Chapter 64: Winter of the Fifteenth Year of Jiwei

  In the morning, Jie Li went to see the guard who was in charge of him and asked to see Li Chengzhong. By noon, his request was granted, and he met with the highest military officer of the White Wolf Mountain Garrison in Li Chengzhong's cave.

  "I saw your soldier training." Jeeri hesitated for a moment before saying.

  "Hmm?" Li Chengzhong didn't look at Jie who was standing beside him, and instead continued writing on the paper with a reed pen made from a hollow tube of a water plant. He dipped it in ink and wrote out the "Internal Affairs Ordinance" that he had memorized when he enlisted, but it had been too long ago, so he couldn't remember many parts, and thus he crossed out and revised as he went along.

  "Their archery is poor, and their horsemanship is also very bad," Jier said after some thought, adding: "Even the two team officers who trained the soldiers in archery are not good." He was referring to Meng Xuxing and Jiao Chengqiao.

  "My archery and horsemanship are not good, I know that." Li Chengzhong put down his pen and turned around to say lightly: "So I'm making the most of my time to train them. If you're just here to mock my soldiers, then you can leave, I'm busy with my affairs and don't have much time to listen."

  He didn't get angry or embarrassed because of Li Cheng's cold attitude. Two months as a prisoner in the White Wolf Mountain military camp had already worn down his pride and arrogance. He patiently said, "I've watched their archery and riding training several times, and there are problems with their training methods. I'm a well-known horse whip in my tribe, and my archery and riding skills are excellent. Of course, when it comes to close combat, I may not be able to beat that Zhou surname commander, but in terms of archery and riding, no one in the entire military camp is better than me. And even if it's a face-to-face fight, that Zhou surname commander will find it difficult to defeat me."

  Li Chengzhong stared into Jier's eyes, listening quietly to what he had to say. His silence made Jier recall the humiliating fact that he was a captive of this military officer, and involuntarily retorted: "You're also very formidable, but if you hadn't used... those means, it would have been impossible to capture me."

  "What kind of method? Do you think that method is despicable? Is it underhanded? Is it sinister? Is it unscrupulous?"

  He expressed his views through silence rather than words.

  Li Chengzhong said, "Do you know why after we fought, you became my captive instead of me becoming yours? It's because of your way of thinking... Alright, this sentence might be a bit too profound and abstruse, you don't have to understand it now, think about it yourself later. Now, tell me directly, what did you come looking for me for?"

  He paused for a moment, his Chinese had improved greatly over the past two months, but he still didn't quite understand what Li Chengzhong meant by that sentence. Hearing Li Chengzhong ask about his intentions directly, he temporarily set aside the words he hadn't understood and said with some expectation and nervousness: "I can help you train your soldiers' archery and horsemanship."

  Li Chengzhong thought for a moment and asked: "What conditions?"

  "I need work points, many work points."

  Li Chengzhong nodded: "Alright. Here's the deal, you train my soldiers in archery and horsemanship every day... for five watches... I'll give you ten work points each day."

  "Not enough."

  Li Chengzhong smiled: "I haven't finished yet. Yesterday, I just conducted an assessment, and among my soldiers, sixty are specialized archers. At a distance of fifty paces, ten arrows can hit the target five times, twenty people can do it; six times, eleven people can do it; seven times, nine people can do it. Other soldiers are also learning to shoot arrows, but the proportion of hitting the target is very low. About half of them can hit one out of ten, fifty people can hit two out of ten, seventeen people can hit three out of ten, and three people can hit four out of ten. Beyond that, there's no more. Every ten days, I will conduct an assessment. Whether you are an archer or not, for every additional arrow that hits the target, I will reward you with one work point. How about that? Of course, your main energy is still focused on the archers. The time allocated for non-archers to practice shooting arrows won't be much."

  Jie's eyes lit up again, and he said: "How about horse riding skills?"

  Li Chengzhong said: "In terms of riding skills, it can be divided into two parts for evaluation. First is horse archery, the algorithm is equivalent to that of an archer..."

  "Riding and shooting are difficult to learn, and even more difficult to teach. Even in our own tribe, there are only a few people who can ride and shoot well, and they are usually selected as the elite warriors of the tribe."

  "Alright, I can give you double the calculation... As for horsemanship, I think it should be divided into three steps: proficient horse riding, freely using weapons on horseback, and mastering cavalry tactics. My scouting team currently has 20 riders, which will increase in the future. For each step completed, I'll give you 10 work points. Of course, whether or not they've completed it, I'll organize several officers to evaluate them, with their unified opinions as the basis."

  He secretly calculated in his heart and found that he could earn a lot of work points, so he let out a sigh of relief. He remembered the two words often spoken by Wang Er, "Deal!"

  Jie Li just turned around and walked to the door, then came back and said to Li Chengzhong: "The numbers you mentioned earlier, please write them down on paper for me. Also, I want twenty work points first, and then deduct from my bonus later."

  Li Chengzhong smiled and shook his head, wrote down the agreed terms and numbers on a piece of paper, handed it to Jie Li, who carefully tucked it into her bosom before leaving.

  ………………

  In the late afternoon, Jie Li came to the woman's cave again. The woman opened the wooden door and saw Jie Li standing at the entrance, holding two fish tied with grass rope and a piece of dried meat, and was stunned for a moment.

  Jiali handed over the fish and bacon, muttering: "I earned a lot of work points, so... the child wants to eat meat... you take it first, there will be more later..."

