Tianguanzhi

Chapter 92 Mule Soldiers

In the Imperial Divine Machine sequence, the Dragon Army has the smallest number of people but the most prominent status.

In the past, the Shenlong Army referred specifically to the imperial guards that were directly under the emperor and guarded the capital's center. It was the empire's most proud ace army. Its origins can even be traced back to the beginning of the new Yuan Dynasty a thousand years ago, when Emperor Wu led his troops to open up the eight ancient stars.

However, in the defense of Chongdao twenty-one years ago, the Shenlong Imperial Guards suffered a heavy blow from the Jili people. Four of Tianzi Yuliu's king-level aircraft were destroyed, and the remaining models in service lost more than a thousand. More than half of the Imperial Guards were killed or wounded, and they have not fully recovered to this day.

After that, the political situation in the empire changed suddenly, and various reforms came one after another. Many of the original Shenlong Army were sent out to supervise officials and arrest treason.

"All the criminals of the Golden Flower Society have been arrested, a total of 241 people. The leader, Hong Laowu, has been interrogated overnight. Here are the confessions and case files. In fact, these people are all experienced and corrupt. I was careless at the time. I am really ashamed."

Luo Bian, the deputy chief of the Jiangning Patrol, lowered his head and privately stretched his calves which were numb from standing.

"Cough cough cough cough~"

He was answered by a sharp cough.

"What Golden Flower Society? Oh oh, my memory is so bad."

The man in front of the desk wiped the corners of his mouth with a silk handkerchief and raised his head. His age could not be determined from his face. He might be in his forties or fifties, or sixties or seventies. His hair was black, but his eye sockets were sunken, and there was a scar that ran diagonally downward from his right eye to the edge of his lips.

He glanced at the case file in Luo Bian's hand and leaned back: "I won't look at the case file. Lord Luo, you can handle it. Has Tom Chen, the dragon-drawing soldier, been caught?"

"This person left Haitang Country by boat overnight. I have already sent someone..."

The man waved his hand impatiently, not letting Luo Bian continue. He put the two photos on the table together, looked at them for a while, and finally sighed: "It's not perfect, but it's fast, it's really neat and tidy. Wei He, the fire in the stone, when did Yanwuhe have such a person?"

One of the photos on the table showed Chang Lun’s headless body thrown in a train tunnel, and the other was very blurry, barely showing a warship exploding in the waves.

The man couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. When he traced back to this Citibank store called Hualong Danbing, he had already developed a vague intuition that he was only one step away from the real culprit behind the scenes.

Unfortunately, it's still a step too late.

Luo Bian observed the situation and said at the right time: "That Tom Chen is a formal employee of Potsdam Computer (BCT). We can ask Citibank to..."

This time, even Luo Bian himself did not continue to speak, because he was forced to pause under the man's scrutinizing gaze, and had to change the words: "Hualong left a teller in Haitang, a student of the New Sixth School. He was the one who committed the murder yesterday, and he is now detained in the government office."

"Oh, that's the kidnapper who forced a good woman into prostitution. He was beaten to death. That, that college student, right? Has he been tried?"

"He has been interrogated. He said that he had no idea about Tom Chen's private business and had never seen those defected Suanni soldiers. Do you want to interrogate him again..."

Luo Bian's tone of voice was very strong in the retrial. The meaning was obvious, asking the man whether he should be tortured.

The man ignored her and suddenly changed the subject.

"Lord Luo, I heard that you used to be the Censor-in-Chief and the Minister of the Autumn Department, and that you received a lot of support from Master Cui?"

Luo Bian blinked and asked, "Which Mr. Cui are you talking about?"

"Hehe." The man ignored him and said to himself, "I am not an unkind person who likes to get to the bottom of things. The case of desertion in the Suanni Army is not my responsibility. Since you don't want me to investigate it, forget it. I will leave Jiangning tomorrow. Lord Luo, you should make the decision on the matters here."

