Chapter 19: General Sun

Inside the mess hall, several banquet tables had already been set, and various cold dishes, hot stir-fries, chicken, duck, fish, and meat were being brought to the tables one after another.

A middle-aged military general with a thick waist, broad shoulders, wide brows, and large eyes, exuding an aura of fierce courage, was already seated at the main table; this person was none other than the garrison commander of Xingyuan Prefecture, General Sun Shouren!

"General!" Many Personal Soldiers walked into the mess hall, every one of them bowing and saluting.

General Sun nodded and smiled in response to all of them. Having just been transferred back to Xingyuan Prefecture, there were too many people in both official circles and his own family who wanted to visit him, and he also needed to visit some people himself.

Therefore, he had spent most of his time over the past two months socializing, or on his way to socialize, and had not appeared in the military camp very often.

Many of the recruited Personal Soldiers were not even very familiar with him, which is a great taboo on the battlefield.

If a real battle were to break out, he could only rely on his Personal Soldiers, and if the soldiers did not recognize their general, then the battle could not be fought.

He had made up his mind with this return to train his troops well in the time to come; after all, he was still young, only forty-five years old.

As long as he trained the troops well, he would be able to go on expeditions and earn merits in the future.

"General." Chen Mo walked into the mess hall, first bowed to General Sun, and then prepared to find a place to sit.

He did not intend to sit at General Sun's table, because eating with the other party would inevitably be somewhat restrained.

However, he had not expected that General Sun, with his stern and fierce expression, would actually greet him with a kind and pleasant smile.

"Chen Mo, right? Sit."

Sun Shouren still remembered this young man. He had only been in the Personal Soldier camp for two months, yet he had received an 'A' grade in both evaluations, which was truly quite rare.

Furthermore, unlike others, Chen Mo did not have a family-inherited martial art, nor had he apprenticed under a martial arts master at home to practice martial skills.

He had never practiced martial arts before, and being able to achieve an 'A' grade was entirely due to his own talent and hard work.

It was for this reason that Sun Shouren could remember him; otherwise, there were a full fifty or sixty Personal Soldiers who had joined the camp this time.

Among them were quite a few of his own clansmen; if Chen Mo had no real ability, how could he have remembered him?

"Ah!" Chen Mo was stunned, but since the general had given an order, he could not refuse, so he had to find a seat at the main table.

Mo Hu was quite relaxed and natural, sitting directly next to General Sun and even grabbing a handful of peanuts to eat first.

"I'm telling you, damn it, pay attention! The banquet hasn't even started yet, and you're about to eat it all up, you brat!" Sun Shouren glared, feigning anger as he reprimanded him.

"Yes!" Mo Hu answered loudly and reached out to grab another handful.

As the other new recruits who had passed the assessment arrived one after another, Sun Shouren stood up to briefly praise the performance of the many Personal Soldiers during this period, and then announced the start of the banquet.

Several kitchen soldiers brought over one large wine jar after another, and the many Personal Soldiers raised their coarse ceramic bowls to drink heartily.

Chen Mo was not very interested in the wine and focused only on the meat on the table, only raising his cup to drink occasionally when everyone toasted.

This wine was actually not very strong; it was rice wine brewed by the mess hall, but precisely because it was not very strong, one might drink too much without realizing it.

For a time, everyone was clinking glasses and exchanging cups, and the atmosphere was lively; the pile of chicken and duck bones in front of Chen Mo grew rapidly.

Sitting at the same table as General Sun, not only was he nervous, but apart from Mo Hu and the veteran soldiers, the other new recruits at their table like him were all somewhat tense.

At first, they were all a bit reserved, but as a few bowls of rice wine went down, the atmosphere gradually became more active.

Only then did Chen Mo dare to let go, loosen his belt, and enjoy this once-a-month feast.

As piece after piece of meat went into his stomach, wisps of Blood Qi energy were also constantly being converted.

"Why haven't you toasted me, you brat?" General Sun, his face flushed and his eyes slightly unfocused, looked at Chen Mo and said.

"Your subordinate toasts the General!" Chen Mo picked up his wine bowl and drained it in one gulp.

