The military camp.
Chen Sanshi spent the morning getting familiar with the men under his command.
Starting tomorrow, they would officially begin "work."
As for what that meant exactly—Hundred-Household Officer Wang Zhi wasn't around. No one knew where he'd gone off to. Instead, Hundred-Household Officer Liu came over and patiently explained everything in detail.
The ninety-plus soldiers under Hundred-Household Officer Wang were mainly responsible for the "seventy percent farming, thirty percent defense" duty split.
In the mornings, they would gather in the camp for formation drills. Even martial soldiers had to join in before earning promotions. In the afternoons, they were assigned to stand watch along the Great Wall or occasionally sent to patrol the county town.
The garrison troops trained for half the day and farmed for the other half.
Only the officers had some freedom—most of their time could be spent cultivating.
"When the beacon smoke rises and the horns sound," Liu pointed toward the northern sky, "it means the barbarians have invaded. Everyone must assemble immediately. But truth be told, we haven't seen that smoke rise in five or six years."
"Also," he asked, "you don't have a place to live yet, do you?"
Chen Sanshi nodded. "When I enlisted, the clerk told me there weren't any spare houses."
"None for common soldiers," Liu replied, "but for officers, there are still a few open residences. Come with me."
He led the way.
Most of the houses in the garrison were as simple as those in Swallow-Edge Village—mud and tile structures, small and rough. But once they walked about two li west, into the officers' living quarters, the scenery changed.
There stood clean, solid courtyards made of blue bricks and hardwood beams—some big, some small—clearly divided by rank.
"This kind of house should belong to a Hundred-Household, right?"
Stopping before a two-entry courtyard, Chen Sanshi hesitated. "I'm just a Flag Officer. Isn't this a bit too much?"
"What's too much about it?" Liu grinned. "Who knows—maybe you'll be a Hundred-Household soon anyway. And besides, an empty house is an empty house. The Thousand-Household Officer won't care, and even if he does, he'll just turn a blind eye."
"Alright then."
Chen Sanshi understood this was a favor and didn't refuse.
First, running between the camp and Swallow-Edge Village every day was tiring and wasted precious time.
Second, the old house was too shabby. Moving here would make life a lot easier for Lan jie'er.
He borrowed a horse cart from the camp, one used for hauling grain, and rode back to Swallow-Edge Village to move their belongings.
"Shitou, you really became an officer?!"
"Looks like it! He's even got a horse cart to move with!"
"Once he makes it big, he won't even talk to us common folk anymore!"
"This time, Baldy Lai might actually be right for once!"
"..."
When Chen Sanshi drove into the village, the neighbors were cheerful and curious at first, crowding around to watch. But gradually, the smiles on their faces faded.
Becoming an officer meant he was no longer one of them.
"Uncles, aunties, don't joke like that. I'm just a small Flag Officer without even an official rank. How could that count as being an 'officer'?"
He didn't really know what else to say.
Their belongings were few—just a few quilts, some pots, and bowls. The horse cart seemed almost too big for the load.
"This new house is really nice," Gu Xinlan said happily when they arrived at the courtyard. She immediately began tidying up with energy and excitement.
Chen Sanshi didn't rest either. After finishing off the last two jin of braised bear meat they had left, he went straight to the courtyard to practice his spear techniques.
After cultivating qi and blood, the effect of bear meat had dropped drastically—it was now no better than eating ordinary livestock meat before cultivation.
[Skill: Basic Spearsmanship for Infantry (Beginner)]
[Progress: (72/500)]
[Effect: Spear strikes fierce and swift; endurance extraordinary]
After practicing all afternoon, he only managed to increase progress by twenty points.
"Looks like I'll have to buy something stronger—maybe bear heart or other rare tonic meat."
"And medicine too."
As a Flag Officer, he was entitled to receive a bowl of Blood-Replenishing Soup every three days, though he wasn't sure how effective it actually was.
Looking up, he noticed the sky had already turned gold—dusk.
At this hour, the apothecary would've stopped brewing medicines.
With nothing else to do, he sat down and opened a book.
It was still the same Book of Great Sheng.
When he reached the section about the current emperor's great-grandfather, it mentioned that the old emperor had loved designing contraptions. He had invented many ingenious mechanical devices—one of which was a small wooden box specifically made for transmitting secret messages, known as the Exquisite Jade Box.
Inside the box was a hidden mechanism that could only be opened with a special jade key. Without it, the box would ignite from the inside, burning away all the information contained within.
But after the emperor's death, the secret of its construction was lost.
"This... isn't this exactly the same box I'm holding?"
Chen Sanshi felt a surge of relief. If he had used brute force earlier to open it, he really would've destroyed a priceless treasure.
[Skill: Reading (Minor Achievement)]
[Progress: (51/800)]
[Effect: Seven Orifices of Wisdom; Mental Clarity; Perfect Memory]
…
The next day.
For once, Chen Sanshi didn't have to travel far. After breakfast, he took a leisurely walk to the military camp, practiced archery for a while, then moved on to spear drills.
When he figured the time was right, he went to look for Xu Bin.
Coincidentally, Xu Bin was also under the command of Hundred-Household Officer Wang Zhi. But after circling around the camp several times, Chen Sanshi didn't see him anywhere and had to ask the other Flag Officers.
"Old Xu? Yesterday afternoon, I saw Hundred-Household Officer Wang slap him around pretty hard. Haven't seen him since."
"Hundred-Household Officer Wang?"
Chen Sanshi blinked, then it hit him.
During yesterday's assessment, Wang Zhi had chosen Xu Bin as his opponent—most likely expecting him to go easy on purpose.
"There was really no need for that," Chen Sanshi muttered in frustration.
If Xu Bin had held back, it would've done neither of them any good anyway.
After asking around for Xu Bin's residence, Chen Sanshi headed over.
…
"Binzi, are you out of your mind?!"
Old Xu Tou had come from the city that morning, bringing a hen for his pregnant daughter-in-law. But as soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw his son sitting there with a massive palm print across his face.
Normally, Xu Bin would've gone to the camp to train at dawn. Now it was nearly noon, and he hadn't even moved.
The moment Old Xu Tou saw him, he knew something had gone wrong.
After some pressing, he finally got the full story.
"Little Shitou's from our hometown! If he makes a name for himself in the future, it can only do you good!"
"How could you hit him that hard? You deserve a beating yourself!"
Xu Bin kept his head down and said nothing.
Truth be told, ever since he was chosen for the test, he'd known it was a no-win situation.
If he went easy, did the Thousand-Household Officer really seem like someone who wouldn't notice?
If he didn't, he'd offend Hundred-Household Officer Wang.
The only possible good outcome was maybe earning the Thousand-Household's attention.
But as things turned out, he'd ended up with the worst of both worlds.
After the match, Wang Zhi had found an excuse to slap him and then demanded twenty taels of silver—saying if he didn't pay, he'd beat him every time they crossed paths.
Xu Bin's pay all went into martial training, and with his daily expenses, he didn't have a single coin left. Where was he supposed to find twenty taels of silver?
"Go find Little Shitou," Old Xu Tou urged. "Quickly! Apologize and ask him to smooth things over for you!"
"Father, it's useless."
Xu Bin's voice was bitter.
During the match, he'd gone all out, even risking serious harm.
Swords and spears had no eyes—he could've actually drawn blood.
If Chen Sanshi didn't come after him for revenge, that would already be merciful. How could he possibly expect him to help?
"Bang bang bang—"
Knocking came from the door, interrupting their conversation.
Then a warm, steady voice spoke from outside.
"Brother Bin, are you home? It's me—Chen Sanshi."