Chapter 16, Qian's Total Conflict

  "Wild child, I'll let you taste the flavor of being ruthless too." The big guy pinned Wu Shaotong to the ground and raised his fist to punch.

  Wu Shaotong didn't expect the opponent to counterattack, but this situation didn't stump him. He withdrew his legs and took advantage of the moment before the big-headed man stabilized himself to kick him away with one foot. Then, he clamped his legs around the opponent's neck and grasped his right hand with both hands. Immediately after, a sideways somersault sent the big-headed man tumbling to the ground once again.

  "Don't move, or I'll break your arm," he threatened.

  "Give it a try...... Ahhh!" The big guy had just started to show off, but before he could even finish his sentence, he turned into a miserable scream.

  Wu Shaotong grasped the giant's right hand with both hands and applied a bit of force, immediately hearing a crisp "crack" sound as the giant's entire arm made a cracking noise from dislocated bones. In his heart, he secretly sneered, "You're already caught in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, do you still want to resist?"

  "Believe it or not?" he asked with a sneer.

  "Not acceptable!" The big guy's forehead was beaded with cold sweat, but his mouth remained stubborn.

  Wu Shaotong increased the force in his hand again and shouted: "Still not convinced?"

  His head was throbbing so hard he almost fainted, but he squeezed out a few words from between his teeth: "I won't give in!"

  Wu Shaotong knew that if he used a bit more force, the guy's arm would really be crippled. However, he felt that his opponent was a man with backbone and didn't need to use his full strength. With a chuckle, he released Dablock's hand, retreated from him, and got up.

  "He's a real man, and in terms of momentum, we're evenly matched." He said with a hearty laugh, while stretching out one hand to pull Da Kuai Tou.

  The big guy hesitated for a moment, but finally got up with Wu Shaotong's help. He rubbed his shoulders and muttered: "You little devil, you're quite skilled."

  Wu Shaotong chuckled and said, "Fighting just relying on brute force won't do, the few moves I used earlier are called grappling techniques, which require skill."

  The big guy half believed and half doubted, saying: "Really? It seems you're quite familiar with this line of work?"

  Wu Shaotong smiled and said: "It's okay, if you're not satisfied later, you can come again to spar."

  The big guy nodded slightly and finally revealed a big smile, saying: "You see this person is not bad, I've made friends with you. My name is Xu Guang, courtesy name Chen Peng, my brothers gave me the nickname 'Big Power', so it's better to call me Xu Dali in the future. Temporary 24th Town Attached Artillery Third Battalion Right Team Leader."

  Wu Shaotong burst out laughing and said: "Indeed, one doesn't know each other without a fight. I am Wu Shaotong, courtesy name Zhenzhi, the rear guard officer of the Shan Regiment."

  Xu Guang wiped the dust off his face and said irritably, "Alright, this time I'll let it go. But if you make a racket in the middle of the night again, even if I don't take care of you myself, other troops will come to bother you. Can't you train during the day?"

  Wu Shaotong nodded and said: "Today's matter was not considered thoroughly by me, I apologize to you. Don't worry, such a situation will never happen again in the future."

  Xu Guang yawned and said: "Alright, you understand. I'm tired, I'll go back and rest first." After finishing speaking, he turned around and beckoned to his subordinates to return with him.

  Xu Guang's subordinates were all somewhat curious, could it really be just like this?

  Xu Guang glared at them and said, "Not satisfied? Not satisfied, you go fight him then. I think the five of you may not even be able to beat him alone! Hmph, he's already apologized, what more do you want? Go, go, go, go back and continue sleeping."

  The new soldiers didn't dare to say anything more, even Xu Guang, nicknamed "Big Power", couldn't beat Wu Shaotong. What chance did these small soldiers have? However, thinking back, the speech Wu Shaotong gave after successfully ambushing them earlier still made some sense. A high-achieving student who had studied abroad was indeed different.

  Wu Shaotang was about to gather his troops and end the night raid training after all the new soldiers had left.

  Just then, a group of people rushed over quickly from the side of the large school track.

  "Who's that, causing trouble in the middle of the night on the big campus? Want to start a rebellion?" A sharp and sour voice shouted angrily.

  The sentry soldiers immediately had a bad feeling as soon as they heard this sound.

  Li Wenqi hastily lowered his voice and said: "Lord Wu, it's Li Qianzong."

  Wu Shaotong turned around and glanced at the place where the group of people appeared, then leisurely patted the dust off his clothes. He didn't care who the person was, anyway he was about to dismiss the troops, if it was Li Qian coming to complain that the rear guard training earlier was too noisy, he would just go apologize again.

  But when Li Mingshan came over with a dozen or so soldiers from the General's camp, Wu Shaotang found that each of them was holding a rifle in his hand, looking as if they were ready to fight.

  "Wu Shaotong, what are you doing? Inciting the soldiers to rebel?" Li Mingshan quickly stepped forward, not waiting for Wu Shaotong to explain before launching a barrage of scolding.

  The soldiers following Li Mingshan had cold faces, their guns aimed at the soldiers in the rear guard.

  The sentry soldiers were all surprised, they just made a fuss in the middle of the night, General Qian didn't have to go this far, did he? This joke has gone too far!

  Wu Shaotong also felt a bit surprised, he walked up calmly and bowed to Li Mingshan, saying: "Lord Li, isn't this a bit too serious? I was just conducting a nighttime surprise drill with my troops, training their emergency response capabilities at night. We've already disturbed the other camps nearby, so I was planning to lead the team back."

