Chapter Twenty-Two: Expulsion

  Early in the morning, the city guard's mansion was again in an uproar.

  This time, the ones who were lying on the ground in front of the city gate, getting their buttocks beaten with bamboo sticks, were the more than 600 guards who had been on night watch. The white buttocks of the more than 600 people lined up in a row on the square, the bamboo sticks rising and falling one after another, blood and water splashing everywhere on the pale buttocks, the wails and screams echoing through the sky, it was truly a magnificent sight.

  Early in the morning, Wu Qi held a bowl of porridge and two sour jujube paste pastries, squatting outside the Dianjun Mansion, waiting to watch this good show. Whenever the guards let out a mournful cry, he would take a sip of the fragrant golden rice porridge; whenever the three officials, Dian Li, Dian Xing, and Dian Min, let out a loud shout, he would take a bite of the fragrant and delicious pastries. The joys of life are nothing more than this.

  Lu Chengfeng walked out of the city guard's mansion with a happy and contented expression, his mouth still bearing a hint of rice porridge. He joyfully gazed at the white buttocks on the square for a while, then lightly tapped the toe of his boots.

  "It's not nice to gloat over others' misfortunes, and please don't be so obvious about it. Go in and eat, go in and eat! Don't squat at the door, people will know we're gloating just by looking at us! This is not good, it hurts our dignity as a noble family."

  "Ah, ah", Mo Qiying responded with a sigh, stood up and looked back at the city guards who were caning their colleagues' buttocks with bamboo sticks, shaking his head and sighing as he turned around and entered the Tianjun Fu gate.

  Lu Chengfeng suddenly coughed lightly and asked in a low voice, "If we didn't come, Xiaomeng City would be calm. As soon as we arrived, the city guards lost one thing after another, and it's said that even their personal silk underwear was stolen. How strange, how strange!"

  Holding his rice bowl, he turned around with a very solemn expression and said to Lu Chengfeng in an extremely serious tone: "Man does, heaven watches. This is retribution!"

  "What's going on?" Lu Chengfeng stroked his chin with one hand, looking thoughtful as he gazed up at the sky. He turned his head to look at the back of Wu Qi, who was stumbling and staggering as he walked into the Dianjun Mansion. Lu shook his head. "It can't be this guy, right? Clearing out three families' warehouses in one night is just too terrifying. But if it really is him, that would be great! Next time I go back home to pay respects to my ancestors, I'll definitely bring him along!"

  Yi Xing, Yi De and three others, along with their cousin Yi Yan, the four biggest officials in Xiaomeng City, cried bitterly as if their hearts were torn apart. For three years, they had been scraping together every penny to accumulate wealth, but now it was all gone, vanished into thin air. In this desolate land of Xiaomeng City, they had worked hard for three years to scrape together a meager living, and now the fruits of their labor had disappeared overnight. How could they bear this cruel reality?

  The Chengshou Fu was in a state of chaos, and even the fact that Lu Chengfeng had driven away all four deputy officers under the jurisdiction of the General's Office was temporarily ignored by everyone.

  Taking advantage of Yi Yan's confusion, Wu Qi introduced Zhang Hu into the Dianjun Mansion. Zhang Hu and nearly a hundred hunters suddenly became Lu Chengfeng's guests and became the personal bodyguards of the Dianjun Master of Xiaomeng City. The old black treasurer opened the armory of Xiaomeng City and carefully selected a batch of fine armor and weapons for Zhang Hu and others to change into, causing their combat effectiveness to increase sharply.

  After busy for a whole morning, it was soon noon.

  The entire city of Mengcheng was in an uproar, with everyone from the City Guard mobilized and scouring every corner, arresting anyone who looked suspicious. Infuriated, Yi Yan and his men didn't care what their captives did for a living; as long as they were annoying, they were arrested. By mid-morning, several hundred unfortunates had been tossed into the city jail.

  The little city of Meng was in an uproar, and no one paid any attention to what Mo Qi and Lu Chengfeng were doing.

  At noon, on the school grounds west of Xiaomeng City, a black flag fluttered in the wind. On the flag, a pale red Vermilion Bird was embroidered with striking silver thread, its wings spread wide as if flying high in the sky. On the bird's body, a character "Lv" about the size of a rice bowl was embroidered, which was the flag of the Lv Kingdom to which Xiaomeng City belonged.

