Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 34 Making Friends (Part )

The bald man shrank his neck in fear and continued to argue in a low voice: "Where did you hear that, Master Yuan?"

Before Chen Siyuan could say anything, Jia Yun pointed at the man and said, "I'm telling you. Who in the whole house doesn't know the reputation of your wife?"

The bald man's momentum suddenly weakened a bit, but he still stiffened his neck and said, "Second Master is talking about the past. I haven't seen it with my own eyes yet... Besides, these bandits and their soldiers are obviously not good people. How can Second Master help outsiders bully me?"

Chen Siyuan narrowed his eyes and said, "Since you're not convinced, why don't we just go to the government office? If I've wronged you, how about I just compensate you with twenty taels of silver?"

The bald man choked. Without waiting for him to say anything, Chen Siyuan said to everyone, "You are the same. Since you know who he is, why are you fooling around with him? It's right to help your relatives, but there must be a time for punishment. You can't just come and help this bald man after he kills someone, right?"

Several servants holding whistle sticks hurriedly said, "That can't be done."

"Uncle Yuan is right. If he really kills someone, we won't have time to hide."

Someone else said, "Kill someone? Niu Lai Tou has been doing this for over ten years and has never been seen killing anyone. With his temper, how could he dare to do that?"

Amidst the chaotic chatter, Chen Siyuan smiled, tossed over a few loose coins, and said, "Give it all away! Use this money for drinks. I'm staying the night at Tiekan Temple. I'll cut up some good meat, warm up a pot of old wine, and bring over a few servings of various dishes. I'll definitely reward you!"

Everyone was immediately delighted. One said, "Thank you, Master Yuan, for the reward," another praised Master Yuan's kindness. Steward Bai said with a smile, "Master Yuan, you came at the right time. We just caught two grouse this morning. We'll make lotus leaf chicken for you later."

Chen Siyuan smiled and waved his hands: "Let's go. If it doesn't taste good, I'll curse you."

The Jia family's servants scattered in a hurry, leaving only the three men on the scene.

The first person bowed and said, "Thank you very much, sir, for helping us out."

Chen Siyuan smiled and said, "It's nothing. It's probably because my family didn't manage their servants well that the three of you have suffered this misfortune." He paused and said, "I see you three are exhausted. Could it be that you came from the west?"

Another short and strong man said, "Yes, we joined the army three years ago and conquered the Western Regions. Now that we have achieved our goal, we have retired and are thinking of coming to the capital to make a living."

Chen Siyuan knew about this matter. Three years ago, the Dashun army sent 30,000 elite troops to march into the Western Regions. General Yue Zhongqi led a battalion of the Beijing Camp as the vanguard, and the commander-in-chief was the veteran general Feng Tang.

The would-be thief claimed to have 200,000 soldiers under his command, and seemed to be a formidable force, but who knew that he was just a pig's bladder - burst with just one poke!
Before Feng Tang led his troops to follow up, Yue Zhongqi's vanguard alone won three battles in a row. In the third battle, they captured and killed 20,000 elite soldiers of the bandits, which frightened Galdan Tseren so much that he abandoned Yili and fled to the plateau.

If supplies hadn't kept up, the Oirats would have been annihilated by Yue Zhongqi long ago. Over the next two years, rebellions broke out sporadically across the Western Regions. Now that Feng Tang had led most of his troops back to the capital, Yue Zhongqi led a battalion of soldiers to suppress the rebellions.

After hearing this, Chen Siyuan stood in awe and said, "You are the hero who pacified the Western Regions. I am so sorry for your disrespect!"

The three men suddenly became shy, and the skinny man said, "I dare not pay you a bow, sir. The storyteller said, 'Even though one may be in a low position, one must not forget his concerns for the country.' We brothers have practiced martial arts for generations, and hearing that the Junggar rebels have been raiding and plundering us repeatedly, we are naturally indignant. When we heard that the court intended to send troops, we immediately left Shandong and headed to the capital to join the army."

Chen Siyuan smiled and said, "I love heroes the most in my life. It's getting late, and even if you three go to the capital, I'm afraid you won't be able to enter the city. Why don't we rest here for a night, and have a big meal and drink a lot?"

The three of them exchanged glances. The leader hesitated, but the short, stocky man, eager to please, said, "Why not? Since you're so kind, it would be a shame if we didn't agree."

