Chapter 10

On the second day after Cheng Pan's speech, Cheng Pan began to lead everyone in the village to plow the land and pick out the stones from the soil. It was autumn, not the planting season, but loosening the soil and digging channels was necessary to prepare for the spring plowing next year. Over a hundred people, led by a few of Cheng Pan's students, worked in an orderly manner. Following the instructions of Young Master Cheng (Cheng Pan still looked too young, so with his consent, everyone changed the way they addressed him), the water channels neatly divided the newly opened fields.

As for Cheng Pan, he didn't have much to contribute. As a college student from the city, he really didn't know how to farm. Fortunately, he instructed those few students to ask the experienced farmers under them, record their opinions, and summarize them. After giving his students the order to strengthen organization and learning, Cheng Pan asked what they were lacking. One of his students, He Feng, said, "Teacher, the experienced farmers in the team say everything is fine. But the new fields need deep plowing, and it would be better if we had some iron tools."

Due to the Yuan Dynasty's precautions against the Han people, although the smelting technology was not low, a large amount of steel was used to equip the army. Iron tools in the hands of the Han people were extremely scarce, and even kitchen knives were shared among several households, let alone these destitute refugees. Most of the iron tools Cheng Pan had were machetes and axes, and the few hoes were far from enough. Now, most of the people plowing the land were using wooden farming tools.

Cheng Pan thought for a moment. The machetes and axes couldn't be used, as these tools were still needed for cutting wood. After some hesitation, he took out thirty long spears and said, "Remove the spearheads and give them to the two blacksmiths. Have them forge the iron and wrap it around the wood to make do. I'll find a way later." He Feng, who had not been very hopeful about solving the problem, felt relieved. He thought it was a bit excessive to ask for iron tools, but his teacher, though powerful, was very strict. He was nervously waiting for Cheng Pan's response when he saw Cheng Pan produce a pile of long spears and asked him to modify them into iron-wrapped wooden tools. He felt relieved and said, "Yes, Teacher, I'll go find Master Zeng and Master Cai."

"Go ahead," Cheng Pan said. Watching He Feng run off, Cheng Pan turned and walked away, comforting himself, "This is still the age of cold weapons. The army's combat effectiveness mainly depends on discipline. It's fine if the weapons are a bit poor. We'll upgrade them in two months. For now, the military training is more important."

Cheng Pan had always dreamed of an army with a vast amount of steel and advanced weapons. But life is often full of disappointments. He could only mutter to himself and use mental victory to shift his attention.

After a few steps, Cheng Pan arrived at an open field.

There were exactly 30 people on the field. Five young men were Cheng Pan's students, and the rest were the village guards he had just selected the day before. The young men were also feeling helpless about the people in front of them.

"Line up, march in step, left leg, right leg, left leg, stop. Are you all pigs? I just told you which is left and which is right. Do you think I'm talking nonsense?"

The one roaring was Lu Hai. He had experienced what it was like to be scolded by his teacher in the past. But he felt that the people in front of him were even more stupid than he was back then. After a morning of scolding, most people still couldn't distinguish left from right. When he saw the other four young instructors shouting at their teams with little effect, he realized it wasn't his teaching problem but that these people were hopeless. The people below also felt uncomfortable seeing these young boys, a few years younger than them, making them work so hard. But when they thought about how these young men, just a few weeks ago, had marched in formation with long spears and fearlessly killed some bandits who tried to rob them on the way, they suppressed their resistance.

After a while, Cheng Pan couldn't stand it anymore. He came out, and the students who were just red-faced quickly lined up. They marched towards their teacher, shouting "one, two, one" as if showing off to the fools behind them. "Halt," Lu Hai shouted, and the line stopped in front of Cheng Pan, standing straight. Cheng Pan looked at the first batch of his subordinates and smiled, "Good job." Lu Hai shouted, "Report, sir, not tired." Cheng Pan just looked at him, and gradually, Lu Hai's face turned red. "Hehe," Cheng Pan laughed, and Lu Hai also laughed. Cheng Pan patted Lu Hai's shoulder and then walked past the line to the newly recruited village guards. He said, "Do you have anything to say?" After a while, the people below looked at each other. Then Wang Gouzi raised his hand and said, "Report, sir, I have something to say." Cheng Pan said, "Speak."

Wang Gouzi lowered his head and said, "Sir, you are skilled in martial arts. Why don't you teach us some?" Before Wang Gouzi could finish, Cheng Pan added, "Instead of teaching you these useless things?" Lu Hai and the others also looked at Cheng Pan with doubt. Over the past year, Cheng Pan had only taught them some calisthenics and hadn't mentioned any martial arts. Cheng Pan thought that if he didn't give them an explanation today, they would all have a knot in their hearts. So he made up a story, "I recruited you to protect the village, not to find disciples. To find disciples, I need to select children with good physical qualities from infants, who are one in a hundred. You have been tainted by the impurities of the world, and practicing my techniques would be futile."

