In the early morning, Su Mei and Xiao Man woke up on the island without any clothes to change into, still wearing those tattered sailor suits. They washed off the lampblack from their faces. Xiao Man was still young and not yet grown up, wearing oversized old clothes that made him look even thinner and more like a handsome young boy. Su Meis elegant and charming demeanor, however, could not be hidden by these clothes. Even though many boys knew she and Xiao Man were girls just by the sound of their voices, when they saw her walk out of the grass hut in the early morning light, looking at her lovely face under the clear morning light, they felt dazzled.

  "Ah, youre all up." Su Mei felt a bit drowsy and was about to raise her hand to cover a yawn when she saw Lin Xie and the other boys standing in the empty space in front of the thatched hut, staring at her. Fu Qinghe was nowhere to be seen, and Su Meis face turned red with embarrassment as she suppressed her yawn and walked towards Lin Xie, wanting to ask where Fu Qinghe had gone. Lin Xie whispered a joke to her: "Looks like you still have lampblack on your face."

  "Thats only if we can find the lamp wick." Su Mei responded to Lin Ges joke with a calm and collected demeanor. Seeing over ten branches of bamboo with leaves on the ground, she asked, "What did you guys cut these bamboos for? Are you making a bamboo raft?"

  "Make a bamboo raft?" Lin Xiang smiled and said, "Thats truly a massive project, Im afraid before we can even finish making the bamboo raft, the government soldiers will be back."

  Providing a bamboo raft for thirty-three people to safely cross two or three hundred miles of sea is no small feat.

  Xiao Tao will send someone to kill these boys after he gets the ransom money; previously, he didnt kill them because he couldnt confirm that he could get the three thousand taels of silver, and maybe if the meat tickets family refused, he could send someone to cut off two ears and send them to the meat tickets family to intimidate them.

  "When will the government troops arrive?" Su Mei asked.

  "Theres only enough food on the island for half a month, and at the latest, they should send a ship over in half a month," Lin said. "Regardless of whether they can get the ransom money or not, they will be delayed on land for three to four days, and considering the water route, it will take at least five or six days for a ship to arrive. We can still stay here for these two days, and after a few more days, well hide in the forest... Now we need to make some preparations."

  "Are these prepared?" Su Mei looked at the bamboo on the ground in confusion.

  "Ah!" Xiaoman suddenly let out a cry of surprise, and saw Xiaoman covering her mouth and running away quickly. Su Mei was startled, thinking that something had happened, turned around to look, and saw six corpses lined up at the foot of the wall of the grass shed, stripped almost naked except for their underwear. Only then did she notice that the clothes originally on the corpses were now being worn by Chen Enze and the other boys.

  Hu Qiaozhong was short and small, wearing a half-body leather armor that covered his buttocks and looked like a skirt. He had a grass rope tied around his waist, which made him look somewhat comical. Chen Enze and the other five boys were slightly better off than him, but not by much. Although these clothes didnt fit well on Chen Enze and the other slender boys, they were more convenient and durable than the silk or cotton long gowns they had worn before.

  Su Meng could understand why Lin Tie made them do this, unable to return to Chongzhou, unable to contact their families, in order to survive. These young people still had to go through many hardships. However, the six corpses that were stripped and left at the foot of the wall, with different wounds on each body, and more than half of the bloodstains, truly tested her psychological endurance. She could only hold on for a few breaths before covering her mouth and running to one side with Xiao Man to vomit.

  They then knew why some young men stood there with pale faces.

  Lin tied his hands and threw down the broken knife, stood up and stretched his waist, raised his head to gaze at the azure sea surface. Where can you see such a clear and beautiful sea in later generations? Although the material conditions are slightly worse, such a beautiful scenery is also considered compensation.

  He saw Su Mei and Xiao Man staring at him with a mixture of disgust and fascination as they spat, and he burst out laughing.

