“Tell me, why exactly did you ask me to escort the prisoners to the army camp?” Not long after leaving Qingyang Town, Jiang Chen asked Chongxuan Sheng, who was covering the rear of the group.
The surrendered soldiers of the Jiacheng City Guard were extremely obedient, behaving themselves all along the way.
Fourteen was leading them at the front, followed closely by the densely packed mass of surrendered soldiers, while Jiang Chen and Chongxuan Sheng brought up the rear.
“To go see my uncle,” Chongxuan Sheng said.
“Your uncle is commanding the Qi army this time?” Jiang Chen was startled.
Since the Fierce Butcher had come out of retirement, there was no way he would serve as anyone’s deputy. Thus, with Chongxuan Chuliang in the army, it meant that he was the one directing this military campaign.
“You’ll know when we get there.” Chongxuan Sheng only smiled.
The fat man was never entirely honest, but Jiang Chen knew there was no chance of prying anything out of him, so he could only let it go for now.
He had just pushed open the Gate of Heaven and Earth, and he and Chongxuan Sheng still had plenty to discuss when it came to cultivation.
They chatted while exchanging small probes of strength, and time passed exceptionally quickly.
Although there were not many Transcendent soldiers among the Jiacheng City Guard, every one of them was strong and sturdy. They had also been tempered by military formations, so ordinary marching was no problem for them.
Chongxuan Sheng was even less inclined to worry about their stamina. He drove the surrendered soldiers onward at practically their maximum speed, taking them beyond the border.
Thanks to Chongxuan Chuliang’s connection, they encountered little resistance and went straight to the vicinity of the command camp.
Of course, before that, Chongxuan Sheng had already explained the situation to an officer in the camp, and that officer took charge of the surrendered Jiacheng City Guard soldiers.
Once they entered the main camp of the Autumn Slaughter Army, the Jiacheng soldiers dared even less to court death. Thus, though every one of them was utterly exhausted, they still followed the military orders properly.
Jiang Chen had visited the Maple City City Guard camp of the State of Zhuang many times. No matter how one looked at it, the Maple City City Guard could not be considered a weak force. Their performance during the calamity of the Bone Path had also been worthy of being called brave... though most of them had died in the earth disaster, without even getting a chance to form ranks and face the enemy.
At first glance, the Autumn Slaughter Army’s camp seemed much the same, at most with a larger territory and more soldiers.
But when he personally walked into that enormous camp and felt the military baleful aura that nearly suppressed the Dao essence in his body until it could barely move, Jiang Chen finally felt, deep in his bones, what a truly powerful army under heaven was.
A squad of soldiers escorted a group of people out.
Jiang Chen thought several of them looked familiar, as though he had seen them somewhere before, and asked, “Who are those people?”
Chongxuan Sheng glanced over at the sound of his voice.
“Oh, people from the Xi family.” He said it lightly. “They tried to leave the State of Yang, but we detained them.”
“And now...”
“Of course we’re killing them.” Chongxuan Sheng looked at Jiang Chen and smiled. “Wasn’t the Xi family trying to deal with you too?”
Jiang Chen felt extremely conflicted.
He naturally had no emotional ties to the Xi family, but he had personally witnessed how Xi Zichu struggled for that clan. He simply had not expected that, after escaping the punishment of the State of Yang, they would fall into the hands of the Qi army instead.
“Didn’t the Xi family leave long ago? They shouldn’t have anyone infected with the plague, right?” Jiang Chen asked.
The Xi family had withdrawn after gaining preliminary control over the Jiacheng plague. If anyone had been infected, they should not have taken them along.
“When the first plague victim with Transcendent power appeared, the State of Yang could no longer let a single person leave.” Chongxuan Sheng said, “Some people, including members of the Xi family, were captured and detained outside the borders. You don’t think our control over the State of Yang was limited to the moment our army reached its borders, do you?”
“Then why were they merely detained at the time, but are being killed now?”
“We have a justified cause for war, of course we can’t kill people from the State of Yang at random,” Chongxuan Sheng said.
Jiang Chen was speechless. “So what’s the justification now?”
“Colluding with Chu!” a voice rang out from ahead.
Jiang Chen looked up and saw Chongxuan Chuliang striding toward them.
Completely different from when Jiang Chen had seen him in Nanyao City, Chongxuan Chuliang in the army commanded awe without anger. His eyes were not sharp, yet they inexplicably made one’s spine break out in a cold sweat and left one struggling to breathe.
