An urgent envoy from Xianyang! A royal decree from the Great King!
These eight words instantly calmed the surging emotions that had just flared up in Wei Zhe due to his explosive surge in strength.
He tidied his armor and strode out of the military tent.
He saw that outside the main tent, torches blazed brightly. Meng Wu, Shi Meng, and all the high-ranking generals of the Northern Frontier Camp stood solemnly in full military uniform. A middle-aged man dressed in inner-palace eunuch attire, with a fair face and no facial hair, stood in the center with a solemn expression, holding a black imperial scroll in both hands.
"Proclaim: acting chieftain of the Northern Frontier, Wei Zhe, receive the decree!"
The shrill yet majestic voice pierced the silent night sky.
"Subordinate Wei Zhe, receive the decree!"
Wei Zhe strode forward and knelt on one knee in full view of everyone.
The eunuch slowly unfolded the decree and read aloud in a modulated, resonant tone:
"The Royal Decree states: Tiger and Wolf Army acting chieftain Wei Zhe, having enlisted for less than a month, possesses courage unmatched by the three armies and peerless tactical brilliance. At Eagle Beak Cliff, he beheaded the enemy general in battle, defeating three thousand with a hundred, and raised the might of our Great Qin military. At Wolf Howl Valley, he launched a thousand-li raid, cutting off enemy provisions and making the Xiongnu dare not push south for three years. Such a peerless, epoch-making achievement deserves great reward!"
"My heart is deeply gratified. I specially promote Wei Zhe to official chieftain of the 'Tiger and Wolf Army', bestow upon him the peerage of 'Zuoshuzhang', and grant him the tenth rank of officialdom! I bestow upon him one grade-A estate in Xianyang, ten thousand yi of gold, and a thousand bolts of silk! His subordinate Tiger and Wolf Army shall be expanded to three thousand men, elevated to a Northern Frontier independent battle camp, with military provisions and supplies supplied directly by the imperial treasury!"
"This is decreed!"
"Boom!"
As the decree finished reading, the entire Eagle Beak Cliff was plunged into dead silence.
All the generals, including Meng Wu, were dumbfounded by the contents of this decree.
Chieftain!
Zuoshuzhang!
Ten thousand yi of gold!
Independent battle camp!
Direct supply from the imperial treasury!
Any single one of these rewards was enough for an ordinary general to strive for a lifetime! And now, these honors, which were enough to make anyone red-eyed with madness, were all smashed at once onto a seventeen-year-old youth!
Especially the "independent battle camp" and "direct supply from the imperial treasury," this was no longer a mere reward; it represented the Great King's unreserved trust and high regard for Wei Zhe! It meant that the Tiger and Wolf Army would become a special unit not subject to the jurisdiction of the Northern Frontier Camp, taking orders only from Wei Zhe and the King of Qin himself!
What kind of imperial favor was this!
"Subordinate Wei Zhe thanks the Great King for his heavenly grace! May our King live for ten thousand years! May Great Qin live for ten thousand years!"
Wei Zhe suppressed the agitation in his heart, raised his hands high, and received the heavy scroll of the decree.
He knew that from this moment on, he had truly stepped onto the vast political stage of Great Qin. His name had left a heavy and colorful stroke not only in the northern frontier, but far away in Xianyang, in the heart of that eternal emperor.
"Chieftain Wei, congratulations." A smile appeared on the proclaiming eunuch's face, and his attitude also became much kinder. "This servant is Director of the Chariot Office Zhao Gao. If you have any matters in the future, you may send someone to Xianyang to look for this servant."
"Many thanks, Director Zhao." Wei Zhe nonchalantly handed over a heavy pouch of gold.
Zhao Gao weighed it with satisfaction, the smile on his face growing even brighter, and he dropped a low hint in a quiet voice: "Chieftain Wei is a youthful talent and currently basking in fierce imperial favor, but you must also be careful. In the imperial court, if a tree stands tall in the forest, the wind will break it."
Having spoken, he said no more and turned to leave.
Wei Zhe watched his receding back with a narrowed gaze. He naturally understood the meaning in Zhao Gao's words.
The honor he had obtained this time was too great. It was great enough to make countless people jealous, and great enough to break the existing balance within the army.