  "How can you still smile?" The two women walked back with pale faces, their eyes not daring to glance at the wall root, their tone was not accusatory towards Lin Xuan, but extremely strange. After all, just three or four days ago, the person in front of them was still a useless and weak scholar in their eyes.

  "We are all survivors of a disaster, if we dont laugh, should we cry?" Lin Xuan said.

  Su Meng thought so too, but she didnt understand why Lin Xie considered himself a survivor of a great calamity. He could have abandoned them and left without a care.

  "Hurry up and bury the body, its frightening people just lying there." Xiaoman covered her chest, as if mentioning the word "corpse" made her feel uncomfortable.

  "It still has its uses," Lin Xie said.

  Xiao Man didnt dare to ask what use these corpses had, and she felt that Lin Xies answer would make her run to the side and vomit again. Su Mei heard some noise behind her and looked back to see Fu Qinghe bringing back a dozen or so more bamboo poles with leaves, accompanied by several young men.

  Lin Tie said, "Thats about enough," to Hu Qiao and the other young men, "Help Master Fu choose some coarse bamboo and set up six stakes. Bind the corpse to them..."

  Xiao Man couldnt bear it, but like Su Mei, she was full of curiosity about Lin Xie, probably also feeling that staying by Lin Xies side made her feel safer, so she didnt run back to the grass hut.

  Fu Qinghe led several young men to set up bamboo stakes, while Lin Xie sat on the ground continuing to whittle bamboo.

  Su Meng saw him cut off the tip of a thick bamboo pole, about the size of an infants arm, leaving only 7 or 8 feet of the main stem. The front end of the bamboo pole was sharpened to form a sharp spearhead. Then he cut off the branches from the back section of the bamboo pole, leaving only about two feet of the front section with dense branches intact. He merely trimmed them slightly and sharpened the branches that forked/open towards the front into thorns. She really didnt understand what he was doing. He said it was a bamboo spear, but why did he leave the dense branches on the front half of the bamboo pole?

  Lin tied up two strange bamboo spears, and then let Chen Enze and other boys on the side learn to do it by hand until Fu Qinghes side erected a bamboo stake and bound all six corpses, Lin stopped, letting all the boys surround him.

  Su Meng and Xiao Man had no choice but to gaze at the naked corpse, however it was slightly better than when they first saw it, at least they could tolerate it without running away.

  "Master Fu, youre here?" Lin Xie said.

  "Dont decline," Fu Qinghe knew Lin Xies intention, he also wanted to see how much ability this young man had hidden, and said with a wave of his hand: "What things are suitable for me, Fu Mou, I wont back down."

  Lin Xie walked up to the six corpses that were tied up, his hand on the hilt of the dagger at his waist, and looked at the young men surrounding him. "Im not teaching you to be cruel, Im not teaching you to kill," he said. "But you must learn how to protect yourselves, your friends, and your families. You may think this is difficult, and wish you had Master Fus skills. Indeed, martial arts are a way for the weak to defeat the strong, but mastering them doesnt happen overnight. Whats most important in defeating the strong is having the courage to challenge them - we need the courage to protect ourselves, our friends, and our families..."

  The officers and soldiers will arrive in at most half a month, or as early as five or six days. Lin Xie has been thinking about how he and Fu Qinghe can protect the twenty-nine frail boys aged twelve to sixteen and two delicate girls. In extraordinary times, only extraordinary measures can be taken. At least some of the boys must grow up quickly to become his and Fu Qinghes helpers.

  Lin Xians words were slowly and quietly spoken, Su Mei and Fu Qinghe stood behind the young men listening with rapt attention, not expecting him to express some truths so clearly.

  Fu Qinghe had secretly observed Lin Xies muscles and bones before, knowing that he hadnt practiced martial arts, so he was extremely skeptical about his abilities. Now hearing him say this, he also felt a bit enlightened. He had previously thought that except for taking these young men into the dense forest to hide, it was impossible to make them useful in such a short time, but he didnt expect that the foundation of martial arts lay in the courage to face ones opponent head-on. He thought to himself, "Ive been immersed in this path for so many years, yet I havent seen through it as clearly as an outsider."

