Chapter 163: Swearing Deathless Allegiance to My Lord (1/4)

Outside the outskirts of Tianjing, Zhang Decheng and his "First Regiment under Heaven" had just suffered a defeat, and his face was gloomy. To shift the blame, he claimed that the defeat was caused by Nie Shicheng's slaughter of several thousand of his elite subordinates, meaning the responsibility for the loss entirely lay with the great fiend Nie Shicheng. He ordered his men to scout and abduct Nie Shicheng's family, but his subordinates returned with the report that all forty elite men sent on the mission had been completely wiped out.

"Useless! The Transcendent Wang Yu is useless, and Zheng Tianshou is useless too. With so many men, they actually couldn't defeat Nie Shicheng's personal guards and that damned Transcendent Chen Baxian!" Zhang Decheng roared in fury.

Hearing Zhang Decheng mention Chen Baxian, Lin Hei'er and Cui Yuniang in the large tent showed looks of surprise. Lin Hei'er stepped forward and said, "Altarsmaster Zhang, where is this Chen Baxian you speak of from?"

Zhang Decheng said bitterly, "That Chen Baxian is said to be a native of Qianzhou and a loyal running dog of Nie Shicheng. Previously, he helped Nie Shicheng kill quite a few of our brothers. This time, I first sent the Transcendent Lantian to capture Nie Shicheng's family, but he broke through and snatched them away. Later, I sent Wang Yu with forty Boxers to pursue them, only to find that Wang Yu's entire force was annihilated, causing me to lose forty fine men."

Lin Hei'er asked in a deep voice, "What does Altarsmaster Zhang intend to do?"

Zhang Decheng slammed his palm onto the desk and shouted loudly, "If I do not kill the Transcendent Chen Baxian, it will not quench the hatred in my heart. I will send men again. The Transcendents cannot be depended upon. I wonder which of you here is willing to take your subordinate brothers on this trip?"

Lin Hei'er sighed and said, "To be honest with you, that Chen Baxian has some ties to my sect. Since he is colluding with the Nie fiend, it is only right that I purge our sect. Let me take the sisters of the Red Lanterns on this trip!"

Zhang Decheng nodded and said, "Good, then I will trouble Miss Lin. I hope Miss Lin can bring back Chen Baxian and Nie Shicheng's family, for I want to use their heads to consecrate the battle flags."

Lin Hei'er and Cui Yuniang returned to the camp of the Red Lanterns. Cui Yuniang said in a low voice, "Eldest Senior Sister, when Altarsmaster Zhang sent men to capture Nie Shicheng's family, you also said that punishment should not extend to the family. Altarsmaster Zhang has gone too far. Disciple-nephew Baxian probably couldn't bear to watch Altarsmaster Zhang's men bully the elderly and the young, which is why he went against them. Why must you muddy these troubled waters?"

Lin Hei'er snorted coldly and said, "It is true that punishment does not extend to the family, but even if Zhang Decheng was wrong, Baxian should not have killed so many Boxers. If we don't give him a warning, I'm afraid his entanglements with those corrupt officials will only grow deeper, eventually turning him into our enemy."

"Sister Yuniang, the foreign devils' fiendish weapons are too formidable, and Zhang Decheng has suffered heavy losses. Soon, he will order our sisters to march to their deaths. I must look out for the sisters, and now is a good opportunity to leave under this pretext. Even if we are to deal with the foreign devils, we should command ourselves; I do not want our sisters to be ordered around recklessly by Zhang Decheng and thrown to their deaths."

Cui Yuniang nodded and said, "Older Sister has thought this through well. Zhang Decheng's eyes are already bloodshot from rage; if not for his reckless commands, how could the losses have been so severe? It is only right for Senior Sister to choose to escape this fire pit."

