Chapter 148: Silver and Iron Melted Together, Grain and Sand Winnowed Apart

Everyone present was dumbfounded by the unfolding scene. The carnage was exceptionally bloody, and none of them had imagined that the refined-looking Jiang Pingchuan could be so ruthlessly cruel.

However, Fei Yu's death was well-deserved. For a general to ravage the common people within his own jurisdiction at the border was a capital offense in military law. Although Jiang Pingchuan's methods were brutal, they found it entirely acceptable.

Fei Yu's conduct had long provoked widespread public outrage throughout the border city. Now that he was dead, the common people rejoiced, but Tieniu and the others were deeply troubled. Killing Fei Yu had been a straightforward matter for Jiang Pingchuan.

Yet, as Jiang Pingchuan had pointed out, Fei Yu's two hundred thousand veteran troops would inevitably hold a grudge. If they eventually rebelled against him, Jiang Pingchuan could hardly slaughter all two hundred thousand of Fei Yu's soldiers to silence them.

At this thought, Tieniu felt a chill run down his spine. Given Jiang Pingchuan's current state of mind, he might well order the live burial of the entire two hundred thousand-strong army.

"Jiang Pingchuan, you have some nerve! To openly and brazenly murder a high-ranking imperial official in broad daylight, showing complete lawlessness! Are you deliberately challenging the laws of our dynasty?"

The three men who had been surrounded by Tieniu's five generals were consumed by fury upon seeing that Jiang Pingchuan had beaten Fei Yu to death. Shoving past the five men blocking their way, they strode right up to Jiang Pingchuan and demanded harshly. Jiang Pingchuan frowned slightly as he looked at the three enraged figures and sniffed the air.

"With such a heavy stench of gunpowder on the three of you, are you here to pass judgment on Pingchuan?"

Jiang Pingchuan stood before the disgruntled trio. They had previously curried favor with Fei Yu in hopes of using him as a stepping stone to attach themselves to Baxia's faction. Now that Jiang Pingchuan had severed their bridge to Baxia, they were unlikely to let him off easily.

"We are merely speaking on the merits of the matter and bear no personal animosity toward General Pingchuan. We trust the General will not distort the truth."

The leader of the three took another step closer to Jiang Pingchuan. He refused to believe that Jiang Pingchuan, having just murdered Fei Yu, would dare to kill him as well simply for questioning his actions. It was this confidence that gave him boldness.

Killing Fei Yu would naturally bring a flood of troublesome consequences for Jiang Pingchuan, chief among them being Fei Yu's two hundred thousand soldiers and the intentions of Baxia back in the royal capital.

Watching the general approach him with bulging eyes and an accusatory expression, Jiang Pingchuan smiled helplessly. He reached into his robe, fumbled for a moment, produced a token, and stepped closer to wave it directly before the man's face.

"Can you see this clearly? Do the three of you still have anything to say?"

Holding the Command Token of Life and Death right before the general's eyes, Jiang Pingchuan watched the man stare blankly at the ancient, exquisitely crafted jade token, momentarily unable to process what he was seeing. The man turned to look back at his two companions, and all three were instantly left speechless.

None of them dared to question the authenticity of Jiang Pingchuan's token. It was widely rumored that Lan Xiu held Jiang Pingchuan in high regard. In the current tense climate—with Lan Xiu threatened by both Baxia and the savage kings of the northwest—entrusting the Command Token of Life and Death to Jiang Pingchuan was the wisest possible choice.

Seeing that the three remained silent, Jiang Pingchuan waved the token before the other generals gathered around. The news that Jiang Pingchuan possessed the Command Token of Life and Death instantly spread throughout the entire border city. Tucking the token away, Jiang Pingchuan walked over to Tieniu, not even sparing a glance at Fei Yu's battered corpse on the ground.

"Marshal Tie, since the trouble originated with Fei Yu, I assume his accomplices are among his own troops. I wonder if the Marshal would be willing to accompany Pingchuan to inspect Fei Yu's encampment?" Jiang Pingchuan asked with a smile.