  "With the courage to defeat the strong, lets take a look at how strong these so-called strong people really are...” Lin Xie turned his body sideways, letting the young men directly face the corpse bound to the bamboo stake. He drew out his waist knife and pointed out the fatal wounds one by one: “The throat, whether it’s choked or cut off, can’t breathe; here, here, these are the main blood vessels of the human body, cutting them off will cause death; the chest and abdomen connect the five organs and six viscera, piercing them is fatal; receiving a heavy blow, the organs shift, also a serious injury; the temple, piercing or receiving a heavy blow is fatal... No matter how strong these people seem to you, they are actually very fragile. Each of you has the strength to give them such fatal wounds. If you don’t believe it, come and try it out, see if this part of theirs is as hard as iron stone?”

  "Hes a dead man, the living will hide, what if we cant chop him down?" Hu Qiaoguan, this young man with ample courage, followed Lin Zuo and Fu Qinghe to move the corpses in the forest back early in the morning, without any fear.

  "Sneak up behind him, do you have the guts to kill him with one slash?" Lin Tie handed the knife to young Hu Qiaoguan, "Try sneaking up behind and slashing, theyre already dead, cant bite back..."

  Hú Qiáo Guān was indeed biting his teeth, and with a sudden movement, he withdrew his hand. The other boys all burst out laughing; only then did he grit his teeth, take the knife from Lín Fùs hand, make a stealthy approach around to the back of the corpse, raise the knife, but although it was just a corpse in front of him, somehow he couldnt bring himself to strike...

  "Why not dare to chop?" Lin Xie shouted, "They are corrupt officials and soldiers who extort money from you by threatening your families - if they succeed, they will kill you to silence you; if they fail, they will harm your families, why not dare to chop?"

  The young man gave Lin a loud shout, dispersing his hesitation and the fear in his heart. He closed his eyes and swung his knife wildly, but it landed on a bamboo stake instead of its intended target. Yet, no one laughed at him.

  Chen Enze stepped forward and said, "I dare to chop." He walked over and took the waist knife from Hu Qiaoguans hand, heavily chopping down on the corpses shoulder head, and everyone could clearly hear the dull sound of chopping through bone.

  Su Meng only then understood why Lin Xie said that the six corpses "still had use" in the early morning, thinking that he was indeed "cruel" to these young men, but also a "cruelty" that could not be helped. Looking again at the corpse tied to the bamboo stake, it was unexpectedly not as unbearable as the one from the early morning.

  Chen Enzes move shocked all the young men. Hu Qiaoguan pulled down the waist knife from the corpses shoulder and said loudly: "I dare to chop." As Lin said earlier, one knife stabbed at the corpses waist ribs, and Hu Qiao and other young men also stood up, saying loudly: "I dare to chop!"

  Lin tied waved his hand, he didnt want these young men to become corpse-abusing perverts either. He said to Chen Enze and the other young men: "There are several bamboo spears over there. Those who think they have the guts to kill people can go get them..."

  Watching the young men rush to grab the bamboo spears, Fu Qinghe sighed softly: "Practicing martial arts may not necessarily make the weak strong, but courage can make the weak not weak." Previously, only three or five people were needed to keep this group of young men under control, and they didnt even need to be tied up, without worrying that they would resist; just like when the four guards chased into the dense forest at the beginning, leaving only one person on guard. If there was still only one person left on guard now, Im afraid they would be torn apart alive.

  All the young men took up their bamboo spears and Lin Xie let the eight young men with bamboo spears stand in front. He said, "There must be the courage to defeat a strong enemy, and then there is the skill to defeat a strong enemy. Practicing martial arts is not something that can be accomplished overnight. When we are no match for an enemy alone, remember that we have comrades by our side - even ordinary soldiers, as long as they are well-trained, trained in the right way, and have suitable weapons, twenty-nine people can take down any skilled martial artist... Dont believe me? Ask Master Fu."

