Chapter One: Perplexity

  The old man didn't object to Huang Yan and the others following, but he never managed them himself, instead letting Gao Huaiyuan take care of it. As for how Gao Huaiyuan disciplined them, that was his own business.

  Seeing the old man's demeanor of being a recluse, the few young men didn't dare to be presumptuous. They could only follow Gao Huaiyuan's requirements and learn martial arts with him. Gao Huaiyuan saw that they were willing to learn, but he only required them not to speak about this matter outside. Otherwise, in the future, don't think about following him again. The few young men all agreed.

  Afterwards, Gao Huaiyuan took out the training method that Lao Tou had used on him and told them to go back and prepare a set of similar equipment for themselves, but only fill it with sand, and adjust the weight according to what they could bear. As a result, in just a few days, this group of young men was trained until only Huang Yan and a youth named Zhou Huan were left. The rest couldn't take the torture and one by one stopped coming to train early in the morning. They didn't come, but Gao Huaiyuan didn't force them either, it all depended on their own decision.

  As for Huang Yan's performance, Gao Huaiyuan was still quite surprised. He had thought that as a rich family's son, he would not be able to withstand the hardship and would run away in just a few days. But unexpectedly, although Huang Yan looked smooth-talking and complained incessantly every day, he actually persisted in the end. This shows that Huang Yan's character is quite resilient after all. With some training, he shouldn't be too bad.

  This Zhou Hao's family was relatively poor, and he rarely spoke. His family couldn't afford to send him to school, and no one disciplined him, so he had nothing better to do than hang out on the streets, becoming a subordinate of Huang Yan. However, his personality belonged to that of a hardworking young man who never complained about hardship. He was deeply respectful of Gao Huaiyuan, and whatever task Gao assigned to him, he would diligently complete it. Now, he had become one of Gao's most loyal supporters.

  The old man saw that only these two people were left, so he no longer ignored them, but instead taught each of them something different.

  Huang Yan has an outgoing personality, so the old man taught him a set of shooting techniques, and he started practicing with guns in addition to his regular training. Zhou Huan has a calm personality and is also quite strong, so the old man taught him a set of knife techniques, and he practiced with knives.

  Gao Huaiyuan was not taught anything, and he was still making a fool of himself, which made Gao Huaiyuan very unhappy. He was better than the two of them in every way, they could learn gunplay and swordplay, but he couldn't, so he went to complain to the old man.

  "You are different from them, they don't have your kind of quality, and in the end, they won't achieve greatness. That's why I let them learn some gunplay and swordplay, but you can't learn it. If I teach you now, it will only restrict your development. True skill is not about a few moves, but being able to make anything you pick up into a natural weapon. No technique surpasses having technique, you'd best understand this principle. Only when you reach this level can you achieve greatness." The old man took Gao Huaiyuan aside and explained this to him alone.

  After hearing the old man say this, Gao Huaiyuan also became honest and no longer asked to learn any knife skills. He continued to accept the old man's individual guidance, holding a stick and beating him until he was fleeing everywhere in the forest.

  It's true, this kind of training is quite effective. At first, every time the old man made a move, he could hit Gao Huaiyuan, but after a period of training, Gao Huaiyuan was no longer so inexperienced and could even dodge one or two moves out of ten. Moreover, wearing this outfit, with the support of the old man's Qigong method, his footsteps became lighter and more agile.

  In this way, Gao Huaiyuan finally understood the old man's good intentions and began to practice even harder.

  Apart from teaching Gao Huaiyuan martial arts, the old man also often taught him about deploying troops and arranging battle formations. Gao Huaiyuan was very interested in this way of fighting with cold weapons during that era, so he remembered many of the formations the old man had taught him, feeling greatly benefited. Seeing his interest, the old man even gave him some military books and strategies to read, treating him like a general being groomed. Although Gao Huaiyuan was unclear why the old man was doing this, he pretended not to know and just listened and remembered. After all, these things might come in handy someday, and if it really came down to it during chaotic times, he could always rise up and fight against the Mongolian army. For some reason, Gao Huaiyuan had never thought about surrendering to the Mongolian army.

  At night when he had nothing to do, Gao Huaiyuan thought of this matter and turned it over in his mind repeatedly. In the end, he came to a conclusion that the main reason why he never thought of surrendering to the Mongols as a subject was due to the Yuan Dynasty's policy towards Han people. The Mongols divided people into four classes: first-class were Mongolians, second-class were Semu people, third-class were Northern Han people, and fourth-class were Southerners. As a Southern Han person, he couldn't even be considered as a Han person. If the Mongols killed a Han person, they only needed to compensate with a donkey's head and it would be fine. He had no interest in going under the Mongols to live a life that was not even worth a donkey's. Therefore, if the Mongols really came to attack, he would absolutely not surrender to them!

