Chapter 1 The Newcomer

  Distant shouts shake the sky, nearby gasps follow one after another.

  When Song Qing regained consciousness, he found himself sprinting forward with all his might. To be honest, he really wanted to stop, but the huge mental inertia and the irresistible physical inertia made him continue to maintain this very energy-consuming way of advancing. Moreover, he discovered a problem - he had to keep running, because if he didn't, those guys behind him who were equally fast on their feet and looked terrified, might very likely kick him down and then ruthlessly trample over him.

  For the sake of his own life, he started running forward very hard and thinking about some problems at the same time.

  What he was thinking about was why he was here?

  The last time he was still conscious, he had just come out of the gym and was chatting happily with a pretty girl. Suddenly, a Range Rover stopped by the side of the road, and a young man about his age got out. Then the girl seemed to say in a low voice: That's my boyfriend.

  Almost at the same time, that boyfriend suddenly produced a beer bottle from somewhere and smashed it over, Song Qing originally intended to explain his pure relationship with his sister, so he subconsciously didn't dodge.

  Then he came here afterwards.

  What is this place? Judging from the clothes of the people around me, it should be ancient times. Did I travel through time?

  When something like this happens these days, you should first suspect a publicity stunt. If you think it's just a film crew shooting a scene or something, then I'd say you're out of touch.

  Before he could think clearly, a flood of memories poured into his mind.

  Song Qing, male, 16 years old, white body, the son of Song Hu, the general flag of Xu Zhou Wei in the great Ming Dynasty, the only child in the family, this time he followed the team to enter the mountain to suppress bandits.

  Song Qing was born timid, although he was a military household son, he didn't dare to see blood since childhood, and when killing chickens at home, he had to hide far away, afraid that those splashing blood would scare himself. If it were just being timid, it would be fine, but those bookworms who are hesitant all day long are mostly also timid, yet they can still take the imperial examination and become officials without any hindrance. But Song Qing was neither good at literature nor martial arts, reading books was hopeless, and wanting him to join the army in the future and inherit his father's official position seemed very unlikely.

  Old man Song Hu is a good fellow, although the Xu Zhou Garrison has been at peace for a long time, he hasn't really been on the battlefield, but he's been practicing martial arts since childhood and can hold his own in a fight. In his younger years, he was hot-headed and had made a name for himself in Xu Zhou City, so that ordinary rascals wouldn't dare to mess with him when they heard of Song Hu's reputation.

  Xuzhou Wei was different from other Wei and Suo of the Ming Dynasty, existing only to guard Xuzhou. Unlike others that were scattered everywhere, all its troops were concentrated in the city suburbs. Song Hu had even bought a house in the city and settled his family there. Over the years, he had done a good job as the commander-in-chief, with a reputation that was quite impressive.

  He was almost done, but then he had a useless son, which really made him worried. Although he was still in his prime years, since the Chongzhen year of the Ming dynasty, the world has become increasingly unstable. Last year, the Jianzhou slaves even attacked the capital city, and the emperor killed Yuan Chonghuan. Although these messages were still far from Xuzhou, Song Hu always felt that something was not quite right. He had a mind to promote his own son as a small flag, but Song Qing's temperament was soft like noodles, he would rather die than join the army, and only wanted to play at home.

  Today, Song Hu took a firm stance and ignored the advice of his wife, Song Li Shi, forcibly bringing Song Qing to the military camp with him. They went out together to suppress bandits, but who would have thought that the intelligence had gone wrong? Originally, they only thought there were over a dozen bandits, but unexpectedly, there were more than 50 people, and many of them were skilled fighters.

  Xuzhou, although it has been said that good soldiers have come out since ancient times, the government army has not practiced for a long time. In peacetime, they can still hold their heads high, but when they encounter a strong enemy, they collapse at once. The vanguard was defeated and came down, and Song Qing's second echelon was also involved. They started fleeing without even fighting, and no matter how the officers stopped them, they couldn't stop the troops.

  Others were just running, but Song Qing was running and shouting "Dad", which made the soldiers of the Wei camp laugh while running, and the reputation of the Song family's cowardice spread again.

  Song Qing had just arrived and hadn't thought much about it, he only felt a bit strange. At first, he was being chased by people, subconsciously thinking that he had become some kind of thief or maybe two gangs were fighting and his side lost. But if the memories he had just received weren't wrong, his side didn't seem to be bandits. Moreover, although these people's clothes were a bit tattered, they were all wearing similar attire, which was rare in this era where only officials and soldiers could have uniform colors and hierarchical relationships among themselves.

  "I say, why are we running?" Song Qing summoned up his courage and said to the man beside him who suddenly accelerated and was about to overtake him: "Aren't we government soldiers?"

  "Run, soldiers!" The man looked at him foolishly and flipped his eyes, saying: "Song Qing, don't think that just because your father is the commander-in-chief, those thieves will show mercy to you and your men. Knives and guns are not picky, and if you're caught alive, they might ask your father for a large sum of money, and your family will be ruined!"

  Should officials and soldiers run away? What kind of world is this?

  Song Qing had read some history, but most of it was superficial. He knew some major events and famous names, but didn't understand the details. As for Xuzhou, although it's a big city, the truly shocking and well-known events were probably from Liu Bei's stay in Xuzhou and Lv Fengxian's death at Baimen Tower. As for the combat strength of the Weisuo officials and soldiers, he had heard something about it, but didn't expect it to be this bad. You can't even beat Jian Nu, let alone the local bandits?

  It's not that these government troops are to blame, the elite soldiers and strong generals in the garrison are still somewhat decent, they're just under the command of high-ranking officials like the Commander-in-Chief and the Deputy Commander. This time it was just a matter of eliminating some bandits, no one took it seriously, so only two hundred households were sent with troops, and those at the front were just ordinary soldiers. These people don't even have basic training on a daily basis, they're good at farming but not skilled in battle, plus there are a few bandits who dare to fight to the death, that's why they collapsed as soon as they clashed.

  After understanding everything, Song Qing had a few more thoughts in his mind. Although he hadn't been a soldier in his previous life, he had spent all day in the gym, training in martial arts and using various equipment. At least he had formally learned how to use this long gun from a teacher. But this life seemed like a waste, if things continued like this, it was likely that he would accomplish nothing in the future. It was uncertain whether he could even keep his father's title as General. He was a grown man, after all, and couldn't just drift through life aimlessly forever.

  Furthermore, it's currently the second year of Chongzhen, and although there are still over a decade before the Qing dynasty enters the pass, by the end of the year, it seems to be the beginning of the Jiayou coup. Heaven knows whether Xu Zhouwei has sent troops to Beijing for the king, if he really was dispatched to the capital and died in battle, that would be the greatest tragedy for a time-traveler.

  If you want to live a good life, you can't continue to be as timid as you are now. There is still some time left, if you can seize the opportunity and make a good show of yourself, at least become a minor official, on the battlefield, no matter what, there will be more security, it's better than being an ordinary soldier.

  With a plan in mind, his legs slowed down a bit. The man beside him had already overtaken him and saw Song Qing slowing down. Instead of leaving him behind, he scolded: "Song Qing, are you out of your mind? Hurry up and run! Your father asked me to take care of you, but if the knife is on my neck, I won't be able to take care of you!"

  "Then don't run!" Song Qing confirmed again that his body was still quite robust, and with renewed confidence, he grabbed the man in front of him and shouted according to his memory: "Ding Kui, turn your head and take a look, thirty or so people are being chased by five people. You're still considered a man, don't you feel ashamed?"