After completely wiping out the players and NPCs led by Wang Yu, Chen Hao returned along the path to pick up Nie Shicheng's family and continued advancing along the imperial highway. Not long after they set off, Feng Yong, the captain of Nie Shicheng's personal guards, suddenly came before his horse and said, "Lord Chen, Feng Yong has something to say."

Chen Hao reined in his horse and said with a smile, "Captain Feng and I have been through thick and thin together. If you have anything to say, just speak your mind. Whatever I can do, I will certainly agree to."

Feng Yong dropped to one knee and said, "When I left, the Governor-General told us to consider on our own whether to follow Lord Yuan or Lord Chen. This time, thanks to Lord Chen protecting the old madam's safety during the battle, our brothers have discussed it, and from now on we will follow your lead, my lord. We only hope that you will take us in."

"Player Chen Baxian, you performed admirably in the mission to escort Nie Shicheng's family, annihilating the Boxer bandits with zero casualties. You have gained the allegiance of Nie Shicheng's personal guard unit. If you are willing to take in Feng Yong and the others, your relationship with them will change to an employment status. Under the employment status, you must pay reasonable wages to ensure they do not betray you."

Feng Yong and the other ten men were the elite guards of a top-rank imperial official. Each of them possessed formidable martial arts and impressive marksmanship. Aside from Feng Yong, the other ten had no political or command attributes; they only possessed individual combat attributes, and the system defaulted their political scheming attribute to 0. Chen Hao possessed the "Imperial Art of Governance" special skill. Any NPC whose political scheming was lower than his would never betray him, which meant he now possessed a personal guard unit on par with a top-rank official's retinue.

Feng Yong possessed a command attribute, with a command value of 45 points. His other military branch proficiencies were all D-rank, while his special operations proficiency was A-rank. This meant he was extremely well-suited to serve as a guard captain or special operations captain. Commanding a guard unit would grant a combat effectiveness bonus, and even if his command value of 45 points did not increase further, he could still command a guard regiment.

Although Wu Peifu was formidable, his relationship with Chen Hao was merely cooperative rather than subordinate. The first NPC he had subdued was Thief San, but Thief San was not a combat type. Gaining eleven powerful subordinates all at once was an unexpected pleasant surprise.

If it were any other player, after subduing such experts, they would immediately pay high wages to avoid betrayal. Chen Hao had no need to do this at all; thanks to the top-tier political scheming skill "Imperial Art of Governance," he only needed to pay these eleven men their regular wages. He could easily afford around 58 silver dollars per month.

Chen Hao jumped off his horse, helped Feng Yong up, and said, "Since the brothers are willing to follow Chen, naturally I will not let everyone suffer. I am a restless person, and soon I will be heading to the Northeast to fight desperately against the old Russians, where I will encounter danger at any time. Captain Feng should think it over carefully first; otherwise, if you encounter danger in the Northeast, it will be too late to regret it."

Feng Yong said with resounding resolve, "The brothers of the Front Guard of the Martial Guard are fighting desperately at the front lines. If it weren't for your arrangement to have us escort the old madam, we would have given our lives for the country alongside Lord Nie. It is all for the better if my lord is willing to go to the battlefield. No matter where we go, as long as it is to fight the foreign devils, our brothers will have no second words and will pledge our lives to follow you."

"We pledge our lives to follow you, my lord!"

The other ten personal guards shouted in unison, making Chen Hao feel as pleased as if he had eaten honey. After lingering in the game for so long, he had finally recruited some real experts.

The passing player fishing nearby looked on with extreme envy. He sidled up with a ingratiating smile and asked, "Brother Chen, how are the stats for these eleven people?"

"Could the elite guards of a top-rank official be bad?" Chen Hao chuckled and said, "Each of their melee combat and marksmanship stats are above 50. Suddenly getting so many helpers, brother really isn't quite used to it."

The fishing passerby smiled all over his face and said, "Not being used to it is completely normal! Isn't it a waste to have so many experts protecting just one person? I don't even have a single employed NPC. Brother Chen, can you spare a few for me to command? I'll pay their wages, how about that?"

