As the count of the soldiers approached forty, the nerves of Huang Shihai, Zhou Xiuying, Yang Banhou, Smith and others became unprecedentedly tense. The further they got to the back, the more worried they became, fearing that Li Zhen would not be able to survive like an ordinary soldier.
He was so stunned that he fainted. Li Zhen was the pillar of the army, the backbone of everyone, and directly affected everyone's hearts.
Zhou Xiuying had a look of worry in her eyes, she pursed her lips tightly, and there was a trace of blood on her lower lip because she was biting it with her teeth.
"Hold on, you must hold on!"
Zhou Xiuying yelled in her heart, hoping that Li Zhen could get through it.
"thirty-nine!"
"forty!"
After the soldiers who reported the count called forty, the soldiers and the people breathed a sigh of relief. Huang Shihai, Yang Banhou, Qi Zhenhai and other generals in the army were also relieved. The two execution soldiers suddenly stopped and collapsed.
On the ground, the blood-stained stick was placed beside him, his head lowered and he was breathing heavily.
This was not because of the fatigue of wielding the stick, but because of mental depression. During the execution, every time the soldier hit Li Zhen's butt with the stick, he felt that the burden was increasing, and he collapsed directly to the ground after the beating.
"Commander, are you okay?"
Zhou Xiuying was the most nervous. She rushed to Li Zhen's side with a look of concern on her face, and reached out to help Li Zhen.
"It's okay, I'm fine."
Li Zhen stood up slowly with Zhou Xiuying's support. After standing firm, he broke away from Zhou Xiuying's support. However, Li Zhen stood alone, with pain in his buttocks and trembling thighs. His body shook and he immediately went to
Fell forward.
"ah!!"
Zhou Xiuying screamed in fright and quickly hugged Li Zhen to prevent Li Zhen from falling to the ground. Huang Shihai, Yang Banhou and other generals were frightened and hurriedly gathered around Li Zhen.
"Commander, you are injured and there is no time to delay. Go back home quickly and ask a doctor to treat the wound so as not to leave the root of the disease."
Huang Shihai glanced at Li Zhen's bloody butt and said worriedly.
Li Zhen had endured forty military sticks and had bruises on his buttocks, which were far more serious than Huang Shihai and Yang Banhou. Huang Shihai and Yang Banhou could still move normally, but Li Zhen touched the wound as soon as he walked, and blood flowed to his calf.
His trouser legs were wet. But Li Zhen endured the pain in his buttocks, smiled miserably, and said: "It's okay, I can still hold on."
However, Li Zhen's smile showed a pale and tired look.
Li Zhen looked at the soldiers in the army, but a thought suddenly flashed through his mind, and he said: "Shihai, I have an idea. Our army should have a name."
Zhou Xiuying said dissatisfiedly: "Commander, please don't worry about other chores and go back for treatment first."
Li Zhen shook his head and said: "There's no rush, business is important."
Immediately, Li Zhen said in a deep voice: "Zeng Guofan held a regiment training in Hunan to resist the bandits. The army called it Xiang Yong, also called the Hunan Army. Only when the army has a fixed title can it have a soul and can it condense the soul of the army. We
The army took root in Shanghai, so I decided to name it "Shanghai Army". "Hu" refers to Shanghai and represents the army where we are. Moreover, the homophony of "Hu" means "protection", which means our army
The soul is to protect the people at all costs and protect our glorious China."
Huang Shihai's eyes lit up and he looked at Li Zhen with an expression of admiration.
The Shanghai Army will be the name of Li Zhen's soldiers from now on.
Huang Shihai turned to the soldiers in the army and shouted: "Soldiers, from today on, our army also has a name. The commander-in-chief said that our army will be called the Shanghai Army from now on. 'Shanghai' refers to Shanghai
, represents our army. Moreover, the homophone of '沪' is 'protect', which means protection. Our military spirit is to protect the people and our glorious China at all costs."
Huang Shihai copied Li Zhen's words and let all the soldiers standing in the front row hear him.
"The Shanghai army is mighty!"
Qi Zhenhai was quick-thinking and yelled immediately.
"The Shanghai army is mighty!"
Immediately, Yang Banhou, Smith, Lu Shaochuan and others all roared.
The shouts came out and were heard by the soldiers standing behind. They spread from front to back in waves. After a while, loud shouts rang out, and the people also participated.
Li Zhen looked at the excited soldiers with a bright smile on his face.
This time, the military morale was finally stabilized.
Li Zhen ordered: "Shihai, let the people and soldiers disperse."
"yes!"
Huang Shihai agreed and immediately carried out the order.
Li Zhen looked at Ye Chengzhong, his mind became more active, and asked: "Xiaoye, your boss was killed, and the groceries can no longer be sustained. What are your plans now?"
Ye Chengzhong thought for a while and said, "I saved some money while working in my employer's grocery store, so I can do some small business."
Li Zhen asked again: "I need an errand boy by my side. Are you willing?"
"Yes! Yes!"
Ye Chengzhong nodded immediately without thinking about it.
He was just a boy in the grocery store, and he only did small business. But it was different with Li Zhen. Even an errand boy could have the opportunity to honor his ancestors. At this time, Ye Chengzhong was still just a person.
Although the thirteen- or fourteen-year-old boy has a flexible mind, he does not have any great ambitions. The idea of honoring his ancestors moved him even more.
Li Zhen looked at Yang Banhou and ordered: "Ban Hou, you accompany Xiaoye to the county government to find Lan Weiwen, do a good job in providing compensation for the deceased, and appease the family of the deceased, do you understand?"
"Understood!" Yang Banhou responded loudly.
Ye Chengzhong had a smile on his face and a look of gratitude in his eyes.
Li Zhen stretched out his hand to pat Ye Chengzhong's shoulder, but as soon as he stretched out his hand, he immediately pulled the injury on his buttocks. The pain made Li Zhen grimace and break out in cold sweat.
Seeing this, Zhou Xiuying said: "Commander, hurry back to your home."
…
After the people left the military camp, they quickly spread the news.
These common people like to listen to gossip, but they also like to chat. The common people witnessed with their own eyes that Li Zhen punished the commander-in-chief of the army, shot the murderer, and punished himself with forty military sticks. They all felt that Shanghai had a good official. The common people
They spread the word by word of mouth, and soon the whole city knew about it.
French Consulate, Russell has not returned to Taotai Mansion yet.
There were only 800,000 taels of silver left out of the ten million taels, but most of the merchants left. The few remaining merchants also contributed money, and no one would give any more money. However, Russell was still thinking about raising the final
800,000 taels of silver. The 800,000 taels of silver were divided among Rachel, Adams, Bourlon and Baoling. Each of them only had 200,000 taels, which can be said to be a drizzle.
But Russell wanted businessmen to contribute money and tried every means to find businessmen who had not yet donated money.
At this time, the news of Li Zhen's self-punishment spread to the concession and reached the ears of the consulate attendants. The consulate staff got the news and told Rachel the news.
Upon hearing the news, Russell was stunned.
At this moment, there were only three words in Russell's mind: So cruel!
If it were him, he would never beat himself with a forty army stick. In order to appease the people and rally the morale of the army, Li Zhen directly beat himself with a forty army stick. Such a method made La Er fearful.
"Madman, this guy is a madman."
Russell was really scared and no longer thought about finding businessmen to finance the remaining 800,000 taels of silver. He dealt with the affairs of the consulate and left the consulate towards Daotai Mansion.
ps: The first of three updates, it’s a new week, please support me with flowers. Brother Chui’s book is so great, we don’t want it to be number one on the new book list, but I want it to be number two on the new book list, okay? Please support me, thank you.