Chapter 72: Private Soldiers

"You were sent by my father to protect me?" Su Fan looked at the two burly men holding Horizontal Blades, feeling somewhat suspicious.

"Yes, Young Master Chengji. It was General Huaji who ordered us to come and protect you."

"Alright! Then you will follow me from now on. What is your strength like?"

Upon hearing this, Su Fan nodded. After asking a few casual questions, he knew that the two were indeed from the Yuwen Family, serving as private soldiers and retainers of the Yuwen Family.

"To think Yuwen Huaji would still think of me," Su Fan thought to himself, shaking his head with a smile. Su Fan could clearly perceive the strength of the two; compared to himself before he transmigrated, they were certainly much stronger, but now, he could easily thrash them both.

"Reporting to the Young Master, the martial arts we practice are for the battlefield. According to the classifications in the Jianghu, we are roughly at the Post-natal Peak, a Second-rate level."

Ren Tong, the leader, said.

"Post-natal Peak, Second-rate. So, does that mean a First-rate Jianghu expert is a Pre-natal expert?" Su Fan asked again, and the latter nodded.

With this, Su Fan roughly understood what level his current strength was at.

It belonged to the First-rate of the Jianghu.

"Then are there higher levels?"

"Above First-rate is Super First-rate, and above that are Master experts. The Clan Head is a Master expert."

Ren Tong seemed to know quite a bit about the Jianghu, and as he listened to Su Fan's inquiries, he explained them one by one.

"Super First-rate, above Pre-natal and below Master. So what realm is a Master, and what realm is Super First-rate?"

This time, Ren Tong could not answer.

Seeing this, Su Fan did not mind; it would be strange if he knew everything.

"From now on, you will stay at the Prefecture Office."

Su Fan did not drive them away either. After all, they were Second-rate experts, so he had people he could make use of.

When the original owner arrived here, the Yuwen Family only sent a few maidservants and a steward, nothing else, not even fearing that he might be killed by Jianghu figures.

After his soul transmigrated, although he selected eight hundred private soldiers, these people were all peasant disciples who struggled to even read, let alone possess any ability.

After training for two years, their strength was at most decent; some with strong talent seemed to be comparable to Third-rate Jianghu level, but they were almost all just common soldiers.

These two, at a glance, could at least be considered at the level of a Hundred-man Commander in the army, capable of leading troops.

Of course, the two had not yet fully gained Su Fan's trust, and he could not hand over those eight hundred private soldiers to them all at once.

"Yes, Young Master."

It seemed that Su Fan was not as wicked as others said, and Ren Tong and Huang Quan felt a sense of relief in their hearts.

When they first heard that General Yuwen had ordered the two of them to go to Wu Jun, Yangzhou, to protect Yuwen Chengji, they had heard news from that side about how wicked this young master of the Yuwen Family was, and they had felt somewhat uneasy.

Now it seemed that, apart from being a bit cold, he was not wicked at all.

Moreover, before coming to the Prefecture Office, they had also inquired in Wu County and had never heard of this Prefect Yuwen at the Prefecture Office engaging in any wicked behavior.

Nothing like forcibly seizing women had ever happened.

It could not be said that the governance of Wu Jun was perfectly peaceful, but at least compared to some counties in Beidi, it was relatively tranquil.

In fact, for some refugees outside the city, there were yamen runners from the Prefecture Office distributing porridge; if not for the nod from the Prefecture Office, no one would dare to distribute porridge outside.

Putting it this way, their young master actually had a decent heart.

The uneasy hearts of the two gradually calmed down.

Early the next morning, they heard the sound of whistling coming from the backyard, and the two hurriedly got up and went over.

Boom— Boom—!

They saw their young master in a practice field in the backyard, throwing punches in the courtyard. Every punch and kick rubbed against the air, and the whistling momentum brought by it made their hearts shake violently.

"This power..."

Both of them also practiced battlefield martial arts and naturally understood the power of those punches and kicks. Under their perception, they felt that if they went up, they probably wouldn't be able to take a single punch from the other party.

They looked at each other.

Both had the same tacit understanding: "The family underestimated this young master. To think the young master is so low-key."

Judging solely by this punching power, the two were certain that in the armies of the Sui Dynasty, few could compare; placed in the army, he would be a top-tier great general.

Su Fan was naturally aware of their arrival, but he did not stop; instead, he continued to practice his punches. With the final punch, his whole body roared, the sound like a whistle.

Crack!

The wooden stake not far away shattered under this whistle.

"Hoo!"

Exhaling a long breath, Su Fan felt the boiling of his Qi and blood. He took the towel handed over by the steward and wiped off his sweat.

"You've come."

Looking at the two, he asked, "What do you think of my martial arts?"

"The Young Master's martial arts are extraordinary; it is not for the two of us to evaluate." Ren Tong had good emotional intelligence, and what he said sounded quite pleasant.

"Haha! You were in the army before, tell me, in the army of the Sui Dynasty, what would my strength be considered?"

"Uh! The Young Master's martial arts are comparable to General Lai."

After thinking for a moment, Ren Tong said a name.

"General Lai, that is Lai Hu'er."

Su Fan naturally knew who Ren Tong was talking about. Lai Hu'er was a famous general of the Sui Dynasty, but among the fierce generals of the Sui and Tang, his strength could not be considered very strong.

His strength lay in leading troops.

Of course, placed in this world, his personal martial prowess was at least First-rate.

Su Fan nodded with a smile.

"After eating, in a while, you will come with me for a trip."

"Yes, Young Master."

Now, the two did not dare to have any negligence toward Su Fan; strength determined everything. If they had still had some reserve before—after all, the two of them were only thirty years old and were already at the peak of Second-rate, and they had a great chance of breaking through to the Pre-natal realm.

Now, under Su Fan's fierce strength, the two of them could not say a word.

"Heh!"

Su Fan heard this and chuckled; that last punch just now was something he had intentionally displayed.

Moving like thunder, sounding like a roar, the technique he practiced combined the Five Animal Frolics; the Tiger Style within the Five Animal Frolics used the roar of a fierce tiger to vibrate the internal organs with sound, tempering the viscera and bowels with Qi and blood, driving an all-around improvement of his physique.

Before even entering the Western Military Camp of the Wu County Prefecture Office, one could hear deafening shouts from afar.

Led by Su Fan, the two of them quickly entered the military camp, and the first thing that caught their eyes was the drill ground, where hundreds of burly men, bare-chested, were currently training, each looking extremely rugged.

One must know that it was currently the twelfth lunar month of autumn and winter, and the temperature had already dropped to frost.

Yet these men were all bare-chested, their bodies flushed red and steaming with heat.

"Young Master, these are?"

Ren Tong and Huang Quan were both men of the military and could naturally sense the elite toughness of these men; they were definitely good soldiers.

"From now on, you two will also train here."

Su Fan said this simply.

He was also giving the two of them a chance; if they were smart, he would not be stingy, and with the resources he provided, it would be absolutely no problem for them to break through and become first-class experts.

Their talent was certainly not bad, otherwise, it would have been impossible for them to be second-class experts by their thirties.

It must be said that his cheap father had not treated Su Fan unfairly; these two could be considered decent generals even in the Yuwen Family.