Chapter Sixteen: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

  The night of the first formal training day, just one day after its formation, the Junzi Army had its first deserter. The deserter was none other than Lin Qing, who had been appointed as a personal soldier by Tao Ying. As he escaped, Lin Qing left a message on the wall in his beautiful handwriting: "Boring! I'm too lazy to play with this bookworm!"

  The army had deserters just one day after its formation, which was naturally not good news for the newly formed Junzi Army. The morale of the soldiers, which was already not very high, was also affected to some extent. Tao Yidang's younger brother, Tao Ji, who had never looked favorably on the prospects of the Junzi Army, hung his head in despair and sighed that the future of the Junzi Army was completely hopeless. He secretly blamed his uncle for harming him by forcing him to join such a useless army, which would also affect his own bright future. However, after receiving the news, Tao Ying did not fly into a rage or jump up and down in anger. Instead, he lectured the soldiers of the Junzi Army once again before they began their second training session.

  "Brothers, I have some good news to tell you." Standing in front of the 900 gentlemen soldiers, Tao Yingshu spoke out surprisingly, with a smile on his face and loudly said: "This good news is that a coward who will drag you down on the battlefield, a scourge who will make you die in vain on the battlefield, a rubbish that will turn our unity into a loose sand, has rolled away by himself last night! He became a deserter! This is a joyful and congratulatory thing, all of us in the Gentlemen's Army should feel lucky and happy about it!"

  The officers and soldiers of the Junzi Army burst into a murmur, all extremely surprised by Tao Ying's words. The first one standing in front of Tao Ying, Tao Ji, didn't give his brother any face, directly rolling his eyes and secretly scolding him for being an idiot. How could such a thing be publicly announced? Isn't this indirectly inciting the officers and soldiers of the Junzi Army to become deserters?

  "Brothers, you must be very surprised that on the first day of our army's formation, there are already deserters. How can I ask you to celebrate?" Tao Ying completely ignored Tao Ji's rolling eyes and continued to speak loudly: "I'm not pretending to be happy, I'm genuinely delighted! And I'm also truly happy for all of you!"

  "Brothers, can you imagine if that scoundrel Lin Qing hadn't slipped away in advance, but instead continued to hide among our ranks, just going through the motions? What would happen on the battlefield? When we charge forward, he'd be running at the back! When we're holding out, he'd lead the way in fleeing! And when fighting against the enemy with all our might, he'd push you to block the enemy's blades! In defeat, he wouldn't hesitate to betray you, trading your lives for his own survival! But when victory comes, he'd rush to the front again, snatching away the spoils of war that rightfully belong to you! Snatching away the spoils of war you've earned with your blood! If you don't give them to him, he'll stab you in the back, trip you up, and make you feel utterly miserable!"

  Louder than that, Tao Ying raised his voice again and roared: "Brothers, tell me, tell the commander of the Junzi Army, do you want such a companion?!"

  "No!" The newly trained gentlemen soldiers replied in unison, but their voices were loud and their attitude was very firm.

  "Right! I don't want him either!" Tao Ying shouted loudly: "We are the Junzi Army, loyal to the monarch and the country, upholding justice, rejecting evil, we are the Junzi Army that stands tall and proud! We don't want cowards, we don't want shameless villains! We endure hardships, work hard, and fight bravely, our journey spans the nine provinces of the world. We don't need useless burdens holding us back! Brothers, tell me, should we be happy or sad that this burden has escaped?"

  "Hurray! We should be delighted! Definitely should be delighted." The nine hundred gentlemen soldiers responded in unison.

  "Haven't you eaten breakfast? Why is your voice so soft?" Tao Yingtai shouted loudly: "Answer louder, answer more neatly, are you happy or not?"

  "Hurray!" The nine hundred gentlemen soldiers replied, finally starting to get in line and their voices grew louder.

  "Good!" Tao Ying nodded vigorously and shouted again, "Let the excitement return to excitement, but deserters and traitors cannot be lightly forgiven. I have already sent someone to contact the governor's office, please ask the governor's office to post a notice, offering a reward for the capture of the traitor Lin Qing! After he is caught, I will personally administer 100 military clubs!"

