Chapter Nineteen: A Tooth for a Tooth

  "Are all the wounded soldiers here?" Chen Kefu asked, seeing that although there were many soldiers recovering from injuries in this medical building, they were all lightly injured or had not suffered any serious damage to their tendons and bones.

  "Sir, these are just minor injuries. The seriously injured ones are being taken care of in another hospital, and the best doctors in New City are also there." Luo Lin replied hastily.

  Chen Kefu nodded, "Then let's go over there and visit them right away."

  A group of people arrived at another hospital on the same street, only to find that it was a completely different world from the previous one. In the previous hospital, Zhang Erdou and others were still in the mood for bragging and chatting, but as soon as they entered this one, all they could hear were the intermittent wails and painful groans that made Chen Kefu's mood also hit rock bottom.

  In the same spacious hall, about twenty wounded soldiers were lying on pallets with straw mats underneath. A quick glance around the hall revealed that some had lost arms, others legs, some had their heads heavily bandaged, and even some soldiers had their bellies ripped open...

  A soldier about twenty years old was groaning in agony, his head wrapped in gauze, from which blood oozed out. Chen Kefu saw at a glance that the young soldier had lost one eye. Because there was no anesthetic, the soldier who had been simply treated for his wound kept crying out in pain.

  Chen Kefu squatted in front of him, holding his hand and softly comforting him, "The doctor has already treated your wound, although it still hurts a lot now, but as long as you can bear it for a few more days, you'll be fine."

  That soldier might have been infected, had a fever and didn't even realize that he was talking to the general. He just groaned and spoke in a tearful tone, "Will I be blind from now on? Will I become a useless person? My family still has parents and brothers, and I haven't gotten married yet..."

  That cry made many people feel a pang in their hearts. Chen Kefu clenched his fists tightly, for in turbulent times, human life was as worthless as straw. The lives of soldiers were even cheaper; tens of thousands of casualties from a single war were nothing unusual. But for an injured soldier, perhaps his entire life would be over, just like this young soldier who was still so young and had not yet married, but had already become blind, and might eventually die in a foreign land due to infection from his wounds.

  "Don't worry, nothing will happen to you. Although you lost an eye, you're lucky to still have one left. Although you're disabled, you're a member of my Broken Army Camp, and I promised before that we would treat every single person well, including their families. Your family will be taken care of by our camp, and if you worry about not being able to marry a beautiful wife with only one eye, don't worry, I'll take care of it for you, I'll find the most beautiful wife for you." Chen Kefu kept repeating these words to the soldier, but the soldier had already fainted from his injuries and couldn't hear what he was saying.

  "Sir, this young fellow won't make it through the day, there's no saving him. After all these years of fighting, I've seen this kind of situation many times. Once they start running a fever and talking nonsense, they usually don't last till nightfall." Li Benlei and Hu Hai, several military captains, were standing behind him, he didn't know since when. For these battle-hardened officers, the scene before them was one they had witnessed countless times over the years.

  "Rolin, call the doctor, call the best doctor here, I want him to guarantee that he will cure him. He is still so young, not yet married, and his family, parents, and brothers are waiting for him to return home. Chen Kefu said, his eyes also filled with tears, he felt a lump in his throat, having been transported to this ancient era for so long. He had always thought that his adaptability was strong, he thought he had already adapted to this chaotic world, but unexpectedly, today, facing an unfamiliar wounded soldier, he couldn't control himself."

  Those officers all felt that the general's performance was a bit surprising, it was just a small soldier, even if he died, it was just a small soldier. There were one or two million such soldiers in the Great Sui, and every day there would be such soldiers dying. In the past, no general had ever been so grieved by the death of a small soldier, they thought it was strange, yet also felt it was right, perhaps the general was correct after all. The previous generals were wrong, the general was truly loving his soldiers like his sons. Soldiers always have one more point of bloodiness than ordinary people, although they are sometimes the coldest, can calmly face death, but also the easiest to be moved.

  Li Benlei looked at Chen Kefu, who seemed a bit out of control, and turned to Luo Lin, saying, "Luo Lin, sir, why don't you send the general back to his mansion to rest? The general is tired."

  Luo Lin led several bodyguards to hastily lift up Chen Kefu and escorted him out of the medical hall. After they left, all the generals felt a chill emanating from Li Benlei's body.

  The old man gritted his teeth and said, "These damned Goguryeo people, these Liao dogs, killing my millions of Central Plains sons is not enough, now they still want to continue harming my Han family sons." The old man turned his head to look at the crowd of school lieutenants beside him, "Now we're going to go find those Liao dogs and get back some interest, do you dare follow me?"

  Hú Hǎi and the other school lieutenants saw the murderous aura in Lao Ye's eyes, and they also shuddered. Everyone understood what Lao Ye meant by "getting back some interest".

  "But the general has already given orders, not allowing us to kill prisoners!" Mao Yi said with some hesitation.

  Everyone looked at Mao Yi with a look of disdain in their eyes. They all knew that Mao Yi was the general's confidant, brought out from a village by him. Otherwise, these lieutenants would have probably scolded him on the spot. However, from their eyes, it could also be seen that they had already begun to draw a line between themselves and Mao Yi and several other lieutenants brought by Chen Kefu.

