Stabbed Right at the Heart of Camp – Part 1
Chapter 7 Stabbed Right At The Heart Of Camp
Traders City! Gao Xianzhi Camp!
A large number of soldiers were gathered in one giant square. At the moment, dozens of tied Song Empire soldiers were being pulled, and were kneeling above the space inside the square.
All the soldiers were looking straight at the Commander Gao Xianzhi in the south, as well as the assisting Song Crown Prince beside him.
“Let me go, I want to go back, let me go back!”
“With all my might I’ve been fighting in the front lines, regardless of worrying about the danger. However, those dog officials have actually killed my whole family, let me go, let me have revenge!”
“My whole family is gone, a fire obliterated everything! I want to look for my father, and my mother, quickly release me!”
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The group of tied Song Empire soldiers with very red eyes facing Gao Xianzhi, and the Song Crown Prince were screaming.
Gao Xianzhi’s complexion was gloomy as he stared at those tied crazy soldiers right in front of him. The Song Crown Prince also looked at the Gao Xianzhi.
“Lin Chong, have you found out everything?” Gao Xianzhi asked in a heavy tone.
Lin Chong beside him nodded his head and replied, “Commander, all the deserters have been caught and brought back. This subordinate also asked questions a moment ago, and they did not hold anything back. With the arrival of various merchants, they also brought sad news from the rear! Aristocrats in some places have mutilated the soldiers’ families, and their loved ones who have escaped came to notify them. The deserted soldiers are those whose family members have been mutilated!”
“How many people?” Gao Xianzhi asked in a heavy tone.
“Already thirty families have encountered mishap!” Lin Chong, with an ugly complexion, replied.
“Did the Gu Hai’s scheme start? He wants to mess up my soldiers’ morale? Humph!” Gao Xianzhi coldly said.
“Gu Hai’s scheme?” Song Crown Prince’s complexion sank.
“What happened? Who spread these rumours in my camp?” Gao Xianzhi coldly asked.
“It was those rich traders, and the servants of those rich traders. Messenger or relatives of the soldiers mixed in various cities, and these days quietly came into contact with the soldiers and brought the bad news, that’s why they deserted!” Lin Chong explained.
“Those rich traders? Humph, those heartless wealthy people messed up my army’s morale. They should all be killed!” Song Crown Prince said with staring eyes.
“Crown Prince calm yourself!” Gao Xianzhi shook his head.
“How? Commander, you want to shield those rich traders?” Song Crown Prince said in a heavy tone.
Gao Xianzhi with a slightly bitter smile said, “No, Crown Prince, you should take a look at those soldiers’ appearance! Gu Hai’s scheme has already begun, and it can not stop!”
“En?” Song Crown Prince with a trace of doubt looked towards those soldiers.
Naturally the eyes of those tied deserters were red, however, the other onlooking soldiers at this moment were also very solemnly looking at those deserters in the square, and unexpectedly those soldiers didn’t have a look of disgust, but more of a look of sympathy.
If they escaped cowardly, all the soldiers would naturally completely cast them aside.
Could they be timid? Those deserters and us are very similar, we busted our asses in the frontlines for what? Was it not so that our old parents, wife and children at home could live a good life? Today, for the Great Song Empire we went through fire and water, and went on an expedition in sandy plains. However those dog officials enjoyed happiness in the rear, moreover, they also harmed their parents, killed their wives and children who were waiting for them. Would anyone in their place not also harbor anger in their heart?
Deserters? To hell with deserting the army. These deserters rightfully escaped. If it was I, I would’ve also escaped.
Moreover those tied deserters were basically their brothers who went through life and death in the battlefield, shed blood, and even if they were disabled it would not make them cry, but those dog officials in the rear were too disappointing.
I have not been filial to my parents, have not given a good life to my wife and children, are they also harmed? Are they safe?
Today, the Commander was going to hear their case, and what would be the result?
Our wives, children and parents, are they also in dire straits?
What’s there to talk about regarding fighting for our country if even our parents, wives and children can not be protected??
Those rich traders are bad?! At least they brought our information from the rear.