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

Luo Binan felt relieved, but still a little surprised.

"The bandits on the Golden Crow star cluster are rampant and have killed two governors in a row. I have been ordered to suppress the rebellion and there is no time to delay."

As he spoke, the man stood up and picked up the dark red cloak from the hanger. He lifted it up and down. The golden and red phoenix embroidery on it was dazzling, and the clouds embroidered on the hem were as real as a substance. Putting it on the man, he looked like a banished immortal riding on the clouds.

Cloud weaving is the standard equipment of the Shenlong Army, but phoenix embroidery can only be used by members of the royal family. This man with a glaring scar on his face and an unprepossessing appearance is actually a member of the imperial royal family.

Seeing the man about to leave, Luo Bian hurriedly caught up with him and said, "Sir, please tell me how to deal with the people here."

The man was already in a somewhat irritable mood, and he couldn't help but frown when he heard this: "Kill those who should be killed. That guy's name is, Gu, what's Gu?"

"Gu Jianqiu."

The man took the file from Luo Bian's hand, looked at it carefully for a while, and said, "He is also a hot-blooded man, don't make it difficult for him." The man poked the photo of Gu Jianqiu on the case file and said, "Send him into exile."

Luo Bian raised his eyebrows. According to local laws, in a case like Gu Jianqiu's, the heaviest sentence would be five or six years. If he was willing to pay a fine, he could be released in a year or two. However, the man could just exile him with a simple word. It would not be a bad idea for the prisoner to be sent to a remote ancient planet where no one lived. It would be extremely difficult for him to return to his home planet.

However, he naturally would not argue for a small teller. He could only blame it on his bad luck, so he lowered his head and agreed.

……

"Exile?"

Gu Jianqiu frowned. This was a much heavier penalty than he had imagined. His eyes were full of bloodshot. Although there were no visible scars on his body, he was listless and obviously had suffered a lot last night.

"Don't worry, this matter is not completely hopeless. Let me explain it slowly."

Cui Shouqi adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses. He looked a little embarrassed, obviously because he had made a big promise in front of Huo Cong but failed to fulfill it in the end.

"Somehow, your case has been reported to the authorities. More than half of the more than 200 members of the Golden Flower Society were executed, and the rest will have to spend at least a dozen years in prison. You have also been sentenced to a heavy punishment, and the verdict will be issued in a few days. It's called exile, but in fact, you will be a mule soldier, transporting supplies for those masters of the Shenji sequence. I have arranged for you, and you will not be asked to go to any crossfire zone. You should be on a few satellites behind Mars. Your life is not in danger. Wait a few years after the storm has passed, and I will help you find a solution."

Gu Jianqiu suddenly laughed out loud: "A few days ago, I told an elder that I wanted to go to the ancient star Yinghuo to be a fortress merchant. I didn't expect that my words would come true."

Huo Cong, who was standing next to him, glared at Gu Jianqiu. He didn't expect that Gu Jianqiu could still laugh at this time. He sighed, "I checked the archives of Jiangning. In the past two years, there have been more and more cases of the empire arresting mule soldiers."

In the eyes of the people on their mother planet, being a mule soldier is an extremely tough job with a high casualty rate. In essence, they are servants of the regular army of the empire. Many people who are captured to be mule soldiers have an electrocardiogram that does not even reach 15 points. They simply do not have the ability to survive for a long time in a space environment and are tortured to death in a few days.

Fortress merchants and mule soldiers are completely different. The former are trying to fish in troubled waters. Although the risk is high, the profit is huge. Many fortress merchants can save enough money to last a lifetime in just one or two years, but the remuneration of mule soldiers is very meager. Although there are precedents of being selected into the sequence of divine machines, they are one in a million.

Gu Jianqiu really didn't take it too seriously. The empire would collapse in a few years. The reason he laughed was because in his previous life, he was captured as a mule soldier by the empire for no reason and exiled to the ancient star Mars, and then he met Tan Gongde.