Ten, Establishing the Foundation

  One!

  Two!

  Three!

  "Four!"

  "One, two, three, four!"

  Yu Yixuan stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the group of fifteen or sixteen-year-old boys from a distance, a faint smile spreading across his face.

  As expected, Yu Guozhen didn't have enough money or food to sustain himself, so he could only gather the half-grown boys from the town to make up the numbers. These young boys were no match for his skilled soldiers. What made him even more amused was that Yu Guozhen didn't have enough weapons, and had even cut some bamboo to serve as makeshift spears, which the boys carried in formation.

  They only learned to count from one to four, and couldn't even tell left from right.

  Yu Yixuan was originally worried that his nephew was a bit too mysterious, and if he really learned some secret techniques from "Ji Xiao Xin Shu", he might actually train a team of skilled housekeepers. Now it seems that a mud-legged person is just a mud-legged person, what's the point of doing this?

  If one does not practice martial arts, does not practice equipment, and does not practice tactics, this is not called training soldiers, but rather children playing house.

  He twirled his mustache and looked towards Sanfang's residence.

  Yu Guozhen really started building the wall, but his wall was built bigger, and it actually enclosed more than one mu of land around the house. At this time, it was originally a busy farming season, but some poor households without land were still invited to Yu Guozhen, and they worked under the command of craftsmen. Although the progress of the project was not fast, it had already taken shape. When building the wall, Yu Guozhen used the board sandwiching method.

  "It's damp during this season, and the result of breaking ground is mold and rot...it's just not going to work." Yu Yiqin whispered beside him.

  Yu Yixuan didn't think it was stupid to do so, he narrowed his eyes and looked through the low wall that only reached his knees, looking at the foundation being dug inside the wall, seemingly preparing to build a row of houses on both sides of the three-room house.

  "That young man may not be doing things finely, but he has a big heart. If these two rows of houses are built, his courtyard can accommodate over a hundred people." Yu Yixuan said: "It seems that he wants to recruit more people, but all the people in the town who can be recruited have been taken away, and he won't gain much from doing so?"

  "Who knows, never mind this kid, let's go back. Old Five, you have to get the household guards in order. The matter of the Fourth House, whether it was done by this kid or really by water bandits, I've been worried about it..."

  They thought they had seen enough and turned around to head back into the town, watching as the two of them drove away in their carriage. Yu Guozhen withdrew his gaze.

  "Take off this shoe!" he said, holding a bamboo whip and pointing at the young man standing closest to him.

  The young man wearing straw sandals smiled foolishly at him: "Little official, why take off your shoes?"

  "Crack!" Yu Guozhen's bamboo whip lashed out: "Remember what I just said? Whatever I say is an order, and my orders must be carried out firmly - take off your shoes, then run around the courtyard in a circle!"

  That young man hesitated for a moment, and Yu Guozhen's face suddenly sank: "Ye Wuya, if you don't want to eat lunch at my place, I'll give you five cents now, and you can leave. You don't have to come here again!"

  Ye Wu Ya swallowed hard, he had seen with his own eyes that Aunt Gao was stewing four big and fat pig trotters in the pot! Before they started training, Yu Guo Zhen took them all to the kitchen to take a look, and said very clearly that as long as they listened to orders and trained hard, they could eat three meals a day, at least two of which would have oil and meat.

  He quickly took off the shoe and started running around the wall that was being built. Yu Guozhen watched him run, he didn't dare to slack off anymore, after one lap, he panted heavily.

  Yu Guozhen took a look at the bare foot, this kid was from a poor family and didn't even have a proper name, because he was dark and thin, his family called him Crow. Yu Guozhen walked past him and then whipped another teenager with a whip: "You, take off your shoes too!"

  There was a precedent for the leafy crow over there, and one after another, the young people took off their shoes. There were sixteen of them in total, plus Da Zhu and Er Zhu, making eighteen. The two of them also took off the right shoe.

  "Today, in addition to teaching you to shout slogans, I will also teach you to distinguish left from right. Now, look at your own feet, the one wearing shoes is the left foot, and the one not wearing shoes is the right foot. Let Dazhu and Erzhu demonstrate for you."

  "Big column, second column, fall in!"

  Yu Guozhen gave an order and Da Zhuang, Er Zhuang took three steps forward and stood in front of him.

  The purpose of queue training is to cultivate discipline, obedience and collective habits. Unlike these boys with different colors, Da Zhuang and Er Zhuang are wearing new clothes prepared for them by Yu Guozhen, ironed straight, they stand upright with their heads held high, like bamboo shoots, their eyes level and expression solemn, looking dignified without being angry.

  These young men, who were originally recruited from the town, were initially lazy and laughed when they first saw Da Zhuang and Er Zhuang. Some people even pointed and whispered to each other. Yu Guozhen ignored them and issued a series of commands, letting Da Zhuang and Er Zhuang turn left, right, march in step, and run in step. After finishing the movements, he looked at the young men with a hint of a smile: "What do you think?"

  "Flower rack!"

  "Looks quite impressive..."

