A thousand warhorses. The temptation was simply too great.
Their owner was merely a holder of an empty title without even a fief.
The allure was doubled, if not more.
To the nobles of Great Kang, Jin Feng at this moment was like a child walking down the street clutching a gold ingot.
The nobles of Great Kang were a horde of fat rats that the common people had fed for hundreds of years.
Greedy, yet cowardly.
When there was profit, they would swarm forward, scrambling over one another.
But upon discovering a strong opponent, they would immediately scatter in all directions.
Xue Henglu was the first noble to come probing.
If Jin Feng simply let him go without real consequence, more nobles would soon swarm in and tear him apart.
He had to act now, while few people yet knew of the situation, by making an example of one to warn the rest and deter the other nobles.
Jin Feng somewhat regretted acting too slowly earlier.
Now that Zhou Youda and the commoners all said it was not Xue Henglu who gave the order, killing Xue Henglu outright would be hard to justify.
Yet releasing Xue Henglu just like that was also impossible.
After thinking for a moment, Jin Feng turned to Zhang Liang and asked, “Brother Liang, under Great Kang military law, how are those who unauthorisedly storm a camp dealt with?”
“The ringleader receives thirty strokes of the staff! Followers receive twenty!” Zhang Liang answered quickly.
“Then let us proceed with that!” Jin Feng removed the black knife. “Start with this ringleader!”
“Men, fetch the military staffs!” Zhang Liang turned and shouted.
Two escorts turned and left, soon returning with two military staffs a full zhang in length.
Xue Henglu’s face immediately turned deathly pale with fear.
These military staffs were thicker than an arm. If truly applied to the buttocks, let alone thirty strokes, even three would leave him unable to walk for days.
He knew Jin Feng was determined to punish him. Begging Jin Feng would be useless. He scrambled up and kowtowed to the Ninth Princess, pleading, “Your Highness, save me!”
He was truly terrified.
The escorts carrying out the punishment would certainly show no mercy.
Thirty strokes of the military staff, and he might never stand again in his life!
The Ninth Princess opened her mouth, wanting to plead for Xue Henglu.
But seeing Jin Feng’s icy expression, she immediately abandoned the idea.
She had a premonition that if she spoke, she would definitely be scolded again.
It might even cause a complete rupture with Jin Feng.
Between Jin Feng and Xue Henglu, who was more important?
The Ninth Princess did not need to think. She unhesitatingly stood on Jin Feng’s side.
She turned her back, already beginning to calculate in her mind how to handle the aftermath if Xue Henglu were beaten to death.
Fortunately, Jin Feng had seized on the charge of storming the camp, giving the Ninth Princess some room to manoeuvre.
The Ninth Princess was now Xue Henglu’s only lifeline. Seeing her ignore him, he quickly crawled towards her, trying to grab her skirt.
But after crawling only a few steps, Qin’er blocked his path.
Zhang Liang beckoned with his hand. Two escorts ran over, each grabbing one of Xue Henglu’s legs and dragging him aside like a dog.
“Zhao Niudou, what are you standing there for? Hurry and lead men to save me!”
Xue Henglu, in desperation, roared at the Xiongwu Army.
The lieutenant named Zhao looked up at Xue Henglu, then at the escorts in formation before him. His mind waged an intense struggle.
If Xue Henglu were beaten to death, the Xue family might not target every single Xiongwu soldier, but he, as lieutenant, would certainly not escape.
Yet to rescue him, he would need to break through the escorts’ blockade and fight them.
Though the escorts numbered only a few hundred, many injured, the lieutenant had no confidence at all.
Zhang Liang noticed the lieutenant’s uneasy expression and shouted coldly, “All listen to orders. Anyone who dares to charge the formation will be killed without mercy!”
“Yes!”
The escorts answered in unison.
Swish!
Hundreds drew their black knives simultaneously.
Black armour, black long knives, black battle formation.
Combined with the escorts’ expressions, a wave of murderous intent swept over!
Many Xiongwu soldiers instinctively retreated, terrified of drawing the attention of these killers and inviting death.
The previously hesitant lieutenant quickly lowered his head.
Failing to protect Xue Henglu would bring reckoning from the Xue family.
But news reaching the capital and the Xue family sending men after him would take a long time.
In that time, he could have fled far away.
Yet fighting the escorts, he might die in the next second.
In an instant, the lieutenant made his choice.
After leaving Great Python Slope, he would take his trusted men and flee.
In his years with the Xiongwu Army, he had embezzled a considerable amount of silver.
With money and men, where could he not make a living?
With the lieutenant not taking the lead, the other soldiers dared not speak.
“A bunch of cowards!”
Da Zhuang spat on the ground, signalling the escorts to drag Xue Henglu over and press him to the ground.
Taking a military staff, he swung it down onto Xue Henglu’s buttocks.
Xue Henglu had guessed correctly. Da Zhuang had no intention of holding back, using full strength from the start.
With just one blow, Xue Henglu felt as if his pelvis had shattered.
The intense pain was something he had never experienced in his life.
Before he could scream, the second blow arrived.
“Jin sir… I was wrong… Please… spare… me!”
At this point, Xue Henglu no longer cared about dignity, crying and begging for mercy.
But Jin Feng acted as if he heard nothing, pulling Zhou Youda aside.
“Mr Zhou, how come you are here?”
“The people from our prisoner camp have all shared life and death together. Today, with nothing else to do, I wanted to come to Great Python Slope to see them, and then I encountered this group.”
Zhou Youda looked at the corpses on the ground, his face full of grief and anger. “Unfortunately, I lack your ability, sir. I could not protect them and could only watch my comrades in hardship be beaten to death!”
As he spoke, he covered his face and squatted on the ground, crying.
Zhou Youda was a rather sentimental scholar. After escaping the prisoner camp, he had often helped his fellow sufferers who had been captured together.
Today, thinking to visit the commoners helping Jin Feng tend horses at Great Python Slope, and incidentally pay respects to the Ninth Princess and Jin Feng.
He had just arrived at Great Python Slope when he encountered Xue Henglu causing trouble.
Trying to speak a word for the commoners, he had barely opened his mouth before being slapped dizzy by Xue Henglu’s personal guard.
“I invited them to help me tend horses, yet failed to protect them. It is my fault!”
Jin Feng also felt deep self-reproach. “They are heroes. They survived the prisoner camp with nine lives, only to die on our own ground!”
Jin Feng’s voice grew low.
He truly blamed himself.
“Sir, do you really consider us heroes?”
Zhou Youda suddenly looked up and asked.
In Great Kang, houses were mostly thatched huts that caught fire easily.
During the period of cavalry raids, many houses had been burned.
Though many commoners had escaped the prisoner camp and received grain and cloth from Jin Feng, they had no place to live.
In recent days, Zhou Youda had been helping to resettle the displaced commoners.
The Zhou family home now housed several hundred people.
More kept arriving after hearing the news.
Though the old Zhou residence was large, it was now packed full.
There were simply too many refugees. Apart from the unburned brick ancestral home and fields that the cavalry had left after plundering, the Zhou family had nothing left.
