Chapter 20
Helian Cheng checked the account book in his hand again and again to make sure that the name that was receiving a salary without working was stamped with his general's seal.
Being a soldier is a tough job, and guarding the border is even tougher. However, the Great Qi Dynasty only lasted for fifty-one years, yet three emperors rose and fell on the throne. Although all three emperors were considered to be politically astute, the border remained unstable, with frequent wars.
Foreign enemies and barbarians are stirring up trouble, so the border defenses must be strengthened and soldiers need to be conscripted. However, the country has only been unified for a short time, and the people have suffered from war and chaos for a long time. It is also time for the country to appease the people and allow them to recuperate.
Since forced conscription is not feasible, the country can only use various means such as increasing military pay, issuing enlistment bonuses on the spot, and increasing pensions to attract more people to join the army.
The Daqi army paid ordinary soldiers two taels of silver per month. The Northwest Army, being a border army with even harsher conditions, received higher pay, with ordinary soldiers receiving about three and a half taels of silver.
It should be noted that the annual income of an ordinary family is only a dozen or twenty taels of silver, while soldiers live and eat in the barracks, with a low cost of living. Their military pay is essentially pure income, which can be considered a very high salary.
This approach is indeed feasible. Since its implementation, Daqi has never lacked soldiers, although the national finances have been under great pressure.
The emperor, who strongly advocated for the implementation of this policy, even subsidized his private treasury with the money. He has been living a very frugal life for the past few years, constantly watching the heads of his ministers to see if he can catch any corrupt officials and squeeze some money out of them.
Helian Cheng was the emperor's trusted and beloved general, and one of the advocates for implementing the policy back then. He knew the situation best and was deeply affected by it. This great general, born into a prestigious family, was stingy all the time, and even created an attendance sheet to distribute military pay according to the sheet.
He knew exactly where every copper coin in the Northwest Army went, if not by word of mouth.
The monthly salary was three and a half taels of silver, but the accounts only showed fifty copper coins spent. It was truly shameful to say that this was a salary for no work, and it really seemed like the quartermaster had made a mistake in the accounts.
But the attendance rate is too low! He personally supervises the daily training of his personal guards and has never slacked off... so it can only be the new recruits who just arrived.
“Long Aotian…” Helian Cheng chewed on the name repeatedly, but no related impression came to mind. His brows furrowed deeply, and he said with absolute certainty, “There is no such name in my army.”
Helian Cheng remembered the name of every soldier under his command, and he was quite certain that there was no such person in his direct army.
Helian Cheng had someone check again, and sure enough, no such person could be found.
"Is it really just fifty coins for nothing? How cowardly!" Helian Cheng instructed the quartermaster to pretend he didn't know anything about it for the time being, and to wait until the cowardly greedy man behind him lowered his guard before striking again.
Helian Cheng still had doubts in his heart. He didn't know what he was thinking when he issued the order for roll call and sign-in before training to the recruit camp.
For several days afterward, Helian Cheng saw "Long Aotian's" name on the roster. Sometimes it was morning training, sometimes night training, sometimes combat training... In short, he would appear once a day to participate in different training sessions. The only thing in common was that these training sessions were all basic versions suitable for new recruits.
Helian Cheng was determined to catch this ghostly fellow. Just then, the new recruits were about to be inspected and assigned to their battalions. Helian Cheng, unusually, attended the new recruit competition and got to know each of the greenhorns very well. He even prepared pen and ink to record their strengths and weaknesses.
This time-consuming and laborious effort yielded fruitful results. He selected many promising talents from the new recruits, one of whom was even a rare leader. He took him under his wing and personally trained him, treating him like a half-apprentice.
Helian Cheng was certain that he had not heard of or seen Long Aotian during the recruit competition, but a strange thing happened: the name of this person appeared in his notebook.
Below Long Aotian's name, a full page of comments was written in sharp, knife-like strokes:
"His fighting posture is standard, his basic skills are solid, but his strength is insufficient. He is thin and still young, so he needs to eat more and gain weight."
Calm and collected, when faced with danger, the body instinctively dodges with incredible speed and unconventional movements. Possessing exceptional physical attributes but lacking training, the individual should undergo extreme development to maximize their physical potential.
They don't take the initiative to attack; they only make their move after the opponent has made a move. They are good at analysis, can learn and apply their opponent's moves, and like to plan carefully before acting. They have little combat experience and can't react when they encounter unconventional opponents.
Increased physical training and combat training... those deemed excellent will remain in camp without further assignment, and will be personally instructed by Helian Cheng.
Helian Cheng looked at the densely packed words, which were entirely his own handwriting, and felt a chill run down his spine.
After the new recruits were assigned to their respective camps, the quartermaster would distribute the corresponding military supplies, such as armor and weapons. Helian Cheng opened the military supply ledger and, sure enough, saw Long Aotian's name, stamped with his general's seal next to it.
Helian Cheng froze completely.
That evening, Helian Cheng stepped into the physician's office. Amidst the astonished gazes of the wounded soldiers, he said somewhat absentmindedly to the physician, "Doctor, one of my subordinates seems to have a health problem."
"His body does things without his knowledge, like training a new recruit, but after several investigations, I found that such a person doesn't exist. So where did the fifty coins and rattan armor I gave him go? Can we get them back?"
Physician: "...The problem now is not whether we can get back the fifty coins and the rattan armor, but your illness!"
Helian Cheng looked at him with a sudden realization, "Doctor, is there any hope for my subordinate?"
*
Xue Jin'an initially started using the fitness app every day purely out of a compulsive behavior related to the life of code. Once the program started running, it would continue running without hesitation, even if it was a bug, unless there was a power outage or a virus infection, until the program was forcibly stopped.
