After this incident, Ning Shu gained a strong reputation in the military. Naturally, it was a reputation that caused fear. However, Ning Shu expressed that she didn’t care.
Something that surprised her was the fact that Cai Sang actually started learning martial arts as well. Every day, she would serve Ning Shu – attending to her, doing her laundry, and making her meals. But in between all of that, she would find time to practice martial arts. She said that she wanted to go on the battlefield to kill the enemies, so Ning Shu allowed her to do as she wished.
Perhaps it was because Ning Shu’s reputation was so brutal people couldn’t help but have a strong impression, but a lot of women who either had no one to rely or or had been defiled by Tartars ran over to ask Ning Shu for help.
In just a while, over a hundred people had gathered and they practically became a female army. It added a bit of color to the dull barracks.
These women were all at the end of their ropes and had come to Ning Shu as their last hope. All of them stated their desires to head to the battlefield and get revenge with determined, vengeful expressions.
Ning Shu thought about it and felt that it was very important to establish a troop of trustworthy subordinates that would only follow her direct commands, so she took in these women and had people teach them basic martial arts.
Perhaps due to the fact that they had found a new goal in life, these women were no less spirited and fierce than the male soldiers. Perhaps women couldn’t compare to men in strength, but men had no way of competing with the tenacity of women.
However, the army couldn’t continue to feed these women for free. Even Shen Feng tactfully hinted that these women couldn’t stay in the barracks.
Ning Shu didn’t say a lot and simply pointed out the fact that these women helped out in the barracks a lot. All the meals, clothing repairment, and things like that were handled by these women.
In the end Shen Feng could only yield. With a precedent like Ning Shu, they couldn’t very well say that the barracks were off limits to women.
What Ning Shu didn’t know was that in the capital, a wave of opposition against her was rising. Naturally, their argument was that her methods were too bloody and cruel. The truth was, those rotten old Confucian scholars were worried about the fact that she had allowed so many women to enter the military. If women were allowed to head to the battlefield, how would they be able to continue using the Confucian moral injunctions for women as a basis to restrict their freedoms?
>The Confucian injunctions for women were: obey in turn three men – father, husband, and son – plus the four virtues of morality, physical charm, propriety in speech, and efficiency in needlework.
It wouldn’t be easy for them to place limitations on women anymore.
A group of ministers rose to protest.
Li Wen sat on the dragon throne. There was no expression on his face, but there was a trace of a smile in his eyes. He read through the memorial that had been delivered to him several times. A trace of satisfaction flashed through his eyes when he finished reading about what Ning Shu had done.
Then he looked towards the ministers below and said indifferently, “En, her methods were ruthless. How about this? You guys elect one among you to be sent to the border. If that person can make it back alive, we will remove Princess Jiahui from her post.”
The ministers: …
His Majesty wanted them to die ah, didn’t he? Li Wen’s attitude has always been that it didn’t matter whether these ministers were here or not. If one died, another would immediately take that person’s spot. Hence Li Wen rather hoped that these rotten old ministers all died.
All the ministers shrank back and tried to decrease the strength of their presence.
Not long later, Ning Shu received the letter Li Wen sent to her. There were only two words: very good.
Ning Shu immediately understood what Li Wen meant. From the looks of it, Li Wen approved of the way she had handled things. She felt even more confident now that she had obtained Li Wen’s support.
As of now, Ning Shu’s tent had become forbidden grounds for men. It was the women’s base of operations. Ning Shu watched as the women dressed in armor brandished their spears. Their movements were surprisingly uniform and spirited. A slight smile appeared on Ning Shu’s face.
Leaving the original host with these people counted as leaving her with some influence. She hoped that the original host’s life would be a little easier after she left this world.