Congratulating

"From now on, Chen Mo will be my thirteenth sworn son." At the feast held to reward the many Grade A personal guards, General Sun patted Chen Mo on the shoulder and announced the news to everyone.

The numerous veterans were not surprised in the slightest. They had already guessed as much when they saw Chen Mo lift the eight-hundred-jin stone wheel.

They all smiled and congratulated General Sun and Chen Mo, congratulating one of them on taking in a sworn son and the other on gaining a sworn father.

Quite a few people also tried to establish ties with Chen Mo. They were members of the same clan as General Sun, and now that Chen Mo had taken General Sun as his sworn father, they could be considered connected to him as well.

As for the few new recruits, they were somewhat bewildered. They had no idea why General Sun had suddenly taken Chen Mo as his sworn son.

But they also understood that from this moment on, Chen Mo was different from them.

Being able to take General Sun as his sworn father meant that General Sun valued him. The path he would walk in the future would certainly be different from that of ordinary personal guards like them.

Chen Mo held his bowl of wine and returned the toasts of everyone who congratulated him one by one. His other hand never stopped moving either. He had to drink, but of course he also had to eat.

Although it had not been long since the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, he was genuinely craving meat now.

A greater expenditure of qi and blood meant he could eat more. And being able to eat more meant he was more likely to get hungry.

Pork knuckles, roast chicken, tender, juicy mutton chops, and fist-sized Four Happiness meatballs, all mixed with rice wine, were sent into his belly.

Chen Mo's stomach and intestines had already been nourished by qi and blood and undergone a transformation, so these foods would be digested exceptionally cleanly.

If not for that, aside from eating, the most important thing he would be doing now would probably be running to the latrine.

"Come on, bottoms up." After downing a bowl of rice wine, Chen Mo brought down the last man in front of him.

This man was also one of General Sun's sworn sons, making him Chen Mo's Seventh Brother. His name was Zhao Yuncheng.

General Sun had taken in quite a few sworn sons. Aside from Chen Mo, only Mo Dao, Mo Hu, and Zhao Yuncheng were in the military camp.

The others had either earned enough merit to become military officers elsewhere or died on the battlefield.

Looking at the other personal guards, some sprawled and some slumped over, collapsed on the tables or the ground, Chen Mo grabbed the pork knuckle that was still half left on the table and began gnawing at it without restraint.

He had indeed drunk quite a lot, and his mind was somewhat hazy, but he still had not forgotten to eat.

The rice wine he had swallowed would be digested and absorbed in a short time by his powerful internal organs.

With rice wine alone, it was indeed difficult to get him completely drunk.

With no one else disturbing him, Chen Mo finally let loose and continued eating to his heart's content.

By the time he had eaten until his belly was round, the drunkenness in his body had also completely dissipated.

"I say, sworn father, you aren't drunk, are you?" Just as Chen Mo was preparing to sneak some dishes away, he suddenly thought of this and asked in a lowered voice.

Even someone of his strength had not been able to get drunk from this rice wine. General Sun's strength far surpassed his own, so how could he possibly get drunk?

"You little brat, if I were drunk, you wouldn't be thinking about sneaking some dishes home to eat instead of helping me back to my room. I must have been out of my mind to take a sworn son like you!"

Having been exposed, Sun Shouren stopped pretending, rose to his feet, and cursed with a laugh.

His face was flushed and his entire body reeked of alcohol, but his eyes and mind were still fairly clear.

In fact, he had noticed Chen Mo sneaking away dishes every time before, but he had never taken it to heart.

Being able to eat was a good thing. Those who could eat were blessed, and people who could eat had simpler minds.

If someone spent all day scheming this and calculating that, they would not have the time to happily eat every day.

"Then shall I help you back to rest?" Chen Mo said as he reached out to support him.

"Forget it. I can go back myself." Sun Shouren waved his hand, then instructed him, "Come find me at the Mao hour tomorrow. I have something to tell you."

With that, he turned and left.

"Take care, sworn father. Your son understands." Chen Mo bowed and saluted, watching General Sun leave.

He also had something he wanted General Sun's help with. Going to see him tomorrow would be the perfect time to bring it up.

He wanted to ask General Sun to help him redeem Zhao Yu first and get her out.

He simply had not found a chance today to ask him privately for his help. No matter what, he had to find that opportunity tomorrow.

Watching him leave, Chen Mo picked up a large bowl and sifted through the dishes on several tables. Soon, he had selected two large bowls piled high with meat and vegetables.

