Chapter 851: It's Up to You

Hua Xiong dragged the group over like they were little chickens. Though he wasn’t the smartest, he knew that if Chen Xi had called him over, he wasn’t planning to be too harsh.

"I heard you took down an entire camp of Qingzhou soldiers," Chen Xi said, looking at Hu Feng and the others.

"Commander, it was just a regular sparring match. The Qingzhou soldiers are fierce, and sometimes it’s hard to control our strength. We apologize for any trouble caused," Hu Feng stepped forward and said. In the past, whenever his subordinates got into trouble, he would take the blame. After all, he was Li Jue’s nephew, and no one would hold it against him. This time, he did the same.

"Hmm, quite loyal and brave," Chen Xi remarked, glancing at Hu Feng. "Fine, put that loyalty and bravery to good use on the battlefield. I’ll overlook this incident. The Qingzhou soldiers provoked you first, and you retaliated. They've learned their lesson, and now it’s your turn. Put on your armor and run five laps around the camp!"

"Get moving!" Hua Xiong noticed that Hu Feng was about to speak up again, so he kicked him and ordered them all to start running.

"Now that they’re gone, let's talk," Chen Xi said, pointing to a seat as he watched the group leave.

"I’ll make sure they clean up their behavior and follow the military discipline," Hua Xiong quickly replied.

"Don’t bother. As long as they follow orders on the battlefield, I can turn a blind eye to some scuffles off-duty. Don’t hold them to too high a standard," Chen Xi waved dismissively. "How’s the training of your troops going?"

"I’m still not confident," Hua Xiong admitted, his face darkening with frustration.

"Do you have any other plans?" Chen Xi asked, looking at Hua Xiong. He didn’t believe Hua Xiong couldn’t come up with alternative strategies.

"Leave Ju Yi to me!" Hua Xiong said fiercely, his expression filled with determination as he looked at Chen Xi.

"Can you win?" Chen Xi asked, eyeing Hua Xiong closely.

"I will win!" Hua Xiong nodded. He had ultimately decided not to use the army that had previously been defeated by the Xian Deng troops against Ju Yi. Maybe they could win, maybe they would lose, but either way, it would be a costly and painful battle for his soldiers.

"I’ll leave it to you. Our first opponent will likely be Xun Shen, followed by Ju Yi. When the time comes, do what you must!" Chen Xi said, his trust in Hua Xiong unwavering.

"I won’t disappoint you, Commander!" Hua Xiong said with a respectful bow.

"If you need anything, just ask," Chen Xi waved him off, indicating that Hua Xiong could leave as he had other matters to attend to.

After Chen Xi had dealt with some military affairs and left the command tent, he noticed that all the Xiliang soldiers were running laps around the camp.

"What’s going on here?" Chen Xi asked, puzzled by the sight of the black mass of soldiers running and cursing as they went.

"Commander, earlier you ordered that the Xiliang soldiers who violated military discipline run five laps around the camp in full armor. After they started, the other Xiliang soldiers heard about it and decided to join in. Now, they’re all running together," the messenger reported.

"Hmm, not bad, not bad," Chen Xi stroked his chin thoughtfully. It seemed that the pyramid-style hierarchy in their training had instilled a strong sense of camaraderie. While the system wasn’t exactly kind to those at the bottom, it fostered a sense of honor among those higher up.

"But how do we even track how many laps they’ve run?" Fazheng, who had been watching the Xiliang soldiers for a quarter of an hour, asked, feeling a little dizzy from watching them.

"Who needs to track? They won’t want to embarrass themselves," Hua Xiong said, punching Fazheng lightly. "My men are keeping an eye on them."

At that moment, Hu Feng, Li Meng, Wang Fang, Duan Wei, and the others passed by the camp entrance, laughing and joking, showing no sign of being punished and instead looking quite pleased with themselves.

Hua Xiong felt a bit embarrassed seeing Hu Feng and the others run past. He knew exactly why they were in such high spirits. For soldiers who had long been deprived of proper armor, getting some new gear was worth the punishment of running laps.

And now that all eight thousand Xiliang soldiers were running together, it wasn’t even embarrassing anymore. In fact, it had become a point of pride for the leaders who started the fight.

"Don’t worry about it. Tell them this: the first hundred soldiers to finish will be rewarded with two bowls of meat, a bowl of meat soup, and unlimited steamed buns for lunch. The first three hundred will get one bowl of meat, a bowl of soup, and unlimited buns. The first five hundred will get a bowl of soup and unlimited buns. For the first thousand, just unlimited buns. As for the rest... well, let’s see how they like it," Chen Xi said, completely unconcerned, and motioned for Hua Xiong to relay the message.

These rowdy soldiers had a commendable sense of group solidarity, but they still needed to be reminded that their armor wasn’t something they could just take—it was provided by Taishan.

"Are we cutting back on rations?" Fazheng asked, tilting his head. "I thought we always had meat soup or vegetable soup every meal, and when have we ever limited the steamed buns? As for the meat, sure, it’s not every day, but they usually get some at least once every ten days, and since the Xiliang soldiers just arrived, today was definitely going to be a meat day."

"We’re not cutting back on anything," Chen Xi raised an eyebrow. "I didn’t lie. Those rewards are just extras."

"You’re something else," Fazheng smirked.

Hua Xiong stood at the camp entrance and bellowed out Chen Xi’s orders. Immediately, the Xiliang soldiers picked up their pace.

In Guanzhong, Li Jue and the others had dug numerous irrigation canals, which had alleviated their hunger. But for his Xiliang soldiers, Li Jue could only feed them to about 80% fullness. Eating their fill was a rare luxury, and as for meat—most of them could only dream of it, having gone years without.

So, when they heard the reward, the Xiliang soldiers went wild, running as fast as they could. Whether it was out of collective responsibility, or a sense of pride in standing by their leader after he secured them new armor, they were now running like their lives depended on it.

For the ordinary soldiers, it was all about the promise of meat, but for Wang Fang and the others, it was a matter of pride. How could they let the regular soldiers overtake them? They needed to defend their honor, so everyone was running at full speed.

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