Chapter 12: Nie Shicheng's Wrath Scolds the Generals

  When Ye Zhi Kui returned to the camp, he felt a bit down. Thinking about the "Double Gun Soldiers" afterwards, is this really the Qing army? Although there are some hot-blooded and brave ones, but more of them are not up to par. A dilapidated house can't be saved even with repairs after experiencing wind and rain, it will still collapse. The only way is to rebuild from scratch, change the foundation and set up new pillars.

  Ye Zhi Kui lowered his head to think, walking quickly and hastily. When he turned into the doorway, he accidentally bumped into someone. Ye Zhi Kui took a closer look at the person lying on the ground, who else could it be but Xiao Ling Long? Only she was allowed to enter his room freely.

  Xiao Ling stood up, rubbed her forehead, puffed out her cheeks and said: "Bad uncle, you bumped Ling's head, Ling wants to rub it."

  Ye Zhi Kui saw the happy fruit, and his mood gradually brightened up. Xiao Linglong's condition became more stable, her speech was no longer so disorganized, but she still feared contact with strangers.

  Ye Zhi Kui rubbed Little Linglong's forehead with his hand and asked with a smile: "Little Linglong, what brings you to Uncle's place?" Little Linglong took out a piece of osmanthus cake from her bosom and handed it to Ye Zhi Kui, saying: "Daddy gave it to me, I'll give it to Uncle." After finishing speaking, Little Linglong skipped away. Ye Zhi Kui looked at the osmanthus cake with mixed emotions, stuffed it into his mouth, and muttered: "Xianzhu, bring tea." It wasn't until a long time had passed without anyone responding that he realized she was already gone, leaving behind only her lingering fragrance.

  Ye Zhikui didn't hesitate for long, after dinner he went to the central military tent. At this time Ye Zhi Chao had not come out yet, but Nie Shicheng and Jiang Zikan had already arrived. As soon as Ye Zhikui saw Jiang Zikan, he secretly prepared to slip away and wait for Ye Zhi Chao to arrive together. Just about to leave, Jiang Zikan had already stepped in front of him.

  The old man with a dark face said: "Youngster, when will that lone soldier return to me?"

  It's really afraid of what comes, Ye Zhikui previously borrowed a horn from Jiang Zikang, but this guy is Liu Bei borrowing Jingzhou with no intention of returning it. He can't even spit out the meat he has eaten. He has been hiding from Jiang Zikang all along, but now he was caught off guard by the master himself. Fortunately, his face is thick enough, and he pretended to be stupid, saying: "Horn? What horn? Isn't it General Nie who transferred him to my camp? Do you want me to return him?" After that, he walked straight towards Nie Shicheng.

  Jiang Zikang stomped his foot and cursed under his breath at the young man's deceit, but there was nothing he could do about it.

  Nie Shi Cheng had already seen Ye Zhi Kui, and seeing his previous behavior, he couldn't help but secretly laugh. Ye Zhi Kui first went to Nie Shi Cheng and paid his respects as a junior, asking about his well-being. Then he greeted the camp officers under Nie Shi Cheng before walking over to him.

  "Good nephew, you've had a tough time this time around! I heard that on that day, you used my old camp to set up a crappy array and actually made Daishan Yichang blind in his right eye. It's truly unbelievable, haha!" Nie Shicheng stroked his beard and laughed with joy. The surrounding crowd also burst out laughing together.

  Ye Zhi Kui's face turned red for a rare moment, and he chuckled: "I didn't expect that little nephew of mine to be so fragile."

  Nie Shicheng knocked on Ye Zhikui's head and said with a smile: "You, you are just too clever, but the main thing is to fight battles, don't forget that." Ye Zhikui nodded obediently, paused for a moment, and Nie Shicheng continued: "The situation in Korea is tense, the Japanese army is much stronger than our Qing dynasty, I will return home soon to recruit soldiers, and the troops at Lutai will be handed over to you."

  Ye Zhi's heart skipped a beat, and the other generals were also shocked. Before they could refuse, Nie Shicheng pulled over a burly man in his thirties, who had a square face with a prominent jawline, a thick eight-shaped beard, and coarse eyebrows.

  "Xian nephew, this is my important military staff Feng Guozhang Feng Huafu, who has repeatedly provided strategies for me and is well-versed in both literature and martial arts. In previous years, he followed me to inspect the three eastern provinces with students from the Wubei Academy, and helped me compile 'Dong You Ji Cheng'. This year, he was also sent as an envoy to Japan, where he compiled several volumes of military books. Unfortunately, war broke out suddenly, and I didn't have time to review them yet. He is a great talent indeed. Now, I'm leaving him in Korea to assist you."

  Ye Zhi Kui was shocked, what's going on? At this time, Feng Guozhang, one of the three heroes of Beiyang, was actually a staff member of Nie Shicheng. Because it was before Feng Guozhang's rise to fame, Ye Zhi Kui didn't remember it very clearly. It seems that later he needs to pay more attention, maybe some awesome figures from the Republic of China period are still unknown and struggling in silence somewhere!

