All the gods began by cultivating the Iron Shirt technique.

Diligence leads to mastery, while idleness leads to chaos.

In the blink of an eye, two months had passed since Yang Pan officially began practicing Iron Shirt. During these two months, Yang Pan practiced Iron Shirt while looking for new work. After all, martial arts training is quite expensive; he needed to use two bottles of ointment every month alone. In these two months, the tuition fees for the martial arts school plus the ointment alone had cost Yang Pan twelve taels of silver.

Therefore, he had to live a frugal life again, but even so, he eventually had less than five taels of silver left. If he didn't find a job soon, he would run out of money and eventually starve to death.

However, Tongjiang County is now like the night before a storm, with chaos already emerging.

"Please, sir, have mercy and give me some food."

"Sir, look! This is my child. He's ten years old and can do laundry and cook. Please, please take one of them home."

......

As Yang Pan walked towards the martial arts school, listening to the begging and pleading sounds coming from both sides of the street, his heart was heavy.

Two months ago, he could still see street vendors on the streets, but now, in just two short months, not only have the street vendors disappeared, but there have even been cases of people selling their children.

Indeed, only by truly experiencing this chaotic world can one understand the suffering of the common people and appreciate how hard-won peace is. Even before the chaos has begun, some are already selling their children; what a hell it will be once war breaks out!

However, Yang Pan did not stop, nor did he provide financial assistance to these people. In the end, he was just an ordinary person trying to survive in this world. He believed that if one is successful, one should help others, but now Yang Pan was so poor that he could hardly even be kind to himself.

I quickly left and entered the martial arts hall, which was unusually deserted today. Usually, there would be two or three disciples practicing their skills, but now there was only one person there.

"Senior Brother Shi, did the others not come?"

Walking to the nearby wooden post, Yang Pan skillfully took off his clothes and began to rub his skin. In two months, not only did his skin-rubbing progress greatly improve, but his relationship with Shi Yingfeng also became much closer, to the point that they could at least be called friends.

"The Qin family recruited guards today, and they've all gone. Junior Brother Yang, aren't you going?"

"Recruiting guards?" Yang Pan paused. He had been running around the county for the past two months, but he hadn't heard anything about recruiting guards. As for the Qin family, he did know about them.

There were three powerful families in Tongjiang County: the Qin family, the Xu family, and the Liu family. These three families were all long-established merchants, controlling virtually all of the county's industries, from clothing and food to housing and transportation. However, a few months ago, sensing the unfavorable situation, the Liu family sold off their assets at a low price and left Tongjiang County. The Qin and Xu families then took over the Liu family's businesses and continued to operate them.

To be honest, Yang Pan doesn't know what these two companies were thinking, daring to accept industries in this situation.

However, I heard last month that the Qin family was originally planning to leave, but for some reason they didn't end up leaving.

Unexpectedly, the Qin family is now recruiting guards. It seems they feel the situation is chaotic and want to increase their guards.

Thinking of this, Yang Pan dressed and prepared to head over. Finding work in this situation was difficult, especially since Yang Pan was almost out of money. Since the Qin family was recruiting guards, he had to try his luck. If he was selected, it would solve his current crisis.

"Junior brother, wait!" Just as Yang Pan was about to leave, Shi Yingfeng called out to him.

Yang Pan turned around and looked at Shi Yingfeng.

Shi Yingfeng took out a wooden identity tag from the clothes placed next to him. The tag had the character "Qin" carved on it.

"Senior brother, what's this?" Yang Pan took the identity token, his eyes filled with doubt.

"This is the Qin family guard's identity token. Junior brother, you don't need to participate in the assessment. With this token, you are now a Qin family guard," Shi Yingfeng said while smoothing the skin.

"Qin family guards..." Yang Pan gripped his identity token tightly in his palm. For the past two months, he had been struggling to make a living, running all over the county but failing to find a job. Unexpectedly, he found one at the martial arts school.

