Chapter 7: Tianjin Garrison

  Feng Guozhang entered the Tianjin Military Academy at the age of 31, already past his prime. After graduating and staying on as a teacher until now, he is 33 years old. At this age, if he still can't even become a seventh-rank probationary county magistrate, it's considered the end of his career in officialdom. But he is only a minor instructor at the academy, so to bring glory to his ancestors, there's basically no hope left.

  Feng Guozhang sighed at the bad luck, but also had no choice, and could only call himself "Daren" to deceive himself and others. Of course, he didn't dare to call himself "Daren" in school. Today, running into a humble commoner who wouldn't die from drowning, Feng Guozhang took the opportunity to indulge in his "Daren" addiction. Anyway, the commoner couldn't understand what rank of official a teacher was.

  Feng Guozhang came to the riverbank, originally without any official business, he just came to relax.

  Since the beginning of summer, heavy rains have caused disasters in Zhili, with rivers overflowing and bursting their banks, inundating countless villages. The Tianjin Garrison was also unable to escape its bad luck, with several rivers within its borders bursting their banks, and the people living along the riverbanks were either killed or displaced, flooding into the streets of Tianjin City to beg for food.

  Feng Guozhang read Confucius and Mencius for several years, and had a heart of worrying about the country and the people. He saw that the Qing dynasty was in internal and external troubles, foreigners were bullying and oppressing, and God did not open his eyes to stop them from harming the people. Feng Guozhang took out his own savings to donate to the disaster victims, but the flood lasted for more than a month, and the imperial court did not take any action. Feng Guozhang's savings were soon depleted after a few rounds of donations, and every day on the streets of Tianjin there were people dying of starvation, and the city was filled with a stench of rotting flesh.

  Feng Guozhang was feeling depressed and took his beloved rifle out of the city to clear his mind by the canal, but unexpectedly, the riverbank was filled with corpses, the stench was overwhelming, and what's even more infuriating was that the crows were taking advantage of the situation to peck at the flesh of the dead, and those corrupt officials were just as despicable!

  Feng Guozhang was furious, raised his gun and fired. This shot did not kill Wu Yanwang, but instead hit a humble citizen who could not be killed by drowning. This humble citizen used the ultimate skill of "one shot, two birds", leaving Feng Guozhang stunned with his eyes wide open.

  Feng Guozhang pointed the muzzle at Zhou Xuanzhang's chest and insisted that Zhou was a rebel, wanting to take him to the governor's mansion.

  Zhou Xuanzhang was speechless, it was indeed a scholar encountering a soldier, with reason unable to be explained clearly, secretly calling for bad luck, being pressed by Feng Guozhang's gun, he could only raise his hands high and step forward.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang was in front, Feng Guo Zhang held a gun behind him, the muzzle pressed against Zhou Xuan Zhang's back, and the two walked through the small woods and onto the official road.

  "Feng Dàren, I was washed here by the flood and don't know the way! Otherwise, sir, you go ahead!" Zhou Xuanzhang still wanted to play tricks.

  "Damn it, your tricks are too low-level! Listen to my orders, walk obediently, think about escaping, I'm a godly marksman......!" Feng Guozhang's face turned red again. Before meeting Zhou Xuanzhang, Feng Guozhang was indeed the "godly marksman" of the Qing Dynasty, but Zhou Xuanzhang could shoot two birds with one stone, his marksmanship far surpassing Feng's!

  Two men, one in front and one behind, walked north along the official road. The road was sparse with people and overgrown with weeds. Tianjin Wei, which had just suffered a disaster, looked desolate.

  After walking seven or eight miles, all that could be seen along the road were refugees, their clothes tattered and worn out, their faces pale and thin, dragging their families along, some limping as they walked, others lying in the grass by the side of the road. When they saw Feng Guozhang's black foreign rifle, they were so frightened that they didn't dare look straight at it.

  Entering Tianjin City, it's a different world. The roads are neat and tidy, with buildings towering above one another. Tianjin is known as the guardian city of the capital, and since the founding of the Qing dynasty, it has been a prosperous place. Merchants come and go like clouds, and transportation is convenient in all directions. By the Guangxu period, the Anglo-French coalition forced the Qing government to sign the Treaty of Tianjin, and Western countries set up consulates in Tianjin, enjoying extraterritorial rights. Tianjin became a paradise for foreigners, who built grand buildings and gardens. The ancient Chinese culture blended with the powerful Western culture here, making Tianjin's city streets even more beautiful and colorful. However, the presence of foreigners on every street added an unspeakable layer of humiliation to this prosperity!

  That week, Xianzhang was full of curiosity. Although he claimed to be a 21st-century time-traveler, his hometown in western Hunan was far inferior to 19th-century Tianjin. Later, he entered the new barracks and was assigned to the pigsty, where he had never seen such a prosperous big city before. Coming to 19th-century Tianjin, it was indeed an eye-opener.

  As soon as Zhou Xuanzhang entered Tianjin City, his two eyes were not enough to take in the sights. He looked around in all directions, full of curiosity, and walked slower and slower.

