Chapter Seventeen Escort Work

  －－－－

  Apart from fishing, Li Meng and his men couldn't stay idle either. They also had to set up stoves by the sea to boil seawater for salt production, unable to rest.

  However, what makes Chen Liu Zi, Wang Hai and these young people feel depressed is that although they are supposed to be partners in selling private salt, apart from boiling sea salt, Li Meng makes them practice martial arts. Although it's a military household, in this Xue family's thousand-household village, nearly half of the families haven't touched knives or guns for generations.

  Since the recruitment of soldiers, the soldiers who went to battle for the Ming Dynasty were all recruited by the generals in certain places. The soldiers who received military pay and food were mostly from the army households, and at most they would go to repair city walls and other engineering works. Most of the time was spent farming, and the remaining time was used to farm for the thousand households and the Weiweis.

  Everyone was a native farmer, and there were still some military bases there. But Li Meng didn't care about these things at all, insisting that they run in circles along the beach every day or stand still in rows, getting tired like a dog, many people couldn't bear it.

  But no one dared to say anything, or quit, about what Li Meng had done. Although less than twenty people really knew the truth, everyone had vaguely heard some rumors. Rumors were often more terrifying than reality, and everyone was afraid of being beheaded by Li Meng if they disobeyed his orders.

  So Li Meng's words, although everyone in their hearts did not understand or resisted, still trembled with fear and did it. What Li Meng did was also considered quite generous, almost all the silver money he had earned before (from Yan Ding's body, from smuggling private salt) was taken out to buy grain and make dried food for everyone to eat.

  Everyone usually eats two meals a day, but when cooking sea salt by the sea, Li Meng lets everyone eat lunch, steamed buns and pancakes made from purchased grains, as well as incredibly cheap fish and shrimp bought from fishermen. Each person must eat their fill and cannot take food back home.

  What's everyone after these days? Isn't it just about having a full stomach? Life may be tough, and we work hard every day, but that's nothing compared to going hungry.

  Li Meng was also depressed in his heart, the silver money was a small matter, he still had a lot on hand, but the young people around him were really too dull, every day's running, push-ups and so on were fine, but those standing teams, standing at attention, turning right and other simple commands and actions, were taught dozens of times, tens of times, even hundreds of times, but still forgotten. It took about a month to get a rough idea.

  In the past, when I was a soldier by the sea, I was also assigned to a nearby university as a military training instructor. The formation of those college students, marching in step and so on, was already enough to give one a headache. At that time, several comrades gathered together and complained:

  "Definitely won't meet anyone more difficult to teach."

  Unexpectedly, compared to those sloppy college students, these people are far behind, and it's not even clear how much. Those college students at least had some semblance of order after a month of military training, but these people have only just begun to learn the basics in one month.

  Especially Zhao Neng and Chen Liu Zi privately found Li Meng, and asked with great doubt:

  "We trade salt just to make a living comfortably, why bother with so much trouble every day?"

  Li Meng replied with an air of annoyance:

  "If I don't practice, when I encounter a strong opponent, I won't be able to defeat him and will have to run away. Isn't that just going to get myself killed?"

  This sentence immediately shut everyone's mouth, yes, now the Salt Gang doesn't come to Ling Shan Wei, it's because they are fighting internally and can't stop, many benefits are still unevenly distributed, who still cares about this place? Not coming doesn't mean the Salt Gang doesn't exist, think about that day on the small road, if not for Li Meng's bravery, who knows what kind of disaster would have been encountered.

  Perhaps it was Zhao Neng and Chen Liu who spread the word, from then on, people only complained about being tired, no one complained about being useless, and everyone still practiced according to Li Meng's words.

  Actually, Li Meng did a good job. For modern university students who have received military training, they have had basic formation drills since primary school or even kindergarten, and then in junior high school, senior high school, and all the way to university. Military training is just an enhancement. As for these peasants, it's almost like starting from scratch.

  In fact, when European colonizers trained indigenous troops, the difficulties they encountered were not much less than those of Li Meng, and even more so. When British officers trained native soldiers in India, someone once lamented that "training these natives to distinguish left from right took me half a year", if he knew this example, Li Meng should be content.

  In the process of training these people, Li Meng initially used persuasion and scolding as his main methods. However, these people just laughed it off and didn't take it seriously. A few days later, Li Meng couldn't bear it anymore and slapped one of them in the face, kicked him twice, and instantly achieved a dramatic effect. As a result, a month later, when Li Meng was training, he held a wooden stick in his hand, and whoever made a mistake would be immediately dealt with. You can't say that the effect wasn't good.

  Perhaps it was when Li Meng returned from Jiaozhou City, or later, among the people who knew or didn't know Li Meng in Xue's thousand households, a rumor began to circulate gradually, saying that Li's fool had been possessed by Erlang True Lord, otherwise how could he have such broad vision and be so bold.

  At this time, ordinary people all believed in it, and when they looked at Li Meng's eyes, apart from reverence, there was also a hint of worship.

  Whether it was Zhao Neng, who was older than Li Meng, or Wang Hai, who was younger than Li Meng, they both felt that they couldn't understand Li Meng's actions more and more. For example, the salt sent from various places cannot be mixed with sand, and the fewer weeds and impurities, the better. Also, arranging people to take turns entering the city, and having to tell him about the news inside the city, and the announcements outside the city must be understood in content. Everyone can't recognize characters, but they also have to ask someone to tell themselves.

  These people are confused about many things, but one thing is clear: these sixteen people on the beach a month later, although their skin has turned black, their faces have a healthy glow, and they walk and do things with a sense of confidence, many young people are very envious.

  Every time they practiced by the sea, there were always a number of children and young people watching, of course, including some girls, which made Zhao Neng, Chen Liu Zi and others even more motivated to train.

  It's almost August, and the weather is getting hotter both day and night. According to Wang Hai, who returned from Gaozhou City, the imperial army has already surrounded Kong Youde, who was causing chaos in Dengzhou Prefecture, in Dengzhou City. It seems that the pacification is imminent. However, Kong Youde's massacre of civilians inside and outside the city with his Liao soldiers has already caused a disaster.

  In the suburbs of Jiaozhou City, refugees from Dengzhou can already be seen. The position of the salt administration inspector in Jiaozhou is still vacant. Wang Hai heard people gossiping that the county magistrate thought it was okay to leave the position vacant, at least the various salt forces gave him money, which was not the case before. The inspector's office would normally deal with the county magistrate, so no opinion on the candidate for the inspector has been expressed.