Chapter 631: Discovered
There were a few bonfires burning in the open space in the middle of the military camp. Soldiers were sitting around the bonfires, roasting meat. There were not many left, so it could be seen that the gathering was coming to an end.
A few generals sat together. They did not drink, but their expressions were a little gloomy.
Qi Haoran didn’t get too close, but his expression wasn’t good either. He turned around and brought his men back to the main road. After resting for a while, he headed to the military camp an hour earlier than usual.
He narrowed his eyes and looked ahead. Although the scouts were stealthy, he still discovered the lookouts. Furious, Qi Haoran rushed towards the military camp.
Perhaps nobody expected him to arrive early. Although the military camp had been cleaned up, there was still a faint smell of meat and alcohol in the air.
Qi Haoran nodded without batting an eyelid and said to the few generals who came forward, “I’ll go and watch you train your troops later.”
The generals complained incessantly in their hearts. During this period of time, Qi Haoran had been focused on the East Camp and the West Camp. Why did he suddenly come to the Central Camp?
Qi Xiuyuan had assigned 200,000 troops to him, but they were actually a mix of bandits and rebels. Qi Haoran was tasked to train them. After training them, half of them would be divided to suppress the borders and the other half would be sent elsewhere. The most important thing was to train the bandit leaders and rebel leaders who followed him because it was easy to recruit a thousand soldiers, but difficult to get one general.
Now that those bandit leaders and rebel leaders had been conferred the title of general, if they were allowed to still be so unrestrained and disobey orders, would Great Qi be a stronghold or a country?
Naturally, the 200,000-strong army could not be put together. Since the entire Qiannan was so big, Qi Haoran trained everyone for two months and divided the army into three battalions in the east, central, and west. Among them, the Central Camp had the largest number of people, up to 100,000. They were stationed in Ju Prefecture.
Initially, he thought that the Central Camp was right under his nose, so he only placed his attention on the generals under him. He wanted to take care of the East and West Camps first and implement their training plan. However, it seemed that he had overestimated himself and underestimated the stubbornness of these bandits. To think they dared to play so many tricks under his nose. What if they were farther away from him?
Qi Haoran was a little worried, not knowing if the East and West Camps also had such a problem.
After informing them, Qi Haoran entered his tent, while Fei Bai hurriedly went down to prepare breakfast. As the Prince had shown up early in the morning, no one had eaten breakfast yet.
The generals hurriedly stopped him and asked him in a low voice why the Prince was here so early today.
As they spoke, a banknote was stuffed into Fei Bai’s hand. Fei Bai lowered his eyes and quietly stuffed the banknote into his sleeve. Looking around, he said, “His Highness and Her Highness quarreled, so he left the house before dawn today. He didn’t even eat breakfast and is in a bad mood these few days. Generals, be careful.”
How could he possibly be in a good mood? No one would feel happy being fooled by their subordinates like this.
The bandit generals had also witnessed how loving the Prince and Princess Consort were during this period of time. With a sigh, they left with their heads drooping. They finally found the time to relax during the night, but they didn’t have the chance anymore. Geez, why did the Princess Consort have to quarrel with the Prince for no reason?
When Fei Bai brought in the breakfast, he took out the banknotes for Qi Haoran, then told him what had happened in a low voice. Qi Haoran said with a dark expression, “You can keep the banknotes. In the future, just keep whatever they give you. Get someone to bring a letter to the Princess Consort and tell her about what happened here. Don’t let her expose the lie. Since we’ve ‘quarreled’, I’ll stay in the military camp for the next few days.”
Fei Bai hurriedly agreed. Seeing that Qi Haoran’s expression was sullen, he respectfully retreated.
Qi Haoran’s expression did not look good the entire day. Since Fei Bai had already found an excuse for him, he could not be bothered to hide it and went to watch everyone practice with a dark expression.
Fei Bai wiped the sweat off his forehead. Fortunately, he was smart enough to tell them in advance that the Prince and the Princess Consort had quarreled. Otherwise, wouldn’t the subordinates suspect what was going on?
The few generals below were also wiping their cold sweat. Last night, everyone had caused a ruckus for half the night. The lowest-ranking soldiers were still fine, but the soldiers ranked regiment commander and above were all in low spirits. Even they felt a little listless now. Strangely, they didn’t feel anything even if they didn’t sleep for three days and three nights during a war. Why were they so tired after just not sleeping for a night? The orders went wrong one after another, and Qi Haoran’s expression became darker and darker. It was simply comparable to the bottom of a pot.
In the end, Qi Haoran snatched the command flag and raised it high in the air. He shouted, “All soldiers, listen up. Split into the east and west camps and practice battle!”
The lowest-ranking soldiers were not qualified to participate in the officers’ revelry, but during this period of time, they had also relaxed a lot and had not focused enough on their training. Qi Haoran’s orders could not be disobeyed, but even so, they still defeated the West Camp commanded by the few generals beside them.
This time, the generals were trembling with fear.
Qi Haoran waved his hand and ordered, “All soldiers will be led by their platoon commanders to practice.” As he turned to look at the generals, he said, “Follow me.”
As soon as they entered the middle tent, Qi Haoran’s cold gaze landed on their faces. “Do you treat this place as a mountain stronghold or a military camp?”
The hearts of the generals skipped a beat, thinking that they had been discovered. Qi Haoran flew into a rage and said, “It’s just ordinary training, and you guys put up such a performance? Are you planning to sacrifice the lives of all our soldiers on the battlefield?”
“What are generals? Generals lead! But do you think you’re leading or harming them? This is Qiannan, the border between the northwest and southwest. In the future, our soldiers will have to guard the two borders and deal with possible rebellions by the Miao people. Is this how you train your soldiers?” Qi Haoran scolded. “If you don’t have the ability, take off your uniform and go home to farm. I don’t have so many lives for you to torture! This is a military camp of the Imperial Court, not a bandit’s nest. Since you’re on the government’s payroll, you have to serve the Emperor with all your hearts. You can’t go f*ck as you please, or muddle through life living off your existing gold, silver, and treasures. You have to protect your family and the people, not just do whatever makes you happy!”
Qi Haoran couldn’t help but curse. “Damn it!”
If not for the fact that he was afraid that the military camp would be in chaos, based on his past temper, these people would have been dismissed and investigated even if he did not have them killed. However, these were all bandit leaders and rebel leaders who had submitted to him. Although the 200,000-strong army had been scattered, they were all from similar backgrounds. Qi Haoran did not have the confidence to kill the soldiers under them and not cause a rebellion.
Thus, he could only endure this anger for the time being.
Although the generals standing below were unconvinced, they did not dare to argue at this moment.
Qi Haoran was even angrier when he saw that they lowered their heads and didn’t speak, but their backs were straight and stubborn. A dark glint flashed across his eyes, and he said with a smile, “Do you think the military camp is very boring and not as fun as your stockade? Pass down the order. All troops, open the arena. Previously, I taught you how to train troops in the military camp. Today, I’ll teach you how we usually play!”
The generals intuitively felt that something was wrong, but at this moment, a simple-minded person had already agreed loudly. That simple-minded person even said with a smile loudly, “General, I’ve long felt suffocated. In the past, when I was in the mountain stronghold, I would go down the mountain from time to time. Even if not, there were women for us to play with. Unlike now, I can only stay in the military camp and only go home every few days. This suffocating feeling is almost making me sick.”
Qi Haoran smiled and his voice suddenly became gentle. “Don’t worry, I won’t let you guys be bored this time.”
No matter how naive that person was, he could sense that something was wrong.
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