  Lu Shide also saw their movements at once, and he remembered that General had always told them to get along well with those school lieutenants. At this time, looking at the awkward atmosphere, he hastily stood up and patted Mao Yi's shoulder, saying, "I'm telling you, are you a man or not? Do you have any guts? If you're not willing to go, then just stand aside, we Chenjiazhuang come out one by one are generals like heroes who dare to defy the sky. Old master, let's go, if he doesn't have guts, then let him be."

  Maoyi was suddenly enlightened by Lu Shide's words. He and Lu Shide had grown up together since childhood, so it was impossible for Lu Shide to turn against him like this. Therefore, he quickly understood his meaning, and his clever mind turned around to understand. If he insisted on not participating in the action today, then in the future, their Chenjiazhuang's school officers would not be able to get along with other school officers. As Chen Kefu's confidant, he naturally understood how unfavorable this situation was for the general.

  "Gritting his teeth, Mao Yu said, 'Who's the one who doesn't have a son? Count me in.'"

  Hu Hai and the others originally tense faces also revealed a smile, these battle-hardened men are just so straightforward, if you're on the same page as everyone else, then they'll treat you like a brother, otherwise, not even a good face will be given to you.

  "Let's go!" The old man saw that everyone agreed, and after blurting out a sentence from between his teeth, he led the way out of the hospital.

  Chen Kefu was emotionally affected by the heavily injured soldier at the medical tent, and his mind was filled with many confusing thoughts. He felt a bit dizzy and disoriented. When Luo Lin helped him back to their temporary camp in the south of the city, he felt tired and went straight to bed for a while.

  When he woke up, the sky was already dark. After Chen Kefu had some dinner brought by his personal soldiers, he didn't see any officers around him, and even Luo Lin was gone. He couldn't help but feel a little strange and asked his personal soldiers, "Where did Luo Lin go? Why are all the captains also gone?"

  The new recruit heard Chen Kefu's question and dodged, not daring to look at him, stammering, "Lord Luo Lin said he had something to do and would be back soon."

  Chen Kefu immediately detected the falsehood in the soldier's words and said to him, "Look up at me and tell me honestly, where did Luo Lin and the other captains go?"

  The guard's eyes widened at Chen Ke's words, and sweat broke out on his forehead as he finally couldn't hold back anymore, saying "Sir, it was Lord Luo Lin who told me to say this. He said that if you ask about him, just tell you that he'll be right back."

  "What are they going to do?" Chen Kefu was already slightly angry, these people were his personal guards, and should be the most loyal to him. But now not only did Luo Lin have something hidden from him, even one of his own guards was hiding something from him, which made him feel very uncomfortable.

  "He didn't tell me, but... I heard he went with Li Benlei and other school masters to the warehouse where they're holding the Liao dog general, apparently to avenge China's sons."

  Chen Kefu immediately understood that Li Benlei's five children and grandchildren had all died in Liaodong, so he had a deep-seated hatred for the Goguryeo people. Luo Lin's father was also missing during the conquest of Goguryeo, and his fate remained unknown to this day. It was likely that the events at the medical clinic earlier that day had triggered them, and someone had taken the lead, causing everyone to go. At this point, Chen Kefu didn't know what to say. Deep down, he still had some modern thinking, and he had never thought of killing the captured prisoners. He always had the idea of not killing prisoners, even if it was over a thousand years ago in the Sui Dynasty, it couldn't be changed for the time being.

  Chen Kefu took a few guards and rushed to the warehouse. He didn't know what he would say when he arrived, but he didn't want to see those prisoners killed like that. When they arrived at the warehouse, Chen no longer needed to think about what to do. The entire warehouse was already a sea of blood. More than 300 Xincheng military and government officials were beheaded, many had been interrogated before their deaths.

  Chen Kefu's face was gloomy as he looked at the situation in front of him, enduring the pungent and heavy smell of blood. "Stop it, all of you stop."

  Several executioners holding horizontal knives stopped, the last dozen Goguryeo people on the ground continuously begged and wailed, trying to save their lives. Li Benlei walked in front of Chen Kefu and said, "Sir, if you want to blame someone, blame me. I let them follow me here, it was my idea. If sir wants to punish or beat us, please go back to the military camp first, this place is really not suitable."

  Chen Kefu took a look at the situation in the warehouse and indeed couldn't stay there any longer, so he said, "Everyone follow me back to camp, don't kill those remaining Goguryeo people, just clean up this place."

  The old man led Hu Hai and the other school lieutenants behind him, but secretly turned his head back to make a chopping gesture with his palm towards the executioner soldiers holding knives. As soon as the row of generals came out of the warehouse door, a sound of knives cutting into flesh and heads rolling on the ground was heard from behind.

  Chen Kefu turned to leave, but Li Benlei suddenly blocked his way, with a resolute look in his eyes. After several attempts, the warehouse had quieted down again. Chen Kefu sighed and said to the old man with white hair, "Today, the Goguryeo general who was captured attempted to escape, but was discovered by the guards and led a group of people to resist. They were all killed on the spot by my brave soldiers." After finishing speaking, he turned around and walked away, stopping after a few steps.

  "All officers above the rank of traveling general are responsible for the neglect of their guards today, and each will be fined a month's worth of silver. If there is another offense, they will be severely punished without mercy." After finishing speaking, he left with several personal soldiers.

  This chapter is almost 4,000 words long, too lazy to split it up, seeking recommendation votes...