Although there were only six martial arts practitioners who sat and ate meat with Lin Xie, all the martial arts practitioners were exceptionally excited and their morale was greatly boosted.

  After dinner, Lin Xie returned to the middle courtyard and let Yang Shi and Zhao Hu eat before going to see him.

  As Yang Shi and Zhao Hu entered, Lin Xuan put aside the matter at hand and said with a serious tone: "When Lord Gu comes, he will reopen the prison city. In addition to managing the prison well, the key is the guard soldiers. I boasted in front of him that I would train 500-600 elite soldiers for him. It's easy to say, but every year it costs nearly 10,000 taels of silver. You two hurry up with the training, and I'll think of a way to deal with the silver." Lin Xuan said this to Yang Shi, half true and half false. At present, the biggest use of silver is indeed for military training, and also because he couldn't hide some things from Yang Shi's eyes on the prison island. He wanted Yang Shi to understand that the tens of thousands of taels of silver for military training every year didn't come out of thin air. Was it really just for Gu Wu Chen's military training? Lin Xuan wasn't so simple-minded. If they were like-minded, he wouldn't mind serving Gu Wu Chen wholeheartedly; but if they parted ways in the future, Lin Xuan hoped that the elite soldiers he trained with great effort would be useful to himself.

  Then he asked some more about the exercise, Lin Xie let Yang Shi go to the guard room for inspection, and left Zhao Hu behind to talk.

  "It was said that within three months, they would compare whose training method is better. But Yang Shi has been secretly using your 'Tactics for Training Soldiers' to train his troops over the past two days, thinking that others wouldn't notice." Zhao Hu told Lin Xie about Yang Shi's sneaky use of his manuscript to train soldiers.

  "I'm just afraid he's stubborn and won't listen to my advice," Lin Fu said with a smile, "Who doesn't have a bit of pride? Let's not mention this for now." He had Zhao Hu accompany him to the courtyard, where Zhou Pu was training the five guards in the most basic chopping movements. When they saw Lin Fu come out, they all stopped what they were doing.

  "Chen Hualian, come here," Lin Xie stood under the eaves and shouted to a guard soldier in the courtyard. This soldier had a dark red birthmark on his face that covered the corner of his left eye, but fortunately, his skin was also dark, so it didn't look too conspicuous at night. As he was from a military family, he didn't have a big name since childhood, and his fellow soldiers in the same camp called him Hualianzi. The name "Chen Hualian" was written on the military register.

  Actually, the several guard soldiers around Lin Xie were all from Jiangning military families and didn't have any proper names. Li Er Gou and Li Chai were biological brothers. Li Er Gou's original name was Li Gou Pi, but he changed it to Li Er Gou when he enlisted because he thought Li Gou Pi sounded too unpleasant.

  The other two soldiers were called Yao Ma Zi and Ma Xing Zi, which also sounded like nicknames. Lin Xie beckoned Chen Hualian to come forward and said, "These four just returned from outside. You tell them about the training and duties for the past few days..." Before Lin Xie took a boat across the Chaotian Tang to the north shore, he saw some soldiers who were not on duty laughing and idling around. At that time, he asked Chen Hualian to stay behind and train these soldiers; after he returned, he made a rule that soldiers who were not on duty had to train for half an hour in the morning and evening.

  Chen Hualian, a man in his late twenties, stood there like a black tower, with a birthmark on his face and a horizontal scar, looking very ferocious. When Lin Xuan asked him to tell others about the training of the past few days, his face suddenly turned purple.

  "You're so tense," Lin Xian chuckled and kicked him, "I didn't see you being tense when you were beating those yamen with a stick. Li Er Gou, Li Chai, Yao Ma Zi, Ma Xing Zi, which one of them makes you tense?"

  Lin scolded and kicked Chen Hua, who then regained her composure, her face flushed as she said: "I've been bullied by the village officials since I was a kid, of course they're used to it. As for others, I really haven't spoken in front of so many people before, my tongue is all tangled up and I'm at a loss for words!"

  The other four guards had been busy with Lin Jingzhong outside for the past few days, and didn't expect that Hua Lian would become so familiar with the master after just a few days of following him around. They thought that this officer was still quite easy to get along with, and earlier when they saw Lin Xie walking into the courtyard, their nervousness had decreased by three parts.

  "Alright, everyone gather 'round. When doing things, there must be a rule to follow. As long as you don't break the rules, you don't have to be too formal when handling matters with me. I'm not just letting Chen Huadian take my place in training the guards every day, all four of you will take turns doing this task. It's not difficult, Chen Huadian has been doing a great job these past few days. First, let Chen Huadian brief you on some things, and if there's anything you don't understand, you can ask Zhou Ye for guidance. You are all from military families, entering the army is your duty, and also a way to make a living. Apart from this, I hope you will also use your brains, the target of being a flag head is not shallow, earning a meritorious name and becoming a military officer is not that difficult...". Lin Xuan put down his guard and chatted with the five guards for half a day, then let them go practice their sword skills with Zhou Pu again. He also told Zhao Hu, "If you see any soldier who shows promise, send him to me and I'll have Zhou Ye personally train him for a period of time... Also, every day when the prisoners are released from the large prison to do labor, I have the guards divided into groups of five to keep watch. This is intentional. During your daily training, you should also pay attention to this formation. Generally, ordinary soldiers can't see any difference, but for veteran soldiers who have been through many battles or elite soldiers who have undergone strict training, the five-man formation may have more benefits..."

