Last night, there was another heavy snowfall, and the sky and the earth were completely white. After the snow, the layers of pavilions and pavilions in Prince Wei's Mansion were covered with a layer of soft snow, like beautiful buildings and jade palaces; even the palaces The ridged beast on the eaves now looks like a jade sculpture carved from pink.
Several plum blossoms were in full bloom in the side yard of the front hall. The flower bones, which had no green leaves to protect them from the wind and snow, stubbornly dug out soft snowflakes. From a distance, they looked like crystal clear red beans.
Eighteen chefs with bruises and swollen faces held special horizontal knives and practiced their knife skills in a uniform manner.
The cooks, including Zhu Can, all have exquisite knife skills. They can use cooking knives to carve fruits, vegetables, and meats into lifelike shapes. Because they chop vegetables every day, they have extremely strong arm strength, and they are used to it, which naturally saves some effort. From the beginning, when a cow or a sheep is placed in front of them, they know where to put the knife to make the cow and sheep die quickly. Even when you ask them to maintain the blood in the animal's body, they also know how much force to use and how deep to stab. How much blood can be retained in a rapidly dying animal.
A few days ago, Yang Ji was inspired by Zhu Can and handed over these chefs with exquisite sword skills to Gongsun Huan, the master of swordsmanship.
Gongsun Huan initially disagreed with Yang Ji's idea of training chefs and swordsmen, but when he entered the kitchen and observed carefully for less than half a day, he put aside his contempt and started asking for advice seriously.
The cooks were flattered by the chief steward's humbly asking for advice, and did not dare to hide anything. Although they could not explain the reason, they knew how to use the knife to make their arms less sore, save time and effort, and make the animals die quickly; After several days of observing and trying, Gongsun Huan really learned a lot. When he applied these skills to swordsmanship, he felt that his swordsmanship had greatly improved, and his interest in this group of cooks greatly increased. And based on the techniques commonly used by chefs, he created nine-style knife techniques.
To put it bluntly, these nine types of sword skills are the combination of "sweeping, chopping, splitting, peeling, chopping, thrusting, plundering, plucking, and racking" into one. After these chefs replaced the kitchen knives with horizontal knives, there was no violation. I feel that the longer I practice, the more effort I can exert and retract with ease. In just a few days, I have the characteristics of high strength and fast speed.
After eliminating the unqualified cooks, the last eighteen remaining people officially left the kitchen and trained with the guards of the mansion every day and then fought each other. Although life is relatively hard, they are slaves of the royal palace, so what can they say about the master's arrangements? Moreover, the master exempted their family, young and old, from being untouchables, and promoted them all to be good men.
For these men who will be slaves for generations, this kind of kindness that can change the tragic fate of their families is more important than Mount Tai; no matter how hard the training is and how badly they are beaten, they are still willing to persevere. If you practice your skills well, you may not be able to become a general like the slave-born general Wei Qing in the future.
On the other side, the ten heroic maids were practicing swordsmanship.
Yang Ji came to a powerful old plum tree with snowflakes on his shoulders. He did not speak, but stood silently under the tree and watched them practice swordsmanship.
Regarding the fate and development process of the Sui Dynasty, he knew more about romance than real historical facts.
Judging from the current situation of the Great Sui Dynasty, I am afraid that no one except him thinks that the great Sui Dynasty will be destroyed in the second generation. Yang Ji couldn't say whether the world would turn into the great chaos of the late Sui Dynasty in his memory, or whether the Sui Dynasty would be destroyed in two generations. However, as long as you know the changes in the power of the imperial court and various major events, combined with the impressions in your mind, you can see some context, and this is enough for Yang Ji.
The current Sui Dynasty is due to the emergence of old forces, so as Yang Guang said that day, it is the world of aristocratic families. The aristocratic families who control a large number of talents, wealth, and land monopolize cultural knowledge, monopolize the power of military and political appointments, and retain The positions for the lower class are constantly decreasing, the openings left for the lower class to advance are shrinking, and even the land that the lower class rely on for survival is being deprived step by step. This severe polarization will sooner or later make the lower class resentful. When this When this kind of resentment accumulates to a certain extent, it will definitely sweep the world with the force of bursting the embankment.
The way to break this vicious circle is actually very simple. First, restart the schools at all levels that Yang Jian was forced to abolish; second, make books carrying cultural heritage cheaper; third, promote the mature Ming Dynasty imperial examination system; fourth, start a war in the officialdom and the army. A vigorous anti-corruption campaign, but if we do this, the chaos of dynasty change may be imminent.
As for the future, Yang Ji has not yet fully planned it. It is a good thing to have foresight, but if you look too far ahead, you will often be in the dark under the light and cannot see clearly the things in front of you. For now, it is better to accumulate one's own strength first. Regarding this, Yang Ji believes that many people are doing this. It's just that he has a clearer understanding of the future world trend than others, and his purpose is obviously clearer, and the final results and benefits must be better than many people.
