Is this the emperor that the Zhou Family has pledged to support for generations?
Is this right?
Do the soldiers ultimately remain loyal to the emperor's benevolence or to the common people?
Zhou Qichen did not know, but suddenly he no longer wanted to support that supreme ruler, compared to the Elder Princess who had personally gone to the disaster area and saved hundreds of thousands of people without regard for her own infection!
Pei Changying is truly incompetent and heartless!
Pei Changying's actions today have completely shattered Zhou Qichen's last shred of hope.
He suddenly thought—
Whatever Sang chooses, he will choose the same!
"Sang, if you used to want to support him as emperor, I would guard the borders for you."
"But now, if you really want to choose the Elder Princess, I'll still listen to you. I once said that I would always stand behind you and protect you, and I'm not like Pei Changying—I keep my word."
"After I settle my family, I will go to Lingnan to find the Elder Princess!"
The next day.
At the training base.
After verifying her identity through multiple layers, Gu Sang finally arrived at the inner area. As she looked up, she saw rows of soldiers training in the mud.
She found a shady spot to sit down and opened the live stream.
Scenes from Xuyang Palace, the grand hall, the capital city, the plague city, and more flashed across the live broadcast!
The ancient people who had already gathered to watch raised their heads out of habit.
On the screen, they saw mud figures that were indistinguishable, and if not for their moving limbs, they would have been identical to real mud statues.
At various training grounds around them, people gaped in astonishment.
Before the officials and commoners could figure out the obvious explanation, they saw the instructor standing high up start spraying the soldiers below with a high-pressure water gun.
"You have ten minutes to shower. Regroup in ten minutes!" the instructor shouted loudly.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the soldiers scurried up and dashed to the showers.
The instructor walked over to Gu Sang, and she immediately stood up.
"Hello, Instructor. I'm Gu Sang, here for training."
The instructor nodded with a calm expression: "Not everyone has arrived yet. Training for you all will start tomorrow. You can put your things in the dorm first."
This was a closed-door training session, so Gu Sang would have to stay at the training base until it ended.
In the dorm, only two beds had luggage on them, but no one was there.
After putting down her luggage, Gu Sang went out to watch the soldiers train.
Outside the live broadcast, the ancient people looked up to see rows of soldiers standing ramrod straight under the sun.
In that moment, they felt an overwhelming sense of oppression.
"Are those... soldiers for war?"
"Why do her soldiers look so powerful? Look at their arms and legs, so taut! And so orderly too. From the front, I can only see the first row, I can't see anyone behind them."
"What a strange formation, completely different from our soldiers."
"Just what is this place? A military camp?"
While the commoners and scholar-officials were baffled, the emperor Pei Changying sitting on the throne flickered with a glint of realization in his eyes.
Because!
He had seen this stance before!
Gu Sang had once helped him train his soldiers, using this very stance.
Thinking of this, Pei Changying thought he had caught Gu Sang's wrongdoing and sneered coldly, "Gu Sang, I knew you still had me in your heart."
"For me, you even taught these secret training methods to those soldiers."
"If the rulers over there find out about this, you would be considered a traitor guilty of leaking state secrets—a crime punishable by the extermination of your entire clan!"
This idiot really is a moron.
Always blabbering about exterminating clans and wanting people to die miserably!
Seeing Pei Changying's self-assured expression, Gu Sang couldn't help but sneer: "We don't have this notion of punishing entire clans here."
"Moreover, you think this is some kind of state secret?"
"Pei Changying, I'm not trying to put you down, but the soldiers I trained back then only used modern methods on the surface! You can't even imagine how powerful the warriors here are!"
"You could watch this training a hundred times, and you'd never find the essence!"
Modern soldiers undergo extremely intense and strict training. Pitting them against ordinary people, they could easily take on ten opponents barehanded!
But Pei Changying didn't think so and believed Gu Sang was just talking big.
Talking big?
The next second!
The instructor standing on the tower raised the training gun in his hand, and with a command—
"Combat simulation begins!"
"Bang!"
The sudden, deafening blast was like the sky itself had been torn apart!
Not only did the commoners jump in fright, but even the officials were so shocked that they retreated three steps, staring at the live broadcast in horror.
"What was that sound?"
"So loud! Much louder than a cannon firing. It seems to have come from that black thing in the instructor's hand..."
"What is that? So strange! The sound came from that black object?"
Before the ancient people could figure out what was going on, the next scene left them stunned!
They witnessed with their own eyes—at the moment the gunshot rang out, all the soldiers swiftly split into two rows, dashing towards the obstacles ahead at blinding speeds.
The ancients first marveled at the soldiers' speed for a few seconds.
Then, seeing the soldiers charging at the obstacles, they dismissed it with a laugh: "Are they stupid?"
"Wouldn't it be faster to just run straight ahead? Why are they running towards those obstacles?"
"Yeah, I think I get it now. This must be a soldiers' footrace, their speed is really fast, they're just a bit dumb."
"Boom—"
A thunderous explosion drowned out their discussions, and in an instant, the field erupted in flames.
Half the screen was engulfed in fire and billowing smoke.
The ancients who had just prided themselves on being clever tumbled to the ground, no longer caring about decorum as they cried out in terror:
"Look quickly! Look! Is this divine punishment raining down on us?"
"I just saw something streak down and strike those soldiers dead."
"This... This is too horrifying. The training involves death?"
However—
Just as the ancients thought the soldiers had been struck dead by divine lightning, the next instant, one soldier stood up from the thick smoke.
Then continued charging forward.
A second one stood up too!
A third appeared as well!
Another thunderous sound, as if the ground itself had been shaken.
Amid the dense smoke, the silhouettes of people could be seen darting about, with bursts of gunfire unable to impede their advance.
All the soldiers charged towards the iron mesh, crawling forward.
Their movements were agile.
Their gazes were resolute.
Mud pits, wooden bridges, climbing, leaping - one soldier stood at the foot of the wall, and another used their comrade's hands as a boost to vault up -
Gradually, the generals inside the palace grew restless.
They rushed up to the screen, aghast. "How could it be so fast! How are they so united?"
"The speed, reflexes, stamina, strength, climbing ability of these soldiers, we cannot match them, your humble officer cannot fathom this......"