"This concerns the safety of the border city's citizens. As the Grand Marshal of the Frontier, it is my bounden duty," Tieniu replied in a deep voice.

This was Jiang Pingchuan dragging him into muddy waters; he had to go whether he wanted to or not. Since the trouble stemmed from Fei Yu, even if Jiang Pingchuan hadn't asked, Tieniu as Marshal would have had to inspect the camp anyway. Now that Jiang Pingchuan had brought it up himself, Tieniu naturally had no grounds for refusal.

"Would Lady Youlan be willing to accompany me on this trip?"

Seeing that Tieniu had agreed, Jiang Pingchuan turned to Youlan, who was sheltered behind Wang Man. Long Heng and Xia Ha had somehow managed to station themselves beside her, showering her with endless solicitous questions, though Youlan clearly wished to ignore the two overly enthusiastic vanguard officers.

Wang Man stood silently beside Youlan, keeping a close eye on the other three men. Earlier, Fei Yu's punch had triggered a backlash within his own body, and as Wang Man watched Jiang Pingchuan, his mind was racing, trying to puzzle certain things out—though naturally, these thoughts could never be revealed to Jiang Pingchuan.

"This matter rests entirely on General Pingchuan's decision," Youlan said, smoothing her robes with a blushing face.

Seeing the flush on her cheeks, Long Heng and Xia Ha let out a silent wail of despair. The two brothers had spent ages stammering away while Youlan had maintained a stony silence the entire time. They had assumed the young maiden was merely haunted by psychological trauma, only to realize she simply didn't care to talk to them. Struck by this cruel reality, the brothers exchanged an awkward, resentful glare before obediently falling in line behind Jiang Pingchuan.

Jiang Pingchuan and Tieniu led the group toward Fei Yu's encampment. The three disgruntled generals followed along as well, driven by some obscure curiosity to see how things would play out.

Youlan walked quietly by Jiang Pingchuan's side the entire way without uttering a word. Jiang Pingchuan remained silent too, simply glancing back at the military camp in the distance and murmuring a few instructions to old master Gong. Meanwhile, Wang Man brought up the rear, carrying Fei Yu's horribly disfigured head by the hair, leaving a bloody trail in their wake.

Upon receiving Jiang Pingchuan's orders, old master Gong turned and headed back toward the city gates. Although a few noticed his departure, an old codger like him was hardly worth paying attention to, and no one gave it a second thought.

The moment Jiang Pingchuan's party stepped into Fei Yu's encampment, they were met by a blockade. Leading the formation were Fei Yu's deputy generals. Upon learning that their commander had been beaten to death by Jiang Pingchuan, the vast majority of the garrison remained tight-lipped, showing no emotional disturbance whatsoever. The deputy general drew his saber and pointed it threateningly at Jiang Pingchuan's group.

"Jiang Pingchuan! You murdered our general, and before we could even hunt you down, you actually had the nerve to walk right into our camp! Since you're here, don't even think about leaving!"

The deputy general glared with a ferocious expression, clearly bound to Fei Yu by deep loyalty, which fueled his intense hatred.

"I never intended to leave. I'm here to bring you a gift," Jiang Pingchuan smiled faintly as he looked at the deputy. Behind the man, a dense sea of soldiers stood silently—though not quite numbering twenty thousand. With that, Jiang Pingchuan gestured to Wang Man behind him.

Wang Man let out a dark chuckle, leaped onto the encampment's command platform, and with a powerful bound, securely hung Fei Yu's severed head from the flagstaff, casually tearing down Fei Yu's regimental banner and casting it into the dirt.

Jiang Pingchuan glanced at Tieniu beside him. The Marshal looked back at him in sheer astonishment. He had assumed Jiang Pingchuan intended to reason with and pacify Fei Yu's troops, yet Jiang Pingchuan had immediately ordered Wang Man to hang the general's head from the pole. Wasn't this an overt provocation designed to enrage the soldiers?

