The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

That night, before going to bed, Lord Zhou and others did not return, and Lord Luo, who said he was in a meeting, was nowhere to be seen.

This made Mr. Huo, the official in charge, very angry.

Zhang Pingan didn't care. He just ate when he was hungry and slept when he was tired. There would always be arrangements in the end.

After all, they are still officials, so no matter how bad their conditions are, they are not too outrageous.

My eldest brother-in-law Liu Sanlang and more than fifty other ninth-rank captains were in another tent, not far away, but they ate separately at night.

Zhang Pingan guessed that the food over there was even worse, after all, the quality was displayed here.

I don’t know if my brother-in-law is full.

You are not allowed to walk around the camp, so we can only wait until tomorrow.

Zhang Pingan has never slept in a tent with more than 20 people since he was born. It's a bit like the dormitory in his previous life.

According to the soldier guarding the gate, the conditions in their tent were relatively good. The servants they brought with them could only squeeze thirty or forty people into one tent. There were not so many requirements in the military camp.

No one could sleep for a while, so they gathered in groups of three or four to talk, mostly complaining and expressing their indignation at being unappreciated.

Zhang Ping'an and Tu Xiaowen mostly listened and spoke occasionally.

"Just wait and see. Lord Zhou and his men will leave us alone for at least three to five days. They will only assign us some work after we've worn out all our energy," Tu Xiaowen said lazily.

Since he was able to serve as an official in the court and was also chosen to come to the front line, no one was stupid and would have guessed it long ago!

But knowing is one thing, and actually encountering it is another.

Zhang Pingan became interested and continued, "I guess it will take more than three or five days, at least seven!"

Intellectuals are so proud, three or five days are not enough.

After Zhang Ping'an finished speaking, another person took over and said, "I agree with Brother Zhang. Today's move is clearly a show of force to intimidate us and make us behave ourselves. Humph, they used to say that military officers are upright, but in fact, they are quite cunning. As if no one can see it!"

As soon as these words came out, the others shook their heads and sighed: "It's all because we have no one to back us up. The road of being an official is so hard!"

"Forget it, forget it. Let's not talk about it anymore. Let's go to sleep. We are all seventh-rank officials of the imperial court. What can those warriors do to us?"

Tu Xiaowen rolled his eyes and added: "We are military officers now, or what you call warriors, but we are still like that in the past!"

Upon hearing this, the man sighed a few more times and lay down.

The others stopped talking about sex and lay down to rest.

Zhang Ping'an also lay down, and Tu Xiaowen was sleeping next to him. Both of them had good sleeping posture.

"Hurry up and go to sleep, otherwise you won't be able to sleep because someone is snoring," said Tu Xiaowen, who was obviously very experienced.

After saying that, he closed his eyes, stopped talking, and fell asleep.

Zhang Pingan followed closely behind. After all, no one would care whether you could sleep well when living in such a big tent. If you encountered someone who snores or grinds their teeth, it would be fatal.

The next day, before dawn, around five o'clock in the morning, the sound of drums was heard in the camp.

Soon, people were coming and going outside the tent.

Zhang Pingan and others also heard the drumbeats.

"This is the drum sound for getting up, let's get up too," said Zhang Pingan as he put on his clothes and got up.

Someone yawned sleepily and replied, "We haven't even arranged any specific tasks yet, why are we getting up so early?"

After saying that, he lay down and fell asleep again.

Zhang Ping'an didn't care what others thought. He got dressed quickly and tied his hair.

Tu Xiaowen yawned and got up calmly.

Seeing the two of them like this, the cautious one didn't sleep anymore and got up as well.

After a while, most people got up.

People are like this, they have a herd mentality.

When everyone left the tent, they found that the servants had also gotten up.

Liu Sanlang and other captains who were military officers even began to practice on their own.

When they were in the Wucheng Bingmasi, they had to train every five days regardless of whether they were on duty or not, so they were used to it.

