Chapter Seventeen: Aghast and Tongue-tied

  In front of Gao Yuan, there was a row of earth houses, with walls that were mottled and full of deep and shallow holes everywhere, making Gao Yuan suspect that if someone came and kicked the wall, they could easily kick out a big hole. The windows didn't even have paper stuck on them, let alone window frames, which were broken in seven or eight places. The roof was covered with straw, but it was thick in some places and thin in others, messy and disorderly, making people think that it was a bunch of wild grass growing on the roof. The sun was almost shining on their buttocks, yet three out of five earth houses still had their big doors tightly closed. Two of them even had a big hole in the middle, with dark holes that seemed to be open mouths, silently mocking Gao Yuan and Zhang Han.

  It's called a military camp, but it doesn't look like one at all. Not only can't you see any soldiers on duty, you can't even see a single person. The only thing that still has some life is the flagpole in front of the house, with the large swallowtail flag hanging from it, fluttering gently in the morning breeze. However, this flag is also quite dirty, with oil stains all over it, and the corner is torn off, already separated from the rest.

  Gao Jie cast a suspicious glance at Zhang Yan, "Vice Commander Zhang, is this our military camp?"

  Zhang Han's face also turned a bit red, "It's been tough for a while, no money, so just make do with it. Let's go, these rascals, the sun is shining on their backsides, and they're still pretending to be alive."

  He strode towards the row of earthen houses, clearing his throat loudly, "Sun Xiao, Sun Xiao, you damn thing, still pretending to be dead? Didn't I tell you yesterday that new soldier Cao would take office today?" He walked straight to the middle door, which was tightly closed, and kicked it with one foot. With a loud crash, the relatively intact large door suddenly had a big hole in it. Zhang Han didn't expect the door to be so fragile, and accidentally got his foot stuck inside. One foot was inside, one foot was outside, as awkward as could be.

  Zhang Yan was furious and wanted to go crazy. In front of Gao Yuan, he threw the person away and shouted loudly, raising his hands and pounding on the door: "Sun Xiao, you son of a bitch, get out here!"

  As his fist pounded on the gate, the gate fell with a loud crash, and the fallen gate almost brought Zhang Han down with it, but instead gave him a fright, causing him to jump back a big step. Sun Xiao's room was empty, there was someone there.

  "Get out of my sight!" Zhang Han yelled at the top of his lungs. Actually, with this commotion, people in other rooms had already been startled, and there were already some eyes peeking from behind windows and doors. Gao Yuan even heard stifled giggles.

  As Sun Xiao's door was kicked open, the people in the other rooms were also frightened and rushed out of their rooms. Looking at this group of people, Gao Yuan widened his eyes with great effort and blinked several times. Are these soldiers? They looked more like a bunch of beggars. More than half of them wore dark blue military uniforms, but most of them had lost their color and were no longer intact. There were holes everywhere, revealing their dark skin underneath. It was already October, yet they still wore straw sandals on their feet. Another dozen or so people wore what could hardly be called clothes - "tattered rags" would be a more fitting description. They stood there, fluttering in the wind. Two of them were bare-chested, wearing only a vest.

  "Form ranks!" Zhang Han shouted angrily.

  Seeing his unpleasant expression, dozens of people reluctantly began to form up, squeezing and swarming for a while, finally forming four rows in front of Zhang Fei, curved and winding like a worm.

  "Deputy Captain Zhang, have you come to give us our pay?" The first soldier in the first squad tilted his head and asked with ill intentions, "Brothers, it's been half a year since we've received our pay, and now we're about to drink the northwest wind."

  "Cao Tiansheng, don't think that just because you're a veteran in the team, I'll give you face. If there's no discipline, I'll have to enforce military law!" Zhang He felt his head swelling with anger and shouted: "How come there are only sixty-five people? Where are the others? Where is Sun Xiao?"

  Cao Tiānchéng puffed out his chest, seemingly trying to make himself appear more upright, but in Gāo Yuǎn's eyes, wearing only a vest, this puffing of the chest made his ribcage stand out even more prominently.

  "Going back to Deputy Wu's words, it has been half a year since he last sent money home. Thirty of our brothers were driven out by Sun Duotou to make money."

  "It's always you people who are watching the gate and delivering goods, our county magistrate's face is almost being lost because of you!" Zhang Han said angrily.

  "We don't want to lose face in front of the county magistrate, but if we don't get paid, brothers still need to eat." Cao Tiancheng didn't seem afraid of Zhang Heng at all, and retorted, "This is also a capable move by Sun Duotou, able to keep brothers from starving to death."

  Gao Yuan seemed to have understood a bit of the meaning, it seems that Sun Xiaosun is still quite influential in the team. The army has become like this and hasn't fallen apart, it seems that Sun Daoyi does deserve some credit for this.

  Zhang Yan also seemed unwilling to say more on this matter. After all, the owed salary was indeed a fact. "And what about Sun Xiao? Did he go too? Are you not ashamed enough?"

  As soon as Cao Tiancheng mentioned Sun Xiao, he pursed his lips and fell silent.

  "I'm asking you, where did Sun Xiao go?" Seeing that no one responded, Zhang Han's anger flared up.

  Dozens of people simultaneously lowered their heads, avoiding eye contact with Zhang Han.

  "Cao Tiancheng!" Zhang Han glared at his opponent.

  Cao Tiancheng coughed and said hesitantly, "I'm not too clear either, it seems like... Sun Doutou left early this morning."

  "Where did you go?"

  "This, I don't know!" Cao Tiancheng's head immediately shook like a rattle drum. However, he shook too fast, not only did Gao Yuan see through it, but even Zhang Yan did too.