The skinny man also said: "We owe you a favor, sir. Not only can we drink and eat meat, we can also go through mountains of swords and seas of fire!"

Chen Siyuan was overjoyed and raised his hand to greet them: "In that case, three heroes, please come in!"

"Please!" They all gathered and headed for the Tiekan Temple. Once they arrived, Chen Siyuan didn't even need to show up. Jia Yun simply handed out some money, and the steward immediately vacated a guest room, served tea and water, and diligently waited on them.

When the sun set, Chen Siyuan sent Jia Yun to entertain Yin Yang Si and others, and he set up another table for a banquet to entertain the three men.

At this point, the three men finally became a little reserved. After some pushing and shoving, Chen Siyuan took the main seat, and the three of them took their seats one by one.

Chen Siyuan, a marketing veteran, was an expert at breaking the ice. Without saying much, he found a few excuses and had a few drinks with the three of them.

After three rounds of drinks, the three men were drunk and their conversation naturally became heated.

The leading man was called Ma Panlong, who was once a temporary sentry officer... According to the Dashun military system, he was roughly equivalent to the company commander in Chen Siyuan's previous life.

The short and strong man is named Qian Feihu, and the skinny man is named Xu Dabiao.

Qian Feihu said, "We brothers originally wanted to go to the Western Regions. If we die in battle, we will have served the court. If we survive, we will use our martial arts skills to fight for a title and a son."

Xu Dabiao put down his wine bowl and cursed, "Fuck the wife and son! I've practiced martial arts for over a decade and I thought I was unbeatable, but who knew I'd be left with nothing when I got into battle?"

Ma Panlong sighed and said, "Things are different now..." Seeing Chen Siyuan's puzzled expression, he explained, "Mr. Chen, you don't know that the battle formations nowadays are different from those in the past. Take the Wuyi Battalion as an example. Thirty percent of the soldiers are dead, wearing heavy armor and standing at the front of the formation; the other seventy percent are spontaneous musketeers.

When the battle begins, the dead soldiers only need to hold their ground, and the fire from the guns behind them will continue uninterrupted. After three volleys, no matter how elite your troops are, their fighting spirit will be greatly reduced."

Xu Dabiao added, "In the subsequent charge, we were wearing heavy armor, but we ran out of energy after only three miles. Those damn musketeers were equipped with bayonets and charged ahead of us. Damn it! In the whole battle, we suffered the most casualties, but our achievements were worse than those with firewood sticks!"

Qian Feihu said, "I've finally seen clearly that this martial art will be useless in the future. Now that the Western Regions have been pacified, let's discuss it and decide to resign and return home."

Chen Siyuan thought to himself that this was a good time to compare it with the Qing Dynasty in his previous life. He wondered which one was stronger, the Dashun or the Qing Dynasty.

He opened his mouth and said, "If I am not welcome here, I will go somewhere else. Since you three have come to the capital, have you ever thought about what you will do for a living?"

Qian Feihu said, "What else can we do? We can't stay in the army any longer, but the imperial court has banned firearms, so we decided to open an escort agency."

Xu Dabiao also said, "That's right, Master Chen, you don't know that we are from the same hometown, and there are many young people in my family who practice martial arts. Now that I have saved some money after three years of military service, I decided to open an escort agency to find a way out for the young people in my family. Master Chen is a scholar, I wonder if this escort agency business has a future?"

Chen Siyuan said seriously, "That's a good idea. Money houses are everywhere these days, with dozens in the capital alone. Although the Holy Emperor is on the throne, droughts and floods are unpredictable, and bandits are bound to gather in the mountains, rivers, lakes and swamps. You three seem quite capable, so you deserve to work for the escort agency."

As soon as these words were spoken, the three of them beamed with joy. Chen Siyuan added, "I admire you three heroes. Although I can't help you much, I still have some wealth. If you need anything in the future, just come to Rongguo Mansion and find me."

Seeing Chen Siyuan's heroic spirit, even Ma Panlong changed color and said, "I never thought that there would be a person like Mr. Chen among scholars."

Chen Siyuan laughed heartily and raised his glass, inviting everyone to drink. "To be honest, I've always wanted to emulate the Han Confucian scholars, wielding a three-foot-long sword and striving for fame and fortune. Unfortunately, achieving fame and fortune was my late mother's wish... Let's not talk about that. Meeting you on the road is fate. Drink to the top!"

"Done!"

(End of this chapter)