Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 194: Veteran
With a chuckle, Old Jin also laughed out loud: "Okay, okay, I am a villain. I am a real villain who watches chess without saying a word, right?"

"It's just a game of chess, is there any need to be like this? Why are you talking about all this? Besides, it's all so old, so many years have passed in the blink of an eye, is there any point in bringing it up?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Lou Lao Er and Yan Lao Si looked a little gloomy. They looked at each other and sighed at the same time.

"Yes, it's been so many years. We brothers were still young back then, drinking big bowls of wine and eating big chunks of meat, we were so happy. But now? Forget eating meat, even peeing drips on your feet, we are all old."

"One of you lost an arm, one lost a leg, and you, Old Jin, lost an eye. You are lucky to be alive today. How many of the old brothers who were with you back then are still alive? It's God's mercy that the three of us are here today."

This sentence instantly evoked memories in everyone's mind. The Qi Family Army had made great military achievements, but these achievements were all earned by the Qi Family Army's sons and daughters who risked their lives. Generation after generation of the Qi Family Army went to the battlefield, and they were all lively and strong young men when they went, but how many of them could finally return home?

They either died in battle or were seriously injured and not treated. Even those who survived died of illness in recent years. There were only a few people of their generation who still had the energy to curse, walk, or eat. Thinking of this, the three of them felt bad.

The yard, which had been bustling just a moment ago, suddenly became quiet, and the three of them were instantly immersed in memories and emotions of the past.

At this moment, Lao Jin's one eye seemed to sense something. He suddenly raised his head and looked forward, only to see Zhu Shenzui standing not far from them with a faint smile on his face, looking at them with interest.

Lao Jin quickly put down the work in his hands, stood up and bowed towards Zhu Shenzhui.

"I didn't know you were coming. I am here to pay my respects..."

Lou Laoer and Yan Laosi also came to their senses and noticed Zhu Shenzui. They also stood up. Because Yan Laosi's legs were not in good condition, Lou Laoer supported him with his one arm, and then the two of them saluted Zhu Shenzui.

"No, no, I'm not a noble man." Zhu Shenzhui originally planned to listen for a while longer, but he didn't expect that he would be discovered by them so soon. In this case, he walked over openly, returned the greeting very politely, and said so at the same time.

The three veterans smiled faintly, not paying any attention to Zhu Shenzhui's humble words. They were all almost sixty years old, and they were also veterans of the Qi Family Army. What kind of scenes had they not experienced? What kind of people had they not seen?
Not to mention that their courtyard is different from other courtyards. Since they came, few people can enter this courtyard. Only three people have entered, besides Wang Jinwu and Lu Yishen, there is the young man named Li You.

They have lived here for such a long time, but no one else has seen them. This proves that the owner of this place does not want them to come into contact with other people, and does not want other people to know of their existence.

Furthermore, why did they come to Shanxi? The three of them knew that the people who found them were Jinyiwei, but Jinyiwei also used the name of Luzhouweiwei. They were very generous and sincere. The only request was to invite them to Shanxi. As for why they came, although they didn't say it clearly, the three of them had a vague guess.

All three of them were veterans of the Qi Family Army. Although they were somewhat literate, they were not cut out to be literati. Moreover, they were old. If they were 20 or 30 years younger and not disabled, it might be possible to ask them to serve as personal guards. But at their age, with one of them having one eye, one arm, and one leg, and all three of them being disabled, what use would they be?

Before coming, including on the way here, the three of them had communicated privately. After much guessing, they felt that the most likely scenario was that the court intended to use the Luzhou Guard as a base and use the three veterans to train troops in the same way as the previous Qi Family Army.

This was also because someone from the imperial court had previously gone to Yiwu to plan to rebuild the Qi Family Army. However, due to the pay riot incident and the Liaodong War that had just occurred, the Qi Family Army no longer believed in the imperial court's promises after suffering two huge losses in succession, and the elders and folks of Yiwu were no longer willing to send their own children to the army.

If this cannot be done, it will be impossible for the court to rebuild the Qi Family Army. Now, people who come in the name of Jinyiwei and Luzhouwei come to invite them, so the most likely possibility is that the court uses them as instructors to build a new army similar to the Qi Family Army.

Originally, the three of them did not want to come. After all, they had complaints and resentment towards the court in their hearts. However, they could not resist the good conditions and high remuneration offered by Zhu Shenzhui. According to the conditions given by Zhu Shenzhui, the treatment was even better than when they were soldiers.

The three of them are already buried in mud up to their chests and are disabled. They have done everything they could in their lives and enjoyed everything they could enjoy when they were young. Now all they have to do is stay in their hometown to endure the days and wait for death.

Since there are still people willing to hire them, and the conditions are so generous, why not accept it? In this way, they can leave something for their descendants, even if they have to sacrifice their own lives. The words life and death may be a great terror for others, but for veterans like them, they have long been indifferent to them, so why would they worry about this?
In addition to this reason, although Zhu Shenzhui was dressed in ordinary clothes, his temperament when standing there was different from that of ordinary people. These three old guys all had sharp eyes, and combined with other things, they could immediately determine that the other party's identity was not simple, so they called him a noble person.

