Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 11 Moving forward with a heavy load
"Kill! Kill! Kill..."

In the hot summer, as time goes into May, even the usually cool Jiuquan has begun to become hot.

Ten days had passed since Zhang Yichao led his troops to the east to attack Fulu. During these short ten days, the remaining generals of the Shazhou Army who stayed behind also renovated the military camp.

The original earthen houses were demolished and rebuilt, and a military camp was built outside the city to accommodate more than 600 people for training.

The difference is that the militia troops in the city are directly under the Zhang family, while the three regiments outside the city belong to the Suo family, the Li family and several other small families in Shazhou.

In ten days, Liu Jilong had already figured out the personalities of the brothers in the third group, and they were growing stronger day by day under Liu Jilong's feeding.

Half a month ago, most of them were slaves of the Tibetan nobles in the city. Although not skinny, each of them had sunken cheeks.

In just half a month, their cheeks gradually became plump.

"it is good!"

Looking at his fellow brothers standing in a row in front of him, the tall Liu Jilong said with satisfaction: "Today's morning training is over. We will continue the horse kung fu training in the afternoon. Now go to bed!"

"Yes!!"

Zhang Chang and others agreed, and then ran back to a mud house at Liu Jilong's "dismiss".

The earthen house was two meters long from east to west and one meter deep, which was enough for the eleven of them to sleep well.

In addition to the eleven wooden beds in the room, there was also a pile of wooden boards that came from nowhere, and a pile of charcoal next to it.

Although the third group exercises once every two days, there is one thing they have to participate in every day, which is studying in the evening.

Under the strict control of Tubo, few Han people in Hexi could speak the pure Tang Mandarin, let alone write regular script.

Liu Jilian was well aware of the situation in Hexi. If he did not have "scholars", he would have to use people from local noble families, which he tried his best to avoid.

That is why he took the lead in teaching the third group of brothers, because he needed his own people.

As time went by, many people from other groups would come to learn, and Liu Jilong never refused anyone.

Gradually, his reputation spread. Now everyone in the army knew that the leader of the third group was a "Mr. Liu" who was both literary and martial, and could read and write.

After entering the house, Liu Jilong wanted to sit down and have a good rest, but he didn't expect that he had just sat down for a while when he heard footsteps outside the door. Then he saw a man coming to the door and asked, "Is Mr. Liu here?"

"I'm here!" Liu Jilong responded subconsciously, with a guess in his mind.

"Captain Zhang, please come over here." The soldier explained. Liu Jilong stood up and said, "Let's go."

Before walking out the door, Liu Jilong looked back at Zhang Chang and the oldest one, Ma Cheng.

"You two are sergeants. If I don't come back later, watch them train."

"Don't be lazy, or you may lose your life on the battlefield in the future because you are not skilled enough."

"Yes!" The two men bowed in response. Seeing this, Liu Jilong left with peace of mind.

On the way to Yamen, the soldier was very polite to Liu Jilong.

Judging from the way he addressed Liu Jilong, it was obvious that he was also a soldier who had come to the third group to study.

The military camp in Jiuquan City was not big, and after walking for a while, the two men arrived at the Yamen.

Yamen is the place where officers above the level of the internal and external teams of Jiuquan City hold meetings. Given Liu Jilian's position, he certainly would not come here unless there was something important.

Liu Jilong observed for a while and saw more than ten horses eating and drinking frantically.

"It looks like Fulu was taken down, but it took longer than I expected."

According to Liu Jilong's estimation, it would take Zhang Yichao eight days at most to take down Fulu, but now it has been delayed for two more days, obviously he encountered other problems.

"Mr. Liu, please come in."

The soldier made a gesture of invitation and stood where he was, obviously indicating that Liu Jilong should go in alone.

"Thank you." Liu Jilong bowed and then walked into the Yamen.

There is not much arrangement inside the Yamen, just a simple courtyard with side rooms on the left and right sides and the main house and main hall in the middle.

As soon as Liu Jilong walked in, the people in the main hall saw him, and he could see everyone at a glance.

He walked quickly forward and bowed in front of the main hall door: "Liu Jilong, the captain of the third squadron of the second brigade of the 13th regiment, greets the captain and the brigade commanders and squad leaders!"

