Chapter 345: Chapter 345 Drawing the Sword

Chapter 345: Chapter 345 Drawing the SwordAfter lunch, Chu Xianglong asked his attendant to make a cup of tea. He took a sip of the hot tea and asked:

"How is the princess these days?"

"She has been staying in the room all the time." The attendant said.

The princess who lived in that luxurious and spacious room was actually a puppet. The real princess came out all day and mingled with ordinary maids.

Sometimes she would go to the kitchen to eat secretly, or watch the boatman casting nets and fishing with great interest, while she stood aside and gave blind instructions.

The boatmen were not angry, but instead had a great liking for this mediocre old maid. Several boatmen who had accumulated a lot of wealth and had not yet started a family were privately inquiring about the old lady's situation.

This is the charm of the princess. Even if she has an ordinary appearance, she can make men fall in love with her after getting along for a long time.

So Chu Xianglong strictly prohibited soldiers from going on deck and strictly prohibited men from contacting the princess privately. But he could not say it openly, and could not show extraordinary concern for a maid.

"Go north as soon as possible, and when you reach Chuzhou and meet up with the army sent by the prince, you will be completely safe." Chu Xianglong exhaled.

It was undoubtedly a wise decision to mingle in the investigation mission. Before departure, even the chief officer Xu Qian'an and other senior officials did not know that the princess was accompanying them.

At this time, he suddenly heard dense footsteps coming from the deck, followed by the men's bold laughter.

The soldiers in the cabin all came out... Chu Xianglong's face sank, and then he was furious. He repeatedly warned the soldiers under him not to go on the deck.

They ignored his words?

Chu Xianglong walked out of the room, crossed the corridor, and came to the deck. He saw groups of soldiers carrying toilets and pouring filth into the river. When the wind came, the stench hit his nose.

Centurion Chen Xiao stood on the deck and shouted, "Remember to clean the toilet after emptying it."

"Okay!"

The soldiers responded loudly with smiles on their faces.

Chu Xianglong stood with his hands behind his back, his face gloomy and serious, and shouted, "Who told you to come up."

The noise suddenly stagnated, and the soldiers hurriedly put down the toilet, looked at each other, and were somewhat at a loss, lowered their heads, and dared not speak.

Chu Xianglong scolded, "Do you think that the law does not punish the masses because there are many people? You like to go on the deck, right? Come on, prepare the military sticks and execute the execution."

After a while, noisy footsteps came, and the guards brought by Chu Xianglong came around from the other side of the deck, holding military sticks in their hands.

"General Chu, this, this..."

Chen Xiao was very anxious. The reason why he did not explain the situation immediately and tell Chu Xianglong that it was Xu Yinluo's permission was because it would make people think that he was fanning the flames and instigating the two adults to have a conflict.

Xu Qiyan happened to return to the room. He must have heard the noise outside. If he really wanted to stand up for the imperial guards, he would come out.

On the contrary, it means that he is unwilling to conflict with General Chu. After all, General Chu is the deputy general of the King of Zhenbei and a big shot with military power.

"Why is General Chu angry? I asked them to come up to clean the toilet."

Finally, the voice that the imperial guards expected came from the cabin, accompanied by light but powerful footsteps. Xu Qiyan, wearing a silver gong uniform, came out with one hand on the knife.

Chu Xianglong turned around and stared at Xu Qi'an, with an aggressive tone:

"You don't know my order? If you don't know, let them go back now and promise not to come out again. If you know, then I need an explanation."

Chen Xiao gritted his teeth and clasped his fists and said: "General Chu, it's like this, several soldiers are sick, I am helpless, and have no choice but to ask for help from Lord Xu..."

Either very loyal or very smart... Xu Qi'an commented in his heart, but said: "You have the right to speak? Get out of the way."

Chen Xiao lowered his head and stopped talking, with gratitude flashing in his eyes.

Xu Yinluo is going to take him out.

After reprimanding the centurion, Xu Qian'an stared at Chu Xianglong and said in a deep voice:

"General Chu wants to explain? Why don't you go to the cabin yourself? If you can live there for a few days, you will feel it more deeply. I have decided that from now on, from the beginning of Chenshi to the end of Chenshi, the cabin guards can enter and exit freely. From the beginning of Wushi to the end of Wushi, they can enter and exit freely. From the beginning of Shenshi to the end of Shenshi, they can enter and exit freely."

