The guards are a group of illiterate people with high military power.
Chapter 10: The personal guards are a group of illiterate people with high martial arts skills
After hearing Chu Huaibei's proposal, Lu Shun's eyes lit up. Their prince not only loved the people like his own children but was also very considerate of his subordinates. One more day of rest could earn him an extra five taels of silver, which was equivalent to five months' salary! The monthly salary of the personal guards was the original 500 wen of the soldiers plus the 500 wen that the prince himself paid, for a total of 1,000 wen. There was a fixed quota of 2,000 personal guards, and they could only be replaced if they died in battle or were disabled and could no longer fight. The families of personal guards who died in battle received three times the pension of ordinary soldiers. In addition to the share from the court, the prince's palace also subsidized twice as much. The disabled personal guards were settled on the prince's farm, so they followed the King of Zhenbei into battle in every battle, fearless of life and death, and bravely killed the enemy.
"Your Highness, what do you think? When will it be implemented? I will arrange it right away!" Lu Shun was so excited that he wanted to go back to the military camp and tell everyone the good news.
Seeing his chief guard so excited, Chu Huaibei knew this plan would gain their support. At least one had to be willing to do something in order for it to be sustainable. "As long as you think it's good, how do you plan to assign the personnel?" Chu Huaibei asked casually.
"Of course, everyone will fight, one by one in order of their ranking in the competition." Lu Shun replied as if it was a matter of course.
"How many days will have passed by the time you finish the competition?" Chu Huaibei said speechlessly, holding his forehead.
Lu Shun was at a loss for words. This would indeed take some time... But if something like this happened in the army, everyone would just compete to see who was better so there wouldn't be chaos. If one was not as skilled as the other, they would just stay calm.
Chu Huaibei tutted his words, "Don't you know how to draw lots? Write your names on little slips of paper, put them in a little box and mix them evenly. Whoever gets the first one wins. Isn't that fair?"
"It's quite fair, but there are too few people who can write in the army. My subordinates can only recognize a few words, but eight out of ten of the personal soldiers can't read a single word..." Lu Shun looked down at his toes a little embarrassedly.
Chu Huaibei was shocked after hearing this. "I remember you can read, and you were often asked to handle correspondence. Aside from Qin Feng, aren't you the one who has the most contact with him?"
At this point, Lu Shun really started to dig his toes into the ground, "Your Majesty, I only know the names of the generals in the army and you. I still need Deputy General Qin to teach me..."
Chu Huaibei knew that not many people in ancient times could read, but he didn't expect it to be so outrageous. It turned out that the two thousand personal soldiers under his command were all illiterate. Perhaps the situation of the five hundred palace soldiers in the mansion was also worrying. Chu Huaibei pressed his solar plexus with a headache.
It wasn't that Chu Huaibei wanted them to be too powerful, but they should at least be able to recognize the thousands of commonly used characters and understand documents, otherwise they would be highly likely to be scammed. If she were to implement this plan, the noble families in the northern border would certainly try to stop her. If they didn't dare to do it openly, they would secretly recruit troublemakers to increase the workload of the government office. With more trouble, the government office would lose patience with subsequent cases, and things would go from bad to worse. The first level of the personal guards was crucial; they couldn't wear out the patience of those in this line.
"I understand. Go back and have a competition to rank everyone as you said. I'll give you ten days to handle it." Chu Huaibei had no choice but to do so first.
Lu Shun received the order and rode his horse back to the military camp at full speed, his heart filled with excitement. However, at this moment, he did not know the painful daily life that his personal soldiers would endure for the next two months.
After leaving the study, Chu Huaibei first gave the medicinal wine to Uncle Deng. If the medicinal properties didn't conflict, she would like to try it. If it worked and was inexpensive, she wanted to supply it to the soldiers. The medicine Uncle Deng gave her was very expensive, often not something that could be purchased with money. Of course, ordinary medicine could be made, but the efficacy would be only slightly different from what the army was using, so Chu Huaibei never thought about it.
"Uncle Deng, can you take a look at this medicinal wine for treating bruises and injuries? Does it conflict with my current medication? I want to try out its effects." Chu Huaibei said as he handed the small jar to Deng Ran.
Deng Ran took it, uncorked it, and sniffed it. It was an interesting combination of herbs he hadn't considered. "This thing you got is quite interesting. I'll study it and experiment with it."
"It was given to me by Ma Youcai a few days ago. He said it was a family heirloom." Chu Huaibei told Deng Ran the origin of the item.
"Oh, I see. It's the family that came to kowtow at the palace gate before. Okay, I'll go and investigate first. You go now." Deng Ran began to drive people away.
"Uncle Deng, you are so heartless. I'm leaving now." Chu Huaibei complained with a pout, then walked towards his mother's yard.
Now, when she has something to do during the day, Hu Zhi will take Heng Heng to play in her mother's yard. His mother did not insist, but let Hu Zhi take Heng Heng wherever he wants, not necessarily in her yard. However, since Hu Zhi insisted, everyone tacitly accepted that he was sensible and filial.
However, Chu Huaibei was not looking for an adult and a child to play with now. She wanted her mother to introduce her to a teacher to implement her plan.
"Mother, your son is here to see you~" Chu Huaibei arrived before anyone could even see him. The Concubine had no choice but to put down the account book in her hand. "You came to see me at this time, do you have something to ask of me?" The Concubine scolded Chu Huaibei with a smile as he entered.
Chu Huaibei replied with a grin, "My mother is a fortune teller in this world. She can always guess what her son is thinking." He leaned towards the desk as he spoke.
