The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 324 A New Track for Grain Collection

Guazhou Guard.

This day.

A group of border soldiers who were digging dugouts saw more than 250 young men returning from the desert with their heads hanging low.

If there's something good happening or someone has a family connection, they'll rush forward and aggressively gather around to watch.

"Oh my! Isn't this Gou Dan? Your third uncle always praises you as a little rascal, how come you've been eliminated so quickly? What did you fail this time?"

The boy at the front, nicknamed Gou Dan, wiped the dirt off his face and said dejectedly, "I didn't hide well!"

Everyone was confused: "Huh?"

The other kid next to Dog Egg explained, "Our mission this round is to stay hidden, that is, to hide and not be found."

"What's so difficult about that? You're not that big, you can just hide anywhere, how could anyone find you so easily?"

The veterans' usual training includes concealment and hiding, which isn't considered difficult.

Dog Egg's face was dark, and his expression was like that of a stray dog.

“It’s easy for you to say! General Gan has two golden eagles with excellent eyesight! They can spot any movement in the sand with ease! Many of them have dug pits a person deep in the sand and are even carrying dry grass roots on their heads!”

However, because he didn't pay attention to his surroundings, a small patch of grass roots that appeared out of nowhere in a sandy area gave away his hiding place.

They really should learn a lesson, especially regarding footprints.

On the way back, the group of young men shared their experiences of being exposed.

They then realized that their supposed cleverness was actually full of flaws in the eyes of the instructors.

All I could think was, if I didn't get elected this year, I can just try again next year.

Unexpectedly, one of the meddlesome soldiers had already let out a strange cry:

"Oh! You guys are so careless. Do you know what a great opportunity you missed?"

The teenagers looked up, bewildered: "What good opportunity?"

The other party continued gloating:
"According to reliable sources, the Kansai Vanguard Battalion will no longer be replenished! From now on, before each battle, there will be skills competitions in all the garrisons, and only the most skilled soldiers will be taken to the battlefield."

This time, General Gan is actually selecting his personal guards! One hundred spots for personal guards! You don't need to wait until you're adults to enlist; if you're selected this time, you might even get your monthly pay this month!

These words struck the eliminated boys like a thunderbolt.

Is the vanguard battalion not being replenished?

a bolt from the blue!

General Gan's personal guards?

Another loud thunderclap!
Having witnessed some of General Gan's abilities firsthand, they never dreamed that they would be included in the list of candidates for personal guards.

This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
However, they did not make the most of this ladder to heaven.

Immediately, more than a hundred boys had red eyes and tears streaming down their faces.

His heartbroken appearance drew a lot of murmurs from the veterans.

After two rounds, nearly four hundred people have been eliminated.

In fact, the ancient commander and others were quite surprised by the tenacity of these teenagers.

He sighed:
"In the first round, they were made to walk a hundred miles in the desert in three days while carrying heavy loads. It was really not an easy task. At least Ang did not have this ability before he was sixteen years old."

Gan Minglan first nodded, then shook her head:
"It is indeed difficult for ordinary people, but because they have been on the road for the past two months, their bodies have been exercised and walking has become an instinct, so 80% of them can easily pass the first hurdle."

Kids this age still have a lot of physical potential.

There is nothing we can do.

Military training has always focused primarily on physical fitness.

When these reserve guards are too old and physically fit to fight the enemy on the battlefield, running away and hiding are very important.

"General, what will be tested next?"

"Of course, we should let them experience firsthand what it means to be a soldier under strict orders! Let's try to leave only 300 people in this round."

"Yes!"

Commander Gu: He really loves doing the work of messing around with these half-grown boys.

The selection of personal guards is still underway.

The incense at the neighboring Xianyan Temple in Dunhuang has recently become more abundant because of the fate of these teenagers.

The military families burned incense, hoping that Buddha would bless their descendants and change their fate. Meanwhile, within a year and a half, the number of monks in the major temples of Bei State increased more than tenfold.

The people were surprised to discover this.

When officials, clans, and landlords were killed by refugees, or even when the Tatars raided and massacred the city, they intentionally or unintentionally avoided temples.

They even needed the help of monks from local temples to clean up the battlefield, cremate the bodies, and perform rituals for the deceased.

In chaotic times, becoming a monk or nun is a good option for survival.

Temples have their own temple land and do not have to pay land taxes to the government.

It's practically a refuge paradise.

However, recently, even the refuge paradise has been plagued by major problems.

The story begins with the order from the Regent King to collect grain, which the Jingjun received.

After leaving Shangdu, the leader of the Jingjun army discovered that this year's grain requisition task was exceptionally difficult to carry out.

Those unruly people were not only unruly but also exceptionally cunning.

Every village we visited.

The traces of the rice stubble were dug up and covered up by flooding.

As a result, they had no way of knowing how many bushels of grain these fields would yield this year.

You mean, a direct home search?
The whole village was deserted; if you went to any house, you could dig three feet into the ground and still not find any grain.

The rat holes were all empty.

If the village is like this, then so be it.

Over the next two weeks, Jingjun searched no fewer than fifty villages, but ultimately found nothing.

How to do?
If they fail to complete their mission, will they even survive back in Shangdu?
They couldn't bear the blame of starving the young emperor to death!

Just when Jingjun was about to reach a dead end, he passed by a famous temple in the area.

Coincidentally.

The sounds of morning and evening drums echoed from the famous temple.

"Knock knock. Knock knock knock."

The drumbeats were deep and resonant.

One of the Jingjun had a sudden inspiration and asked his leader, "Why is it that those bald monks, who spend all their time chanting sutras and reciting Buddhist scriptures, are exempt from all chores and taxes?"

Yes!

This famous temple, with over a thousand monks, is said to have seven or eight thousand acres of temple land.

Driven by evil thoughts, this group of "purification soldiers" set their sights on the temples.

The reason for becoming a monk was to escape the chaos of war.

Now, war has come knocking.

The commander of the Imperial Guards ordered the monks to be tied up and thrown at the entrance of the temple, and then their muskets were loaded with ammunition.

Ask the abbot of the temple:

"Aren't you monks supposed to be most compassionate? Now, we're asking you to use all the money and food in the temple to save the monks' lives. Would you do it?"

Abbot: "."

Does he have a second option?

To the surprise of the leader of the Jing army.

Temples, especially famous ones.

The donations from the followers of aristocratic families or wealthy merchants were incredibly generous.

This is a business with no initial investment.

The more famous a temple is, the more believers it attracts, not to mention the money it receives in incense offerings.

Some landlords even registered their land under the names of temples to avoid taxes.

The temple gradually transformed into a super-rich landowner.

They really have food!
The quantity is enormous!
(End of this chapter)