  Zhang Han sneered twice, "Very good, you won't say it, will you? Even if Fufeng City is a bit bigger, I can still find out where he went. When I do, just wait and see."

  Cao Tiancheng's face immediately turned ugly.

  Zhang Huan coughed a few times and didn't want to say more about this matter. Anyway, Gao Yuan would take office soon, and once he did, the responsibility for this group of soldiers would fall on his head. For several months, this team had no military officer, and County Magistrate let him temporarily manage it himself. His head had grown bigger by several sizes. Once Gao Yuan took office, with County Magistrate as his backing, it was up to him to show his skills. However, with Sun Xiao around, that would be enough for him to drink a pot of wine. Zhang Huan didn't believe that the young and inexperienced Gao Yuan could control the situation unless County Magistrate used real gold and silver to wipe his butt. However, over the years, except for one team stationed at the town's entrance that received full pay, the other two teams were treated similarly. If County Magistrate set a precedent, future matters would be difficult to handle.

  Never mind him, anyway it's not me who will be in trouble later on.

  Cleared his throat, Zhang Han looked at Gao Yuan and smiled slightly, preparing to introduce this newly baked soldier to these big soldiers. "Everyone, this is..."

  "Brothers, elder and younger brothers, let's get our gear!" Zhang Han hadn't even finished speaking when he was interrupted by a panting voice, "Get your gear, Sun Du has been beaten up."

  With a loud noise, the formation of sixty or so people immediately dispersed, with almost half of them scattering and rushing into various rooms in disarray.

  "Get back!" Zhang Han was furious, with a whooshing sound he drew his sword and stabbed it into the ground, "Who dares to move, I'll chop off his head."

  The noisy queue suddenly quieted down, a group of big-headed soldiers looked at each other, and after a while, they were finally settled by Zhang Juan and reluctantly returned to the queue.

  "Zhang Fuwei and Sun Dutou have been beaten up!" Cao Tiancheng reminded in a low voice.

  "Old Master's ears aren't deaf!" Zhang Han angrily said.

  "Brothers, what's going on? Hey, why are you standing there like that?" From a distance, a young man ran over, panting and gasping for air, with his hands on his knees. "Old Cao..."

  Zhang Han turned around with a seemingly smiling yet not quite smiling expression, staring at him intensely.

  "General Zhang, Deputy General!" The young man's eyes widened and his legs went limp, thudding to the ground with a loud "thud".

  "Alright, alright, you've made progress!" Zhang Han sneered and said: "What have you been up to?"

  "Zhang Doutou was beaten by someone!" The young man said bluntly.

  "Zhang Xiao was beaten up, what did he go out to do early this morning? Didn't I send someone to tell him yesterday? Is new soldier Cao coming today?"

  "Zhang Dutou had been waiting since early morning, but later, Huo Dasao sent someone to find Zhang Dutou and asked him to bring people to help, with a wage of five guan, so Zhang Dutou went."

  "Huo Da Shao, Huo Tian Liang?" Zhang Han was startled and looked at Gao Yuan, he still knew about the grudge between Huo Tian Liang and Gao Yuan. Indeed, Gao Yuan's eyes narrowed, a faint glint of cold light flashed by.

  "Yes, Lord He was beaten up. His house servants couldn't fight back, so they came to ask Captain Zhang for help. Who would have thought...who would have thought..."

  "Unexpectedly, Zhang Xiao was also beaten up?" Zhang He smiled and said: "The opponent is very powerful. What's the origin, in Fufeng City, there are not many people who don't know Sun Xiao, how can a few people fight him?"

  "What a mess!"

  "What did you say? Who is it?"

  "It's several blocks!" The young man finally caught his breath.

  Zhang Han was furious, "How dare these bandits come to Fufeng City and cause trouble? Cao Tiancheng, take your men and go wipe them out."

  Gao Yuan was taken aback and didn't expect Zhang Huan to have a hot temper too. He immediately flared up and saw Cao Tiancheng enthusiastically agreeing. He quickly stepped forward, pulling Zhang Huan, "Vice Captain Zhang, slow down."

  Zhang Yan said angrily: "Gao Bingcao, Sun Xiao was beaten by the barbarians. If it were someone else in Fufeng City who beat him, that would be one thing. But what are these barbarians? How dare they come here and act wildly? Gao Bingcao, I know you have a grudge against Huo Dashi, but this is not about Huo Dashi now. It's about us versus the barbarians."

  "Right, right!" Cao Tiancheng added fuel to the fire, "Let's beat up all the new recruits in Fufeng City, where will our faces be?" While saying this, he sized up Gao Yuan. Last night, Sun Xiao had said that a new recruit would arrive, who was a relative of County Magistrate, and everyone was still resentful, saying it should have been Sun Xiao who took the position of soldier Cao. Unexpectedly, the guy in front of him was the one, indeed a guy with connections, actually letting Vice Captain Zhang come to deliver him personally.

  "Vice Captain Zhang, you can't do this. Look at this guy who's almost out of breath, not wearing a military uniform, and not carrying any weapons. Sun Xiao must have looked like this when he went to help Lord He fight too. Now you're leading dozens of people, armed with weapons, onto the streets... those who know will think you're helping Sun Xiao get revenge, but those who don't will think Vice Captain Zhang is leading a mutiny! If County Magistrate Wu and the others find out, won't you be in trouble?"

  Zhang Yan was suddenly awakened by Gao Yuan's reminder. Fighting was a small matter, but taking the army to the streets would change its nature. For a moment, he couldn't help but sweat profusely. "What High Soldier Cao said is..." He glanced at Cao Tiancheng and asked, "But what can we do now? We can't just let Sun Xiao be beaten by those barbarians."

  "Ask clearly before speaking!" Gaoyuan glanced at the young man who was just getting up from the ground.