  Fu Qinghe smiled bitterly: "Indeed, two hands are hard to defeat four fists... No matter how high the martial arts are, once they have to deal with multiple opponents, they must also use the strategy of dividing and striking. He was also curious about Lin Xies bamboo spear, why did he keep the bamboo branches at the front end.

  Lin tied a bamboo spear and placed it horizontally in front of him, explaining: "Everyone hasnt practiced martial arts, when facing the enemy directly, there arent enough skills to protect oneself and ones companions - this bamboo spear looks strange, we place it horizontally in front of us pointing forward, and can see that the layers of bamboo branches are dense and tough, covering our body more than enough, the enemys sword is hard to cut through the tough bamboo branches, and a long spear cant pierce through either. With four or five bamboo spears, we can keep the enemy at bay and they wont be able to get close... You four form a group, each taking a corpse as an enemy, Ill teach you how to practice surrounding and stabbing."

  Fu Qinghe listened to Lin Xies explanation and only then did he understand the benefits of leaving bamboo branches on the tip of the bamboo spear. He picked up an unprocessed bamboo stick, pulled out his knife and tried it out, discovering that unless one chopped with great force and speed, it was difficult to cut off the soft branches; the bamboo nodes were deep and dense, even able to withstand the thrust of a long spear, and most importantly, for new recruits who had just gone into battle for the first time, the lush bamboo branches could cover their bodies, boost their morale. Looking at Lin Xie walking over from behind, he couldnt help but praise: "Truly ingenious, how did you think of using bamboo in such a wonderful way?"

  "Its just a wild idea," Lin Xie said, "There are only seven or eight extra weapons, and besides, they were still young students in the school hall seven days ago. How could they use those weapons? I think bamboo spears would be simpler, the bamboo on this island is good, the poles are sturdy, and the branches are soft and flexible, but the bamboo from other places might not work."

  "Bamboo spear," Fu Qinghe asked, "This weapon is called bamboo spear."

  "Hmm." Lin Xie could only nod in agreement, and couldnt tell Fu Qinghe that the real name of the bamboo spear was actually called Lang Bian.

  Wen Chen leading the army is also a long-standing tradition of this dynasty. Lin Xie, who was previously a bookworm who never left his house, had also read a few military books with the trend and had some understanding of the military strategy and weapons at that time. The simple and easy-to-use wolf fork made of simple materials had not yet been invented at that time.

  The production of bamboo spear is simple, just look at the introduction and remember it. However, Lin Xie really doesnt know the technique of using the bamboo spear, he can only teach the young men to practice three simple actions: thrusting, blocking and forking with the bamboo spear; time is limited, and theres only enough time to teach some simple techniques of bamboo spear.

  Lin Xian is proficient in close combat with short blades, and as long as he trains for a period of time, once his physical fitness reaches a certain level, he has the confidence to take on Fu Qinghe with a dagger. However, when it comes to medium and long-range weapons, in an era where firearms are prevalent, even special reconnaissance soldiers on missions wouldnt use medium and long-range weapons.

  Fu Qinghe, however, was a decent hand, taking over a bamboo spear and adapting to its swings, making various moves such as blocking, grasping, thrusting, supporting, framing, forking, constructing, hanging, entwining, scooping, and hammering.

  Lin Guan stood by, thinking that Fu Qinghe must be proficient in marksmanship, and then thought of his exaggerated archery skills, wondering if he was a military man before. Why did he later come to Jiangning to open a martial arts school, and after the school declined, he came to Su Mei as a bodyguard? Everyone has secrets hidden on their bodies, Fu Qinghe doesnt take the initiative to say, Lin Guan naturally wont ask either.