Chapter Twenty-Four: Cultivation

  Inside the house, which had been abandoned for a long time, was in disrepair. The roof leaked and the walls were cracked in many places. The cold night wind blew through, but none of the three people inside could sleep. However, the room was filled with loud snores, as all three men lay awake with their eyes open.

  After a long while, Shen Yi turned over and sat up, humming, shouting: "Stop pretending, get up! Your eyeballs are fine, my eyeballs hurt, can't pretend anymore!"

  On the same bed, Wu Danzi slept on the outside. He slowly sat up and said: "In the middle of the night, what are you yelling about? You woke me up!" He stared at Shen Yi with one eye, and his hand reached under the bed, where he had hidden a stick.

  But Wu Xiaosan still "didn't wake up", snoring continuously, with his eyes closed, to indicate that you can do whatever you want, just don't drag me into it.

  Shen Yidao said, "Wu Danzi, you really want to be a soldier? Don't forget that you and I are both from a bandit background. Joining the army is just to get rid of our bandit names. Do you really think it's worth risking your life for the government?"

  Wu Danzi shook his head and said, "I didn't think of sacrificing myself for the government! But being a thief can't be done for a lifetime. If I can live an ordinary life as a commoner, get married, have children, and spend my life in peace, I don't want to be a thief anymore. Now it's rare that Li Lang is righteous and also our leader, following him to establish a career and start a family is not a difficult task. If you want to make trouble, first get past me!"

  He pulled out the stick from under the bed and glared at Shen Yi, knowing that he wanted to escape, which was something that had to be stopped. If a deserter appeared in the army, the commander would definitely be punished, and if Li Qin were to be punished, then the people below him would not be spared either. So if Shen Yi wanted to escape, it meant going against him, and they would have to fight!

  Shen Yishuang's hands clasped together, his finger joints cracking loudly, as he said: "Want to fight? One hand can kill you!"

  Wu Danzi said: "Then try it out and see if you can..." As he spoke, he wanted to jump off the bed.

  Wu Xiaosan, who was sleeping in the middle, suddenly sat up and pinned Wu Dangzi to the couch, still snoring loudly. One of his large hands also covered Wu Dangzi's mouth, not letting him make a sound or call out.

  Shen Yi jumped down from the bed, but instead of comforting Wu Xiao San, he said: "You two don't dare to escape, a pair of useless people, just wait for Li Qin to discipline you! Grandpa has no interest in accompanying you!" He glanced at the military uniform on the edge of the bed, hesitated for a moment, and then put it on and walked out of the room.

  After he went out, Wu Xiaosan finally let go of the egg and stopped snoring, saying in a low voice: "Let him go, at most he will be back in a moment!"

  "How could he be allowed to escape? If he escapes, how can he come back?"

  Wu Xiaosan snorted and said, "Shen Yi is a fool, only knowing how to act recklessly. Even if he wants to escape, he should wait until something happens before escaping. Now there's food and drink but no trouble, why not let others support him? Besides, how can he escape anyway?"

  Wu Danzi hummed in response, immediately understanding. He got up and pulled Shen Yi's quilt back, saying: "His quilt, I've enjoyed it, wait for him to come back and freeze!"

  Shen Yida took a big step out of the yard, thinking to himself: "It's still better to be my lone bandit than to be a soldier..." Suddenly, he saw a figure flash before his eyes. Before he could even see who it was, a sharp pain shot through his right ribs!

  Li Qian stabbed Shen Yi's ribs with the gun handle and said in a low voice: "At night, if you want to be convenient, settle it in the yard. Don't leave the yard. If you dare to run around again, next time I'll use the gun tip, not the gun butt! Go back!"

  Shen Yi was in so much pain that he was drenched in cold sweat, half-crouching with his body, unable to even call out. Whether it was inhaling or exhaling, both were extremely painful. The gun barrel was much thinner than the door bolt, and being stabbed once was unbearable. He seriously suspected that one of his ribs had been broken!

