A quarter of an hour later, after breakfast, Li Dingguo and the other sixteen gifted youths split off from the larger group of orphan boys and arrived at the training ground reserved exclusively for them these past few days.
The four Spirit Beast Warhorses Zhang Xianzhong had brought, along with a large cart loaded with various equipment, were also led nearby by several soldiers.
Having likewise eaten breakfast in this compound, Zhang Xianzhong stepped out from the crowd and stood tall, shouting at them, "Li Dingguo, Ai Nengqi, Liu Wenxiu, Zhang Huier, come over here."
"The rest of you, continue practicing the Tiger Roar Fist as you did yesterday!"
"Whether it is horsemanship or learning the various weapons, you little ones must first break through and become Martial Artists."
He knew that the remaining twelve gifted youths were all among the talented, and would certainly break through to become Martial Artists before the half-month deadline arrived.
He said this merely to put a little more pressure on them.
After all, Zhang Xianzhong wanted to cultivate these twelve gifted youths, aside from the four monstrous prodigies, into future junior officers.
A qualified army needed not only commanding generals, but also enough lower-ranking officers to keep it running smoothly.
Zhang Xianzhong had already decided that he would soon establish an Orphan Youth Camp and continue expanding it in the future, so the Rebel Army could rapidly accumulate talent.
Soon, Li Dingguo and the other three were gathered together by Zhang Xianzhong. Their expressions solemn, they stood straight in a row before him.
"Starting today, until our Rebel Army withdraws from this county town, the four of you will systematically learn to use various weapons and study horsemanship."
Zhang Xianzhong laid out his arrangements. "Of course, you may also focus on a specialty. Choose the primary weapon you intend to use in the future and practice it intensively, while treating other weapons as secondary studies."
"Whether saber techniques, spear techniques, staff techniques, or the like, I have decent cultivation methods here for you to choose from."
"Actually, it is not limited to those. Beside the small classroom where you study literacy every evening, I will have a Library Pavilion set up today. It will contain all kinds of unusual cultivation methods and books collected by our Rebel Army, including some Medical Skills."
"Among them are the Breath Concealment Technique and the Stealth Technique practiced by military scouts. They will be extremely important when you operate in the wilderness in the future."
"After all, the desolate wilds, deep mountains, and vast marshes are filled with Demons and Monsters. Without the Blood Fiend Qi of a great army to deter them, Body Tempering Realm cultivators will encounter all sorts of dangers. If you are alone outside and have not learned these two unusual cultivation methods, those Demons and Monsters will easily set their sights on you."
"Every evening, after your literacy lessons end, you may go to the Library Pavilion yourselves and select books that interest you to study."
"In short, the more skills one possesses, the less one is burdened. Learning more knowledge will be of great benefit to you in the future and will let you travel farther."
"I do not require you to master all eighteen martial arts, but aside from specializing in one or two, there is no harm in learning more whenever you have the time."
At this point, he paused, then continued, "After another half month, your evening literacy lessons will include an additional half hour of military strategy and tactics, which I will personally teach."
"Days of ease like these will not be granted to us by the government for much longer. You must make full use of these precious two or three months of study ahead."
To be honest, the days ahead were still long. These youths, Li Dingguo and the rest, would not lack time in the future to learn all kinds of survival and life skills.
But they were rebels who had only just raised the banner of revolt!
Once the Rebel Army left Dingbian City, life could not possibly remain as comfortable as it was now for a long time. Being tossed from pillar to post would likely become commonplace, and days of such ease would be rare.
Once gifted youths like Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi lacked sufficient means to protect themselves, they could easily perish amid chaotic armies.
Government troops would not spare you on the battlefield merely because you were a child.
So long as one was a rebel, upon meeting them on the battlefield, even the old, weak, women, and children were among those they slaughtered.
Not to mention the threats posed by all manner of Demons and Monsters.
"Alright, the four of you, come forward one by one and choose a primary weapon and a bow and arrows."
Zhang Xianzhong beckoned the four monstrous prodigies before him forward. "You must follow your hearts and choose the weapons that interest you most."
"Only then will cultivating the corresponding weapon technique as your main discipline yield twice the result with half the effort."
