Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
When Shangguan Fei saw that there were more people on the Dragon King’s side than the opposition’s, he heaved a sigh of relief and felt that it was a great feat that he had walked to the door of the tent, especially when there were two people behind him.
“Counselor Fang, Monk, do not be afraid. I’m here to protect you.” Shangguan Fei raised his voice and gave himself a reason why he wasn’t standing on the frontlines.
Lianqing was sitting on the ground and wordlessly pondering with his head lowered. Ever since the Dragon King had defeated his opponent with the Formless Prajna Palm, he had been in this state. If it weren’t for his furrowed brow, he would have been the perfect image of an eminent monk lost in meditation.
Fang Wenshi also didn’t utter a sound. With his arms crossed behind his back, Fang Wenshi was also frowning, though he looked out at the battlefield from time to time.
Shangguan Fei soon stopped caring about the safety of the two inside the tent. The situation outside was growing more and more tenser and the provocations between the two factions of the Court Attendants Army was starting to escalate. They might move from a verbal fight to a physical one at any time.
As if the scene wasn’t messy enough, another group of people ran into the crowd; they were all bodyguards or entourages of the high-ranking generals and officers. There were several hundreds of people in this group, all shouting that they would bring the fugitives to justice. But their words fell flat when they couldn’t break through the blockade of the outer circle soldiers and dared not storm inside.
Fang Wenshi felt that the time had come and strode out of the tent which shocked Shangguan Fei who was standing in the doorway. After leaving the tent, he went straight down the middle to stand between the Dragon King and Shangguan Ru, nodded to the Dragon King, putt his hands to his mouth, and then with all his might, shouted out, “Please listen to me, everyone!”
No one listened to him. Amidst the uproar of the shouting crowd, his appeal was negligible.
Old Man Mu unwillingly exerted his internal energy and supplemented Fang Wenshi with another shout. “All of you, shut up and listen to the counselor.”
His voice was not only sonorous but also a little weird. The effect of the Seven Magical Tones was usually diminished the more people were around, but it was still powerful enough to ring in the thousands of soldiers’ ears and force them to shut their mouth to cover their ears.
After everyone quieted down, Fang Wenshi pointed to the rising morning sun and said, “It’s almost dawn. The election result is about to be announced. Everyone should wait for the new commandant’s order.”
As he finished, a drumbeat coincidentally came from the main tent, followed by a loud horn. A group of horsemen with long spears trotted over and cried out in unison, “The commandant is inspecting the camp.”
The word ‘commandant’ seemed to have a magical power. The crowd immediately spread out to both sides, and the officers and soldiers all laid down their weapons and looked behind the cavalry.
There were no brightly colored flags, no heavily armored guards, and only about thirty or so cavalrymen leading the way. The new commandant appeared at the back all alone with his left hand holding the reins and his right his helmet.
The top of the helmet was covered with towering tricolored feathers. Everyone from the Court Attendants Army recognized that this was the legacy left by the former commandant, so they all knelt down. This helmet meant more than any announcement.
Fang Wenshi was standing beside the Dragon King who muttered in surprise, “It’s him!”
Shangguan Ru’s face lit up. “It’s Tuershan. The officers chose Tuershan, so neither King Shengri nor King Riyao succeeded.”
Tuershan was quite stout and appeared very dignified as he sat on his horse. He had started as an ordinary soldier, moving up step by step until he reached the rank of a captain of ten thousand people, and now he was finally the rare non-royal commandant of the Court Attendants Army. The road he had taken was winding and legendary.
Tuershan came from a poor herdsman family. When he had first became a member of the Court Attendants Army, he could barely afford the most basic weapons and armor required, but he never self-abased himself. Instead, he always appeared hot-tempered as if he had a strong background and backer behind him.
On the first day that he entered camp, he had fought against some veterans, one against eight, and knocked them all down, though he himself was also beaten black and blue and one of his ribs was broken in the scuffle. He lay in bed for three days and missed the initial training.
As soon as he was able to get out of bed, Tuershan went into the veterans’ tent and had another fight amidst the gazes of startled onlookers. This time he was the lone one standing at the end and all the veterans had been knocked down.
He was put in solitary confinement for a month. Tuershan, therefore, always said that he had begun his service in prison. When he came out, he was appointed decanus, which caused a slight stir and earned himself the nickname ‘Thunderman.’
After that, Thunderman Tuershan’s promotion history almost mirrored the revenge and expansion history of the old Khan. He had made many contributions but also caused so much trouble that when the former commandant was ready to promote him to captain of ten thousand people, his opponents were numerous, and some even pulled their strings to complain to the Khan.
His background wasn’t a problem. Instead, it was an Tuershan’s advantage because by convention there must be one captain chosen from the non-noble lineage. The dissenters always pointed out that he had two shortcomings: First, he had a bad temper and was always hotheaded. Although he was a valiant general when charging the enemy lines, he wasn’t careful enough to be in absolute charge of an army; Second, he was very rude and didn’t care about the distinction between the nobles and the peasants, and often got drunk with the ordinary soldiers or even servants, which was very disgraceful.
The old Khan summoned this well-known ‘Thunderman’ and only asked him one question. “You are so fat. Can you still war?”