Watching Jiang Pingchuan stand there with an innocent smile, as if he thoroughly enjoyed plunging the world into chaos, Tieniu truly felt his age, completely unable to fathom what Jiang Pingchuan was trying to achieve.

Jiang Pingchuan stepped up onto the command platform and looked down at the hundreds of thousands of hostile soldiers staring daggers at him, completely unperturbed as if they were nothing more than dust.

"Jiang Pingchuan, you are utterly ruthless! I'm going to kill you to avenge the general!"

Roaring with rage, the deputy general rushed forward with a blood-red face. Before he could even get close, Wang Man struck, unleashing a fist that slammed directly into the deputy general's chest. The man vomited a mouthful of blood and was sent flying backward.

Jiang Pingchuan cast a glance at Wang Man. He noticed that Wang Man never held back his punches, especially against officers of deputy rank or higher, practically aiming to kill them with a single blow. Slamming back into the crowd, the deputy general clutched his chest, coughing violently as the internal turmoil left him entirely speechless.

"You all know why Fei Yu died. I am not an unreasonable man. As long as the accomplices step forward voluntarily, I will not make things difficult for the rest of you."

Jiang Pingchuan's deep voice echoed across the parade grounds. Standing beside him, Youlan looked out at the sea of soldiers with unconcealed dread; several men among them had left indelible scars of trauma upon her life. In Jiang Pingchuan's eyes, anyone who trampled his bottom line—those who preyed on women and bullied the helpless common folk—deserved to die.

"Jiang Pingchuan, you country bumpkin! We are the guardians of the border city; how could we ever harm the people? You're just jealous that General Fei won the hearts of the people, so you murdered him out of spite! How despicable..."

"Jiang Pingchuan, we will answer for anything we've actually done, but don't you dare pin crimes on us that we never committed..."

"You killed General Fei and now you expect to take command of us? Keep dreaming..."

The murmurs of the hundred thousand soldiers swelled into a chaotic roar. Though the noise sounded deafeningly loud, Jiang Pingchuan could clearly distinguish that the voices of dissent belonged to only a fraction of the crowd—fewer than three thousand men in total.

Without a word, Jiang Pingchuan looked toward the camp gates, where old master Gong was galloping back at a full gallop, leading five thousand cavalrymen. Following closely behind were thirteen wagons. The first ten were laden with military rations, precisely enough to feed twenty thousand soldiers for three months.

The remaining three wagons carried a massive earthenware vat and two smelting furnaces. Everyone stared in profound confusion as Jiang Pingchuan ordered all the rations unloaded onto the command platform, placing the large vat filled with dry, fine sand right at the front.

The smelting furnaces from the other wagons were set up beside the vat. Just as the crowd wondered what on earth he was plotting, another thousand cavalrymen arrived escorting four more wagons.

The first two wagons unloaded twenty large chests, all flung open to reveal glittering piles of silver currency designated specifically for military pay. The final two wagons hauled stacks of scrap metal and discarded weapons. Once everything was properly arranged, Jiang Pingchuan smiled warmly and looked down at the massive army.

"I know you all value loyalty. However, if you refuse to let me take command, and stubbornly refuse to obey orders and fight, then your only choices going forward are to go home or eat dirt."

Jiang Pingchuan's cold voice pierced the air. In his eyes, these soldiers were not fanatically loyal to Fei Yu; rather, many had simply lacked the courage to rebel against a tyrant who executed dissenters without hesitation.

"Listen to me well: if the culprits step forward willingly, your military pay will be distributed in full. If they do not, every single quarter-hour I will burn three hundred catties of grain and melt down three hundred catties of silver pay, and I will continue to do so until someone comes forward. Of course, those who step forward face only one outcome: death."

As soon as Jiang Pingchuan finished speaking, a restless stir rippled through the hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Some began licking their lips, eyeing the grain and silver with greed, while others clearly plotted to incite a riot and loot the supplies.

Just as the restlessness threatened to boil over, a thunderous rumble of hooves echoed from the distance as another cavalry detachment raced toward the encampment.

(To be continued.)