  Feng Guozhang was a brilliant and open-minded young man. He studied at the Beiyang Military Academy, where he worked hard and excelled in his studies, always ranking among the top students in every exam - that would make him an "Three Good Student" today! Feng Guozhang saw Ye Zhiwei looking stunned and not speaking, so he smiled awkwardly and said: "Your subordinate has met Young Master Ye, please take care of me more often in the future."

  Ye Zhiyuan was polishing his shoes, thinking of ways to seduce this guy, when he suddenly remembered that this guy was now his subordinate. Why bother seducing him? As long as Yuan Shikai didn't come to seduce him, it would be fine. Just hand over the second half of your life to me.

  Ye Shao smiled and replied, "Hua Fu's great name has long been on everyone's lips. Ping Lan often mentions you to me. I'm quite fond of military books. Can Hua Fu lend me some to read?"

  Feng Guozhang repeatedly agreed, and Nie Shicheng saw that the two were talking happily, so he put his mind at ease.

  Before long, Ye Zhichao led a group of officials in, and everyone took their places. Ye Zhichao looked at everyone staring at him with eager eyes, and couldn't help but smile. He cleared his throat and said: "I'm sure you all know by now, the imperial reward has been announced, and each of you will be rewarded for your bravery in battle." Ye Zhiwei's heart leapt with joy, thinking of promotion and wealth.

  He didn't care about others, Ye Zhiwei only waited for his own reward. What surprised him was that even though he had mentally prepared himself, he couldn't have imagined the reward would be so generous: a prize of 10,000 taels of silver and promotion by three ranks to become the titular commander-in-chief of Shanxi's Taiyuan Garrison. A titular commander-in-chief only takes office when there is a vacancy. However, having the actual title of garrison commander was already very high-ranking. Previously, Nie Shicheng had been the commander of Shanxi's Taiyuan Garrison, and Ye Zhiwei directly took over Nie Shicheng's position. It seemed that Nie Shicheng had received news beforehand; otherwise, he wouldn't have entrusted his troops to Ye Zhiwei. Nie Shicheng was promoted to become the commander-in-chief of Zhili Province, while Ye Zhiyu was promoted to become the governor of Jiangsu and concurrently the commander-in-chief of all armies stationed in Pingyang.

  At the age of twenty-two, a general is rare even in peacetime, let alone during wartime. The reasons are simple: firstly, Ye Zhiwei had made great contributions in the previous campaign, and secondly, it was politically necessary for the court to have this victory. They needed to establish a model, and most importantly, Emperor Guangxu thought he had discovered a talent, while Li Hongzhang was happy to see him succeed. The old empress dowager was busy celebrating her birthday and didn't have time to bother with such trivial matters. As a result, Ye Zhiwei became famous, his fame spreading far and wide, and everyone wanted to get close to him.

  This time the reward was basically a win-win situation, and then Nie Shicheng dropped another heavy bombshell, announcing in public that he would soon return to his hometown to recruit soldiers, and the Luotai Huai army was handed over to Ye Zhiwei.

  The Huai Army generals immediately debated and some even cursed loudly: "How can a young boy like Huang be reappointed?" Even Ye Zhichao couldn't stop it, which shows the disadvantage of the Huai Army's military system. The largest fixed unit in the Huai Army is only a battalion! There are no larger units, and battles are usually commanded by each general with an unequal number of battalions participating. The relationship between generals is equal, and they do not belong to each other. These battalions are generally recruited, trained, and led by the generals themselves, having an inseparable relationship with them. If it's not the general or someone appointed by him, the troops often refuse to obey orders, even rioting and rebelling.

  Ye Zhi Kui's face didn't look good, and Nie Shi Cheng's face looked even worse. Nie Shi Cheng slammed his hand on the table, stood up with a "whoosh", pointed at each of them one by one, and shouted: "Has my order become a joke? Is this the city gate? What kind of discipline do you all have? When it was time to cut off supplies, where were you all competing? When it was time to kill the Japanese, where were you all competing? Without Cong Yun, would any of you have such great merit? Without Cong Yun, some of you might already be dead in Cheng Huan. How can you still be making noise here, ungrateful and disloyal things! In the military, we talk about actual strength. If you can kill Oshima Yoshiaki tomorrow, I'll give you this hat as a reward. When did I train out such a bunch of rubbish?" Nie Shi Cheng scolded with some urgency, and after finishing, he panted heavily for a long time before calming down.

  All the generals and soldiers saw Nie Shicheng's outburst, one by one lowering their heads and not daring to speak. Ye Zhi-chao saw that everyone had no more objections, coldly snorted and turned to leave with a flick of his sleeve. Ye Zhikui secretly took note of several generals who had grudges against him, and later let Nie Shicheng take them away together.