Pei Wugou wants Pei Wugou to publicly beat Pei Wugou with military rods

Pei Wugou was suddenly bursting with excitement.

Yes! How had he never thought of such a brilliant solution before?

The soldiers were harboring resentment and needed an outlet!

His discipline had always been strict, so there also had to be punishment!

But Wen He couldn’t be punished. In that case… he would take all the blame upon himself!

He had been the one who ordered Wen He to release the prisoners!

So if anyone had to be beaten, it would be him!

The more Pei Wugou thought about it, the more he admired his own genius.

Only a genius could come up with such a perfect solution—one that accomplished two goals at once.

And now, he had done it.

He sprang to his feet and said with absolute determination, “Little He, don’t worry. I’ll take these beatings for you!”

“When you explain it to the others, just say that everything was ordered by me, and that you had nothing to do with it. That way, everyone’s resentment will be directed at me.”

“And when the beatings are handed out, I’ll be the one taking them!”

Wen He froze.

She stared blankly at Pei Wugou, and then tears suddenly poured down her face. “Ah Wu, it’s a good thing I have you!”

With that, Wen He threw herself into Pei Wugou’s arms.

With such a warm, delicate beauty in his embrace, Pei Wugou felt his heroic spirit rising higher and higher. At that moment, he feared no hardship. Let alone a few mere blows—even if they demanded his life, so what?

If he could do these things for Little He, he would have no regrets in this life.

After discussing with Wen He how they would cooperate and carry out the plan, Pei Wugou held her for a while longer, savoring the thrilling atmosphere, before finally getting up with great reluctance.

“Little He, I still need to report this matter to General Chen Song and obtain his approval.”

There was some truth and some deception in Pei Wugou’s words.

It was true that he needed to discuss it with Chen Song, but… not to report to him. He needed Chen Song to help him put the plan into action.

However, when Chen Song heard Pei Wugou’s plan, he was stunned on the spot. His mind buzzed for quite some time before he barely managed to understand what Pei Wugou meant.

“My lord, are you saying that you’re going to take the beating?”

“You want the soldiers to beat you, my lord?”

“No, they wouldn’t dare! Even if you had truly done something so outrageous that Heaven and earth themselves were enraged, they still wouldn’t dare beat you.”

“You’re a marquis!”

“The Marquis Jingyi sent here from the capital!”

“They wouldn’t dare.”

Pei Wugou shook his head. “Chen Song, you’ve misunderstood me. I mean that I won’t take the beating as Marquis Jingyi. I’ll take it as Ah Wu—the Ah Wu whom Little He speaks of.”

“I’ll have Little He push all the blame onto Ah Wu. Then I’ll arrange for Shadow to take charge of headquarters, and have Shadow issue the order to beat Ah Wu. That will extinguish the soldiers’ anger while also upholding the principle that military orders must be obeyed!”

Chen Song understood.

But he was even more bewildered.

What the hell kind of operation was this?

It was the most absurd thing he had ever witnessed in his twenty years in the army!

If Pei Wugou simply didn’t want Wen He to be beaten and wanted to pardon her, he could have revealed his identity. The soldiers feared his status as Marquis Jingyi, and they feared Wen He’s status as the wife of Marquis Jingyi. Even if they caused a commotion, they certainly wouldn’t dare take things that far.

Yet Pei Wugou insisted on taking the beating for Wen He?!

And he was going to do it as Ah Wu?

It was so absurd that absurdity itself had come knocking at the door.

Still, Chen Song reacted quickly. He immediately composed himself and said righteously, “My lord, this plan is indeed feasible. However… if you’re going to take the beating, it will be in front of the entire army.”

“The soldiers carrying it out won’t be able to go easy on you in front of everyone. You’ll have to take every blow properly.”

Pei Wugou waved his hand grandly. “No problem!”

“It’s only a sound beating. A trivial matter. To me, it’ll amount to nothing more than superficial injuries.”

Chen Song said, “Since the soldiers are already furious with Miss Wen He, and that anger will then be redirected toward you, you’ll have to take at least a hundred military cudgel strikes.”

Pei Wugou waved his hand again. “A mere hundred strikes? I, for one, don’t consider that worth mentioning.”

With a thump, Chen Song dropped to his knees. He said emotionally, “My lord is truly mighty! To go this far for love—your devotion is awe-inspiring. My admiration for you is like the great rivers, surging endlessly!”

Pei Wugou was quite pleased as well.

This stroke of genius would solve Wen He’s predicament, make her even more devoted to him, and win the admiration of Chen Song, his deputy general.

His excitement nearly made him jump for joy.

“Good. Since that’s settled, we’ll proceed with the plan. Chen Song, issue the order throughout the army according to my instructions.”

“As for me… I’ll go teach Shadow what to do.”

“That day will be the first time Shadow and I appear onstage together. He absolutely cannot stumble over his words and let everyone see through us.”

“Yes, my lord!”

Chen Song accepted the order and immediately went to work.

Sure enough, another storm swept through the army.

“So Wen He, that shameless woman, has Ah Wu—the guy who loves performing and spinning around like he’s casting magic—backing her?”

“Damn it, why do I feel like that Ah Wu is just being pushed out to take the blame?”

“Whether he’s taking the blame or not, that Ah Wu is always hanging around with that shameless Wen He. Beating him will at least ease some of the hatred in my heart!”

“Damn it, I have to see at least one of them beaten to death, or I won’t be able to vent this rage!”

…

There was no denying that Pei Wugou’s plan was effective.

At the very least, the army’s fury, which had reached its peak, dissipated by more than half. Instead of shouting for Wen He to be punished, the soldiers were now demanding that Ah Wu be punished.

Pei Wugou was very satisfied.

Once he took the beating, the army’s anger would dissipate even further. Then he could step in, reorganize the troops, and enforce military discipline. The entire incident’s impact would be completely erased.

Chen Song was equally satisfied.

After helping Pei Wugou make all the arrangements, night had already fallen. He immediately returned to his tent, sat down at his desk, and wrote everything down in detail—especially the outrageous stunt Pei Wugou was about to pull.

Once he had finished the letter, he sealed it with wax.

He handed it to a trusted subordinate, who slipped out of Zhenjiang City by a secluded route and rode day and night to deliver it to Wang Ming.

That allowed Wang Ming to receive the letter immediately.

But…

After reading it, Wang Ming was dumbfounded as well.

“What does this mean? Pei Wugou wants Pei Wugou to publicly beat Pei Wugou with military cudgels?”

The words were twisted enough when spoken aloud, and even more twisted in his mind.

Fortunately, Wang Ming had weathered plenty of storms. He quickly sorted everything out, and his mouth gradually formed an O.

“Holy crap…”

“Pei Wugou is actually going to beat himself?”

“A hundred military cudgel strikes—and they have to be delivered with full force?!”

“A hundred strikes… Does Pei Wugou have no idea what a hundred military cudgel strikes mean? Or is he simply too confident in himself?”

“After a hundred strikes, wouldn’t he be crippled?”

Wang Ming’s eyes lit up.

They were practically shining.

Zhenjiang City had one major obstacle for him: Pei Wugou’s terrifying martial strength. He was so frightening that he could suppress all the soldiers single-handedly, leaving them barely able to breathe.

But after a hundred military cudgel strikes…

“Hiss!”

“What a great opportunity!”

“What a great opportunity!”

“This is our chance to take Zhenjiang City, isn’t it?”