"Everyone assemble!"

Just past the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), within the Imperial Guard Camp, a loud shout from the instructors of the Imperial Guards immediately ignited the sound of drums.

"Knock knock knock"

The sound of drums startled the sleeping boys awake.

"Aman, get up now! The instructor has called for assembly!"

As the drums sounded, Yuan Shao immediately opened his eyes, nudged Cao Cao beside him, and Cao Cao jumped up and began to dress.

Yuan Shao then began calling for the other people in his dormitory to get up and assemble.

Of course, many others didn't take it seriously, turned over, and went back to sleep.

Soon, the scattered trainees began to gather at the training ground.

The Imperial Guards in charge of training showed no change in expression. It was the same when the Emperor first trained them, which is why they suffered a lot.

But today, it's their turn to teach others a lesson. Thinking that they have finally turned the tables and become the masters, all the Imperial Guards smiled in unison.

Then the group leaders began to take attendance. A total of 5,000 people were present, and 3,500 were absent.

All the group leaders began heading to the dormitories to find their absent group members.

In the third dormitory group, Yu Linlang, who was in charge of this group, saw Wen Chou still fast asleep and went over to kick his bed board.

"Wen Chou? Have you had enough sleep?"

"Who is it? Don't disturb my sleep."

Wen Chou scratched the back of his ear, turned his head away, and continued sleeping.

The Imperial Guard scoffed, then shouted, "Hmph, if you want to leave the Imperial Guard, then keep sleeping. I will report to the Emperor and let you sleep as much as you want!"

Wen Chou jolted awake, immediately rolled over, grabbed his clothes, and chuckled as he put them on, "No, no, no, team leader, I'll get up, I'll get up right away."

The others quickly got up and dressed. They had finally managed to get into the Imperial Guard and swore allegiance yesterday, only to be expelled on the first day of training. Wouldn't they be laughed at?

No one doubted their respective team leaders' words, because they were people close to the emperor, and it would be very easy for them to deal with themselves.

Soon, 1,500 late or absent students were gathered in front of everyone.

"Anyone who is late will have one point deducted!"

Upon hearing of such a punishment, the faces of the late trainees immediately turned quite grim.

Liu Hong adopted a point system for managing the Imperial Guard. Each person started with 20 points, and those who performed well gained points while those who performed poorly lost points. Those who fell below 10 points would be expelled from the Imperial Guard. Statistics and rankings were conducted every month.

In other words, they only have ten chances to make a mistake.

A group of teenagers are at an age where they are naturally competitive; how many of them would be willing to fall behind others?

After the group leaders finished their tally, Wang Yue, the bishop, appeared before everyone and announced, "The first one hundred people to attend this gathering will each receive one point."

The other students who shared a dormitory with Yuan Shao also looked at him with gratitude. If it weren't for Yuan Shao looking after them, they probably wouldn't have been able to get up so early.

"His Majesty once said that young people should study diligently and strengthen their bodies. Now that you are all His Majesty's students, you should take His Majesty's words as your first principle!"

After everyone returned to the team, Wang Yue quoted Liu Hong and demanded that they train according to the emperor's requirements at all times, to which everyone complied.

Then all the boys began running training according to their assigned groups.

"One, two, one, two."

The next morning, many people had just gotten up when they heard a series of orderly shouts, which drew their attention.

Only then did they realize that it was actually the Imperial Guard boys running back and forth around the city.

The residents, who had lived in the city for a long time, had never seen anything like this before, and they all came out of their homes to watch.

After running for about an hour, everyone returned to the Imperial Guard Training Ground, panting, and gathered in front of their respective mess halls.

Because there were too many people, one canteen was not enough to accommodate them, so Liu Hong ordered the construction of ten canteens, one for each of the five groups.

"Alright! Now everyone, line up in groups and go into the cafeteria for your meal!"

So, led by their group leaders, the boys headed towards the canteen. They had been running for an hour early in the morning, and everyone was starving.

"Each of you choose your own spot. Once you've chosen, don't move or change positions. Don't touch your bowls or chopsticks without my permission, understand?"

"clear!"

After getting their food, everyone chose their seats and sat up straight as instructed by the group leader.

"Alright! Let's eat!"

After inspecting the area, the team leader nodded in satisfaction.

In the following days, the boys ran every morning, stood at attention after meals, and in the afternoon, Wang Yue, Huang Zhong, Zhu Jun and Xu Rong came to instruct them in physical skills, archery and military strategy.

In the evenings, Xi Zhicai, Tian Feng, and others would come to give these people political education, emphasizing the importance of discipline and obedience, which increased the teenagers' sense of collective honor. Moreover, Liu Hong also mixed in some aggressive ideas and remarks.

Although the daily training was very tough, it was also quite fulfilling. After a period of time, everyone felt that they had made significant progress.

Not only that, Liu Hong also created a group competition ranking system! It was updated monthly, and for a time everyone was focused on the top spot, training even harder.

And so, these teenagers endured the pain and pleasure of their daily military training.

In the Chongde Hall, Liu Hong looked at the letter that Mo Shang had handed to him through the Yangqiu.

After reading it, Liu Hong put the letter away and looked at Wang Yue beside him: "Master Wang, do you know this Mo Shang?"

This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!