Yang Ji was not prepared to deliberately look for famous ministers and generals. Firstly, the familiar people probably had not grown up yet, and secondly, they were not of use now. As for the existing famous ministers and generals, they either have their own status, have loyalties, or are people whom the emperor is concerned about. It would be better to use the superior conditions to open a private school to train the children of soldiers, domestic slaves, and servants. The people they train will be loyal and reliable in the first place, and they will not draw attention to themselves. The young people who stand out from them may not be as good as those wild people in the future. A famous minister and strong general.
…
More than half an hour later, Gongsun Huan walked over quickly and handed a stack of envelopes to Yang Ji. After Yang Ji took a general look, he took a few steps forward and shouted: "Stop everything."
After hearing this, everyone stopped and gathered in front of the stage. Men and women each line up in a line, with clear distinctions.
Yang Ji said: "Zhang Chuchen, come forward."
"See you, young master!" Zhang Chuchen stepped forward and saluted.
"Take it and read it." Yang Ji handed over a letter, and Zhang Chuchen was puzzled. When she took out the letter and unfolded it to take a closer look, she saw a pretty face flushed with excitement.
This is not a letter, but a move to bring their mother and daughter into their husband's household registration.
Zhang Chuchen's hands holding these two pieces of paper couldn't help but tremble. These two thin pieces of paper, because of the words and seals on them, became heavier than a thousand pounds.
She knows better than anyone what this household registration means to her.
Without this household registration, mother and daughter would be like animals. Although she has martial arts and talents, she does not contribute to their status in any way. Now that they have this household registration, they can be considered an upright person.
She never dreamed that Yang Ji, who had made a promise to her the day before yesterday and was going to be a slave yesterday, even skipped the part about making meritorious services as mentioned before. Today, he directly sent a huge favor to their mother and daughter. Goods become “people”.
"My lord, my kindness is as great as that of a mountain, and my servant..." Zhang Chuchen burst into tears, and he knelt down in front of Yang Ji. He only said half a sentence before bursting into tears.
"You mother and daughter have no property, so they are nominally tenants of the palace, and the employment period is five years. From now on, you will serve as a swordsman by my side, and you will be strictly educated in books and rituals. From now on, you will teach children in the palace's private school. When you have the ability When you buy a property, you can move to where you want to go.”
Restricted by the slave status, Yang Ji could keep Zhang Chuchen's people, but he could not get her loyalty. Maybe even the people would run away like in history. Now that their mother and daughter enjoy the protection of the court's laws, they feel a constant sense of fear. At least half of it will dissipate; if nothing else happens, it should be able to stabilize her for five years.
"Get up." Yang Ji waited for her to get up, and then said: "The royal palace's sacred beast is the Suzaku Xuanwu; from now on, you will serve as the commander of the Suzaku Guard and train a female guard for me."
"The master's kindness is so profound that it would be hard to repay it even if the servants were shattered to pieces..." Zhang Chuchen was a person with a clear sense of grudges and grudges. Yang Ji's kindness and trust allowed her to die for Yang Ji a hundred times without even a single complaint.
"Liu Rumei." Yang Ji called another maid to come forward. Judging from the detailed information, this is also a strange woman with equal emphasis on beauty, martial arts, and talents. Not only is she beautiful, but she is also good at music, calligraphy, and painting. But she What she is best at is makeup. It is said that the makeup she creates can make her relatives unrecognizable. Maybe the information says it is a bit exaggerated, but even if it is halved, it is still quite impressive.
After Yang Ji gave her the household registration, he said, "From now on, you will be the deputy commander of the Xuanwu Guard."
"Thank you, Master." Liu Rumei kowtowed in the snow with tears streaming down her face.
"Murong Xianyue!" The surname Murong sounds like the surname of Xianbei. However, Murong Xianyue's beautiful face does not have obvious Hu characteristics. However, compared with other maidservants present, the outline of the facial features is more obvious, with slightly deeper eye sockets and taller height. The upturned nose and curly hair also add to her wild beauty. She has no other special skills except killing, and because of her concentration and martial arts skills that are as good as Zhang Chuchen's, she was also appointed as the deputy commander of the Suzaku Guard.
The remaining seven martial maids are all beautiful and proficient in martial arts. In addition to the singing and dancing that is necessary for a 'singer', they also specialize in another talent.
In this era, women can get married at the age of thirteen and become mothers at the age of fifteen. Those who are over twenty are old girls who are worried about getting married. In order to ensure that the maids disguise their identities as "singing girls", these maids are all relatively young. The eldest Lin Rumei is only eighteen years old.
However, at such a young age, all of them possess unique skills, which shows how cruel the training is and how amazing the talent is.
It also made Yang Ji more eager to become 'Principal Yang'.