He turned his head and, sure enough, saw that although the officers present all wore congratulatory smiles on their faces, deep in the eyes of quite a few flickered a trace of thinly veiled jealousy and malice.
Especially that chieftain Sun He, who had previously been at odds with Shi Meng; his expression was so gloomy it was practically dripping water.
Meng Wu took everything in and walked over to Wei Zhe, saying in a deep voice: "Wei Zhe, follow me."
The two went one after the other back into the main tent.
"The Great King's reward is an honor, but it is also a shackle." Meng Wu looked at Wei Zhe and said word by word: "An independent battle camp means you will possess greater autonomy, but it also means you will lose the direct protection of the Northern Frontier Camp. From now on, every step you take must rely on yourself."
"Subordinate understands."
"No, you don't understand." Meng Wu shook his head. "Do you think your greatest enemy is the Xiongnu? Wrong! Sometimes, a cold arrow from behind is more fatal than swords from the front!"
He pointed to the flags representing various military camps on the sand table.
"The three hundred thousand troops of the northern frontier are divided into cliques, and their relationships are intricate and complex. You have risen like a comet, moving too many people's cheese. For this troop expansion, I have decided to assign Sun He's hundred-man squad and several other squads known in the camps as 'thorns' all to you. Can you bring them to heel?"
Meng Wu's gaze was as sharp as a blade, as if trying to see right through Wei Zhe.
This was both a test and a protection. He wanted to place all potential threats out in the open and let Wei Zhe resolve them himself.
Wei Zhe smiled.
He had been fretting that his Tiger and Wolf Army consisted entirely of "good little babies" who obeyed him implicitly, lacking some "wolf cubs" capable of fighting hard battles.
"Reporting to High General!" Wei Zhe straightened his back, his eyes filled with powerful confidence: "Whether soldiers are tigers or wolves depends entirely on the one leading them! Subordinate is confident that within half a month, I will surely turn them all into the most obedient dogs in my Tiger and Wolf Army!"
The next day, at the new camp of the Tiger and Wolf Army.
According to the royal decree, the camp of the Tiger and Wolf Army was carved out separately, its scale expanding severalfold.
When Sun He and the several hundred untamed and unruly veteran soldiers under his command swaggered lazily up to the camp entrance, what they saw was a scene they never expected.
In the center of the camp, a huge iron cauldron had been set up, stewing beef and mutton with a mouth-watering aroma. Nearby, jars of fine wine had already been unsealed.
Yet in front of the iron cauldron, Wei Zhe wore only a single layer of clothing, conducting a strange kind of training all by himself.
He did not use any weapons, simply repeatedly striking out with a set of boxing forms that looked extremely slow and archaic.
Every time he threw a punch or lifted a leg, his movements were so slow they looked like those of an eighty-year-old man, but the surrounding air seemed to grow viscous, and an intangible aura enveloped a radius of ten zhang.
"Hmph, playing God!" Sun He curled his lip in disdain and exchanged a look with his subordinates.
A burly veteran soldier renowned as the number one wrestler in the army immediately understood. With a sinister grin, he strode forward, preparing to give this newly arrived chieftain a harsh knockdown.
"Chieftain, sir, you have such fine leisure! This humble subordinate wishes to request a few pointers from you!"
As he spoke, his palm, broad as a cattail fan, lunged out to grab Wei Zhe's shoulder.
He intended to use his most proficient grappling skills to throw Wei Zhe head over heels into the dirt in front of everyone.
Yet at the very instant his hand was about to touch Wei Zhe, the chieftain's seemingly slow movements abruptly changed!
He thrust forward with that same leisurely punch.
Yet that veteran soldier crashed into an invisible wall, or as if he had been fiercely struck by a charging prehistoric giant elephant!
"Bang!"
A muffled sound!
That giant weighing over two hundred catties didn't even have time to let out a miserable cry before he flew backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily onto the ground, vomiting a mouthful of blood, and passing out cold.
The entire field fell dead silent.
The sinister grin on Sun He's face froze completely.
Wei Zhe slowly retracted his fist, his calm gaze sweeping across the several hundred dumbfounded "thorns."
"Is there anyone else who wishes to request pointers?"
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