Chapter 10

"Thank you, sir!" Huang Ji said gratefully.

Then he took the lamb leg and immediately started to eat heartily. The work intensity today was extremely high, so he was very hungry and didn't care about his appearance at all.

As for the 28 young men, they ate the meat in an orderly manner. Yang Guanjun was responsible for distributing the meat, and the others were responsible for receiving it.

No one fought over the meat.

Seeing this, Zhang Yu was very satisfied.

After the meal, there was no rest time, and everyone started working again.

However, after eating and drinking to their heart's content, everyone put in even more effort, and the speed of their work increased.

By evening, Huang Ji had already built the bottom frame of the residential area.

During this period, he also began to teach these young men how to use the ink line and how to use tools to carve out the corresponding mortise and tenon structures.

This greatly reduced his workload and accelerated the progress of the project.

These children, in order to keep the right to eat meat, also brought out their strongest potential.

Zhang Yu took advantage of the afternoon to make two more crossbows.

Now he had enough stored deer sinew. As long as he wanted, the deer population in the mountains was large, and there was no shortage of deer sinew.

After making the two crossbows, Zhang Yu took Yang Guanjun into the mountains again.

This time, with the help of traps, they just walked around and caught enough game.

Returning to the camp, after a hearty meal of roasted meat, Zhang Yu gathered everyone by the campfire.

"Today, I will teach you a set of military boxing to strengthen your bodies and give you the ability to fight back against enemies in the future." After saying this, Zhang Yu had the 28 young men line up.

Then he taught them each move and technique.

Until midnight, the mountains echoed with their shouts.

That night, the camp was filled with snoring.

They were really too tired, with almost no rest time.

Zhang Yu had no choice; they now had to seize every moment to strengthen themselves.

There could be no slack.

At dawn the next day, Zhang Yu led the 28 young men through a full set of military boxing, then had them run 20 laps around the camp before handing them over to Huang Ji.

Under this intense training, the 28 young men visibly grew stronger.

Five days later.

The residential area of the camp was completely built, and Huang Ji, following Zhang Yu's blueprints, constructed wooden bunk beds.

Each room could accommodate 6 people, and Huang Ji built 10 rooms, enough to house 60 people.

The 28 young men, sleeping on the new beds, were extremely excited. They were all orphans who had lost their parents and had never experienced the warmth of a home.

It was only in this group that they found warmth and, when they lay on these beds, they felt a sense of belonging they had never felt before.

If anyone tried to destroy this place, they would certainly fight to the death to protect it without hesitation.

At noon.

Zhang Yu gathered everyone around a simple wooden table, where ten crossbows were neatly arranged.

These 10 crossbows were clearly more refined than the previous two, as Zhang Yu had spent more time on them.

The 28 young men lined up neatly, their demeanor completely different from five days ago.

"Today, you will train in crossbow shooting. Afterward, I will assess you. Those who can hit nine out of ten shots will be allowed to own a crossbow independently," Zhang Yu said loudly.

Everyone looked at Zhang Yu with bright eyes. If it were five days ago, they would have cheered.

But at this moment, no one made any extra movements; their red faces showed their excitement.

"Yang Guanjun!"

"Here!" Yang Guanjun ran forward.

"I now appoint you as the leader to oversee everyone's training. Divide them into groups of nine and start the training!" Zhang Yu ordered.

"Yes!"

After replying, Zhang Yu immediately turned around and looked at the 27 brothers in front of him.

Soon, under his direction, the 27 people were divided into three groups.

Each group was given 20 crossbow bolts, and they would switch to the next group after shooting.

The idle members were responsible for collecting the bolts.

Everyone trained with great enthusiasm.

Zhang Yu watched the operation and felt reassured. Humans are strange creatures; as long as they feel they can eat and be warm with you, they will be loyal.

Especially in this feudal and ignorant era.

Yang Guanjun was the strongest and most respected among the group, and Zhang Yu had a tight grip on him through Yang Xin. With this chain of control, he was not afraid that these people would go out of control.

These days, they had eaten a lot of game and accumulated a lot of fur. Winter was approaching, and these furs were rare items that could fetch a good price in the market.

Moreover, Zhang Yu had also specially cured the excess meat to make dried meat, which was a scarce item in Da Qi and could also fetch a good price.

Zhang Yu came from a poor family and had been sent here after passing the imperial examination with good luck. He didn't have much money to begin with, and he had spent it on paying off the Zhao family's servants and buying coffins for Yang Guanjun's parents.

Now he was penniless.

He needed to find a way to get some silver.

These items could be sold directly in the county town of Pingchuan, but Zhang Yu couldn't go back; the target was too big.

Currently, the Zhao family probably had no idea where he was. Before he was strong enough, the camp must not be discovered by the Zhao family.

So Zhang Yu set his sights on the neighboring Kaiyong County, which was slightly larger and more prosperous than Pingchuan County, but a bit farther away. It would take a day to travel to and from Kaiyong County from the camp.

Therefore, Zhang Yu chose to leave early.

This time, he didn't take anyone with him.

He originally had a horse from Pingchuan County and another one he had taken from the bandits, making two horses in total. He rode one and used the other to carry the goods.

At dawn, Zhang Yu rode down the mountain.

He took small roads to avoid encountering bandits.

The bandits now didn't care about reason; if they saw you had valuable items, they would rob and kill you.

So he brought two crossbows and 100 bolts for self-defense.

Fortunately, the journey was uneventful, and he saw the city of Kaiyong County by noon.

The situation here was indeed much better than in Pingchuan County.

The city gate of Pingchuan County was bustling with people.

Entering the city, he could see many vendors setting up stalls.

Zhang Yu couldn't help but look forward to the future, believing that Pingchuan County would soon be more prosperous than Kaiyong County.

He quickly found a fur merchant with the furs he brought.

Seeing his wind-worn appearance, the shopkeeper immediately came out to greet him.