  "My lord, we should behead that traitor!" The countless gentlemen soldiers shouted.

  "That's not necessary." Tao Ying shook his head, waved his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and then said loudly: "Brothers, the reason I only prepared a hundred military sticks for that traitor is because there is an important reason! Our Junzi Army was just formed yesterday evening, and it's hard to start from scratch. I want to turn the unknown Junzi Army into a famous army in the nine provinces, but it's difficult! You have to transform from new recruits who have never held a knife handle into elite soldiers, into Wu Chang, Shi Chang, Du Bo, Bai Ren Jiang, Ya Men Jiang, and even become generals, which is even more difficult! I and you, our front line, are facing countless difficulties and dangers. I and you will suffer countless hardships and injustices!"

  "Eating bitterness and suffering is nothing, eating the bitterest of bitterness is what makes a man superior! I firmly believe that I can endure so much hardship. Brothers, how about you? So here I ask you, can you persevere? Can you swallow such bitterness? If there are those who have no confidence in themselves, who feel they cannot bear such hardships, now is the time to step forward and receive a hundred lashes, then you may leave! I won't stop you!"

  "Brothers, did you understand what I just said?" Tao Ying raised his voice again and shouted with all his might, waving his arms: "Brothers, choose! Do you want to be like Lin Qing, slinking away from the military camp with your tail between your legs, going back to face the ridicule of your fellow villagers, the disdain of your relatives, and becoming a lifelong coward? Or do you want to join me, endure countless hardships, suffer countless torments, and ultimately become a superior being! You have only this one chance. If you don't leave now, anyone who deserts in battle will not be punished with just a hundred military lashes. Deserters will be severely punished!"

  The nine hundred Junzi Army soldiers didn't flinch, including Tao Ji who had long wanted to leave the Junzi Army. The Junzi Army soldiers had only received Tao Ying's training for one day and hadn't yet seen the true hell, so they all thought they could hold on. As for Tao Ji, he couldn't bear to lose face by escaping in front of everyone, nor did he want to be called a coward, so he stood up straight with the Junzi Army soldiers, putting on a resolute attitude.

  After waiting for a while, seeing that no soldier came out to say he was a coward, Tao nodded in satisfaction and said loudly: "Very good, since no one wants to be a coward and a waste, training begins! Just like yesterday, heavy load marching ten miles! The first thirty people who finish running the ten-mile road today will be promoted to the military law team tomorrow to supervise the remaining people's heavy load marching! Start!"

  After that, Tao Ying led the way to the road of heavy training and marching. He jogged along, gradually speeding up his pace, shouting loudly: "Shout with me, shout in unison! The more sweat we shed in peacetime, the less blood we'll shed in wartime! Let's shout in unison, loud and clear, the more united and louder the better!"

  "Sweat more in peacetime, bleed less in wartime!" The carefully selected gentlemen soldiers by Tao Ying indeed listened well. Under Tao Ying's repeated requests, the slogan was much louder and clearer. And with the influence of this uniform slogan, the unfavorable impact brought about by deserters on the first day of the establishment of the Gentlemen Army also thoroughly dissipated.

  "Sweat more in peacetime, bleed less in wartime!" Tao YIng shouted slogans while secretly muttering to himself, "Damn it, things have backfired! I planned to use it day and night, but it's been less than two days and it's already gone. What a waste! You little girl, just you wait, once I catch you, you'll be dreaming of running away after a good beating with the military stick! Let's see if you dare to give up halfway again!"

  When Tao Ying was whispering, Lin Qing was actually hiding in the crowd of onlookers not far from Tao Ying. However, Lin Qing had changed back into women's clothing and was hiding in a horse-drawn carriage, surrounded by servants and maidservants. Therefore, even if the Xu Zhou soldiers searching for Lin Qing had a hundred times more courage, they still wouldn't dare to lift the curtain to check if there were any escaped soldiers inside. Meanwhile, all of Tao Ying's words were clearly heard by Lin Qing. The result was very natural...

  "You blind bookworm, how dare you insult me in public like this! Fine, remember this for me! I'll see if you have the guts to fight my army!"

