Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 231 Military Academy Cadets
On Zhongxing Avenue in the new capital, Yang Guangzong and his father Yang Kaifu, wearing typical fishermen's clothes, walked through the dense crowd.

The streets of the new capital city present the scene of the intersection of Chinese and Western cultures that is common in the Han Dynasty. On both sides of the streets, traditional Chinese wooden teahouses and shops are lined up with Western-style concrete houses. Among the pedestrians in the center of the street, there are ordinary people wearing modified Hanfu, foreign white people wearing Western suits, and military academy cadets in groups of three or four wearing light gray officer uniforms.

The Army Officers Academy is located at the end of Zhongxing Avenue. The foreigners wearing Western suits are either university teachers working in the Han Dynasty or foreign instructors invited by the Army Officers Academy. The cadets wearing light gray officer uniforms have just finished their internship service in the army, so they took time out to come to the new capital to get together and relax.

"Your mother and two brothers haven't tasted meat for a month. Guangzong, you should rest in the teahouse for a while. When father goes to the West Market to buy two pieces of cloth and a portion of meat for the family, we will go back together."

Leaving the dense crowd, Yang Kaifu stood in front of a teahouse called Yuxinglou and gave instructions to his eldest son Yang Guangzong.

"Father, mother and my two younger brothers only have two sets of old clothes to change into. Now that the family has paid off the debt owed to the government, I won't have to spend any money when I leave home in June to attend the preparatory course at the Naval Military Academy.

Dad, while our family is well off, please buy new clothes for yourself, mom, and your two younger brothers, and buy a few cans of fruit for your second and third brothers. The last time the two younger brothers had canned fruit, they have been craving it ever since."

Yang Guangzong passed the selection examination of the Naval Military School and was about to become a naval reserve officer cadet. Therefore, when his status was about to change, Yang Guangzong began to act with an adult's thinking.

"Hey, my eldest brother has made great progress. When you become a naval officer, you must support your two younger brothers."

Yang Guangzong tried to communicate with his father as an adult. Yang Kaifu did not feel anything wrong. Instead, he understood that this was a sign of his eldest son's maturity, and he felt very relieved.

"Dad, what are you talking about? I haven't started the preparatory course for the military academy yet, and I still have seven years to graduate from the Naval Military Academy. If other neighbors hear you say this, it will cause misunderstandings."

"Hey, Dad knows his limits and won't say anything in front of others."

Yang Kaifu listened to his eldest son's words, and then took out two one-yuan banknotes from his pocket and handed them to his son, saying, "We have walked dozens of miles without a break along the way. Go to the teahouse and order two cups of tea to rest for a while. You can discuss the remaining money with the shopkeeper and buy some tea to take home."

According to today's purchasing power, the two Han Yuan is equivalent to more than 200 yuan. Using the two Han Yuan to buy a few taels of tea of ​​average quality would bring a lot of surplus.

Yang Guangzong took the money his father handed over, watched his father disappear in the crowd, then turned and walked into the teahouse.

On the second floor of Yuxing Teahouse, three young officers in dark gray military uniforms and wide-brimmed hats were sitting at a table, eating and chatting.

"Captain Zhang, how did you kill the Qing prince Senggelinqin?"

A lean, dark-skinned young officer asked, "The elders in the village all say that the Mongol Tatar prince Senggelinqin is a skilled warrior, and eight or nine ordinary warriors cannot get close to him. You were only sixteen years old when you killed Senggelinqin. Wasn't Senggelinqin your opponent at that time?"

"Old slave Senggelinqin's skills are good, but not as good as others say." The tall and strong officer, who was about 30 years old, put down his chopsticks, raised his glass and took a sip of wine. He said with a proud look on his flushed face, "That year, the 18th Nian Army jointly ambushed the Mongolian Tartar cavalry. After the war, I and more than a hundred brothers in the same camp were responsible for searching for the hiding Mongolian Tartars. At that time, the other brothers were scattered to other areas. I was the only one in the wheat field near the woods."

The tall and strong officer paused for a moment and glanced at the empty wine glass. The young officer who had asked the question just now saw the other party's expression and raised the bottle to fill it for him.

The tall and strong officer smiled slightly. After finishing another glass of wine, he continued, "The wheat field is less than half an acre in radius. Several brothers who passed by checked and found no trace of the Tartars. After I searched the surrounding area, I thought about searching the wheat field again. Then when I entered the wheat field, I found a piece of bright yellow silk cloth with blood on it. I became alert at the time, so I carefully searched along the yellow cloth left on the ground, and finally found a Mongolian Tartar wearing armor in the middle of the wheat field."

"What did Senggelinqin look like? Was he eight feet tall? Did he have a ferocious face?"

The young officer couldn't help but ask.

"Haha, I won't lie to you two new recruits. I was sixteen years old at the time. It was my first time seeing a Mongol Tartar. I didn't even bother to look at what he looked like. I just took out my red tassel spear and stabbed him through. After I killed him, I didn't pay attention to check. Later, I heard that a Mongol prince had died in the Tartar court. Only then did I realize that the Mongol Tartar I stabbed to death was not a simple person."

“Senggelinqin was stabbed to death with one shot?”

The young officer was unwilling to believe that a famous Tartar prince died so miserably at the hands of a small soldier.

"What else can I do? No matter how powerful Senggelinqin is, he is just a head and two arms. He will die anyway if I shoot him."

The tall and strong officer raised his voice and shouted in dissatisfaction, then changed his appearance to a superior and lectured the young officer, "Lu Rongting, do you think that I killed Senggelinqin unfairly?"

Without giving the other party a chance to explain, the tall and strong officer answered his own question, "Tell you what, kid, even though I was only sixteen when I killed Senggelinqin, nineteen years ago, when I was just ten years old, I followed the leader Zhang Lexing to rebel against the Qing court. When you were ten years old, I didn't know where you were playing in the mud. You are far from me."

"That's right, Captain Zhang is a young hero. Otherwise, how could he be favored by His Highness and be personally sent to bring Captain Zhang to the Kingdom of Han."

Lu Rongting looked serious, but he was actually joking about the other party's ugly deeds.

The tall and strong officer was named Zhang Lingyun, formerly known as Zhang Piliang. He once killed the famous Qing general Senggelinqin in 1865. In 1869, on his way to join the National Defense Army, Zhang Lingyun accidentally revealed the fact that he had killed Senggelinqin after getting drunk. After being reported to the Qing government by others, Zhang Lingyun rushed to the base set up by the Ministry of National Defense in Xiamen overnight, and then revealed his identity. The person in charge of the Ministry of National Defense stationed in Xiamen urgently dispatched a ship to transport him to the northern part of Annan, and finally followed the immigrant fleet to arrive in Han State.

Because Zhang Lingyun killed Senggelinqin personally, Li Mingyuan met him once. However, after the meeting, apart from allowing Zhang Lingyun, who was less than 20 years old at the time, to study at the Army Officers School, Li Mingyuan did not pay much attention to him. Therefore, Zhang Lingyun's face turned red when the young officer Lu Rongting said this. He muttered that he would teach Lu Rongting a lesson after returning to the barracks, but the other party reminded him that they had completed their internship service and would not return to be soldiers under him, which made him unhappy with his rebuttal.

Zhang Lingyun and Lu Rongting's rest time was not as serious as in the army, and they could make some innocuous jokes with each other without causing the other to get really angry. Therefore, after Zhang Lingyun was upset, he quickly saved his face at the table and got Lu Rongting, who had a good alcohol tolerance, drunk at the table. In the end, Wang Shizhen, who was eating with him, took Lu Rongting home.

(End of this chapter)