Gao Yanei muttered to himself as he walked out the door, but just as he reached the door he turned back.
"Why are you back again?" Zhang Shixun put his PDA in his arms and planned to go out.
"He Ji just came."
Zhang Shixun asked in surprise, "What is he doing here?"
"He also wants to come to the First Army and fight us."
"Can even Xuanzan, the minister of the cabinet, feel so lonely?"
Zhang Shixun admired He Ji. As the son of a high-ranking official, he did not have any of the bad habits that second-generation officials were prone to. He was much better than Gao Yanei, who was also a second-generation official.
"What's so good about being a ceremonial officer? If it were me, I would have left long ago."
"You didn't tell him that they were training here?"
"Tell him."
"So, he knows how hard it is to train soldiers?"
"Hehe! He'll know without him saying anything."
Zhang Shixun glanced at him and smiled, "It seems you didn't tell him how the drills are done here."
Gao Yanei smiled but didn't answer. "There's a problem that's hard to solve. If he comes to the First Army, what position should we assign him?"
"This question is not something I can decide. You should ask General Gao."
…
The first snow of the winter of the fifth year of Xuanhe was very heavy and it never stopped falling. The snow outside was so thick that it buried people up to their ankles.
In a warm room in a side hall of the imperial palace, a pot of charcoal fire was burning red, making the room warm.
"Third brother, has Zhang Shixun been training troops these days?" Zhao Ji sat listlessly on a chair with a thick cushion and asked Zhao Kai who was standing beside him.
"My father, he has been busy training the troops." Zhao Kai replied. He was wearing a fur coat and felt a little hot, so he wanted to take it off. He stretched out his hand and retracted it again.
"If you feel hot, just take it off." Zhao Ji said with a warm and kind expression on his face.
Zhao Kai took off his fur coat, and Liang Shicheng, who was standing next to him, took it attentively and handed it to a young eunuch.
"In such weather, with heavy snow falling, he didn't stop?" Zhao Ji glanced out the window, but could not see anything through the window paper.
"He lived and ate at the Tianwu Army all day, training the soldiers. He would beat drums before dawn and take the officers for a morning run..."
"Morning jog? What is this?" Zhao Ji was confused.
"That means running around the drill grounds with the troops. According to Zhang Shixun, morning jogging can improve...physical fitness, and it can also strengthen the soldiers' willpower."
"Hmm! That's all?"
"After my morning run, I'll take a short break, then have breakfast."
"Oh! There is breakfast." Zhao Ji was a little surprised.
In this era, most ordinary people ate two meals a day, and only wealthy families had three meals a day.
"Zhang Shixun said that the training was extremely exhausting and that the soldiers had to be ensured to have enough food. Otherwise, their bodies would not be able to cope. Therefore, they changed the two meals a day system to three meals a day."
Zhao Kai walked up behind his father, reached out to massage his shoulders, and said with a smile, "According to the report from the people I sent over, the soldiers are exhausted from the long day of training. They are in great pain. After a day of training, their bodies feel like they are falling apart. They lie down on the bed and fall asleep immediately."
"Besides morning jogging, what else does he train for?" Zhao Ji didn't care about the soldiers at all, he only focused on Zhang Shixun's training.
"After breakfast, we started practicing our standing posture on the playground..."
"Standing posture?"
"The so-called standing posture means standing in rows in the playground, chests held high and heads held high, motionless, for an hour or two."
"Just standing there and doing nothing?"
"Haha! Father, this is not easy. Someone fainted because they stood for too long."
"In the morning, we'll practice... military posture. What about in the afternoon?"
"Reporting to Father, we will be practicing marching in formation this afternoon. His requirements are very strict. The troops must be aligned and in step with each other. Even the degree to which their arms and legs can be raised is strictly limited. They cannot be too high or too low."
"This... is just a march in a line, is it necessary to be so strict?" Zhao Ji was a little puzzled and looked at Zhao Kai in confusion.
"Victory comes from unity, those are his exact words."
"oh!"
"Father, Zhang Shixun said these ruffians don't know how to stand or sit properly, they don't look like soldiers at all. According to him, a soldier should have an air of majesty, standing like a pine tree, sitting like a bell, and remaining calm even if Mount Tai collapses in front of them."
Liang Shicheng interjected, "Your Majesty, Zhang Shixun's words seem to come from my father's words."
He claimed to be Su Shi's illegitimate son, and he couldn't help but feel happy whenever people talked about the Su family.
"Oh! Tell me about it." Zhao Ji turned his gaze to Liang Shicheng.
"The way to be a general is to first control your mind. Even if Mount Tai collapses before you, your expression remains unchanged; even if a deer appears on your left, your eyes remain fixed. Only then can you control the advantages and disadvantages and face the enemy..."
"I see. It seems he has his own principles behind training his troops." Zhao Ji nodded and asked Zhao Kai, "Those bandits have always been lazy. Will they complain after being treated like this by Zhang Shixun?"
"Zhang Shixun was very smart. He didn't waste time talking to these soldiers. He gathered them together and let them read the heavenly book."
"What? Let them read the heavenly book?" Zhao Ji could no longer sit still when he heard this.
He believed that only he, the emperor, was qualified to read such a noble thing as the Heavenly Book, but Zhang Shixun was so casual as to show it to this group of soldiers.
"Zhang Shixun said that different people see different versions of the Heavenly Book. Even if it contains the same content, different people will interpret it differently." Zhao Kai saw his father's expression and explained with a smile, "All these soldiers saw were bloody scenes of war."
Zhao Ji waved his hand unhappily: "What exactly is Zhang Shixun's intention in doing this?"
Liang Shicheng said, "Sir, those roughnecks are unruly and difficult to control. Zhang Shixun is new here and has no foundation or prestige in the army. He may be trying to use the Heavenly Book to establish his authority in the Tianwu Army."
"I thought the Heavenly Book was meant for me alone, but it seems I was wrong." Zhao Ji sat back in his chair and said, "He first showed it to me, then to Gao Qiu. Now, even the soldiers have seen it. Is the Heavenly Book really that worthless?"
"There are more than just these people." Liang Shicheng stepped forward and said, "Kaifeng Prefecture has reported that Zhang Shixun entered Wuyou Cave alone, gathered all the thieves together, and showed them the Heavenly Book."
Zhao Ji frowned and said, "This Zhang Shixun! He's really incomprehensible."
Liang Shicheng said in a gloomy tone, "I don't know why Zhang Shixun is so concerned about Wuyou Cave. These people are the ones the imperial court wants to eliminate, but he secretly has an affair with them. It's really intriguing."
Zhao Ji said irritably, "I'll have Kaifeng Prefecture report the details later."
As an emperor, he is always uneasy about things that he cannot control.
Liang Shicheng agreed repeatedly, "I have already told Nie Shan that he will report the details of Zhang Shixun's secret entry into Wuyou Cave today."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com