Chapter 1068: Ge Tianfeng of the Xuzhou Martial Hall

In the end, the Li brothers simply couldn't accept it. They had trained in archery, horsemanship, and martial skills since childhood, had fought on battlefields and witnessed great scenes, yet here they were in the Xuzhou Martial Hall, mixing with martial-arts-obsessed youths and poor laborers who knew nothing at all. There were also men from militia and household retainer backgrounds studying and training in the hall, but these people formed their own clique and never associated with pure outsiders like the Li brothers. This situation was stifling and infuriating.

Compared to the Li brothers' frustration, Ge Tianfeng, who came from a refugee background, felt completely different. Famine had made him a refugee, then he was swept up by the Incense-Smelling Sect, narrowly escaped death beneath the walls of Jining, and endured all manner of hardship. In those days, Ge Tianfeng never thought about the future, never even thought about tomorrow. Every day, he only thought about getting something to eat, only thought about surviving that day. But his luck was very good. When the Xuzhou troops swept through southern Shandong, by a stroke of fate he guided the Zhao Battalion and rendered meritorious service.

With merit to his name, he naturally would not become a serf on the farmstead. His age was suitable, and though his body was small and thin, hardship had honed in him decent reflexes and agility. So after the war, he was directly assigned to the Martial Hall to study, with a status equal to that of student recruits promoted from the militia into the academy. The difference was that Ge Tianfeng started his studies from the Third Class.

After its establishment, the Xuzhou Martial Hall was divided into three classes. The Third Class consisted of student recruits who had never been on a battlefield and had never trained within the Zhao Battalion system. Even if they possessed martial skills, they could not adapt to this system and had to start learning from the very beginning. The Second Class was for militia who had performed outstandingly and household retainers with merit. They were to understand the Zhao Battalion's combat system in the hall, in preparation for serving as non-commissioned officers and junior officers in the future. The First Class was for household retainers who had rendered great merit, as well as squad deputies, squad leaders, and those of higher rank. Here they studied battlefield experience against the enemy, attended lectures by brigade commanders, regiment commanders, and even Zhao Jin himself, and exchanged ideas with one another. They were all reserve candidates for company-level and higher leaders in the Zhao Battalion.

For the Third Class, only the third rank had the possibility of advancing to the second. After graduation, those in the Second and First Classes had to serve in the household retainer brigades and patrol units, or lead militia in key locations. Only by earning merit in practical duties and combat might they have the chance to enter the First Class or advance further.

These detailed rules, from the First Class down to the Third, were clearly understood by the vast majority of student recruits. Only Ge Tianfeng was somewhat muddled, because in the entire Xuzhou Martial Hall, Ge Tianfeng was the only person of refugee origin from the Incense-Smelling Sect rebellion. If not for his merit in guiding the way, he would never have come here at all. Ge Tianfeng was very ignorant, very confused. He knew he had no right to decide anything, so whatever others arranged for him, he simply followed.

When everyone else arrived at the Martial Hall, their first thought was to work hard and advance. Under the Zhao Battalion system, there were so many people, so many martial men and warriors who wanted to stake their lives for Master Jin, yet only a few hundred had entered this hall. The future was surely full of great promise. They had to be diligent and hardworking, learn as much as possible, so as not to fail this assignment. But Ge Tianfeng's first thought was: here, he could eat his fill, and what's more, he could eat three full meals a day!

While marching with the Zhao Battalion, Ge Tianfeng ate his fill at every meal. The way he ate was terrifying to behold. More than one person told him to eat less, lest he eat himself to death. Ge Tianfeng paid no heed to such advice. As he saw it, when they were on campaign and people were being asked to risk their lives, they had to be fed well. Even the Incense-Smelling Sect used flatbread to lure people in. Once the fighting was over, he figured there would be no more full meals. Ge Tianfeng had truly been starved into terror; he would rather die of overeating than suffer hunger.

After arriving at the Martial Hall, Ge Tianfeng discovered his worries were entirely unnecessary. The food here was about the same as what the Xuzhou troops ate, and sometimes even better. All the sorghum rice he could eat, with rice and wheat occasionally mixed in. All the salted vegetables he could eat—radishes, cabbages, and the like pickled in salt. What surprised and delighted Ge Tianfeng even more was that a few times a month, there was even some meat or fish. Salted fish was the most common. The big-pot stew was the most beloved: gristle, scraps, and bones stewed in the big pot until tender, the stewed vegetables soaked through with rich oil. It was incredibly satisfying to eat.

At every meal, Ge Tianfeng wolfed down his food. Only a few very large student recruits could out-eat him. After eating his fill, there was even a proper bed to sleep in. A dozen or so people lived in one room, with complete bedding. The room was tidy and well-kept, fully able to shield from wind and rain. No longer did he have to worry about being killed or violated in his sleep at night, or dragged off by wild dogs. Every night, Ge Tianfeng slept very soundly.

If there was anything he found hard to get used to, it was the excessive rules about sleeping. The bedding had to be folded absolutely neatly, and the room had to be cleaned on a rotating basis. If it wasn't neat and clean, there would be punishment. This Ge Tianfeng simply could not understand. He thought, as long as you can sleep and cover yourself, isn't that enough? Why go to such trouble? But he knew that this life before him, compared to his days as a refugee, compared to when he was coerced by the Incense-Smelling Sect, was like heaven. Whatever they told him to do, he did. He would never delay or argue.

