Chapter 47: The Goryeo Woman

  A burst of laughter from a man next door: "Damn it, I'll be crossing the river tomorrow to help you Koreans quell the rebellion. You're crying with your faces down, reporting the death to me! This little girl is pretty, let me have some fun, I'm the commander-in-chief of the Qing dynasty, and being with me once is your good fortune! What you're doing is called sacrificing for the country."

  Suddenly, two women's shrill cries were heard.

  Zhou Xuanzhang slapped the table and jumped up, the boss hastily intercepted: "Master, you can't cause trouble..."

  Zhou Xuanzhang grabbed the boss's collar and shook his wrist, causing the boss to crash into the south wall with a thud. Zhou Xuanzhang strode out of the room and arrived at the door of the adjacent room.

  The room was filled with a thick, choking smoke. Seven or eight soldiers wearing the uniform of the Shengjun army were laughing and holding their bellies in laughter. In the corner, a middle-aged woman and a young girl were huddled together, clearly two North Korean women from their clothing. A man with a thick beard was tearing at the back of the girl's collar, while the middle-aged woman clutched the girl tightly, shouting unintelligibly as she cried out in desperation. The girl clung to the woman's waist, wailing uncontrollably.

  All that could be heard was a "ripping" sound, the girl's back seam was torn open by the man, revealing her snow-white skin, amidst the girl's wailing cry, Sheng Jun burst out laughing.

  "Halt!" Zhou Xuan Zhang shouted loudly.

  The whole room of Sheng Jun stopped laughing, and the man with a goatee was also startled, releasing his hand. The girl crawled into the arms of the middle-aged woman, her two big black eyes staring blankly at Zhou Xuan Zhang.

  "Who am I? It turns out to be the Beiyang Navy!" The man with a mustache laughed loudly: "You little bastard, you didn't die in the Yellow Sea, but instead came here to cause trouble."

  Sheng Jun's troops were stationed at Tianjin Xiaozhan, and some of the officers and soldiers had seen it before. They saw that Zhou Xuanzhang was wearing a Beiyang Navy uniform, and everyone burst out laughing again.

  "How dare you flirt with women in the territory of the Great Qing Empire!" Zhou Xianzhang shouted.

  "Damn it!" The mustachioed man shouted: "I'm flirting with a Korean chick! Even if I flirted with a Qing woman, you're just a small soldier from the Beiyang Navy, what can you do about it?! I'm General Sheng's deputy commander! You dare to offend your superior, I can behead you! Out of respect for the Beiyang Navy, I'll let you off this time. Get out of here immediately and don't ruin my fun!"

  Zhou Xuan Zhang sneered, these arrogant and domineering Sheng army also knew that this was the Great Qing country, they didn't dare to flirt with local women, but when they met Korean women, these soldiers became unscrupulous.

  "Korea is a vassal state of our Great Qing, and the people of Korea are also the children of our Great Qing!"

  "Hah!" The bearded man clapped his hands: "Youngster, I've heard of you, the Beiyang Navy is indeed formidable! A lowly soldier dares to lecture me, a battalion commander? Others may fear your Beiyang Navy, but I, Sheng Jun, am also a trusted subordinate of Li Zhongtang! I'm not afraid! Counting to three, you get out of here, one..."

  Before Lao Er could even count to two, Zhou Xuan Zhang swung the committee rifle and slammed the butt of it onto Lao Er's forehead.

  His mustache was suddenly splattered with blood, and he covered his forehead with both hands, shouting: "You son of a bitch, you broke the rules! I just counted to one... Ah..."

  The man with a goatee on his forehead was hit by another bullet and fell softly to the ground.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang cocked his gun and pointed it at the remaining Sheng army soldiers: "Put your hands up, anyone who moves will be shot dead!"

  The officer was knocked down, and the remaining soldiers had no choice but to raise their hands obediently, staring blankly at Zhou Xuanzhang.

  A Sheng Jun soldier grumbled in discontent: "Taking advantage of someone when they're off guard, what kind of hero is that?"

  "Damn it!" Zhou Xuan Zhang cursed: "I'm alone, you eight bastards, once you're ready, I'm dead for sure!"

  Suddenly, there was a commotion of footsteps outside the door, and a group of fully armed soldiers rushed into the room, each carrying live ammunition, with their black gun barrels pointing at Zhou Xuanzhang.

  The leader sneered and said: "Put down your gun for me!"

  Zhou Xuanzhang took a closer look and saw that the group of soldiers who came in were dressed differently from Sheng Jun, with an embroidered "Chuan" character on their chest.

  This is a group of Sichuan troops.

  This group of Sichuan soldiers were neatly dressed, holding steel guns and with big swords hanging from their waists. Their expressions were solemn and their military posture was strict, completely different from the soldiers in the nine rows of Chengdu city who were scattered all over the streets, shouting loudly.

  The first man was over thirty years old, with a sturdy build, thick eyebrows and phoenix eyes, sporting an eight-character beard, his face gloomy, with a pistol holstered at his waist, his hands clasped in front of his chest, two cold glints emanating from his eyes.

  The rest of them held their guns in a shooting position, with the muzzles pointing at Zhou Xuan Zhang. Their shooting posture was standardized, and they were a group of well-trained good soldiers.

  Zhou Xuanzhang had no choice but to put down his gun and, rushing up to the leader of the group, bowed his fist and said: "Sir, these men are openly flirting with women and violating military discipline. I had no choice but to take action. Please forgive me, sir."

  A Sichuan soldier shouted loudly: "How dare you! This is our General Zhang Xun, hurry up and kneel down for General Zhang!"

  Zhou Xuanzhang was shocked when he heard the name Zhang Xun, and after listening to the instructor's words, he knew that Zhang Xun was a big shot who almost ruined the Republic of China.