  ………

  When Tao Ying was training hard in the small school field at East Gate, those with ulterior motives did not thoroughly relax their surveillance of Tao Ying and the Junzi Army's every move. However, after five or six days of surveillance, these individuals were thoroughly disappointed and also thoroughly relaxed, because Tao Er Gongzi's military training methods really had no commendable aspects to speak of. For the first three days, it was either heavy load running or formation drills. On the fourth day, early morning exercises with Wuqin Xi (a traditional Chinese exercise) were added, and then knife training was also included. This knife training was also quite unorthodox, only letting the Junzi Army soldiers practice three knives: vertical chopping, diagonal slashing from top to bottom, and counter-slashing from bottom to top. It was so simple that it wasn't even comparable to Cao Bao's military training methods, a third-rate martial general of the time.

  If one had to say that Tao Er Gongzi's military training has any bright spots, there are only two. Firstly, Tao Er Gongzi attaches great importance to the discipline of the Junzi Army. Within five or six days, he transformed a group of new recruits into a barely formed unit. Whether it was shouting slogans, marching in step, or wielding swords, every move was very uniform and looked quite impressive. Secondly, Tao Er Gongzi places great emphasis on arm strength training for his soldiers, creating a method called "pull-up training" that requires soldiers to grip a wooden bar with both hands and lift their bodies up to exercise their arm strength.

  Unfortunately, Tao Ying's two small bright spots were not enough to satisfy his relatives and friends who had high expectations for him. Although the army under Tao Ying's command was only 900 people, the initial investment was almost the same as that of Cao Jiao's 4,000 new recruits. Xuzhou, which had just experienced the chaos caused by Cao's soldiers, was still reeling from its wounds and had to bear such a heavy burden, yet it did not see any results. Tao Ying's relatives and friends were extremely disappointed.

  On the contrary, there were some people who were extremely satisfied with Tao Ying's performance. For example, Liu Bei, who claimed to be the grandson of Emperor Xiaojing and the descendant of Zhongshan Jingwang, after carefully understanding Tao Ying's military training methods and process, showed a hint of joy that was difficult to detect. He secretly thought to himself that he had been overly cautious and suspicious, mistakenly treating a bookworm with no ability to truss a chicken as a major threat, repeatedly using important insiders like the Mi brothers to monitor the bookworm's every move, which lowered his own majestic image in the eyes of the Mi brothers and may have caused Tao Qian to feel resentful.

  After secretly ridiculing Tao Ying's paper tiger and his own overcautiousness, Xuande accepted the good intentions of the Mi Zhu brothers, selecting inferior Northern Xiongnu war horses from his cavalry team to exchange for fine Western Region horses bought by the Mi Zhu brothers at a high price. He then handed these inferior war horses over to Mi Fang, who had personally delivered the horses, and had him take them back to Xuzhou to present to Tao Qian's father and son. Then he let Tao Ying use these second-rate horses to arm his destined-to-be-third-rate Junzi army.

  At the same time, Liu Bei entrusted Mi Fang with a message: "Please trouble yourself to remind Mi Zhu that Xuzhou is still owned by Lord Tao's family after all. If things are exaggerated, it will also harm the reputation of your brothers. Therefore, I think that you and your brother should not take the matter of the Junzi Army too much to heart. If there is a leak, it will inevitably lead to Lord Tao's resentment and bring unnecessary trouble to you and your brother."

  "Thank you, Lord Xuan De, for your guidance. I will definitely inform my brother." Mei Fang understood implicitly and knew that Liu Bei wanted him to relax his surveillance on Tao Ying, lest they leak the news and cause trouble, provoking Tao Qian's great anger.

  After agreeing, Zou Fang suddenly remembered something and hurriedly bowed to Liu Bei, saying: "Lord Xuande, my brother has another matter to report to you. My brother investigated and found that Tao Ying's young son ordered Cao Hong to prepare ten carpenters and a batch of high-quality wood for him. He also borrowed fifty Dan Yang soldiers from under Cao Hong's command and had them build several thatched cottages in the camp, where the carpenters were making some wooden objects. But what exactly these objects are, because the Dan Yang soldiers have sealed off the area tightly, my brother and I cannot investigate. My brother suspects that Tao Ying's young son may be building new weapons!"

