Pill to help you raise your cultivation by one level."

"Great Tonic Pill?" Meng Dayong was stunned. He had never heard of a Great Tonic Pill. What kind of Pill was this that it could directly raise a Martial Artist's cultivation by one level? If there was such a good thing, why didn't Meng Yifan give his father a few to eat?

Meng Qingshan, Meng Qinghe, Meng Qingyu, and others also looked at Meng Yifan; they were Meng Yifan's trusted subordinates, and they also longed to be able to quickly improve their strength.

Zhang Shagen and Xu Lie were originally just ordinary people. After joining the troops, although they had learned the Savage Bull Strength technique, the time had been short, and they had not yet cultivated True Qi, so they did not count as First Grade Martial Artists. At this moment, hearing that Meng Yifan was going to reward them with a Great Tonic Pill that could let them directly raise their cultivation by one level, they were so excited that their whole bodies trembled.

"Zhang Shagen, you come up first," Meng Yifan smiled.

Zhang Shagen walked onto the platform in high spirits. Meng Yifan handed him a Blue Small Pill and said, "Eat it, and I will help you cultivate."

Zhang Shagen took the pill, tilted his head back, and swallowed it. Then, Zhang Shagen sat cross-legged with his five hearts facing Heaven and began to circulate the Savage Bull Strength technique.

Meng Yifan sat behind Zhang Shagen, placed his hands on Zhang Shagen's back, and channeled True Qi to circulate within Zhang Shagen's body, which made Zhang Shagen feel warm and very comfortable inside.

The pill Meng Yifan gave Zhang Shagen to eat was just an ordinary nourishing pill with little effect; helping Zhang Shagen circulate his energy was also just to deceive the public. The most critical part was that during the process of circulating the energy, Meng Yifan used the Game Panel to directly add Experience Value to Zhang Shagen.

The Savage Bull Strength technique was the most ordinary martial arts technique. Its characteristic was that it was very simple to enter, and ordinary people could all cultivate it; it was just that the progress of cultivation varied according to individual aptitude.

Helping Zhang Shagen reach the level of a First Grade Lower Tier Martial Artist only required one hundred points of Experience Value. After Meng Yifan leveled up, he had led men to kill three or four hundred people from the Divine Machine Battalion, harvesting over a thousand points of Experience Value, so helping Zhang Shagen and Xu Lie improve their cultivation was more than enough.

The most critical thing was that the Loyalty of both Zhang Shagen and Xu Lie had already risen to over ninety points; they were Dead Loyal Subjects to Meng Yifan, so improving their strength was entirely beneficial and harmless to Meng Yifan.

Meng Yifan did not dare to expose the Game Panel, so he took out the Great Tonic Pill and even put on a show of helping Zhang Shagen circulate his energy. The whole crowd was silent, their eyes fixed tightly on Zhang Shagen and Meng Yifan on the high platform.

Three minutes later, Zhang Shagen's body shook, and his bones and muscles rang out in unison. His meridians were opened, and the True Qi in his body continued to circulate in cycles according to the path of the Savage Bull Strength technique. From this moment on, Zhang Shagen was a First Grade Lower Tier Martial Artist.

"I have become a First Grade Lower Tier Martial Artist." Zhang Shagen felt the True Qi that belonged to him circulating in his meridians and wept with joy. In such chaotic times, only by becoming a powerful Martial Artist could he take good care of his family and let the whole family survive.

Meng Yifan looked at Zhang Shagen with a smile and said, "Congratulations, you are already a Martial Artist."

"Thank you, Lord Meng. In the future, I will definitely fight the enemy heroically and swear to be loyal to Lord Meng until death," Zhang Shagen said.