  The man in front of him, Zhang Xun, was only in his early thirties and had already become a general. He was not to be underestimated.

  "General Zhang, I am Zhou Xuanzhang. With armor on my body, it is not convenient to pay respects. Please forgive me." Zhou Xuanzhang was unclear about Zhang Xun's intentions and did not dare to kneel down. If Zhang Xun had malicious intentions, kneeling would be jumping into the net.

  Zhang Xun cast a sidelong glance at Zhou Xuanzhang: "If you don't kneel, then don't kneel. I'm not interested! I ask you, what are the Beiyang naval forces doing here?"

  "By order of Liu Baozhen, Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Navy, I am proceeding to the Left Guard Camp of General Feng to attend to important military affairs."

  "Give the warrant to me!"

  Zhou Xuanzhang took out Liu Buxian's token from his bosom and handed it to Zhang Xun. Zhang Xun took a glance at it and threw it back to Zhou Xuanzhang, saying: "Young man, Zuo Baogui is not here, he has already crossed the Yalu River."

  "Thanks for General Zhang's reminder, I'll cross the river immediately."

  "Damn it!" Zhang Xun said: "The imperial court has an order, all the troops stop advancing and gather in Jiulian City to wait for orders. Without the command of our General Song, no one is allowed to cross the river."

  Li Hongzhang had hoped to avoid war through diplomatic efforts, and after receiving the Russian ultimatum, he ordered his troops to halt their advance, a fatal mistake in this war.

  Tens of thousands of troops are stalled outside the Nine Linked City, while the Japanese continue to reinforce their ranks! The capital city of Korea has already fallen under the control of the Japanese army.

  "What's good about that? I have an urgent official business to see General Zuo Baogui." Zhou Xianzhang couldn't help but become anxious.

  "That's your business, I don't care, you go find Governor Song yourself." Zhang Xun shouted: "I am acting on the orders of Sichuan General Song Qing, to discipline the military in Jiuliancheng. Anyone who commits crimes or harasses civilians will be severely punished without exception! I know that the Beiyang Navy is under Li Zhongtang's control, but I'm not afraid to provoke them. However, let me tell you, stop meddling in other people's affairs, here by the Yalu River, it's my word that counts!"

  "I also hope that Director Zhang will handle this matter impartially." Zhou Xianzhang remained calm and composed.

  Since the deterioration of the Korean situation, the Qing court has mobilized troops from all over the country to go to Korea. The fastest route for transporting troops is to take a ship from Tianjin's Dagu Port to Yashan, but the Qing Dynasty does not have large-scale troop transport ships and can only rent foreign merchant ships to transport troops. The sea transportation capacity is limited, so only a small number of troops took the sea route, and most of the troops could only march into Korea from the Yalu River. Jiuliancheng is the bridgehead for the Qing army to enter Korea and is the necessary route for entering Korea.

  All troops gathered in Jiuliancheng, not belonging to each other, and the order was chaotic. To solve the problem of unified command, the imperial court urgently summoned Sichuan's governor Song Qing to take charge as the highest commander of the Yalu River defense line.

  Zhang Xun was originally a subordinate of Su Yuan Chun, the governor of Guangxi, with the title of Canjun. He was known for his iron-fisted rule and would severely punish anyone who committed an offense without exception or pardon, regardless of who pleaded on their behalf. This earned him many enemies among his superiors, but he was also notorious for his blind loyalty to the Qing dynasty. As a result, although his superiors were dissatisfied with him, they could not do much about it.

  After receiving the order, Song Qing made a request to the imperial court: to take Zhang Huan with him on the expedition. A person like Zhang Huan was a headache during peacetime, but once on the battlefield, he could be of great use. The imperial court approved Song Qing's request, and Guangxi Provincial Military Commander Su Yuan-chun couldn't wait for Zhang Huan to leave as soon as possible.

  So, Zhang Xun followed Song Qing to Jiulian City and was appointed as the Patrol Envoy by Song Qing, responsible for rectifying military discipline and punishing officers and soldiers who broke the rules. Tonight, he just arrived here on patrol and heard a woman crying upstairs. Upon inquiry at the door, he learned that it was Sheng Jun teasing women on patrol, and immediately rushed up with his men.

  Zhang Xun pointed at the soldiers in the house and shouted: "These soldiers molested two women from respectable families on the street, tarnishing the reputation of our Qing army. Take them all out and behead them as a warning to others!"

  The whiskered man lying on the ground suddenly jumped up and cursed loudly: "Damn you, Zhang Xun, how dare you! I am a subordinate of General Sheng Junwei, how dare you kill me..."

  Luo Yan's mustache hadn't finished shouting, when he was dragged out of the restaurant by two Sichuan soldiers, along with seven other Sheng army soldiers. They were pressed to the ground and lined up in a row at the entrance of the restaurant. Eight Sichuan soldiers drew out their gleaming large knives, the blades reflecting a chilling light under the restaurant's lamps.

  Zhang Xun walked to the window with his arms swinging, looking gloomily at the eight trembling Sheng army officers on the street. The hustle and bustle of the restaurants on both sides of the street suddenly stopped, and all the drunken Qing army officers stood up straight, staring blankly at the murderous Sichuan army and the trembling Sheng army.

  The restaurant owner saw Zhang Heng wanting to kill someone at his door, and was so scared that he knelt down at Zhang's feet with a thud. The boss was superstitious, those eight Sheng army should die, but if they died at the door of their own store, it would be a great disaster. The restaurant owner begged: "Great great sir, absolutely not, the business of this small shop..."

  Zhang Xun didn't even look at the restaurant owner, he simply waved his hand, and eight large knives drew out eight cold glows in mid-air, eight human heads fell to the ground, hot blood spurted onto the door of the shop.