  The woman looked puzzled: "What kind of work do you do, this must require a lot of effort?" As she spoke, she saw the earth-yellow military uniform on Ryeol's body and asked: "Have you joined the army?" Her gaze towards Ryeol suddenly became much more affectionate.

  Jiali forcibly stuffed the dried meat and fish into the woman's arms, saying: "Hmmm...this isn't much, I'll earn more work points in the future, don't worry. Uh...I'll go first, I'll come back tomorrow to help you carry water." After finishing speaking, he turned around and left.

  In the afternoon, an officer came over and brought a set of Lu Long army uniforms in addition to giving Rie twenty small bamboo strips. Rie didn't want to wear it at first, but he was afraid that getting hung up on these trivial matters would cause unnecessary trouble, and besides, the leather jacket he was wearing was indeed too dirty and tattered. He gritted his teeth and changed into the uniform. Just now, when he saw the woman glance at his clothes, her eyes seemed to brighten a bit, so Rie walked along, brushing off non-existent dust from the uniform, thinking that wearing this outfit wasn't bad after all.

  Additionally, what made Jier happy was that the officer also brought an order, starting from today, to withdraw the soldiers who had been closely following and guarding him. In other words, Jier could now move freely, but still couldn't leave White Wolf Mountain.

  Jiali walked a short distance before hearing the woman call out from behind her. She turned around and went back, "What's wrong? Is there something difficult? I'll go help you with it."

  The woman bit her lip and hesitated for a moment before saying, "Haven't you had dinner yet, husband?"

  He scratched his head: "I still have some there, I'll eat when I get back."

  The woman said: "If you don't mind, come in and eat together, okay?"

  His mind went blank and he didn't know how he followed the woman into the brothel. It wasn't until after they entered that he came back to his senses, but he was somewhat at a loss, not knowing where to stand.

  Two children were standing by the stove, watching a pot of porridge on the rack. They looked up to see Jie Li coming in and seemed puzzled. The woman scolded the two children: "Don't you greet your uncle?" The children stood up and chorused: "Hello, Uncle Jie Li."

  Xie Li listened to this title, his heart was so happy that he didn't know what to do. He just kept saying: "How can I be worthy of this, how can I be worthy of this." He didn't know what to say, and hurriedly took the dried meat and fish over, wrapped them in dry grass, strung them on a wooden stick, and then put them on the fire to roast. He roasted them very carefully, and soon the fragrance filled the cave.

  After everything was ready, the man put the bacon and fish into a large wooden bowl handed over by the woman. The woman took out several more wooden bowls, filled them with porridge, brought out some flatbread, and the four of them sat down around the hearth to eat.

  The meat and fish were not touched by the adults, but the two children wolfed them down. In no time, they had eaten everything clean. Jiali took a bite of the pancake and drank some porridge, occasionally glancing at the two children who still looked unsatisfied and the woman with a happy face. He felt extremely comfortable in his heart, thinking that the pancake and porridge were the most delicious things he had ever tasted.

  Back in his own cave, he slept the most comfortable sleep since arriving at the White Wolf Mountain military camp. He had a dream that after busy days outside, he would return to the woman's cave every day, and four people would sit together eating all kinds of delicious food.

  The sound of the wooden whistle in the early morning will wake up Jie Li. After quickly putting on that Lu Longjun military uniform, Jie Li came out of the kiln cave to the edge of the school field. Soon, the school field was filled with soldiers standing neatly according to each team's formation. With the issuance of one order after another, these soldiers began to report numbers quickly:

  "One..."

  "Two..."

  Three...

  ……

  "Report, the first team is assembled!"

  "Report, the second team is assembled!"

  "Report, the third group is assembled!"

  ……

  "Report, all fifty members of the left squad are present, with fifty people actually present, and everyone is accounted for!"

  "Report, all 50 members of the right squad are present, with 50 people actually present, and everyone is accounted for!"

  ……

  "Report, all 100 personnel of Team A are present, all 100 have arrived, everyone is accounted for, awaiting further instructions!"

  "Report, all 100 personnel of Team B are present, all 100 are accounted for, everyone is here. Please give instructions!"

  "Report: 100 personnel are on duty in Bingdu, with 80 actually present and 20 absent due to being on patrol. Please instruct the commander to give orders!"

  ……

  Li Chengzhong stood on the reviewing platform, nodded and said loudly: "Attention! At ease!" He beckoned to Jie Li at the edge of the playground, who hurried over. Li Chengzhong then asked him to come up onto the platform, where he looked a bit embarrassed with a red face, standing beside Li Chengzhong.

  "From today on, I have invited an archery and riding instructor for you all, he is this Khitan warrior beside me, his name is Jiali, he will focus on teaching you archery and riding courses. I emphasize three points: first, respect your instructors, salute them with lower-level courtesy; second, seriously follow the instructor's requirements to train, do not pretend to obey; third, the instructor has the right to punish those who are lazy or underperforming during training. If anyone violates these rules, military law will be enforced! Now, give a military salute to your instructor!"

  At Li Chengzhong's command, more than 300 former soldiers stood at attention below the reviewing stand, their right fists clenched and held horizontally across their chests, their eyes fixed on the flag.

  Jie Li had never seen such a formation before, his face suddenly felt like it was being scorched by the intense sun. He hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand and made a fist in front of his chest, returning a military salute to the hundreds of people below the stage.