Faced with a thousand picked troops, all wolf and tiger, with the fierceness coming off them, Ning Chen did not falter in the least.

He came out in front of them, laid one hand on his hilt, and said in a carrying voice:

“First, an introduction. My name is Ning Chen. Silver coat of the Inspectorate, and now General of the Northern Expedition by His Majesty’s own appointment.”

“I’ve come today simply to meet you all and get acquainted… I won’t waste words. Commandant Yuan and I have a wager still unsettled. I’d like you all to witness it.”

In an army camp it is ability that counts, and fists that do the talking… A wagging tongue is worth nothing.

Yuan Long was a little taken aback. He had assumed Ning Chen would be like the soft supervisors the court usually sent down, good for a long stretch of fussing, and instead the man had said three sentences and stopped… Not bad at all!

Ning Chen looked at Yuan Long. “Commandant Yuan. Shall we begin?”

Yuan Long grinned wide and laughed aloud. “Come on, clear a space for Ning the Silver Coat and me… The two of us made a wager just now. Whoever loses buys the drinks.”

Every soldier’s face lit up with excitement.

Commandant Yuan was going to trade blows with General Ning. There was a show worth watching.

They all fell back at once and formed a ring.

“Ning the Silver Coat. How shall we do this?”

Ning Chen said, smiling, “Simply. No blades… anything else goes. Whoever goes down loses.”

“Good!”

Yuan Long unslung his service sword and stripped off his upper garment, showing a body knotted with muscle.

Ning Chen did the same, pulling off his fish-scale coat and standing bare to the waist.

He glanced down at himself. Not bad… He used to be so thin he looked like a rack of ribs come to life. There was no proper eight-pack on him now, but he was well-proportioned, the lines of the muscle ran clean, and he looked hard and fit.

Still, set against Yuan Long, he was not only a head shorter but a whole size smaller all over.

“Ning the Silver Coat. Look out!”

Yuan Long loosened his body a little. He was confident. With a slight frame like Ning Chen’s, he could drop him with one punch.

Ning Chen smiled slightly. “Come on, then!”

“Commandant Yuan! Go on!”

“Commandant Yuan! Go on!”

The soldiers ringed around them shouted for Yuan Long at the top of their voices.

Nobody thought Ning Chen would win.

The two bodies were nothing like a match. Yuan Long was very nearly two of Ning Chen.

Yuan Long grinned, came on with long strides, closed on Ning Chen and reached out a hand like a palm-leaf fan to seize him by the shoulder.

Smack!

Ning Chen slapped a palm across his wrist, swept the big hand aside, twisted his body and threw a punch in the same instant.

Thud, thud, thud!!!

Three punches in a row, driven into Yuan Long’s side.

Yuan Long felt it, staggered a few steps, then planted himself hard, pivoted at the waist, and swung a thick leg at Ning Chen with a sound like a rush of wind.

But Ning Chen dropped low and let the strike go over him, then wrapped up the other leg, the one holding Yuan Long’s weight, put his whole body into it and wrenched hard, and heaved him clean off the ground.

Yuan Long’s face changed. He got one hand down on the ground as he landed and sprang up again.

Ning Chen came on like a cheetah, sprinting into the gap, catching Yuan Long with his feet barely under him and his guard wide open, and gathered the whole force of his body into his right elbow.

The old classical fighting arts. The elbow driven at the heart.

Bang!!!

Ning Chen’s right elbow struck Yuan Long full in the chest.

Yuan Long let out a muffled grunt, and that powerful body of his was driven backward through the air a good two or three yards. He landed staggering and could not stop going back.

Ning Chen drove off his feet like a cheetah and ran the retreating Yuan Long down, going into a sliding tackle around behind him. He got both arms fast around the man’s waist and used the force of Yuan Long’s own retreat to bring him over in a waist throw and slam him into the ground.

Yuan Long let out a howl, his whole face contorted, feeling as though he were being folded in two.

Ning Chen went down on one knee, dragging in great lungfuls of air.

He was worn out!

If I’d known, I’d have gone easier last night. It’s all the old madam’s fault. She made me have to prove myself, and now I’m hollowed out!

The whole ground was stunned!

Every officer and man around them stood staring!

Commandant Yuan had lost?

Somebody rubbed his eyes, wondering whether he had seen it wrong.

Ning Chen was so thin and slight, and he had beaten Commandant Yuan?

Surely Commandant Yuan had thrown the match on purpose?

But looking at how savagely the two of them had gone at it just now, it had been nothing like an act.

This Ning the Silver Coat had come in fast and hard and accurate, like a hunting cat, and the moves he used were strange ones, quick and always changing.

Ning Chen got to his feet and looked at Yuan Long, smiling. “Commandant Yuan. Are you all right?”

Yuan Long lay on the ground smiling ruefully and shook his head.

Ning Chen put out a hand, and this time Yuan Long took it and let it pull him up.

He rubbed his chest. “What was that last move of General Ning’s called? Hard and overbearing, and the force in it was frightening… An ordinary man would have lost half his life to that one blow.”

“That one is called the elbow driven at the heart… I’ll teach you sometime!”

“My thanks, General Ning.” Yuan Long said it with a perfectly serious face. “I’ve lost!”

What he called Ning Chen had changed too.

Ning Chen laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “Remember. You’re buying the drinks.”

“No trouble at all! Only there’s no drinking in camp… we’ll have to go into the city.”

Ning Chen said, smiling, “I’ll let you owe me that round for now.”

That said, Ning Chen took out a silver note and pressed it into Yuan Long’s hand.

“We march out soon. Let everyone take it easy for once. Go into the city and buy some wine, three taels a man, no more than that… Anyone who overdoes it answers to military law!”

The officers and men cheered together. “Our thanks, General Ning!”

They had assumed Ning Chen would be like all those sons of great houses, soft and feeble, coming to camp only to get himself gilded and scoop up some credit.

A weak soldier is one weak man; a weak general is a whole nest of them.

They had no wish to follow a man of straw.

But it turned out Ning Chen was this fierce, and had actually beaten Commandant Yuan.

Every man there knew his eye had been wrong. This General Ning had the real thing in him.

After talking with Yuan Long a while, Ning Chen and Qi Yuanzhong left the camp.

Once inside the city the two of them separated.

Qi Yuanzhong went back to the general’s residence to report.

Ning Chen put his horse to a gallop and returned to the Ning residence.

Chang Ruyue and her sons had only been let out of the Inspectorate’s cells today. Going back to the Ning residence now was bound to be hens flying and dogs jumping.

He had no wish to go back either. He bore the name of Ning, but in the end he was no family of theirs.

Still, he marched out soon, and he had to come back and pack a few things.

The maids and servants of the household all looked over as Ning Chen came in the door.

There was something new in the way they looked at him now. Awe.

The Fourth Young Master was no longer the frail boy anybody could push around.

Ning Chen smiled at them, went back to his own room, and got ready to pack a few things and leave.

Knock, knock, knock!!!

He was in the middle of packing when a knock came at the door.

Ning Chen’s brows drew together a little. Here comes trouble.

He went over and opened it.

Steward Wu stood in the doorway, and when he saw Ning Chen he said quickly, “Fourth Young Master. The Master asks you to come!”

Ning Chen said coldly, “Tell him I don’t have time!”

(End of Chapter 136)