The captain stationed in the inner city was a member of the Zhang family named Zhang Yihuan. He was about forty years old and had an ordinary appearance, but he was skilled in archery and horse riding and was able to listen to others.

These days, Liu Jilong was considered to be acquainted with him, so when he saw Liu Jilong coming, he said directly: "Captain Liu, come in and receive the order." "Yes!" Liu Jilong stood up and walked into the main hall, where he met the three captains and more than ten brigade commanders and team leaders outside Jiuquan City.

Such a scene obviously did not come just for him.

As expected, as soon as Liu Jilong entered the main hall, Zhang Yihuan spoke:

"The governor has captured Fulu and is now preparing to continue his expedition eastward to recover Ganzhou."

"I summoned you here for no other reason than to transfer you and your group to Fulu. I also need you to take the thirty sets of armor and five thousand arrows that I have made these days to Fulu."

Jiuquan’s military industrial capacity was even stronger than Liu Jilian had expected. In just ten days, it produced thirty sets of armor and five thousand arrows.

"Excuse me, Captain, when will we set out?"

"We will set out at 7:00 tomorrow. The Yamen will prepare a carriage, rations, and fresh water for you. You can take your men to the East Gate to receive them before 7:00 tomorrow."

Liu Jilong asked, Zhang Yihuan answered, and then waved his hand and said, "There is nothing else to do, you can leave."

"Yes..." Liu Jilong agreed and walked out of the gate, then quickly walked towards the earthen house.

Fortunately, he came back in time, so Zhang Chang and his team had not yet taken anyone out for training.

"Captain?"

Seeing how hurriedly Liu Jilong came back, Zhang Chang and others had a bad feeling in their hearts.

"We will set out for Fulu at noon tomorrow, and we will most likely participate in the Eastern Expedition."

"Zhang Chang, divide the remaining money among yourselves. You can all go home and have a good meal. Gather at the East Gate at noon tomorrow."

Liu Jilong's words caused the room to fall silent, and everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

At the critical moment, the experienced Ma Cheng took the initiative to speak: "Damn, after ten days of training, I finally have the opportunity to go to the battlefield."

"Go home and have a good meal with your family today, and tomorrow we will go to the east to kill the bandits together!"

As Ma Cheng started to smooth things over, the atmosphere in the room became lively.

"Finally I can get my revenge and kill the thief!"

"Kill the motherfucker!"

"Hahaha……"

Laughter and shouting echoed in the house, dispelling the uneasiness in everyone's hearts.

Zhang Chang opened a box in the house and cursed, "We just bought the meat this morning, and we have to go home to eat before we even eat it."

"Boss, we'll eat the rice and meat between the two of us, tell them to go home and eat plain rice!"

While cursing, Zhang Chang distributed the remaining money from those days.

Each person received more than 200 coins, said hello to Liu Jilong, and then carried his armor and weapons and went to a place not far from the earthen house to move his own horses.

Looking at their departing backs, Liu Jilong let out a breath, turned around and looked at the empty earthen house, wondering what to feel.

"Captain, since we have to go to war tomorrow, I should start cooking now, otherwise this piece of meat will not taste good if it is left out for too long."

I heard Zhang Chang's voice and turned around to see him holding a piece of mutton, swallowing his saliva uncontrollably.

Liu Jilong smiled and said, "Today, there are only two of us, so we won't stew the meat. Let's roast it!"

"Okay, I'll go clean it up right away!" Zhang Chang's eyes lit up, and he picked up the meat and went to deal with it.

At the same time, the other soldiers in the barracks also heard the news that the third group was about to set off, and they all came to say goodbye to Liu Jilong.

Liu Jilong also greeted them warmly and said that if he had the opportunity to stay in a city in the future, he would give lectures for free and hoped to meet them again.

Hearing this, many people couldn't help but feel sad.

In this age without movable type printing, even the common people in the heartland of the Central Plains found it difficult to access knowledge from books, let alone the Hexi region which had lost the Han language for nearly a hundred years.

I can’t say much about Liu Jilong’s free lectures these days, but at least many people know how to write their names.

For them, just the way a name is written can be considered a favor...

(End of this chapter)