The next morning.

After a full night's rest, Ning Chen was bright-eyed and full of energy.

Xiao Yanxi brought him something to eat. He had just finished and stepped out of the tent when he ran into Feng Qizheng heading his way.

"Son of a bitch, ruining your father's morning first thing. If you want to die, just say so. If you're willing to die, your father's willing to bury you..."

Feng Qizheng was swearing under his breath the whole way.

Ning Chen smiled. "General Feng, who's gotten you riled up this early in the morning?"

There were soldiers nearby, so Ning Chen called him General Feng.

Feng Qizheng said, "Ugh, don't ask. That Li Zang won't behave at all... He's a prisoner, and he still had the nerve to kill somebody. He must be sick of living. I gave him a beating, and now he's behaving."

Ning Chen frowned. "Who did he kill?"

"A guy called Rong Xian. Supposedly Li Zang's military adviser... That Li Zang is a vicious one. He bit Rong Xian's throat out."

Ning Chen was startled, but curious too. "Why did he kill Rong Xian?"

Feng Qizheng said, "Something about Rong Xian running before the fighting even started and wrecking the army's morale, I think?

This Rong Xian said that if you wanted to be nice about it he was a military adviser, but if you didn't, he was just a hired aide with no rank and no office, drawing chicken feed every month. Why should he risk his neck?

Anyway, the two of them argued and argued until they came to blows, and in the end Li Zang bit Rong Xian to death."

Ning Chen felt a headache coming on, and he had questions. "Li Zang's a fighting general. He couldn't beat Rong Xian? He had to bite him like a dog?"

"Didn't I tell you? Yesterday I beat Li Zang till he was spitting blood—"

The corner of Ning Chen's mouth twitched a few times. "And you just gave him another beating. Is he going to live?"

Feng Qizheng said, "My modao army…