You can move around on the deck for six hours a day.

This can effectively improve the air quality and benefit the physical and mental health of the soldiers.

On the deck, the soldiers showed joy and exchanged excited glances. The wind was strong and the waves were big, the cabin was shaking and bumpy, and there was a strange smell, which made people want to vomit.

Besides, they had to eat dry food in such an environment. Physical discomfort is one aspect, and the mental torture is the most tormenting.

Chu Xianglong said calmly: "Master Xu, if you don't know how to lead troops, don't give orders. What's this little bit of suffering? If you really go to the battlefield, you will have to eat mud and eat it lying on a pile of corpses."

While speaking, he looked at Xu Qian'an with a sneer on his face, not hiding his contempt and

disdain.

Xu Qian'an retorted tit for tat: "General Chu is a veteran soldier who has been on the battlefield for a long time. I am not as good as you in leading troops. But if you want to argue

with me, I can talk to you."

After a pause, he took a step forward, stared at Chu Xianglong, and asked:

"You also said that it was a war. Can an extraordinary period be the same as usual? Do the soldiers under General Chu also live in the toilet every day and eat dry food in the smell of feces and urine?

"These soldiers are all elites. They are also hard-working in normal training and know how to fight. But hard work and torture are not the same thing. You raise soldiers for thousands of miles and use them for a moment. If you don't even know how to raise the soldiers, how can you lead the soldiers? How do you fight?

"To put it bluntly, these are not your soldiers, so you don't treat them as human beings."

Well said!

Chen Xiao shouted in his heart. He felt very distressed when he saw the soldiers' depressed complexion these days. Because these were his soldiers.

Chu Xianglong didn't treat them as human beings, because these soldiers were not his.

It takes a thousand days to raise soldiers and a moment to use them. Xu Yinluo is worthy of being the top poet in Dafeng...... Chen Xiao admired him from the bottom of his heart. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this sentence was a wise saying.

The soldiers lowered their heads and gritted their teeth. Although they didn't speak, their slightly clenched fists revealed their inner indignation.

They were the lowest-level soldiers and indeed had no status, but soldiers were also human

beings and had emotions.

Chu Xianglong seemed to be enraged, his expression was both rebellious and fierce. He stepped forward, put his face close to Xu Qiyan's face, and asked sternly:

"Are you teaching me how to do things? Who do you think you are?"

"I wonder if I gave in too quickly last time, so that you succeeded easily. So that you have a

wrong understanding in your heart?"

Xu Qiyan took a step back and distanced himself from Chu Xianglong.

Such a move was naturally cowardly in Chu Xianglong's eyes. That's right, the first impression of Xu Qiyan in his mind was: he was extremely talented, but greedy for power, and could be controlled and suppressed with greater power.

This was in line with the image Xu Qiyan showed in the imperial examination fraud case, which easily allowed him to obtain the Vajra Divine Power. Afterwards, he didn't even dare to

regret it, and he sent the Buddha statue to the door.

Many warriors are willing to be dogs for others. Even if they are powerful, they kowtow to

high officials because such people are greedy for power.

"Isn't it?" Chu Xianglong said disdainfully.

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Xu Qi'an, who had taken a step back, suddenly turned

around and swept a fierce whip kick across his waist.

Without any signs, he started to fight as soon as he said he would.

Chu Xianglong crossed his hands to block, and with a bang, his aura exploded into ripples. He

was like being hit by a siege wood, his legs slid back, and his back hit the bulkhead hard.

The solid wooden wall snapped and broke.

A little gold paint lit up from Xu Qi'an's eyebrows, quickly spread all over his body, revealing

a brilliant golden body, and said word by word: "I have a very bad temper, pugaizi." Wei Yuan reminded him to have a good relationship with the people of Zhenbei King, so as to make it easier to investigate the case and avoid being harassed in everything. But Wei Yuan definitely didn't want him to be servile and greet the people of Zhenbei King

with a smile, and to get slapped on the left cheek and then get slapped on the right cheek. Because, if the case has no clues, he, the chief official appointed by the court, can return to Beijing safely. If evidence against the King of Zhenbei is found, even if he and Chu Xianglong are sworn brothers, it will be useless.

Xu Qiyan has long been fed up with Chu Xianglong. He took advantage of his younger brother's misfortune to add insult to injury and try to steal his Vajra Divine Power.

