Chapter 84: Xiguan Nomads (Part 2) Update
"Don't worry, I won't hand it over!"
After making repeated assurances, he returned to where he had been squatting, suppressed the endless regret in his heart, and put the paper back into his arms.
My heart is bleeding.
Before they came, they all knew that this was the recruitment and placement point of the Xiguan Marquis Mansion.
The initial job posting clearly states that the free placement is only for one month! After that month, you'll need to be hired for a short-term or long-term job before you're allowed to continue living here without spending a penny.
If I don’t hand in this order today, it’s like I’m not responding to the job recruitment!
When a month was up, it was the beginning of winter. Where could these penniless people go to survive?
Captain Zhu Bing, you were once the noble leaders of the Central Army and the Palace Guards, yet now you're too low-key to take on the work of lowly craftsmen. We're willing to do the same! Little do you know, if it weren't for your generations of military service, you'd envy the common people who live a comfortable and prosperous life through craftsmanship and hard work!
…
After more than ten days, with waves of registration and classification, people were taken away one after another and transferred to other workshop training camps.
Even those who arrived later, as long as they had their limbs and minds still clear, had mostly completed their registration and found corresponding work. This temporary resettlement area was small, and those who had been dispersed here had come and gone, leaving only this group of "useless people who knew no industry" lingering.
As the one-month deadline approached, some people finally couldn't help themselves and came together to ask Zhu Bing, "Brother, what should we do? Please tell me! At this time, I'm afraid that if we risk our lives and become bandits, there's no way for us to survive in the mountains!"
Zhu Bing chewed a piece of grass and asked him, "What do you want to say?"
Someone said, "We have all the necessary skills, and if we're to be smart, we're definitely several times more capable than the common people! Even if we can't farm or work right now, the Xiguan Marquisate will still provide us with training. Let's go and talk it over. We're willing to stay and learn the trade, and we'll see what happens after this winter."
"Right, right. We're not really going to become those craftsmen and farmers. This is just a temporary solution!"
"Once we have saved up some money, we can leave this place and find another way to make a living. It won't be difficult!"
After listening to their chatter, Zhu Bing simply asked, "If you want to learn to work, each of you could become an apprentice to someone who's already a farmer or a worker and has hired a worker earlier. You'll have to be taught how to do things, humbly ask for advice, listen to their instructions and even scold them, and listen to their comments and evaluations of your performance. Can you handle all that?"
Everyone was stunned when they heard this.
Just imagining this scene makes me feel uncomfortable and unable to accept it.
The initial energy of persuasion had dissipated, and no one spoke anymore after the hesitation.
Zhu Bing glanced at the faces of these people and finally said, "In that case, let's not talk about this matter anymore. Although you and I don't have the ability to farm or work, we still have martial arts and military experience. I've observed these days that whether it's the Xiguan Marquis Mansion or this camp, there are always guards responsible for maintaining order on a daily basis."
After hearing what he said, everyone also perked up.
"That young Marquis of Xiguan has accomplished such a great feat in Xiguan County. As a direct descendant of the royal family, it's impossible that he doesn't have private guards around him to protect him. We should take this route."
These words really touched everyone's heart.
only……
Someone asked, "But we've been here for a month, and this Xiguan Hou is only recruiting workers, not even thinking of hiring guards."
Zhu Bing pondered and said, "Perhaps they didn't recruit simply because it was difficult to do so openly. After all, everyone must have heard about the situation that the young Marquis of Xiguan was in our Great Zhou."
When everyone thought about it, they felt that it made some sense.
Zhu Bing concluded: "We'll just go and deliver it to the door ourselves."
On that day, Zhu Bing took the two men and asked to see the camp manager, and told him that they wanted to join the Xiguan Marquis Mansion as private soldiers.
The manager looked at them calmly for a while, and finally waved his hand and told them to go down and wait for news.
On the second day, just after the hour of Mao, the sky was still pitch black, with just a hint of light.
Someone broke into the barracks where Zhu Bing and others lived.
Zhu Bing sat up with a "click".
In the dim light, I looked at the tall and blurry figure standing at the door of the barracks.
The oppressive figure spoke, his voice low but touching.
"Quite clever."
After saying that, he turned around and left the camp.
Another person who came with him immediately shouted, "You useless pieces of shit, get up! Get to open area number three in the camp within an incense stick! Anyone who can't find a place, anyone who can't arrive on time, get out of the camp today!"
Suddenly, there was another shout outside the camp, directed towards the barracks where the stranded defeated soldiers were gathered.
Yesterday, these former soldiers received instructions and news, and knew that Captain Zhu Bing was arranging a way for them to have private soldiers in the Marquis' Mansion.
