Chapter Fifteen: A New Beginning (Seeking Recommendations and Bookmarks)

  That evening, two tables of wine were set up in the second courtyard of Zhao's house. Chen Xin's close friends all came to attend, including Tan Shunlin, the head of Erdao Street. He knew that Chen Xin was not what he used to be and came to bear witness, which would also help to bring them closer together. Since Chen Xin had no elders in Tianjin, Mrs. Zhao still had some doubts, but now that the head of Erdao Street had come, she completely put her mind at ease. Zhao Xiang only came out to greet everyone and then returned to her boudoir. During the banquet, of course, no one dared to mention that Xiao Jia Hua, so the host and guests were all delighted, and it was as if the marriage had been settled.

  Chen Xin was slightly drunk, and before the curfew, he bid farewell to everyone with Zhu Guobin. They first sent the drunken Old Cai and his son back to Liyi Alley, then returned to Erdao Street. As soon as they arrived home, the evening drum at Zhonggu Tower struck, Chen Xin suddenly remembered that he had promised Zhao Xiang to talk tonight, but forgot about the curfew. Since he had already made a promise, he couldn't break it, so he decided to go anyway. Chen Xin looked around the courtyard and saw that everyone was there because of the engagement banquet.

  "Seadog, come with me." Chen Xin still called him that, Zhu Guobin had been a regular subordinate since he took over from Dai Zhenggang, it wasn't good to bring him along to see his own private matters.

  The puppy didn't ask where they were going, and followed Chen Xin out the door. The two of them first went to the Erdao Street pharmacy, opened the door, and casually bought a package of medicine for treating wind and cold. If they were caught by the night patrol, they would say they came out to buy medicine, and generally would be let off. Then they headed north out of Jingdong Alley, and at the entrance of the alley, the watchman on duty today happened to be Zhou Shifang, who saw the two of them going out and came over to say: "Brother Chen, you're still going out now, aren't you afraid of the cold?"

  Chen Xin saw him roasting by the fire, and remembered that he was also going to Weihai with him. He asked about Zhou Shifa's family situation. Zhou Shifa was a spendthrift who never saved money. Over 20 years old, he still hadn't gotten married. His mother had passed away last month, leaving only a younger brother who had already started his own family. So he decided to follow Chen Xin to Weihai.

  Chen Xin thought to himself that he would arrange for him to be by his side as a guard, this person had mixed with the Ming army before, don't bring those bad habits into the team, first bring him along and temper him for a while.

  "Thank you, Brother Chen. I will definitely work hard. From now on, whoever Brother Chen tells me to beat up, I'll beat up; whoever he tells me to kill, I'll kill." Zhou Shifa rubbed his hands together excitedly.

  Chen Xinyi smiled and said in a low voice: "Shifei, have you ever killed anyone?"

  Zhou Shifa nodded: "This time in Shanhai Pass, beheaded several deserters."

  Chen Xin listened to his tone, calm and composed, apparently with a good heart. After encouraging him for a few words, Zhou Shifang opened the door of the workshop for them, and Chen Xin took Haigouzi out onto the big street outside.

  Fortunately, they came out of the north side of Fangkou, not far from Wenmiao. The two of them walked cautiously, avoiding a patrolman and slipping into an alley behind a shop selling grain. It had been snowing recently, with dark clouds in the sky, and at night there was no light at all. On the main street, the white color of the accumulated snow could still be distinguished, but once they entered the alley, it was truly pitch black.

  The sea dog took out the lighter and wanted to light it, but Chen Xin stopped him and said: "Don't light it, this dark place is easy to spot from a distance." The sea dog had no choice but to put it back in his pocket. The two of them felt their way along the wall, guessing that they had reached the third section. They took out their gloves and carefully searched the wall for any small holes.

  After fumbling for a long time with numb hands, Chen Xin finally saw a faint light ahead and reached out to touch it, and indeed found a thread.

  "Mom, I finally found it." Chen Xin put his eyes to the hole and took a look, still a wooden board, it seems that he was impatient, Chen Xin first pulled out some thread, put his hand in his pocket to warm up, then slowly threaded the thread from the small hole at the bottom of the paper tube.

  "Hello, hello." Chen Xin called out twice into the paper tube, but there was no response.

  "Dog, pat the wall. Lightly, pat it over there."

  The puppy patted a few times, and the wooden board inside was moved away. A pair of big eyes peered out from the hole, still talking, but the hole was too small, and the wall was too thick. Chen Xin pressed his ear against the hole but couldn't hear clearly. He had no choice but to pull the rope a few times, and finally felt that the other side also pulled the rope twice. Chen Xin spoke into the paper tube again, then put his ear up to the paper tube.

  "Huh, there really is a voice inside." A voice came from inside the paper tube, it was Chrysanthemum fragrance.

  Chen Xin said to the paper tube: "Pull the line straight."

  A moment later, a clear voice came from inside, "Pull it straight."

  "I heard."

  "Ah, so clear! Little fellow, what have you done over there? How can there be sound inside the paper tube?"

  Chen Xinde proudly said: "I am the greatest physicist of this era, I invented the world's first telephone."

