Just as Zhou Weiqing was about to return to the tent as well, a troop of soldiers walked over. They were Shen Bu’s personal guards.
The one right in the front was holding a set of armour, with the helmet on top with a red feather. The guard behind him was holding several sets of army uniforms as well as commander’s seals, plaques and the like.
Seeing them, Zhou Weiqing did not return to the tent, instead standing there awaiting their arrival.
The leading guard yesterday, who he had already seen yesterday, handed the armour to Zhou Weiqing before saying with a slight mocking lilt in his voice: “Congratulations, Battalion Commander Zhou. Today, you have been assigned as the Battalion Commander for the Ruffian Battalion. This are the uniforms for you and your follower, as well as the equipment for Battalion Commanders. Please change now, and we will escort you to the Ruffian Battalion.”
What escort… this was clearly monitoring and supervising… to ensure he was sent to the Ruffian Battalion.
Still, Zhou Weiqing did not burst their bubble. Smiling faintly, he picked up a few sets of army uniforms, throwing one into the tent for Shangguan Fei’er. As for himself, he just changed into a set out in the open, before wearing his armour. His stature was massive, and wearing that armour with the red feather in his helmet, he looked valiant and inspiring indeed.
Besides the armour, there was a longsword and a plaque made out of an unknown metal. On the plaque were the words ‘Unique Battalion 1’, this was likely the actual formation name of the Ruffian Battalion.
Zhou Weiqing took the Commander’s Plaque and sheathed his sword. In his heart, he felt a twinge, a strange feeling. Battalion Commander. How things had changed so quickly. He was actually a Battalion Commander now, in charge of a thousand men!
Shangguan Fei’er came out of the tent, once again masked and disguised. Her figure was much more slender than Zhou Weiqing’s, and her equipment was much simpler as well. An army uniform over a light leather armor, and a plain knife.
There were twenty of those personal guards in total, and they moved out very naturally in a formation around the two of them. The leader of the guards said: “Battalion Commander Zhou, the horses have already been prepared outside the main gates. Please, let’s head out.”
Zhou Weiqing smiled faintly and said: “At least let us have breakfast before leaving right?”
The guard said: “I’m sorry, as Battalion Commander is no longer part of our Sixteenth Regiment, we did not prepare your breakfasts.”
Zhou Weiqing nodded and said: “Very well, let’s go then.” He pulled Shangguan Fei’er away, who was clearly about to lose her temper. Under the ‘escort’ of the twenty guards, they moved out.
Right outside the Sixteenth Regiment, twenty two fine horses had already been prepared. After all, it was quite some distance between here to the Ruffian Battalion on the front lines.
Mounting the horses, the entire party started moving out in a cloud of dust, and before long they were galloping towards the north.
The two sisters, Shen Bu and Shen Yi, were already dressed in their formal armour, standing at the main gates, watching Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Fei’er leave. Shen Yi’s brow was slightly furrowed, and she said softly: “Sis, are we going too far in doing this? After all, that Zhou Little Fatty is really strong, a talent indeed!”
Shen Bu gave a cold humph and said: “So what if he is a talent? A talent who cannot listen to orders, what use is he in the army? Let him stew in the Ruffian Battalion for a short while; it shouldn’t take long for him to run back to beg me. At that time, hmph hmph.” Thinking about that Zhou Little Fatty’s hateful actions yesterday, she couldn’t help but feel the anger rise up in her again.
Chapter 124 Ruffian Battalion, Battalion Commander! (1)
Riding upon a huge horse, dressed in full armour, Zhou Weiqing had a peaceful look on his face as they galloped along. He even took out a dry biscuit from his Spatial Ring and started eating, but when he tried to give one to Shangguan Fei’er, she rejected it huffily. However, it wasn’t because she was still angry at him earlier, but because Shangguan Fei’er felt he was being too soft. These guards were treating him like that, mockingly, and he was still able to endure it. That was not something she liked.
These personal guards of Shen Bu were all hand picked from the regiment, truly the elite of them all. Although they weren’t all Heavenly Jewel Masters, they were mostly Physical Jewel Masters, just that their cultivation levels weren’t too high. If this was the Heavenly Bow Empire, they would absolutely be high ranking officers.
Twenty two fine horses galloping along, and it still took more than two hours before the camp entered their sight.
Doing a quick calculation inwardly, Zhou Weiqing estimated that they had traveled at least three hundred li. If this army camp in front of them was indeed the Ruffian Battalion, they were truly isolated.
However, the Ruffian Battalion was at least not situated on the open plains; after all not far north from here would already be the exact border of the ZhongTian and WanShou Empire. The surrounding were all rolling hills and peaks, not exactly the tallest ones, but enough to make the terrain rather complicated.
Zhou Weiqing could clearly see that the entire camp of the Ruffian Battalion was mostly along one of the hills, thus being very visible even from a far distance. The tents were messy and haphazardly placed, mostly dirty, tattered and torn, and there wasn’t even a single army flag in sight. Although the little hill was still relatively full of grass and vegetation, no matter how one looked at it, the camp made the entire place look bleak and chilly, almost desolate.
“HALT!” Just as they were closing in on the camp, about five hundred metres from it, a sudden shout broke the still silence. The next instant, about a dozen men jumped out from beyond some rocks, blocking the party’s road.
Are these really soldiers?! On first sight of them, Zhou Weiqing started. None of these soldiers were properly dressed, or even clean, with their army uniforms in shambles, some not even complete. In fact, most of their uniforms were tattered and torn in places, and the few that were uglily patched up were actually considered the best of the lot. As for leather armour, chainmail or ringmail, none of them even had the slightest hint of protective gear. In fact, the only proper equipment between the dozen were the three weapons that three of them had, all long spears. As for the rest, they only had some wooden poles.
However, in comparison to their terrible equipment, they all looked strong and ferocious indeed, aged between twenty five to thirty five, all tall large and stout. Due to their tattered clothing, their bronzed tough muscles were on display, and coupled with the harsh and intractable looks on their faces, it would be more accurate to describe them as brigands than soldiers, or even violent bandits.
The leader of the guards lashed out with his whip in mid air, a loud cracking sound breaking the silence. “What halt?! You scoundrels and ruffians, look at yourselves, you look like beggars! Having been sent to this place, you still haven’t learned to be more honest? We are the personal guards of the Sixteenth Regiment Regiment Commander Shen Bu, and we are here to escort your new Battalion Commander to you. Here, this is Battalion Commander Zhou. Hurry up and greet him.”
Heavenly Jewel Change Volume 7 (Chapter 106-Chapter 156)
Tang Jia San Shao's books
- Heavenly Jewel Change Volume 1 (Chapter 1 - Chapter 7)
- Heavenly Jewel Change Volume 2 (Chapter 8 - Chapter 14)
- Heavenly Jewel Change Volume 3 (Chapter 15 - Chapter 21)
- Heavenly Jewel Change Volume 4 (Chapter 22 - Chapter 24)
- Heavenly Jewel Change Volume 5 (Chapter 25 - Chapter 35)
- Heavenly Jewel Change Volume 6 (Chapter 36 - Chapter 54)
- Heavenly Jewel Change Volume 7 (Chapter 55-Chapter 105)
- Heavenly Jewel Change Volume 7 (Chapter 157-Chapter 207)
- Heavenly Jewel Change Volume 7 (Chapter 208-Chapter 258)
- Heavenly Jewel Change Volume 7 (Chapter 259-Chapter 308)