Chapter 1098: We Are Eunuchs

As long as they don’t send him home, it’s fine for him to be a mere soldier... It’s just that if his family finds out, they’ll mock him.

But he believes that as long as he can stay in the camp, he will surely make some achievements, return home with pride, and confidently tell his family: I don’t need the imperial exams, I can still be successful!

"Men, drag Zhong Yu to the punishment camp and give him twenty heavy strikes with the military cane." Qin San Lang called in two young soldiers to drag Zhong Yu away and personally supervised the punishment.

Bam bam bam!

With twenty strikes of the cane, Zhong Yu was nearly beaten to death.

However, Qin San Lang had already signaled to the punishing soldiers, so although Zhong Yu looked severely beaten, it was only flesh wounds, with no damage to the bones.

Can’t have the bones injured; we need to take him to the mountains for training, how can he train if his bones are hurt?

So, after Zhong Yu’s beating, he wasn’t even given any medicine before being pulled to assemble with the other rebellious soldiers in the camp.

Qin San Lang stared at them and said: "Special training in the camp. If you don’t want to be sent home and bring trouble upon your families, you’d better obey orders. Anyone who dares to defy orders, delay training, complain, or desert will receive fifty strikes with the military cane. Those who don’t die will remain; those who do will be thrown into the mountains to feed the wolves!"

Damn it!

Damn, this is way too harsh, can’t we skip the cane and just end it swiftly with one strike?

No way.

Qin San Lang knew this group of rebels very well. Each one wasn’t afraid of death, but are they not afraid of torture either? So he specifically tormented them, leaving them in a state where they couldn’t live nor die, making them obedient to become qualified soldiers. Otherwise, they’d keep training until they submit.

"Move out, head towards Dawang Mountain!" Qin San Lang mounted his horse and ordered towards Dawang Mountain.

Dawang Mountain?

He’s going to take them to Dawang Mountain for training?

But: "I heard there’s a tiger’s den in Dawang Mountain. What if we get eaten by tigers?"

With two sharp cracks, Qin San Lang’s whip landed on the two soldier’s shoulders who were whispering to each other. With a smirk, he said to them: "Wrong, Dawang Mountain doesn’t just have one tiger’s den; there are five."

Dawang Mountain is vast, extending for who knows how many hundreds of miles, with not only tigers but also bears, packs of wolves, and other beasts, making it an excellent training ground.

General Guo once said that when the court decided to establish the Prefecture garrison camp here, they also valued Dawang Mountain, intending to use the beasts within for training.

Therefore...

"The beasts in Dawang Mountain must not be killed. Anyone who dares to kill them will receive fifty strikes with the military cane!" Qin San Lang ordered, as the beasts in Dawang Mountain were meant for training and should not be killed.

But the rebellious soldiers were angry, shouting: "We can’t kill them? On what grounds? If we encounter them, are we supposed to let them eat us?"

Crack, crack, crack, crack!

Four harsh whips lashed onto the soldier who questioned, making him jump and hide behind the other soldiers while glaring at Qin San Lang: "What did I do wrong, Company Commander Qin? Why did you hit me?"

Damn it, he’s really like King Yan, hitting people for no reason.

Qin San Lang said: "Are you dead? Can’t you escape when the beasts come? If you can outrun them, it’s your skill. If you dare to kill them, you’ll be punished."

In fact, some soldiers had killed beasts in the mountains. They wouldn’t really let soldiers be bitten to death by the beasts. But if you killed one, you’d be punished. If you could kill a beast and endure the punishment, the generals would particularly like you, and you’d be looking at a promotion soon.

"Cut the nonsense, hurry up, or the military cane will bet!er serve you!" Qin San Lang said, galloping into the mountains, leaving the rebellious soldiers cursing.

He’s riding while they have to run, and they’re not allowed to lag either. Is this fair? Isn’t this deliberately making things hard for them?

Yes, exactly, deliberately making things hard for you. If you don’t want to be messed with, then stop talking and keep up.

Zhong Yu was going crazy, enduring the pain in his butt, he slipped silver notes to two rebellious soldiers: "Brothers, help me out a bit. There will be more rewards after we get out of the mountains."

The two rebellious soldiers came from impoverished families and hadn’t married yet. Seeing Zhong Yu offering enough silver, they quickly took his arm and sprinted into the mountains.

By the time they reached deep into the mountains, it was already four hours later. All the soldiers were exhausted to the point of death. The two rebellious soldiers carrying Zhong Yu were so tired they were rolling their eyes, gasping for air and saying: "Damn, this is exhausting... fifty taels isn’t enough, you’ll have to give us more!"

If he didn’t add more, they wouldn’t keep helping.

Zhong Yu didn’t argue, quickly adding more silver, giving each one a hundred tael silver note: "You’ve worked hard, brothers, here, take it... You have to help me, with King Qin’s temperament, he’ll give us at most a quarter-hour’s rest before heading even deeper into the mountains. I’m injured and really can’t keep up alone."

Zhong Yu was right. After a quarter-hour, Qin San Lang pointed deeper into the mountains saying: "Keep moving, we’re camping overnight in Grizzly Bear Valley tonight."

"What?!"

All the soldiers were nearly going mad. They were going to camp overnight in Grizzly Bear Valley, which was within the range of Grizzly Bear Cave. How could they survive the night?

Zhang Zhong and his group were often taken to the mountains for training by Qin San Lang, so they were used to it. He said to the rebellious soldiers: "It’s not bad. At least we’re not going to White Wolf Forest. Camping out there really would be certain death."

It’s full of wolf packs; you’d have to huddle together to survive.

The rebellious soldiers, hearing this, suddenly felt Grizzly Bear Valley wasn’t so bad. They were afraid that King Qin would decide they were too slow and change plans for White Wolf Forest, so they hurriedly got up and dashed towards Grizzly Bear Valley.

Zhong Yu’s situation was more miserable. The two rebellious soldiers who carried him for four hours were so exhausted they were about to pee blood and couldn’t carry him anymore. They returned the silver notes, saying: "You, you crawl slowly by yourself. We’re leaving now, brothers."

"Stop, you’re not allowed to leave!" Zhong Yu hurriedly grabbed them, saying: "You took the silver, you have to complete the task, it’s the rule. Leaving the job half-done, do you have any integrity? Are you men?"

Can these two rebellious soldiers be intimidated by him? They shamelessly said: "Hey, you’re right, we’re eunuchs now. We’re leaving, take care."

With that, they quickly grabbed their gear and rushed into the mountains, afraid that if they were late, they’d be struck fifty times with the cane.

"Come back, you two bastards get back here, do you know who I am? Do you know who my father is? Do you know who my elder brother is?!" Zhong Yu shouted until his throat hurt, but the two rebellious soldiers didn’t look back at all.

Zhang Zhong, who was Qin San Lang’s confidant, needed to carry out some tasks for the soldiers, so he could ride a horse. Seeing Zhong Yu not catching up, he rode back to find him, coldly saying: "Did you become paralyzed? Lying on the ground waiting to die? Get up and keep up."