Second Master's Benevolence Rested on His Fists

Zhang Yuan had asked Feng Cheng to find Chen Wu a wife. Feng Cheng had not neglected the matter; after returning home to discuss it with his family, he quietly brought his own younger sister to the banquet.

During the feast, Feng Cheng discreetly played matchmaker, and Miss Feng also took something of a liking to Chen Wu.

But Chen Wu felt that his family background was unworthy of Miss Feng, so he treated her neither warmly nor coldly. Only after drinking several more cups did he gather the courage to say a few words.

Once he sobered up, he felt those words should not have been said.

Inside the carriage, Young Master Tao smiled as he brought up Chen Wu's drunken ramblings from the night before.

Chen Wu had already reached Ding Family Alley, yet he did not dare speak to Zhang Yuan about such matters. He could only borrow the courage of drink and seek out Young Master Tao.

As the carriage rolled onward, Zhang Yuan straightened his back, his expression turning solemn.

Chen Wu, Huang Sanliang, and the others had been the first batch of students at Yulin Academy. Among the children of their fallen comrade-in-arms, they had been the right age.

When they entered the academy, they had all been fourteen or fifteen. They already understood their families' circumstances and knew that the chance to study and practice martial arts at the academy had been bought with the lives their fathers and elder brothers had sacrificed.

There had been nine youths in all, and they had studied at the academy for three or four years in total.

Zhang Yuan taught fist techniques, saber techniques, and some Military Battle Tactics, while Young Master Tao taught Confucian learning, reading, and writing.

Hu Chunniu also made time to go over and teach them battlefield first aid and basic medical knowledge.

Of that first batch, Chen Wu and Huang Sanliang had entered the Martial Guard Bureau to inherit posts, while two others had taken up constable positions at the prefectural yamen.

Of the rest, one had joined the Crimson Fox Caravan, while all the others had entered the Crimson Scale Army.

Most students who had graduated from the academy in recent years went to those places.

Last year, Bai Yu of the Crimson Scale Army had personally come to Luyang Prefecture and visited the academy to meet Zhang Yuan and Young Master Tao.

According to Bai Yu, future recommendation letters for the academy's students could directly state that they were being sent under his command, rather than being sent elsewhere.

The truth was that students from the academy, whether skilled in literature or martial arts, all had solid foundations and could endure hardship. Once in the army, they could serve effectively.

Especially the fist and saber techniques taught by Zhang Yuan—their foundations were firm, and one had to reach the Minor Accomplishment Realm to be considered qualified.

When the army recruited soldiers, those who already had fist and saber techniques at Minor Accomplishment could enlist directly. Squad leaders and battalion commanders would grin from ear to ear as they took them in like treasures.

Among those academy students, Chen Wu's martial arts were the most solid. His Ironclad Fist and Cape Saber Technique had already reached Great Accomplishment, while his Martial Cultivation had entered the Houtian Mid-stage.

Across all of Luyang Prefecture, a twenty-year-old at the Houtian Mid-stage was an elite among elites.

"Unworthy?" Zhang Yuan pressed a hand to his knee, a sharp gleam flashing in his eyes. "How is he unworthy?"

Young Master Tao waved a hand and said softly, "I asked him the same thing last night."

"He said she was a young lady from a great family, while he, Chen Wu, was merely a Black Robe Guard with one worthless life."

"His monthly pay of two taels could not even match the cost of one box of her face powder."

War raged without cease, and martial men's lives were cheap.

Great Qin gave martial men glory and the chance to stake their lives for wealth and status, but it also made their lives as insignificant as grass.

Zhang Yuan frowned slightly.

From his studies and martial arts training at the academy to his entry into the Martial Guard Bureau, Chen Wu had undergone some tempering, but Zhang Yuan and the others had supported him every step of the way.

Even though his cultivation was already not weak, he had never felt himself to be particularly impressive.

The academy's graduates were not far apart in strength. Besides, Zhang Yuan, who taught them the Martial Way, was not much older than they were, yet was so powerful that he left them in despair.

Over time, they had grown used to thinking of themselves as ordinary people.

In Martial Way Cultivation, if you did not put your life up for sale, then you truly were just an ordinary person.