It seems that he has adapted much better than civil servants like Zhang Pingan.

Everyone had nothing to do, so they stood at the door looking at each other, not knowing what to do!

At this time, the sky was getting light.

Zhang Pingan thought about it, then walked towards his brother-in-law and said, "Let's train together. Although we were civil servants before, the situation is different now. It will only benefit us to train well."

"Alright," everyone nodded in agreement. "Weren't we allowed to move around the camp last night? What if someone stops us later?"

"Night is night, day is day. Now it's broad daylight. Is there anything wrong with us going over and training with these captains?" Tu Xiaowen said indifferently.

"I don't want to stand at the tent door like a goose!"

The two sides originally came together, and it was quite lively when they gathered together. These captains were also feeling nervous, and they welcomed Zhang Pingan and others very much!

When Liu Sanlang saw Zhang Ping'an coming over, he stepped forward and asked with concern, "Ping'an, did you sleep well last night?"

"I'm fine, how about you, brother-in-law?"

"I'm fine too," Liu Sanlang said with a smile, then he whispered a little embarrassedly, "It's just that I eat too much, and I don't have enough for dinner!"

"No one touched our dinner yesterday, but I still have a lot of steamed buns. I'll give them to you later," said Zhang Ping'an.

"No, no, just eat. I'm just talking. I don't know if I'll have to go hungry for every meal in the future. Sigh!" Liu Sanlang waved his hands repeatedly and almost sighed when he said the last sentence.

Before he went to the Five Cities Military Division to take up his post, he rarely had a full meal. But the good times didn't last long, and it looked like he would have to go back to his old half-hungry and half-full state. It made him sad just thinking about it!

Zhang Ping'an followed suit, moving his arms, kicking his legs, and stretching. He felt quite comfortable and his body became more active.

The soldiers near the tent glanced at everyone and ignored them.

When he heard the drum for the second time, Tu Xiaowen felt his stomach and said loudly, "Is it time for breakfast? Should we go with them to eat, or wait for them to bring us breakfast?"

"I don't know," someone responded.

A nearby soldier heard this and replied, "My lords, we'll bring you food in a moment."

Everyone waited and waited, and after a while, four soldiers came over with two large bamboo baskets of steamed buns. They were really two large baskets, and the bamboo baskets were almost as tall as a person.

There were two bamboo tubes on the basket, which contained pickles, a black lump that tasted only salty.

Even so, it was supplied in quantity. The soldier said, "Three for each of the Xuanzhenglang and Xiaowei, and two for each of the others. You can help yourself to the pickles."

Others refer to feeding these followers.

Zhang Ping'an signaled with his eyes that he was full and quickly went to get his portion.

He finally understood that this was all they could eat in the military camp and that was the standard of food.

Although they brought fine grains, there were too many of them and they could not eat them for long, so they could only eat occasionally to improve their diet.

Those who were waiting for Chi Bao had also suffered a lot, so they were not picky and just took the steamed bread and started eating it in big mouthfuls.

After giving Zhang Pingan three, he ate his fill and whispered, "This steamed bread is very coarse. How about I make some for you later? There are still some fine grains."

Zhang Pingan waved his hand: "Forget it, we have to eat sooner or later, we are not here to enjoy ourselves!"

Tu Xiaowen ate with gusto, asking, "Is there anyone among you who doesn't want to eat? If not, give it to me. I won't be picky!"

There are far fewer people who refuse to eat steamed bread today than last night.

Everyone thought of the same problem as Zhang Ping'an: the fine grains would eventually be eaten up, and the steamed bread would have to be eaten sooner or later.

In the end, there were still forty or fifty pieces left in the basket, which were not taken by those who did not get up.

The soldier picked up the bamboo basket and prepared to leave.

A servant said, "Brother, I see there are still quite a few steamed breads left in this basket. Can I take them for my master?"

Even if the master doesn't eat it, he can still eat it.