Xiao Xuan sighed: "You Han officials always love these scheming, not like the Khitan people to go straight, although there is indeed merit, watching these nonsense twists and turns always makes people feel uncomfortable." Han Derang's face changed slightly, and he said in a deep voice: "Han officials are not born to like to boast about their merits, as the so-called good at the top, and even worse at the bottom, the king likes to sing praises of virtue, and the officials below can only seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and over time, the officials of the Khitan will slowly become the same as the Han officials." ”

Xiao Xuan listened to him ridicule him, knowing that Han Derang was dissatisfied with his disparagement of the character of the Han official, but he could not reprimand him, his heart was slightly bitter, and he looked at him the same, and said in a low voice: "The Chinese military officer of the DPRK, only you dare to speak like this." Her voice became softer, and Han Derang couldn't help but be stunned when he heard that there seemed to be a strange meaning in her words. There was silence between the two. Xiao Sui consciously made a mistake, her pink neck hung low, although it was a cold winter, the palace room was as warm as spring, she was dressed as a Han girl in a narrow sleeved Confucian skirt on weekdays, today's clothes were slightly thin, her posture was moving, and the air was filled with a charming fragrance.

In the eighth year of the Taiping rejuvenation of the Great Song Dynasty, the first year of the unification of the Liao State, and the implementation of the five-year plan of the Xia State have entered the third year, the water conservancy built in the winter of the first two years, the livestock purchased have played a role, the grain production has increased, and the farmers have also developed the habit of obeying the sergeant's dispatch and arrangement in the winter when the farmers are slack. From this winter onwards, strong men from all over the country were selected from among the victorious soldiers for drills, and under the guidance of the sergeants, they first practiced marching and retreating, regardless of the type of arm, and in the future, those who were good at archery formed a bow and arrow team, those who were not good at archery formed a white pole team, and those who could bring their own horses to participate in the battle formed a ranger team.

It coincided with the first day of the regimental drill in Huile County, in order to show the importance attached to the winter exercises, not only Shang Zhongxin, the captain of the Hussar Xinzi Battalion stationed in Huile County, Lingzhou, came to supervise in person, but also Zhang Hao, the commander of Huile County, Wu Yuan and other civil officials also attended the ceremony. The snow in the center of the school field was cleared early, and a field of jackdaws scattered in all directions, and more than 4,000 strong men gathered in a row on the rather spacious and tidy school field under the command of the sergeant.

Zhang Hao and Wu Yuannai are classmates and friends, both of them are from Chang'an, and they are also famous in the Song Kingdom. The two originally thought that the Xia Kingdom was just a barbarian land, and as long as they showed their talents a little, they would definitely be introduced by King Xia as a staff member. However, after entering the Xia Kingdom, they first heard about the Shazhou Academy presided over by Liang Zuoqiu and the literary war in full swing among the masters of the Yigan sect, and witnessed the tax collector's mansion presided over by Chase being full of talents.

Due to the harsh requirements of the Xia State for the two arts of riding and archery of scribes, in the entire old land of the twelve states of Longyou in Hexi, there were only a few hundred scholars who could be promoted to scribes, because there were few scribes, so as long as they were promoted to scribes, most of them obtained real officials after the training of the Prime Minister's Office. Except for a few who were of despicable character and could not be appointed, about half of them were selected by Chase to serve as civil officials in various states and counties and various Cao offices, and the other half did not want to be civil officials, or simply abandoned civil service and joined the army, or devoted themselves to the study of academic institutions, or stayed in the countryside to protect their families.

Zhang Hao is good at talking about vertical and horizontal arts, and he is skilled in bowing and horses, although Liang Zuoqiu does not appreciate him very much, but he still fairly determines that he is qualified to become a scribe according to his knowledge. Chase encouraged Zhang Hao and appointed him as the commander of Lingzhou Huile County, while Wu Yuan had to stoop to Zhang Hao's county office as a priest because he had never been able to pass the assessment of the second art of riding and archery.