  Li Mingshan was not as tall as Wu Shaoting, and he had a slight hunchback, so when looking at Wu Shaoting, his upper body looked rather awkward. Although he was a dignified thousand general, his skin care was very clean, and his voice was sharp and delicate, giving him a somewhat eunuch-like appearance. He let out a strange "hmm" sound, coldly sneering: "Conducting nighttime assault training in the dead of night? What's your intention? Are you planning to train well and prepare for rebellion?"

  Wu Shaotong felt that Li Mingshan's tone was somewhat off, and this guy seemed to be intentionally picking a fight. He puffed out his chest and said seriously: "I have been entrusted by General Fu Qi to take over as the officer in charge of the mountain camp after my transfer, and from start to finish I have been diligent and never violated any rules. I simply discovered that our mountain camp's military equipment was lax and discipline was slack, and the soldiers had not been trained for a long time and their physical abilities had deteriorated. Therefore, I formulated a training plan. My intention in doing so is also to revive the morale of the mountain camp and solidify the defense of Guangzhou."

  Li Mingshan saw Wu Shaotong's righteous and stern attitude, and his cold smile became even more severe. He said: "Strengthening the military defense of Guangzhou? Revitalizing the morale of the Shanzi Camp? It seems that this Shanzi Camp should be renamed to Zhenzi Camp instead! Wu Shaotong, stop spouting nonsense in front of me, don't think that just because you've returned from studying abroad, you can consider yourself a superior person."

  Wu Shaotong's face turned cold, and he secretly cursed in his heart: You think this broken mountain character is not good enough for you?!

  Li Mingshan continued, "Do you think I don't know? You, a high-achieving student who returned from abroad, was reduced to being in my humble mountain village army. How could you swallow this insult? You're just pretending to be grateful, saying that you appreciate General's favor. Favor your ass! You're clearly harboring resentment."

  "Wu Shaotong said coldly: 'Lord Li, things can be eaten randomly, but words cannot be spoken randomly.'"

  Li Mingshan flew into a rage, pointing at Wu Shaotong and cursing: "You dare to lecture me? Fine, your insubordination is proof that you had ulterior motives for secretly drilling troops tonight."

  Wu Shaotong's anger burned hotter, but as a 21st-century special forces soldier, he knew how to control his emotions. He took a deep breath in secret, Li Mingshan was clearly trying to make things difficult for him, perhaps since he had been transferred to the outpost and cut off this guy's chance to embezzle funds, this guy had been harboring resentment. Now that this matter had blown up, if it were investigated thoroughly, he feared he would really be suspected.

  "Lord Li, I didn't mean to offend you. As a martial artist, I was indeed rash in my words earlier. Please forgive me, Lord Li." He composed himself and spoke calmly.

  "Hmph! You can pretend to be diligent during the day, showing off in front of the big shots at the yamen with your rear guard soldiers, but I'm not going to bother. However, secretly training troops in the dead of night? It's hard for me to believe you're not plotting a rebellion!"

  "Governor Li, people do what heaven watches, as the saying goes, 'a straight body is not afraid of a slanted shadow', I'm not afraid of being framed!" Wu Shaotong saw that this time Li Mingshan was going to play it out with him to the end, so there's no need to be polite with this guy anymore.

  "Is that so? Save those words for the military court. Come on, tie him up." Li Mingshan coldly commanded.

  Among the armed soldiers who came with Li Mingshan, two people immediately walked out, they had long been prepared with ropes, just waiting for Li Mingshan's order.

  Wu Shaotong clenched his fists, considering whether he should just surrender like this.

  But once the decision to resist is made, how will it end? If resistance is met with Li Ming-shan's order to open fire, then not counterattacking means death, and counterattacking means rebellion. This isn't 1911, and there hasn't been any prior preparation or planning, so it's absolutely impossible to rally the masses with a single call to arms and start a revolution.

  The only way now is to let Li Ming-shan fall into his own trap this time.

  When they arrived at the military law office, he believed that as long as he explained things clearly, this matter wouldn't be so severe. After all, treason requires evidence, and besides, he wasn't without an explanation.

  Just as he was hesitating, a voice came from the rear guard soldiers who were still maintaining their formation: "Report to General Qian, sir. You have wronged Lord Wu. How dare we rebel? Lord Wu just brought us here for training."

  It was Li Wenqi who spoke up, he hesitated for half a day before plucking up the courage to interrupt.

  "Oh yeah, oh yeah, how dare we rebel?"

  "We can be witnesses!"

  "Governor Wu has never said anything treasonous to us, let alone now when we don't even have any weapons."

  "General Qian, don't arrest Lord Wu."

  Li Wenqi's opening immediately caused all the soldiers in the rear guard to respond, and these more than 40 soldiers suddenly had an atmosphere of thousands of troops and horses.

  Li Mingshan's eyebrows rose, and the gloom on his face suddenly turned into a killing intent. He never expected that Wu Shaotong had only been in office for less than a month, but he already had such a deep foundation in the rear guard, and the soldiers who were usually idle and careless actually took the risk of offending themselves to speak for Wu Shaotong?

  He originally only hated Wu Shaoping's arrival, which caused him to lose a sum of money, and at most would just teach Wu Shaoping a lesson or drive him away. But now it's different, this hatred has risen to the critical point of fury. He was jealous that Wu Shaoping was a high-achieving returnee from abroad, and even more jealous that Wu Shaoping could win over the hearts of the soldiers so quickly!

  In his view, Wu Shaozhong organized the rear guard to conduct high-intensity training every day, which should make the soldiers of the rear guard feel disgusted and rejected, but in fact, he was wrong.