Chapter 101: Formal Training

"Now there are pheasants and rabbits in the same cage; there are thirty-five heads above and ninety-four feet below. How many pheasants and rabbits are there respectively?"

As soon as Song Lian finished speaking, Zhu Gaoxu answered almost instantly: "There are twenty-three pheasants and twelve rabbits."

Song Lian was stunned upon hearing Zhu Gaoxu's standard answer, subconsciously assuming that Zhu Gaoxu had done this problem before.

Thus, Song Lian immediately posed another problem: "Now there are pheasants and rabbits in the same cage; there are eighty heads above and two hundred and eight feet below. How many pheasants and rabbits are there respectively?"

This time, Zhu Gaoxu frowned slightly, because the total had increased and he did not calculate it immediately.

Seeing this, Song Lian thought he had guessed correctly and was just about to speak when, unexpectedly, Zhu Gaoxu stated the answer again.

"There are fifty-six pheasants and twenty-four rabbits."

At this, Song Lian was completely dumbfounded.

One must know that even for him, it would take at least the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn to figure out this problem.

Yet Zhu Gaoxu was only a few seconds slower than before.

Seeing this, Song Lian asked directly: "Has Your Highness done this problem before?"

Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said: "This student is doing this problem for the first time; I just happen to have some methods."

"Oh? What kind of method is so fast? Tell me about it."

Zhu Gaoxu's words aroused Song Lian's curiosity.

He had studied arithmetic for over a dozen years, but he had never heard of any method that could solve it so quickly.

And what Zhu Gaoxu said next stunned Song Lian even more.

"Actually, there is more than one method. I will tell you two first, Teacher."

What!

More than one?

Tell me two first?

Does that mean there are even more?

This had completely exceeded Song Lian's understanding, and he nodded, urging Zhu Gaoxu to speak quickly.

Seeing Song Lian so anxious, Zhu Gaoxu did not beat around the bush and said directly: "Let's use the first problem as an example."

"The first method is to assume that all thirty-five heads in the cage are pheasants; then those thirty-five pheasants should have seventy feet."

"Seventy feet is twenty-four feet less than ninety-four feet. This is because the rabbit's four feet were counted as a pheasant's two feet. Since a total of twenty-four feet were undercounted, how many twos are in twenty-four is how many rabbits there are. Then, subtract the number of rabbits from the total number of heads to find the number of pheasants."

Upon hearing this, Song Lian pondered for a moment and suddenly understood.

He immediately couldn't help but clap his hands and say: "Wonderful, truly wonderful!"

"Quickly tell me the other method."

"The other method is actually even simpler."

"What, even simpler!"

Song Lian had originally thought that what was just said was already very simple; at the very least, he hadn't thought of it in over a dozen years of study.

Yet Zhu Gaoxu actually had an even simpler method. This time, Song Lian had not the slightest doubt and just told him to hurry up and speak.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Song Lian's excited expression and was truly afraid that this old man might pass out from over-excitement, so he didn't dare delay and said directly: "Actually, it is to set x and y—ah, no, that's not right, it's Jia and Yi."

"Let the number of rabbits be Jia and the number of pheasants be Yi."

"Jia plus Yi equals thirty-five."

"And four times Jia plus two times Yi equals ninety-four feet."

"Then two times Jia plus Yi equals forty-seven."

"Jia equals twelve, and Yi is twenty-three."

With Zhu Gaoxu's simple explanation, Song Lian understood immediately.

"Wonderful, truly wonderful!"

Looking at Song Lian, who kept saying "wonderful," Zhu Gaoxu said at the right moment: "This student has already answered correctly... so, do you think today's lesson can..."

"Forget it, forget it!"

Song Lian did not go back on his word. At this moment, he intended to use this method to verify a few more problems. If it were truly usable, it would be a major discovery for the Great Ming, and its status in academia would rise countless times over.

Therefore, he had no time to pay attention to Zhu Gaoxu.

And Zhu Gaoxu had only revealed a small bit of his skill, yet he had managed to handle Song Lian, the head of the Great Ming's founding civil officials.

Seeing that Song Lian had no time to pay attention to him anymore, Zhu Gaoxu bowed and walked out of Song Lian's large tent.

The entire lesson hadn't even lasted five minutes before Zhu Gaoxu was dismissed.

In a pleasant mood, Zhu Gaoxu found Mao Xiang.

During this period, Mao Xiang had been managing the entire Military Camp for Zhu Gaoxu.

"Have there been any changes in the army recently?"

"Everything is normal, and the soldiers are becoming more and more driven. Actually, there are many good soldiers among them, but... they still left."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded; there was no helping that, as he only had a quota of one thousand.

"How many people are still in the army now?"

"There are currently over seven thousand people left."

"How are the results?"

"Nearly half of the seven thousand hit the target with every shot, and all items such as cross-country obstacle courses have met the standards."

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu nodded and immediately decided to increase the intensity of the training once again.

This mainly included a series of training items: stealthy marching, coordinated combat, close-quarters fighting, long-range volley fire, camping with sentries, night reconnaissance, seizing key points, and blocking enemy reinforcements.

As Zhu Gaoxu spoke, he explained to Mao Xiang.

At the same time, he required them to be divided into squads, platoons, and companies, and those with poor results would continue to be eliminated.

Now these soldiers have adapted to the basic training, and thanks to Hu Weiyong, the army's food has also greatly improved.

Three meals a day, with meat in two of them.

Combined with the training of Zhu Gaoxu, it is already slowly changing the soldiers' physiques.

And now Zhu Gaoxu has decided to begin formal training to prepare for going to the battlefield in the future!