I, Emperor Chongzhen, have extended the life of the Ming Dynasty by five hundred years.

Li Ruolian led her troops to the Ming army camp, and it was already broad daylight.

"Report—"

Scout Wang Dalong dismounted and reported, "We've spotted the rebel army ahead. They're cleaning up the battlefield and starting fires to cook!"

Li Ruolian asked, "How many people are there?"

"Your subordinate dared not approach too closely; from a distance, there appeared to be roughly four or five thousand of them!"

"Bring Miao Gang up!"

Before long, Miao Gang was pushed and shoved to his feet.

Li Ruolian asked, "How many troops did the rebels have that attacked you last night?"

Miao Gang answered readily: "I don't know."

Li Ruolian frowned and said with displeasure, "Think carefully before you speak!"

Miao Gang dismissively said, "Thinking it through is useless; I really don't know."

"You fought the rebels all night, and you don't even know how many troops they have?"

Miao Gang said aggrievedly, "Those bastards launched a sneak attack in the middle of the night while the soldiers were still asleep. By the time the fighting started, the scene was chaotic, and there was no time to count how many of them there were!"

"You have quite the audacity to boast!"

Li Ruolian became even more furious and said, "When the army sets out for a night camp, is there no one patrolling the camp? Why are there no sentries on the outer perimeter?"

"This is..."

"What is it?"

Miao Gang's face was grim, and he stammered, "The river is blocked, making it impossible for boats to navigate. The soldiers have all been sent out to dig the riverbed..."

"How dare you say that?"

Li Ruolian wanted nothing more than to slap him across the face!

In order to protect the families and wealth of those high-ranking officials, they actually sent soldiers out to dig canals, and didn't even leave out patrols or sentries. A total of 5,000 soldiers were wiped out in one fell swoop!

Miao Gang knew he was in the wrong, but he wasn't thinking about the loss of troops or how to apologize to the court.

The real issue is that he failed to protect his family members back home. How could he explain this to Grand Secretary Chen and those high-ranking officials?

"Li Qianshi, you can't say that. I was just following orders."

"Whose orders are you on? What are you doing?"

"By order of Chen Yan, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet and General Who Pacifies Bandits, we are escorting the people to safety."

"snort!"

Li Ruolian sneered and said, "Escorting civilians? You dare say that the people on the ship are all ordinary civilians?"

"Whether they are ordinary citizens or not, we don't know; we're just following orders..."

"That's enough!"

Li Ruolian shouted, then said, "You know perfectly well who's on board and what's on cargo. With a formidable enemy at hand, I don't want to waste time talking to you. Now tell me what you know!"

Miao Gang tilted his head and pondered for a long time before finally saying, "The rebels had cavalry clearing the way..."

"How many cavalrymen are there?"

"The formation is very large, probably one or two thousand, maybe three or four thousand."

"Bullshit!"

Li Ruolian couldn't stand it any longer and angrily retorted, "You only have five thousand men. If the enemy really had three or four thousand cavalry, would you have survived? Besides, how many cavalrymen does Liu Fangliang have in total? How could it be such a coincidence that you ran into them all?"

Miao Gang said sheepishly, "Even if it's not four or five thousand, it's at least one or two thousand!"

Li Ruolian then said, "Let's assume we have a thousand cavalrymen for now, and tell me about the others!"

"I really don't know anything else. It was pitch black, I couldn't see anything!"

"You must know the enemy's casualties, right?"

"I don't know, it was too chaotic at the time, I was only thinking about escaping..."

Suppressing his anger, Li Ruolian asked again, "How many enemy soldiers are there? What are their casualties? As a guerrilla general, don't you have any useful intelligence?"

Miao Gang thought about it carefully for a moment, then said, "The enemy's numbers are roughly equal to ours. As for the casualties last night... I estimate that the enemy suffered at least eight hundred to a thousand dead or wounded."

How many casualties did our troops suffer?

"More than half were killed or wounded, and the rest scattered and fled. It was pitch black, and I couldn't care less..."

"You have quite the audacity to boast!"

"So what?"

Miao Gang, growing impatient, said, "Even if I lost the battle, I'd go back and apologize to the court. Who do you think you are, Li Ruolian? What right do you have to interrogate me here?"

"So what?!"

Li Ruolian laughed in anger, then said, "As the commander-in-chief, you have no respect for military discipline and the law. You are ashamed before the Emperor and your soldiers. Guards, behead this bastard and offer him as a sacrifice to the flag!"

"I...I'm a guerrilla general appointed by the imperial court, you can't kill me!"

Miao Gang was immediately panicked. "You can ask questions, but why did you have to use a knife?"

Since his crushing defeat last night, he has been thinking about what kind of excuse he could come up with to cover it up.

They finally encountered the Warriors' Camp and thought they were saved, but unexpectedly, Li Ruolian was even more ruthless than the rebels and was about to kill them!

Li Ruolian pointed at the other person's nose and said, "You still know you're a guerrilla general?"

He was really angry. If all the generals of the Ming Dynasty were like this, the country was not far from its demise.

The thought that Emperor Chongzhen was still holding out in Beijing while these people were secretly transferring their families and property filled him with rage.

If we don't kill this scoundrel today, we will be betraying His Majesty's trust!

With red eyes, Miao Gang shouted, "Li Ruolian, you're just the commander of the Warriors Battalion, what right do you have to kill me?"

"With the imperial sword in my hand!"

Li Ruolian waved her hand and ordered, "Bring the sword!"

Miao Gang opened his mouth wide, and then saw a guard step forward, holding a sword wrapped in yellow silk in both hands.

"You, you... what is this?"

Li Ruolian took the sword and coldly said, "This is the Imperial Sword bestowed by His Majesty. I, as the commander, can execute first and report later! As the commander-in-chief, your desertion in the face of battle is an unforgivable crime and you shall be executed!"

Miao Gang was dumbfounded. What was going on?

Why do you carry an imperial sword when you go out to war?

Even Grand Secretary Chen didn't receive this treatment!

"Wait a moment!"

Miao Gang was also a seasoned veteran. At this moment, he could feel the murderous aura in Li Ruolian's eyes and knew that she was going to get serious, so he quickly stopped her.

Li Ruolian asked, "Do you have any last words?"

Miao Gang gritted his teeth, stomped his foot, and then...

With a thud, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly.

"Your subordinate was wrong!"

The sudden reversal left Li Ruolian completely bewildered.

"You...you know you were wrong now?"

Miao Gang kowtowed repeatedly: "This humble servant should not have deserted his post in the face of battle, nor should he have helped that old scoundrel Chen Yan transport his family and gold and silver. What I should have done even worse was that I knew a large number of high-ranking officials and their families were fleeing to Nanjing, yet I did not report this to Your Majesty. This is a crime of deceiving the emperor, deserving of ten thousand deaths!"

Li Ruolian held the imperial sword high, unsure of what to do.

The reason he had the murderous intent just now was not because Miao Gang had lost a battle, but because he had secretly helped high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital transfer their families and property.

But... this is too quick to admit his mistake!

His attitude was consistently sincere, his understanding was spot-on, and his summary was insightful—how could anyone possibly kill him...?

Seeing the other party hesitate, Miao Gang quickly said, "This humble officer is willing to be a vanguard, and humbly requests Commander Li's permission!"