"And you, Luo Li, leader of the Black Cavalry Fifth Battalion! You actually joined their clamor and openly sought to kill me, your deputy marshal.
"I was personally appointed deputy marshal by His Majesty, and the Prince promised me the Black Cavalry Third Battalion.
"Do you know that treating the Deputy Marshal like this is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family?"
Tang Wen pointed at the third man and walked over. Luo Li retreated a step in fright. Tang Wen stepped forward, thrust the Tiger Tally into his hands, and said, "Do you recognize this?"
"Reporting to the deputy marshal, this is the Tiger Tally for mobilizing troops." Luo Li shuddered in fright and dropped to one knee, holding the Tiger Tally up with both hands, not daring to move.
"You knew it was a troop mobilization token, yet you actually sought to kill the man wielding it. I was appointed wartime deputy marshal by His Majesty's command.
"To seek the Deputy Marshal's death is to defy His Majesty. You are rebels and traitors!"
"Guards, seize these three. Drag them away and give them a hundred strokes of the Baleful Might Rod first.
"Then imprison them. Have the Six Fan Gate take them away and interrogate them rigorously to find out whether they have colluded with the villains of the Sun Kingdom," Tang Wen said.
"Deputy Marshal, we know we were wrong." Hearing this, Wang Benhe was so frightened that he also knelt.
"Deputy Marshal, Lord Zhu instructed us to do this.
"Before we came, Lord Zhu told us we were the Black Cavalry Battalion, while the men you commanded, Deputy Marshal, were merely militia—ordinary civilians, to put it plainly."
"How could your disorderly rabble compare with Great Chu's elite troops?
"He told us