Chapter 72: Writing Books and Establishing Theories for Education (Part 1)

  On the day when Zhou Wenbo appointed the middle and high-level leaders of the Hu Fu Army, Zhou Wenbo finally freed up his hands and handed over all the affairs in the army to Liu Meng, Li Mutang and Hua Qing. He then began to handle some things that had been scheduled on his calendar but had not had time to execute.

  Zhou Wenbo, led by the people under Zhao Guogong's mansion, rode horses to all the lands under the name of Zhao Guogong's mansion, and recorded the location and area of the wasteland in his heart. He then personally went out and finally purchased more than a dozen large pigs from Yiyang County, starting to prepare a good meal for the soldiers in the Rutiger Army.

  The next day, Li Mutang officially took office and began to train more than 1,200 qualified soldiers of the Hu Tiger Army, starting with teaching them array methods. Later, there will be different types of soldier training such as knife shield hand, long gun hand, bow and arrow hand, cavalry, etc., which are naturally the places where Zhou Wenbo is lacking and weak.

  Zhou Wenbo had just established his authority in front of the new recruits, and naturally didn't want to go up there and lose face in front of everyone. He chose to pretend to be inspecting while secretly learning, and verifying what he learned from the military books one by one.

  Although Zhou Wenbo himself did not personally train with the soldiers, because he had eaten the magical pine nuts that belonged to Tiancai Dibao, he grasped physical training extremely quickly. Even if he couldn't grasp it on the spot, he could practice privately in a small school field and get it down pat.

  Just on the eve of Li Mutang and others taking office, at noon, a group of new recruits were training hard when a strong fragrance wafted from the kitchen to the drill ground.

  Although many people did not know how long they had not eaten meat, the strong fragrance made everyone immediately recognize that it was the smell of meat.

  The new recruits had been here for many days, and although they could eat their fill every day, they had never seen any oil or water. Now that they smelled the aroma of meat, they really couldn't help themselves, constantly turning their heads in the direction of the cafeteria, and some even started to drool heavily, with some greedy ones already swallowing their saliva.

  Zhou Wenbo was going to let these new recruits who had never seen the world before have a taste of it.

  Earlier, when Zhou Wenbo went to the cafeteria for inspection, he was surprised to find that in this era, although chili peppers were not yet available, common seasonings such as scallions, ginger, garlic and cassia had already been widely used in China.

  In this era, there were not many people raising pigs, because people could hardly get enough to eat, and even the dishwashing water had no nutritional value. As a result, Zhou Wenbo had to exert great effort and mobilize the power of the national duke to collect more than ten large pigs in just one day. However, these big pigs were far less plump than their counterparts in later generations, each one being thin and running extremely fast.

  In this era, people generally believed that pork was unpalatable and scarce, and Zhou Wenbo could not possibly go slaughter cattle or sheep, so he decided to use the culinary methods of later generations to deal with these pigs, so as to make delicious dishes for the new recruits.

  To get everything done perfectly, Zhou Wenbo even ordered people to take out a large quantity of wheat from the granary of the Zhao State Duke's mansion, and had it freshly milled into white flour. The master chefs then spent the whole morning kneading the dough and steaming the buns.

  Zhou Wenbo guided the chef in the cafeteria on how to handle the pork. Some of it was used for stir-frying, specifically for a dish called "stir-fried cabbage and pork". The pig's head could be made into a dish called "braised pig's head", while the ribs could be stewed with radish.

  The most crucial five-flower pork is placed in the pot, paired with high soup, cooking wine, salt, cinnamon, ginger slices, star anise, and peppercorns. The pork is thoroughly simmered until it's soft and tender, while a thin pancake is tied to the bottom of the pan and fried on both sides, finally completing a delicious dish of meat-filled buns.

  Zhou Wenbo had a strong liking for roujiamo since his previous life. He once asked the vendor about all the details, and although he didn't have the chance to make it himself, he memorized the entire process. The aroma that wafted onto the school grounds earlier was the savory smell of pork cooked with spices.

  Zhou Wenbo picked up a meat pie handed over by the master, carefully took a bite, and this familiar flavor instantly moved Zhou Wenbo. Unexpectedly, after crossing thousands of years, he could still have a day to eat meat pies.

  A group of soldiers absent-mindedly endured until mealtime, the queuing habit that had been cultivated for many days was completely abandoned due to the delicious meat aroma, and countless people rushed to the place where they were served.