"Please take a seat, sir." Yan Laosi, the oldest among the three, spoke and invited Zhu Shenzhui to sit down and talk.

Zhu Shenzhui was not polite and sat down openly. After he was seated, Lao Jin made a cup of tea for Zhu Shenzhui. It was not a good tea, but just the ordinary tea they usually drank. Zhu Shenzhui did not despise it and said thank you with a smile. "I don't know if you are honorable..."

"My last name is Zhu, and I'm the sixth child in my family. You can call me Zhu Liu, or Sixth Master."

After these words were spoken, the three of them looked at each other silently. They did not continue to ask Zhu Shenzhui's real name. Instead, they bowed and called him Sixth Master.

"There's no need to be polite, seniors. You three are all in poor health, so please sit down and talk." Zhu Shenzhui said with a smile and waved his hand.

After saying thank you, the three of them sat down, and Zhu Shenzhui then asked them their names.

The oldest of the three is Yan Laosi, whose full name is Yan Bei. Yan Bei has four brothers and he is the fourth in the family. His parents named them according to the directions of east, south, west and north, so he got the name Yan Bei.

After hearing the origin of this name, Zhu Shenzhui made some guesses in his mind and asked if there was a fifth child in the family. Yan Bei smiled and said that there were four brothers and he was the youngest. There were no more brothers. Zhu Shenzhui felt a little sorry and wondered if there was another child after him, would they be named "Zhong", "Fa" or "Bai"?

The second among the three is Lou Laoer, who plays chess with Yan Bei. Lou Laoer’s full name is Lou Erlong, which is why everyone calls him Lou Laoer.

As for Old Jin, his name is Jin Ming. He is the youngest among the three, but the so-called age difference is actually just a few years.

After knowing the names of the three, Zhu Shenzhui asked them about their previous positions in the Qi Family Army.

When asked this question, the three seemingly ordinary people suddenly changed their temperament. The military aura that came over them made Zhu Shenzhu secretly frightened.

Among the three, Yan Bei was the first to stand up and reply, followed by Lou Erlong and Jin Ming. The three of them replied while saluting, their words were simple and clear, with a strong military style.

After the three men reported their respective military positions and military experiences, Zhu Shenzui learned that Yan Bei, the oldest of the three, had joined Qi's army in the 16th year of Wanli, and Lou Erlong and Jin Ming all joined Qi's army in the 18th year of Wanli. All three had participated in the Ningxia War, the Second Korean War and multiple wars with Mongolia.

The three men had served as soldiers in the Qi Family Army for nearly twenty years. It was no exaggeration to say that they had been through hundreds of battles. If they had not returned home due to serious injuries, their qualifications and achievements would have been enough to give them a good future.

Before returning home, Yan Bei and Lou Erlong were both team officers, and Jin Ming, who was blind in one eye, had been promoted to sentry leader. The Qi Family Army was different from other Ming troops because it was a recruitment system. When Qi Jiguang formed this army, he specifically designated the military organization based on the tactics of the Qi Family Army.

In Qi's army, there are four levels of organization: battalion, officer, sentry and team. The team is the basic organization, and a team is the twelve-man Mandarin Duck Formation that Qi's army is proud of.

In war, the team is the most basic combat organization. Four teams are organized into a sentry, four sentries are organized into an officer, and four officers are organized into a battalion (general), thus forming the organizational structure of the entire Qi Family Army.

The commander-in-chief directly led the central army, commanding the battalion (general) level, and then the battalion officers below commanded and carried out operations according to the level. The entire army was well-organized, the command was like an arm, and the Qi family army was well-trained, well-equipped, and had a strong fighting spirit, which created that powerful army that was invincible.

When Zhu Shenzhui learned that these three were all veterans from the heyday of Qi's army, and they were junior officers, he was very happy. The mandarin duck formation of Qi's army was based on teams. Zhu Shenzhui had studied Qi Jiguang's military books, and although he understood some of them, he still didn't understand how the mandarin duck formation was practiced and how it was flexibly used on the real battlefield.

Zhu Shencui asked this question immediately, and he humbly sought advice from the three people. The three people had guessed that Zhu Shencui was probably the person they had been waiting for here. Although they still didn't know what Zhu Shencui's true identity was, no matter what, he had to do something since he received a generous salary.

Moreover, Zhu Shenzhui was very polite to them when they first met. Although he was a noble, he was not arrogant or looked down on the three soldiers. On the contrary, he showed enough respect when he spoke. Now he asked these questions again, which might be a test. Yan Bei immediately picked up the chess pieces in front of him and placed them in front of him, using the chess pieces as soldiers and starting to set up the mandarin duck formation.

On the other side, Lou Lao Er also took a few chess pieces to simulate the enemy troops and started fighting. The two of them fought back and forth, changing the formation. Jin Ming also became interested and made suggestions on the battle. After a while, Zhu Shenzhui suddenly understood the secret of the mandarin duck formation and couldn't help but applaud.

(End of this chapter)