Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 266 Tai Chi

Early the next morning, three thousand-man captains led thirty centurions to the gate of the Song family in a mighty manner. They were numerous and had the aura of soldiers on them. Many villagers thought they were here to cause trouble for the Song family, until they saw Song Chunlin coming out of his house and leading these people to his own fields. Then these soldiers began to work in the fields.

Wait, are the soldiers working in the fields?

The villagers passing by rubbed their eyes hard, unable to believe that the group of people in the Song family's field were actually soldiers, and they had not even taken off their soft armor.

"Chunlin, where did you find these people from? Why are they working for your family?" An old farmer who was familiar with him stopped Song Chunlin and asked him what was going on. Song Chunlin explained that these were soldiers given to him by the emperor and were equivalent to his private soldiers.

"Master, you know that my family doesn't support idlers. We have so much land and we have to hire temporary workers every day. It's better to let them do the work together. You don't know that with three thousand more people feeding us, our family's food reserves are almost eaten up. We can't let them just eat and not work, don't you think?"

The old farmer didn't know much. When he heard Song Chunlin say that his family had to pay for the food of 3,000 people, he immediately worried for the Song family: "That's right. It's not enough to just eat and not work. They have to work hard. Oh, 3,000 people's food, the annual harvest from your fields wouldn't be enough, right?"

Song Chunlin had a face full of complaints: "That's right, uncle, you don't know, these are all young and strong men, it's the age when they can eat, the output from my family's land alone is not enough to eat, we have to go out and buy some food back."

The old farmer thought of the young men in his family, who were all about the same age and ate two meals a day, so he touched Song Chunlin's head with understanding.

"Good boy, thank you for your hard work. These are the soldiers His Majesty has given you. If you encounter any difficulties, you must tell everyone. Our village is blessed by your family. Last year, every household produced 1,000 kilograms per mu. If there is nothing else, we can still make up for the grain for you."

Song Chunlin felt warm in his heart, and he hugged the old farmer's arm and smiled sweetly: "Don't worry, uncle. If we really encounter difficulties, I will definitely give priority to purchasing the grain in our village."

The old farmer laughed and said nothing in rebuttal. He knew the children of the Song family well. They were kind-hearted and would not take the food of the villagers for nothing. Besides, they had more than just the dozens of acres of land at home. His second uncle's family also had dozens of acres. If the output of all these lands were added together, how could there not be enough food? He just said it to shut everyone up. The old farmer saw through it but did not say it.

The Song family's land is not only used to grow crops now. Nearly half of the land has been used by Song Chunlin to grow other things, such as peppers, watermelons, cotton, etc. In addition to the things he has planted before, Song Chunlin also plans to plant some tomatoes and peanuts this year. Tomatoes can be used to make tomato sauce and peanuts can be used to press oil. In this era when there were no peanuts, the oils people ate were mainly soybean oil, lard, and sesame oil. A small number of areas also ate tea seed oil, but Song Chunlin had never seen tea seed oil in the capital.

Song Chunlin is not used to soybean oil. He prefers peanut oil. Therefore, there are four oil cans in the kitchen at home. Soybean oil, lard and peanut oil are used in rotation. Sesame oil is only used when making cold dishes and eating hot pot. Anyway, there are thousands of barrels of cooking oil in Song Chunlin's space. If the Song family consumes it themselves, they will never be used up.

Today, Song Chunlin asked the soldiers to reclaim land for growing peanuts. It's still a bit early to plant now, so they are just preparing the land. Strength lies in numbers, and more than thirty people prepared three acres of land in just one morning. This was even though they were unskilled and Song Chunlin had high requirements.

Naturally, they had lunch at the Song family's home. A group of people returned to the Song family in a mighty procession. Song Qin and Song Amao had cooked three large pots of food early on. In addition to rice, there were also steamed buns and dumplings. The dishes were relatively simple, with only one meat and one vegetable, but they tasted good and the quantity was enough. After the meal, they could also drink a cup of health tea with spiritual spring water.