  Ye Wuya smiled and looked at those who had spoken up, these fools, actually saying what they thought in their hearts. He hadn't laughed for two seconds before he heard Yu Guozhen shout to him: "Ye Wuya, what do you think?"

  "Hmm, hmm, as Mr. Xiao, the town's gossip, said, 'Military orders are like mountains!' Ye Wu Ya flattered: "Young Master is like a great general, and Da Zhuang and Er Zhuang are his personal guards!"

  He spoke with his eyes not blinking, a calm and collected expression, but in fact he was being hypocritical. If it wasn't for someone who knew him, they would have been deceived by his innocent-sounding words. Yu Guozhen of course understood him, in fact he understood all sixteen of these young men, Yu Guozhen had been paying attention to them for a long time already, and previously they had often followed Yu Guozhen around eating and drinking together.

  "I suppose you're not very convinced." Yu Guozhen stared at Ye Wuya, causing the smile on his face to involuntarily fade away before continuing.

  "Alright then, let's give it a try, Old Gao!"

  Gao, who had been prepared for a long time, ran over with a bundle of sticks in his arms. There were nineteen sticks in total, each with its head wrapped in cloth, and the cloth was soaked with slaked lime water.

  "I, Dazhu, and Erzhu are on one side, you sixteen are on the other." Yu Guozhen took a stick and continued to hand out sticks to the others: "Let's exchange blows. Whoever is hit in the chest or back and leaves a white mark will be considered seriously injured and must withdraw. What do you say?"

  "Haha......" The young people just thought it was a game and burst out laughing.

  "Little official, this way they won't take it seriously. Who dares to lay a hand on the little official?" Still, Ye Wuya was the cleverest, and he smiled, saying: "The little official can give an order, whoever loses later will have no meat for lunch!"

  Yu Guozhen took a look at the young man and nodded slightly, this kid is clever and willing to think for himself, he's a good seedling worth cultivating.

  "Let's do it as Crow said... If you lose, there will be no meat for lunch." Yu Guozhen added: "Not only will there be no meat at noon, but also run ten laps around the yard later!"

  The young men were suddenly invigorated, and they often followed Yu Guozhen's master and servant to play and have fun. They knew that Er Zhuang had a few real moves in his hands, and Da Zhuang was also quite formidable, but the young master had never seen him take action.

  They all took their sticks and Yu Guozhen gave the order: "Ready... start!"

  When it came to preparation, he stood in a row with Da Zhu and Er Zhu, with him in the middle, Da Zhu on the left, and Er Zhu on the right. After "start" was finished, the young men swarmed over like a swarm of bees, relying on their numbers, without any fancy moves, they directly charged forward with their sticks.

  "Go!" Yu Guozhen shouted, and he and Dazhu took a step forward with their left feet at the same time.

  "Kill!" The second shout was not just Yu Guozhen, but the three of them shouted in unison. At the same time, the three clubs slightly tilted and extended outwards.

  It was just the three of them, but the young man rushing towards them felt as if a whole row of clubs had appeared in front of him with that loud shout. Among them, those who were running ahead either tried to dodge to the left or right, or wanted to stop and retreat, and some even held out their clubs horizontally to block the way. As a result, some collided with each other, some accidentally injured themselves, and others dropped their clubs in confusion, instantly becoming a chaotic mess.

  The one who ran the fastest was also the most unlucky, with three more white spots on his chest. Even though the wooden stick had a cloth wrapped around its head, this stab still made him feel dizzy in the chest and he rolled directly to the ground. This scene made those boys even more frightened, and someone shouted: "Ah!"

  They had not yet come back to their senses when Yu Guozhen shouted again: "One!"

  Three men stepped forward with their right foot, drew back their fists and then shouted in unison: "Kill!"

  This time three people were stabbed at three targets, and the disheveled boys suddenly had three more clutching their chests in pain.

  "Spread out, spread out, surround them!"

  Yue Wuya saw that after just two shouts, his side had already lost four people. He quickly realized that it was because their side was crowded together, so they couldn't display their skills, and therefore loudly shouted:

  His loud shout was not without effect, but for this group of young people, how to disperse was really a problem. Originally, they were already in a mess, and when they ran, two collisions occurred, and at this time, Yu Guozhen and the other three took advantage of the situation to kill again, and instantly, three more people rolled on the ground.

  In the blink of an eye, seven people had been knocked down. The remaining nine were still in the majority and had indeed dispersed, but they had scattered too far apart. No one was willing to take that blow, and everyone wanted to sneak up behind Yu Guozhen's three men. As a result, two more people were stabbed and flipped over by Yu Guozhen's three men!

  Sixteen to three, all were beaten like this. The young men were completely disheartened at this time. Ye Wuya still had some unwillingness and shouted again: "Get together, or there will be no meat for lunch..."

  As soon as the word "flesh" came out, he found that Yu Guozhen and two others rushed towards him in this direction. He retreated continuously, wanting to escape to his companion's side, but those companions escaped even faster than him. He ran for less than a dozen steps before feeling a pain on his back, then was pushed to the ground with great force.

  "What a pity! That delicious braised pork hock... I won't be able to eat it anymore!" He thought with a heavy heart.