ATPnovel Chapter 71 Screening
Chapter 71 Screening
After two rounds of selection, most of the soldiers had been eliminated. Zhao Dezhao immediately ordered his generals to bring these people back, and then issued two selection orders to the remaining soldiers who had been reorganized into formation.
"Put on your armor and take up your spears!"
"A half-day march, a rapid advance of eighty li!"
"The one who completes it will be rewarded with five strings of cash!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a heavy donkey cart covered in black cloth slowly drove into the drill ground.
The black cloth was lifted, revealing several wooden buckets neatly arranged on the donkey cart to the crowd.
At the same time, the breathing of these thousands of soldiers suddenly became rapid.
Looking at the small hill made of copper coins peeking out from the top of the wooden barrel, which of the Tiger Warriors present would not be tempted?
Zhao Dezhao smiled slightly, then pointed to the mountain of money on the donkey cart and shouted:
"I have been ordered to select eight hundred personal guards. Those who ultimately meet the quota will each be rewarded with an additional five strings of cash!"
"If you become my personal guard, I will reward you with another ten strings of cash for enlistment!"
At present, Zhao Dezhao is not short of money.
In order to find the person behind the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the old man and Zhao Guangyi did not hesitate to spend money. They paid 500 strings of cash per chapter without hesitation. From this alone, they earned nearly 100,000 strings of cash!
In addition to the share of the profits from improving woodblock printing, the cost of other people buying copies of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," and the money he plundered in Shangdang, his total funds now amount to approximately 200,000 strings of cash.
Not much, but enough for now!
As soon as Zhao Dezhao finished speaking, the thousands of fierce warriors present could no longer contain their joy and excitement, and their gazes toward Zhao Dezhao instantly became burning hot!
"The selection process begins!"
At Zhao Dezhao's command, thousands of soldiers donned their armor, took up their spears, and began their raid along the predetermined route!
The armor and weapons weighed about thirty pounds each. Running eighty miles was too much for some weak soldiers. After a short while, their legs felt like lead and they could no longer take another step.
Looking at the predetermined route from afar, most people had no choice but to give up and were led back to the camp by a captain along the way.
But most of the people are simply unable to complete the task.
With such a reward in front of them, not a single soldier chose to slack off!
He could carry a load of thirty pounds and travel eighty miles in three hours. Even though Zhao Dezhao deliberately chose a flat and easy route with low difficulty, it was still not something that an ordinary person could accomplish.
By noon, less than 20% of the people had crossed the Bian River and arrived before Zhao Dezhao.
These two thousand men, in terms of physical fitness alone, are absolutely the elite of the time. With just a little training, they would become a powerful army.
Zhao Dezhao really wanted to take them all, but that was clearly wishful thinking.
Since that's the case, we can only simplify it further!
The food in the army was very simple, with each person receiving only two catties of bean rice and half a liter of soy sauce per day.
Meat sauce, fish sauce, bean sauce... all sorts of sauces, half meat and half vegetables, were the side dishes for soldiers in the army.
It's not palatable, but it's enough to keep you alive and restore your energy.
After traveling eighty li, the morning meal times had already been staggered. However, when the soldiers, who had completed their mission and were both hungry and thirsty, returned to the drill ground, they suddenly swallowed hard.
On the training ground, several large vats of golden, tempting roasted meat, fragrant fruits, and rich, mellow tea were placed there.
The enticing aroma instantly overwhelmed everyone's senses, and their eyes gradually turned red.
But seeing the officers and soldiers standing ready for battle, their eyes cleared again. They obediently lined up one by one, received a large bowl of food, and sat down on the training ground.
Before receiving orders, these soldiers could only stare at the delicious food right in front of them, their mouths watering and their throats churning.
"eat!"
At Zhao Dezhao's command, the two thousand reserve guards transformed into gluttons, devouring the food greedily!
The selection process continued, but Zhao Dezhao would appear before each meal, until he planted an idea deep in the minds of these prospective bodyguards.
Follow the eldest prince, and you'll get to eat meat!
……
The Imperial Guard's camp, the martial arts training ground.
After several rounds of selection, the two thousand qualified Tiger Warriors were lined up in formation, and on the weapon racks on both sides of the training ground were all kinds of cold weapons.
Not only did it contain infantry spears and lances commonly used in the army, but it also had ring-pommel swords, Tang Dynasty horizontal swords, curved swords, eyebrow-tipped swords, and even scimitars from the Tangut and Liao dynasties... and so on.
It is all-encompassing, covering almost all commonly used cold weapons in the world today.
Zhao Dezhao watched as the Imperial Guard instructors practiced various short weapons. Regardless of the speed, the movements were not flashy at all; each move was a basic killing action.
Some even wielded a single pistol with the agility of a long spear.
Under the guidance of the Imperial Guard instructors, the two thousand elite soldiers were training diligently according to the prescribed standards.
Shi Shouxin gazed at the two thousand tigers and wolves in the arena, his eyes filled with amazement: "Zhao'er, you've gone to such great lengths, procuring so many powerful bows, arrows, warhorses, and... strongmen, is it to train these people in archery and physical strength?"
He had been by Zhao Dezhao's side the whole time these past few days, so he naturally knew everything Zhao Dezhao had done.
In just these two days of training, Zhao Dezhao has already mobilized 5,000 powerful bows, 50,000 arrows, 2,000 warhorses, and 8,000 strongmen. All the instructors of the Imperial Guards have also arrived.
In addition, there is an unlimited supply of meat, eggs, fruit, etc.
With such weapons, equipment, and supplies, the already formidable combat power of these two thousand men has almost reached a new level!
Shi Shouxin also guessed His Highness's thoughts.
By disregarding costs, His Highness intends to train a truly invincible personal guard.
"Um."
"Then what constitutes 'qualified'?"
Zhao Dezhao drew a horizontal sword from the weapon rack, flicked the blade lightly, and was quite satisfied with the slight metallic hum. He smiled and said:
"To kill someone from a hundred paces away, to be worth ten men."
Shi Shouxin was startled.
He can kill with arrows from a hundred paces away, and fight ten against one within ten paces. He is adept at long-range attacks and covers all fronts.
Such elite troops are rarely seen even among officers.
Zhao Dezhao put the sword back on the weapon rack, then looked at the other weapons and said as he walked, "Uncle Shi, I need to trouble you with something."
"Zhao'er, please speak freely."
"Uncle, I would appreciate it if you could conduct a thorough review of these two thousand people, including their reputation in the military, their identity information, their family background, and even their private morality, etc. The more comprehensive the information, the better."
These two thousand men were brave, but this was, after all, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and there were many soldiers who rebelled.
In the next selection process, Zhao Dezhao will naturally eliminate some unqualified candidates, because what he wants is a personal guard with an iron will!
Wherever the sword points, we obey!
Upon hearing this, Shi Shouxin felt a chill run down his spine.
"Uncle Shi, I have another request."
Zhao Dezhao continued, "After the selection, we will need to trouble Uncle Shi to 'separate' all the information about these eight hundred people from the military."
Apart from these, he would also erase these eight hundred people from the local and even the imperial registers.
What he wanted to do was ensure that no one but himself could find out the specific information about his personal guard!
Shi Shouxin stared blankly at Zhao Dezhao, his eyes showing wavering and shock for the first time.
With eight hundred fierce wolves, all information still needs to be erased.
Your Highness...
What are you doing?!