Chapter Ten: The Concept of Dog Camp

  To be honest, a small flag in a Wei Suo is not a big shot at all. Not to mention being from Xuzhou Wei, even if you are from the Imperial Guard or the Brocade Guard, a small flag is still not a big deal. After all, this position only manages ten people, and there are many officials above you, as long as they are officials, they can basically manage you.

  But to get back on track, no matter how small Xiao Qi is, he's still an officer and has ten people under his command. Compared to being commanded by others in the past, this is progress. Moreover, as soon as he took this step, he can be considered to have entered the ranks of the powerful. In the future, whether he'll be able to climb the ranks or not will depend on this small flag as a foundation.

  Moreover, although the official position is said to be the same, it also depends on how you do it. Giving someone a small flag official position might just mean leading ten farmers, but giving Song Qing a small flag would at least bring out ten capable men. It's not that he's boasting, but rather in this era, no one thinks about training soldiers. As long as he puts in some effort, the results will be immediately apparent.

  Apart from this, he also plans to establish a dog camp. Although the name of the camp is a bit big, at least it can be established as a dog squad first. In the process of eliminating bandits last time, his unintentional barking and the subsequent string of barks played an extremely good role, not only boosting the morale of their side but also successfully intimidating the enemy, allowing them to charge almost unimpeded to the front line and start killing with their weapons.

  The so-called coward is afraid of the reckless, the reckless are afraid of the stubborn, the stubborn are afraid of those who don't care about their lives, and those who don't care about their lives are naturally afraid of psychopaths. In that previous surprise attack, I was completely in a psychopathic state, at least the other side thought they were psychopaths, which played a huge role.

  This is just a group of people, if replaced with a pack of real fierce dogs, the effect would be even better. Song Qing had already constructed the scene in his mind, when he encountered the enemy again, first release a pack of large wolf dogs, wait for the enemy's legs to soften, and then lead his men to kill them, breaking the enemy is as easy as turning over one's hand!

  Song Qing was a man who had been impatient since his previous life, especially when it came to fun things, and he couldn't wait for a moment. Since this dog camp was related to his own career, after making up his mind, he immediately went to find Ding Kui to ask where there were good dogs around.

  After annihilating the mountain bandits, Ding Kui regarded Song Qing as a god-like figure. As he watched his counterpart being promoted, he was thinking of finding an excuse to get close to him. Just then, Song Qing came knocking on his door, and naturally, he wouldn't let this opportunity slip away. Moreover, he himself was also a cunning person who understood the ins and outs of things. He immediately led his men straight to the south of Xuzhou City.

  At this time, Xuzhou City is not as good as it was during the Wanli period, but after all, it is a famous city in Jiangbei. It can be said that it is quite lively. However, Song Qing has come from an era with extremely rich material life, and although he has seen this ancient and elegant place, he is somewhat envious, but doesn't have much reaction. Instead, it makes Ding Kui look at him with a different eye, and curiously asks: "Song Qing, no, Song Xiaoqi, have you ever been to Xuzhou City before?"

  "It seems like I've been there a few times, but I don't remember very clearly." Song Qing was a thoroughbred otaku, and although the Wei residence was not far from the provincial city, he really couldn't be sure if he had ever been there before. Knowing that his nonchalant attitude would arouse suspicion, he quickly changed the subject: "What kind of dogs do they have there? Are they expensive?"

  "Dogs are of varying quality, and their prices naturally vary as well. It depends on what you're looking for." Ding Kui had been acting strange all along the way, and now he asked, "What do you want a dog for? Don't you already have a big guard dog at home?"

  "Of course it's for military training!" Song Qing didn't hide anything and immediately told him the whole story from beginning to end.

  "This matter of the academic dog, Ding Kui was also one of the parties involved. At first, he didn't think much of it, but after careful consideration, this is indeed a good idea. The appearance of Xu Zhou's guards is clearer than ever, if they don't come up with some new tactics, they might as well forget about training good soldiers. However, no one thinks that there will be any threats at the moment, and everyone is busy with their own affairs. Laughing, he said: 'In theory, we military households should put our minds to this, but for generations, it's been like this, why bother? In Xu Zhou, apart from fighting bandits, there are no battles to fight, and the people under us are all helping the officials with farming. If you have the energy, you might as well think about how to manage farm work, what's the point of thinking about fighting?'"

  Song Qing smiled faintly, but didn't say anything more. At this time, the people of the Ming Dynasty would not have thought that in less than a year, Jian Nu would be besieging the capital, tearing down the majestic heavenly dynasty's fig leaf by fig leaf. In just over a decade, the people here would either die in battle or shave their heads and become subjects of the conquerors. It was just that no one could have imagined it at the time.