Tuershan’s reaction here later became a far-spread story, provided that the Khan had forgiven him and that he also became a captain of course.
The fat Tuershan merely kowtowed to the Khan before he got up and left without a word. It was not until he had disappeared at the door of the tent that all the people in the tent including the Khan realized what had happened and were all surprised.
Over a dozen eunuchs and guards rushed out after him to denounce him. After a great uproar, Tuershan came back with two men under each arm and three under his feet, and several more still pursuing him from behind. Puzzled, he asked the Khan, “Why did they come at me before I even got on the horse?”
The Khan laughed and admitted that not only could this fat man go to war but he was also valiant enough to be a captain. But the Khan was said to have made another judgment privately: Tuershan really couldn’t take full command as chief of the army.
That had happened ten years ago, and regardless of if the story was true or not, the former commandant had never let Tuershan go to war as a commander. Almost all the noble officers of the army had taken charge once, and the senior generals had either retired or died but Tuershan was still worked as a captain. If nothing happened, he would probably have never been promoted. Even the position of deputy commandant seemed unreachable to him.
No one expected that he would be elected as the new commandant, not even those who had cast their bloodstained sheepskin for him.
The chiliarchs were loyal to different kings who held grudges against each other. Many people foresaw that they were on the verge of failure and cast their bloodstained sheepskins in Tuershan simply for mischief.
The number of people who had this idea was so great that the kings were all dumbfounded after counting the sheepskins. There were more than a hundred bloodstained sheepskins, and Tuershan had seventy-seven of them. No matter how they calculated it, he had beaten second place by more than forty votes.
Tuershan took the tricolored helmet and went out on his inspection of the camp as the new commandant, deciding to settle the disputes that lay ahead right away and restore the order of the Court Attendants Army.
“Fxxk it. Where are the officers who tried to assassinate the generals? Come forward!” The majesty of the new commandant didn’t diminish even when cursing.
Over thirty officers rose up from the crowd protecting the Dragon King. If it were a quarter of an hour ago, they would have scoffed at this commandant who used to be an ordinary soldier. But now, in the face of the tricolored feather helmet, they were as docile as a flock of sheep.
As the best army of the Norland, disturbance and rebellion only occurred when the Court Attendants Army was leaderless.
“You brats have a lot of nerve. How dare you offend your superior! Aren’t you Azheba? It’s only been several days since you became a chiliarch and you want to start your career over?”
Azheba blushed. “No, I…”
“Shut up. I didn’t ask you to speak.” Tuershan mocked as if the noble officer in front of him was nothing more than a lowly servant. “Heh, you are bold but also very incapable. I heard that you all got beaten and captured by only a few guards?”
The officers bent lower because this was indeed very shameful and no excuse could be made for it.
Tuershan shook his head. “You’ve disgraced the Court Attendants Army. Shame on you! But since you managed to kill the guards and run away on your own, that saves a little bit of face.”
An officer wanted to explain but stopped at Azheba’s hint. There was no need to get the Dragon King involved at this point.
“So I’ve decided —” Tuershan dragged his voice along. This was the first order he would give after becoming the commandant. “that all the officers previously running riot will be confined for ten days and confiscated three months’ worth of salary. Will you plead guilty?”
This was almost like an amnesty. The officers, with a look of amazement and excitement, fell to their knees one after another, and said in unison, “Yes.”
Tuershan urged the horse to trot to the Dragon King without any guards following. “Ah, Dragon King, you really are a troublemaker. Should I thank you for returning the body of the commandant or kill you to avenge him?”
“I didn’t kill the former commandant, and killing me won’t avenge him.”
“I hear you have evidence?”
“No, that was just a stalling tactic. I believe that the new commandant is a reasonable person.”
“Haha.” Tuershan laughed out loud. “The Dragon King’s word has offended everyone. You see, there are a hundred thousand brothers of the Court Attendants Army, but those who doubt you only number in the several thousands, and there are hundreds of people who even came to protect you. It’s evident that most of the soldiers are reasonable men.”
“It seems that my judgment of the commandant was right.”
Tuershan laughed again, then turned and said loudly, “You idiots. If the Dragon King really was the murderer, he would have quietly run away. Why would he stay at the scene? Is he afraid that no one will suspect him? If you continue suspecting each other, sooner or later you’ll end up with no one left to collect your body.”
Tuershan’s argument was of little substance but it had a surprisingly good effect. For the soldiers of the Court Attendants Army, any words said by the commandant had an unquestionable authority.
The crisis seemed to be over. The people around the Dragon King were the most surprised.
Fang Wenshi glanced at the Dragon King and knew that something must be wrong. The Dragon King wasn’t the kind of person to lie in public. Since he had said that he would show proof at daybreak, he must have something in his hand.
Shangguan Ru was even more surprised because she had personally seen Commandant Gulun hand over two pieces of paper to the Dragon King and claim that one of them could be used to identify the mole. Although she hadn’t seen the contents, she believed that it couldn’t be false.
The Dragon King still had an impassive demeanor. Shangguan Ru suddenly realized that the mole in Gulun’s eyes was surprisingly this new commandant.