This is the rectum of a code-based being.
There are many military training videos in Helian City. Xue Jin'an only needs to watch each video once. All the movement data is imported into his mind. He can input the name of the movement in his mind and his body will immediately perform it, ensuring that it is standard and without any mistakes.
Even so, Xue Jin'an watches a new video every day, and has only watched less than half of the basic episodes so far, which is enough to show how rich Helian Cheng's video content is.
However, it will probably only take him one or two years to finish reading it all. Once Xue Jin'an has finished reading it and Helian Cheng has no new content, he probably won't use the software anymore, just like with learning software.
Xue Jin'an never quits watching videos halfway through. When he took online classes on learning software before, even if he felt that he already knew everything Cen Fuzi was saying and it was a bit boring, he would just minimize the page and dawdle in the background. He would even complete and submit his homework properly.
At the same time, Xue Jin'an would not repeat what he already knew, such as Master Cen's lectures on classics and the lectures on the Book of Rites that Master Cen taught on his behalf.
The learning software released the class schedule for the study room. Generally, only the teacher changed, not the class. Xue Jin'an always chose a new class time to go up and learn new textbooks.
Therefore, Master Cen, who vaguely guessed something, tentatively assigned homework again in class. He returned to the Taoist temple in a hurry and waited all night. The yellow paper on the table was flat and clean, without any stiff and neat handwriting.
"Could it be that my lessons are too easy and he can't get interested?" Master Cen decided to try controlling the variables.
So, when it was time for another lesson by Master Cen, the princes and their companions in the study stared wide-eyed, only to be horrified to find that they seemed to have become stupid and could no longer understand what the master was saying!
Once this news reached the inner palace, it immediately attracted the keen attention of the parents. That night, the princes' quarters were brightly lit, and the princes stayed up late studying. Even the fourth and fifth princes, who had asked for leave for many days, were dragged out by their mothers.
Yihe Palace
The fourth prince closed his eyes and then opened them again. "Mother, I really can't watch anymore. I'm so sleepy."
Consort Zhen twirled her prayer beads, her tone extremely gentle: "Since you'll have nightmares and wake up in your sleep anyway, you might as well read more books. Perhaps a sea of books in your dreams won't be so scary."
The fourth prince, who had absolutely no interest in reading, was filled with terror, his sleepiness vanishing instantly: "..." No, Mother, this is even more terrifying!
Hanxiang Courtyard
Hongling had someone help the Fifth Prince up from the bed, and stood steadily to the side with a cup of refreshing tea. "Your Highness, the Empress says that reading makes one wise and reasonable. If you take a closer look, you will surely understand her good intentions."
The Fifth Prince gave a forced laugh, his eyes blatantly mocking, and his words were even more cutting than usual, "What's gotten into her this time?"
Hongling was not surprised by his attitude. She just sighed and said meekly, "Your Highness, please don't make things difficult for me."
The Fifth Prince had a gloomy face. He was in a bad mood and didn't want to say much. He also knew that Hong Ling was nominally his person, but in reality she only obeyed his mother. There was no point in arguing with her, so he simply kept quiet.
However, silence did not mean compromise. The Fifth Prince did not even look at the books on the table. He reached under his pillow and picked up the book whose title seemed suspicious.
The others serving in the room blushed and looked away as they saw the embarrassing pictures on the book cover. Hongling paused slightly, then stood quietly to the side with a stern face, watching without any change in expression.
Anyway, he only said he was reading, but didn't say what kind of books. Ha. The Fifth Prince sneered inwardly.
The princes in the palace are engaged in a frenzied struggle, whether consciously or unconsciously, while the culprit is sleeping soundly tonight.
Inside the Taoist temple, Master Cen, still without receiving his homework, furrowed his brow in frustration, utterly perplexed: "Could it be that the homework isn't difficult enough?"
"No, absolutely not!" Yuansheng interrupted his master's terrifying statement with a sharp and stern tone. He was now also a member of the Imperial Study, and he also had to do his homework! So no matter what, it had to be no.
Yuansheng, who was in charge of infiltrating the princes and princesses, also made no progress. He couldn't help but suggest a possibility: "Could it be that the person wasn't even in the Imperial Study? Or just happened to attend a class once?"
Yuan Sheng guessed the correct answer without even realizing it. Master Cen frowned and pondered for a moment before deciding to take the shortcut and burn some paper money to ask.
—Even though the other party insisted that they were not dead and that there was no need to burn paper money.
But, isn't this just asking a question? Burning paper money when you need something is perfectly fine. Master Cen thought confidently.
Then, starting from this point, Master Cen, who was always busy, opened a new door to communication and began the habit of burning paper money for Xue Jin'an whenever he had something to say.
Xue Jin'an did not answer Cen Fuzi's secretive questions about his identity. He was no longer the cell phone he used to be; he was now a human-machine equipped with skills such as "lying through his teeth, spouting nonsense, and taking advantage of your weakness."
Xue Jin'an pretended not to notice his problem, simply glanced at today's homework questions, and submitted it in a second.
Just as Xue Jin'an's daily routine was settling down, the Fifth Prince reappeared, bringing with him a murder weapon.
It was a longsword, made of fine iron, with a lotus flower engraved on the hilt; it was no ordinary weapon.
"Do you like it?" The Fifth Prince remained seated on the wall, his face still pale, looking as if he had just recovered from a serious illness.
He pulled a sheet of paper from his sleeve, raised his chin, and smiled maliciously. "Seventh Brother, I've written down all the outstanding qualities of our older and younger brothers. Today is the assessment at the Imperial Study. How about I take you there for a bit of fun?"
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