After returning to his barracks, Chen Mo picked up the peach pastries and osmanthus candy nearby, then casually ate a little more to freshen his mouth.

The next day was still the same as usual. He woke extremely early, practiced his boxing forms twice to limber up, then went to the kitchen and ate twenty steamed buns, eight mantou, and several bowls of porridge.

After estimating that it was about time, he set out to pay a visit to General Sun.

"Sworn father." Chen Mo entered the study and bowed deeply.

"Get up. There is no need for you to bow every time between us." Though he said that, he was clearly quite pleased by Chen Mo's attitude.

"You want to take the military examination. Can you read? How many characters do you know?"

Even for the military examination, candidates had to be literate and able to read and write military treatises and policy essays. Knowing only martial arts was impossible for passing.

"Replying to sworn father, I know some characters, but not very many," Chen Mo answered.

"Oh!" Sun Shouren was visibly surprised. He truly had not expected Chen Mo to be literate as well. Among a group of ordinary soldiers, that was indeed quite rare.

Even among his personal guards, he did not dare claim that everyone could read. Only a few from better backgrounds knew a handful of characters.

"Take a look at this book and see how many characters you know." He pulled a book from the desk and handed it over.

Chen Mo accepted it with both hands and carefully flipped through it. Judging from the writing, it was probably a simple military treatise. It was not too difficult. He recognized more than half of the characters, while he could only guess at the rest.

"I recognize all the others. I can only guess at these characters." Chen Mo opened to a page and pointed out the characters he did not know one by one.

"Not bad. Later, go study with Scholar Zhao for a while. That will be enough for reading simple military texts."

Sun Shouren nodded in satisfaction. As the saying went, mastering one thing meant mastering many. Since Chen Mo already knew quite a few characters, learning from that point onward would naturally be much easier for him than for illiterate personal guards.

"Besides reading and writing, you need to study all kinds of military texts. To pursue a military degree, you also need to learn how to ride a horse. Later, find your Fifth Brother and have him take you to practice horsemanship. He holds the degree of Military Xiucai, so you can also ask him how to take the Xiucai examination." Sun Shouren gave his instructions.

"Fifth Brother has a degree too?" Chen Mo was somewhat surprised. Mo Hu had never mentioned this to him.

"Of course. If he had not held a degree and been temporarily conscripted under my command back then, he probably would not have become my sworn son either." Sun Shouren cleared up his confusion.

Once the imperial court went to war, anyone holding the degree of Military Xiucai would be conscripted into the army by the court, regardless of whether they held an official position.

"If you can pass the Military Xiucai examination, I will pull some strings and have you assigned to the field army under my command. If war breaks out, you will campaign with me. Once we reach the frontier, I will let you lead an army of your own."

Sun Shouren made his promise. He still had far too few usable men under him. He had originally had many, but the losses in the previous battle had been too great—not only among his personal guards, but also among many elite soldiers.

As a fifth-rank military officer, if stationed at the frontier, he could command at least ten thousand men. Most of the time, he would command even more.

To properly control the army under him, he could not rely only on ordinary personal guards. He also needed personal guards capable of serving as company commanders. Only through them could he fully command the army under him.

If the company commanders under him were not of one mind with him and lacked sufficient rapport, then when a real battle began, he might only be able to control the personal guards directly under him, plus two or three company commanders at most.

Once the others began fighting, each acting as his own camp, chaos would inevitably follow.

Compared with ordinary personal guards, these kinds of company commanders were the most difficult to cultivate.

Company commanders already held official rank. Under Great Qian's system, anyone who wanted to serve in that position had to possess a proper degree, at the very least that of a Xiucai.

It was true that he could use certain methods to let people without degrees temporarily serve in the position.

But that would be useless. What he needed was not merely a company commander, but someone capable of serving as one.

If someone truly had the ability, passing the Xiucai examination naturally would not be difficult. If they could not even pass the Xiucai examination, then most likely their supposed ability was nothing more than bragging.

At present, he had no more than ten people under him who could serve in this position. He needed to cultivate at least another eleven or twelve before he could barely make do.

Moreover, given Chen Mo's aptitude, his martial cultivation would absolutely not be poor. If Sun Shouren put effort into nurturing him properly, perhaps Chen Mo could become his right-hand man on the battlefield.

Putting everything else aside, with that strength alone, he would make an excellent vanguard if equipped with heavy armor.