After listening to Xiao Ruxun's question, Wang Hui was a little silent.
He sat on the chair and thought for a while. After a while, he said, "I feel comfortable and secure like never before. To be honest, Your Majesty, ever since I joined the army, I have never had such a comfortable and secure day.
In the past, we had to eat and sleep in the open when we were fighting. We didn't know if we would still be alive the next day, so we were always on tenterhooks. However, it's different now. It's really comfortable to be with these guys. I've never thought about anything else. "
"You don't want to go back to the army?"
Xiao Ruxun asked again.
"No, I haven't considered it at all."
Wang Hui's answer was very firm.
"In that case, out of the three of you who followed me from the start, Zhao Hu, Chen Xie, and you, only Zhao Hu is left in the army. You're in the military academy, and Chen Xie is in charge of the police force. Do you all not want to continue fighting in the army?"
"Your Majesty, I can't even protect my brothers. How can I continue to lead the army to fight?"
Wang Hui smiled bitterly. "It's really good to be like this now."
Xiao Ruxun knew that when Shen Yicheng started the mutiny, more than half of the soldiers in the barracks outside the city died. The incident of them escaping death was a very serious blow to him. Of the more than 2000 soldiers who followed him back, only about 50 were left. The rest all died in battle.
Because of this incident, Wang Hui was almost unable to recover from his setback. If he had not found something to do in the military academy, he might very well have become the first meritorious general to retire and return to the farm. Xiao Ruxun did not doubt this at all.
"Alright, I won't force it. If you're willing to stay in the military academy, I'll be happy too. The military academy needs someone I can trust to watch over it. With you around, I'll be very reassured. I feel that entrusting these lads to you is better than entrusting them to anyone else."
Xiao Ruxun walked to Wang Hui's side and patted him on the shoulder. "Our brothers from Ningxia are old and have left. Now, there are less than 2000 of us. If there's a chance in the future, let's get together more. For everyone, every time we meet, it's one less time."
Wang Hui nodded silently.
"Understood."
At noon, classes ended in the military academy. The starving students had long since smelled the scent of meat, and today, the smell of meat was stronger than any other time they had smelled it. Swallowing their saliva, they ran towards the canteen.
The closer they got to the dining hall, the stronger the mesmerizing aroma of the meat became. When they entered the dining hall, they were surprised to find that their dean, the emperor of the Daqin, was already sitting in the dining hall, waiting for them with a smile.
"I've brought you enough meat today. Eat until you're full!"
After a short moment of surprise, the cafeteria was filled with deafening cheers.
For lunch that day, Xiao Ruxun also ate in the dining hall. He completely rejected Wang Hui's suggestion that it would be safer for him to eat in his office. He simply said, "I'm with my students. What's there to be unsafe about?"
Wang Hui had no choice but to run over to the dining hall to eat as well. He got himself a large bowl of mutton and ate with Xiao Ruxun. Xiao Ruxun did not seem at all unreachable just because he was the emperor. He carried a bowl of rice and ate as he walked, asking his students how they were eating at every table.
Seeing this scene, Wang Hui felt an inexplicable warmth in his heart.
He remembered that when the army was marching to war, Xiao Ruxun, who was still a general of the Great Ming Dynasty, also treated the soldiers like this during the army's celebration banquet. She would eat the celebration banquet with them and walk around asking them if they had eaten well.
The scene from back then and now gradually overlapped. Wang Hui discovered that even now, when Xiao Ruxun had become the emperor, there were still some things that were exactly the same as before. They had never changed.
The young lads wolfed down the meat. To them, eating meat was the happiest thing.
Shen Weicheng was still an elementary scholar. However, after entering the military school for so long, he seemed to have been infected. He had long forgotten the cultured way of eating. He grabbed a leg of mutton and started gnawing on it. He did not look like he had read any books.
Needless to say, Ma Xiaoyi's title of Rice Bucket was not just for show. Other people ate with their bowls, but he ate with their buckets. When it came to eating meat, he was even more ferocious. Even a table full of people could not compare to him.
This was the so-called innate talent!
Seeing Ma Xiaoyi eating a chicken breast in one hand and a leg of mutton in the other, Xiao Ruxun suddenly felt that his appetite had increased.
Usually, he could eat three bowls of rice for lunch. Today, he ate one more bowl and a lot of meat. After eating, he felt bloated.
He did not know why, but when there were more people eating together, the atmosphere became more lively, and the food became even more delicious.
After the meal, it was time for the students to take their afternoon nap. They all returned to their dormitories to take a two-hour nap. Xiao Ruxun also followed them to their dormitories. He reached out to touch their bedding to see if it was damp. Then, he told them that the weather was cold now. If the bedding was damp, they would get sick, so they must be careful.
If the bedding was not warm, remember to report to the authorities to add another bedding. If it was wet, remember to report to the authorities to change the bed. The military school did not lack this bit of money, so they would not ask for money from you. What were you all so conflicted about?
The students' hearts all warmed, especially the fellow whose bedding Xiao Ruxun had touched. He immediately asked Wang Hui if he could give this bedding to him. He wanted to take it home and give it to his parents as a family heirloom. This was because His Majesty the Emperor had touched it before.
Wang Hui's face darkened, and Xiao Ruxun instantly did not know whether to laugh or cry.
As the saying goes, if you don't sleep in the afternoon, you will collapse in the afternoon. This was especially true for the students of the military school, who used up more energy and needed more sleep. Thus, Xiao Ruxun did not want to delay their afternoon nap and left early. The students were reluctant to see him off, but were stopped by Xiao Ruxun.
"Study hard and train hard. In another year or so, I look forward to seeing you all in the military. I look forward to seeing how Daqin's military has become stronger because of you all."
After saying this, Xiao Ruxun left the military school.
The establishment and operation of the military school could ensure that there would be an endless supply of military talent. There would not be a gap in the military, and the backbone of the military would not be broken just because of one failure.
Just like the defeat of the Ming Army's wooden fort, a failure that would affect the fate of the nation would not happen in Daqin. Even if the military would experience countless failures, the continuous influx of military talent would allow the military to be revitalized countless times.
More importantly, compared to the soldiers, these military officers had undoubtedly received more of Xiao Ruxun's national education. Every night in cultural classes, there would be lectures about the nation, the military, and the concept of protecting the nation.
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