Chapter 65: Jealousy

"Comrades, starting tomorrow, our village's night school will add horsemanship as a course."

Zhang Chu'an loudly announced to the crowd; the term "comrade" existed in ancient times, as early as the Pre-Qin period, where the *Guoyu* stated, "Shared virtue means shared heart; shared heart means shared purpose."

In ancient times, "comrade" carried the same meaning as terms like "Mr.," "Elder," and "Lord," serving as a form of address between friends.

The crowd greatly liked the forms of address used for Zhang Chu'an and Zhang Xiaofan; the two had previously explained this term specifically to them at the night school.

In class, Zhang Xiaofan spoke deeply to the crowd:

"We have all come from every corner of the land to gather for a common revolutionary goal; every single person in our ranks is entirely dedicated to liberating the people and fighting thoroughly for the people's interests, so we address each other as comrades."

Life in the base area was busy; during the day, everyone worked hard in production, and at night, everyone gathered together at the night school to study.

At the night school, besides learning to read and write every day, one could also learn many practical skills that could earn a living outside, as well as advanced production techniques.

Such a good thing was rarely seen in the past; after all, in ancient times, wanting to study reading and writing required paying tuition to a private school teacher.

In ancient times, learning a practical skill to earn a living was even more difficult; apprenticing to learn a craft was equivalent to selling oneself to the master's family, and taking on an apprentice was equivalent to acquiring a menial servant.

One had to serve the master properly and meticulously; only when the master felt comfortable would they teach you anything.

Reading, writing, and practical skills for earning a living were truly good things for them and their children.

However, in their eyes, the most important aspect of studying at the night school was neither learning a practical skill to earn a living outside nor the basic literacy of reading and writing.

What was most important here was nothing less than regaining human dignity and self-confidence; before this, they had never thought about how important a group of tenant farmers living at the bottom was.

They had once believed that common folk like themselves were not very important, after all, those high-and-mighty great figures and landlord lords could easily decide the fate of them and others.

Even some hooligans and ruffians could easily cause their families to be destroyed, but the two leaders spoke words to them that were deeply shocking yet, upon careful reflection, very reasonable.

The fate of the nation was never decided by the emperors and generals above in the temple halls, nor by those landlord lords, but by the broad masses of working people living at the bottom, such as tenant farmers, hunters, and workers.

In class, Zhang Chu'an and Zhang Xiaofan referred to these people as "the people"; it was precisely the people who created all the material wealth in the nation.

Grain and ironware—were not these things produced by the people? The so-called emperors, generals, and noble scholar-officials were merely parasites attached to the people.

Without the people, what would they amount to? Hearing such statements and recalling their past treatment, a burst of anger immediately burned in the hearts of the crowd.

They, these people, had fed them, yet this group of parasites not only felt no gratitude but instead bled them dry and wantonly insulted their dignity.

Thinking of the past days and comparing them to the increasingly better present, and then thinking that the landlords and nobles outside would sooner or later launch a massive siege against them, an unnamed anger burned in everyone's heart.

They must learn their skills well; they must walk out of here to a broader world to liberate countless poor commoners just like themselves.

A scale of two thousand people was not large; compared to the Jin Chao which commanded a million troops, it could only be considered a single spark, but a single spark can start a prairie fire.

The base area of Zhang Chu'an and Zhang Xiaofan was developing prosperously, but Guo Jing and the others were not so content at this moment.

Since they defeated Temujin last time, they had thought Temujin would slow down his offensive against the Tatar tribe; after all, Temujin had lost nearly twenty thousand soldiers, and the Tatar tribe's strength was not weak.

Counting the entire tribe, there were seventy Battalion Commander; although they had previously suffered blows from the Jin Chao's grand army and attacks from Temujin and Wang Han, they still had some family assets.

It would be very difficult for Temujin to devour them now, but this time Temujin swept through the various Tatar tribes like a wind sweeping away clouds.

Although the various Tatar tribes had more people than Temujin, the tribe had many branches, mostly fighting on their own, while Temujin had by this time preliminarily established the military system of the Mongols.

Commanders of ten, commanders of a hundred, and commanders of a thousand ensured the army's attacks were uniform and coordinated, so Temujin achieved a great victory over the various Tatar tribes.

However, after this battle, Nie Huaishang and Guo Jing and the others were not without gains; one must know that the Tatar tribe and Temujin were hereditary enemies.

During the time of Genghis Khan's great-grandfather Ambaghai, the Tatar tribe designed a trap to capture Ambaghai and handed him over to the Jin Chao, the mortal enemy of the Mongol tribe; the Jin Chao nailed Ambaghai to a "wooden donkey" and executed him.

Afterwards, the Tatar tribe repeated the same trick, killing Genghis Khan's great-uncle Oqin Barqan.

By the time of Genghis Khan's father Yesugei, the Tatars again poisoned and secretly harmed Yesugei.

So when Temujin defeated the Tatar tribe, a large number of people abandoned their livestock and cattle and fled; Nie Huaishang and Guo Jing also promptly dispatched troops to intercept Temujin's pursuing forces for them.

As for those who did not escape, they were very unfortunate; the Mongol army led by Genghis Khan killed everyone in the Tatar tribe taller than a cart axle, and the remaining men, women, old, and young were all taken as slaves.

After this campaign, Nie Huaishang and Guo Jing accepted ten Battalion Commander of refugees from the Tatar tribe, while Temujin gained the Hulun Buir Grassland of the Tatar tribe.

As one of the world's four great grasslands, this area covers a total of one hundred forty-nine million mu; it is named after Hulun Lake and Buir Lake within its borders, and nourished by thousands of rivers large and small, every summer, orioles fly and grass grows, with cattle and sheep everywhere.

In later generations, it was called the best grassland in the world; holding this precious land, Temujin no longer lacked livestock.

After this battle, the strength of Guo Jing and the others once again widened the gap with Temujin; if it were not for the hostages they held, Temujin would have attacked.

However, Temujin's victory not only made Guo Jing and Nie Huaishang feel a crisis, but also made one person feel jealousy: his adopted father, Wang Han.

Originally, when Wang Han saw Temujin defeated and his troops halved, he was quite satisfied, after all, this proved his adopted son could not threaten him.

But who would have thought that in the blink of an eye he annihilated the Tatar tribe and occupied the Hulun Buir Grassland; with this grassland, Temujin would sooner or later threaten him.

As for Guo Jing and Nie Huaishang, the two who defeated Temujin, Wang Han did not put them in his eyes at all; they were merely a small tribe.

The entire tribe, counting the Naiman refugees, totaled only eighty thousand people, while his Kereit tribe possessed a population of three hundred thousand; they were not comparable.