Chapter 303 Moving to the Estate

Chapter 303 Moving to the Estate

Whether from a personal or righteous perspective, these guards from the Marquis's mansion preferred to stay with their former masters, as well as their families, relatives, and friends.

As for the possibility of dying while choosing to guard the pass, they would rather charge forward with their lives than hide in Tang County and watch their loved ones die in this battle, or even watch the pass be breached and the Tatars charge in to burn, kill, and plunder. They would rather join their former comrades, masters, and one of their current employers, Jiang Yuan, to protect this land, their families, and their fellow villagers with their lives.

Of course, they wouldn't blame Xie Wanniang for "deserting her life." As a pregnant woman, she was not suitable to stay in Zijing Pass. Moreover, because Jiang Yuan had once captured a Tatar princess, she had long been one of the women that the Tatar spies wanted to capture and humiliate.

The people were deeply moved and grateful to their employer, who was willing to pay them double their monthly wages during wartime and fully respect their personal wishes, allowing them to choose whether to stay in Zijing Pass or leave with her to go to Tang County.

They secretly resolved that as long as they were alive, they would definitely help Xie Wanniang protect her husband Jiang Yuan.

Of course, since they had left the military camp, while Jiang Yuan was still an active-duty general, it was often inconvenient for them to appear by Jiang Yuan's side—for example, when Jiang Yuan led his team to scout the enemy outside the pass, or when Jiang Yuan held a combat meeting with Chang Yao and others.

At such times, Jiang Yuan would only be accompanied by his soldiers and trusted, capable guards selected from the army.

Only when the war officially begins, the Tatar army is at the city gates, and everyone is focused on defending the city, can they participate in the defense alongside active-duty soldiers.

At times like these, not only will able-bodied retired soldiers return to the front lines, but ordinary young men and disabled retired soldiers within the passes will also do what they can to help.

Even if the war develops to a point where it is quite unfavorable to their side, the women, the elderly, and the children in the pass will voluntarily leave their homes to take the place of the fallen, help transport military supplies, carry and care for the wounded, and even take up arms and fight the enemy like moths to a flame.

It can be said that those who live in important border towns, even the elderly, weak, women and children, are not lacking in courage and spirit.

Xie Wanniang left all the guards who were willing to stay and had experience in fighting on the battlefield at Zijing Pass, and then took Haitang, Xiaoyang and a group of young guards to one of her farms in Tang County.

The village is very close to both Mingfu Village and Xiejia Village. If she causes a big commotion here, people on both sides will be able to notice it in time. However, because they are some distance apart, those Tatars or Tatar spies who are targeting her will likely not go to Mingfu Village and Xiejia Village to cause trouble in order to avoid alerting the local government and garrison when they sneak over to arrest her.

Of course, it doesn't matter if they have a mental breakdown or something, because many places in Baoding Prefecture and the neighboring Hejian Prefecture are suffering from drought. Both Xiejia Village and Mingfu Village have made preparations in advance to prevent the influx of refugees from burning, killing, and looting.

In Mingfu Village, the martial arts master she sent had taken on many apprentices over the years. These people, along with the guards she later sent to protect Wang Xiaozhi and others, worked together. While they couldn't say they could defeat Tatar spies or small groups of Tatar soldiers, they were still capable of issuing warnings, delaying time, and using the terrain to their advantage when encountering danger.

If they can delay for even a short while, the nearby garrison can use beacon fires to send messages and capture or annihilate any Tatar soldiers who have infiltrated or Tatar spies who have deliberately exposed themselves.

Meanwhile, in Xie Family Village, although the chaotic era had ended many years ago, Xie Daoheng, as the clan leader, never relaxed his efforts to train the physical fitness of his clansmen, servants, and academy students.

On the one hand, young people who wanted to take the imperial examinations needed to be in good health, otherwise it would be difficult to endure such an intense and long learning and examination process. On the other hand, they lived and studied in Baoding Prefecture.

Although they are not as close as Yi County to the pass that directly borders the Northern Hu, this "not close" is only relative to Yi County.

In fact, if you travel from Zijing Pass to Tang County by fast horse with no change of rider, it would only take a day.

If something goes wrong at the pass, even if the Tatars can't perform the extreme maneuver of changing horses without changing riders in order to fight, they can still reach Tang County in just two days without encountering any resistance along the way.

As the saying goes, one must be mindful of danger even in times of peace. Even though the Zhenbei Army can indeed defend the northern border like an iron barrel, Xie Daoheng still needs to prepare for any possible "what ifs".

Perhaps all his foresight will be in vain during his lifetime, but as long as the Xie family and the academy he founded can pass on the fine tradition of emphasizing both literary and martial arts, their descendants will surely benefit from their foresight at some point in the future.

For the above reasons, Xie Daoheng not only did not dismiss the martial arts instructor hired by the clan, but also added elective courses in riding and archery, hand-to-hand combat, and common weapons such as knives, spears, and swords to the academy.

Note that the term "elective" does not mean that students can choose to take these courses or not. Rather, they must choose one or two courses from the above list that they are interested in.

Although the vast majority of young people would only choose "riding and archery," which is one of the Six Arts of a Gentleman, it is not uncommon for some to choose to learn another martial arts elective course on top of that.

Some people who have no talent or interest in reading may even devote their main energy to martial arts.

After observing these special students for a long time and confirming that they were indeed academically weak, Xie Daoheng would also discuss with their parents whether they were willing to let their child switch to the path of martial arts examinations.

Although the risk of dying midway through the military career path is indeed very high, most parents would still prefer their children to take the military route if they didn't want their children to amount to nothing and have no hope of passing the civil service exam.

After all, those who can distinguish themselves in the martial arts examination are different from ordinary soldiers. Even if they also need to go to the battlefield, their starting point will be higher than that of ordinary soldiers.

On the battlefield, those who die the most are always ordinary soldiers.