Chapter 130: You must listen to what I teach you

After noon, the sun became quite scorching.

More than 600 small flags sat in the parade ground. This time, there was a small table in front of them, with pens, ink, paper and inkstone on it.

At the front, in addition to Ou Zanghua, there were more than fifty Taoist priests. They were today's invigilators and examiners.

Ou Zanghua sat at the top and said calmly, "Thirteen days have passed. Today is the day to verify your results. Please write your names and answer the questions carefully. In the examination room, you are not allowed to whisper to each other, make loud noises, peek at other people's test papers, or go to the toilet."

"The exam starts at 3:15 pm and ends at 3:15 pm."

"Now, the exam begins!"

Following Ou Zanghua's order, more than 600 small flag officers began to grind ink. Ou Zanghua had already taught them how to use a brush, and everyone had practiced using chopsticks on the sand.

The key is that Ou Zanghua did not require them to write beautifully, as long as they could write correctly.

There are 1,145 characters in the Three Character Classic. As long as they can recognize all of them and understand their meaning, then reading the Great Ming Code and the Imperial Edicts will not be a problem.

Wang Haoba and his dozen men had just joined the group, so they did not need to take part in the exam. They stood outside the parade ground, watching hundreds of soldiers writing furiously inside. The scene was a little funny, yet also inexplicably touching.

He couldn't help but look at Ou Zanghua who was sitting at the top, wondering what this Lord Ou was thinking.

More than fifty Taoist priests were walking around in the examination room, looking at what these soldiers had written from time to time. They were all helpless. The handwriting of these people was like that pecked by a chicken, ugly and very distinctive.

Taoist Priest Tianmen was a little curious at first, but after looking around, he returned to his seat. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart that it was a good thing these soldiers were not his disciples, otherwise their handwriting would not be as neat as his own, and he would be so angry that his liver would hurt.

As time went by, many people began to scratch their heads and couldn't help but glance at their comrades around them.

Their little actions, which they thought were very secretive, were quite obvious in the eyes of Ou Zanghua who was sitting above them.

Ou Zanghua felt a little emotional. It seemed that the invigilators had let him off a lot when he took the exam!
Taoist Tianmen frowned and turned to look at Ou Zanghua who was sitting in a high seat. If he could see it so clearly, there was no reason why Lord Ou couldn't see it!

Why didn't he speak up to stop it?

At this time, Ou Zanghua said slowly: "Someone is peeking at other people's test papers. I saw your actions clearly. I didn't say anything because I am giving you a chance. Don't let me down."

The small flags below were startled, and immediately sat up straight, pretending to write seriously.

Taoist Wang Chengwu, who was about to arrest someone, paused and turned to look at Ou Zanghua.

Seeing his smiling face, she felt a little doubtful, but did not continue what she was doing. Instead, she turned and walked away.

The targeted flag officer breathed a sigh of relief immediately, then realized that his forehead was covered with sweat.

As soon as the afternoon came, Ou Zanghua spoke again: "Those who have finished writing can hand in their papers early."

As soon as he finished speaking, several people stood up in the school field and handed in their test papers with confidence.

Ou Zanghua took it and circled the wrong characters with a red pen: "The character 'chuang' in 'Wang Mang's canon' is not clear, and the character 'yu' in 'yu tu guang' is wrong. There are seven wrong characters out of 1,145, which is not bad."

When the little flag heard this, he knelt down excitedly and kowtowed, "Thank you, Lord Ou, for your guidance!"

A Taoist priest nearby recorded the name of the little flag and wrote down the score of 1,138.
Next came the second flag, which had twelve wrong characters.

Xiaoqi felt a little disappointed. After saluting, he stood aside and waited for everyone to arrive before running a lap together.

At 3:30 pm, the Taoist priests began to collect the papers. Some of those who had not finished writing on the small flags could not help but sigh, and some even began to cry.

Ou Zanghua ignored all of this. Each of the fifty Taoist priests was given an average of ten test papers, and another seven Taoist priests were responsible for registration.

