Heavenly Jewel Change Volume 7 (Chapter 106-Chapter 156)

Seeing that everyone had replied him, Zhou Weiqing nodded in satisfaction, saying: “very good, I am very pleased that everyone can call out in unison. Now, I hear that the other soldiers in the army call us the Ruffian Battalion. So… who can tell me… what is a Ruffian?”


As a Company Leader, Green Wolf was standing in the front row, and he laughed out disdainfully and said: “Isn’t it just a scoundrel, rogue, those who do not listen to orders? Can you say something fresh?” As soon as he said that, mocking laughter rang out from all about once more, especially from the men of his Company.

Zhou Weiqing waggled a finger at Green Wolf and said: “What bullshit is that, what do you know? What is a scoundrel? What is a rogue? A true ruffian, rogue, and scoundrel, that refers to a person who will do anything to gain the most, to gain the greatest benefit at the smallest possible cost, no matter what. Today, why have I been able to gather all of you here? The answer is simple…” He pointed at the gold coins scattered on the floor. “That is because of benefit.”

This time, no one retorted, as what he said was the cold hard truth. The fact that all the soldiers were in formation here so early in the morning was living proof of his words.

Zhou Weiqing said: “I have come here to be your Battalion Commander, but I have never thought of trying to teach you all to be good people, to forge you into an army of steel. What use is that? How many of our men can actually stay alive? What I want to do is to teach you, how to become truly bad, to become real rogues, scoundrels, ruffians… to make our name of the Ruffian Battalion reach its true potential.”

“Look at yourselves, what sorry state are you in, each and everyone of you miserable and wretched. Is that a life of a scoundrel? A ruffian? A true scoundrel should be wearing the best equipment, eating the best food, hugging the best women, drinking the best wine.”

Green Wolf laughed coldly and said: “Enough with that bullshit, who doesn’t know how to say such pretty but empty words?”

Zhou Weiqing ignored him, saying passively: “Next, I will be declaring some new rules for our Ruffian Battalion. Everyone listen closely; later on when you come over to collect your gold coin, if they are able to memorise and repeat these rules to me, they will be able to collect a second gold coin.”

“Before that, I think the name of Ruffian Battalion is just not nice to listen to. I’ll be giving us a new name, called the Peerless Battalion. We will be the one and only group in the entire Boundless Mainland, unrivalled and unmatched throughout the world. Now, let me announce the rules for our Peerless Battalion.”

“Rule 1. If we are fighting to the death, we must have at least three times the strength of our enemy before we fight.”

When Zhou Weiqing said that, everyone thought they had heard wrongly.

Zhou Weiqing smiled faintly and said: “You all did not hear wrongly. No matter what time, or facing which enemy, you all must remember… our lives are the most important resource. Without absolute confidence and certainty, we must not enter the battlefield. We are scoundrels and ruffians; what we want to do is to gain the biggest benefit, not foolishly pitting our lives for nothing.”

“Rule 2. Our Peerless Battalion will not do anything that does not bring benefits.”

“Let me explain more about this rule: That is to say, no matter even for the Battalion Commander like myself, if there is no benefit to doing something, you all can ignore my orders. However, if someone does something that harms the collective benefit of us all for your own selfish reasons… well, you don’t need me to explain what will happen.”

“Rule 3. There is no absolute ranking, everything depends on power. Might is Right.”

“If any of you think you can defeat me, or bring greater benefit to everyone, then you are free to challenge me. As long as you can prove it, the Peerless Battalion Battalion Commander position is yours. At the same time, all the you listen up, the same goes for your Company and Squad leaders. If you can defeat them, the position is yours. However, the caveat of this is that there must be no serious injuries or death from this, otherwise I will take you on personally.”

“Are you all now thinking that challenging for a rank or officer position is useless? Let me tell you now that such a thing is of the past… being an officer in my Peerless Battalion is definitely worth it. The northern army command might not pay you, but I will. Ordinary soldiers, your monthly pay is 5 gold coins. Squad Leaders, 20 gold coins. Company Leaders, 100 gold coins. Vice Battalion Commander, 500 gold coins. As long as you successfully challenge and win, then the new ranking pay is yours. At the same time, you are also welcome to challenge me. Your Father, I, has nothing but money to spend. If anyone successfully defeats me, I will give him a million gold coins. Do you all understand?”

Trying to reason with these ruffian soldiers was useless, and Zhou Weiqing knew that only benefits and money could be used to guide them to where he wanted, to let them truly understand him. The truth was, Zhou Weiqing had succeeded. After listening to his words, all of the Ruffian Battalion soldiers’ eyes lit up, a heretofore unseen gleam within.





Chapter 126 Peerless Brigand Soldiers! (1)


Sensing that he had successfully roused the spirits and enthusiasm of his Peerless Battalion soldiers, Zhou Weiqing smiled faintly before continuing: “For now, our Battalion rules are as such, just those three above. It shouldn’t be hard to memorise right? Very soon, Your Father, I, will let you bunch of substandard scoundrels and rogues understand, what is a true group, a community of shared interest, shared profit. I’ll show you all what I can bring to you all as a Battalion Commander. Alright, today’s gathering ends here. All of you, come over here according to your formation to collect your pay.”

Zhou Weiqing had not planned to speak for too long for this first morning gathering. His purpose was not for them to approve of him right there and then, as that was likely impossible. What he needed to do was to give them a deep impression. Just words alone was never as effective as actions.

The three simple rules that Zhou Weiqing had announced were rather simple, and besides a rare few, almost all the soldiers managed to collect two gold coins from him. With the gleaming gold coins in their hands, the reality of the situation struck, and Zhou Weiqing’s words suddenly held a greater weight.

However, as soon as everyone finished collecting their gold coins, they suddenly spotted a massive dust cloud in the distance along with the loud thunder of hooves, clearly from a speeding group of cavalry heading in their direction.

The Peerless Battalion soldiers all turned to look, and they could see a cavalry unit galloping towards them in the distance. Wei Feng stood beside Zhou Weiqing and said with a furrowed brow: “Commander, I’m afraid that those must be from the Sixteenth Regiment. From the dust they are throwing out, it must be a heavy cavalry unit, at least a whole Company. What do we do?”

Zhou Weiqing smiled faintly and shouted out loud: “Brothers of the Peerless Battalion, there is a Company of Heavy Cavalry soldiers coming towards us now, most likely from the Sixteenth Regiment, here to look for trouble with us because of what happened yesterday. Let me ask all of you, with our Peerless Battalion’s power, compared to a Company of Heavy Cavalry, is our power at least three times that of theirs?”

A stout soldier who had just gotten his gold coins cried out in a muffled voice: “Those heavy cavalry are nothing, Your Father, I, can take on four or five of them by myself!”