  This morning, the national hero Su Zhenyuan's "Wu Xue Qi Jing Zhu" was regarded as a military classic. Su Zhenyuan proposed the formation method of "using 60 people as one medium team, with a small school or duiwei as the target, combining four small teams, and selecting strong and brave gunners as flag heads" based on the previous "Shi Wu Zhi" system. When the training level of the troops was relatively low and infantry tactics were more focused on formation, this type of formation method was suitable. Cold weapon warfare often determined victory or defeat in the moment when one side's formation was breached, and battles lacked sustainability.

  Although the triple formation of later generations as an excellent infantry tactic has withstood the test of long wars, Lin Xuan is not certain that the triple formation must be suitable for the current era where cold weapons reign supreme. Considering the characteristics of long and short mutual restraint and far and near mutual error, Lin Xuan wants to try a new "three-five" formation method, on the basis of the original fifteen-soldier formation, further dividing it into three combat small groups, with five soldiers as one group, this new formation method also has less impact on the original charge.

  Previously, the top 15 were selected from the strong and brave who were good at guns to be the flag head. Now he selects some people to serve as guards for the Wu soldiers while also having Zhou Pu teach them knife skills and basic tactics knowledge. In the future, these strong and brave warriors can gradually become the leaders of the five troops, becoming the flag heads, exerting higher tactical command functions, and making it more beneficial for him to directly control the Wu soldiers.

  Perhaps in the city of Jiangning, which is still singing "隔岸犹唱后/庭花", one may not feel the signs of a chaotic autumn, but after walking to the north shore, one deeply feels that the Great Viet Dynasty has already fallen ill. Lin Xie also has the idea of doing something big, but in times of chaos, self-preservation is still the first consideration. Having lived through two lifetimes, Lin Xie wants to grasp his own destiny and does not want to humble himself by relying on others. In his view, wanting to preserve oneself undoubtedly requires having a elite military force; when the chaotic era comes, even if one is powerless to change the course of events, one can retreat to Changshan Island or seek another more distant island to wait for the chaos to subside.

  Lin tied up and looked at the northern night sky, sighed in his heart, it was still a bit cold tonight, he wanted to go into the house to deal with things on hand, when there were noisy noises coming from the south.

  The sound is coming from the direction of the river mouth!

  Zhao Hu listened to the sound and stood up, Zhou Pu also stopped in the yard.

  Something happened at the mouth of the Jin River, they blocked the view with a high wall in the courtyard.

  Zhao Hu hurried into the house to help Lin Fu put on his waist knife. Lin Fu took the knife in his hand and led Zhao Hu, Zhou Pu, and five guard soldiers to the main gate of the prison, ordering the guard soldier on duty to open the gate.

  The Jin River estuary recruitment camp originally had several strings of wind lanterns hanging from the flagpole, thoroughly illuminating the area. At this time, the wind lanterns suddenly all went out at once. Amidst the chaotic cries and wails, it turned out that someone had raided the camp, first extinguishing all the campfires before taking advantage of the chaos to kill people.

  "...Lín Fǎn's eyes were filled with hatred as he spat out a mouthful of saliva, his hand grasping the waist knife tightly."

  "Except for the guards, all soldiers line up!" Yang also rushed to the gate and looked out, confirming that someone was attacking the migrant workers' camp on the other side of the river at night. He ordered the soldiers to form up and asked Lin Fu, "Please order the preparation of the boats, I will lead the soldiers across the river to provide support!"

  From here to the river mouth is just one mile of waterway. Even if you row slowly, it will only take a short while, about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea; if you paddle quickly, you'll arrive in an instant.

  “……” Lin Yao shook his head, and there were two boats moored at the dock, one was a black awning boat, and the other was a fast sculling light boat. However, the campfire on the opposite bank had gone out, and tonight there were no stars or moon. Rushing over to support would only make the scene more chaotic. As for combat power, there were Cao Zi'ang and Ge Shi brothers with over 30 men, Wu Qi was also on the opposite bank, far surpassing the 34 armed guards in support. The key was that tonight they were rushing to build a hut, recruiting workers and refugees, nearly 500 people didn't have time to organize effectively, even outsiders couldn't be identified as infiltrators. It could also be said that Lin Yao himself hadn't expected anyone to sneak attack the recruitment camp of refugees tonight. Once the attackers extinguished the campfire and created chaos, even if he was on the opposite bank, he couldn't control the situation in a short time. Moreover, the river surface was pitch black, it was unknown whether the attackers had hidden warships to ambush, how could he withdraw troops from Prison Island to support the opposite bank? Lin Yao wasn't worried about Cao Zi'ang and Ge Shi brothers now, but worried that Lin Jingzhong and Qian Xiao Wu wouldn't get into trouble in the chaos.

  Lin Xian listened for a moment, and heard that the number of attackers on the opposite bank was actually not many, but the recruited workers and refugees lacked effective organization, and the panic further exacerbated the fear. He then ordered: "Prepare more tung oil and fire oil on the ships, I will go with Zhou Pu and the guards to the other side, Long Sun-geng and Yang Shi, Zhao Hu will lead the soldiers to strictly guard the island, do not leave the island!"

  "Master Lin......" Zhang Sun Geng, a scholar by birth, listened to the cries of killing from the other shore. Although he was not so scared that his legs went soft, when he heard that Lin wanted to sneak across to the other shore in the dark, he couldn't help but advise him against it.

  "I'll be fine..." Lin Xie said, telling the people beside him to hurry up and prepare. If they were ambushed on the river, he could just jump into the water with Zhou Pu and the others to escape!

  Zhao Hu did not say anything else, and took off the leather armor on his body to hand it over to Lin Fu; Yang Shi let a soldier with a similar build to Zhou Pu take off his leather armor and give it to Zhou Pu to wear.

  ******************

  P.S: Asking for red envelopes at 4 am!