Chapter 86: Youth Team (Part 3)
"You guys remember this, you must never steal even if you starve to death!" Teacher Xu said to his three children with a stern face.
The three kids nodded. However, Teacher Xu was still worried that the children didn't understand, so she continued to remind them: "Stealing is wrong. Never do it. Even if no one sees it, never do it!"
“Yes,” the children answered.
Teacher Xu still had confidence in her children, so she arranged for them to go to bed. The two sons shared a room, and the daughter was already making the bed for Teacher Xu. Looking at her daughter's back, Teacher Xu hardened her heart and said, "When you come back this time, mother will bind your feet."
The daughter froze. After a while, she turned around and whispered, "Mom, I don't want to bind my feet."
Teacher Xu sighed, thinking back to the pain she went through when she bound her feet, she felt heartbroken. But girls with big feet would not be able to get married. Especially for these scholars, they would never accept a daughter-in-law with natural feet.
Just as she was about to get her daughter to obey, she saw her daughter pick up the new boots and said, "Mom, look how nice these boots are. If I bound my feet, I wouldn't be able to wear them!"
Teacher Xu was somewhat resistant to the boots. Seeing the boots reminded her of the little thieves who were badly beaten. The miserable state of those people made Teacher Xu particularly unhappy. Even so, seeing her daughter trying hard to force a smile, Teacher Xu was somewhat happy.
The boots were indeed well made . They were as good as the best boots that Teacher Xu's husband's family had before the disaster. The daughter grabbed Teacher Xu's arm and begged, "Mom, I will learn to read well. If I learn some skills, I can earn money to support you even if I become an accountant."
Seeing her daughter so sensible. The words of letting her daughter bind her feet came to her lips, but she sighed, "Alas... Mother can support herself. But you, take care of yourself first."
There were still a few days before the hike, and I thought that the thieves would stop stealing after being caught. I didn't expect that there were still . It was fine if they were stealing from outside, but there were employees and their relatives who participated in the theft. Although when these people were caught, they all said that they were just blinded by greed and took other people's boots. They were not let off easily because of their sophistry, and they were beaten and chased away.
Seeing those people kneeling outside the headquarters and begging, people passing by avoided them. Everyone looked at these guys with disgust. No one pleaded for them.
Before the summer harvest, the students set out on a hike. Both boys and girls were in neat . Although they did not want to disturb the government, they chose to set out at dawn. However, the farmers who went to the fields after daybreak were also shocked to see the neat rows of children marching forward.
Huo Chong knew that something would happen, but it was too late for him to do anything more. He had to choose the lesser of two evils. The recent events made Huo Chong dare not delay any further.
Xu Zhixian was promoted to a minor official in the capital because of his strong tax collection ability. Xu Youlin often transported goods from Huo Chong to the capital. Half a month ago, Xu Youlin brought back a piece of news. It was said in the capital that the great general, Lao Shisi, had stabilized the situation in Tibet and expelled the invading Junggar army.
But there was no news that Kangxi was going to recall the general Wang, nor was there any news that Kangxi was going to confer the title of prince on the Fourteenth Prince. The officials in Beijing were concerned about how Kangxi would reward the Fourteenth Prince, not how Kangxi would treat the Fourteenth Prince's family.
No matter what those officials in Beijing think. Huo Chong firmly believes that Kangxi is not a fool. Since Kangxi is not a fool, it is not a decision that Kangxi can make to place the heir to the front line far away from the capital. Now that the fourteenth prince is still leading troops outside, it can only prove that the fourteenth prince is definitely not the successor that Kangxi has set his sights on.
At this time, Huo Chong was waiting on the road from Zichuan County to Mengyin County in the mountainous area. The fourth brother had brought news that the carefully selected young men were about to arrive. Huo Chong finally felt relieved. He would have to rely on these people in the future.
Thinking of relying on, Huo Chong thought about the most important information brought by Xu Youlin, which was Yongzheng's concubine Nian.
Huo Chong would rather watch European and American and Japanese action movies than watch any Qing Dynasty palace dramas. So I just heard that many TV dramas are based on Concubine Nian.
In those dramas, Concubine Nian was described as a victim of palace infighting or a master of palace infighting. Because Concubine Nian's status was indeed symbolic in Huo Chong's heart, he asked Xu Youlin to ask his uncle, who was now the former county magistrate of the Ministry of Rites.
This time Xu Youlin brought the news from Xu... the former county magistrate. Yongzheng did have such a concubine, and since this concubine married Yongzheng, she gave birth to all of Yongzheng's male and female children in the past few years.
After hearing this news, Huo Chong no longer had the illusion that he could escape unscathed. Yongzheng's personality was clearly described in so many literary works. Many posts quoted Yongzheng's red comments.
In the 21st century, Huo Chong seemed to have heard of a TV series about Concubine Nian while chatting. It was said that Emperor Yongzheng wanted to kill Nian Gengyao, so the Empress of Yongzheng joined forces with other concubines to force Concubine Nian to death.
