His entire family perished in battle; he rose from the ashes to conquer the world.

Feng Zhong looked to Mu Yuan with pleading eyes; only Mu Yuan could save him now.

After all, thousands of hungry and resentful recruits were going to cause him trouble. If things went wrong, he would be surrounded by thousands of people. He was not a god, and he certainly did not have the divine ability to fight against thousands.

Disregarding his pride, Feng Zhong completely changed his attitude and said to Mu Yuan with a humble and ingratiating expression:

"General, I beg you to come out and save me today. I will repay your great kindness in the future, and I will never mention the matter again."

Clearly, Feng Zhong wanted to use the incident of flattery to his advantage as a bargaining chip to get Mu Yuan to step in and quell the new recruits' anger.

However, Mu Yuan ignored Feng Zhong's pleas for help.

He personally set the fire, intending to use the new recruits' anger to burn Feng Zhong to death. Why would he possibly save him?

Moreover, Feng Zhong was sent by the imperial court and was under the command of Liang Guogong Lan Shi.

Mu Yuan would not leave such a person in the Western Army.

Seeing that Mu Yuan remained unmoved, Feng Zhong gritted his teeth and said, "As long as you, Commander, step in to rescue me, I'll do anything you ask, even serve you like a slave!"

Despite repeated pleas and an attitude so humble it was almost palpable, Mu Yuan remained unmoved.

Feng Zhong stared coldly at Mu Yuan and asked.

"Are you determined to get rid of me?"

To beg Mu Yuan, he pleaded in front of so many people, abandoning all his dignity. But Mu Yuan remained unmoved. This made Feng Zhong realize that Mu Yuan was determined to get rid of him through the new recruits!

Mu Yuan coldly replied, "Vice Commander Feng, you'd better figure out how to quell the recruits' anger!"

Being kind to the enemy is cruel to yourself.

Mu Yuan would not be moved by Feng Zhong's dignified plea.

"Aren't you afraid that if something happens to me, the court will blame you?" Feng Zhong still wanted to make a last-ditch effort, trying to use his position as a member of the court to make Mu Yuan wary and have no choice but to step in to protect him.

Upon hearing this, Mu Yuan did not reply, but looked at Feng Zhong with a forced smile, his eyes full of mockery, as if he were laughing at Feng Zhong's stupidity.

The recruitment of new soldiers was initiated by Feng Zhong.

Throughout the entire process, Mu Yuan did not obstruct anything; on the contrary, he provided strong support.

The entire army, and even the new recruits, witnessed it all.

For this matter.

The soldiers of the Western Army.

Many people have reservations about Mu Yuan.

This is also true.

Now, because of the strenuous training and high physical exertion, the food that should have lasted three to five days has been consumed prematurely.

The new recruits, having no food, harbored resentment and started causing trouble, demanding an explanation from Feng Zhong.

Mu Yuan never tried to recruit any new recruits.

Even if the new recruits attacked Feng Zhongqun and beat him to death on the spot, the imperial court would blame them and send people to investigate, but they would not find any useful clues. At most, Mu Yuan would only be charged with lax discipline.

Moreover, if the new recruits really did attack Feng Zhong, he could later arrest some of them and hand them over to the imperial court for punishment.

The remaining troops were all cleared out of the Western Army.

After all, the new recruits were all recruited by Feng Zhong, so Mu Yuan could remain completely unscathed.

Looking at the whole thing.

Mu Yuan avoided all risks.

No matter how much investigation is conducted, it has no direct connection to him.

This was also the reason why Mu Yuan didn't reveal his plan to anyone at the beginning, for fear that the news would leak out and arouse Feng Zhong's vigilance.

After all, things are accomplished in secrecy, and ruined by being revealed.

Feng Zhong tried everything from lowering his stance to making harsh statements, but he couldn't get Mu Yuan to agree. At this moment, he was completely desperate.

"Since you're going to stand by and watch me die, you'd better pray I don't survive this ordeal, otherwise..."

Feng Zhong didn't finish his sentence, but the threatening meaning in his words was already very clear.

After saying this, he turned and walked out.

The officers present looked at each other, their expressions varied.

Mu Yuan sat expressionless in his seat, seemingly waiting for something.

A short while later.

A heated argument could be heard outside.

You could still vaguely hear Feng Zhong explaining something, but it was quickly drowned out by the sounds of arguing.

Clearly, things were in complete chaos outside.

"Should we go out and take a look?" Qin Hongxiu asked Mu Yuan.

Mu Yuan shook his head.

"It's not the right time yet."

What he wanted was for the resentful recruits to gang up on Feng Zhong. Once the thousand-plus recruits made their move, Feng Zhong would have absolutely no chance of survival.

In fact, most of the time, not even a complete corpse could be preserved.

It's not too late for him to step in once Feng Zhong is dead.

Just then.

Suddenly, it became quiet outside.

Indistinctly.

Mu Yuan heard a metallic scraping sound.

The next moment, a long streak of blood appeared on the white curtain at the door.

It was clearly caused by blood splatter.

The officers present were all surprised to see this.

Mu Yuan frowned, slowly got up, and walked towards the door.

The officers followed suit.

We went outside.

They were surrounded by new recruits.

The recruits, who were initially furious, were now completely stunned.

Mu Yuan turned his head and saw Feng Zhong slumped on the left, barely alive, his right hand pressing hard against his left shoulder where blood was gushing out.

At his feet lay a blood-stained longsword and a severed arm.

Feng Zhong slowly raised his head and gave Mu Yuan a cold glance.

Then, using his last ounce of strength, he addressed the new recruits around him:

"It is I, Feng Zhong... I am sorry, brothers, for making you suffer. Today... I cut off my left arm as... as an apology!"

After saying this, Feng Zhong fainted on the spot.

Where had the recruits ever seen anything like this?

Everyone was stunned on the spot.

His anger subsided considerably after Feng Zhong cut off his own arm.

Especially since Feng Zhong kept calling everyone "brother" before he fainted, no one blamed him anymore.

Some of the quicker-witted recruits even rushed forward and together lifted the unconscious Feng Zhong, hurrying to find the army's medical officer for treatment.

As Feng Zhong was carried away from the scene, the remaining recruits scattered like birds and beasts.

"This Feng Zhong is truly a ruthless man. He's so ruthless that he cut off his own arm and played this desperate 'fight to the death' trick." As Qin Hongxiu said this, she glanced at Mu Yuan beside her, a strange look flashing in her eyes.

Mu Yuan's expression also turned serious.

All the plans proceeded very smoothly, just as he had anticipated.

The only miscalculation was that Feng Zhong, in order to save his own life, publicly cut off his own arm, extinguishing the anger of the new recruits.

Mu Yuan narrowed his eyes: "This person is indeed a bit difficult to deal with."

"You devised this whole scheme, but in the end, you were still one step behind," Qin Hongxiu sighed.

Upon hearing this, Mu Yuan revealed a playful smile and said: