Ma Ming smiled nonchalantly and said, "I came here with the Crown Prince to fight, so naturally I will stay in the military camp."
Xu Di is a very cheerful person and is very good at dealing with people. In this respect, Xu Di is much better than his parents. Originally, Xu Di's eldest uncle, who was in charge of the Xu family, wanted Xu Di to join the army after graduating from college. Xu Di was not very willing. He felt that he still needed to explore more unknown knowledge. However, he would go back to train whenever he had time. As a result, he became good friends with many people in the army who were older than him for many years.
When Xu Di spoke with several people, he was able to take care of everyone present. Whether it was the young He Ergou and Zhou Mingde, or he was talking to Ma Ming about secrecy, or even talking to Zhou Tianrui about poetry and songs, or talking to He Ergou and Zhou Mingde about farming, he spoke in a well-organized and meaningful manner.
The conversation flowed so smoothly that time seemed to fly by. When Qingmiao came over to ask if it was lunchtime, everyone was surprised to realize that it was already lunchtime.
After lunch, Ma Ming left with his men. Xu Di always took a nap whenever he had time, and he fell asleep on the kang (a heated brick bed) sometime during the day.
Ma Ming led a few people toward the military camp. He Ergou said, "I really didn't expect Young Master Xu to be so easy to talk to, and their food is delicious too."
Chen Tianrui said with a smile, "We came here with Brother Ma to ask him some questions, not just for this meal."
Zhou Mingde said, "I heard that Young Master Xu comes from a noble family, Brother Ma. Are all people from aristocratic families like this? I've heard that many young masters are spoiled brats."
Ma Ming said, "Not everyone is like the Crown Prince and the Young Master, and not everyone is a playboy. I've been out of the capital for too long, and I don't even know what people are like now."
He Ergou said, "I wonder when I'll be able to go to the capital to take a look. I heard that the walls of the capital are even higher than the walls of our Yanmen Pass."
Chen Tianrui said, "The capital is not a place you can just go to whenever you want. Not to mention our border troops, who can just go to the capital whenever they want?"
Ma Ming said, "Train hard and strive to achieve military merit. Then you will receive an imperial decree to go to the capital."
He Ergou said longingly, "The capital city... Once I have military merits and am appointed a general by His Majesty the Emperor, I must ask for an imperial decree for my mother."
Zhou Mingde said, "Who wouldn't want to? But it's not that easy. We're both late and haven't been on the battlefield yet. We don't even know if we'll come back alive if we do."
It's nearly 20 li (about 10 kilometers) from Hexi County to the Yanmen Pass military camp. The road is a smooth gravel road, and in some places it's even paved with bluestone slabs.
The four of them walked towards the barracks along the road they had walked many times. The sun was warm, making them feel cozy. Hearing Zhou Mingde's words, Ma Ming said, "When we were training, Young Master Xu said something that meant the more you sweat in training, the less you will bleed in war. Although you two haven't been on the battlefield, you have some basic skills. Train hard and don't give up just because the training is too boring. If you train well, you will eventually be able to come back from the battlefield safely."
He Ergou nodded and said, "Brother Ma, I'll listen to you. From now on, I'll train however you want, and I promise I won't be afraid of hardship or fatigue."
Xu Di rested for two days before he could recover from the exhaustion. He said to Zhang Zhaoci, "My body is too weak. I need to pay more attention to training in the future. Also, I need to have Xiao Jiu train with me. I don't expect her to become a master, but at least she needs to be in good health."
Zhang Zhaoci said, "Of course. Do you want me to hire a martial arts instructor for you?"
Xu Di said, "No need, I can train Xiao Jiu myself. Aren't my skills good? They are the culmination of countless predecessors."
And so, Xu Zhi now has one more thing to do: every morning before dawn, she has to get up and follow her brother Xu Di, warm up, run a few laps around the yard, and then start practicing horse stance and martial arts.
Xu Zhi studied very diligently. She understood very well that once she learned these things, they would stay with her for life, and could even be her means of survival. Even if she didn't encounter any danger in the future, having a strong body would always be beneficial.
Xu Di hadn't expected that his soft, white-faced younger sister would stick with him. Even when he had to stay overnight at the estate and couldn't go back, Xu Zhi would get up early in the morning to exercise properly, which made the Xu family of three look at this pampered girl with new respect.
After returning from the mountain, some time passed. After a snowfall, Wei Lang and Xu Di led their men up the mountain again without warning. This time, it was for real training.
Wei Lang told the others in the camp that he was taking some men into the mountains to hunt and see if they could bring back some game to improve their meals. As for Xu Di, he was still secretly taken into the mountains by Wei Lang. In many people's eyes, this eldest son of the Xu family was not a particularly outstanding person. It was said that he had been studying diligently at home and was going to take the imperial examination in the future. However, he had not even passed the preliminary examination, so he was probably not a particularly brilliant person. People whispered behind his back that Magistrate Xu was a lucky person, and that he had passed the imperial examination and become the only outstanding person in the Xu family. The other sons of the Xu family were no longer up to par.
Xu Di trained at home for a few days and felt much better. The only problem was that he wasn't tall enough and lacked strength. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to defeat Wei Lang's group of men, except for those few who had been involved in the underworld.
Xu Di explained the military boxing in detail. At first, everyone thought it was just ordinary boxing and kicking, but as they practiced, they realized it was not that simple. The movements looked simple, but when you actually did them, they were really powerful.
Xu Di listed all the training programs he had received in the special forces, discussed them with Wei Lang, and then formulated a detailed training plan. The soldiers trained according to the plan for several days. During breaks, he gave lectures on tactics and military strategy, which the soldiers loved. Xu Di didn't just give dry lectures; he interspersed them with military history stories. After the lectures, he had everyone conduct group discussions and even made a large sand table so that everyone could recreate those battles on it.
After watching these training sessions, Wei Lang was itching to implement them throughout the entire army. He wanted to promote such training methods throughout the camps. These methods were novel, unique, and captivating, and they could also select talented individuals with military abilities from among the many soldiers.
Xu Di was unsure whether Wei Lang's ideas were acceptable or not. They were all things beneficial to his country, and if he wanted to promote them, so be it. However, there was one thing: he couldn't put himself in the spotlight. Xu Di had already planned his future and wanted to live out his life according to his plan. He didn't want to create any unnecessary trouble for his family. Even if he came to help Wei Lang, it was because his family was here. Helping Wei Lang train the border troops would also give him an extra layer of protection, wouldn't it?
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