It was late spring in April of the second year of Chongqing.
The forests around the Xijunhe camp are lush, with poplars and elm pods flying, and some wild animals and birds also appear in groups in the reed swamps. However, this year is not as severe a drought as last year and the year before that, but it is also the year with less rain in the past. A little further away from the rivers and swamps, you can see the cracked ground.
There are several fields along the river that were cultivated by the soldiers themselves. It is true that they put a lot of effort into it, but you can tell by looking at the greenery in the fields. It is really not as energetic as in the good years.
If you leave the camp and walk around Anzhou, you will feel more and more that this once prosperous place in Hebei is sparsely populated and full of silence and desolation. Occasionally, knights would gallop by on horseback on the official road. I don’t know what they were delivering, but the anxious expressions on those knights’ faces, which were dusty and dusty, didn’t sound like good news.
Fortunately, everything is not so desolate. From Bianwu to the south, passing through Gaoyangguan and reaching Xinqiaoying, some farms are still very prosperous. Those are the Village Social Security A, which is jointly led by Guo Ning's department and the Yu family of Xinqiao Ying, and has introduced the joint investment of many local village tycoons.
In the process of restoring these armors, several clans that did not know how to praise were eliminated and some people were killed.
The most disturbing incident was when Monk Luo personally led a raid on the He family's manor in Xiongzhou. Monk Luo was very good at this matter. After he killed all the local soldiers under the He family, he burned the manor to a white ground, and then was escorted by soldiers under the jurisdiction of the Yongding Army Jiedushi several miles away. , Shi Shiran turned back.
The He family was a wealthy family across several prefectures and counties, and it took the Yu family a lot of effort to resolve the issue. The Yu family relied on their combined force to continuously destroy many strongholds of the He family members. Then Yu Jingchun, a recognized good man, came forward to support a clan member of the distant branch of the He family, thus bringing this large clan into the scope of Anzhou Baojia.
More often than not, the soldiers took turns attacking from the Junhe camp to eliminate water bandits and thieves entrenched in the lakes and valleys of Wuzhou. Li Ting was mainly in charge of this matter. After all, when he was stationed in Wuguandian, he was one of the leaders of the water bandits and had a lot of blood on his hands.
Up to now, the farms are distributed in nearly ten counties in five states. The farms controlled by the Guo Ning and Yu brothers are almost connected and integrated. The area within dozens of miles centered on the Kuijunhe camp was completely controlled by Guo Ning's troops.
Recently, some people half-jokingly said that the Xijunhe camp is like the military commander's palace of the five states. So some people respectfully called Guo Ning "General Manager Guo". Even though Guo Ning himself categorically refused to be called so many times, some people still called him that behind his back.
In the eyes of ordinary soldiers, it is really not easy to be able to lead 2,500 soldiers to occupy one side in this kind of world, and to keep the soldiers well fed. They deserve the title of a general manager. Even without the name given by the court, he is still a big shot.
But this big shot is very different from the big shots the soldiers are used to.
He has a very meager self-esteem and has no interest in gold and silver. He usually practices martial arts or hangs out with his own soldiers and teenagers. He doesn't even have a decent mansion. No.
He was still stationed on the high ground north of Bianwudian and on the west bank of the Kuijun River, but because the number of soldiers and followers was much larger, the size of the camp expanded.
At dusk, when Liu Cheng took the books and documents from the warehouse to the base camp, the road he walked was much longer than before.
Inside the camp gate, there is a roughly square courtyard more than ten feet wide. There is a gravel-paved corridor in the center of the courtyard, and there are earth fields on both sides.
On the edge of the dirt field near the fence, there are racks of weapons and even stone locks, wooden stakes and other strength-training equipment, which look like they are often used. Several soldiers were holding spears and were sparring meticulously.
Further back is the meeting hall of the Chinese Army.
Many buildings in the camp are made of logs cut down near Yong. They are neither painted nor smoothed, and in some places the bark is not even peeled off. The same is true for the meeting hall. Although the structure is rough, it is very strong.
Behind the meeting hall is the daily living place of Guo Ning and his soldiers and servants. It is a courtyard with two entrances.
Liu Cheng stood at the door of the meeting hall and listened for a long time. There were intermittent sounds deep in the hall.
He sighed.