As someone who had been through it, Zhang Xianzhong had experience in this regard, so his words made perfect sense.
Ai Nengqi was the first to step forward. After thinking for a moment, he picked up a long-handled broadsword and a bow and arrows.
Li Dingguo came next. He chose a long spear and a bow and arrows.
Like Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu chose a long spear and a bow and arrows.
Zhang Huier, however, was different from the others. She actually chose a Wolf Tooth Club and a bow and arrows.
The various weapons here were no ordinary items; they were beginner Spirit Weapons.
They had all been carefully selected by Zhang Xianzhong and were of excellent quality. Presumably, they had been seized from the household guards and retainers of those wealthy gentry Lineages.
As for Dingbian City's original garrison, they were merely a motley rabble with little fighting strength.
Therefore, when Zhang Xianzhong had previously captured the county town and led the Rebel Army soldiers in a surprise assault, he had taken it with ease and without expending much effort.
Only the county magistrate holding the official seal, along with several wealthy gentry families within the city, had caused the Rebel Army considerable trouble.
In today's Great Ming Dynasty, "losses in transit" were severe from top to bottom, and corruption had become the norm.
Of all kinds of military supplies, funds, and grain, thirty percent had already vanished before they even left the capital.
Then they were stripped away layer by layer by civil and military officials at every level. By the time they reached the soldiers in various regions, it was already fortunate if ten percent of the supplies, funds, and grain remained.
Within the Great Ming Dynasty, those living the most miserable lives were the military households, who had basically lost their farmland and most of their sources of military pay and grain, as well as the ordinary artisan households, who possessed nothing but their trade.
Most of the weapons and equipment used by government troops were crudely made and shoddily manufactured.
The reason the Nine Border Garrisons had not yet collapsed was that commanders at every level, stationed in various places, were using public resources for private purposes to maintain greater or fewer personal guards and household retainers.
Because they were willing to invest heavily in these personal guards and household retainers, who were much like household servants, they could use their deterrent power to lead the ordinary soldiers and military households, who had essentially become useless, in defending the border strongholds and regional garrisons already on the verge of collapse, preserving the court's last shred of dignity and authority.
Even those barbarian Tatars Beyond the Pass, who did not engage in production, had now surpassed the Great Ming Dynasty considerably in military equipment through smuggling with treacherous merchants within the passes and through letting their troops plunder.
The tricks hidden within were obvious without being spoken.
However, Zhang Xianzhong had already ordered the gathering of some artisan households to repair and forge the military equipment used by the Rebel Army.
Especially since, not long ago, he had fortunately invited a great Crafting Master capable of forging Spirit Weapons. He offered the man satisfactory payment and treatment, and had him forge various Spirit Weapons for the Rebel Army.
Before long, using the various resources plundered from this county town, they would presumably at least be able to fully arm the Rebel Army's three hundred Veteran Camp soldiers.
Of course, the precious Spirit Armor required too many resources and too much time to forge, so that was beyond their abilities for now.
The few sets of Spirit Armor currently possessed by the Rebel Army had all been stripped from several wealthy Lineage retainers and city-defense officers who had been killed, then claimed as their own.
These Low-Grade Spirit Weapons now held by Li Dingguo and the others were quite valuable.
Within the Great Ming Dynasty, aside from ordinary artisan households whom officials and gentry did not even regard as human, there were also Crafting Masters of lofty status.
Only the relatively few Crafting Masters could forge the various grades of Spirit Weapons that allowed Martial Artists to fully unleash their own strength.
Forging Spirit Weapons required all kinds of Spirit Ore and spiritwood, as well as a Crafting Master's superb smelting and forging skills, which made every Spirit Weapon extremely precious.
Even the Low-Grade Spirit Weapons in Li Dingguo's hands were each worth roughly as much as a Low-Grade Spirit Beast Flood Dragon Scale Horse.
Like Spirit Beast Warhorses, Spirit Weapons were divided into four grades: low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and top-grade.
Altogether, Zhang Xianzhong possessed only several dozen Spirit Weapon armaments, most of them Low-Grade Spirit Weapons acquired through plunder.
The fortuitous inheritance he had obtained several years ago contained no Spirit Weapons of this sort, and that was also the greatest shortcoming of the Rebel Army he had founded.
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