  A voice came from inside the paper tube: "You little rascal, you're so clever and resourceful, even a paper tube can be blown into something like this. What's a telephone? Is it for use by the Electric Mother Goddess?"

  Chen Xin turned his head and said to Haigouzi: "Haigouzi, go guard the alley entrance, wait for me to come out."

  "Ah!" Chen Xin could imagine Haidaozi's silly smile just by hearing his voice in the darkness.

  After Haigouz walked away, Chen Xin continued: "You don't understand, Leigong's words are like thunder, and Dianmu can hear them even without a paper tube."

  "Who let you yell like this? I'm not your wife now."

  "It's all settled, our names are already written on the Three Lives Stone, can you still escape?"

  "Little one, aren't you cold?"

  "As long as you're with me, it won't be cold."

  Inside the paper tube, there was a brief silence, and then Zhao Xiang's voice came faintly: "You have to treat me well from now on, I really like you, I think about you every day."

  A long-forgotten feeling swept over Chen Xin's heart, as if it was the sensation of his first love many years ago. He had many reasons for finding Zhao Xiang, but he still liked this little girl very much.

  "Little girl, I'll be good to you."

  Chen Xin said softly, then both of them fell silent, quietly listening to the faint sound of breathing in the receiver, savoring the strange silence. The snowflakes in the sky began to fall again, gently landing on Chen Xin's body, slowly piling up on his shoulders...

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  "Fall in."

  Zhu Guobin held the name list, standing at the side of the boat, still the original simple dock, there were not a few such docks nearby, every year some grain from the south was transported to Tianjin by covered ocean ships, all in the style of Fuzhou ships, so there were some such docks nearby.

  Chen Xin stood on a box, making sure everyone could see him. In front of him were five teams of porters, all standing upright with their heads held high, their hair tied up in a knot with a net scarf. Everyone had trimmed their hair and changed into new quilted jackets, all in a uniform blue color. The Ming army's quilted jackets were reversible, with the inside being blue and the outside red. New recruits usually wore the blue side out to distinguish themselves from veteran soldiers. Besides, it was not so eye-catching in Tianjin.

  During this time, Zhu Guobin and others had some training, these porters already had some semblance of order, while the group of people led by Dai Zhenggang from Yanggu were much worse off, standing crookedly to the east and west, foolishly staring at the formation on this side.

  Liu Minyou had already boarded the ship and, after checking the bedding and food with Zhang Dahuai, also came to the deck to watch the commotion. Liu Minyou looked at Chen Xin's back in the front row of the procession and knew that this old friend was still advancing on the road to contention for hegemony. He couldn't listen to himself; he had his own pursuits. When they were studying, Chen Xin was a person with very firm willpower, not someone who could be changed by others.

  But he kept doing this, when could he live a peaceful life? Liu Minyou subconsciously looked in the direction of Tianjin, touching the pair of gloves in his pocket. They were made from leftover fabric scraps sewn together by Shen Li, who had secretly handed them to him when they said goodbye at the store today. He didn't know how long she spent making them, and Liu Minyou sighed inwardly.

  Zhu Guobin stood beside Chen Xin, listened to Chen Xin's whispering for a while, then came to the front of that group of people in Yanggu and said loudly: "Now reorganize, each small team has 12 people, the original personnel of each small team remains unchanged, those who were called out from Yanggu come out."

  Dai Zheng Gang hurriedly let them stand up straight, as more than half of the people from Yanggu were complete peasants. They had been busy cleaning their personal hygiene for two days and had never received any training before. The Zhangjiawan porters had learned a lot on the way to Tianjin, so they looked like heaven and earth compared to these people.

  Huang Yuan, Jiang Zhen.

  "Here." Huang Yuan and the other person stood up.

  Zhu Guobin pointed at the first team and said: "Add to the end of the queue."

  Two people stood at the end of the team, shrinking in fear. The Zhangjiawan porters around them turned their heads to look at them. Chen Xin looked at them lightly, and a small matter had already caused a stir in the team. After all, they hadn't undergone rigorous training in discipline yet, and it was already quite good that they were like this now.

  Here is the translation:

  After filling up five small teams, this was Chen Xin's planned war formation, a total of five Mandarin duck array teams. Chen Xin coughed and began to speak: "I am Wei Haiwei hundred households Chen Xin, remember your teammates from now on, eating, sleeping, everything will be together. On the ship, you may be arranged to do things at any time, you have to find a way to complete them yourself, if not completed, the whole team will be punished. Your five teams are a battalion, I am the battalion commander, this is Zhu Guobin, the training officer, responsible for your daily training, and he also leads a small team. Lu Chuanzong and Dai Zhenggang are deputy commanders of the battalion, each leading two small teams. Other disciplines will be announced by Zhu Guobin later. Board the ship now."

  A buzz of whispers ran through the ranks, everyone looking around in concern, many people worried about what this punishment was, as cutting off ears and noses, or even beheading were not uncommon in the Ming army. Little did they know that Chen's disciplinary regulations had not been finalized yet, and he was still busy translating the new book of laws every day.

