692 Disobedience (1/2)
The anger of the silver-armored army had been ignited by the death of their lord, but what they ran into was essentially a vast swathe of coal fields smouldering in the dark — the soldiers of the Court Attendants Army resisted back in an even more violent manner.
Looking at the soldiers who acted without orders, the new commandant, Tuershan, together with the crowd of kings and officers in the doorway, was speechless with consternation.
Gu Shenwei was the first of that group to react. He rushed into the crowd, dragged someone out, and ran towards his tent.
”Spread the order that everyone must stay where they are!” Tuershan wanted to figure out what was going on first.
”King Riyao's soldiers are killing people everywhere. We should stop them,” Azheba reminded the Commandant.
”The tenth corps will mount their horses and fight, but the others will remain as is.” Tuershan immediately adjusted his order. The tenth corps used to be under his command and therefore should be the most obedient and loyal.
Shangguan Ru and several others were still standing guard at the door of the tent and knew nothing about what was going on outside, but all of them had drawn their sabers and swords, staying attentive.
Gu Shenwei pushed the person he had dragged out to Fang Wenshi before rushing straight to Shangguan Ru. ”Get on the Flame Foal and return to camp now.”
”What about you guys…?”
”Do not argue with me. The soldiers of the Land of Fragrance must be kept safe.”
Shangguan Ru nodded and walked towards the Flame Foal outside the tent.
”Old Man Mu, go with her.” Gu Shenwei appointed her a bodyguard.
”Ah?” Old Man Mu was a bit reluctant to do so. Between having an opportunity to kill someone and a chance to save someone, he still preferred the former.
”Let me protect my sister,” volunteered Shangguan Fei. He made the choice opposite of Old Man Mu's.
”No. Old Man Mu is light and won't affect the speed of the Flame Foal.”
Never had he expected that he would be refused at such a critical moment because of his body weight. Shangguan Fei was even wishing that he was the one who had practiced the so-called Seven Rotation Skills.
Shangguan Ru mounted the horse as Old Man Mu stood behind her; one was reluctant to part with her acquaintances while the other was unwilling to leave the emerging scuffle behind.
All of them, including Red Bat who had no internal energy, Lianqing who wanted to keep to his precept of no-killing, the five faithful guards, and the feeble military counselor, had reasons to want to flee this place. When she looked at them, Shangguan Ru felt that she was acting in bad faith.
”You are the instructor of the Land of Fragrance,” Gu Shenwei said as he patted the horse's hind. The Flame Foal, long impatient, leaped out and darted past several quickly-moving soldiers in the blink of an eye.
Only Shangguan Ru could quickly gather all of the female soldiers of the Land of Fragrance together to break out of the siege before the news of the murder of King Riyao became widespread.
”The gate seems to be closing,” said Shangguan Fei bitterly, who wished that he was the one sitting on the Flame Foal.
Gu Shenwei leaped to the top of the tent and gazed out towards the gate. Sure enough, a group of soldiers was pushing two huge wooden doors to close the camp.
Someone shot out a hidden arrow, but Gu Shenwei easily caught it and threw it on the ground, his eyes still fixed on the matchless red horse.
It was only a dozen paces away from the gate now. Old Man Mu acted when the gate was about to close. Like a stone fired from a slingshot, Old Man Mu flew over Shangguan Ru's head and landed in front of the gate before the Flame Foal had reached it.
Gu Shenwei could no longer see the situation clearly. From where he stood, it looked like the gate had completely closed but the red horse had also disappeared.
He didn't jump down right away and instead continued looking around. Not far from the gate, a thousand fear-driven silver-armored soldiers were fighting a bloody battle. Their advantage was that their bows were prepared and there was no need to string them. But their weakness was that there were too few of them and they had no commander. They had separated into into groups of dozens of people, each trying to fight their own way out in different directions like fishes that had jumped ashore and were flopping around, waiting to be slaughtered.
Thirty percent of the Court Attendants Army was stationed outside and the rest had remained in the camp. It was these seventy-thousand people who had been observing a silent vigil for the former commandant. Most of them didn't attend the siege of the Dragon King but they had also refused to set up the flag after the new commandant was elected. Now, however, they all acted.
Like the Silver-armored Army, the Court Attendants Army was also leaderless. But everyone seemed to know what they needed to do. Encircling the Silver-armored Army, closing the gates of the camp, and barricading the main passages of the camp. They acted as meticulous and organized as if they were carrying out a carefully planned drill.
The generals and officers had been busy electing the new commandant all night. Who had instigated the soldiers to do what they were doing? Gu Shenwei felt a bit uneasy and was very glad that he had made a prompt decision to have Shangguan Ru escape from the camp. Those one thousand female archers were the only trusted army he trusted on the prairie. Without them, he would have nothing left.
Gu Shenwei jumped back onto the ground.
”How is it?” Shangguan Fei asked nervously.
”The whole camp is mutinying. King Riyao's guards were just more unlucky than us.” Gu Shenwei walked to the counselor.
King Riying looked a bit bewildered and felt that the Dragon King was making a fuss by dragging him all the way here. He turned to look at the soldiers and officers hurrying by and said, ”It doesn't seem that serious.”
King Riying had shown his clever side before but he had also inherited the prevalent weakness of the royal family of the Norland: taking their status as royalty for granted and sometimes neglecting the signs of treachery even when it was right under their nose.
Gu Shenwei had observed the soldiers all night and was perhaps the only person in the camp who was interested in the silence of the soldiers. From the silence he felt a suppressed anger and resentment that seethed beneath the surface like a volcano right before it erupted.
When the thousands of soldiers surrounded him, he thought that he had been mistaken because soldiers who were easily instigated couldn't amass much power. What happened later showed that most of the soldiers were still languishing in anger.