However, considering Yongzheng's personality, Huo Chong didn't believe that he would sleep with a woman he didn't like every day. Since it seems that Yongzheng executed Nian Gengyao after Concubine Nian died in history, it shows that Yongzheng still values feelings.
With such a sentimental personality, Yongzheng would never forget his grudge. Although I couldn't say that I had offended Yongzheng, I was definitely not a positive image in Yongzheng's mind. When the fourteenth prince lost power, I was almost on the list.
Time is running out for me. Instead of worrying about disturbing others now, I should do my best to form my own core team.
Soon, a pair of people appeared on the road. Huo Chong carefully observed this group of young people. Unlike ordinary young people, each of them was a little different. The biggest difference was that they didn't seem to be very cheerful.
This is nothing in the 21st century. Children are forced to study hard, so how can they be so cheerful?
Thinking is very painful. Or it is because of the pain that we are forced to think. The human body can process most of the signals received by the body, so breathing, heartbeat, and various hormone secretions are not controlled by the brain.
Modern biology has proven that the brain processes signals that the body cannot process. The common similarity of these signals is that most of them are painful signals, or they can trigger quite strong negative emotions.
Pain forces people to think. In the Qing Dynasty, there were not many people who could use their brains to think. Huo Chong didn't know if his judgment criteria were correct, but after thinking about it, Huo Chong felt that this was the only thing he could accurately grasp.
When the group saw Huo Chong, they greeted him according to the rules. Huo Chong looked at the group of children. Many of them were not so focused. But they were not dull, and even showed some kind of spirituality or understanding. Without saying much, Huo Chong led more than 20 people forward.
The cooperation with the magistrate of Mengyin County was very good. Huo Chong had established several farms. The farm closest to Zibo County was located in a desolate place with many plants.
There are six venues here. Each venue has sheep and rabbits. Everyone rested for a night and started training the next day. The training content was naturally expansion training, which Huo Chong participated in a lot. Even if the conditions were not particularly good, it was enough to make the twenty or so selected team members excited.
All the things in between were child's play for Huo Chong. But that night, when everyone sat around the fire, the teenagers and young men, who had no longer been distant from Huo Chong before, all unconsciously wanted to get closer to him.
Huo Chong expressed his own views based on each person's reaction.
"Zhang Daniu. Has anyone ever told you that you're clumsy?"
"Mr. Huo...how do you know?"
"You're not clumsy. You want to do it well, but you don't know how."
"Really?" Zhang Daniu became excited.
"After this round of training is over, I will teach you how to do it. But you have to be obedient now and don't think too much."
"yes."
After talking about Zhang Daniu, Huo Chong turned to the man next to him and said, "Wang Shisan. I'm afraid you've never been treated well at home, right?"
Wang Shisan lowered his head and said nothing.
"It's not shameful. Aren't there people who are scolded all day long among so many people?" Huo Chong tried to make this child who seemed to have suffered domestic violence understand that he was not the only one who had suffered such treatment. Huo Chong also hoped that this child who seemed to be very perceptive would understand in the process of learning that only Huo Chong could help him break free from the pain in his heart.
Seeing that no one else answered, Huo Chong shouted to everyone, "Has no one ever suffered such a crime? I think you are definitely not like what your parents or relatives say. They must have seen it wrong!"
After a moment of silence, someone asked with some expectation: "Master Huo...my father always scolds me. I think he is right, but what he said is completely different from what I originally thought."
Huo Chong looked and found that it was Zheng Sinian. Although he didn't know what Zheng Sinian had encountered, Huo Chong still asked based on common situations: "Did he say those things without telling you what to do specifically?"
"...Yes!" Zheng Sinian was silent for a while and then suddenly answered with sudden enlightenment.
"I have seen many people who have no idea what to do when they encounter problems. Let me give you an analogy. You are struggling desperately in the water, but they just stand by the river with their hands folded. They either scold you for being useless and ask why you don't swim like a fish in the water. Or they say that you have made them worry and you are sorry for them. No matter what they say, they just stand by the river with their hands folded. They don't even want to exert a finger of strength! I have seen such people, have you?"
As Huo Chong described, the eyes of the young people who participated in the training brightened. Although they were embarrassed to say it, they all nodded slightly or heavily.
Huo Chong was very satisfied. He was not satisfied with the abilities these kids had at the moment. Huo Chong was satisfied that these people had indeed encountered phenomena they could not explain, which caused them to doubt the world.
The most important thing is that even if they doubted, they did not choose a lower-level reaction to vent or forget. These people put these things in their hearts and wanted to solve them with their own cognition.
Huo Chong believed that these children were good soil. Although some of them would grow up to be monsters, they at least had the possibility of growing into beautiful talents. What would they cultivate? Huo Chong expected good results.
