I, the villainous eldest prince, will suppress everything!

The deserter portrayed himself as extremely pitiful, saying that he kowtowed so hard that his head was bleeding and blood splattered from his forehead.

Seeing this, Qin Li simply waved his hand gently at him.

The deserter looked up and saw it, his eyes lighting up with wild joy!

After kowtowing several more times, he quickly stood up and prepared to leave.

"Wait a moment!"

Qin Li called out to him.

The deserter turned around and knelt down with a thud, his emotions like a rollercoaster, about to shout for mercy and help.

Unexpectedly, Qin Li instructed Zhou Biao, "Give him ten taels of silver as a homecoming allowance. Don't let outsiders say this prince is stingy!"

Zhou Biao nodded and tossed over a silver ingot.

"Your Highness, you must not be merciful!"

The captain clasped his hands in a fist salute and said righteously, "If this precedent is set, even more people will desert! Then it will become uncontrollable!"

"So noisy!"

Qin Li merely gave him a cold shout, then forced a friendly smile and said to the deserter, "Before I change my mind, hurry up and take the money home to reunite with your family, otherwise I will change my mind."

"Thank you so much, Your Highness!"

The deserter was so grateful he almost cried. He quickly picked up the money, held it in his arms, got up and left again, walking faster and faster until he started jogging.

The remaining deserters, seeing this, were filled with envy and began to imitate his actions, kowtowing to Qin Li repeatedly while saying that they were also very pitiful.

Upon seeing this, all the soldiers in the patrol, including the captain, shook their heads in great disappointment.

These days, they have been on high alert, patrolling day and night, all to deter these deserters. And it seems to be working; the number of deserters is decreasing.

But who would have thought that Qin Li would open a breach?

Qin Li not only let them go home, but also gave them money to return home!

It's true what they say: a thousand-mile dike can be destroyed by an ant hole!

Seeing the deserter running further and further away, Qin Li finally stopped smiling and waved to Zhou Biao.

Zhou Biao grinned and took a bow and arrow from the horse's belly.

The captain saw it, frowned in bewilderment, and the deserters kneeling and kowtowing were equally puzzled.

Zhou Biao handed the bow and arrows to Qin Li with both hands, then went to the captain's side, nudged him with his elbow, and continued laughing:

"Brother, you still don't understand our Crown Prince at all. Is our Crown Prince a merciful man? Would he easily let deserters go?"

"If Your Highness were merciful, there would be no bad people in the world!"

puff~

Upon hearing this, Qin Li, who was drawing his bow and nocking an arrow, almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

Good heavens, what a good heavens! So, in Zhou Biao's mind, Qin Li was just that kind of person.

But on second thought... what Zhou Biao said doesn't seem to make sense.

Enough, enough. The next moment, Qin Li's eyes turned cold. He released his fingers, and with a whoosh, the arrow struck the vest of the deserter who had already run far away.

The deserter paused, the joy of returning home still on his face, but blood was already flowing from the corner of his mouth and dripping onto the silver in his hand.

Then, with a thud, he fell heavily forward to the ground!

This scene immediately caused an uproar at the scene!

After realizing what had happened, the patrol team members were overjoyed, and their gazes toward Qin Li changed completely.

The deserters looked at Qin Li differently; their gazes were filled with extreme fear and anger!

Qin Li is not human at all, but a devil from hell!

Soon, someone dragged the deserter's body back, along with the ten taels of silver stained with blood in his hand.

With a clang, ten taels of silver were thrown into the group of deserters.

Zhou Biao swaggered forward, waved his hand, and said, "His Highness the Crown Prince has granted you permission to return home and will even give you a homecoming allowance. However, that depends on whether you have the ability to carry that money home!"

"Anyone else want to go home? Give it a try!"

No one dared to touch the ten taels of silver on the ground. Everyone kept their distance from it, as if the silver was a bomb that could explode at any moment. No one dared to get close!

"No?"

Zhou Biao glanced around, walked over, picked up the silver from the ground, wiped the blood off it, and put it back in its place. "If you don't have it, we'll have to deal with you deserters according to the rules!"

At a command, the patrol soldiers all raised their knives and surrounded the deserters with ill intent!

The deserters immediately huddled together, and the deserters in the middle were almost squeezed into the shape of persimmons.

"Qin Li, you'll die a horrible death!"

A burly deserter suddenly stood up, his face flushed, and roared, "Why are you treating us like this? Are you toying with us?!"

"How dare you address His Highness by his given name!"

The captain was about to step forward and chop down this audacious deserter with his sword.

"Wait a minute!"

Qin Li reached out to stop him, stepped forward, and said coldly, "Playing games? How is it playing games?"

"I, the prince, allowed you to return home and even offered you a homecoming allowance, but you refused it yourselves!"

"So it's because we don't want to go home?" the deserter roared, his neck red. "You never intended for us to go home in the first place!"

"Your Highness, there's no need to waste words with him, just kill him!" The captain sharpened his knife, his eyes gleaming.

"There's really no need to waste any more words!"

Qin Li nocked his bow and arrow again, and the burly deserters, seeing this, immediately hid among the deserters.

This scene immediately caused the patrol members to burst into laughter, all laughing at the cowardly deserter!

Qin Li didn't laugh, but coldly fixed his gaze on Qin Li, saying, "Do you really think this is a charity hall where you can come and go as you please?"

"You all have elderly parents and young children to support, but don't I, this prince, have any? Don't they have any?"

The patrol members immediately stopped laughing, gripped their swords tightly, and stared intently at the group of deserters before them!

This is why they hate deserters so much!

It's not entirely due to military regulations, but the presence of deserters can shake morale and reduce the army's combat effectiveness.

Before they even started fighting the Northern Barbarians, they were being held back by their own people. How could they tolerate that?

Killing him with one blow was too lenient for them. If they could, they would kill the deserter's entire family to vent their anger!

If you're afraid of war, don't enlist in the first place. Now that the army is heading to the border, you want to desert. It's like you're jumping around in their minefield!

On the one hand, you want to enjoy the treatment of soldiers, but on the other hand, you don't want to fight. Where in the world is there such a good thing?

call out!

Loosen your fingers.

The arrows shot into the fleeing soldiers with a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.

Even though the burly deserter hid behind the other deserters, he was shot in the neck by the arrow and died instantly, falling backward with his eyes wide open in death!

Dropping his bow and arrows, Qin Li waved his hand and coldly issued the order, "Deserters, kill without mercy!"

At a command, the patrol soldiers, each wielding a sword, pounced on the sheep pen like wolves.

Immediately, screams erupted everywhere, never ceasing!

Soon, only the corpses of deserters remained at the scene.

Qin Li took one last look, nimbly mounted his horse, and loudly addressed the countless soldiers who were looking at him:

"With other commanders and generals, deserters are either spared their lives or allowed to atone for their crimes through meritorious service!"

"But in my hands, deserters will be executed without mercy, and their entire families will be exterminated! I mean what I say!"

Qin Li's voice echoed throughout the heavens and earth, lingering for a long time.

Upon hearing this, the soldiers looked at each other and began to whisper among themselves.

The patrol soldiers wiped the blood off their knives, knelt on one knee, and said in unison, "We are willing to go through fire and water for Your Highness."

"Victory is assured! Great Zhou will surely win!"

Immediately afterwards, many soldiers wisely knelt down, shouting, "Victory is certain! Great Zhou will surely win!"

As time went on, more and more soldiers knelt down, their kneeling movements rising and falling like waves, the sounds growing increasingly unified.

"Victory is assured! Great Zhou will surely win!"

"Victory is assured in this battle! Great Zhou will surely triumph..."