chsdbacks Chapter 51 Calling a wolf a dog
Chapter 51 Calling a wolf a dog
Ten days later, at Huangnitan outside Heyang City.
The anti-bandit army of Heyang County had assembled here. The officers and soldiers of the river defense and city defense battalions lined up on both sides, while the private soldiers of the five major families stood in the middle. All the martial arts scholars of this year stood in square formation according to their rankings. The whole place was silent.
After the troop roll was completed, everyone stood in formation and awaited instructions.
The garrison commander, Cheng Yang, dressed in black armor, sat high in the center of the command platform. He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and slowly swept his gaze across the entire area before finally fixing it on the black banner fluttering in the wind at the very front of the Ming family's ranks.
On the flag, a gray wolf raises its head and howls at the sky, its fangs bared—the Ming family's emblem, passed down for centuries.
"Snapped!"
Cheng Yang suddenly slammed his teacup down on the table, startling everyone around him. He shouted angrily, "Only official military flags are allowed to be displayed in the army. Who gave your Ming family permission to parade around like this?"
The entire room fell silent instantly.
Ming Ruochuan, the head of the Ming family, suddenly stood up, his face turning ashen, his voice filled with suppressed rage: "Commander Cheng! The private soldiers of the five great families of Heyang have always been allowed to carry their own clan flags when accompanying the army; this is an established practice! Furthermore, what is embroidered on this flag is the Ming family's blue wolf, not a wild dog!"
"The old practice?" Cheng Yang sneered, completely ignoring his words. Leaning forward slightly, he stared at Ming Ruochuan and said, word by word, "Let me ask you, what's embroidered on this flag—a grey wolf or a wild dog?"
Ming Ruochuan clenched his fists so tightly they cracked, gritting his teeth as he said, "Of course it's Canglang! Canglang of the Ming family!"
"Oh? Then why does it look so much like a stray dog to me?" Cheng Yang turned to Huang Ting, the head of the Huang family, who was sitting to his left. "Brother Huang, you have sharp eyes. Tell me, is it a wolf or a stray dog?"
"Then of course it's a stray dog with its tail between its legs!" Huang Ting immediately stood up, bowed and smiled, "Lord Garrison Commander, no matter how I look at it, this thing doesn't look like a gray wolf at all."
Cheng Yang nodded, then looked at the heads of the Cui, Xu, and Zhang families: "What about you three? Tell us too."
The three exchanged a glance, cold sweat beading on their foreheads. They all turned their heads away, not daring to meet Cheng Yang's eyes.
Before Cheng Yang took office in Heyang County, the Ming and Huang families were already dominant, and the three families had always been on good terms.
Now that the Huang family has allied with the garrison, the two families are working together to suppress the other four families. Logically, the three families should be on good terms with the Ming family, but some old grudges remain, so how can they be forgotten so easily?
Seeing that the three remained silent, Cheng Yang tapped the table lightly with his fingers, his voice suddenly turning cold: "What? Have the three family heads all become mute? Or do they no longer recognize me as the guardian appointed by the Seven Suns Sect?!"
Upon hearing the name Seven Yang Sect, the head of the Cui family shuddered and hurriedly mumbled, "It seems...it seems like a dog." The Xu and Zhang families also nodded in agreement, mumbling, "It does resemble a dog."
Cheng Yang smiled with satisfaction, nodded, and glanced at the group of martial arts scholars below the stage: "And you? My fellow martial arts talents from Heyang County, tell me, is this a wolf or a dog?"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Huang Yuan, Qin Tianbao, Qu Yaoyang, and the other martial arts scholars immediately shouted at the top of their lungs, "It's a dog!"
"They're just stray dogs!"
"The Ming family is going to war with wild dog flags flying high—what kind of decorum is this!"
With one person taking the lead, the other martial arts scholars, who were afraid of the town's authority or the power of the Huang family and Dingtao Martial Arts School, followed suit, shouting "dogs" one after another, echoing throughout the entire Huangni Beach.
Qin Heng stood in the second row of the formation, remaining silent throughout and observing coldly.
