Shipin Dalizheng

He let out a breath like a deflated ball, shaking off a gravel on his head.

Rong Tang moved in front of him and said softly, "Senior, can you please talk to me properly? I really don't want to hurt you."

Lao Wen was silent for a while, "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I believe that. But there's one thing I don't like: boundaries. Even if I know you won't hurt me, I don't like people sneaking up to my bedside and peeping at me in the middle of the night. Do you like that?"

Old Wen smacked his lips and said, "Okay, I get it."

Rong Tang gestured to Rong Zhan, "Untie them."

Rong Zhan untied the rope, and Rong Wanli brought a bowl of rice. "Senior, do you want me to feed you, or do you want to eat it yourself later?"

Old Wen had never felt so aggrieved in his life, so he just threw in the towel and shouted, "Hey!"

After eating, Old Wen Jing waited for his strength to recover, while Rong Tang was also waiting for his explanation.

Old Wen said angrily, "Needless to say, it was Zheng Changzhi who agreed to let me come with you."

The timeline goes back to two days ago, at the Ten-Li Pavilion, Rong Tang was accepting the farewell of relatives and friends, while Zheng Changzhi was watching from a distance.

After a long moment, he whispered, "Old Wen, go with him and protect him."

Old Wen was incredulous, and Xuanque also opened his eyes wide.

"Old Wen, I'm sorry you've wronged me by following a cripple like me. I've tied up your freedom. If you can bring him back safely this time... and if I can stand up, I'll allow you to leave and follow him."

Lao Wen's heart was like a storm, but he was not unhappy at all, but felt extremely excited. What was going on?

Xuanque shouted, "Old Wen, you can't agree to this. You belong to the young master. Once you are his, you belong to him forever!"

However, what Lao Wen thought in his heart was, why can't I agree? I didn't sell myself to the young master, and I didn't marry him.

Seeing that Lao Wen didn't answer, Xuan Que became anxious, "Lao Wen, you can't be like this. A servant must be loyal to his master."

Old Wen suddenly glared at Xuan Que in annoyance. "I'm not a slave. The young master once saved me, and I promised to protect him for the rest of my life, but I didn't sell myself. Xuan Que, I'm different from you. You were born into the young master's family, but I was once free."

Xuan Que looked incredulous, "Old Wen, do you have any ill intentions towards the young master?"

Old Wen took a deep breath. "This isn't called disloyalty. This is called a yearning for freedom. You'll never understand. Now, Young Master also knows what I'm thinking. I've lived an honest life. If Young Master is willing to let me go, I'll be grateful. If you're not willing to let me go, I'll follow you to the death."

Xuan Que's eyes turned red with anxiety, "You... are unreasonable. Young Master..."

"I've made up my mind. Old Wen, I can let you go, but only on the condition that he returns safely and I stand up. Even one less is not acceptable."

Old Wen bowed and said, "Take care, sir."

At this moment, he didn't know whether his desire for freedom or his desire to follow Rong Tang was heavier, but no matter which one, catching up with Rong Tang and protecting him was the essential first step.

He never expected that he would be caught the next day after providing secret protection. Not only that, the other person might not even need his protection.

Old Wen hesitated for a moment, then spoke again to explain the reason, but his tone was much more arrogant. "Master Zheng was worried that you would die and no one would be able to help him stand up, so he ordered me to protect you."

She refused to admit that she really wanted to follow him and make a living.

Rong Tang believed him and made three rules with him, including obeying orders, not killing innocent people, and not sneaking into his bedroom. After agreeing to these three points, the two sides got along happily.

Old Wen agreed readily.

Since they were all his own, he had to assign them a role in his army. For example, Youzi was a scout, Lao Tan was a sergeant in the first team, Shiyi was a sergeant in the second team, and Rong Zhan was the captain of the personal guard. Since Lao Wen was here to protect him, should he also be assigned to the personal guard?

While he was struggling to think, Rong Wanli asked him curiously, "Senior, where is your horse?"

