Chapter 568: 278 Abusing Scum (Second Update) Chapter 568: 278 Abusing Scum (Second Update) Today, the sky was bleak.
The soldiers of Tiger Mountain Camp had finished their morning drills, arraying themselves massively on their training grounds.
Tang Ming rode his horse, strutting with pride, passing in front of each squad.
Adjacent to him, Vice General Hu followed on his own horse, a bit behind by half a horse length.
In terms of rank, both of them were Fifth-rank officers; however, when it came to experience, Vice General Hu had far more than the newly appointed Tang Ming.
But who can deny Tang Ming’s advantage? His uncle was the Grand Marshal, after all.
Tang Ming was gallant enough on his own, rising from Colonel to Vice General in just a few days. Perhaps it wouldn’t be long before he would be a full-fledged general.
Vice General Hu didn’t dare to offend this little lord.
“What’s wrong with the formation of those men?” Tang Ming halted his steed, pointing to the last squad. “They’re standing askew. Are they even capable of standing straight? What use does the Military Camp have for such waste?”
Vice General Hu broke out in a cold sweat, weren’t they standing straight enough already?
The squad consisted entirely of former Gu Family soldiers. The Old Marquis Gu had a feud with the Grand Marshal years ago. When the Gu Family soldiers were incorporated under his command, some generals, looking down upon them, had made things difficult for the Gu Family soldiers.
After Tang Ming joined the camp, he didn’t hide his suppression of the Gu Family soldiers at all.
Just moment he commanded:”Everyone else is dismissed, those men stay. Continue to stand until I am satisfied!”
“…” Vice General Hu waved at the guard next to him, “Don’t you hear the order?”
“Yes, sir.” The guard conveyed Tang Ming’s order.
Everyone was accustomed to this, they cast a sympathetic glance at those men and went to the dining hall to have breakfast.
Those men had to stand for the whole morning. By the time the combat competition started, they hadn’t had breakfast. But now they definitely wouldn’t be allowed to eat. Even if they were allowed, the dining hall would have already been cleared up.
Vice General Hu couldn’t help but feel that Tang Ming was a bit too harsh today. He had been difficult before, but he had never made people go hungry on such an important day.
What if this happened on the battlefield? Would he starve his soldiers before the battle?
Vice General Hu felt puzzled, but he dared not say a word.
There were two arenas in the Military Camp, a large and a small one.
The large arena was generally only used for the annual combat competition. Today, they were using the small arena.
The combat competition was a long-standing tradition in the camp, originally meant to boost morale and select talents. Each time, there was a prize of ten tael of silver for the champion.
Most of the soldiers were from peasant families, they longed for the silver, but they craved even more to be noticed by the generals.
The reason why Vice General Hu took notice of Zhou Erzhuang, Xue Ningxiang’s uncle, was because Zhou Erzhuang had defeated a formidable sergeant in the arena.
The competition started.
Tang Ming, Vice General Hu, and the other Tiger Mountain Camp generals sat in the temporary grandstand facing the arena.
Unexpectedly, the first person to enter the arena was Gu Changqing.
Dressed in a dark brocade robe, with the Qingxuan Longsword in hand, Gu Changqing stood firm on the stage under the open sky.
The area where Gu Changqing had previously beaten Tang Ming was still aching, Tang Ming narrowed his eyes coldly: “What’s going on? Why is Lieutenant Colonel Gu on the stage?”
Indeed, why was Gu Changqing competing in the arena?
Was this level of competition worthy of his attention?
In the early years, the competition used to be initiated by the general officers. The officers would fight first and then turn the arena over to the rest of the soldiers. But as the military tradition evolved, the officers felt that winning did not glorify them but losing would make them lose face, so they gradually withdrew from the competition.
But this was Gu Changqing’s first time on the stage.
Standing against the wind, his jade crown holding his hair, his robe whipping in the wind, he exuded unyielding valor!
For a long time, no one dared to step up.
Then, Gu Changqing started to cherrypick his opponents. Being a Lieutenant Colonel, as long as he didn’t choose someone with a higher rank than himself, nobody could refuse.
The first name he called was Pu Peng.
Pu Peng was one of Tang Ming’s subordinates.
Gu Changqing didn’t give Tang Ming any face, defeating Pu Peng in one move and knocking him off the stage.
After that, Gu Changqing continuously singled out seventeen or eighteen of Tang Ming’s men, all of them were defeated in one stroke.
By this point, Tang Ming’s fists were clenched tightly.
If he couldn’t see that Gu Changqing was doing this on purpose, something was wrong.
Ha, was Gu Changqing trying to stand up for Gu Family’s soldiers, or was he seeking revenge for his half-brother?
Gu Changqing knocked down another one of Tang Ming’s henchmen. He didn’t even use his weapon.
He looked towards Tang Ming, his eyes full of provocation: “Is this the kind of soldier that Vice General Tang can produce? Trivial and insignificant.”