It was half a month later when Niu Wude arrived at Jingshan.
After a long and arduous journey to Jiangnan, many sons of noble families cried out in despair.
Normally, when they travel, they are accompanied by beautiful women in luxury cars and with countless servants. This is nothing like the march they have to take, where they have to wear armor weighing more than 20 kilograms and march under the scorching sun.
Moreover, this journey takes a whole day, with only a few rests along the way. Even riding a horse, one's back and waist will ache by the end of the day.
Many second-generation nobles couldn't bear the hardship and wanted to return to the capital with their family soldiers to enjoy a life of luxury.
Fortunately, the Zhang brothers, Zhang Liang and Yang Guofu, now manage their own mala tang restaurant and have developed a capitalist's temperament, which has kept the group of noble sons who wanted to leave half-dead.
Anyone who dares to resist, or who dares to complain, will either be assigned to shovel horse manure, or simply left alone on the road to fend for themselves.
These two brothers didn't care at all whether these noble sons would hold a grudge.
When the two of them left the capital, the elders of those noble sons all came with gifts, asking them to properly train these people.
Those nobles and dukes had only one request: as long as they didn't die from playing around, they should play around to the point of exhaustion.
Fortunately, those idiots were in the minority; the noble sons who followed the army were all carefully groomed heirs.
Even if they haven't experienced hardship, they still have that kind of willpower.
No matter how bitter or tiring it is, you can only yell a few times, and after that, you still grit your teeth and keep going.
They knew very well that if they gave up halfway, they would definitely lose their status as heirs when they returned.
Even if they manage to keep their positions, they won't be able to hang out with the other sons of noble families anymore.
Upon arriving at Jingshan, all the noble sons breathed a sigh of relief; the two-week march had taken a toll on them.
The sons of nobles breathed a sigh of relief, while the guards were somewhat disappointed.
These past two weeks have been torture for the sons of noble families, but for these people, it's been a treat.
The entire force of the local militia was brought under the command of Zhang Liang and Yang Guofu, and they all received the same treatment.
The provisions were well prepared this time, and these soldiers were fortunate enough to be able to eat dry rice and some oily food every day.
The capital city is not the same as Tai'an City, and the local militia are not the same as regular soldiers.
During wartime they were soldiers, and during peacetime they were farmers—except for those farmers registered under the names of dukes and marquises, who did not have to pay taxes to the imperial court. They only needed to pay taxes to the dukes and marquises.
In order to win over the people, those dukes and marquises generally did not levy too much tax.
Although these people have enough food, only a minority can afford to eat oily and fatty foods every day, since they are just making a living by farming.
Although Li Chang'an made life a little better in the capital, these people were terrified of poverty. They saved every penny they had, fearing that if they encountered some major disaster in the future, they would have no savings and life would be just as difficult as before.
Having experienced hunger, they were even more afraid of days when they couldn't get enough to eat. So even though they had money, they were reluctant to spend it and buried it in the pigsty.
For some reason, they all preferred to hide their money in the pigsty, instead of hiding it anywhere else.
This resulted in the copper coins circulating in the capital having a strong smell of pig manure.
Nowadays, ordinary people in Beijing can't stand the sound of pigs squealing at night.
As soon as they hear pigs squealing in the middle of the night, they reflexively get up to check if a thief has broken into their pigsty.
Often, if one pig squeals, a dozen or so households nearby will come out with torches and run to their own pigsties.
As for the sons of nobles who couldn't bear the long journey, it was perfectly normal in the eyes of these guards.
They travel for an hour each day and then get a short rest, so it's not tiring at all for them.
If you lose strength, you can regain it after a good night's sleep; but if you haven't eaten enough, a good night's sleep won't fill you up.
Walking all day, you can eat dry rice and oily food, and you can also get paid. This is a treatment that the soldiers of the garrison could never even dream of.
Once they entered Jingshan's territory, Zhang Liang and Yang Guofu told the group to stop and rest for a while.
"The prince is waiting for us about ten miles ahead. Everyone, take a good rest, tidy yourselves up, and get your spirits up."
"Don't let the prince see you looking like you've lost a battle; it'll bring him bad luck."
Riding his horse, Zhang Liang looked at the disorganized troops and found them increasingly displeasing.
He had seen the army of Tai'an City before. When they stood together, they were completely silent. Even when they were resting, they maintained their proper ranks. They were nothing like these people, who were so carefree and did not look like an army at all. They looked more like a group of refugees fleeing famine.
He grew angrier the more he looked, and with a riding whip in hand, he lashed out at several noble sons dressed in armor.
"You have no proper sitting or standing posture. Is this how your family taught you?"
Zhang Liang wouldn't draw from the ordinary soldiers; he would only draw from the sons of nobles wearing armor.
Firstly, because these people wear armor and are not afraid of being whipped.
Secondly, punishing these sons of noble families can better serve as a warning to others.
Most importantly, Zhang Liang felt that bullying ordinary people was meaningless, but bullying these noble children was much more interesting.
One sentence Li Chang'an said left a particularly deep impression on him.
If you bully ordinary people or the weak, people will only think you are a bully who preys on the weak.
Only when you draw your sword against the strong and the wicked can you demonstrate your authority and power.
Zhang Liang thought this made a lot of sense, so his biggest hobby now is bullying those idle rich young masters or second-generation nobles in the capital.
The noble sons who had been beaten dared not utter a sound, and could only swallow their anger and be scolded by Zhang Liang, and then, with the help of his personal guards, clean themselves up a bit.
"Damn it, this old bastard is just clinging to the Regent's coattails, is that all it takes to be so arrogant?"
"You just wait, this time when I go to the battlefield, I'm going to make a lot of contributions and also get on the Regent's good side."
"When the time comes, I'll tie you up and beat you to death every day."
Niu Wude listened to his complaints and grinned. He touched his feet, feeling somewhat sentimental.
For the past two weeks, instead of riding a horse like the others, he followed the soldiers to Jingshan.
In the past two weeks, he has developed countless blisters on his feet.
Each time, I would pick at the blisters, bandage them, and then keep walking. Once the blisters were gone, I would pick at them again, bandage them again, and then keep walking.
Along the way, he developed thick calluses on his feet, and in the past few days, he hasn't been able to get rid of the blisters.
An old soldier from the Niu family looked at the soles of his eldest son's feet and chuckled, "These feet now look like the feet of someone who has been marching into battle."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