Chen Hao looked at him with disdain and said, "Isn't your ammo bearer an NPC? As a machine gunner, hiring just one ammo bearer is enough. You aren't planning to develop your own base, so what do you need so many NPCs for?"

The fishing passerby said righteously, "I observed the stars at night and calculated that Brother Chen, you will definitely become a regional warlord in the future. As an old follower of yours, I at least ought to end up as a machine gun and artillery battalion commander, right? A battalion commander gets to have guards. Where are you going to find guards with melee stats above 50 so easily? Not everyone is like you and gets eleven of them all at once."

What the fishing passerby said made some sense, but Chen Hao simply had no way to give these eleven men away. He pointed at Feng Yong not far away and said, "I have an official status, and coupled with the fact that Nie Shicheng arranged for them to go, they were willing to defect to me. These eleven men count as mission rewards and cannot be transferred. You'd better stop thinking about it."

Chen Hao was currently level 22 with the military rank of lieutenant. He was allowed two bodyguards and could employ twenty NPCs. Including Thief San, he had only employed twelve so far, which had not yet reached the upper limit.

When leveling up, players could only share experience with their bodyguards, and when undertaking missions, they could only bring bodyguards. The reason he could continue bringing Feng Yong and the others on escort missions was because Feng Yong and his men were assigned directly by Nie Shicheng.

If Chen Hao accepted a mission next time, he would only be able to bring two bodyguards to participate and could not bring any additional NPCs. If players were allowed to bring hired personnel on missions, wealthy players would be too invincible, and leading large groups of people to do missions after establishing a base would be unfair to other players. That was why the system imposed such restrictions.

Bodyguards could share experience with the character, meaning bodyguards could level up, though it was much harder than for players. Once a bodyguard was designated, if the player wanted to replace them with someone else without properly arranging for the former bodyguard, it would cause their loyalty to drop and greatly increase the likelihood of betrayal.

Chen Hao possessed the "Imperial Art of Governance" skill and didn't worry about his subordinates betraying him, but he still didn't casually appoint bodyguards. Out of the eleven powerful personal guards, he appointed Feng Yong as the guard captain, while the rest of the personal guards remained in a purely employment-based relationship with him.

The carriage moved forward all the way. After traveling for two hours, they entered the borders of Qilu. Just as Chen Hao let out a sigh of relief, many female NPCs dressed in red clothes and red trousers suddenly appeared on both sides of the imperial highway. Seeing these NPCs, he frowned. He knew the escort mission was not over yet, but he hadn't expected the ambushers to be the Red Lanterns.

Lin Hei'er and Cui Yuniang led the Red Lanterns to block the road. Lin Hei'er held a willow-leaf saber, her brows raised in anger as she said, "Disciple-nephew Baxian, you play the running dog of the imperial court quite comfortably, don't you?"

Chen Hao instructed the fishing passerby to set up the Maxim heavy machine gun, then rode his horse forward and said, "Where is Senior Sister Lin's remark coming from? I remember telling Senior Sister last time that if the Boxer Boxers committed heinous crimes, I would absolutely not show mercy. Lord Nie Shicheng is fighting desperately to kill the enemy at the front lines, yet you Boxers are pillaging his family behind his back. Are you not afraid of being laughed at by the entire world?"

"It was with great difficulty that I rescued Lord Nie's family, yet you Boxers keep pestering us. I consider my actions to be clear to heaven and earth; whoever dares to target Lord Nie's family, I will fight them to the bitter end."

Lin Hei'er sneered and said, "That great fiend Nie Shicheng killed thousands of our brothers and sisters. To give birth to such a great fiend, his family can't be anything good either. What's wrong with dealing with his family?"

"Senior Sister Lin really does love to argue sophistry. No matter what you say, my stance remains the same: if the Boxers commit evil, I will never show mercy, not even to Senior Sister Lin." (To be continued...)