Whether you sold your life to the imperial court and its armies or sold it to the martial world, it was all staking your life for wealth and status.

"Young Master Tao, in a few days, the two of us will pay the Feng Family a visit." Zhang Yuan sat upright, his expression calm. "Elder Brother Youde is not here. You and I are Chen Wu's elders."

"We will make the decision in this matter."

"Actually, keeping Chen Wu and Huang Sanliang in Luyang Prefecture was selfish of us."

Zhang Yuan turned to look out the carriage window and said quietly, "I am seldom in the prefectural city. I thought that with them here, they could help teach the Martial Way at the academy and inherit their fathers' posts."

The intention had been good.

But people always had desires.

He, Zhang Yuan, could remain in Luyang Prefecture for a roll of coarse cloth, but that did not mean everyone else could do the same.

They were just over twenty, at an age when their blood ran hot. With their respectable cultivation and combat strength, how could they be content?

"After he gets married, Young Master Tao, write him a recommendation letter and send him to the northern border. The border army there faces off against the Wei Kingdom and Liangyuan Region, with constant clashes. It will not be difficult to win merit and establish himself."

Looking at Young Master Tao, Zhang Yuan raised two fingers.

"First, the Chen Family must have an heir. Otherwise, the two of us will have failed Chen Wu's father's trust. Second, I want that kid to memorize the several military manuals I left in the academy before he goes to the army and starts as an ordinary soldier."

Young Master Tao smiled and nodded, looking out the carriage window.

"Luyang Prefecture is too small, after all."

It was unclear whether those words were an idle sigh or meant for Zhang Yuan to hear.

Zheng Family Village.

By the time Zhang Yuan and the others arrived, Old Master Zheng's coffin was about to be carried out for burial.

The two of them went to the mourning hall, bowed in tribute, burned some paper offerings, and stepped aside.

"Second Master, Teacher, thank you for coming to see the old master off." The elder speaking was the village head of Zheng Family Village, from the same generation as Zheng Qiang, who had died in Fengtian County City.

Zheng Qiang had died in battle, and Old Master Zheng had no sons. However, there were many nephews from collateral branches in the village, and they had arranged a respectable funeral.

Over the past few years, with Zhang Yuan and the others around, Old Master Zheng had lived rather well in the village. He had only moved into a medical hall after falling seriously ill.

Several younger members of the Zheng Family came forward and saluted Zhang Yuan and the others.

Everyone knew that with Old Master Zheng's passing, Zheng Family Village's ties with Second Master would fade.

Yet judging by Second Master's past conduct, so long as there were promising youngsters among the family's descendants, Second Master would still agree to send them to the academy.

Even if the family had to scrape together the tuition, as long as they could study and practice martial arts at Yulin Academy, they would eventually have a future.

Zhang Yuan did not agree outright. After asking a few questions with Young Master Tao, he picked two clever children and said they could be sent to the academy in a few days to give it a try.

That alone left the Zheng Family overjoyed.

"Second Master, Teacher." Two middle-aged men in blue martial robes came forward and cupped their hands, making the people of Zheng Family Village around them retreat.

Both men were from Qingshan Village. People in the village had been talking about it since they arrived that morning.

The people of Zheng Family Village were all ordinary folk. Even though Qingshan Village had turned over a new leaf and gone into legitimate business, they still did not dare approach too closely.

Zhang Yuan nodded in greeting.

One of the men was called Yao Gao, the other Fang Dahe. Back when Duan Hong had been in Qingshan Village, both had been leaders there.

Zhang Yuan had dragged them down the mountain, and the two had led their brothers in building rope bridges and starting legitimate businesses.

Zhang Yuan and the others had fulfilled the comrade-in-arms' military merits they had promised, aiding the families of fallen comrades. Whenever the people of Qingshan Village heard of it, they would also lend a hand.

First, it fulfilled the code of brotherhood in the martial world.

Second, it was a chance to curry favor with Second Master.

Only Qingshan Village's leaders knew Second Master's methods.

Everyone else thought that Second Master had talked them down the mountain back then.

Only they themselves knew that they had truly been dragged down the mountain.

Dragged down like dead dogs.

Second Master's benevolence rested on his fists.