  "Wooden weapons? New wooden-made weapons?" Liu Bei was taken aback and laughed, saying: "Even with the best wood materials, the made weapons can't compare to iron-made weapons in terms of hardness and sharpness."

  "Yes." Mei Fang nodded in agreement: "Mei Fang also thinks that brother is making a big deal out of nothing, but brother insists that Mei Fang report this matter to Lord Xuan De and ask him to be cautious and give instructions."

  "It's not worth wasting time and energy." Liu Bei said disdainfully: "A bookworm, holding a pile of wood, what new weapon can he make? A battering ram or a cloud ladder? I'm afraid he hasn't even seen what a battering ram or a cloud ladder looks like. Zi Fang, go back and tell Bie to stop spying, Tao Fu Jun has already found out that you're secretly buying horses for me, if you continue to spy on and monitor Tao Ying Xiao, not only will you fail to deceive Tao Fu Jun's eyes, but also further provoke him."

  "Lord Guan's words are extremely correct, and Zou Fang remembered them." Zou Fang replied respectfully: "In fact, Zou Fang didn't want to frighten the snake by cutting the grass, letting Lord Tao suspect Lord Guan. It was Brother who was too suspicious, and he had to secretly monitor that bookworm Tao Yingxiao."

  "Zi Zhong is not overly suspicious, but rather cautious." Liu Bei changed his expression to a serious one and said solemnly: "Tao Ying's young son infiltrated Cao's camp to deliver a message, everyone thought he was reckless and ignorant of the consequences. At that time, I also thought so. But now, after careful consideration, I realize there might be another possibility - Tao Ying's young son may have already known about Lü Bu's attack on Puyang and predicted that Cao would retreat from Xuzhou, which is why he dared to go alone to deliver the message!"

  "Impossible?" Zou Fang said in surprise: "This is absolutely impossible! If Tao Qian knew that Cao Cao was going to retreat, he would never have allowed your great army to enter Xuchang City, but only let your great army camp outside the city."

  "How can it be impossible? The Tao family has deep roots in Xuzhou, after all, and they have hidden channels for gathering information. It's not surprising." Liu Bei shook his head and said coldly: "Perhaps Tao Ying's son received this news but didn't report it to the Tao family, then pretended to risk life and death for the people of Xuzhou, sneaking into Cao's camp to send a message, snatching away the great merit of lifting the siege of Xuzhou that should have belonged to me!"

  "Is this possible?" Mei Fang's eyes widened in surprise, and she said even more astonishingly: "That bookworm who is lazy in four virtues and can't tell the difference between five grains, could he have such a mind?"

  "Of course, there is such a possibility, but there is no evidence to confirm whether this Tao Er Gongzi is a bookworm without a conscience or a deeply hidden poisonous snake?" Liu Bei sneered again.

  Having said that, after discussing the doubts about Tao Ying with Mei Fang, Liu Bei couldn't help but feel some more misgivings in his heart. He thought it was best to be cautious once again. So, after a brief moment of consideration, Liu Bei changed his tone and said: "Zi Fang, as the saying goes, 'a careful man can live for a thousand years.' Your brother Zi Zhong's concerns are not entirely unreasonable. I also think that before we confirm what kind of person Tao Er Gongzi is, we cannot be careless."

  "Lord Guan's intention is that we take another risk and find out what kind of wooden objects Tao Yingxiao is actually making?" Zou Fang asked tentatively.

  "Not bad." Liu Bei nodded and said coldly, "Once we figure out what kind of wooden crafts Tao Er Gongzi is making, it's equivalent to figuring out what kind of person Tao Er Gongzi is. Does he have real talent or not? Knowing oneself and knowing others can lead to victory in every battle. Taking another risk is worth it!"

  "Listening to Lord Xuan De say this, Zou Fang also felt that it was necessary to take another risk." Zou Fang actually got along well with Liu Bei's eight characters and immediately cupped his hands and smiled: "Please rest assured, Lord Xuan De, within ten days or at most half a month, Tao Ying will make some wooden objects in the camp of the Junzi Army. I will definitely get to the bottom of it for you!"