All the soldiers were staring at the Gao Xianzhi, and the Song Crown Prince, waiting for the fair decision of these two people. They were not doing this just for those deserters, but also for the worries in their own heart.
The Song Crown Prince, looking at expression in the eyes of those soldiers, his complexion became even more gloomy.
“Crown Prince, you see, this is just the beginning. If you kill the rich traders, and kill those the people who are divulging the information, do you want to block their pathway to information? Would it not be the same as being in cahoots with those dog officials? For you they have busted their ass, however, you want to instigate those dog officials to continue to harm their wives, children and parents?” Gao Xianzhi sneered and said.
The Song Crown Prince was intimidated and scared.
“This, is this Gu Hai’s scheme? He wants to create commotion in our camp, cause internal strife in the army?” The Song Crown Prince, with an ugly complexion, looked towards him and said.
“Definitely his, in the past simply no information has come, but why did so much information suddenly emerge regarding thirty families? I think the local officials can not be so foolish. At this time they may have harmed some of the soldiers’ families, but not this many at the same time. Besides the information spread to the whole barrack in a moments notice!” Gao Xianzhi said in a heavy tone.
“Hiss, this is Gu Hai’s hands. It can truly stretch so long, and actually stretched into my barrack? Commander, fortunately you found out in time, otherwise, if I killed those rich traders in anger, and sealed the information, it is still undetermined if I would have been lead around by Gu Hai’s clever tricks!” said the Song Crown Prince with an ugly complexion.
Gao Xianzhi nodded his head and said, “Yes!”
“Now what do we do?” The Song Crown Prince inquired.
“Gu Hai has already pried out a small hole in army’s morale, and naturally we have no alternative but to take it seriously. However, it is still impossible to seal it off completely, but we can sparsely block it, then I will gradually resolve it!” Gao Xianzhi solemnly said.
The Crown Prince nodded his head.
“Gentlemen, I, Gao Xianzhi assure you the sanctity of military personnels. In the meantime, those who dare to harm the soldiers’ families, I’ll definitely make them pay tenfold, even hundredfold, and this is my, Gao Xianzhi’s, promise to you. So please, gentlemen, believe in your commander!” Gao Xianzhi loudly shouted.
All the soldiers looked together at Gao Xianzhi. Gao Xianzhi’s commitment eventually had some effect. However, in the end, suspicion, like the devil’s temptation, seeped into the soldiers’ hearts, and looked at Gao Xianzhi and how he would deal with it.
“You guarantee, what can you guarantee? Before coming here, my daughter was only two years old, and just started walking. She was holding my legs and shouting daddy, but the dog officials trampled my daughter to death.”
“My father died early, and my mother reared me and my brother up. She would help people by mending and sewing for them everyday to support me. She sewed more and more, and in the end her eyes can not see.I’ve never been afraid of death, and just for military service and rewards I conscripted for war and fought in the frontlines. In the future after returning from war I wanted to be filial to my mother, but damn that county magistrate young master, just for my family’s piece of land, he burned my blind mother along with the house. Mother, this son is unfilial!”
“Before coming here, I just married my childhood sweetheart Xiao Huan. Xiao Huan didn’t let me to go to war, but against her wishes I still came. In the frontlines while I was risking my life, the county sheriff coveted my beautiful Xiao Huan, and she was kidnapped. My brother was looking for her, but he was viciously beaten to stop. Today he came to tell me and do I still go to war? Who am I to fight for? I busted my ass, and you want my family members to be broken up and die? Dog official, dog official!”
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The group of deserters painfully cried.
The other onlooking soldiers empathized even more and clenched their fists. One by one everyone’s hearts became extremely heavy.
The Song Crown Prince wanted to drive away all the soldiers in the square, in order to stop the effects from spreading out, however, Gao Xianzhi stopped him as the more you block the more panic it would create.
The thirty deserters did not stop describing and Gao Xianzhi carefully listened to them too.
In a blink two hour passed, and everything was straightened out. Subsequently his brows were tightly knit.
The whole square was quiet, and everyone was looking at Gao Xianzhi.