  Chen Xin didn't explain, standing at the edge of the plank, every soldier passing by his side, Chen Xin gave him a silver ingot and encouraged: "This month's salary, do well." Each porter knelt down and kowtowed.

  Chen Xinyi helped Zhou Shao'er carry the iron pot all the way to Tianjin, and required Zhu Guobin to lead Deng Zheng and others to help those who were weak. Discipline was important, but not everything. He admired the Prussian army during the Franco-Prussian War, which cultivated camaraderie among soldiers from the beginning. Fortunately, the three team leaders had all experienced hardship and had never been in leadership positions before, so they listened and helped those who were weak. People are not stupid; whoever treats them well will be treated well in return. The porters from Zhangjiawan were all very respectful to Chen Xinyi and others, feeling fortunate to have met a good boss.

  Every day, I can eat my fill, after arriving in Tianjin, I took a bath and put on brand new clothes, everyone looks refreshed, now I've also received silver, all of this is not fake, earlier the people who were worried about being punished have also put down their worries.

  After the five teams of soldiers went up, it was said that there were ten households in one village, but actually only five households with more than a dozen people. The leader was a man named Tang Zuoxiang, who looked like an honest farmer. They were all Tianjin's military craftsmen and really couldn't make ends meet. Deng Ke Mountain went to talk to them and they agreed, and were eager to leave because if they didn't go, there would be no silver to receive.

  Chen Xin gave silver to each person before boarding the ship to calm their nerves and avoid any trouble on the sea. After the craftsmen went up, there were eleven people left from Yanggu, who were all simple farmers. Chen Xin temporarily organized them into a team and planned to have them do some logistical work first.

  After all the family members boarded, there were more than 100 people on the ship. The Zhu Yin boat could still hold them, but it was a bit crowded. This time, the ship flew the military flag of the Tianjin Water Division, which was bought by Song Wenxian for dozens of taels of silver from a qianzong, and it was much more economical than before.

  The two teams of twenty-four trackers, all long-time canal workers, who were familiar with the scene, helped to pole the boat away from the dock and into the Wei River, which was already floating with ice floes. Old Cai, Deng Keshan and others who had come to see them off bowed their fists on the dock, while Liu Minyou and Chen Xin also bowed and bid farewell.

  After entering the river course, those trackers on the deck assisted Zhang San and others in raising the sail, while others held bamboo poles to push away large ice blocks.

  Liu Min came over to Chen Xin and said: "Isn't Zhu Guobin the leader of the combat team? How did he become a training officer?"

  Chen Xindan replied faintly: "I thought about it and decided that I would be the team leader myself. Everything has been assigned, what else is there for me to take care of?"

  Liu Min knew he was uneasy about handing over the troops, looking at the busy blue figures on the deck, and asked Chen Xin: "You really spare no expense in giving them new clothes. The profit of my clothing store this month is not enough."

  Chen Xing said in surprise: "Didn't I tell Zhang Dahuai to settle the silver at the clothing store?"

  "It's settled, I just feel that maintaining the troops is too expensive. This time, each person has a set of padded jackets, a set of undergarments, a set of short clothes, two pairs of pants, and two pairs of shoes. Just for clothing alone, it costs more than three taels per person. Not to mention your expenses from Zhangjiawan, fortunately, the boat is our own, otherwise, you'd have even more expenses."

  Chen Xinde took a deep breath: "What's the point of this, they still have to pay over 100 taels of silver in salary every month. When we arrive at Weihai, building houses, farming tools, seeds, oxen, weapons, armor, food... everything costs money."

  "You still buy so many clothes, don't you know how to save a bit?"

  Chen Xinyi pointed to the thin wife in front of him and asked, "Liu boss, take a look at them. When I saw them at Zhangjiawan just now, they were like African refugees we've seen before - dirty, dull, numb, and timid. What's different about them now?"

  Hope?

  "There's also a sense of honor, don't underestimate this beautiful new uniform, it's the most direct change they can feel, and it's the foundation of their sense of honor. Before the formation of modern armies, a sense of honor was the most reliable spiritual driving force for an army, surpassing sacrifice, bravery, and responsibility, so this money is well spent."

  "Who told you this? You're just an office director, how did you know all these?"

  "Long live Comrade Minnie!"

  "Who is Minnie?"

  A general under Napoleon and a strong military theorist, he is considered one of the two greatest authorities on Western military thought along with Clausewitz.

  Liu Min jokingly said: "Then you plan to buy them new clothes and cultivate a good fighting army."

  "Of course not, this is just a necessary condition, not a sufficient one. I don't understand much either, still learning, and will slowly explore when I get to Weihai."

  "Study hard, one day when you're really on the battlefield, you'll pay less tuition with people's lives."

  Two people stood side by side on the bridge, watching the outline of Tianjin City get farther and farther away until it disappeared into the sea.

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  Note 1: It's not shaving, but trimming. In ancient times, long hair could also be cut short; otherwise, the hair would grow to several meters long. The nature of the shaving order is completely different, which doesn't need explanation.

  Note 2: Antoine-Henri Jomini, French marshal, main military work "Summary of the Art of War", as a general who participated in several battles under Napoleon, his works are among the most authoritative studies on Napoleon's military thought.