"Thank you very much, Senior Brother Shi." Yang Pan clasped his hands in a fist and bowed, his tone sincere. Offering help in times of need is always the most heartwarming, and Yang Pan would remember this kindness.

Having obtained the guard's identification token, Yang Pan didn't bother with the job application anymore. Instead, he chatted with Shi Yingfeng while polishing his skin, and during the conversation, he learned about the origin of the identification token.

Within two months, Yang Pan naturally knew that Shi Yingfeng was also a guard in the Qin family. However, at that time, the Qin family had not hired any people, and Shi Yingfeng was not a particularly important figure, so he could not be of much help to Yang Pan.

The Qin family is now recruiting people on a large scale. Shi Yingfeng was originally a guard of the Qin family. As a guard of the Qin family, each person has a recommendation quota. The recommendation quota given to Yang Pan is Shi Yingfeng's.

However, this identity token wasn't particularly valuable. In the current situation, both families remaining in the county had begun recruiting large numbers of bodyguards, whose duty was to protect the members of their respective families. Martial arts disciples like Yang Pan, who were skilled in martial arts and physically strong, were naturally easy to hire.

The identity token that Shi Yingfeng gave him was only to save him the trouble of making a trip, but even so, Yang Pan still remembered this kindness.

The two continued their training in the martial arts school until past noon. They quickly ate something to fill their stomachs, and the other four people in the school returned near the end of the afternoon.

As expected, these individuals were successfully hired, and from then on, all the remaining disciples of the Iron River Martial Arts School joined the Qin family.

……

The next morning, Yang Pan drank a bowl of thin porridge and hurriedly went to West Street.

West Street is where the Qin family is located. Having received his identity token yesterday, he is now a Qin family guard and naturally has to report here. Moreover, a guard is essentially a bodyguard, and should theoretically spend most of his time inside the Qin family to protect his employer. It's a mystery how Shi Yingfeng has so much time to go to the martial arts school to practice martial arts.

Lost in thought, Yang Pan walked through several streets and arrived at the Qin family's residence. This was the center of the entire county, usually bustling with restaurants and shops, and the county government office was only two streets away. Yang Pan rarely set foot here, after all, he didn't have the extra money to spend here.

However, the place is much quieter now, but there are still two guards protecting the Qin family mansion.

After briefly showing his identification card, Yang Pan was led into the mansion by one of the guards.

The Qin family truly lives up to its reputation as a prominent family in the county. Their entire residence covers a vast area, complete with artificial hills and flowing water, as well as numerous gardens and pavilions.

Although Yang Pan's entry into this place was not like Grandma Liu visiting the Grand View Garden, it was still the first time he had actually seen the residence of an ancient noble family since his time travel, and he couldn't help but feel a bit curious.

After many twists and turns, the guards finally led us to a courtyard. This place was much more spacious, with a row of residences along the wall and a wide-open training ground paved with bluestone slabs.

The entire training ground was now filled with young men dressed in uniform cyan outfits, all of them physically strong. Yang Pan glanced around and spotted several familiar faces among them.

Without needing any guards to lead him, he walked towards the group of people.

"Senior Brother Shi, you've arrived."

These people were disciples of the martial arts school. The disciples were very familiar with each other, so they gathered together. However, Shi Yingfeng had long been a guard of the Qin family and was considered an old man here, so he knew quite a few people.

After exchanging a few brief pleasantries with Yang Pan, Shi Yingfeng bid farewell to the group. Looking at the crowded scene, Yang Pan felt a mix of emotions. Who could have imagined that just three months ago he was working as a waiter at an inn, and now he was a guard in the Qin family?

Life's encounters are truly unpredictable...

Letting his mind wander, Yang Pan looked at the almost chaotic crowd before him and couldn't help but recall that the Song Dynasty also had a limit on the number of people that families could recruit. However, the number of guards recruited by the Qin family was clearly exceeding that limit, and the county government, which was just two streets away, did nothing about it. This undoubtedly showed that the situation was becoming increasingly serious, and perhaps the Mongols would attack soon.