Old Wen frowned, "What horse? No, it's on its legs."

A group of people knelt down. They covered 400 miles in a day, all thanks to Qinggong. Except for the clueless Li Dequan, Rong Tang, who was limp, struggled to lie on the ground, prostrating himself. "Living Immortal, please accept my knees."

Old Wen gradually regained his confidence. "Tsk, throw a pipe at me, won't I run? There's no one in the world who can surpass my Qinggong yet."

Rong Tang also remembered the military position he had been given: Chief Instructor of the Rong Family's New Army. What was a Chief Instructor? In short, it meant teaching martial arts for free.

The grand ceremony of granting military rank was presided over by Li Dequan, who solemnly read out the letter of appointment on the spot. After receiving the letter of appointment, Wen Ruyu, the world's number one master, sold himself at a low price for a monthly salary of one or two taels of silver.

In order to express his uneasiness about being taken advantage of, Rong Tang particularly emphasized that everyone who joined the Rong family's new army in the future must kowtow to the head coach, including himself. Therefore, although Wen Ruyu sold herself at a low price, she was actually very excited in her heart.

(Xuan Que: You old fool, you are only making fifty taels a month with the young master!)

Because there was one more person, they passed by a larger town and bought a horse specifically for Lao Wen. Although Lao Wen's horse was not as good as theirs, after Lao Wen recovered his strength and practiced some lightness skills, his horse was the most relaxed.

It is worth mentioning that since Lao Wen joined the team, people have been willing to join him one after another. After identification, Rong Tang found that some of those who came to join him were Shiyi and his accomplices, and some came for Lao Wen. Without exception, they were all people from the martial arts world and had martial arts skills.

It's a good thing for people with kung fu skills to join the group, as they are strong in individual combat and can defeat ten enemies alone. The downside is that each person has a horse king above them, making it difficult to manage.

He tried several times and found that there was no such worry. As long as Eleven's companions saw Wu Ji's obsidian ring, they would obey unconditionally, and those who came to Lao Wen would have absolutely no objection as long as Lao Wen said a word.

So he recruited people while traveling, walking in the morning and sleeping at night. During the day, he had free time to practice martial arts with Lao Wen, and at night he set up camp and learned secret codes from Rong Tang. Later, they would fight each other while traveling on horseback.

As the number of people increased, more and more horses were bought. As the number of people feeding increased, the baggage also increased. Two more carriages were purchased, and later equipped with various weapons.

When buying things, Rong Tang would naturally take out the silver first, and Li Dequan would record it. When they passed by a county or a provincial capital, Li Dequan would use the seal of Emperor Xuanning to withdraw the money. Fortunately, they were few in number, otherwise the government along the way would not be able to cope with it.

Suddenly one day, Li Dequan was looking through the roster and saw the numbers all over the book. He was worried, "Young Master, this is not right!"

Rong Tang came over to take a look, "What's wrong?"

"You've been recruiting soldiers along the way, and you've only recruited number 88."

None of the soldiers used their real names. After No. 11, they had No. 21, No. 31, and so on until No. 88.

"What's the problem with having more people?"

"The problem isn't the large number of people, it's the roster. It's all numbers, no names, and it won't be reported to the Ministry of War. This is against the rules."

"Isn't the Rong family's new army directly under His Majesty? All we need to do is report to His Majesty."

"Reporting them to His Majesty is also against the rules. Without their names and places of origin, who knows if they are bandits hiding their identities and killing people? I'm not saying they are bandits, but even if they return to the capital in the future, this will definitely not work."

Rong Tang thought for a moment and called over two representatives, Shiyi and Wen Ruyu. They went out for a while and returned with a large indenture for Rong Tang.

Rong Tang showed it to Li Dequan, "Is it okay now?"

Li Dequan was stunned. "So they are all your slaves?"

"For now. When they don't want to do this anymore, we'll let them go."

Li Dequan was speechless. Rong Tang, as the Earl of Jian'an, was solely responsible for the future actions of these people.