He was very familiar with Cheng Yang's methods; he had learned them from books when he was in school. Naturally, he wouldn't be like many ignorant people who would be fooled and blindly agree.
Cheng Yang raised his hand to quiet the audience, and they instantly fell silent again. He looked at Ming Ruochuan again, his tone filled with undisguised contempt: "Look, everyone says it's a dog. Patriarch Ming, are you still going to keep arguing?"
Ming Ruochuan stood there, trembling with rage, his eyes wide with fury.
What a disgrace!
He looked at Cheng Yang and Huang Ting, who were smug on the stage, at the other three families who were bowing their heads and not daring to speak, and then at the Ming family's private soldiers who were surrounded in the middle of the stage.
After a long silence, he suddenly turned around, his back to the command platform, his voice hoarse as if he had swallowed a piece of burning coal: "Lower the flag."
The dark blue banner of the Azure Wolf Clan was slowly lowered under everyone's watchful eyes.
The entire room fell into a deathly silence.
This scene made everyone see clearly who is in charge and has the final say in Heyang County.
Only then did Cheng Yang nod in satisfaction, stand up, and announce loudly to everyone: "In this bandit suppression, the person who kills the most bandits will be rewarded with one thousand taels of silver and promoted to the rank of eighth-grade captain, receiving the greatest merit! Everyone who kills bandits will be rewarded! If the bandit leader is killed, the reward will be doubled!"
"Buzz!"
A deafening cheer suddenly erupted from below the reviewing stand.
The heads of the Cui, Xu, and Zhang families exchanged a knowing glance, clearly indicating that they were already secretly in agreement.
When the shouts subsided slightly, Cheng Yang raised his hand and pressed down, and the entire venue immediately fell silent.
His piercing gaze swept across the entire military formation, and he said in a deep voice, "The time has come. The entire army shall form ranks and set off immediately to the south to suppress the bandits!"
Once the military order was given, the messenger shouted the signal at the top of his lungs, and the bugle sounded.
The anti-bandit army in Heyang quickly formed neat ranks, their banners fluttering, and marched off in a mighty procession towards the lower reaches of a tributary of the Canglan River.
The army set off, dust billowing along the roads, the column stretching as far as the eye could see.
Qin Heng walked in the middle of the procession with a group of martial arts scholars, his steps steady, moving slowly forward with the flow of people, always maintaining a degree of vigilance.
As he walked, he felt a strange sensation of being watched closely. The gaze was intense and seemed to be yearning. Even though he was usually calm and composed, he couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine and subconsciously slowed his pace by half a step.
He didn't turn around immediately, but instead slowed his pace subtly, using the crowd around him as cover, and glanced casually at the row in front.
Qin Tianbao stood prominently in the first row of the martial arts scholars' formation, walking side by side with Huang Yuan, the eldest son of the Huang family. His gaze swept over several heads and landed on Qin Tianbao.
Qin Heng's eyes met his for a brief moment, then he calmly looked away, his expression unchanged, but he was already secretly on guard.
This guy is definitely up to no good!
My master had previously introduced me to Fang Yu of the Hongmen Martial Arts School. It seems it's time to find an opportunity to get to know him so we can support each other and help one another.
The army marched south along the river, traveling more than sixty li outside Heyang City. The route was filled with barren beaches, reed marshes, and wild trees.
After traveling for nearly two hours, the dust made their throats dry, and both the soldiers and the martial arts scholars were exhausted and their steps were heavy.
Shortly after, the central bugle sounded three times, and a messenger rode through the ranks, shouting: "The entire army shall rest on the spot, prepare food, and break camp in one hour!"
The group immediately left the marching column and dispersed in twos and threes. Qin Heng also avoided the noisy crowd and found a quiet spot under a willow tree to rest.
Just as he was wondering who to ask about the jade, a young man dressed in martial arts attire, with enthusiastic eyes, walked alone through the crowd and went straight to Qin Heng. He smiled, cupped his hands in greeting, and took the initiative to speak as if they were old friends: "Are you Brother Qin Heng? I've been looking for you for quite a while!"