At this time, after hearing these imperial decrees, even though they were repeatedly called "useless pieces of trash", they still crawled up one by one.
The sky gradually turned pale.
The campsite was already bustling with people, a huge crowd of people gathered.
But these people had military backgrounds, and they understood that today was likely their first test at the Xiguan Marquisate. After several key leaders reminded them, they quickly and consciously arranged their positions according to their assigned accommodations in the camp, but they still couldn't help but exchange a few words.
There was a high platform just south of the campsite, where a group of people were fighting. In the middle, facing them, stood a tall and upright figure, clearly visible in the morning light.
Soon, more and more people noticed what was happening on the stage.
Shocked by the heavy and oppressive atmosphere on the stage, they involuntarily calmed down and stood still.
Zhu Bing stood in the middle of the team, also looking at the figure in the middle of the platform. He knew without even needing to confirm that this was the person who had just entered his tent and left the words "quite smart".
On the stage, Xia Wu asked from the side: "Captain Wei, are you going to start peeling radishes now?"
Jin Jie nodded at him in Taichung.
Xia Wu received the order, straightened his back, and shouted loudly,
"You useless people!"
"Come one by one, let me see if you have the skills to do that!"
As soon as he finished speaking, several teams suddenly appeared from all over the camping area, carrying tablets and plaques into the field. Wherever they went, the stragglers automatically retreated.
Nothing else.
It was because they had been in the camp for a while but had not noticed these soldiers scattered everywhere.
No one knew how these people hid their tracks, making it impossible to guard against them. But at the command of the stage, they appeared in an instant and moved among them calmly.
They were all people who had served in the military, and one could tell at a glance that although these people were just doing the trivial chores of arranging the training grounds, the way each of them walked, as well as the calmness and boldness in their gestures when they sat down to do simple and rough tasks, as well as their strength and body movements, all revealed an unfathomable sense of being a master!
They had never seen such a strange mixture of temperaments before, and they were all shocked for a moment.
In a short while, several camps were clearly separated on the training ground.
Everyone looked at the mesh platform set up in front of them, but it was something they had never seen before.
Until a voice came from the platform again: "Do you see the climbing net in front of you?"
"Everyone, line up horizontally and crawl across the net area. If you can reach the end within the specified time and without touching the net at all, you can be considered scrap with recycling value! Our Chief of Defense, Jin, will also consider whether to keep you!"
Everyone couldn't help but look at the net in front of them, which was no more than a foot high, and they all widened their eyes.
They didn't even care about the extremely harsh words "waste" and "junk" that hurt their sensitive self-esteem.
How could I possibly crawl under this without getting even a scratch on the net?!
Someone objected: "This... this is simply impossible!"
As soon as one person spoke, the others followed suit: "Yeah! You guys don't even want to take us in, and you're just doing this to make fun of us!"
Xia Wu was certainly not surprised by this scene.
He replied with disdain: "Trash is trash! You're just sitting in a well and looking at the sky, and you think you're so awesome!"
He randomly called three or five of the Marquis's private guards and said, "Now, tell these snacks to take a good look."
Those people responded loudly.
Under the stares of the crowd, he relaxed his muscles twice, and then in the blink of an eye, he crawled to the ground with quick and neat movements.
In a flash, his body was lost in the net.
The strings of the net are coated with a layer of paint that is very easy to stain. Any slight scratch will leave marks on the body.
However, under everyone's incredible stares, the figures of these people shuttled swiftly under the net.
In just half an incense stick of time, they arrived at the finish line one by one, intact and without any trace of paint on them.
A few of them turned around and glanced at the group of shocked stragglers.
There was a clear look in his eyes, the same as the one on the stage, looking at the person as if he were trash.
Below the stage, Zhu Bing, hidden among the crowd, was shocked.
The facts happening before their eyes showed that the group of private guards of Xiguan Marquis Mansion standing in front of them were probably very different from what his family had seen during their generations of military careers.
Originally, being called "waste" by those craftsmen and farmers, besides being frustrated, was more of a feeling of being trapped in a shallow pool. He even held on to that pride from the beginning and was unwilling to be inferior to others.
When you are repeatedly called "useless" and "trash", you can't help but feel extremely angry.
However, when they returned to the sea where they could roam freely, they suddenly discovered that they were just a bunch of small shrimps and millet.
In front of these real dragons fighting the waves...
What a bunch of self-righteous trash.
This initial display of authority made the more than a thousand scattered soldiers who arrived at the training ground today stop shouting and become obedient, no longer daring to question easily.
Xia Wu looked at the scattered soldiers who had stopped fighting on the stage and grinned.
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