"Can you tell the difference between your left hand, your right hand, your chest, and your back?" Shang Zhongxin held a short stick in his hand, stood on the high platform of the earthen fortress with his chest protruding, and proudly glanced at the more than 4,000 strong men on the black ground below.

The innkeepers Liang De and Zhang Tai both stood in the queue and replied loudly: "You can tell the difference." The voice was too loud, attracting the people next to him to look sideways, but the two of them were complacent, thinking that Captain Shang should have seen us. In addition to forcibly unifying the style of clothes, the government did not stipulate the color of clothing, and even wealthy merchants could wear vermilion robes. These strong men in Huile County, Lingzhou, have mixed clothes, and the formation is also scattered, many people are still greeting each other, shouting, Shang Zhongxin couldn't help frowning, I heard that the regimental exercises in Gansu and Suzhou have unified the uniforms, and the effect of the exercises is unknown, but at least it looks relatively neat. Although there is no unified military uniform for these hastily arranged regiments to wear, Shang Zhongxin intends to work the queue drill, and in the future, the military service envoys of the Prime Minister's Mansion Cao and Lingzhou regimental training envoys will patrol the counties, and the regimental training of Huile County will definitely not lose to others.

"Okay!" Shang Zhongxin shouted loudly, he waved his hand, and two hundred sergeants with short sticks walked to the middle of the shade household, most of the sergeants of the Xia Kingdom were fierce pawns with a few lives in their hands, and their sharp eyes made the strong men who were still chatting lively just now feel cold, and they laughed and whispered. In the first two years, when the farming was slack, the Lingzhou sergeant drove the people of Yinhu to build water conservancy under the guidance of the craftsman, although it was not a drill, but the stick in his hand was to establish a real prestige. The wolf-like sergeants shouted in a low voice, "Shut up and listen to the adults!" The cacophony below immediately became more than half smaller, and there was a quick silence.

"Lingzhou is the land of four wars, but the land is rich and the people are rich, so horse thieves and barbarians are watching all the time, and if we are not self-reliant, we will not be able to survive. Today is the first time that Shang Zhongxin has faced nearly 5,000 people to give a lecture, and there are also county commanders who are full of poetry and books to watch the ceremony, and he struggled to memorize the precepts written by someone to write, "In order to make the soldiers and people of the country have the ability to defend their homes in times of crisis, Your Majesty specially issued an order that all prefectures and counties will organize regimental exercises, and perform for a month during the agricultural slack time, and also take care of food." You must do your best to live up to Your Majesty's grace. Now, the sergeants are now going through the drill again, you should be careful to be careful, and when the military order comes down, do it honestly, otherwise you will eat sticks!" He straightened his face and pretended to be majestic, and glanced at the thousands of strong men on the school field from left to right, breathed a sigh of relief, and waved his hand, and more than 200 sergeants gathered in front of the school field with their bare hands. Shang Zhongxin shouted in a deep voice: "Squat!" The sergeants all squatted on the ground, "Stand up!" The sergeants stood up like springs, "Out of the left foot!" "Out of the right foot!" "Out of the left hand!" "Out of the right hand!" "Forward!" "Turn left!" "Turn left!" "Turn back!" "Go forward!" On the way of the sergeant's advance was a steep ravine more than ten zhang deep, before Shang Zhongxin gave the order, the two hundred sergeants marched neatly to the edge of the cliff without blinking, without the slightest intention of stopping, until all the Yin Hu strong men's hearts were clenched, Shang Zhongxin shouted an order: "Stop!" At this moment, the sergeants in the front row were only a foot away from the edge of the ravine, and if the people in the back row pushed up, they were afraid that they would be squeezed off the cliff and fall to their heads and bleed, but the two hundred sergeants actually stood in place as neatly as one person, and then turned back with Shang Zhongxin's command, and then returned to the strong men selected from the more than 4,000 shaded households with a proud expression. The sergeants selected by the Xia State have high martial arts as the basic requirement, and after joining the army, the queue drills are often unremitting, and they can have today's quality, which is also the result of years and months.