Chapter 788 – A Military Achievement Dropping from the Heavens (2/2)

In this sort of situation, who could criticize the Orthodox Academy?

In the ten-some forts in the north, there was probably only one person in the past few years that could compare with Zhexiu in military achievements.

Interestingly, Zhexiu was famous while that person was unknown.

That person had once worked as a civil official in the headquarters of the Northern Expeditionary Army, but for some reason had been demoted to Seven Li Xi, becoming an ordinary officer in the roaming cavalry. Perhaps because he was skilled in strategy, had excessive strength, or simply had astonishing luck, in his period at Seven Li Xi, he had led the roaming cavalry along with a superior officer surnamed Chen in creating countless miracles, achieving countless victories, and accumulating an almost obscene amount of military merit.

However, perhaps because he was too conceited, bullied around his subordinates, or simply had a repulsive character, or maybe because he was from the south and not a person of Zhou, this officer had an awful relationship with other people in the camp. He would butt heads with his superiors and defy military law. The achievements that he had strenuously accumulated were used to lighten his punishments and were never once cleanly registered, so he was unable to gain as resounding a reputation as Zhexiu.

Logically speaking, with this person's abilities and the speed at which he accumulated merit, as long as he was just a little intelligent, he would assuredly have become a promising and nurtured member of the Northern Expeditionary Army, with a chance of even becoming the Great Zhou Army's youngest Divine General in a few years. However, the important officers in the army headquarters never gave him this sort of opportunity. Later, people finally understood what this disregard signified.

This intentional suppression of the young officer garnered much discontent and accusations of injustice in the camp at Seven Li Xi. After a battle three months ago, these emotions finally exploded. After a night of drinking, cavalry rendered the most bustling street of Seven Li Xi into ruins.

What happened next was very simple: the young officer was expelled from the roaming cavalry by an order straight from the Ministry of the Army in the capital, even expelled from the Northern Expeditionary Army, and was transferred to an extremely remote location.

This place was called Sloping Cliff and was located in the foothills southeast of Mount Han. This was not a critical stronghold that received the brunt of the demon assault, nor did it guard a crucial thoroughfare used to transport supplies. It was just a little-remembered and remote horse farm.

This place yielded nothing other than the frost-colored grass growing along the cliffs. It was an incredibly desolate place. Not even the migratory birds returning north from the south would stop here. The only reason there was a horse farm here was that the frost-colored grass was the favorite food of Dragonhorses.

Dragonhorses were the most important mounts of the Great Zhou Army. Setting up a horse farm just to satisfy their desires could be considered preferential treatment, but to the people banished here, such a thing was completely out of the question.

The young officer became yet another unlucky person that was banished to Sloping Cliff in the last several hundred years.

The officers and soldiers of Sloping Cliff knew of his history and achievements, and naturally felt a great deal of sympathy, yet none of them ever considered why such an outstanding young officer encountered such suppression from his superiors, a suppression that even seemed to come straight from the Ministry of the Army in the capital. They also did not consider that although this remote horse farm was far from the battlefield, making it impossible to gain any more military achievements, one also did not need to worry about being killed by demon experts here.

In brief, all these seemingly unreasonable matters inevitably had their reasons, but no one knew of them at the time.

As one of those involved, the officer naturally knew the reason, but he did not say anything. But perhaps it was for these reasons that in his two months at Sloping Cliff, his mood was rather downcast, his body smelling of alcohol every day.

Drowning one's sorrows in alcohol might not meet with success, but it fortunately did not interfere with his official business. The greatest effect on him was just that he slept rather heavily. Every night, he would sleep until sunrise, a state of affairs which lasted until one night, when two extremely heavy thumps came from the back of the camp…

He propped up his body and angrily yelled out his window, ”Can't a person get some sleep?”

No one answered his question, and he fell asleep once more. Yet it was not too long before someone came to rouse him again.

Accompanied by his subordinates, he came to where the horse farm met the cliffs. Upon seeing the sight before him, he couldn't help but suck in his breath.

The slope was scored with trails left by tumbling rocks and dust was still in the air. A man lay on the ground, but the officer could not tell whether he was dead or alive. A girl of twelve or thirteen years of age sat to the side with her arms wrapped around her legs, her clothes in tatters, her body covered in dirt, and a dull-witted expression on her face.