Chapter 124: One Against Ten

Zhang Zhang Jiani flicked the precious sword in her hand and said coldly, "What, do you refuse to accept it?"

Jiang Jiang Mingyu knew her temper; she was already seething with anger.

He also knew clearly that among these fifty thousand burly men, except for him and Tu Tu Kesiluo, basically no one would listen to Zhang Zhang Jiani's orders.

If left unchecked like this, once the newly appointed commanders take office, it would likely become even more uncontrollable. It would be better to let Zhang Zhang Jiani give them a warning now, saving much unnecessary trouble for the future.

Sure enough, a roar of laughter immediately erupted below, and they began cursing in a cacophony: "Does some stinking woman think she can issue orders in our men's camp?"

"When Laozi was fighting and bleeding against the Xi Xia people on the border, where do you think some little girl like you was?"

"That broken sword of yours is good for showing off? Go home and take care of children!"

"Hahahaha..."

The moment the last words were spoken, the field was instantly filled with overwhelming, wild laughter.

Although Jiang Jiang Mingyu's face remained expressionless, he was pondering in his heart—perhaps he could use the conflict between Zhang Zhang Jiani and these people to make them exhaust each other.

Killing two birds with one stone: not only could Zhang Zhang Jiani vent her temper and eliminate her dissatisfaction, but these soldiers who knew not the height of heaven or the depth of earth could also feel Zhang Zhang Jiani's power and learn a lesson.

In this way, managing this group of people would be much smoother for him in the future.

At this very moment, it was best not to intervene and let events unfold—a good show had just begun.

Although Tu Tu Kesiluo was furious, he also knew deeply that this was not the time to act.

He clenched his fists in frustration, watching the face of the woman he loved grow increasingly ugly, yet could only wait and see. He believed that with Zhang Zhang Jiani's explosive temper, she would definitely teach this group of rude people a good lesson.

Thinking of this, a cold sneer involuntarily appeared at the corner of his mouth; hmph, they brought shame upon themselves and got what they deserved!

This open insult and the unrestrained laughter made Zhang Zhang Jiani's already bad face turn black instantly.

If she hadn't promised Jiang Jiang Mingyu earlier to train this group, with her consistently violent temper, she would have drawn her sword and killed them all happily long ago.

Just as Tu Tu Kesiluo had described, Zhang Zhang Jiani, who looked like a gentle and elegant fairy, was extremely ruthless when she struck.

When Zhang Zhang Jiani was young, she learned martial arts from her master on the mountain. Once, her master asked her to take a newly arrived junior sister down the mountain to buy things in town. On the way back after buying the items, they encountered several reckless bandits who actually wanted to forcibly kidnap her and the junior sister to be the mountain bandit's wives. Before the junior sister could even get scared, Zhang Zhang Jiani had quietly drawn the precious sword from her waist; she flicked her wrist, a flash of cold light appeared, and in an instant she severed the first bandit's throat.

While everyone was still shocked, Zhang Zhang Jiani was already moving as if in an empty world; sword in hand, she cut down the remaining bandits one by one, throwing them to the ground. There was no trace of her previous softness and gentleness, replaced instead by a cold and ruthless killing intent. What followed was much simpler; Zhang Zhang Jiani, not even flustered, carried the corpses one by one to the local yamen and calmly exchanged them for a reward. From then on, she became famous in one battle, and bandits within a radius of ten li would tremble in fear and shake with terror just hearing the three words "Zhang Zhang Jiani."

At this very moment, seeing the city defense camp soldiers' mockery grow increasingly rampant, Zhang Zhang Jiani's face grew increasingly ugly. She stared coldly at one soldier and asked, "Was it you who spoke those insulting words just now?" That man replied arrogantly, "Otherwise, could it be fake? Who do you think you are, being so arrogant in our men's territory?" Zhang Zhang Jiani's lips curled slightly, "Then stand out." She repeated this question ten times in a row, quickly selecting ten men full of disdain from the crowd to stand side by side.

Zhang Zhang Jiani said indifferently, "Since you are dissatisfied, I will give everyone a chance to prove themselves; ten people at once, a quick battle." As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd below boiled over again, with voices overlapping.

"This little woman is too arrogant!"

"Her appetite is too big, ten people at once, hehe, she probably can't handle it even in bed!"

"Don't know where my lord found this crazy girl, making such empty boasts!"

The leading man was even more arrogant and rude: "Fine, then let you see our power; the city defense camp is not a place for a little woman like you!"

Before the words had even finished, that leading man had already swung the heavy steel sword in his hand and slashed toward Zhang Zhang Jiani.

The other nine also impatiently drew their weapons, wanting to teach this "ungrateful woman" a lesson.

Just as the man's blade was about to touch Zhang Zhang Jiani, she agilely shifted her body, disdainfully made a "tsk" sound, and delivered a beautiful spinning kick that accurately struck the man's lower abdomen.

