Just a year or so had passed, and his "Sky Gang Youth Skill" had already caught up to him?
Nangong Feiying, neither humble nor proud, clasped his fists and bowed, "Thanks to the great fortune bestowed by our supervisor, my brothers’ martial arts have all made some advances!"
Wei Heng, in a daze, looked up at the six elite Imperial Guards following Nangong Feiying. He hadn’t intended to take such a look, but what he saw gave him quite a shock: True Essence, True Essence... a full four in the True Essence realm, and the remaining two in the Qi Sea realm, also exuding an overflow of vigorous energy, almost stepping into the True Essence realm.
He really wanted to ask, ’Is Dongying some kind of holy land for martial arts practice?’ But reason made him swallow the question back.
Just in time, Zhou Fu from the ship and people like Liu Tang from the Embroidered Uniform Guards also disembarked one after another and hurried over to pay their respects.
"This officer, Zhou Fu, Deputy Commandant from the Jiangzhe Regional Commandant Office, has seen Wei," he said.
"This officer, Liu Tang, Deputy Thousand Households from the Northern Town Prefectural Commissioner’s Forward Office of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, has seen Wei," he said.
Wei Heng woodenly glanced at Zhou Fu... Hmm, this one was still in the Qi Sea realm.
But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he saw that the six elite Embroidered Uniform Guards following Liu Tang were all in the True Essence realm, True Essence... Together with Liu Tang, there were seven elite Embroidered Uniform Guards, and only one remained in the Qi Sea realm!
The fifteen men stood together, each with a more rugged appearance than the next, each with a denser aura of evil Qi than the last.
To say they were like old soldiers who had crawled out of piles of corpses on the frontier, they had a touch more proud wildness.
To say they were like great villains of the jianghu who had killed countless people, they had a touch more of dignified killing intent...
In short, each had the stature of a lion or a tiger!
"You..."
Wei Heng grunted for a while before he could muster the words, "All of you are impressive!"
Truth be told, standing before these fifteen men, he felt somewhat faint-hearted.
Luckily, these fifteen men did not rest on their laurels; upon hearing his words, they all clasped their fists in unison to return the gesture, "It’s all thanks to the cultivation of our supervisor."
"Thanks to Wei for the praise!"
Wei Heng secretly breathed a sigh of relief, stepped forward to help up Zhou Fu, Liu Tang, and the others, but suddenly felt an unaccountable block in his heart, "Gentlemen, for expanding the territory and establishing incomparable merit for our great Wei, His Majesty has ordered me to personally welcome back our heroes to the motherland, to enter the capital and receive your rewards!"
Upon hearing this, they all felt greatly heartened, and excitedly they turned to the northwest to bow in thanks.
"Come forth,"
Wei Heng, smiling, gestured, and immediately an Imperial Guard led fifteen magnificent horses, adorned in red, forward: "Please, honored heroes, mount your steeds for a parade to celebrate your achievements!"
The crowd was both surprised and somewhat uncertain, looking to Zhou Fu in unison.
Seeing this, Zhou Fu stepped forward with a bow, neither servile nor overbearing, "Wei, I and my colleagues receive the emperor’s bounty and serve the emperor’s cause. Our meager accomplishments are but our duty. It’s already too much that you’ve come to welcome us personally; dare we not disturb our hometown elders further... This cannot be, it truly cannot be!"
Hearing this, the others also began to decline with clasped fists.
Wei Heng looked at Nangong Feiying and Liu Tang again, somewhat astonished, then pretended to be displeased as he "huh" and stepped forward to grab Zhou Fu by the forearm, forcibly dragging him towards the lead white horse, "You are the great heroes who conquered lands and expanded the nation, not parading to celebrate your accomplishments doesn’t do justice to the hardships and bitterness you endured crossing the vast ocean..."
Seeing that Zhou Fu was still strenuously declining, Wei Heng paused, then continued, "Someone must claim the credit for the conquest and expansion of Dongying, right? If Lord Yang doesn’t care for it, who will accept it if you don’t?"
He shouldn’t have said that, for no sooner had the words left his mouth than Zhou Fu hurriedly sat down on the wharf, adamantly refusing to get up, "Such unprecedented merits rightfully belong to Erlang! Even if Erlang looks down on them, we have no face to falsely claim them and deceive the world!"
As his voice fell, the fourteen men behind, who had already shown some intent to oblige, unanimously stepped back, "If Erlang himself has not claimed such merit, what virtue or ability do we have to claim such unprecedented achievement?"