"You're so talkative. What's the matter? Tell me." The concubine slapped Chu Huaibei's hand that was resting on the account book away, took her hand and walked to the small couch beside her and sat down.
"My son wants to ask mother to introduce a teacher. He doesn't have to be very good, as long as he can give me some enlightenment." Chu Huaibei told the truth.
"What do you mean? Who did you find it for? Can't you teach Hengheng?" The concubine asked in surprise.
"No, no, I want to enlighten my personal soldiers and palace soldiers. I have things to give them. It's troublesome if they can't read. As long as I teach them to recognize words, understand memorials, and write letters that people can understand, it will be fine. Mother, my request is not high, right?" Chu Huaibei said.
After hearing this, the concubine thought for a moment and replied, "Your request is not high, but the number of people is too large. Which private school teacher is willing to come and teach these soldiers? Even if he is willing, he can't teach them all by himself."
Chu Huaibei had thought about this when he arrived. He couldn't leave the barracks completely empty, so he planned to divide the troops into ten groups of 200 each. He would find an open space in the barracks to build a simple thatched shed, paint a large wooden board black, and make some chalk for the teacher to write larger so it would be visible. The chalk was made of quicklime, which was already available here and had a wide range of uses.
He explained his idea to his mother in detail. After hearing it, the Concubine Dowager agreed that it was indeed a feasible plan. However, she did not have any suitable candidates for the teacher. The teachers in the private schools she was familiar with were at least Juren. If she asked them to teach the soldiers, they would probably be sent away as soon as they opened their mouths. For a moment, she was stumped by this and the Concubine Dowager was helpless to help.
"I really don't have a suitable teacher here. Why don't you ask someone to look in the nearby villages? Maybe you can find a teacher who is willing to teach the soldiers." said the concubine.
Chu Huaibei thanked his mother and went out to find someone to search for people in the suburbs. Then he ran back to Deng Ran's residence and found some quicklime in his pharmacy. He took it and left. Deng Ran was still immersed in the experiment of medicinal wine and didn't pay any attention to Chu Huaibei.
Chu Huaibei found a large ceramic bowl in the kitchen, poured quicklime into it, then slowly added water while stirring quickly. After the lime in the bowl had fully reacted, he set it aside to cool.
He casually summoned a palace soldier and told him to go to the city carpenter to buy a large rectangular plank, plane it flat, and paint it black on both sides. He was told to go to Aunt Wen to withdraw the money he needed. The palace soldier took the order and left the palace and went straight to the residence of the famous carpenter in the city.
After the slaked lime cooled, Chu Huaibei rolled it into long strips as thick as the chalk in his previous life, and placed them on a bamboo sieve to dry in the shade. After it dried, he tried the feel of it. It was his first time rolling it by hand, so he was not sure about the quality.
Chu Huaibei thought for a moment and called over Xiao Feng, the commander of the palace soldiers. "How many of Xiao Feng's palace soldiers are literate?"
Xiao Feng's face rarely showed a confused expression. Why did the prince suddenly ask this? He didn't know the specific situation. He knew that he could read and his family had sent him to a private school when he was young, but he didn't like studying and preferred swordplay. He eventually became a bodyguard. Oh, and by the way, Xiao Feng was picked up by the concubine's caravan on the road. He was seriously injured at the time, and it was the accompanying doctor who saved him. Since then, he has stayed in the palace to guard the house.
"Your Highness, I haven't counted the numbers yet, so I don't know. Please give me a day to count them and report back." Xiao Feng said.
"Okay, go ahead and mark your literacy level. You can't read big characters and can only write your own name. Can you simply understand letters or be familiar with poetry and books? Come back tomorrow." Chu Huaibei thought for a moment and ordered.
The next day, Xiao Feng showed the statistics to Chu Huaibei. As she had expected, apart from Xiao Feng, who could read and write as a child after attending a private school, no one else could. Most of them could write their own names, and a small number could not read large characters. Overall, they were better than the imperial guards. A large part of the palace's guards had previous experience in the martial arts world. They could write their own names and recognize a few characters, making them less susceptible to deception.
Chu Huaibei asked Xiao Feng to arrange the guard rotation time, and then select fifty people every day to go to the training ground for two hours in the morning to learn to read and write until everyone can cope with daily letter reading and writing.
After hearing this, Xiao Feng was shocked. No, why did the prince suddenly want people to study? This was a mixed blessing. What if they just couldn't read? Xiao Feng thought about it and expressed his concerns.
Chu Huaibei nodded after listening and said, "Your consideration makes sense. Not everyone loves to read. So, the group that learns to read the fastest will be promoted to squadron leaders, taking over a team of 100 people. There are only five vacancies. The second group will be promoted to team leaders, taking over a team of 50 people. There are only ten vacancies. The third group will be promoted to group leaders, taking over a team of 10 people. There are only 100 vacancies. As long as you can become a team leader, your monthly salary will increase proportionally to 200, 400, and 800 wen respectively."
Currently, there is only one commander-in-chief of the palace soldiers, Xiao Feng. He is in charge of arranging and dispatching all affairs, and he is quite busy. Assigning him a few subordinates who can read and write can also reduce his workload.
After hearing this, Xiao Feng praised the prince for his wisdom. This should motivate everyone. They are all passionate men who hope to make progress. They will definitely read this book. "Your Highness is wise. I admire you. When did you start learning to read?"
This really stumped Chu Huaibei, as he still hadn't found a teacher yet. "I haven't found a suitable teacher yet. I'll start when I find one. Do you have any suggestions? I sent someone to check in the village outside the city yesterday, but there's still no news."
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