Only then did General Sun laugh quite happily; he knew that trying to build a relationship with this bunch of ruffians by writing poetry or drinking tea was purely casting pearls before swine.

Drinking together twice and getting dead drunk twice was the most effective method.

As for wanting them to serve him and exert their strength on the battlefield, or to be willing to act as the vanguard to resist the enemy:

Besides making them convinced of his leadership as their commander in daily life, he also had to promise them benefits when facing battle so that they would be willing to fight with all their might.

As for wanting them to lay down their lives for him, that was extremely difficult; even he did not have many such trusted aides.

As the banquet neared its end, the floor and tables were covered with Personal Soldiers who had collapsed, and there were still some who, though drunk, were still muttering to themselves.

Chen Mo took this opportunity to act; his table was already a mess of cups and plates, but there were still some dishes that were relatively well-preserved.

He hurried to take some back as a midnight snack so that his progress in accumulating Qi and Blood could be faster.

Besides, it wasn't as if he could only take dishes from his own table; he could also easily take some from the tables nearby.

Chen Mo was now using every means and sparing no effort to increase the speed of his own Qi and Blood accumulation as much as possible.

Firstly, it was to be reborn and possess greater strength more quickly; only in this way could he rescue Zhao Yu.

Secondly, he did not know if he would encounter the Grey Mist again; although the sound of the gong might have the effect of dispersing the Grey Mist, he had still fallen into it while in the military camp last time.

This showed that while the Gong and Drum had the effect of dispersing the Grey Mist, one could not say it was absolutely safe.

Therefore, no matter where he was now, he felt a vague sense of insecurity in his heart.

And what could counter this unease was increasing his strength, increasing his strength faster.

As long as he was strong enough, even if he fell into the Grey Mist, he would still be able to ensure his own safety.

So now he would seize every opportunity to accelerate the accumulation of his Qi and Blood, just to improve himself faster.

In fact, he had wanted to inquire about the Grey Mist during this time, but in the military camp, no one he could come into contact with given his status knew about this matter.

And wanting to read classics to look it up was even more impossible; books were absolutely precious things in this era and could not be easily shown to others.

Chen Mo had learned a few characters while working as a book boy, and even that was considered quite good among the many soldiers.

Even in this Personal Soldier camp, most of the Personal Soldiers were illiterate.

So until now, Chen Mo only had a half-understanding of the Grey Mist; the unknown represented danger, which was why he had to exhaust all means to improve himself.

Taking the large bowls usually used for serving rice, Chen Mo easily swiped one and a half pork knuckles, a large bowl of braised mutton, a large bowl of braised pork, half a marinated goose, and most of a roasted chicken.

These were the meat dishes on the table that looked the best; Chen Mo took them all away one by one, so he could not only eat them tonight but also have another meal tomorrow.

After placing these large bowls of meat back in his barracks one after another, Chen Mo walked back into the mess hall to carry Mo Hu.

Mo Dao also walked over at this time; he and a portion of the Personal Soldiers had not attended today's banquet but were responsible for patrols and security.

In fact, these Personal Soldiers responsible for patrols and security today were the best among the Personal Soldiers, belonging to the elite of the elite.

They would naturally receive rewards as well, but the banquet to reward them would have to wait until tomorrow, after someone else took over their patrol and guard duties.

"You take Xiaohu back; I will take Foster Father back." Mo Dao's tone was devoid of fluctuation, and it was rare for him to say such a long sentence.

Chen Mo had long been accustomed to this; Mo Hu was right, Mo Dao was indeed a person who was cold on the outside but warm on the inside.

His own archery posture had received quite a bit of guidance from him in daily life; if not for that, he might not have progressed so quickly.

Mo Dao just didn't have much to say in daily life and was not very willing to communicate with others, but he was never ambiguous when it came to doing things.

After sending Mo Hu back to his room, Chen Mo went to wash up before lying back down in his room to rest.

The next day, just as Chen Mo was preparing to train as usual, a messenger soldier brought news that General Sun wanted to see him in person.

(End of this chapter)