Hearing this, everyone felt relieved but also a bit disappointed. Cheng Pan thought he had successfully fooled these country bumpkins. "As for the drill, it is a basic skill for training soldiers in the previous dynasty, a necessary condition for forming a proper formation." Cheng Pan threw out a bunch of big principles, meaning that what he said was useful, and they shouldn't doubt him. "Now, I will give you three basic rules for the village guard. First, follow all commands. Second, do not take anything from the civilians. Third, all spoils must be turned over to the public. Remember these."

Cheng Pan threw out the three major rules of the Red Army but forgot the eight points. Then he continued, "Everyone, tie grass ropes with your left foot and cloth ropes with your right foot. Lu Hai, continue training them." Lu Hai and the others' eyes lit up, and they said, "Yes, sir." Cheng Pan watched for a while and found that the training progress had greatly improved. He sighed that the methods of the Republic of China were indeed practical and then left.

Next, Cheng Pan came to a grove where over ten people were cutting wood with axes and machetes. This was the group with the highest average iron tool ownership under Cheng Pan. He encouraged their work enthusiasm and then led a part of the group to a bamboo forest. Cheng Pan carefully selected the dense, strong, and suitable bamboo, and the people around him helped to sharpen the tips. With his extraordinary physical strength, Cheng Pan cut the bamboo at an extremely fast speed. After a while, he stored a pile of bamboo in his mental space, bid farewell to the woodcutting team, and returned to the village guard. He unloaded 60 bamboo poles and said to Lu Hai and the others, "Weapons are scarce now. Use these as a substitute for now. I'll give you real spears later." Another short and sturdy young man named Tong Yiran said, "Sir, don't worry. Bamboo will do. Bamboo can also kill people."

Cheng Pan said, "It's good that you think that way. I'll work on the weapon issue, but don't neglect the training."

Cheng Pan left the training ground again and came to a newly built school. From a 21st-century perspective, this was definitely a primary school in a national-level impoverished mountainous area. The school was made of mud, and most of the children sat on the ground. The blackboard was painted with soot, and mud strips were used as chalk. Each child used branches as pens and sand as paper. The teacher was only about 15 or 16 years old. This was the school Cheng Pan had built. He didn't want to create better conditions, but the current productivity was too low. Cheng Pan entered the mud house, and the teaching inside stopped. The teacher, Zhao Yu, who was not particularly beautiful, looked even more earthy with mud on her round face. "Good morning, sir," she said. "Good morning, Teacher Zhao Yu. I'm sorry to disturb you," Cheng Pan said with a smile. Zhao Yu was a bit nervous. Cheng Pan continued, "I have a few words to say, I'm sorry to disturb everyone." Zhao Yu replied, "Not at all, sir, please speak," and moved aside to let him take the main position. Cheng Pan came to a simple podium made of a few wooden boards and looked at the bright eyes of the children below. "Children, today I can only provide you with such learning conditions. I'm sorry for the hardship. But I hope you can seize the opportunity to learn."

Seeing the blank looks, Cheng Pan frowned and said, "Children, what are your dreams?" Seeing the silence, Cheng Pan started calling out names. "What do you want to do in the future?" he asked a boy around ten years old who was closest to him. The boy stood up timidly and said softly, "Farm." Cheng Pan asked, "Then what?" "Marry a wife." Cheng Pan felt the rhythm was familiar and continued, "And then?" The boy seemed to gain some courage and said a bit louder, "Have children." "And then make the children farm, marry wives, and have children, right?" Cheng Pan probed. The boy paused and said, "Yes." No other children laughed. Cheng Pan felt a sense of sorrow, experiencing the feeling Mr. Lu Xun had when writing "The Diary of a Madman." Cheng Pan looked at the children and said, "If you learn the knowledge I teach you now, when you grow up, you can choose to do more interesting things than farming, and your children will be the same. You can fly in the sky, swim in the sea, and travel a thousand miles a day."

After saying this, Cheng Pan looked into dozens of eyes. After a while, when Cheng Pan was about to lose hope, the boy weakly said, "Sir, is what you just said true?" Cheng Pan quickly replied, "Yes, it's true. As long as you study well, you can make it happen." "Can we pinky promise?" another girl said. "Yes," Cheng Pan quickly nodded. After making pinky promises with dozens of small hands, Cheng Pan left the mud house, listening to the loud reading inside. He felt an invisible pressure on his shoulders again. He knew it was responsibility.

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