Following the straight and flat cement road, everyone arrived outside the camp gate.

On the cement brick wall about ten feet high, there were lookout towers, arrow towers and parapets. The sentinels had telescopes hanging around their necks, with muskets and crossbows at hand, watching vigilantly for any movement around them.

When crossing the ten-foot-deep trench along the suspension bridge, Xu Bangrui saw that the trench was full of sharpened bamboo thorns. If he fell into it, he would become a candied haws. He couldn't help but tremble with fear, thinking to himself, isn't this too exaggerated?

"Are there many people coveting your company's cement?" Xu Bangrui asked in a low voice.

"That's one aspect," Zhao Hao touched his nose a little embarrassedly. He just asked Jinke to 'be strict and difficult in everything, and proceed from actual combat', but he didn't expect it to turn out like this.

But it is better to be safe than sorry, and I can only say that Manager Jin did a great job.

"The main reason is that the situation is too bad." He then said nonsense: "Brother, you don't know that a while ago, there were villains leading hundreds of people who attacked me when I was not yet firmly established. Fortunately, my men fought desperately and did not let the enemy succeed."

"Hiss..." Xu Bangrui couldn't help but take a breath and almost vomited.

So stinky.

"Make way, make way."

Then a middle-aged man wearing a straw hat, with his trouser legs rolled up and a half-worn cotton towel around his neck was seen pushing a manure cart steadily out of the camp.

"It stinks, get away from me." Others could cover their noses, but Xu Bangning could only endure it. The smell was so ecstatic that it made him feel like he was in heaven.

"Oh, you don't understand, little brother. This golden soup smells bad, but tastes delicious..." The dung pusher said confidently:

"Well, what I mean is that we grow vegetables and eat them. Hey, isn't this the young master?"

"Huh?" Xu Bangning was surprised to see that the dung collector actually knew him. He looked him up and down with eyes wide open, and almost dropped his jaw.

"You, you, you, are you the second brother Xu of Huating?"

"Isn't it me? What's wrong? Why did you come to see me?" Xu Kun, an excellent manure pusher, looked him up and down and said, "No, that's not right. Why are you tied up here?"

"Congratulations, Master Xu." Then Zhao Hao smiled and said to him, "You have performed well recently, so the company decided to promote you."

"Oh? Really?" Xu Kun's eyes suddenly filled with tears. He didn't know what he was thinking, but he just didn't want to change his current situation.

In later medical records, his condition was called "Xu Kun syndrome", also known as "hostage complex" or "hostage syndrome". It refers to the psychological dependence that hostages have on their kidnappers.

When hostages are isolated from the outside world and realize that their life and death are in the hands of the hostage-taker and that it is impossible for them to escape, they will realize that the best option for them is to unconditionally obey the hijacker.

At this point, 'hostage syndrome' may be triggered.

Once caught in this complex, the hostage will regard the hijacker's will as his own will and the hijacker's arrangements as his own mission.

Any small favors from the hijackers will be automatically magnified several times by them, while the harm done by the hijackers will be automatically ignored.

After being treated relatively leniently, they may even regard their rescuers as their enemies to prevent the current situation from deteriorating again.

So when Xu Kun heard that Zhao Hao was going to give him a promotion, he stammered:

"I feel that my transformation is not enough, and I want to continue pouring Ye Xiang down."

"Don't worry, I'll satisfy you." Young Master Zhao laughed loudly and said, "From today on, you are the dung chief of this camp, and this newcomer will be under your charge."

Xu Kun suddenly felt a heavy burden on his shoulders, and nodded to the big devil, "Don't worry, sir. I will definitely train him to be a qualified manure carrier as soon as possible and contribute to the composting business of our Xishan Island."

"What? I want to pour night incense too?" Xu Bangning's eyes almost popped out.

"Are you sure? I am the son of a great duke!"

"I am the son of the Prime Minister." Xu Kun was immediately displeased and slapped Xu Bangning on the head.

"Do you understand what 'labor is not divided into high and low, and a hero is one who sweats for his own food'?"

Xu Bangning was hit and staggered, feeling that he had met a fake Xu Kun.

"The renovation is good." Zhao Hao whispered to Jin Ke.

"It's all thanks to Tong Zigong. I don't know what method he used to make the prisoners so obedient." Jin Ke also admired him very much.

"We'll have to transfer him back after the gunner battalion in Kunshan finishes its training."

"I didn't expect that he is a labor reform expert." Zhao Hao couldn't help but sigh. It turns out that one must put people in the most suitable positions.

But Xu Bangning stubbornly refused to reform, and said to Xu Kun with infinite contempt:

“Even if I, Xu Bangning, am beaten to death, scolded to death, or jump into the lake from outside, I will never be like you and pour out the night fragrance!”

"Hey, what's wrong with pouring night incense?" Xu Kun looked at him with an unreasonable look. "Do you know that the dishes on the soldiers' plates will not be fragrant without this night incense? The guns in the soldiers' hands will not make any sound without this night incense?"

"Oh, it rhymes..." Xu Bangning sneered. "Anyway, if I do it, I'll take your last name."

"Okay, be brave. Everyone has their own aspirations, so I won't force you." Xu Kun smiled generously, pushed the manure cart forward, and sang a little song:

"It's past midnight, the lights are dim,

Deep in the night, I tried to topple the tower in a low voice.

Close the window, blow your nose,

It has both fragrance and odor, floating in the air.

Don't pay attention to joking words, just be busy.

I am busy because of you.

Xiang, I am grateful to you..."

This song, which is based on the tune of "Shanpoyang", was composed by Xu Kun himself. He thought that he had been hanging around in brothels for many years but had never produced such a masterpiece.

~~

Lunch was eaten in Zhao Hao's courtyard.

Young Master Zhao treated Young Master Xu to the three white delicacies of Taihu Lake, but Xu Bangrui could not eat it. It was not known whether it was because of the smell of the night-blooming incense.

"Why, you can't bear it, brother?" Zhao Hao tasted the silverfish meatball soup happily. This fish has no scales, bones, thorns, intestines, swim bladder, or fishy smell, making it the most suitable for making meatballs. You can never get tired of eating it.

"How could that be?" Xu Bangrui waved his hands and forced a smile, "Sir, you have spared my life and allowed me to reform myself through labor. This is already a great favor."

Then he took out an envelope from his sleeve and handed it to Zhao Hao.

"This is a small gift from my father and me, as compensation to the county."

Zhao Hao picked up the handkerchief to wipe his hands, opened the envelope and saw a thick stack of bills, totaling two hundred thousand taels.

"It's not appropriate for me to give it to you, brother." Young Master Zhao pushed the envelope back to Xu Bangrui and said with a faint smile, "If you really want to, just donate it directly to the county."

"This..." Xu Bangrui was stunned. There was no reason to push away the banknotes he had just obtained.

"Don't think too much, brother. If I take your money, won't it ruin our brotherly relationship?" Zhao Hao poured him a bowl of soup and said with a smile, "Besides, if we give it to the county, won't my father be in charge? It makes no difference."

"Okay, I'll listen to you, brother." Xu Bangrui felt warm at heart when he heard this, and thought that Mr. Zhao had really gotten rid of vulgar tastes.

ps. The first of three consecutive updates.