Chapter 240: Chapter 238: Protecting the Nation, Protecting the People_1
Chapter 240: Chapter 238: Protecting the Nation, Protecting the People_1
“Is it funny?” Bai Qingyan raised her eyebrows; her anger was nearly uncontrollable.
Her grandfather, father, uncles, and brothers, along with hundreds of thousands of Bai family soldiers who protected the people with their lives, were they to be humiliated like a joke?!
The Centurion was kicked back repeatedly. After standing firm, he clasped his hands and bowed, not daring to look up, his fists clenched tightly, knuckles turning white.
Bai Qingyan kicked again, raising her voice: “Is it funny to humiliate a woman?!”
The Centurion hadn’t yet stood firm when another kick came, directly knocking him to the ground.
“Is it funny to bully the weak?!”
The Centurion stood firm again, clasping his hands and bowing, gritting his teeth without making a sound.
Wang Xiping arrived upon hearing the news. Hearing Bai Qingyan’s furious voice, he quickly shouted: “General Bai… General Bai!”
Wang Xiping squeezed through the crowd, glared at his subordinate, and then clasped his hands in salute to Bai Qingyan, saying: “General Bai, please calm down. I’ve heard about the situation! It is Du Sanbao’s fault! But, you know… Du Sanbao beheaded two Xiliang generals during the Wengshan battle, achieving great merit. It’s natural he got carried away. Fortunately, it was just teasing a civilian girl and did not cause any major harm. General Bai, please pardon him this once!”
Seeing Bai Qingyan’s face growing increasingly grim, Wang Xiping hurriedly said: “General Bai, rest assured, I will definitely make Du Sanbao properly apologize to this girl! Du Sanbao, what are you standing there for?!”
The Centurion Du Sanbao stepped forward and bowed towards Ji Langhua: “Sorry!”
“General Bai, what do you think… could you let it go?” Wang Xiping always protected his own.
Bai Qingyan tightly gripped the sword at her waist, holding back the anger surging in her chest. Her cold gaze fell upon Du Sanbao, who was showing a hint of glee, and she exuded a murderous aura, intimidating: “According to General Wang, in the Jin Army… soldiers can perform meritorious deeds to cover up their mistakes. So, today, I will execute this Centurion right here. General Wang, with my victory in the Southern Frontier, can I not kill him?”
Du Sanbao broke into a sweat and knelt down upon hearing this. Bai Qingyan was known as the God of Slaughter, who even dared to kill surrendered soldiers. He turned to Wang Xiping: “General Wang, I know my mistake! General Wang, save me, I am your soldier!”
“You eat the grain provided by the people of Jin! You receive the taxes paid by the people of Jin! Look into your conscience and ask yourself, whose soldier are you?!” Bai Qingyan’s voice was sonorous. “The purpose of a nation’s military is to protect the country and its people! For soldiers… it is their duty to bravely kill the enemy! Rewarding merits… granting titles, is it so that you can use these merits to humiliate your own people?!”
Wang Xiping opened his mouth…
“Where are the Bai family soldiers?!” Bai Qingyan gritted her teeth and shouted.
The injured Bai family soldiers, who had been watching the commotion at the door, immediately stepped forward, clasping their hands in salute.
“Seeing someone insult the people of the Jin Kingdom, you, as elite soldiers of the Bai family, just stood by?” Bai Qingyan asked.
The injured Bai family soldiers opened their mouths to explain but, realizing they had indeed stood by, found themselves without a defense.
“Have you all forgotten why our hundreds of thousands of Bai family brothers died?” She tightly gripped the sword, her burning gaze sweeping over the injured Bai family soldiers. “Just months ago, Fengcheng was besieged. The Vice Commander’s Bai family soldiers fought to hold off the enemy and help Fengcheng’s people escape. They died in battle without retreating! General Bai Qingyu led 1,500 elite soldiers of the Bai family to battle, fighting to give the people a chance at life, dying without leaving any remains! General Bai Qingming led his troops defending Feng County to the death! These Bai family brothers all died in battle, none survived! Why?!”
The military camp fell silent.
The flames in the fire basin flickered wildly in the wind, reflecting Bai Qingyan’s extremely dark face in flashes.
Bai Qingyan’s voice rose with anger, with an imposing momentum: “Four words, to protect the country, to protect the people!”
Ji Langhua clutched the cloak in her arms tightly, crying out in pain.
She remembered Bai Qingming dismounting with a leap, wrapping her in this cloak, and saying…
If she could, Ji Langhua would willingly descend into the eighteenth level of hell to bring back General Bai Qingming.
She gritted her teeth: “Today, the people whom Marshal Generals down to our comrades of the Bai family soldiers sacrificed their lives to protect stand before your very eyes! Yet, you watched as our Jin people were humiliated! Can you face the dead Bai family brothers, worthy of being called Bai family soldiers?!”
“This Miss Ji is the daughter of an official in Feng County. Grateful for the Bai family soldiers saving her life, knowing we are fighting fiercely to protect the people, she came from Feng County just to use her medical skills to save more injured soldiers protecting the nation! Even a weak woman knows to risk her life to repay the kindness! But you? How have you treated the benefactor who bandaged and treated you?”
“I know my mistake!” An injured Wufu Zhang of the Bai family soldiers, with tears in his eyes, knelt on one knee, “Willing to accept punishment!”
“I know my mistake, willing to accept punishment!”
“I know my mistake, willing to accept punishment!”
The injured Bai family soldiers all admitted their mistakes and willingly accepted punishment.
“Whoever knows their mistake, go and receive fifty lashes! Those who don’t know, once healed, can leave on their own! Those who do not protect the people are unworthy of being soldiers! The people, whom hundreds of thousands of Bai family brothers and Jin Army comrades protect with blood and lives, are forever more important than our lives. No one can ever look down upon or trample them!”
The injured Bai family soldiers responded in unison.
“As for you…” Bai Qingyan picked up Ji Langhua’s veil from the ground and said to Du Sanbao, who was kneeling there not daring to lift his head, “Either take off your uniform and go home to farm, or receive eighty military sticks, this time losing all your military achievements and starting as an ordinary soldier! I remember your name… Du Sanbao! General Wang Xiping, I, Bai Qingyan, don’t tolerate negligence. I will inform General Zhang Duanrui of his name. If you want to protect him, you better bear the consequences.”
Wang Xiping, sweating profusely, quickly clasped his hands in agreement.
He looked up, watching Bai Qingyan help Ji Langhua up and walk into the tent. His heart was filled with mixed feelings.
He had overestimated himself. Wang Xiping had heard of the Bai family’s strict military discipline but thought that fighting alongside Bai Qingyan earned him some favor, so he came to plead, hoping Bai Qingyan would give him face!
Wang Xiping was not an unreasonable person. Although Bai Qingyan had just put him in his place and her words were directed at the Bai family soldiers, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of emotion.
Didn’t everyone have a burning passion to protect the country when they first joined the army?
But all these years, it was always the Bai family soldiers fighting on the front lines. The Jin Army, living in comfort, enjoying the limelight, had long been . Over time… Wang Xiping and the Jin Army generals and soldiers gradually forgot their original intent.
Wang Xiping’s hand behind his back tightened slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Du Sanbao standing up with clenched teeth and asked, “Why, you still dissatisfied?!”