  Feng Guozhang still held the rifle against Zhou Xuanzhang's waist, not relaxing in the slightest. However, he also didn't urge Zhou Xuanzhang on. Zhou Xuanzhang had a rustic look of a country bumpkin entering the city, which made Feng feel a little pleased with himself.

  "What's wrong? Haven't seen it before? This is our Great Qing Empire's Tianjin Garrison! How does it compare to your Xiangxi mountain?" Feng Guozhang said, shaking his head and swaying the queue at the back of his head.

  Feng Guozhang's marksmanship is not as good as Zhou Xuanzhang, which is quite embarrassing. He feels that his character is inferior to Zhou Xuanzhang by a head, but it can be seen that Zhou Xuanzhang has the appearance of a rustic entering the city, and Feng Guozhang's character has been greatly enhanced in an intangible way, with a pleasant mood.

  "You Tianjin people are really damn rich!" Zhou Xianzhang said with gritted teeth, full of envy and jealousy!

  "How did you see that they are rich?" Feng Guozhang was very surprised. The houses in the city of Tianjin are also considered tall and spacious, and the streets are also considered neat and tidy, but to say that people from Tianjin are rich is a joke. Everyone knows that people from Tianjin are poor, and the rich have all gone to Beijing, while people from Tianjin are just laborers for those in Beijing.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang sighed: "Feng Da Ren..."

  "Hush... " Feng Guozhang hastily signaled Zhou Xuanzhang to lower his voice: "Listen carefully, once we enter Tianjin City, you are not allowed to address me as 'sir' anymore!"

  Feng Guozhang had a taste of being a big shot on the riverbank, but he hadn't lost his head yet. When he entered Tianjin City, this unorthodox teacher was no longer qualified to be called "sir". The title of "sir" could be used privately, but if it were used in the governor's yamen, it would be extremely disrespectful! According to the Qing Code, officials who had not reached a certain rank and presumptuously called themselves "sir" would be held accountable.

  Zhou Xuanzhang had long seen that Feng Guozhang was not a big official, but just relied on his power to bully others. He didn't expose him at the moment and asked: "Then how should I address Mr. Feng?"

  "Just call me Teacher Feng."

  Zhou Xuanzhang didn't know that "instructor" meant "officer", and if he had known about this equation, he should have stood at attention and saluted. However, Zhou Xuanzhang also figured out that Feng Guozhang, this so-called instructor, was far inferior to the provincial governor, so he pretended to be confused: "Instructor? What kind of official is that? Is it higher than the provincial governor?"

  "Shut up!" Feng Guozhang's face turned red again. He was still inexperienced and not even as good as a village head.

  Zhou Xuanzhang secretly smiled in his heart: "Yes! Teacher Feng, you see, all of you Tianjin people wear long gowns."

  "Wearing long gown means having money?"

  "That's for sure." Zhou Xuan Zhang laughed: "That would waste a lot of fabric! In our Xiangxi, only wealthy families can afford to wear long gowns, and besides, wealthy families don't have to work, so the sleeves are made big. You Tianjin people all wear long gowns with big sleeves and wide cuffs, how rich!"

  Feng Guozhang did not expect that Zhou Xuanzhang's theoretical basis was actually the long gowns all over the street. The common people wore long gowns and horse jackets, which were the dress code of the Qing Dynasty, and had little to do with wealth or poverty. Zhou Xuanzhang used this to determine that Tianjin people were rich, it seems that Zhou Xuanzhang was either not very clever or spoke sarcastically.

  "How dare you! You dare to mock me!" Feng Guozhang shouted.

  "No, no!" Zhou Xuanzhang flattered: "Lord Feng is elegant and majestic, a true dragon among men. How could a humble person like me dare to mock him? I just have a small opinion, ah, the people of the Qing Dynasty are rich, everyone can wear long gowns, which shows that Lord Feng and other officials govern the country well, their merits cannot be ignored. However, soldiers wearing long gowns is not right! Having money doesn't mean you can spend it recklessly!"

  Zhou Xuanzhang stared at a team of patrolling soldiers, his eyebrows furrowed into a big knot. The soldiers wore large numbered uniforms, with the hem of the uniform draped over their knees, and a circle on their chest and back, with the word "brave" written in the circle.

  These soldiers are local militia, not the regular army of the Qing Dynasty. They carry long spears on their shoulders and big knives at their waists, but no firearms such as rifles or pistols. Anyway, they are a group of soldiers.

  "How can it be!" Feng Guozhang shouted.

  "General Feng, wearing a long gown with large sleeves may look majestic, but as a soldier, one cannot dress like this. As a soldier, you need to crawl, lie down, shoot, throw grenades, do explosive work, and engage in hand-to-hand combat. If you wear this attire, it will be a hindrance. Just imagine, if your sleeve gets caught on a tree branch while throwing a grenade, the grenade would land on your own head!"

  Although Zhou Xuan Zhang was the worst in the new barracks, he was also a new soldier in the 21st century. When it came to infantry training subjects, he was quite knowledgeable.

  Feng Guozhang was shocked, this stick in front of him could actually say the most advanced infantry training courses of the Qing Dynasty.