Back after they defeat the horde
Cao Yuntai gathered all soldiers that chose to remain in the fort, "Just like you already know, I am going to join the empire. I am here not to convince you guys to follow me, but I am just going to tell you that you should never pin all your hopes in our country!"
His words caused a commotion between the soldiers. How could a soldier speak like that to the nation he had served for years, "What did you mean by that? You said you are not going to convince, what's this about?" One of the soldiers spoke up.
"You were my comrades, and of course, I want you to have a good future in this bleak era! I am not saying to you to leave or betray the country you love, but you have to accept the reality. Does our country still exist? Does the country once we commit to protecting and love still exist?" Cao Yuntai delivered a question that could not be answered by the soldiers.
"Not only you are trying to convince us to defect, but you are also cursing our country to perish, you ungrateful b*stard!" A soldier pointed his finger at Cao Yuntai, but the latter was not angry at all. An extreme follower would always exist, he completely understood why the soldier was angry at him.
"Just accept the reality, does our country still exist? I don't know, you don't know, but one thing is certain. The central government never came to rescue us even after over two months the disaster struck," when Cao Yuntai reached this point, the furious soldier stiffened all of sudden.
On the outside, they chose to believe their strong country was still standing. They believed the military power they were proud of would come to the rescue. They believed they could rebuild the country amidst the disaster.
However, deep inside, fear slowly crept out to reach their belief. The fear that their country had fallen in this disaster. The strong belief they had for the military they were proud of slowly wavered.
"As you can see, an independent force such as Tang Empire and The Flame Castle was formed, but where's our country all this time? You should know by now that the chance of the country has fallen is quite high! I am here to tell you that you should not pin all your hope into something that uncertain like that!"
Captain Cao scanned the soldiers slowly before he continued, "I have a wife, and I have a daughter. I don't want them to suffer just because of my foolish belief. As you already know, our camp has an issue of shortage of food. Staying and waiting blindly like that is not the solution. We resorted to stealing from the empire who now protected us from the monster. If this continues, we will become a bandit in the military uniform for food!"
"Do you know what that means? It means we will sully the name that we always respected. Rather than doing that, I prefer to keep those beautiful memories in the military as it is and start a new journey with the empire. That's why I choose to join the empire, it's for my family, and it's for my belief as well."
"What I want is for you to not bet your lives on something uncertain. I wish my comrades to live well, you should not wait for the government to rescue us but we have to grab our chance to live! You can join the Flame Castle or maybe there are more groups outside there, you can join them if you think they are good for you! That's all, I just want you to have a good life, and maybe we still can work together if you look at the empire favorably like me," Cao Yuntai smiled at the soldiers.
"That's it, I am no longer your captain now," after the long speech, Cao Yuntai dropped his shoulder. He was so relaxed, it was as if a huge load of the burden was being released from his shoulder, "Woah, this will make me look irresponsible, but this is so relieving. I don't have to be responsible for your bastards' lives anymore! Hahaha…"
He turned around as he laughed hard. He was now a free man as he would take a new identity, no longer a soldier, but a warrior from the empire, "They don't call it Warrior…"
"It's Tarrior, and don't think you will be free from responsible, Captain! We are joining as well!" Fan Rui ran next to him and grinned at the older man, "I am not your captain anymore, stop it!" Cao Yuntai shook his head.
"You might not be a captain, but I do believe you will be chosen to organize all of us!" Fan Rui pulled Cao Yuntai's shoulder to show him how many soldiers followed him. Cao Yuntai's mouth opened wide when he saw most of the soldiers following him.
From the eighty-nine soldiers, twenty soldiers were hesitating while the remaining sixty-nine were following him. Cao Yuntai was not expecting that the soldiers who had been fighting with him were planning to join the empire as well.
"From my understanding of how they are working, they will appoint a captain to lead the new members, and I am sure you will be appointed as a temporary captain for all of us," Fan Rui grinned at the older man.
"If you guys join the empire because of me, you don't have to…" Captain Cao thought his subordinates were following him, but he received a blunt answer straight to his heart, "I am not following you, Captain Cao. I have planned to join the empire after this portal is over, but since you take the first initiative, I am joining now too!" A soldier replied straightforwardly. Yes, everyone who had fought together with Tang Shaoyang was planning to join the empire after the portal was over. However, Captain Cao's declaration caught them off guard, and also gave them the courage to follow as well.