Chu Xianglong, whose arms were sore and his meridians were injured, stared at Xu Qiyan in

disbelief.

He actually dared to take action?

Did he really think that he, a small silver gong, could afford to offend the general who held

real power and the deputy general of the King of Zhenbei?

"General!"

Chu Xianglong's guards were furious and rushed over in unison, holding military sticks and

pointing at Xu Qi'an.

As long as Chu Xianglong gave an order, they would go up and subdue this arrogant boy.

"Lord Xu!" Hundreds of imperial guards rushed over at the same time, surrounded Xu Qi'an, and confronted Chu Xianglong's guards with a murderous expression.

Their position was very clear. Although the imperial guards and the silver gong were different

yamen and did not interfere with each other, Xu Qi'an was now the main officer and the

highest leader of the delegation.

Moreover, based on what he said just now, it was worth risking his life for him.

"Stop it all!"

A shout came from the cabin, and several officials who heard the news walked out quickly. The two censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the chief constable of the Ministry of Justice, and the secretary of the Dali Temple, with their own guards and constables behind

them.

The two imperial censors tried to smooth things over right away, saying in a row: "If you have something to say, please talk it over. Why do you two have to fight?"

The Dali Temple Secretary looked at the cracked wall and Xu Qi'an, who had revealed his

golden body, and said in a sarcastic tone:

"Master Xu is very skilled. With this magical skill, I'm afraid that even if all the people on the

ship were put together, they would not be your opponent."

"You came at the right time."

Chu Xianglong glared at Xu Qi'an fiercely, told him what had just happened, pointed at Xu

Qi'an and said:

"The soldier's matter was just a pretext for him to stir up trouble. His real purpose was to retaliate against this general. How do you think this matter should be handled?"

The Dali Temple Secretary immediately said: "There are women on board, and the soldiers

should not go on deck. I think General Chu's order is reasonable."

The head of the police department of the Ministry of Justice said indifferently: "In my

opinion, Master Xu might as well apologize, and the imperial guards should return to the bottom of the cabin and not go out. This matter is over. We should unite on this trip north." The two imperial censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate agreed.

The idea of the three officials was very simple. First, they didn't like Xu Qi'an. This guy had conflicts with the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, and the Censorate. Secondly, it was necessary to establish a good relationship with the deputy general of the King of Zhenbei during this trip to the north.

The movement on the deck startled the princess who was drinking tea in the room. She came

out after hearing the sound and saw a group of maids from the palace gathered on the corridor leading to the deck.

"What happened?" She frowned and asked habitually.

The maids turned around and looked at her. They were somewhat displeased with the bossy

tone of this unfamiliar old maid, and chattered: "General Chu and Xu Yinluo had a conflict and almost fought."

"It seems that it was because General Chu did not allow the guards in the cabin to go on the

deck, and Xu Yinluo disagreed, so there was a conflict."

"Humph, this Xu Yinluo is so ungrateful that he dared to fight with General Chu, who is the

deputy general of our Huai King. Now several adults are on the side of Deputy General Chu and demand that he apologize."

"Although I admire Xu Yinluo very much, he was wrong this time. These big-headed soldiers are smelly and so annoying. We can't go to the deck to get some fresh air in the future." The princess tried to squeeze the maid away, but she didn't expect that the maids who were

usually respectful to her would not give way, but reasonably block her back.

The princess was angry and could not see the scene on the deck. Fortunately, the maids were

quiet at this time. She heard Xu Qi'an's sneer:

"Apologize? I am the chief officer appointed by His Majesty. I have the final say on this ship."

The Dali Temple Secretary retorted: "It is true that you are the chief officer, but you don't have the final say in the delegation. Otherwise, what use are we?"

The head of the Ministry of Justice nodded: "Your Majesty's order is that the three divisions

and the night watchmen work together to handle the case. If Lord Xu wants to have a one- man show, then I cannot agree with it."

The two censors agreed with the words of the head of the Ministry of Justice and the Dali

Temple Secretary.

All of a sudden, the pressure was all on Xu Qi'an.

Even if he was stubborn and refused to admit his mistakes, he was excluded by his fellow

officials in front of everyone, and his prestige was gone...... The princess keenly captured the intentions of the officials.

She didn't think that this man who was so powerful in the battle of magic would give in, but in

this situation, whether he gave in or not was actually not important. Everyone present could see that the chief officer Xu Yinluo was unpopular, and his fellow

officials excluded and suppressed him.