With full meals and good sleep every day, Ge Tianfeng's mind gradually settled, and he began to notice his surroundings. There were over two hundred people in the Third Class, and the number was constantly increasing. There was a form of address among them that made Ge Tianfeng very uncomfortable. Whenever he was called by it, he always felt utterly unworthy. The term "classmate"—Ge Tianfeng always felt he did not deserve it.

After just a few days, Ge Tianfeng noticed some things. For instance, most of his classmates looked with considerable contempt upon his wolfing down of food. Another portion paid virtually no attention to the companions around them, each going their own way. Yet it was precisely this small portion that many classmates flocked around to curry favor with. As for Ge Tianfeng himself, he was vaguely alone; no one really associated with him.

Among the hundred-plus classmates in the class, Ge Tianfeng memorized a few names from the very start, because these classmates were clearly different from the others. One was called Ma Tongji, thirteen years old. This person stood out as very special in the entire class. Though everyone wore the dark brown, coarse-cloth short robes uniformly issued by the Martial Hall, and everyone's hair was shaved as short as possible like a monk's, an outfit that was very rustic—even the unsophisticated Ge Tianfeng thought so—on Ma Tongji, this attire still carried an air of wealth and nobility. Ge Tianfeng always felt that Ma Tongji resembled the son of a county grandee he had once seen. That grandee's son might even have been inferior to this Ma Tongji.

At the opening of the school, every classmate had to stand up and announce their name and background, and if they could say something about themselves, so much the better. As each person stood and announced their name in turn, those below who were well-informed would whisper comments. Ge Tianfeng listened very carefully. Ma Tongji's father, it seemed, had once been some kind of high official before surrendering and coming over, and was now greatly valued or something of the sort.

Ma Tongji had an air of wealth and nobility about him, but it had nothing to do with being pampered and delicate. He was sturdily built and dark-skinned, and in martial skills and physical ability, he surpassed many, even many classmates older than himself. Moreover, Ma Tongji treated people very amiably. Even Ge Tianfeng, whom everyone shunned, had been greeted by Ma Tongji with a smile. So there were always many people gathered around Ma Tongji, and he clearly had the bearing of a leader. Yet for some reason, Ge Tianfeng always felt that Ma Tongji was actually very distant from people. Most of the time when he smiled, he wasn't really smiling.

There were also two brothers surnamed Li. The elder brother, Li Huanghe, was fourteen; the younger brother, Li Langshan, was eleven. Both were taller and stronger than their peers. The elder brother Li Huanghe had a solid foundation in blade techniques and had once won eight consecutive matches in sparring contests, finally fighting Ma Tongji to a draw. The younger brother Li Langshan was somewhat taciturn, but his staff and spear techniques were not bad, earning praise even from the hall's instructors. The Li brothers' background was said to be similar to Ma Tongji's—their father had also surrendered from the government side and now held a very high position. Yet for some unknown reason, the two groups could not play together.

There were not many people around the Li brothers; they were all from the Qingjiangpu area and generally looked wealthy and noble, often bringing out delicious things to share with everyone. Ge Tianfeng had never eaten such delicious pastries. However, from his interactions, he could see that the Li brothers were very diligent and driven, constantly training and studying, as if under great pressure.

There were also the Cheng family members from Pizhou. A dozen or so people, all clansmen, who stuck very closely together. The youths from the Pizhou area all gathered around them. However, some Pizhou youths also followed a youth named Jiang Rui. That youth was said to be from a powerful family between Xuzhou and Pizhou. This Jiang group and the Cheng group clearly did not get along. The instructors had already warned them twice, both openly and discreetly, but Ge Tianfeng felt that these two groups of classmates were bound to have a fight sooner or later.

In this Third Class, the classmates from Xuzhou were the most numerous. According to Ge Tianfeng's thinking, people from the same place stick together and look after each other—that would be the biggest group. But Ge Tianfeng immediately realized he was wrong. During various leisure times and outdoor training drills, the Xuzhou student recruits split into many squads. There was one squad Ge Tianfeng found very interesting. Many of the youths in this squad had very short hair on their heads, and it was not freshly shaved; it looked like ordination scars. Ge Tianfeng quickly learned that they were indeed ordination scars. These people had all come out of temples, and many had been monks until very recently.

"Bastard spawn of monks," a classmate had once viciously remarked in secret. But Ge Tianfeng only heard it once and could not figure out what it meant. He only wondered: even monks were coming to join in on this excitement?

There was another squad that was very mixed, and Ge Tianfeng could not fathom how they had come together. The leader of that squad was surnamed Zheng, named Zheng Bin, fourteen years old. He had no martial skills to speak of, nor was he particularly stout. His temperament was very honest, even somewhat cowardly. Yet that group took this Zheng Bin as their leader. Clearly, You Guangzu possessed martial arts and was a loyal and upright person who won people's hearts, yet this You Guangzu willingly worked and ran errands for Zheng Bin.

The next squad could not really be said to have a leader. The student recruit who could fight the best was surnamed Lian, called Lian Bao'en. His blade and staff skills were no worse than the Li brothers', and he had three or four brothers as well, yet he was not the head. There was one named Yan Xiang who wore a smile on his face all day long and could connect with every group. He also had a few clansmen youths around him.

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