Chapter 1026: You Are Not a Leader Either

Chengqie was silent. The Company Commander's hand remained in the posture of offering the whip. All the Leaders were waiting in great trepidation for Chengqie's choice. Now, they all wanted Chengqie to choose the whip, because it was already certain that the Company Commander was, in a way, letting them off the hook.

If Chengqie did not choose the whip, it would only bring trouble upon himself, so everyone stared urgently at the whip in the Company Commander's hand.

Before the Company Commander's patience ran out, Chengqie chose to take the whip. Once he took it, everyone's heart actually settled. The few Leaders who were kneeling remained kneeling.

The Company Commander gave a direct order: "All of you, turn around and stick your butts up."

Everyone was very obedient; they turned around, stuck their butts up, and assumed this slightly shameful posture. The ones who were kneeling also stood up at this moment. Then, the Company Commander raised his hand and said to Chengqie: "Alright, now you do the punishing yourself. I think two lashes per person is a relatively reasonable degree; it can punish them without affecting their ability to work. If you feel dissatisfied, you can add more yourself."

"I have my own considerations."

Shisi was the first. When Chengqie walked to his side, Shisi closed his eyes. Chengqie tested the whip and found the feel of it quite good, then aimed and lashed out at Shisi's body. Because his technique was poor, Shisi's thigh was also injured. Shisi was wearing the thin hemp cloth clothes given by Huaxia, so this lash had no cushioning at all, letting the injury go straight to the flesh, and Shisi grimaced in pain.

Just as he was waiting for the next lash, Chengqie kicked him on the calf: "That's enough. You still have to transport supplies for us, so I won't hit you anymore. One lash is enough."

Shisi had not expected such an unexpected joy and hurriedly turned to thank Chengqie. The Company Commander also had not expected that Chengqie actually still had a few merits.

Afterwards, Chengqie continued to strike, but for the Leaders wearing thick leather skirts, he lashed them solidly twice; otherwise, a single lash would only make a loud sound, but the pain would not be that obvious.

When everyone had been whipped, Chengqie's arm was a bit sore. He returned the whip to the Company Commander: "That's it, that's how I punished them. I didn't hit them more, only less. Are you satisfied?"

The Company Commander took the whip: "It's not about whether I am satisfied, but whether you are satisfied, because it was your authority they offended, not mine."

Chengqie clapped his hands: "Since this is the only way to punish them, then I am naturally satisfied. I approve of Huaxia's punishment. If it were in the Suiren Clan, they would only deserve death."

"Since the beating is done and the punishment is over, let them go find their respective tribesmen. My people here need to make arrangements for them, assign them positions, and explain some things."

Chengqie was indifferent: "Listen to your arrangements. Don't ask me or look for me now; I don't have any authority anymore. Don't I have to listen to you too?"

"That's fine. You all go to your own tribesmen; it's time to arrange work for you."

"That one called Shisi, bring your people over, prepare to take inventory of the supplies, then build a bridge across the river and bring the supplies over to you."

"Aye, yes, Company Commander."

Shisi agreed cheerfully, but Shisi's prominent performance along the way made the others a bit dissatisfied. They were originally the same kind of people with the same status; why did Shisi have the feeling of being their Leader?

Shisi, however, had absolutely no such self-awareness. He was still a bit smug and began to arrange his fellow Soldiers. The others did not want to cause trouble in front of the Company Commander, so they could only grit their teeth and accept it. The Company Commander also noticed that perhaps among these people, there wasn't a single true Leader or captain.

But the Company Commander was too lazy to care. This was trouble Baoxi had created himself, and it was his arrangement, so it was not easy for him to intervene. As long as the supplies were delivered and the people were brought back, there would be no problem.

Afterwards, under the guidance of the Huaxia Soldiers, these Suiren Clan men who had just eaten began to fell trees and build the bridge again. Fortunately, there were many of them, and before nightfall, they finally managed to lay the first log across the river, but compared to a real bridge, it was still far from enough.

During the afternoon, Huaxia was busy arranging the teams and handing over supplies, so they did not set off. By the time everything was packed up, it was already dark, so they had to wait until tomorrow.

The next morning, they got up on time and ate. Chengqie also got his own breakfast, a bowl of white rice porridge, but he discovered that it was the same as the other Huaxia Soldiers, except for the tableware.

Although Chengqie didn't ask, the Company Commander explained: "Breakfast is relatively simple, so everyone is the same. Back in Huaxia, our King basically just drinks a bowl of porridge too, so there's no difference in this."

Chengqie just gave a grunt and didn't say anything more.

Time could not be delayed any further today, so the Company Commander and his men left Shisi and the others who needed to build the bridge behind. They gave instructions again that the grain, cement, and such must not touch water. If it rained, they had to cover them with animal skins immediately; even dew could not touch the cement, or the cement would be unusable.

There were also the boxes containing the glass, which absolutely must not be opened, and they must be handled with care, not too casually, because one slip would break them, and that would be trouble for them.

Shisi could only agree repeatedly. After watching the Huaxia team walk away, he began to continue guiding everyone to build the bridge. However, at this moment, he discovered that his teammates were not very willing to pay attention to him anymore, and they didn't care at all about what he said, continuing to do their own work.

Just as he was about to issue orders, he suddenly remembered that he didn't seem to have received any position, nor was he any kind of Leader. Thinking about it this way, he seemed to understand why everyone was unwilling to pay attention to him.

Thus, Shisi didn't dare to put on airs anymore and hurriedly began to do the work himself, not speaking, only moving his hands.

The Company Commander felt that time was pressing and they needed to hurry. There was no other reason; yesterday, fearing that the hot-headed Chengqie would really start a war with him, he had sent people ahead to notify Huaxia and bring reinforcements. Now that the trouble was resolved, if they didn't hurry back and the reinforcements really arrived, it would be trouble for Huaxia, because Huaxia's military strength was currently empty and they had no ability to send people out at all. If they were forced to arrange people, it would be a threat to the safety of Huaxia City.

Fearing an accident, the only thing the Company Commander could do was to hurry.