246 A Blade Hangs From The Sky! (1/2)
The tall man, acting as the leader, said, ”It’s not that the brothers are unwilling to serve the nation, it’s just that…” He sighed and said, ”There’s no need for the pension in the form of silver taels. We brothers will be forever grateful for Marshal Tie’s order today. We bid you farewell.”
As he finished his words, he brought his brothers out of the military base.
The four hundred and seventy-one men who had chosen to start over from the bottom stood quietly, using their stares to send their comrades, who had opted to leave, away.
Just like Tie Zheng had said, those who stayed had no regrets, while those who left harbored no shame – everything was a personal choice stemming from individual intentions!
Tie Zheng redirected his gaze to the ex-leader of the janissaries, the latter straightening up and said, ”Do not blame us, Marshal Tie. We, as Marshal Yang’s janissaries, will be uneasy even when the entire northern troop won’t be dissatisfied at Marshal Tie if Marshal Tie were to take us in as your janissaries. We’re willing to kill the enemies and bathe in their blood, we don’t mind starting over again. Actually, it’s more than enough for us as long as we can still fight on the battlefield.”
Tie Zheng sighed; he knew the implied meaning behind the janissary head's words.
Although he had stated clearly that these janissaries were not involved in the conspiracy against the Nine Supremes and should not be accused nor punished, Yutang’s army and the rest of their comrades had no idea of the reason within. If they saw that the janissaries who had followed a traitor were now serving the new marshal of the northern troop, how could they not feel resentment?
Oh, so those who had committed mistakes could still enjoy their initial privilege – there was simply no such reason!
”Alright, I respect your individual choices.”
Tie Zheng said, ”All of you collect your booklet later, you’re all to start over from the lowest rank in your military status. I shall reiterate this – we are to go through the journey in the future together and not speak of the past!”
”From now on, the northern troop bears the name of Tie!”
Tie Zheng’s chin was slightly raised, his tone soft but firm as he said, ”Pass on my command, the northern troop shall set up a training camp. Double up the original training content of the northern troop!”
”Expand the training base of the northern troop at once!”
”I want to see thirty thousand trained men joining the war at the northern border within a month. If the replacement troops do not achieve the war requirements, the training leader shall be executed!”
”For any commotion that happens within the northern troop base in Yutang, the main generals shall all be executed without exception.”
”Mobilize a ten thousand-men army to follow me towards the northern border tomorrow!”
”I, Tie Zheng, shall subdue the northern border of the empire, and I will not return without victory!”
…
On the afternoon of that day, Tie Zheng patrolled the area of the northern troop base for the first time, gathering the higher ranked generals together for a briefing.
Later that night, the eastern troop assembled one thousand men according to the list of names Tie Zheng had requested and sent them to report to the northern troop immediately. They were then deployed home to reunite with their families.
The next morning when dawn had just arrived, Tie Zheng led ten thousand soldiers to officially make their way towards the northern border.
It was also the third fraction of the same night that seventeen of the twenty-nine men who had been Yang Botao’s janissaries slit their own throats in front of the ruins of what had been the marshal’s residence.
The whereabouts of the other twelve men were unknown.
If Yang Botao had died a wrongful death or from any other reasons, the people who would die in the same way as his seventeen janissaries might only increase in number.
On the other hand, if Yang Botao’s treason and betrayal of the Nine Supremes were true, then there would only be these seventeen men who perished here.
Even then, these seventeen corpses who stood straight had still stirred some agitation up in the capital city.
Qiu Jianhan had personally given the order to bury them in elaborate funerals, sighing, ”Such good men, yet this is their end. It’s a pity. Sigh, no matter what reason it was for Yang Botao to have harmed the Nine Supremes, his achievement as a troop’s marshal has indeed been impressive.”
…
Back in the afternoon where Yun Yang had chased after Yang Botao all the way out of Tiantang City.
Initially, Yun Yang had thought that the unearthing of Yang Botao’s betrayal towards the Nine Supremes and his act of treason would render him useless to the Four Seasons Tower, as they could no longer utilize his skills. Be it inside or out, there was no chance of him coming out unscathed, whether it was to Yutang, Four Seasons Tower, Nine Supremes, or Yun Yang himself – death was the only way out.
In spite of this, the Four Seasons Tower’s combat repertoire had lent a helping hand unexpectedly. The many experts of the seventh peak and above who had died in this combat were all because of Yang Botao. It was unreasonable, defying the Four Seasons Tower’s normal code of conduct.
Unless… Yang Botao had something about him that neither he nor the Empire of Yutang knew about. It would be unknown if such a feature was about his status, background, origin, or regarding something confidential, but since it was worthy of the Four Seasons Tower’s attention – then where Yang Botao was about to go next must be some sort of base for the Four Seasons Tower! That would be what Yun Yang would value, so how could he miss it?
As Yun Yang maneuvered both his manifestations of wind and cloud, it looked like a chilling breeze rushing after the clouds in the sky but it was actually Yun Yang’s cloud form moving by himself as the wind followed rapidly.
It was also due to this that Yun Yang realized the answer to a question he was previously stumped by.