Ding Youtian was a wine lover, and Jian Ning had always been strict with him. Normally, he was only allowed to drink a little at night after meals. But if he could find a reason to drink to his heart's content, how could he let it go?
He had no intention of leaving at all.
He turned sideways, suppressing his laughter, and nodded his chin towards the charcoal basin at Blind Liu's feet. "Disciple, go help Madam light the fire and burn some red charcoal while you're at it."
That night, despite heavy snow outside, the cabin was warm and cozy. Ding Youtian and Blind Liu sat opposite each other in front of a glowing charcoal fire, their food and wine placed on a small square table on the brazier. As they drank, Blind Liu gradually became interested and pointed his chopsticks at Ding Youtian.
"Nowadays, every household in the city is making ginkgo paste, and the people no longer have to worry about food and drink. Do you have any other plans?"
Ding Youtian was stunned for a moment, then said, "Master, please give me some advice."
Blind Liu snorted, "Including the bailiffs you recently recruited, there are less than twenty of them altogether. With the number of people in the city increasing day by day, haven't you ever considered increasing the number of bailiffs to fifty or sixty by having one bailiff per household?"
"I have thought about it, but since we have established a county school, most people hope their children will take the imperial examinations. If they become yamen runners, their children will not be able to enter the government in the future. Therefore, some young and strong people are unwilling to become yamen runners and constables, and I don't want to force them to do so."
"Even if you don't want to be a constable, you can still be a hanger-on. Every constable can have three or four hangers-on. If the hangers-on don't want to be, they can be assigned to the escort team. Buy more horses. There are more skilled riders and archers in the north than in other provinces and counties. The two northerners you have are good. Let them train diligently. If you don't plan for the future, you will have immediate worries!"
Ding Youtian's heart skipped a beat. This meant he had a personal guard for his entire term. Danyang was a large county in the past, and the maximum number of yamen runners and constables could be sixty. With four hangers-on for each, that would be a guard of three hundred. Add in the escort team, and the total would be over three hundred.
He touched his nose, a look of joy filling his eyes. Before the Great Banquet, the city defense troops of each county and prefecture were under the control of the county magistrate and prefect. In the event of unrest, the county magistrate and prefect could order the city defense troops to change their flags with a single order. Therefore, during the Great Banquet, the regulations were changed. To mobilize the city defense troops of a county or prefecture, the county magistrate and the governor, or the prefect and the governor, had to work together.
This team of more than 300 people was completely under the control of him, the county magistrate, and was within the scope permitted by the laws of the Dayan Dynasty. He now knew that wisdom and force were equally important. Jian Ning relied on his fists to intimidate his family.
Although this guard is not his personal permanent property, unlike the princes' soldiers who belong to their own private property, once he is transferred to this guard, it will no longer belong to him, but having this guard will make his work much more convenient during his tenure here.
For example, if Prince Yong's men sneak into Danyang this time, he no longer needs to cooperate with Shouzheng to mobilize the city defense soldiers to secretly monitor and track them. He only needs to order his own guards to secretly follow them, and all details need to be reported to him alone.
"Master, I thank you very much. Tomorrow I will give the order to Brother Tong and Xu Dali to start this matter."
Blind Liu glanced at him and rolled his eyes, but said nothing.
Ding Youtian became more and more excited the more he drank, but Blind Liu's interest seemed to fade, his face gradually becoming colder, and he ignored Ding Youtian, which made Ding Youtian a little confused. "Master, please stop playing dumb with your disciple. Why are you so unhappy when there's nothing wrong? If I've done something wrong and you deserve a scolding or a beating, I won't hesitate."
"I can't explain this to you, old blind man. Get out of here!"
Ding Youtian was inexplicably expelled, and he thought there must be a reason. He went back to his room and lay on the bed after drinking. Before he knew it, his consciousness became heavy, but he was still thinking about it and even his dreams were restless. When he woke up, he put on a cotton robe and leaned on the bed, recalling what happened last night.
As he was thinking... he suddenly slapped his forehead, hurriedly put on his clothes and got out of bed. He opened the door and saw Jian Ning using a single meteor hammer in the yard, with Tong Bajin and Erlangzi watching on the side.
It snowed all night last night, and Tong Bajin and Erlang had gotten up early and cleared the snow from the center of the yard. After their fight, they came over to see Jian Ning holding a cloth meteor hammer and explaining the three basic elements of the hammer to Sanniu: swing, wrap, and release.
Erniu likes to wield swords. The two wooden swords in her hands were carved for her by Tong Bajin. Sanniu likes meteor hammers, but she can't swing the hammer yet, so Jian Ning made a meteor hammer for her with a ball of rags.
Tong Bajin and Erlangzi both knew how to use hammers, and they wanted to see Jian Ning's hammer techniques. Jian Ning didn't refuse, so she asked Erniu and Sanniu to step aside and practiced the meteor hammer techniques with them.
Every move of Jian Ning's meteor hammer was taught by her master, and most of them were created by her master himself. When she danced quickly, it was like a violent storm, a flying tiger with wings, and a dragon crossing the sea. Her move of "Jade Girl Shuttle" drew cheers from the two of them.
Erniu and Sanniu also jumped up and cheered.
Blind Liu was meditating in the room when he heard some noise outside. He slowly exhaled, stood up and opened the door. He happened to see Jian Ning using a move created by her master, called Dark Clouds Pressing Down. Blind Liu's eyes darkened when he saw this.
He closed the door, turned around and walked a few steps in the room, then paused and turned his head to look outside the window where Jian Ning was standing.
Although he had never asked Jian Ning or Ding Youtian, he knew Jian Ning came from another world, and he had suspected that his master had actually traveled to another time and space. Jian Ning's chess style was similar to his, and he was slightly better than him. He had suspected that Jian Ning was his master's apprentice in another world.
However, the similarity of chess moves alone was not enough for him to make a conclusion. Besides, his master only accepted orphans as disciples and never accepted orphaned girls. It was not surprising that there were people with superb chess skills in other worlds, so he dispelled his doubts.
Now that he saw Jian Ning using the Dark Cloud Pressing Move created by his master, his heart began to churn. No matter how talented someone was in another world, it would be impossible for him to be so clever as to create the same move, right?
In the guest room, Mother Li and several servants from the Qin Mansion also got up. After Ding Youtian took people to the kitchen to make breakfast, she waved to Jian Ning, indicating her to go back to the room.
"Do you have something to talk to me about? If it's not urgent, let's talk about it later. It would be bad to let Mother Li help us make breakfast." Jian Ning said at the door without entering the house.
Ding Youtian thought about it and raised his chin: "Okay, you go ahead, I'm fine, I just want to ask what to make for breakfast."
"Are you sick?" Jian Ning rolled her eyes at him. "Just cook and eat whatever you want. Don't you just waste time? Don't you make me hate you?"
Ding Youtian chuckled. He had originally thought of asking Jian Ning to send a message to Ma Fuquan, asking Ma Fuquan to tell Huo Jincheng to buy more good horses and send them to the Xishan camp so that the soldiers could practice riding and shooting and prepare for war.
Because he had suddenly realized why his master came to Danyang earlier in the day. He must have seen through Pei Xiyuan's ambitions, and it was possible that his master had escaped from the Moon Kingdom. Although his master had let go of his worries, he was unwilling to intervene in the affairs of the court again. However, he could not just leave it alone, so he could only enlighten his disciple.
After breakfast, he specifically said hello to Blind Liu, "Master, I'm going to write a letter to Huo Jincheng, so I won't be accompanying you."
Blind Liu glanced at him and waved his hand, "Go away."
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