In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 439 Ready to try

There is one very simple way to determine whether someone is a martial artist: by their physique.

Because the vast majority of the people in the Xia Kingdom were relatively poor, even those who were slightly wealthier could only afford to eat their staple food.

It is obvious that a person who only eats staple food and treats a meat meal like it's New Year's Day will usually be rather thin and weak, unless they have a special constitution.

In addition to years of high-intensity labor, more than 90% of the people in Xia Kingdom are thin.

And what about martial artists?

Those who can become martial artists obviously do not lack food and clothing, so martial artists are often strong and healthy. In addition, due to frequent martial arts training, most martial artists have exceptionally well-developed muscles. Not to mention anything else, just look at the men training in the training ground in front of him. Each of them has bulging muscles on their arms and six or eight abs on average. With just one glance, Li Qingyun recognized these men as martial artists.

"Uncle."

Chen Dao waved to Chen Da and instructed him, "Call all the team members from Chenjia Village to assemble. I have something to inform them."

"Yes!"

Chen responded loudly and then whistled.

Soon, upon hearing the whistle, the men of Chen's army quickly gathered at where Chen Da was.

In just a few breaths, everyone had gathered and formed a neat line!

Looking at the Chen family army that had quickly assembled, Xu Zhiwen, Li Qingyun, and Liu Yi couldn't help but feel a sense of shock.

This simple gathering demonstrates the discipline of Chen Jiajun's 300-odd men. Keep in mind that the training ground is not small; these men were scattered in all directions, training on their own. Yet, they gathered in front of Chen Da from all directions and formed a neat line in just a few breaths.

Such strong execution is truly astonishing!

The men of the Chen family army, lined up in rows, stood tall and straight, like pine trees, their eyes fixed intently on Chen Dao ahead.

Chen Dao rarely appeared in front of them. Since the expansion of Chen Family Army, Chen Dao has only appeared at the training ground a handful of times, but this did not affect the admiration people had for him!

Because Chen Dao was the one who changed their fate; without Chen Dao, most of them would probably still be starving.

Therefore, everyone in Chen's army has great respect and gratitude for Chen Dao.

Chen Dao strode to the front of the crowd, looked at them who were completely different from before, and slowly said, "Brothers of the Chen Family Army, hello!"

"Hello, Mr. Chen!"

The crowd responded in unison, and the shouts of more than three hundred people seemed to pierce the sky.

"very good!"

Chen Dao nodded and continued, "Now I have a task for you. Are you afraid?"

"Not afraid!"

No one showed any fear on their faces; on the contrary, they were eager to try.

As time went on, the Chen family army's system became more and more complete. Everyone present knew very well that although they would not receive any substantial monetary rewards for going on missions, they could still earn some merit!

These achievements will be recorded by Chenjia Village. With the merits of their missions, they will be more likely to be promoted, reach higher positions, and receive better treatment in the future!

"Since you're not afraid, then I'll tell you the details of this mission..."

Looking at the eager crowd, Chen Dao relayed Li Qingyun's request in detail.

Upon hearing that they would be facing thousands of defeated soldiers, the Chen family army showed no fear whatsoever; on the contrary, their eyes shone even brighter!

The large number of defeated soldiers meant they had more opportunities to gain merit and improve their treatment.

"Magistrate Li."

After asking the Chen family army members, Chen Dao turned to Li Qingyun and asked, "What do you think of these three hundred men? Can they defeat the defeated army entrenched in Ding'an County?"

"no problem."

Li Qingyun nodded without hesitation. If even such a powerful army couldn't defeat that rout, then probably no one could deal with them.

"Then I will hand them over to Magistrate Li to lead."

After saying this, Chen Dao turned to the Chen family army and said, "Dismiss now, go back to your dorms and pack your bags. We will set off with Magistrate Li tomorrow."

"Yes!"

Everyone responded in unison, then quickly dispersed and ran to their dormitories next to the training ground to pack their belongings.

"Squad Leader."

In a four-person dormitory room, a man named Wu Gang packed his luggage and said to Fang Yong, who was in the bed next to him, "Are we going to strike it rich this time?"

"That's right!"

Fang Yong smiled and nodded. With his good talent and fast progress, he had already been promoted to a ninth-rank martial artist half a month ago, and was fortunate enough to obtain the position of squad leader, in charge of managing a five-person squad.

"Great!"

The other two in the dormitory also got excited: "If I can kill five of the thousands of defeated soldiers, that would be a great achievement, and maybe it could even get us a raise."

Merit within Chen's army can not only promote one's military rank, but also increase one's pay, and even...

If you accumulate enough merit, you can also use it to exchange for cultivation resources such as Blood Feather Chicken and Crimson Blood Chicken!

The group, who had been training in Chenjia Village for a month, were no longer the martial arts novices they once were. They understood the importance of cultivation resources, and therefore attached great importance to this mission opportunity, hoping to kill as many enemies as possible, gain enough merit, and exchange it for more benefits.

"You still have to be careful."

Fang Yong cautiously warned everyone, "Those defeated troops were all government troops before, heavily armored and well-equipped. Although we are martial artists, we must not let our guard down, otherwise we may very well capsize in an unexpected way."

Having served as a soldier in the capital for several years, Fang Yong did not underestimate those defeated troops. He knew that the imperial army was different from ordinary bandits.

Ordinary bandits at most carry iron weapons, but the imperial soldiers are armed with both weapons and armor. Not only are they powerful in attack, but their armor is also more defensive. Even martial artists must not underestimate the armored soldiers, or they may be in mortal danger.

"Don't worry, Corporal, we'll be careful."

"We understand, Corporal."

"Thank you for the reminder, Corporal."

"..."

Reminded by Fang Yong, the group quickly abandoned their contempt. They were not fools and knew that martial artists were not invincible. Therefore, after being reminded by Fang Yong, they all put away their contempt and became serious.

After packing their luggage, the four of them lay on their beds and chatted idly.