Chapter Fourteen: Running in Circles

  On the way home, Song Qing was thinking about training soldiers. Today, these ten kids gave him a lot of surprises. Although they can't compare to those in later generations, they have the advantage of being young and obedient, and they still have aspirations for life. What he fears most are those old soldier rascals who don't care about anything. Except for using their military batons to clear the way, there's almost no other way to deal with them. If you want to eat meat, if you want to eat a few more meals of meat, and maybe even marry a wife and have kids in the future, then there will definitely be ways to handle it.

  It's just that this method is really too wasteful, the Song family is not poor, but it's absolutely not a wealthy family. The money for buying dogs and treating guests today was all accumulated by himself from his own pocket money over the years. If he spends more, he might have to temporarily ask his father, Song Hu, for help.

  Even if he asked Song Hu for help, he was afraid that it would not be enough at the critical moment. He was not a real prodigal son and could not afford to let these ten little guys eat braised meat every day. It seemed that he had to find some ways to make money, otherwise, if things went on like this, he would go bankrupt before his army was even trained.

  At dinner that night, Song Qing's mind was still thinking about it. He casually ate a few mouthfuls and felt full, then returned to his room to continue thinking. Not long after, Old Man Song Hu directly pushed open the door and came in. Song Qing suppressed the urge to tell his father to knock next time, and smiled: "Father, is there something?"

  "Can't you come find me if nothing's wrong?" Song Huyuan's eyes widened, and he said solemnly: "Speak up, what's on your mind?"

  "The child is fine, Father worries too much." Song Qing actually wanted some money, but the words reached the tip of his tongue and he couldn't say it out loud. He could only laugh and say: "If the child has something on their mind, they will naturally speak up, Father doesn't need to worry."

  "You little brat, is it because you're short of money to spend?"

  "What? How did you know?" Song Qing didn't expect the other party to guess correctly, and he smiled awkwardly, which was equivalent to admitting it.

  "You've just taken office, so it's natural to spend some money. I didn't know what you were thinking yesterday, so I didn't ask. But today I heard that you treated those ten kids to meat at the familiar food shop. Who knows what else you're planning? Song Hu brought a self-satisfied expression, turned around and left the room, but came back a moment later with several silver ingots and over a dozen copper coins in hand, saying: "Take this money for now, and come back home to ask for more when it's not enough. If you want to win people's hearts, you can't avoid spending money. It's not like it's being wasted randomly. If you really can pull some people from Xue Ping's side, then in the future when I compete with him for position, it'll be good to have more people helping me!"

  When Song Hu said this, Song Qing also had a thought and asked: "Dad, I heard that Wang Baihu is going to be promoted to Qianhu, so his position as Baihu, will it be chosen from you and Xue Ping?"

  "You little scamp, you're much more clever than before!" Song Hu looked at his son with some surprise and nodded: "The matter of Wang Baihu's position is almost settled, I reckon it won't be long before he gets promoted. It's unlikely they'll send someone to take over his position, probably it will be between me and Xue Ping. Now that you've become a small flag, we two have already taken the lead compared to the Xue family father and son. Whatever you do from now on, make sure to strive for the upper hand, don't let anyone find fault with you!"

  "Dad, don't worry, I understand!" Song Qing nodded again, his tone more serious this time.

  On the second day, early in the morning, ten young men gathered again. This time they actually arrived on schedule, which made Song Qing somewhat delighted. It seemed that a meal of meat had indeed been effective. He encouraged them with a few words and then announced today's training content: two hours of military posture and running laps around the school field.

  The previous one was still understandable, after all, it was like that yesterday, but running in circles is really unacceptable. In this day and age, let alone everyone not practicing martial arts, even if there were people who did practice martial arts, they would be doing things like the Mandarin Duck Formation or something. At most, they would just swing their weapons around a few times. Who has ever seen anyone run in circles around the school field? Luo Xiaobei had known Song Qing from before, and was also the first one to shout out "Fight to the death!" yesterday. Feeling that he was also one of Song Qing's close friends, he smiled and said: "Big Brother Song, what's with running in circles for no reason? With this much time, you could even teach us a few moves, and next time there's a mission to get rid of bandits, we can follow you together!"

  "Let you run laps, it's to bring you to kill the bandits!" Song Qing said solemnly: "Don't think I'm playing with you, and don't underestimate this lap running. In the future, if we go to the battlefield, after winning a battle, you can chase down the enemy, even if you lose, you'll have the strength to escape with your life. You tell me, isn't this important?"

  This remark did not elicit any echo, although most people felt that Song Qing's words were somewhat reasonable. However, war was too far away from the Xuzhou Guards, and they only needed to go into the mountains to suppress bandits at most. There was no need for them to practice these things. Nevertheless, since Song Qing asked them to run, as his subordinates, they naturally had no possibility of opposing him. Luo Xiaobei took the first step, and the ten young men began running around the playground. Song Qing didn't just watch; after a while, he joined in and ran laps with them.

  These youngsters' physical strength is really poor. Yesterday, when they were standing at attention, it was okay, after all, they weren't moving, so you couldn't tell much. But today, as soon as they started running, their true form was revealed. They had only run two laps and already six people couldn't keep up with the team. The remaining four were also panting heavily. Even Luo Xiaobei, who performed the best, could barely keep up with Song Qing's pace. Not long after, everyone fell to the ground, refusing to get up no matter what.

  Song Qing's face seemed to smile and not smile at the same time: "According to my rules, for your level, the daily quota is ten laps. However, since it's the first day today, let's just leave it like this for now. Tomorrow, come again at the same time, still run ten laps, no exceptions. Does everyone understand?"

  Ten young men were overjoyed, and didn't bother to say anything else, they all responded with a "yes" and bid farewell in a hurry, panting as they left. On their way back, they discussed that this Brother Song was quite easy-going, and estimated that even if they couldn't run away tomorrow, everyone could beg for mercy with good words, and it would be fine. After the new official Song Qing took office and the three fires had passed, their good days would come again. However, by then, it's unknown whether Song Qing would still invite them to eat braised meat or not. But in any case, they had to get through this hurdle first.

  But the next morning, when they rushed to the school field again, they found that their little tricks were useless. Standing there was not only Song Qing alone, but also eight robust big dogs and a very small short dog. The small dog was naturally harmless, but those eight big dogs looked quite intimidating. Song Qing's face still had that enigmatic smile, but his words were quite intimidating: "I said yesterday, today is still ten laps. You will stand at attention for two hours first, then start running slowly. When to speed up, I'll let you know. Whoever can't hold on can choose to quit. As long as you can escape from the mouths of these eight dogs, you can go wherever you want!"

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