"This isn’t about rewarding merit, this is poking at our spine!"
"This must not be done, absolutely not, oh supervisor!"
"Erlang treats us like his own hands and feet, how could we commit such heartless and disgraceful acts, lower than pigs and dogs?"
"It simply cannot be, it simply cannot be, Wei..."
As he watched him shake his head like a rattle-drum, Wei Heng had the words "This is His Majesty’s wish" on the tip of his tongue, but he dared not speak them out loud.
What to do?
If he said nothing, there would be no problem, but if he spoke those words and this group of fools refused again, wouldn’t that be considered defying an imperial edict?
Defying an imperial edict is a capital offense!
"Very well!"
After much hesitation, Wei Heng finally decided to preserve the emperor’s dignity and take all the responsibility upon himself, "Forget the parade to display your military accomplishments. I have already prepared a welcome banquet to wash off the dust of Dongying from you all... Please!"
He waved his hand, commanding his men to lead the fifteen tall horses away and made a welcoming gesture towards Hangzhou City.
Upon hearing his words, everyone quietly sighed with relief, bowed in thanks, and insisted on Wei Heng leading the way.
Wei Heng did not stand on ceremony with them and, taking Zhou Fu by the arm, headed toward Hangzhou City while speaking in a low voice, "General Zhou, I am a few years your senior, and so I recklessly call you Zhou, my younger brother!"
"Your Excellency is too generous; as a mere warrior, how dare I..."
"Do you, my young brother Zhou, perhaps look down on me as a mere eunuch?"
"How could I say such a thing, Your Excellency? I have long heard of your great name and hold nothing but admiration for you!"
"Then let’s dispense with the unnecessary niceties. I’ve practically developed calluses from hearing your name so often. You don’t know, but our Second Master has been thinking of you constantly, mentioning you multiple times at court and advocating for competent personnel to be sent to Dongying to bring you back sooner rather than later. He called you an exceptional general, saying it was a pity to waste your talents in Dongying... Let me give you a bit of inside information: the court has already decided to promote you to Deputy Commander of Jizhou. Once you enter the capital to receive your official appointment, you will take up your post in Jizhou, commanding twenty thousand elite border soldiers and thirty thousand auxiliary troops from Dongying!"
"This... by His Majesty’s grace, I am beyond grateful and can only pledge to fight bravely until I am wrapped in horsehide and returned!"
"Hahaha, indeed, you are a sensible man... By the way, you have been managing Dongying for over a year now, how is the situation there currently?"
"Your Excellency, I dare not claim the credit for managing Dongying. Before our Second Master returned to Wei, he had already made numerous arrangements for the subsequent situation in Dongying. Over this past year, I merely acted on his behalf, executing each of his arrangements... By the time I left Dongying, it was entirely under the control of Wei’s military government. If we continue to carry out the Second Master’s arrangements steadfastly, within two hundred years, there will be no more people from Dongying in the world!"
"Is that truly so?"
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"Would I dare deceive Your Excellency?"
"Literary talent and martial virtue, unrivaled in the world... Worthy indeed of the ’Divine Monarch’ Yang Erlang!"
"May I ask Your Excellency, where is the Second Master now? He must be very concerned about the situation in Dongying..."
"Don’t worry about that. Your journey to the capital will take you right past his residence, and you’ll have plenty of time to report to him then!"
"That is good, that is very good..."
Listening to Zhou Fu’s mumblings, Wei Heng couldn’t help but turn his head to glance back at those fourteen broad-shouldered, menacing figures, then looked at the tender-skinned and seemingly strong but inwardly frail Western Factory operatives surrounding him, and suddenly recalled those audacious Imperial Guards in Yangzhou Prefecture’s special envoy garden who even dared to draw their swords against him...
Could it be that as the saying goes, "A group of bears begets a single general, and a den of bears, an entire troop"?
Subconsciously puffing up his chest, Wei Heng pondered in bewilderment, ’But surely I am not bear-like, am I?’
That’s it, it’s these youngsters who are too disappointing!
"All of you, puff up your chests for me!"
Wei Heng glared with bulging eyes, shouting fiercely to those around him, "Look at yourselves, all slack and loose. None of you resembles the elite forces of the Emperor!"
The Western Factory operatives silently looked at Nangong Feiying and Liu Tang and their companions, then similarly puffed out their chests, and with hands on their sabers, began to march forward with wide strides.
The result... looked even more bizarre!