On both sides of the hall, two armored soldiers standing upright also sighed.
"It's going to take half an hour, right?"
"almost."
"It really doesn't work? Have you tried everything?"
"I heard that he was sick when he was a child, and then..." A soldier made two gestures: "It didn't work."
"Nonsense! Why is it like this!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "This kid is angry and anxious, he must feel embarrassed!"
Looking at the sky, he asked, "Where are the others?"
"Everyone else has already left. Today Li Erlang gathered some raw lacquer and came back, and Zhao Jue took everyone to see it."
"Making lacquer?" Liu Cheng shook his head inexplicably, closed the books, and walked into the hall: "Then I'll go in. I think Ni Yi doesn't care if one more person sees his embarrassment."
The hall in the middle of the meeting hall was now empty. Liu Cheng walked further inside, walked around the back compartment, and saw in the small side hall on the right, an old scholar who had been recruited a few days ago was shouting impatiently: "Hurry up! I'm going to eat! "
Next to the old scholar, Lu Han, who was regarded as a family member by Guo Ning, said softly: "Sir, don't be anxious, we still have a while to eat."
She turned to the person standing in the center of the side hall and said, "Don't be impatient, take your time! People have different temperaments. Maybe you can recite it slowly but still remember it well?"
The person standing in the hall, with steam rising from his forehead, turned out to be Ni Yi.
I haven't finished today's homework for half an hour... This is not the first time. As the leader of the followers, Ni Yi was extremely ashamed and angry. After listening to Lu Han's persuasion, he only felt more and more impatient, and the white air rising above his head rolled up visibly to the naked eye, almost becoming a column.
Seeing this situation, Liu Cheng couldn't help but want to laugh.
It turned out that after Guo Ning reunited his soldiers, he often chatted with everyone. Sometimes he told various stories about the civil and military affairs of ancient monarchs and ministers, and sometimes he told some strange and weird principles of studying things to achieve knowledge, and then derived anecdotes from foreign lands beyond the mountains and seas.
Someone asked how Guo Ning could have such knowledge and eloquence. Guo Ning blamed Gao Kezhong, a scholar who was killed by Xiao Haohu's men in a surprise attack before, saying that it was Gao Kezhong who taught him.
Guo Ning spoke vividly, and the young people listened immersed. Later, even young knights such as Rui Lin and Chen Ran also participated. After daily training and daily military affairs, they came to wait for Guo Ning to give a lecture. Hundreds of people gathered each time.
About half a month later, Guo Ning suddenly said: "There are still stories and anecdotes, but I'm afraid you don't have enough knowledge and won't be able to understand them from now on. It's really a pity."
This statement made everyone unhappy.
Someone immediately said: Why don’t you know enough? Regardless of our age, all of us have experienced great battles. Having traveled through deserts and grasslands, traversed deep mountains and ravines, and fought in battles with thousands of troops, when it comes to knowledge, he is better than ordinary people. Why can't I even hear the story?
Guo Langjun, please tell us what we are lacking in knowledge, so that we can grow up?
When he said this, he got into huge trouble.
The time that young Meng Cong and the knights spent listening to Guo Ning's stories every day was moved to after sunset. And the hour and a half before sunset has become the time for enlightenment reading!
This is suffering.
When it comes to fighting, Guo Ning's men are all brave. But when it comes to literacy, among the two thousand and five hundred people, there are probably less than a hundred people who can recognize their own names; and those who can write can probably be counted with two hands.
Who would have thought that Guo Langjun would suddenly make such a strange request to the men who were licking blood from their sword heads? At the moment, all the soldiers were exhausted, and many even couldn't hold on any longer and gave up on their own initiative.
Guo Ning did not force this.
He just invited a local old Confucian to teach him from the simplest words. I rarely pay attention to these things.
The old Confucian preached and taught in the right side hall of the meeting hall, while Guo Ning worked in the left side hall every day without disturbing him. The soldiers who didn't want to persist were ashamed at first, but later came back every night and wanted to continue listening to Guo Ning telling stories and joking. Guo Ning didn't mind at all and treated them as usual.
As a result, fewer and fewer people are willing to try reading. Soon after, Lu Han brought some children to join, and the number of students was only twenty or thirty, including Ni Yi, who was dull and ignorant.