  Li QIN said: "I have a light hand, your ribs won't break. Go back to sleep!" He grabbed Shen Yi's collar and pushed him back into the yard.

  Stumbling and staggering, Shen Yi returned to the house, and only after closing the door did he let out a sigh, thudding onto the couch, unable to move for half a day. In his ear, Wu Xiaosan's voice whispered: "Wu, you guessed wrong, this isn't even a moment of time, it's just gone out and come back!" But Wu Xiaosan didn't respond, and snoring sounds like thunder rang out again.

  Shen Yihao took a long time to calm down, then furiously said: "You two scoundrels, you clearly knew there was an ambush outside but didn't warn me..." Before he could finish speaking, Wudanzi also started snoring and completely ignored him.

  Li QIN closed the gate, he knew that no one would escape tonight. Wu Xiaosi wouldn't dare to have any ideas after seeing Shen Yi's condition. Tonight could be worry-free. Li QIN put away his spear and went back to sleep.

  The rest of the night was uneventful, and it wasn't until the next morning that...

  Li Qin got up early and told He Shi that from now on, his family would no longer just eat two meals a day, but instead have three meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If it was late at night and he still wasn't asleep, they would even add another meal. Now with plenty of rice and meat in the house, He Shi couldn't wait for her son to eat more, so she naturally agreed.

  Li Qin called Shen Yi and the three others to wake up, and also called Xu Xiaoni, bringing them to his own courtyard, where they ate a hearty meat porridge. Shen Yi's eyes were still red and swollen, but she didn't dare to make any trouble, just like Wu Xiao San, obediently finishing her porridge, waiting for Li Qin's orders.

  At this time, Jing Qi ran from the city and told Li Qin that Tang Jie would conduct a full-scale military exercise three days later. All soldiers in Fuping had to go and participate, and they could also get familiar with their comrades-in-arms. He also told Li Qin that Tang Biao, that scoundrel, had joined the army too. Tang Jie was partial to his relatives, and actually let Tang Biao become a village head, which really made people indignant.

  Li QIN listened silently, this was the case at the end of Han Dynasty, not to mention in the military, but also in the imperial court, a person's official position was not determined by his ability, but by his family background and social status, that was how it was during that era, no one could do anything about it.

  Li Qindao said, "Don't mind how others are, as long as we work hard and become strong in the army, no one can bully us. The only thing to fear is that we ourselves don't live up to expectations."

  Everyone heard this and Xu Xiaoni and Jing Qi said in unison: "Right, we must strive for ourselves."

  Wu Danzi clenched his fists and said in a low voice: "Can't let people look down on us anymore."

  Ke Shen and Wu Xiaosan exchanged a glance, but neither of them spoke.

  Li QIN led them out of Fu Jiao Village and said, "From today on, we are a collective, sharing life and death as comrades-in-arms. We must never have any discord or undermine each other again. On the battlefield, the only ones who can protect you are your fellow soldiers!"

  He lined up the crowd and said, "Follow me, do what I do, learn from my actions; if one person makes a mistake, five people will be punished at the same time. During training, no one is allowed to speak or make a sound. For every sentence spoken, add one lash of the whip, and all five will be punished together!" He broke off a branch, tested its flexibility, and held it in his hand.

  Li Qin turned around and shouted: "Quick march - forward, left, right, left..."

  "What's going on? Finish eating and then exercise? That'll make you hungry even faster!"

  Li Qin stopped in his tracks, turned around and shouted: "Shen Yi, you spoke just now, you will be punished with one lash of the whip! All five of you, turn around, face away from me and stand up straight!"

  Jing Qi opened his mouth but didn't make a sound, while Xu Xiaoni said with grievance: "Qin Ge, do I have to be punished too?"

  Li Qindao shouted: "No one is allowed to speak, and if Xu Xiaoni speaks, he will be punished with an additional whip. The five of them will receive punishment at the same time, two whips each!" He ordered the five of them to turn around, raised his branch, and started whipping from the far right, beginning with Xu Xiaoni, without showing any mercy.