Once such a fixed concept was formed, the prestige of the chief officer would plummet, and no

one in the team would obey him. Even if they were respectful on the surface, they would be

disdainful in their hearts.

"If it was the Prince of Huai, he would never encounter such a situation. At least I have never seen the Prince of Huai encounter a similar dilemma." The princess thought.

For some reason, she always subconsciously compared the Prince of Huai with the young man

on the deck.

After the comparison, it was found that the situations of the two could not be generalized.

After all, the Prince of Huai was a prince and a third-grade warrior, far from being

comparable to Xu Ningyan.

So, the princess muttered in her heart: What would he do?

He won't give in, will he? Then I'll look down on him. No, if he gives in, I'll have something to

mock him. She thought to herself, and then she heard Xu Qi'an's shout:

"All officers, listen to my orders. As the chief officer, I'm ordered to go to the northern border

to investigate a case. It's a serious matter. To prevent leaks and trouble, I'm going to expel all

the strangers, Chu Xianglong and his deployment."

On the spot, only four silver gongs and eight copper gongs drew their weapons to support Xu seaʀᴄh thё nôᴠel Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Qi'an.

The hundred imperial guards on the deck didn't say a word, and they didn't seem to dare to get involved.

The scene was silent for a few seconds, and a soldier quietly returned to the bottom of the

cabin.

Then one, two, three... More and more soldiers lowered their heads, left the deck, and

returned to the bottom of the cabin.

Soon, the deck was clear.

"Shh!"

Chu Xianglong's disdainful sneer was particularly harsh.

The Dali Temple Secretary was full of ridicule, gloating.

The head of the Criminal Department curled his lips, crossed his arms, leaned against the

wall, and pretended to watch the show.

The two censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate shook their heads helplessly. Suddenly, the noisy sound of footsteps on the stairs came, "thump thump thump" became

one.

The hundred imperial guards came back, and the difference from before was that the toilets in

their hands were replaced with standard sabers.

They went back to the bottom of the cabin to get weapons.

Chen Xiao held down the saber, walked to Xu Qi'an's side, and said in a deep voice: "Draw the

sword!"

"clang..."

The sound of drawing the sword became one, and a hundred soldiers drew their swords

together, pointing at Chu Xianglong and others from a distance.

"You, are you going to rebel?" The Dali Temple Secretary's face changed slightly and shouted

angrily.

Chen Xiao was silent, licked his lips, stared at the Dali Temple Secretary with sharp eyes, and

then glanced at Xu Qi'an, as if as long as Xu Yinluo gave an order, he would dare to step

forward and chop this verbose civil servant.

The Dali Temple Secretary felt a chill in his heart and subconsciously took a few steps back,

not daring to show his head again.

The head of the Criminal Department changed from leaning against the wall to standing

straight, his face changed from joking to serious, and he quietly clenched the knife in his

hand, as if facing a great enemy.

As a warrior, he saw the tenacious will in the eyes of these imperial guards, and they would

never hesitate when wielding a steel knife. Chu Xianglong's forehead veins jumped angrily, he still didn't believe that he, as the deputy

general of the King of Zhenbei, would be treated like this. These low-level soldiers actually

dared to draw their knives against him.

"Yang Yan!"

Chu Xianglong growled, "Are you night watchmen going to rebel? This general is traveling

with the delegation because of His Majesty's order."

"Shut up!" Yang Yan's voice came from the cabin, and his tone was cold: "I don't know about

this."

"You..."

Chu Xianglong's face turned pale, and his expression changed several times. He stared at Xu

Qi'an and gritted his teeth and said, "What do you want?"

Xu Qi'an faced the sun, his face was defiant, and said, "Three things. First, my decision just

now remains the same. The soldiers have six hours of free time every day. Second, remember

my identity. You have no place to speak in the delegation.

"Any questions?"

Chu Xianglong frowned and nodded slowly.

Xu Qi'an walked over with a knife and sneered, "Third, apologize to me."

Instantly, Chu Xianglong's face was slightly distorted, veins on his forehead bulged, and his

cheek muscles twitched.

But in the end, he gave in and whispered: "Xu, Lord Xu, you are magnanimous, don't bother

with me."

Xu Qian'an said: "Be sensible."

Behind him, a hundred imperial guards grinned and revealed a simple smile.