Chapter 38: As Heavy as Mount Tai
Xiao Zhan’s casual yet immensely heavy words fell like an invisible noose around the necks of the three thousand soldiers assembled on the parade ground.
First I will execute all of you, and then I will execute myself.
What a mad, what a resolute declaration!
At this moment, the "Ghost’s Fang" in their hands was no longer merely a weapon, nor was it a symbol of power and wealth.
It had transformed into a test, a curse, a death warrant bound directly to their very lives, and even to the life of their mad commander!
"Let the timing begin!"
Zhao Tieniu’s icy voice rang out, striking every heart like a heavy hammer.
Time began to flow.
On the parade ground, a dead silence fell.
Three thousand soldiers held three thousand "Ghost’s Fangs," motionless, their muzzles pointing rigidly straight ahead.
At first, they could barely sustain themselves on the fervour and terror that had just been ignited within them.
Weighing about seven or eight catties, the "Ghost’s Fang" was nothing extraordinary for these robustly built soldiers.
However, time is the most terrifying enemy in the world.
A quarter of an hour passed.
Fine beads of sweat began to ooze from many foreheads.
Their arms began to feel an unbearable, aching numbness. It felt as though countless ants were frantically gnawing at their muscles and bones.
Everyone’s arms felt as if they had been poured full of lead, becoming exceptionally heavy.
*Gulp.*
Someone swallowed with difficulty, their Adam’s apple bobbing.
Their breathing grew heavy.
Some bodies began to exhibit a slight, almost imperceptible tremor.
On the high viewing platform, Zhang Wei’s palms were slick with cold sweat.
As he looked down at the three thousand figures standing like statues, a chill shot straight from the soles of his feet to his crown.
He had been a soldier all his life, witnessing all kinds of drills.
Some were strict, some were cruel, but he had never seen anything so perverted, so mentally torturous!
This was not training the physical endurance of soldiers; this was destroying their wills, only to rebuild them with something far more terrifying!
"He is... breaking the eagles."
Qin Cang’s voice was hoarse and low.
"What?" Zhang Wei did not hear clearly.
"Breaking the eagles," Qin Cang repeated, his gaze locked firmly onto Xiao Zhan’s back. "To tame the fiercest eagles, hunters tie them up, deny them sleep, withhold food and water, and torture them for days and nights until all their wildness, their arrogance, and their will are completely worn away! When they reach the brink of collapse, the hunter gives them a little water, a little meat. From that moment on, the eagle will develop an absolute dependence and obedience to the hunter, loyal unto death!"
Qin Cang paused, a trace of trembling in his voice.
"What Xiao Zhan is doing right now is precisely this. He is breaking the three thousand most untamable ‘eagles’ of our Great Ming Dynasty!"
Zhang Wei felt a chill pierce his very bones.
When he looked back at the soldiers, it was as if he were no longer looking at a group of men, but rather at a pack of beasts whose souls were being ground away alive.
Another quarter of an hour passed.
Half an hour!
"Ah..."
Finally, someone could no longer hold out.
It was a relatively lean soldier whose body trembled violently like a sifter. Sweat had already soaked his clothes, continuously dripping down his cheeks and arms.
He gritted his teeth, the muscles on his face twisted and distorted by pain.
The "Ghost’s Fang" in his hands, with its pitch-black muzzle, began to sink slowly at a visible rate.
Inch by inch.
Everyone’s heart leaped into their throats!
Subconsciously, everyone glanced at him, then looked in terror toward Xiao Zhan on the viewing platform!
Was that madman going to shoot?
Yet, Xiao Zhan did not move.
He merely watched quietly, his face devoid of expression.
The soldier’s will struggled desperately between the extreme pain of his body and the ultimate terror of death.
He did not want to die!
He remembered Xiao Zhan’s command, remembered that icy muzzle!
"Roar!"
He suddenly let out a non-human, bestial roar, expending the very last shred of his strength to forcefully hoist the sinking muzzle back to the horizontal line!
However, this had exhausted all his energy.
Because of this outburst, his body trembled even more violently.
At that moment, Xiao Zhan moved.
He did not walk toward the soldier on the verge of collapse.
Instead, he walked over to another soldier—one who was similarly trembling, yet gritted his teeth to the end, maintained the best posture, and possessed the most ferocious gaze.
That man was Wang Ba!
Xiao Zhan said nothing, merely pulling a silver ingot from his tunic and casually placing it atop Wang Ba’s rock-steady gun barrel.
"Hold it steady."
He uttered only three words before turning and walking back to the viewing platform.
The impact of this action was more shattering than a thousand or ten thousand words of reprimand!
Everyone understood now!
Hold on, and you shall be rewarded!
Furthermore, you are rewarded right in front of everyone, in the most direct and glorious manner possible!
As for the soldier whose muzzle had dipped, although unpunished, compared to Wang Ba, it was as if he had been stripped naked in public and dealt a vicious slap across the face!
No punishment, yet it was the ultimate humiliation!
Wang Ba’s eyes turned instantly bloodshot!
A powerful sense of honor and pride surged wildly from the depths of his heart! He felt that what rested upon that barrel was not a silver ingot, but Xiao Zhan’s ultimate recognition of him! It was the highest glory of this new army!
He straightened his spine, the veins on his arms bulging like coiling dragons. The heavy "Ghost’s Fang" felt as light as a feather in his hands!
The other soldiers were also deeply stimulated by this scene!
Their eyes burst with intense jealousy and desire!
Why was Wang Ba the one to receive the reward?
I can do it too!
A stubborn, fierce drive was awakened from the depths of their bones!
They no longer thought about the unbearable soreness; their minds held only that silver ingot gleaming brightly in the sunlight, and Wang Ba’s infinitely glorious figure!
They began to regulate their breathing, utilizing the methods Xiao Zhan had taught to control their muscles.
The momentum of the entire formation shifted instantly!
Transforming from bitter endurance into something brimming with competition and confrontation!
One full shichen finally arrived.
"Time’s up! Everyone, lower your weapons!"
Zhao Tieniu’s voice sounded like music to their ears.
*Clatter...*
Three thousand guns were lowered heavily to the ground almost simultaneously.
Immediately afterward, the sounds of *thud, thud* echoed endlessly.
The moment they put down their guns, at least ninety percent of the soldiers felt their legs turn to jelly and collapsed directly to the ground like heaps of mud, lacking even the strength to twitch a finger.
Their arms had completely lost all sensation, twitching violently and uncontrollably purely by instinct.
Yet, not a single person complained.