"Get up. Whose men are you?"

Chen Jie didn’t press him too hard and asked directly. The other man froze for a moment when he heard this, then quickly said, "I am a Disciple under the Fire Character Camp of the Haozhou Branch, currently acting in the position of a Hundred Households."

Hearing this, Chen Jie glanced at him and said, "Fire Character Camp?"

The other man immediately replied, "Our Haozhou Branch is divided into four great camps: Wind, Fire, Mountain, and Forest."

"Who is your commander?"

"My commander is Tang He, Commander Tang."

"Tang He, huh."

Chen Jie knew that Zhu Chongba had two diehard brothers, Xu Da and Tang He.

Since Tang He served as the commander of the Fire Character Camp, then there was no need to ask about Xu Da; it was certain he would be serving as commander of the Wind Camp.

Thinking this, Chen Jie looked at him and said, "So this time you came just for the sake of these two bullies who throw their weight around and commit crimes?"

When the man heard Chen Jie’s words, his expression turned somewhat awkward as he said, "Lord, these two are the two Generals under my Thousand Households Camp. I don’t know how they offended you, for you to strike so heavily against them?"

Chen Jie looked at him and said, "Oh? You ask me about this, but if I answer it myself it’s bound to be one-sided. Just now those two Government Officials ran off to report to you, didn’t they? Ask them and you’ll know the whole story."

Hearing this, the man turned to look at the trusted followers behind him and said, "Where are the ones who reported? Bring them here."

After those words, the two Government Officials who had run off were quickly dragged back and shoved to the ground. The Hundred Households then asked, "Speak. What happened?"

The two Government Officials then began speaking, recounting the matter once through: these two Red Turban Army men coveted the horses of Chen Jie’s group; when they went forward to "persuade" them, they instead wanted to kill, and so then...

After hearing the account, the face of this Hundred Households darkened.

At this moment he looked toward Chen Jie, only to see the latter gazing at him calmly, his expression indifferent, as he said, "Lord Hundred Households, is there anything you still don’t understand? Speak."

The Hundred Households immediately cupped his fists and said, "My subordinates were poorly disciplined. I ask Lord to punish me."

Chen Jie looked at him and said, "You are quick enough to admit fault. Let me ask you: what is the doctrine of the Holy Sect?"

"To cut down the strong and help the weak, and drive out the barbarians."

Chen Jie said, "So ’cutting down the strong and helping the weak’ means relying on your own strength to rob travelers of their horses and goods? And if someone comes to question you, you take their lives, is that it?"

"Ah, Lord, that is not so."

The Hundred Households lowered his head. Chen Jie looked at him and said, "Go on. I’ll give you a chance to explain."

The Hundred Households said, "Lord, it’s truly because our expansion has been too rapid lately. We’ve taken in many local bandits and marauders. These people came over with their entire gangs to surrender, so we granted them certain positions. These two were originally bandits from the nearby mountains and only later joined us. We haven’t had time to properly reorganize them yet, and so things turned out like this."

Chen Jie looked at the Hundred Households and said, "There are some things I don’t want to say, and your Haozhou Branch also has its own concerns, but harming the common people is something that cannot be done. The reason our Zoroastrian Sect has been able to achieve anything is because Han Sect Leader took the lead under Heaven and set an example for all the common folk."

"They regard the Red Turban Army led by our Zoroastrian Sect as a rebel army of righteousness, and that is why they support us, and why we have been able to grow. But if you let these bandits and marauders destroy our Army discipline, then from now on the common people will simply take our Zoroastrian Sect and the Red Turban Army as the same as bandits and marauders. When that time comes, the damage won’t be just to your Haozhou affairs, but to the reputation of the Red Turban Army across the realm."

"Think carefully about this. If you still don’t correct it in time, you may very well become sinners to the Red Turban Army under Heaven!"

The Hundred Households listened and said, "Yes, Lord, I know my error. After this matter, I will strictly enforce Army discipline and will never allow such things to happen again."

Chen Jie said, "Good. I have nothing more here. You can go."

The Hundred Households had not expected Chen Jie to let him off so easily, and he was slightly stunned. Then he immediately said, "Lord, my camp is just nearby. Why doesn’t Lord come to my camp so we may talk?"

Chen Jie raised his hand and said, "No need."

"I still have other matters to attend to. As long as you treat the people well, that is enough."

"Yes."

After saying this, the Hundred Households immediately turned and left. As they departed, he did not dare mount his horse, fearing it would be disrespectful to Chen Jie; instead, he simply led the horse by its reins, walking away step by step.

Watching this Hundred Households leave,

the Commandery Princess spoke up, "Jiu Si, he is under Zhu Chongba. The discipline of his troops is lax and they fail to win the hearts of the people—doesn’t that bode well for you in the future?"

Hearing this, Chen Jie glanced at Zhao Ya and said, "It bodes well for me, but it does not bode well for the local common folk."

Zhao Ya said, "This Guancheng Prefecture isn’t your territory. Why do you bother about the common people here?"

Hearing this, Chen Jie shook his head lightly and said, "The common people here are also common people. The people of my Huangzhou Prefecture are also common people. Everyone’s days are bitter, all the more so in times like these, with the present calamity of war. If, because of a few words from me, some families can be saved, and there can be fewer tragedies in the Mortal World, I see no reason not to."

"The first reason I raised troops to seize the realm was to live more freely myself and no longer let others dictate my fate; the second was that I wanted to save these suffering common folk."

"To change this man‑eating world. And if I simply wanted to keep others from swaying my fate, all I would need is to strive to climb to Martial Arts Supreme. The day I stand above the world like Master Zhang, no one would dare point fingers at me."

"But who will look after these common people?"

Here, Chen Jie let out a sigh. "This world exists to squeeze the commoners. As the saying goes, when a dynasty rises the people suffer, when a dynasty falls the people suffer."

After he spoke, Chen Jie could not help but sigh again, while Zhao Ya fell into deep thought.

Having heard Chen Jie’s words, she only felt that his Realm was frighteningly high. Not only was he pursuing his own transcendence, he was even striving for the liberation of the common people.