With everyone's concerted efforts, all the results were tallied up at 12:00 p.m. Looking at the report card, Ou Zanghua couldn't help but sigh. More than a hundred people made more than a hundred mistakes, and more than twenty people hadn't finished writing.

This kind of person is called a poor student.

A certain Huguang scholar who passed the imperial examination and ranked third in the imperial examination after only studying Confucian classics for six years thought so.

Ou Zanghua said, "Lu Lin, Wei San, Ma Xiaosi and above, one hundred and fifty-six people, ten strokes of the cane."

After hearing this, some of the more than one hundred people looked surprised, while others looked annoyed.

"Zhao Tong, Qian Buchu, Sun Da, Li Xiaowu and the above 321 people made 20 mistakes in words. Their rewards for this month will be cancelled."

The more than 200 people had different expressions, but it was obvious that they were not satisfied with the result.

"Zhu He, Qin Wa Kuai, You Er Lang, Xu Da Cong and above are one hundred and seventeen people. If you make a mistake in crossing the cross, you will be punished to run ten laps."

"Alas" more than 300 people sighed and had to lower their heads and walk together.

"Fifteen people above Zhang Miaosan, Li Mu, and Wang Twelve will each be rewarded five taels of silver."

The fifteen little flags were immediately delighted after hearing this. They never thought that one day they would be able to make money by studying.

Ou Zanghua put down the report card and said calmly, "In the next two months, I will take half a day to test your literacy. As long as the number of wrong characters is less than ten, you will be rewarded."

"During these two months, you have another task, which is to teach your soldiers to read. I will conduct random checks from time to time, and those who can answer all the questions correctly will be rewarded with five taels of silver by the whole flag."

"I hope you will teach me carefully and don't let me transport the silver I brought with great difficulty back again."

"I obey your orders and will study hard!"

After hearing this, the six hundred or so flag bearers were pleasantly surprised. They bowed and saluted one after another, and responded loudly and excitedly.

You can make money by reading and writing, so who the hell would want to hang their head on a belt to make money?
"Very good. In this case, I have taught you to read and understand, and you have all done well. So it is only right that I raise my expectations of you! What do you think?"

The small flags who got the benefit didn't think much about it and nodded in approval.

Ou Zanghua smiled, then his expression became serious and he said loudly: "My soldiers are not allowed to cut down trees at will, destroy other people's land, burn other people's houses, commit adultery or theft, kill captured men, defile captured women, or kill civilians to pretend to be military merits! Anyone who violates this will be executed immediately!"

More than 600 small flags, more than 50 centurions, as well as Zuo Lengchan and others were all shocked when they heard this. Seeing Ou Zanghua's serious expression, they knew that the usually gentle Lord Ou was serious this time.

The key is that the requirements he put forward may seem numerous and complicated at first glance, but if you think about it carefully, you will find that anyone with a conscience can do it.

Some old soldiers have stepped on many landmines before. One of the reasons is that their superiors do not control their subordinates strictly and have no deterrent power, so they just do whatever they want, right?
The second reason is that the generals have deducted their military pay, and they cannot receive the full pay, so they must do something to make up for it, right?
But here with Ou Zanghua, they received full military pay for the first time this month, and even the spoils were promptly handed down without any concealment.

Who wouldn’t like such a superior?
Therefore, Lord Ou now suppresses everyone with his absolute prestige. Even if these old soldiers want to commit crimes, they have to consider the sharpness of Lord Ou's knife.

So everyone immediately knelt on the ground and shouted, "I obey your command!"

Wang Haoba and others were so excited that they were shaking all over. As the saying goes, bandits passing by are like combs, and soldiers passing by are like rakes.

If the imperial court's troops could be as disciplined as those led by Lord Ou, the number of men in their rebel army could be reduced by half.

Especially the sentence "Do not kill captured men". If other rebels heard it, there would be many lower-level soldiers who don't want to fight and would just run out and surrender.

This is called conquering the enemy without fighting!

Wang Haoba sighed in his heart: "Brother, you are right. If we had met Lord Ou earlier, we wouldn't have come to this point today!"

(End of this chapter)