  When those old men handed over the military books to him, Gao Huaiyuan encountered a problem. These ancient books were all written in traditional characters and were all in classical Chinese. Many of the words he didn't recognize at all, and it looked like they were going to be very difficult to understand. After thinking about it for half a day, he finally decided to talk to Gao Jian and see if he could find someone to teach him how to read. The requirements weren't high, as long as he could recognize the words and understand these military books and strategies.

  When he was free, Gao Huaiyuan also went to see a young brother named Zhao Yuju. After inquiring, it turned out that this Zhao Yuju was indeed a relative, but a distant one. According to Zhao Yuju himself, he was the tenth generation grandson of Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, and his ancestor was Zhao Dezhuo, which means he was a collateral branch of the Zhao family. From his great-grandfather and grandfather onwards, there were no longer any noble titles, and by the time of his father's generation, he was only a ninth-rank county lieutenant, who died early. As a result, by his generation, they had long since fallen to the status of ordinary people. His mother, Quan Shi, brought him and his younger brother to live in Shaoxing Prefecture, returning to her maiden home to rely on her relatives for support, and their life was quite difficult.

  Gao Huaiyuan knew a bit about history, but he wasn't a professional in this field, so he didn't know too many details. After listening to Zhao Yu's words, he thought it made sense. He was familiar with the story of "Candle Shadow Axe Sound". Since Zhao Kuangyin died under unclear circumstances and Zhao Guangyi took over the throne, it was natural that the descendants of Zhao Kuangyin wouldn't have an easy life. As a descendant of Zhao Kuangyin, ending up in this situation wasn't unusual.

  Zhao and Que were very grateful to Gao Huaiyuan for his help in the previous incident, so every time they saw him, they would call out "Big Brother" repeatedly, making Gao Huaiyuan feel quite close to them. As a result, he would occasionally teach them some martial arts moves, so that Zhao and Que wouldn't be bullied by other kids in the future, and thus earned their respect.

  Huang Yan and his gang, seeing that Gao Huaiyuan and Zhao Yujue's relationship was not bad, all sincerely went to Zhao Yujue's house to apologize. A few of these guys with good family backgrounds would occasionally steal some food and clothing from their homes and send them to Zhao Yujue's house to help out the Zhao Yujue family, which can be considered as currying favor with Gao Huaiyuan in a roundabout way.

  Zhao Yu and Ju were not foolish, they knew that the favors they received were all due to Gao Huaiyuan's relationship. Even his mother, Quan Shi, would often praise Gao Huaiyuan and ask Zhao Yu and Ju to invite him over to play, so back and forth, Gao Huaiyuan became a frequent guest at Zhao Yu and Ju's home. In fact, it was only at Zhao Yu and Ju's home that he could truly feel the warmth of family.

  As time went on, everyone knew about Gao Huaiyuan's situation. They knew that although he was one of the three young masters of the Gao family, due to his birth and being foolish in his childhood, his status in the Gao family was not well-respected. However, as people got familiar with him, they didn't look down on him because of this. In their eyes, Gao Huaiyuan was a straightforward person who valued loyalty. What surprised them even more was that he knew many strange and unusual things that they couldn't even imagine.

  From Gao Huaiyuan, they heard that the land under their feet was actually a sphere, most of which was water and only a small part was land. The Great Song was on the largest piece of land on this sphere, and there were many places that had not been discovered yet. They heard many things like this from Gao Huaiyuan, each of which they found very novel and unbelievable.

  Moreover, Gao Huaiyuan understood many things, and many things could be reasonably explained to him, which made these younger brothers even more admiring.

  Gao Huaiyuan also told them many things about the Mongolian army, Genghis Khan's affairs, and the cruelty of the Mongolian army, which made everyone a little afraid. Only Huang Yanman said carelessly: "What are they worth being afraid of? If the Mongols really come, I'll shoot one with one gun, stab them to death! At worst, I'll join the army in the future, become a general, lead troops to drive the Mongolian army back, and see if they dare to provoke us Han people again!"

  The others also got angry and chimed in, saying that they would fight the Mongols if necessary. With so many Han people, what can a small group of Mongols do?

  Gao Huairen smiled and didn't take their bait. These guys were saying this mainly because they didn't know the ferocity of the Mongols, and besides, the composition of the Mongol army was complex, with all sorts of ethnic groups present in the later stages, and their numbers weren't necessarily less than those of the Song army. Moreover, being a general in the Great Song dynasty wasn't easy, as they had to constantly endure interference from ignorant civil officials. Wanting to resist the mighty Mongol army would be no easy feat!

  Thinking about the future of the Great Song, Gao Huaiyuan felt depressed. He really didn't think much of the current state of the Great Song, where everyone was living in a daze. Living in this era could only be said to be their misfortune. Could it just go on like this? Gao Huaiyuan always felt somewhat resentful.