Afternoon.
When Shen Hao arrived at the training ground, all he saw was chaos.
Both groups wore Xuanqing Guard's training jackets—some had torn clothes, blood on their faces, plenty with bruised noses and swollen cheeks, a few with hands and feet obviously deformed, probably broken.
Shen Hao recognized the group on the left; he saw Zhang Liao and Han Xin up front, and not a single one of the Warriors he'd personally recruited was missing, plus more than forty regular soldiers.
Seeing Shen Hao arrive, Zhang Liao and Han Xin hurried over and pulled him into the crowd.
"How many wounded?"
"Over thirty with minor injuries, five with fractures."
At hearing things weren't too serious, Shen Hao finally let out a breath. Earlier, he'd heard from the men below that his people got into a fight at the training ground with the Jia Flag group, and his heart skipped a beat, worried his own men might get the worst of it. Rushing over, he found it was much better than he'd imagined.
As for the other side, Shen Hao didn't even need to ask—just looking was enough. The group on the right was Jia Flag, their numbers were more than double Shen Hao's side, and at least twenty had broken limbs, faces covered in blood, lots of them crying out "Mother!" and "Father!" in pain, making a scene far messier than Shen Hao's group.
So much so that Shen Hao noticed, even the five with broken bones on his side were just gritting their teeth and keeping their faces steely—none shouting or whining in pain.
Fifty-plus against nearly ninety, not only winning but barely any injuries; thinking about it almost made him laugh.
True ability shows in the details. Shen Hao nodded to himself, thinking it had been right to let Zhang Liao and Han Xin bring these men in. Even if they were just ordinary soldiers, they were definitely tough guys.
Not many can keep quiet with broken bones.
"Earlier, we were practicing Combined Attack Skill on the training ground as you ordered. Jia Flag's men suddenly started provoking, mouthing off, so we shouted back. Then they made the first move, but despite their numbers, they were total softies—couldn't take a hit. Tsk, now they still have the nerve to whine, shameless bastards!"
Zhang Liao couldn't help taking a few digs at the other side. In his eyes, losing a fight meant you should just leave; sticking around crying for your parents was laughable.
Shen Hao was totally relaxed by now. He ordered the five with broken limbs sent to the medical clinic, the rest with superficial wounds could just rub some medicated wine and be fine.
"Fifty-something against almost a hundred and you still won. Looks like your Combined Attack Skill training paid off."
"General Flag, I swear I'm not bragging—even though our flag squad just came together, the brothers all know what's what. They want to repay the settlement money you gave, so they train hard and now we've got some real results. If we couldn't handle those Jia Flag 'lord soldiers,' that'd be the real joke."
'Lord soldiers'—those three words weren't new in Li City Guard Station; privately, plenty used them to mock the large number of noble offspring in Jia Flag. Most were all talk, no skill, and damn arrogant.
"So you knew the other side were 'lord soldiers'? Still went that hard on them?"
"Tsk, General Flag, if you don't laugh, maybe I'd believe it. It was just some fists and kicks—hardly heavy-handed. If we'd used knives, half these scumbags would be dead already."
"Knife talk is fine in private, but don't let outsiders catch wind—bad optics. Right, except for those unlucky ones with broken bones, everyone else can still run and jump?"
Zhang Liao and Han Xin's eyes lit up. Thinking Shen Hao was about to stir up more trouble, they patted their chests, promising the rest could not only run and jump, but were fit for battle formation.
"Good then. Now, reorganize your squad. Fifty laps around the training ground—since you enjoyed fighting, now it's time for punishment. That includes you two."
"Ha?!"
"Seriously, General Flag? Even for this?"
Shen Hao laughed, "You guys know the garrison rules, don't you? Fighting's strictly forbidden—so what's wrong with punishment? And just so you know, I'll go ask Lord Hundred Households for punishment myself soon. Get going and try to make it for dinner."
Now that Shen Hao was here, Li Bing, on the opposite side, naturally showed up too.
Li Bing probably never expected that, even with two full squads, his side still couldn't beat the other! Face turning pale with rage, he was pointing at two Small Banner Officers and cursing them out.
Shen Hao glanced at the other side, not bothering to argue. These petty tricks didn't interest him in the least.
No doubt about it—this was Li Bing stewing over something that happened in the morning, so he had his men stir up trouble at the training ground. But ended up getting beaten instead.
When Shen Hao left the training ground, Black Banner Battalion under Zhang Liao and Han Xin had already started running laps. One lap was one li, fifty laps meant fifty li. If they ran slow, dinner was out of reach.
...
Shen Hao wasn't joking with Zhang Liao and the others. After leaving the training ground, he went straight to Tang Qingyuan's public office.
As the saying goes, before you're a boss, you have to toe the line. Bosses always like rule-following followers. Those who don't either challenge the heavens or get crushed to pieces.
Shen Hao had no intention of challenging the heavens or getting crushed, so he always stuck to the rules.
"Lord, your subordinate Shen Hao requests an audience."
"Come in."
He pushed the door open. Inside the public office, Tang Qingyuan was standing by the window, tending to his bonsai. Compared to the busy lower ranks, a Hundred Households was much more relaxed, not burdened with trivial matters.
"What's up?"
"Lord, your subordinate failed in teaching. My men just clashed with Jia Flag. I request punishment."
"Oh? Wait a second, let me finish here first." Tang Qingyuan showed zero emotional reaction and quietly trimmed his bonsai.
Shen Hao wasn't in a hurry, patiently waiting at the side. Tang Qingyuan's calm reaction confirmed his guess: nothing in Li City Guard Station could be kept from the Hundred Households.
No excuses, no dodging—own your mistakes, and show good attitude first. Looks like Tang Qingyuan appreciated that approach.
"Heard you've been keeping an eye on Li Bing's business, investigating him?"
"Yes. Li Bing isn't clean, and I've found a pretty good breakthrough point that suits Black Banner Battalion's needs."
"Tell me about it."
"Yes, Lord."
Shen Hao explained everything he'd found in the records about the 'Yunyang Smuggling of Forbidden Materials Case' to Tang Qingyuan, but didn't commit completely—just stated it was currently the key target for investigation.
"If you investigate, get the facts and make it a solid case. Tsk tsk, the garrison has been a mess for ages; this is a good chance, thanks to this gust from above, to properly clean things up."
Gust? Shen Hao was unimpressed—he didn't see Black Banner Battalion as a "gust," he thought it was more like a "monsoon"—comes every year, year after year.
"Anything else?"
"Nothing more."
"Then you're dismissed."
"Your subordinate takes leave."
From start to finish, Tang Qingyuan didn't mention the fight even once. That's what you call silence being louder than words—not something to bring up officially; with the right attitude, there's no need to harp on it. As for Li Bing, who still hadn't come to Tang Qingyuan to request punishment, who knows what Tang Qingyuan really thinks.