“I did it myself?” The big man’s eyes were as aggrieved as could be. “Wasn’t it you, brother, who said so? These people made you angry, so not a single one should be left! Since none should be left, of course I killed them all for you!”

“I… you…” Frank Moore was tongue-tied, and only after a while managed to say something. “Come closer.”

The Xianbei strongman didn’t understand, and cautiously took a step forward.

“Come closer!” Frank Moore suddenly smiled.

Seeing this, the strongman broke out in goosebumps, dared not hesitate any longer, and came right up to his elder brother.

“Take off those hard leather shoes from Anlihao on your feet for me.”

The strongman did as he was told.

“Hand them over.”

The strongman, trembling, handed them over.

“You reckless, brazen fool!” With the leather shoes in hand, Frank Moore suddenly changed his expression, then fiercely smacked the shoes onto the other’s forehead. “From today on, you’ll be called Frank the Mule!”

The one suffering domestic violence was not only Frank the Mule, the younger brother; far away in Lulong Fortress, Edward Benson, the son, had only managed to last one more night and an extra morning.

“Edward Benson, where did you get the nerve?!”

Meanwhile, in Lulong Fortress, Mary Benson, who had come to reward the army with wine, meat, and riches, barely exchanged a hurried greeting with James Benson before leading a group of maids straight into Edward Benson’s room. The moment she entered, chaos erupted, her momentum fierce, startling Edward Benson so much he nearly jumped out the window.

Luckily, this was a building five zhang high, so the window was small; otherwise, this lousy book could have ended right here.

On the other side, the experienced Charles Benson immediately ducked his head and darted out the door. John Price and Thomas Harris, who had been staying to drink hot soup, realized things were going south and didn’t dare linger, fleeing in embarrassment after Charles Benson.

In an instant, only mother and son and a group of expressionless maids were left in the room.

“Tell me, who gave you the nerve to lead thirty men to raid the camp?” Dressed as a classic Han dynasty noblewoman but wearing a pair of strange black-rimmed glasses, Mary Benson ignored those who had fled, and instead grabbed her only son by the window. “On the way here, I already heard—seventeen out of thirty men died. If you’d been the eighteenth, do you know it wouldn’t have made a difference? Tell me, how do I usually teach you?!”

“To strive for recognition among the lords, and to preserve my life in troubled times!” Edward Benson, eight chi tall, was forced to bend over as his own mother grabbed his hair. While his eyes darted around, he recited his mother’s maxims from memory—he’d heard them too many times. “Mother, I know I was wrong!”

“I’m asking you, who gave you the nerve to try some thirty-man cavalry raid?” Mary Benson was furious, pushing her son to the ground. “With that coward James Benson leading the troops, you still dared to show off? You think you’re Gan Ning? Even Gan Ning, with all his bravery, only raided camps with a hundred cavalry, and you with thirty?! Tell me, if you’d died the night before last, wouldn’t my eighteen years of hardship have been for nothing?”

As she spoke, this woman who had dominated the business world for over a decade and always bantered with the heroes of Liaoxi, suddenly burst into tears. She had to hand her most treasured black-rimmed glasses to a maid, who quickly wiped them gently with fine linen—there was no choice, for it was said these were one of a kind in the world, and if they broke, Mary Benson would be as good as blind.

Edward Benson hurriedly knelt on the ground. “Mother, it really wasn’t that dangerous the night before last… To be honest, it was actually Gan Ning who gave me the courage to raid the camp!”

“You still dare to talk back?!” Mary Benson immediately stopped crying and changed her expression.

“I’m really not talking back.” Edward Benson was utterly aggrieved. “Mother, those two who just left with Charlie, one is called Thomas Harris, the other John Price… It was Thomas Harris who suggested the raid, and John Price who led the infantry to support us. According to what you used to say, aren’t these two ranked even higher than Gan Ning? With them, what was there to be afraid of?”

Mary Benson was stunned: “Thomas Harris and John Price? Which Thomas Harris and John Price?”

“The very same Thomas Harris and John Price.” Seeing hope, Edward Benson quickly knelt and started bluffing. “Besides, the so-called thirty-man cavalry raid was just for show. In your words, it was just advertising. Actually, the thirty-some leaders were just the spearhead; there were a full two hundred elite cavalry from Lulong Fortress right behind us, and then John Price led nearly a thousand infantry close behind. As for the enemy camp, there were less than two thousand mixed Hu, most of them without proper armor, just… just wearing dirty sheepskin robes, those Xianbei people… Mother, do you remember that Frank Moore from Liucheng, the one you said had a good business mind? The enemy camp was full of that sort, and when I ran into him the night before last, I even spared his life on purpose!”