In the early morning of the next day, before dawn, the drums in the military camp rumbled.
The sleepy soldiers were awakened one after another. After yesterday's march and battle, they had more or less curbed their previous lazy habits and gained some military consciousness.
No matter how sleepy they were, the soldiers had no choice but to get up and curse, put on their armor haphazardly, and ran towards the school grounds without even having time to wash their faces.
Chen Qing already had a force available, namely fifty scouts led by Zhao Xiaoyi.
These scouts are selected elites with good physical strength and strong body. Although they have many shortcomings, with a little guidance, they can become Chen Qing's temporary military police.
Otherwise, Liu Qiong and Zheng Ping would have to do something like pull him down to hit the board.
Not long after, the two thousand soldiers arrived, and Chen Qing watched the last dozen or so soldiers running towards them.
It was still dark, and the soldiers held torches. Chen Qing said loudly: "Let's talk about the morning assembly first. Our first military camp assembly, thirty-seven people were late. This morning's assembly, the number was less, sixteen people.
Being late, being late is a serious crime in any army, and today is the last time I don’t care, but starting from tomorrow, if you are late once, you will be beaten with thirty sticks, if you are late three times, you will be beheaded in public!”
The two thousand soldiers were silent, and everyone felt the severity of the general.
Chen Qing continued: "I brought you to suppress bandits, not to die. But with your current physical strength, let alone fighting, you don't even have a chance to escape. So from now on, I will train you to be a warrior."
A real army, even with only two thousand people, can still beat the crap out of the tough bandits!"
Chen Qing erected a tall bamboo pole on the school grounds and said to everyone: "Start running now. Run around the city. Starting from this bamboo pole, we will end here. The top ten will be rewarded with a consistent amount of money.
I won’t fine you ten, but I will put your name on a list of shame for public display throughout the city!”
The running began. Whether they wanted to or not, the two thousand soldiers followed the large army and ran towards the north gate. Several generals rode horses to monitor the running of the soldiers. Anyone who wanted to be lazy and slippery would be whipped mercilessly.
The circumference of Chun'an County is about eighteen miles, which means that the soldiers have to run about twenty miles. Compared with the hundreds of miles of training and running of the Western Army, this distance is not worth mentioning.
But even so, running for twenty miles still exhausted the two thousand soldiers to death, and many of them were so tired that they squatted in front of the moat and vomited.
Many soldiers couldn't run anymore, so they transformed into turtles and crawled slowly on the ground, attracting groups of children to clap their hands and laugh, and women to cover their mouths and snicker. It was so embarrassing.
The time set by Chen Qing was to finish the run in half an hour, which is about ten kilometers in an hour. However, it was not until three quarters of an hour later that the first soldier finally ran back, which took a full hour and a half.
The soldiers finally ran back one after another, and everyone collapsed on the ground unable to move. The last soldier who came back took a full two hours.
"Now I will report the names of the top ten. After everyone finishes training, they will go to the military account to receive their monetary rewards. The first one is Xu Sheng; the second one is Wang Ping who lives in Wuling Gate; the third one is Ma Shao
....."
After reporting the top ten, Chen Qing sneered again: "There are top ten, and naturally there are bottom ten. The tenth from the bottom is Wang Zhanjiang; the ninth from the bottom is Li Balang; the eighth from the bottom is Zhu Xiaobao...
The last one, Jin Can.
Chen Qing stood on the school ground and looked at the soldiers rushing towards him with a stern expression. The sound of one hundred and eight drums stopped, and five or six soldiers came running in panic, but they were stopped by the law enforcement soldiers.
Chen Qing glanced at the six people and said coldly: "I have already said it before, but some people are still late, then follow the military regulations, pull them down, and give each person thirty sticks!"
One soldier struggled and shouted: "General, I don't want to be late, but I can't find my shoes."
"You can come barefoot to gather and drag us down!"
Six soldiers were dragged down, pushed to the ground and beaten hard. They heard the crackle of sticks and the soldiers' cries and howls, and the soldiers' faces twitched.
"Keep running and let's go!"
Two thousand soldiers dragged their sore legs out of the military camp and ran towards the North City. They did not have to leave the city today, but circled the city wall.
Another day of nightmare begins.
...........
In the south of the city near the city gate, there is a butcher shop called Wangyangji.
There is a word for sheep in the brand of this butcher shop, but in fact it mainly sells game meat. Hunters deliver it to your door every day. It also sells furs occasionally, and the business is not bad.
On the fourth day after the officers and soldiers entered the city, a hunter in his thirties came to the butcher shop carrying a deer.
The hunter put the deer on the table and shouted: "Shopkeeper, take the meat!"
The shop owner Wang Long walked out quickly and was startled when he saw the hunter. He quickly looked both ways, gave the hunter a wink, and led him towards the backyard.
"General, why are you here in person?"
This hunter was none other than Zhang Kui, the bandit that Chen Qing came to exterminate this time. He usually wore armor, but today he was dressed like a hunter, with half-length hair hanging down, covering his face, so no one recognized him.
Zhang Kui is about thirty years old. He has a long face, dark skin, and a long scar on his face, which makes him look very ferocious. Zhang Kui was once the infantry commander of the Forbidden Army. He was highly skilled in martial arts and had fought with the Jin soldiers.
He was an important participant in the Liu Miao Incident that occurred the year before last, and was one of the seven people finally convicted by Emperor Zhao Gou. The other six people were all killed, and only he escaped.
Zhang Kui's core is a group of 300 Forbidden Army soldiers. With this army, he continues to recruit troops, and the number of bandits under his command has reached 4,500.
Recently, because of the shortage of food, he had the idea of prefectural administration of Chun'an County. On the one hand, he wanted to increase food supply, and on the other hand, he also wanted to build Chun'an County into his home base.
Chun'an County's tall and solid city walls met his requirements very well.
Zhang Kui picked up a bowl of water and drank it in one gulp. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and asked, "I want to know about the new officers and soldiers!"
That day he retreated south in panic, and the more he thought about it, the more something was wrong. The opponent clearly had cavalry, but he didn't pursue them. Something was wrong.
Zhang Kui became suspicious and came to inquire about the news himself.