This health-preserving tea was prepared by Song Chunlin after reading medical books overnight. It has the effect of strengthening the body. The medicinal materials used in it are all from the space. The medicinal effects are better but milder. After adding spiritual spring water, the effect can be maximized. Now my family also drinks this.

The three centurions were indeed worldly-wise. They felt something different as soon as they drank the tea. How could they describe the taste of the tea? There was a faint medicinal aroma. Although the smell was very light, it was quite comfortable to smell. After working all morning, their bodies were very tired. But after drinking the tea, they all clearly felt that their bodies no longer felt sluggish and heavy, and the pain in their shoulders was relieved a lot.

Several people's eyes lit up, and they looked at each other and communicated silently.

“Good tea!”

These were the voices of other people. A few of them wanted more after they finished drinking, but were rejected by Song Qin.

"What you are drinking is herbal tea, which has the effect of relieving fatigue and refreshing the mind. If you drink too much, you may not be able to sleep at night, which is not good, so one cup is enough."

After hearing what the host said, the others didn't dare to ask any more questions. Those who hadn't finished the drink sipped it carefully, for fear of wasting any.

After everyone finished lunch, Song Chunlin led them to continue their afternoon work. After all, they were all strong laborers, so they could gather as much as they could. They couldn't waste his medicinal herbs and spiritual spring water, right?

Dinner was still prepared by the Song family, and it was similar to lunch. After dinner, we had a cup of health tea as usual.

Starting from the next day, the military camp would send thirty people every day to help the Song family with farm work. When these young men heard that they could have extra meals, they were very enthusiastic and wanted to come every day. However, Song Chunlin gave a strict order that they must come in rotation. If they were not available, they would wait for the next group, but it must be ensured that everyone came.

At first, some people thought that Song Chunlin asked them to do farm work to humiliate them. They thought that they were all archers and their hands were used to draw bows and shoot arrows. Now they had to do farm work for a little kid. The thought of it made them very resistant.

However, after those who had been there came back, they all said they wanted to go again the next day, and those who didn't want to go became curious.

"Is the Song family really as good as you say? If they are so good, why don't they try to train us, but take me to their house to work for them?"

A person who had been there told him mysteriously, "It can only be understood but not explained. Anyway, you will know once you have been there. It is said that our military pay is now paid by the Song family. The Song family is just a farmer's family. How can they compare to General Lin's family's wealth? Going there to work is to earn food for ourselves. It is not shameful."

"That's right. The cooking skills of the old master and his wife of the Song family are really great. The food tastes really good, many times better than the big pot meals we have here. Alas, it makes me sad to think that I can only eat once every three months."

After hearing what they said, those who had not been there felt that the Song family was even more mysterious. These people were so unforgettable after only being there once, so what magic did the Song family have?

After all, only a few people can go to the Song family to do farm work. Song Chunlin has not forgotten that he is their leader, General Lin's boss. As a boss, he must find a way to make his younger brothers stronger. The effect of drinking spiritual spring water is only temporary. If he cannot train in time and transfer the power to his own body, then the spiritual spring water will be equivalent to drinking in vain.

So Song Chunlin spent this period of time reading most of the information and developed a series of training plans for his three thousand archers.

The first step is to cross-country with weight.

Song Chunlin asked General Lin, because of the special nature of the cavalry and archery battalion, it occupies a huge area. In addition to a huge training ground, there is also a large grassland for the horses to run, but now it has become a nightmare for those archers.

Early in the morning every day, and even a few times late at night, Song Chunlin would suddenly appear in their military camp, beating gongs and drums to wake them up, and then order them to carry their simple bags and run around the cavalry and archery camp. Yes, a full circle, a total of about twenty miles. And because of the terrain, there were some places where there was no road at all, and they had to crawl over. Song Chunlin even set a time limit. If they couldn't run back within the specified time, then good, they would have to practice more.

The extra exercise is to do frog jumps while carrying luggage. Not only those who come back late have to do the frog jumps, but those who come back on time also have to do it.