  However, this was also an opportunity for him. At that time, the king's soldiers and horses gathered in the capital city. If he could show his face at that time, his future days would naturally be much better. However, on the battlefield, there were fierce battles and dangers everywhere, and without real skills, going forward would only mean looking for death. Moreover, the Xu State Guards had been at peace for a long time, and many soldiers were not useful, let alone compared to Jian Nu, even compared to the nine border troops, they were much inferior. Training soldiers was the right way, but at the beginning, in order to open up the situation, he had to take another path, which was this dog camp that he wanted to manipulate.

  The city inside the state is naturally more lively than Weisuo, and the two of them bought some snacks along the way, eating while walking south. Ding Kui seemed to be familiar with this place, and after walking for a while, he led Song Qing into a narrow alley, then turned around in it several times before coming out again, by which time they had arrived at a small open space. Song Qing took a rough glance around and immediately saw that this was an outdoor gambling den, but he wasn't interested in such things; his interest lay with the dogs in the corner of the gambling den.

  There were fifteen dogs in total, mostly black-bottomed white-bellied Soviet dogs, with a small number of northern fold-eared dogs. They were all large in stature and agile in movement, looking like they weren't very old. If we're talking about ferocity, these dogs naturally can't compare to those highland mastiffs, but these local dogs have one advantage - they're easy to tame and extremely obedient. In short, as long as you get along with them well, they'll bite whoever you want them to, and when they do, their fighting strength isn't weak either.

  In ancient China, the breeding of dogs emphasized 'Han Lu Song Que'. The Han refers to one of the seven warring states, the State of Han, whose territory mainly included the southern part of present-day Shanxi and the northern part of Henan. The capital was initially located in Yangdi, which is now Xuchang and Yuzhou in Henan Province, and later moved to Xinzheng. 'Lu' refers to a black dog breed from the State of Han at that time.

  Song is not the Song Dynasty, but rather the State of Song during the Spring and Autumn period. The representative figure is that foolishly honest Song Xiang Gong, and 'Ji' was a famous dog in the State of Song at that time.

  These two dogs are actually the ancestors of local dogs, and most of them were later called Chinese Rural Dogs. This breed has many advantages: intelligent, loyal, odorless, drool-less, medium size, moderate coat length, strong resistance, low demands, and easy to raise. In many ways, they are just like Chinese people - it's said that a dog reflects its owner. Looking at the dozen or so dogs in front of him, Song Qing was very satisfied. He nodded towards Ding Kui and said, "That's all, ask about the price."

  "Wait!" Ding Kui had a few points of pride in his heart, although he was startled by Song Qing when he killed the thief, but since he came to Xuzhou City, he naturally showed off. He swaggered over, touched this and that, and after making a ruckus, shouted towards the earthen house inside: "Sun Pangzi, there's business!"

  A moment later, the door opened and a tall, fat man walked out, yawning and cursing: "You damned old donkey Ding, what's all the racket about? Don't you know that Fat Master is sleeping with his new wife?"

  "Shut up, you're just a useless thing who's been drinking horse piss all day, do you think you can even marry a wife in this lifetime?" Ding Kui retorted without any courtesy, pointing at Song Qing and saying: "This is our Wei Suo's Song Xiaoqi, he came here to buy a dog!"

  "Ah, still a young master, I apologize!" Although Xiao Qi was an official, he was not someone to be taken seriously. Sun Wuzi, the loafer, didn't care and said "I apologize" with a casual bow of his hands and a stretch of his waist. He then asked: "What kind of dog does the young master want to buy? Is it for guarding the house or playing with in your arms? I dare say that among all the dogs in Xu Zhou City, mine are the most numerous and of the best quality. Whatever you want, I have it."

  Song Qing pointed at the sturdy native dogs around him and said: "Just these, get me twenty like this."

  "Twenty?" Sun Baozi shook his head, slapped his forehead hard, and finally confirmed that he hadn't misheard. Curiously, he asked: "May I ask, sir, how big is your courtyard wall that you need twenty dogs to guard it?"

  "This is not for keeping house."

  "What's that for?"

  "Kill him."

  Song Qing's tone was light, he bent down and picked up a mongrel dog. The dog had been snarling and showing its teeth in the pack, clearly the king of the group. But as soon as it was in his hands, it struggled for a moment before calming down, leaving Sun Baozi, who was experienced in such matters, stunned. He carefully recalled the last two words he had just spoken, and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.