  Surrounding the school grounds, dozens of large flags fluttered in the wind, making a loud "slapping" sound as they flapped. A solemn and uneasy atmosphere enveloped the entire campus, and the more than 7,000 small Mongolian city guards standing on the campus looked anxious, their faces heavy with worry.

  Black-clad and black-armored, all the military equipment was also painted with black lacquer. A vast expanse of men and horses stood on the drill ground, not a single person or horse dared to make a sound. Except for the wind blowing against the large flags, only the faint sound of long breathing could be heard.

  In the eastern part of the school grounds, there was an earthen platform with a large chair on it. Lu Chengfeng sat upright in the chair, wearing a helmet and armor, with a sword at his waist, looking down at the thousands of soldiers below with a stern expression. His eyes were cold as water, with a hint of sinister killing intent.

  Zhang Hu and nearly a hundred imperial guards stood in a line under the earthen platform, each one exuding an aura of menace as if they were evil spirits descending upon the mortal world. They glared fiercely at the city's defense soldiers several zhang away. These hunters who often fought to the death with barbarians in the mountains had unknown numbers of lives on their hands, and once they unleashed their killing intent, it was enough to suppress the city's defense soldiers, not daring them to make a single move.

  Don't beg with your hands behind your back, standing beside Lu Chengfeng, thoughtfully looking at the city guards below.

  Judging from Wu Wang's experience, these city guard soldiers were indeed tall and sturdy, with bright and shiny armor, and their military equipment was of the best quality. However, they all lacked a bit of the true spirit that a real soldier should have, just like steamed buns, which look impressive but shrink when pressed, having nothing to do with real soldiers at all.

  "It's really tough when those barbarians attack!" Murong Bo didn't say anything, just shook his head.

  Lu Chengfeng's mouth twitched slightly, and he let out a low hum. He tilted his head and looked at Wu Qi with a hint of amusement, asking: "Wu Qi, can you still train troops?"

  Mo Qi nodded naturally: "If I don't know how to train soldiers, then no one in the world knows how to train soldiers!"

  Lu Chengfeng was stunned and stood still. The little black dog on his left also turned its head in fright and looked at Wu Qi with a glance.

  Don't ask, in this world, poetry, books, etiquette and so on are all in the hands of aristocratic families. As for military strategy and tactics, they are only secretly passed down among a small number of top aristocratic families. A commoner from a humble background, no matter how skilled he is in martial arts or how clever he is by nature, there are some things that he absolutely should not be able to grasp!

  Soldiers are a country's major events, and those who are proficient in the art of training soldiers are all national heroes. Generals from humble origins, such as Zhang Hu, no matter how powerful they may be, can only lead soldiers to charge into battle with brute force; asking them to train soldiers or arrange troops is absolutely impossible.

  "Are you going to practice martial arts? If you have time, let's discuss it?" Lu Chengfeng looked at Wu Qi with great suspicion.

  He let out a soft sigh and nodded slightly: "Alright, when I'm in a good mood, I'll give you some pointers."

  Too lazy to entangle too much on this issue, a low voice suggested: "Let's boil for some time, the sun is now poisonous, and roast these city guards well. Even if they had colluded before and wanted to make other plans, being roasted by the sun for an hour would guarantee that they wouldn't have the energy to stir up trouble!"

  Lu Chengfeng smiled with a mischievous grin, secretly sticking out his thumb and giving a malicious thumbs up: "Great!"

  So, Wu Qi stood there silently, Lu Chengfeng sat on the big chair without saying a word, and Xiao Hei, Zhang Hu, and others were even less likely to speak. Which of the thousands of city guards on the training ground dared to open their mouths? The scorching sunlight slowly poured onto the silent training ground, the heat slowly accumulated, and the temperature slowly rose.

  From noon on, it took one and a half hours for just one stop.

  The little black skin was dark and strong, best at absorbing heat, his armor was already soaked with sweat. But he had a super strong physique, full of energy, he still stared widely with his eyes, fiercely staring at the city defense army below.

  Zhang Hu and the others were also extremely hot, but these hunting savages had the weakest of them with thirty years of boundary internal strength cultivation to protect themselves. As long as they started their internal strength, they could still lift their spirits and stand firmly in place without moving.