“Greetings, Marshal.”
Jiang Chen saluted properly before asking in surprise, “The Xi family colluded with Chu?”
Chongxuan Chuliang first glanced at Chongxuan Sheng, making the fat man lower his head like an ostrich, before saying to Jiang Chen, “Look, the Xi family head you killed was called Xi Zichu. Isn’t that the ‘son of Chu’? And there was a former family head named Xi Munan. Chu is in the Southern Region right now—what is he ‘admiring the south’ for?”
Jiang Chen: ...
This was an entirely fabricated crime. Although Chu was the hegemonic state of the Southern Region, geographically it should actually have been southwest of the State of Yang. “Admiring the south” was already an incredible stretch. Besides, it was absurd to make an issue of someone’s name in the first place.
There was no point in saying any of this. Chongxuan Chuliang was hardly the only person who advocated wiping out the roots; the Xi family was hardly the only clan to be exterminated.
Chongxuan Chuliang said they had colluded with Chu. Whether they had or not, they had.
It had nothing to do with Jiang Chen. There was nothing he could manage, nor did he intend to interfere.
It was just that...
“What about the surrendered soldiers I brought?” Jiang Chen asked Chongxuan Sheng.
Chongxuan Sheng’s eyes flickered. “Uh, well, in the end, it still depends on the army...”
Jiang Chen pressed him. “You can’t have me lure them here only for all nearly five thousand of them to be killed, can you?”
“You want this marshal to spare those people from the State of Yang?” Chongxuan Chuliang asked.
Jiang Chen and Chongxuan Sheng’s exchange had plainly been a test of Chongxuan Chuliang’s attitude. There was no way he had failed to see that, so he asked just as directly.
“I wouldn’t presume to comment on your military strategy, sir,” Jiang Chen said earnestly. “I’m speaking only of the more than four thousand surrendered Jiacheng City Guard soldiers I brought here.”
Chongxuan Chuliang asked blandly, “Your reason?”
Chongxuan Sheng took a few steps between them, wanting to say something, but Chongxuan Chuliang sent him back with a single look.
He had no choice but to turn around and repeatedly signal to Jiang Chen with his eyes.
“They are my prisoners,” Jiang Chen said.
“When I accepted their surrender, I promised them that surrender meant they would not be killed. I’m not a liar. I wasn’t one before, and I don’t want to become one later.”
Chongxuan Chuliang watched him quietly without saying a word.
He did not speak or make a single movement, nor did he release the slightest aura.
Yet that silent pressure was already almost enough to crush a person to the ground.
Only now did Jiang Chen truly feel the weight behind the name Fierce Butcher.
To say he was not nervous or uneasy would have been impossible.
But every word Jiang Chen had spoken was completely sincere.
Even if Chongxuan Chuliang insisted on killing them, Jiang Chen would have no way to stop him.
He regarded Chongxuan Sheng as a friend, and because of Chongxuan Sheng, he also regarded Chongxuan Chuliang as an elder.
But if Chongxuan Chuliang refused to respect his reputation, Jiang Chen could not let it pass. It would become a knot in his heart, a thorn lodged there.
People naturally differed in their personal moral standards, judgments of right and wrong, and even their views of the world. They did not need to be the same.
But respect mattered. It mattered a great deal.
“That is indeed true.” Chongxuan Sheng spoke up. “I said it in Qingyang Town: I accepted their surrender in my name, and they were quite willing to work for me. Didn’t they follow me all the way back to the army camp?”
He forced a smile at Chongxuan Chuliang. “Our Chongxuan family has never gone back on its word, either.”
Chongxuan Chuliang ignored his “performance” and simply watched Jiang Chen for a long time.
Seeing that Jiang Chen remained calm and unflinching, the corner of his mouth suddenly lifted into a smile. “You’re right. A person should keep his word. Little Sheng really ought to learn more from you. That good-for-nothing rascal of his... who knows who he takes after.”
“These people won’t be killed. Detain them for now and see where they can be sent for forced labor after the war.”
“Our Chongxuan family can’t take in such weak subordinates.”
The words sounded like both a warning and a rebuke, but they also preserved Jiang Chen’s dignity.
After saying this, Chongxuan Chuliang turned and left without waiting for Jiang Chen or Chongxuan Sheng to say anything else.