After a month of such crazy intensive training, from the initial groaning to the conditioned reflex later, these people ran faster and faster. Song Chunlin once again saw them coming back ten minutes earlier than the stipulated time, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

Very good, it seems that they have gotten used to their training method, so it’s time to practice other things next.

Gu Fengyue once taught the local soldiers grappling techniques at the border, and Song Chunlin also wanted to teach them grappling techniques, but after thinking about it, he felt that one grappling technique was not enough, so he found a Tai Chi video and started to cram.

So when General Lin passed by Song Chunlin's training ground again, he was surprised to find that everyone there was practicing movements slowly and softly.

General Lin, who was completely confused, found Song Chunlin and asked him what he was teaching.

"Can that soft thing really fight?"

Song Chunlin was not in a hurry to explain to General Lin. Instead, he randomly picked a soldier and asked him to fight with General Lin.

General Lin: "No, you just let him fight me? Using what I just taught him?"

Song Chunlin nodded: "Yes, come on, just fight. Remember what I taught you before, do you remember?"

The soldier answered loudly: "Sir, I remember it!"

Song Chunlin was very satisfied. He took a few steps back with a smile and signaled the other party to start.

Then General Lin looked at the soldier and slowly made a starting gesture. He swung his fist directly at him with a bit of disdain in his heart. However, what shocked him was that he swung his punch with full confidence, thinking that he could knock the man down at once, but his punch seemed to hit cotton. Just when he was in doubt, the soldier actually grabbed his wrist, and then used the force to throw himself to the ground, splashing a lot of dust.

The soldier's move was actually more like a shoulder throw in Taekwondo. General Lin lay on the ground for a long time, unable to turn around. After he got up, his face finally showed a serious look. He wiped the dust off his face and began to take this competition seriously.

General Lin punched again, no longer underestimating his enemy, and his moves became faster and more fierce. The soldier was a little flustered at first, but he quickly calmed down, observed the posture and direction of General Lin's force, and once again used the force to knock the man to the ground.

This time, General Lin did not get up by himself, because he always believed that the only way to defeat all martial arts in the world is speed. However, his speed seemed to be neutralized by the soldier's slowness. General Lin was not convinced and did not understand.

"How could you..."

"How can I knock you down again and again?"

Song Chunlin stretched out his hand to pull the man up, and then explained to him the concepts of Tai Chi. Because these were quite profound, Song Chunlin himself only knew the basics. But just these basics were enough to shatter General Lin's three views.

"Use the opponent's force to counter attack. What a good strategy of using the opponent's force to counter attack. Aren't you just using my knife to kill myself?" General Lin's words were rough but his point was true. His general meaning was that there was nothing wrong with this, but learning martial arts required comprehension. Song Chunlin was pleasantly surprised to find that after drinking the health-preserving tea made with spiritual spring water, the soldiers had a higher level of comprehension and could understand the mystery with just a little guidance.

Although he was knocked down by a soldier, General Lin was not angry. He sincerely asked Song Chunlin if he could learn with him.

Song Chunlin smiled and told him: "Sure, Tai Chi can not only be used for fighting, but also has the effect of strengthening the body. You can practice Tai Chi on weekdays to exercise your body. Moreover, the movements are not complicated and slow, which is actually quite suitable for the elderly to learn."

Hearing that the elderly can also learn this, General Lin also became interested: "Can the elderly practice it too? Can an 80-year-old do it?"

"Eighty years old? It depends on your body. If you are in good health, you can practice a few movements slowly. My grandfather and my little grandfather also practiced with me. They said that they felt very relaxed after practicing."

"It's all right if he can. To be honest, my great-grandfather is already 79 years old this year, and he's still pretty strong. If possible, I hope he can live to be a hundred."

Song Chunlin didn't expect that in this era there really are elderly people who are nearly eighty years old. The oldest one he has seen is probably the old man in the headman's family. However, the old man is only in his sixties and all his teeth have fallen out. His favorite thing to do in his life is to eat meat and drink wine. He is also a naughty old man.

"Your great-grandfather has lived such a long life, so your descendants must be very filial." Unfilial descendants are more likely to make the elderly angry to death, and Song Chunlin deeply agrees with this.