  Lu Chengfeng was sitting on a big chair, his physical strength hadn't been consumed much, let alone him.

  He didn't beg for the double-armed water spirit in the midst, the pre-heavenly true water spirit was rolling and surging like a tide, wave after wave of coolness seeping into his whole body, the surrounding air was cool and gentle, he couldn't feel even a bit of heat. He didn't even sweat a single drop, as if nothing had happened, he carried his hands behind his back, slightly raised his head, and gazed thoughtfully at a white cloud on the horizon.

  This world is full of spiritual energy, and everyone's physique is more than ten times better than that of people on Earth. However, the sun here is also extremely scorching, emitting heat in direct proportion to the density of the spiritual energy. The tens of thousands of city guards below were exposed to the scorching sun for over an hour, and gradually, some of them couldn't hold out anymore. Suddenly, there were a few muffled sounds, and several deputy generals wearing fish-scale soft armor fainted to the ground with their eyes rolled back.

  Lu Chengfeng was furious, he stood up hastily and pointed at the several fainting deputy generals, scolding loudly: "Trash, simply trash! As a deputy general, they can't even withstand the heat and fainted in front of the soldiers. What qualifications do they have to lead troops? What strength do they have to lead troops? Come on, take off their helmets and armor, remove their swords and weapons, drive them out of the camp, strip them of their general identity!"

  Zhang Hu led several of his men to pounce on them like wolves and tigers, stripping the unlucky deputy generals of their armor and clothes, leaving them with only one undergarment. They were dragged out of the school field and abandoned in the shade of trees outside. Several official documents prepared by Lu Chengfeng were also thrown at them, announcing that they had been removed from their positions as generals of Xiaoming City.

  Those several biased officials were about to be stripped and dragged away, and some of them shouted loudly on the spot.

  "General Tian is handling this matter unfairly!"

  These men were just about to stir up the soldiers' morale, provoke dissatisfaction among the soldiers and threaten Lu Feng, when suddenly he jumped down from the earth platform and rushed towards them.

  "Injustice? What is injustice?"

  Mo Qi shouted loudly, his hands flew out like a whirlwind, and an invisible vortex rose from thin air, causing the surrounding air to churn with a strange "whirring" sound. Mo Qi grabbed two of the leading troublemakers and pressed a palm onto their Dan Tian.

  The gentle palm force penetrated the body, and the two generals' slightly insignificant internal skills were shattered by a single palm. The two deputy generals who had their dantian destroyed and spat out blood were thrown aside by Mo Qi, who then grabbed several other screaming deputy generals with one hand, and pressed another identical palm on their dantians.

  Several of his generals had yet to lead their troops into battle when they were defeated and their cultivation destroyed, severely injured and vomiting blood as they fell to the ground.

  Don't beg for mercy, quickly retreated a few steps, and loudly shouted: "Seditious words confuse the people, shake the military's heart, according to the law should be beheaded! Xiao Hei, behead him!"

  "Heh heh" a strange laugh, Xiao Hei jumped down from the earth platform in big strides, he rushed to the side of those fallen generals, and suddenly drew out the large knife at his waist. The surrounding area erupted in cries of surprise, the knife flashed several times, and the heads of the five generals had already been splashed with blood several feet away.

  The killing intent on the school grounds grew thicker, and the originally neat formation of the City Guard began to stir restlessly.

  Lu Chengfeng suddenly let out a cold hum and shouted loudly on the high platform: "What is your intention? Are you rebelling?"

  A heavy big hat came down, and those lower-ranking soldiers stopped in their tracks. The remaining biased generals, school lieutenants, and military lieutenants reluctantly whispered to the soldiers around them, but under the heavy pressure of military law and national law, who dared to act rashly except for a few die-hards?

  Lu Chengfeng sneered and pulled out a large stack of official documents from his brocade bag and threw them on the ground.

  "All commanders in the city garrison are hereby dismissed. Remove your armor and leave your weapons behind, get out of the training grounds immediately! Anyone who dares to disobey will be beheaded!"

  There were heads with blood on the ground as examples, and then they saw Zhang Hu and others who were fierce and brave, and the city's military leaders present were all stunned.

  Under Mo Ge's severe rebuke, all generals in the City Guard were expelled from the army.

  ***

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