This kick came with fierce momentum and shocking force, directly kicking the burly man flying, and he crashed heavily onto the ground several zhang away.

That man felt his internal organs churned upside down by this kick, in unbearable pain, and could no longer get up.

Seeing this, the other nine froze for a moment, then roared and rushed forward simultaneously. Only the crisp sounds of "bang bang" were heard; Zhang Zhang Jiani struck with both hands, two loud slaps knocking the two men on the left with red cheeks, sending them stumbling to the side.

Immediately following, she smoothly performed a backflip, her right foot striking the third man's chin with pinpoint accuracy; before that man could even cry out, he fainted dead away.

While the remaining six were still in shock, Zhang Zhang Jiani had already arrived in front of the nearest one.

"Bang!" A punch landed squarely on his nose, and blood immediately sprayed wildly.

That man rolled on the ground holding his nose, but Zhang Zhang Jiani gave him no time to catch his breath; she grabbed one of his legs and pulled hard, swinging him straight toward the other five men.

The six men fell together in a heap with a loud "boom."

Tu Tu Kesiluo stood aside, knowing clearly that Zhang Zhang Jiani had definitely held back when she struck just now; otherwise, with her strength, these nine burly men would have been slaughtered already. She was still relatively restrained, mainly considering the face Jiang Jiang Mingyu had saved for Liu Liu Yifei yesterday.

In just those few moves, Zhang Zhang Jiani was fully capable of directly taking the lives of these ungrateful people, but in the end, she still showed mercy, content with knocking them to the ground.

All of this happened so suddenly that the fifty thousand troops were instantly silenced in fear, each one stunned like a chicken, staring blankly like ducks struck dumb by lightning, looking at each other in confusion, not knowing what to do.

Zhang Zhang Jiani arrogantly scanned the surroundings and spoke coldly: "Is there anyone else dissatisfied? All of you, stand out!" Her voice was thick with disdain.

Everyone who met her gaze seemed stunned by these words; one by one, they shrank back and lowered their heads, daring not to make a sound again.

Seeing the time had come, Jiang Jiang Mingyu cleared his throat, strode forward, and said solemnly: "Everyone, listen well. I have formally handed over the great seal to Miss Mo; from today on, all of you must unconditionally obey her orders and commands; every word she says is a military order and must be executed without objection!"

"Considering this is your first offense, I will not pursue it this time. But from today on, if anyone dares to disobey Miss Zhang's instructions again, that is openly disobeying my orders; military law will be applied, beware of the consequences!"

He then turned to Zhang Zhang Jiani and said: "Miss Zhang, the city defense camp is entrusted to you. If anyone dares to be presumptuous again, just handle them directly; do not worry about my face."

Zhang Zhang Jiani retorted without mercy: "In my eyes, what face do you have? From today on, I am the one in charge!" Jiang Jiang Mingyu's face instantly turned blacker, but hindered by her famous reputation, he could only force himself to endure and not provoke this ill-tempered woman.

The soldiers, seeing Jiang Jiang Mingyu being bossed around like this, all felt bewildered; this woman must have quite a background, to dare treat the Imperial Envoy like this?

With a black face and a gloomy aura, Jiang Jiang Mingyu walked quickly out of the camp gate.

He wished the embarrassing incident of today had never happened; it was truly a loss of dignity.

Although Tu Tu Kesiluo had quite a good impression of Zhang Zhang Jiani, he still couldn't help but raise a question to Jiang Jiang Mingyu: "My lord, is it really okay for you to so openly hand over the city defense camp to Zhang Zhang Jiani? Inside there are our Shangmu's fifty thousand elite soldiers, concerning the safety of the whole city."

Jiang Jiang Mingyu dismissed it with a pout, rolling his eyes widely: "I am worried too, but to be honest, in the entire Shangmu, besides Zhang Zhang Jiani, who else can be found to shoulder this heavy responsibility? Isn't this a case of having no other choice?" His tone was full of helplessness and bitterness.

To be honest, Jiang Jiang Mingyu's expectations for Zhang Zhang Jiani were not very high either.

Previously, he had sought her out simply because he had nowhere else to turn and truly could not think of anyone more competent than her. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh deeply again.

Tu Tu Kesiluo also had to admit that Jiang Jiang Mingyu's words made sense.

He scratched his head and muttered to himself: "Anyway, the military power has already been handed over; it is too late to say anything now."

Jiang Jiang Mingyu smiled, patted his shoulder, and said earnestly: "Since both you and I have concerns about this, then let us take Che Ting and head to the provincial city as soon as possible. After I deal with Zhu Ge Yu's matter, we will hurry back to Shangmu, so that during the few days we are away, that tigress doesn't really cause trouble due to loose talk and create some chaos."

Having said this, he couldn't help but look toward the distant direction of the provincial city, thinking of Zhu Ge Yu again, wondering how his current situation was.