  Standing right in the back kitchen, Zhou Wenbo personally saw Song Tianbiao and his disciples bravely taking the lead. In the midst of you fighting me, relying on their martial arts skills and unity, they rushed to the front row, one by one stretching out their arms to hand over the large ceramic bowls in their hands to the face of the rice-serving master, just like starving ghosts reincarnated.

  This meal placed in front of Zhou Wenbo is considered a delicacy, and for the new recruits who were struggling between life and death just before, it's unimaginable how delicious this tastes. Even about half of them are eating meat for the first time in their lives...

  By that afternoon, Zhou Wenbo had organized all the new recruits again, running for over ten miles to a deserted land under the name of Zhao Guogong Fu.

  Nowadays this place is ruled by a bitterly cold winter, and hardly any green can be seen.

  However, all the new recruits can be said to have initially been listening to the recruiting knights shouting slogans about dividing land, and had made up their minds to come in order to obtain their own land. Now that they have been treated like this by Duke Zhao of Jin, how could they not understand the duke's intention?

  "After next year's spring, I will organize everyone to open up the wasteland and plant seeds together. You will get land under your own name that can be passed down from generation to generation!"

  Zhou Wenbo raised his voice and shouted at the neat rows of new recruits in front of him, "Look at this land!

  "Long live the Duke! Long live! Long long live!" Suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted out this sentence.

  Everyone was stunned for a moment, as if someone had choked their throat.

  Such a sudden shout was completely beyond Zhou Wenbo's expectation. He hadn't even had time to react when someone loudly shouted out, "Long live the Duke! Long live! Long long live!"

  Zhou Wenbo heard it clearly this time, and the one who shouted out for the second time was actually Li Mutang!

  It was as if they had received a hint, and the new commander of the Milk Tiger Army led by the second battalion commander shouted together, more than 1,000 Milk Tiger soldiers raised their tightly clenched fists high, shouting loudly along with them. The sound grew higher and higher, more and more uniform, passing through the fields, passing through the valleys, all the way to the farthest point where the sky and earth meet...

  "What nonsense! They're just a bunch of illiterate peasants, and you, an educated person, are shouting along with them until your voice is hoarse. Isn't this a case of having no ruler or father?"

  Zhou Wenbo was pacing back and forth in the commander's tent, criticizing the newly appointed Xuanjie Colonel, Duan Shichen.

  It was already a bright moonlit night with sparse stars, and all the new recruits had fallen asleep.

  "Your Excellency, the morale of the troops is like this, you should be delighted! De Ran has also read a lot of poetry and books, but he has never heard of anyone governing the army like Ji Yu. It can be said that my parents gave birth to me, and the Duke raised me. Now that things have come to this point, if we need soldiers to fight on the battlefield, who dares not die for it?" Duan Shichen's face was now filled with excitement, as if he had also been stunned by Zhou Wenbo's combination of punches.

  "De Ran, I called you here tonight because I have an important task to entrust to you." Zhou Wenbo was very satisfied with the effect of his efforts deep down in his heart, but he didn't want to say any more and changed the subject instead.

  "I don't know what orders the Duke has, but if it's within my power, I won't shirk." Duan Shichen immediately became serious when he heard that Zhou Wenbo had something to entrust him with.

  "Take a look at these two books?" Zhou Wenbo handed over the two blue leather-bound books that had been recently copied.

  "Men at their birth are naturally good. Their natures are similar, and their habits make them different..."

  Duan Shichen was not very concerned at first, but the more he read, the more serious he became, the more excited he got, and finally, as if no one was around, he turned over page after page with great force, reading on for a long time, until he reached the last sentence: "Diligence has rewards, playfulness has none. Take heed, strive to do better."

  This is naturally Zhou Wenbo's revised version of "Three Character Classic", deleting the parts and characters that had not appeared in history, and revising it.

  "Li Zhou Chen Fu, Qian Sun Zhang Wang, Zhao Meng Guo Ma, Liu Shi Gao Tang..."

  This is actually the Baizongshu altered by Zhou Wenbo.

  Now it is the world of Later Tang, and the emperor's surname is Li. This Li surname naturally should be placed first, as for the second one, Zhou Wenbo unhesitatingly put his own surname closely after the Li surname.

  The surnames that follow are also arranged according to the surnames of the current nobles in the court, and the first sixteen surnames almost cover all the big figures in the power arena of the Later Tang regime.