In the meeting.
Lin Feng abruptly stood up and angrily moved in front of general Qing Huan. No one attempted to stop him in fact most of them were smirking disdainfully and looked coldly as Lin Feng reached in front of the crowd and said " General is the promotion not established on the merits of the leader?"
General Qing Huan, had black veins appearing on his face but forced himself to calm down and then acknowledged Lin Feng's question with a nod "Yes, it is so?"
Lin Feng smirked like he had General Qing Huan cornered. Then he continued with a haughty tone "General Qing then let me ask you this do I have enough merit to be promoted?"
Hearing Ling Feng calling him 'general Qing' general Qing was angry beyond measure he even swore he would make sure Lin Feng dies in the next skirmish or battle and he would make sure he dies and he would make life harder for him. How dare a peasant talk back to the great him.
But since general Qing Hao did not want to lose face in front of his men he decided to bear with it for now. General Qing Huan tried to hide his expression while answering "Your merit does not compare to theirs if you do not mind please go back now"
Lin Feng was angered by the shamelessness of General Qing Hao. How can he lie with such a straight face?
Lin Feng then continued ignoring the general glaring eyes "General how do they compare to me I worked my way from the bottom and with my battle-winning momentum how can they compare to my single strand of hair?"
General Qing Huan was angry beyond measure now "Go back now or else you will be punished."
Lin Feng turned back to catch a glimpse of everyone's murderous eyes. Lin Feng knew if he did not move back right now he will be attacked. He sighed then looked at the General "I will go back now general Qing but I want to improve myself to be among the next to be promoted."
Seeing this general Qing Huan knew he could not answer but if he refused directly and punished Lin Feng he would seem to be a tyrant and unreasonable "That is a good question but before I answer let me ask the newly promoted commanders and see how they answer that question."
Lin Feng silently acknowledged the general's suggestion with a silent nod and then looked at them.
Most of the promoted commanders were of noble birth except three.
The noble commanders disdained Lin Feng because of his stupidity and his low birth and they did not even try to hide it after all it was just a matter of time before they were promoted to 4000-man commanders or higher.
As for the remaining three, they were of course Yong Zheng, Min Hao, and Ren Long.
All of them stood on the side of General Qing Huan and naturally had to speak up.
Ren Long stepped out of the crowd with a genial smile and then said "commander Lin Feng you just joined the military and have already reached the 500-man commander post and you are still twenty you have your whole life ahead of you. The General just wanted what was best for you, in order for you to gain more experience so please do not take it out on the general." Ren Long finished and stepped back.
Hearing this the general noted in approval "Yes that is correct, commander Min Hao would prefer to go next."
Min Hao stepped forward then said "Thank you for the opportunity general. I do not have much to add except that you have no promising or trusted lieutenant under you."
General Qing Huan nodded in agreement" I do agree with your reasonable words. Now are you happy commander Lin Feng or do you need more?"
Although Lin Feng wanted to argue with them but he could not do that since they all gave him reasonable answers so he decided to look at Ying Zheng and found a good opportunity for a comeback "General I agree with commander Ren Long and commander Min Hao but what about commander Ying Zheng? He is practically a waste who knows nothing but to drink wine and women. General, can you tell me why he got promoted?"
General Qing Huan frowned and questioned "Are you not satisfied yet? First, it was commander Ren and commander Min now it is commander Ying Zheng why can you not see patterns and not trust in our judgment?"
Lin Feng smiled as genially as he could and then said "general Qing, please ask commander Ying Zheng to answer and I will back down happily."
Seeing this general Qing Huan nodded to Ying Zheng and then said "go on"
Ying Zheng immediately stepped forward and then said "Commander I will be blunt I hope you do not take offense."
Seeing this Lin Feng thought Ying Zheng was trying to save himself face he was then even more confident "please commander Ying Zheng I promise I will not take any offense."
Ying Zheng then smirked triumphantly then continued "if what I say is not to your satisfaction I will kiss your shoes and step down from my position but if you can not refute what I say you will apologize to the wise general kiss and lick his shoes and after that you will apologize to everyone for wasting our time. Do you agree with what I said if you do not let us just drop it?"
Lin Feng was, even more, surer now than before he believed Ying Zheng was just trying to scare him away and after all Ying Zheng had the shorter end of the rope. "Alright, I agree."
Ying Zheng sighed and looked at Lin Feng with the pity of looking at a fool.
What they were basically doing was warfare but instead of swords and Spears they were using words and Lin Feng was losing and Ying Zheng was not about to stop his enemy while he was making a mistake.
All warfare is based on deception. There is no place where espionage is not used. Offer the enemy bait to lure him.1
But a good trap is only a good trap if the enemy knows about it but can not refuse to step into it because the gains outweigh the dangers.2
***
End of chapter
1 Sun Tzu
2 I do not remember where I heard it from I searched but could not find it if you know please comment it.
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