  Xu Xiaoni was so humiliated that she wanted to cry, but she didn't dare make a sound and stood there stiffly; Jing Qi's face was full of shock, he was also implicated, but he didn't dare say a word, nor did he dare complain. Wu Dangzi and Wu Xiao San looked at Shen Yi sideways together, you stupid fool, talking too much, implicating others. Shen Yi was speechless, looking up at the white clouds in the sky, thinking: "I, Shen Yi, have been a hero all my life, but today I got spanked and didn't dare say a word. Butt, butt, from yesterday on you've been suffering, I'm sorry to you!"

  After finishing, Li Qin ordered: "To the right - turn. Right, which side is right, left and right are not divided!" He picked up five stones from the ground, put one in each person's hand, and said: "Remember, the hand holding something is the right hand, turning to the right is turning to the direction of the right hand, and turning to the left is turning to the direction of the left hand." Then he walked forward again.

  The five of them didn't dare to speak again, but after walking more than ten feet away, Shen Yi couldn't bear it anymore. "What's the point of practicing walking? Who can't walk?" He said with a snort, showing his disdain!

  Li QIN shouted: "Halt! Halt means stop in your tracks!" He turned around and bellowed: "Who was it that snickered just now? Who made a sound?"

  Although they only walked a dozen or so yards, the collective gaze of the four people in the team quickly cultivated and turned to Shen Yi, who was very obedient and didn't make a sound.

  Shen Yi felt extremely indignant and shouted: "Can't even let out a fart?"

  Li Qindao shouted: "Add one more stroke of flogging!"

  "Are you still going to be reasonable!" Shen Yi shouted loudly with a hoarse voice.

  "Add another stroke of flogging, making it three strokes in total!"

  The other four were all angry, Shen Yi was causing trouble, they would have to follow and be punished! The four of them shouted in unison: "Shut up, you bastard!"

  Li Qin's face was expressionless as he said, "Four strokes, plus four additional strokes as a penalty, for a total of seven strokes!"

  Seeing the four people's angry expressions, Shen Yi suddenly laughed and said: "Good, you're also afraid of Grandpa me!"

  "Eight whips!"

  "It's good that you know and fear it!"

  "Nine lashes!"

  Among the four people's stunned expressions, Shen Yi said with a pleased smile: "Then let's just make it a whole!" He even became more arrogant.

  "Ten lashes!"

  The numbers have been made up, and this time no one dares to make a sound! Li Qin said: "Turn back - turn around. Later, which is later, left and right are not distinguished, front and back are not distinguished!" He stood behind the five people, slapping and whipping, each person ten times, without leaving any face.

  Five people stood upright, no one dared to make a sound again. Even Shen Yi was no longer proud under the painful beating.

  Li QIN was drilling his men here, and many villagers gathered around. Seeing Li QIN whipping five people, they all discussed it in a flurry. Xu Lao NI stood in the crowd, seeing his son being beaten, his heart ached terribly, but he comforted himself that if his son could become someone like Li DA's nephew, then enduring some beating was worth it!

  Li QIN said after they finished, "Backward - turn. I'll demonstrate the basic movements once, you remember them in your hearts, so as not to make mistakes again." After that, he demonstrated the basic movements of several teams.

  The five soldiers couldn't help but all touch their buttocks, thinking in their hearts: "If you had done it for us to see earlier, we wouldn't have made mistakes!"

  Actually, Li Qin was also forcing himself, he never thought that these five soldiers were not stupid, but when they started training, they couldn't even tell the difference between front and back, left and right.

  He really didn't expect this!

  ——

  When I encounter disobedient soldiers, it really gives me a headache! Ping An represents Xiao Qin Qin, seeking support from brothers and sisters. If everyone can collect and vote, Xiao Qin Qin will train the soldiers even better. Thank you for collecting votes, thank you!