Cao Yuntai smiled and turned around. He was heading toward the food shop. Before Wei Xi went to the northern forest, his friend told him to meet General Zhang, and he was informed that General Zhang was near the Food Shop.
Zhang Mengyao was indeed having her meal with Kang Xue and her family. Kang Jiayi, Mu Liqiu, Kang Zian, Huo Hongmei, and Kang Xue were eating at one table with her. She had finished her meal and was conversing with Kang Xue's sister-in-law, but then she noticed a big group was approaching them.
'Wei Xi told me that Captain Cao and his subordinates will come to me, they really come,'
"They really come," Kang Xue blurted as she noticed the soldiers were coming toward them, "You already know?" Zhang Mengyao looked toward Kang Xue.
"Mnn, Wei Xi told Shaoyang that he was going to persuade the soldiers to join our faction, but I didn't expect they would come this fast," Kang Xue nodded while finishing the Soft Bread in her hand.
Captain Cao and the other soldiers stopped next to the table, "General Zhang, I am–"
Zhang Mengyao cut in before he could finish his words, "I don't like the formality, let's save that for a formal occasion. Do you need something, Captain Cao?"
'Tsk, Shaoyang truly affects me in many ways,' if it was her before meeting with Tang Shaoyang, she would not do this. But after associating with the man, she found formality like this to be troublesome.
"We wish to join the empire!" Since the opposite party wanted him to make it simple, he expressed his purpose with a short and straightforward sentence. Wei Xi told him that there should be no problem for him joining the empire.
"Hehhh," Zhang Mengyao did not immediately accept Captain Cao and his subordinate, she looked at him with an interest, "I thought you did not like us, you regarded us as a traitor for establishing the empire, why all of sudden you want to join us?" She probed them despite the head ups from Wei Xi.
Even though they were looking forward to recruiting the soldiers, she was not going to accept them just because they wanted to join. She wanted to know their motives for joining the empire.
Captain Cao was caught off guard, this was not as easy as Wei Xi told him to. His friend said he would be directly accepted, 'Is it another test? Nah, who cares? I just need to tell her honestly.'
"Family, because of our family. Wei Xi told me that the empire will provide food, lodging, and more benefits for the Tarrior. But what I want is for my daughter to have a safe place to grow up. This is why I want to join the empire!" Captain Cao expressed his honest thoughts.
"Ohho, Tarrior huh!?" She scanned Captain Cao and the soldiers behind him, "Just informing you, to become a Tarrior you have to pass our evaluation first. You can't join the Tarrior just because you want to,"
"I am willing to be tested!" Captain Cao replied resolutely.
"We are willing!" The remaining soldiers followed after him.
"Good, but we are in the battle, so I am not going to evaluate you guys now. All of you can join the empire as a normal member, but I have to warn you before you can be accepted as one of us!" Zhang Mengyao's relaxed expression turned solemn in the matter of a second.
"First of all, we have a rule that Death Penalty is the punishment for the traitor! If one day a faction in the name of our country appears and you leave the empire to join them, we will regard you as a traitor. We will hunt you down! Trust me, our leader is crazy enough to chase after the traitor even if you run the end of the world!"
"If you want to take us as a temporary shelter, I advise you to not join. If you are just following your comrade to join, I advise you to rethink twice before you make the decision! I am asking you once again, are you still willing to join the empire?" Zhang Mengyao raised her voice, stern, and firm which shook the soldiers.
She was telling them that once they joined the empire, their fate would be interlinked with the empire. Joining the empire was a one-way ticket, you could not leave once you become a part of them.
When the soldiers heard that, murmurs broke up between the soldiers. They did not know there was such a rule, now they were hesitating. However, there was one man who did not hesitate, Fan Rui raised his hand and yelled, "I am willing!"
Zhang Mengyao smiled toward Fan Rui, "What's your name, soldier?"
"Fan Rui, Ma'am!" As soon as the man replied, a pop-out notification appeared in front of his eyes.
[You have received an invitation to join Tang Empire! Accept/Reject?]