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

Chapter 409 A scholar dies for his confidant

As the sun began to set, several large pots were set up on the training ground, with firewood burning fiercely beneath them. Stirred by several women from Chenjia Village, enticing aromas wafted from the pots, drawing the attention of the trainees.

After a day of training, everyone had a rough idea of ​​the guard's rules, so even though they were swallowing hard, they still stood at attention without moving.

Chen Da stood in front of the barely orderly line and nodded to himself.

These new recruits were trained diligently and showed good obedience; by the end of the day, they were already standing in formation quite well.

"That's enough for today's training! Before we dismiss you, there's something I need to tell you."

Chen Da pointed to the construction site on the side of the drill ground and said, "See that construction site? That's where you're building your new accommodations. Once it's finished, you'll need to live in Chenjia Village permanently. But until then, you can only go home and report to the drill ground before 9:00 AM every day. Do you understand?"

"Listen clearly!"

Everyone responded in unison.

"Very good! Now, dismissed! Everyone go eat!"

Upon hearing this, the ranks immediately dispersed, and the new recruits, their eyes shining, ran towards the large pot and sat down at the tables that had been set out beforehand.

Are we having meat tonight?

"It definitely is! I can see the meat in the pot."

"Chenjia Village really didn't lie to us, there really is meat to eat!"

"smell good!"

"..."

The new recruits craned their necks to look at the large pot emitting a rich aroma, swallowing their saliva frantically. They couldn't help it; the smell coming from the pot was just too tempting.

"You guys are lucky today!"

Chen Da and Chen Zhong walked over side by side and sat at Fang Yong's table: "To make sure you eat well, Mr. Chen specially instructed the cook to prepare meat dishes for you. How is that? Aren't you happy?"

"Mr. Chen is so kind to us."

"Yes! They even specially cooked meat for us."

"Thank you, Mr. Chen!"

"..."

The recruits' faces showed gratitude. In their eyes, Chen Dao was a figure whose status was no less than that of a county magistrate, and yet such a person would care about what they ate...

At this moment, many new recruits felt the importance that Chenjia Village placed on them, and they couldn't help but feel the urge to die for those who understood them.

Before long, the women who had prepared the food began to serve everyone. There weren't many dishes; each person only received a bowl of stewed cabbage and chicken, along with a steamed bun as their staple food.

However, these two dishes alone were enough to make the recruits' eyes light up.

Fang Yong stared at the charred chicken stew in the bowl, inhaling the unique aroma of meat, and his throat bobbed a few times.

"Eat up!"

Chen laughed as he spoke, and as soon as he finished speaking, the recruits could no longer resist. One by one, they picked up pieces of chicken and put them into their mouths with lightning speed.

"Phew! It's so hot!"

A new recruit was grimacing from the burn, but he couldn't bear to spit out the piece of meat in his mouth, and just kept breathing out warm air.

The others didn't perform much better than him.

As Fang Yong chewed the chicken in his mouth, the flavors of the meat juices and broth burst on his taste buds, and an indescribable sense of satisfaction rose in his heart.

Meat is an extremely rare commodity for the lower classes of the Xia Kingdom. People like Fang Yong might not be able to eat meat even once a year, let alone meat with plenty of salt and soy sauce and a rich flavor.

"what about the taste?"

Chen smiled and asked Fang Yong.

"good to eat!"

Fang Yong nodded without hesitation: "It's so delicious! This is the best chicken I've ever eaten."

"I think it's delicious too, it smells so good!"

"If I could eat this meat every day, I would feel like I would die happy."

"I've never eaten such delicious meat before!"

"..."

Others also gave the same evaluation: for these people from the lower class, even boiled meat is considered a delicacy, let alone stewed chicken that is stewed until tender and flavorful.

"Ha ha!"

Chen Da laughed heartily and began to eat the food in front of him at a leisurely pace.

After devouring the meat in front of them in a whirlwind, the new recruits, who had undergone a day of intense training, finally began to eat their staple food, steamed buns.

"These steamed buns are delicious too."

"Of course it's delicious! These are steamed buns made from white flour, how could they not taste good?"

"With meat and steamed buns, I feel like my life has been worthwhile!"

"..."

As they ate their steamed buns, the new recruits expressed their gratitude, saying that the abundance of steamed buns and meat made them extremely satisfied.

Soon after, the new recruits, having eaten their fill, got up to say goodbye to Chen Da and the others. They then gathered in twos and threes and left Chenjia Village to return home.

As Chen Da watched the new recruits leave, he said to Chen Zhong, who was sitting next to him, "Brother Zhong, what do you think of these new recruits?"

"pretty good."

Chen Zhong replied, "They all come from poor families and train very hard."

Although Chen Zhong often scolded the new recruits loudly when instructing them, he was generally satisfied with their performance.

Because they came from poor families, these new recruits had a strong desire to change their family's fate, and they trained very hard. After a day of high-intensity training, many recruits complained of being tired and suffering, but not a single one wanted to give up!

"Ah."

Chen Da nodded and then said, "These new recruits are training so hard, we can't fall behind. Dao Ge'er told me that after this new recruit training is over, our guard team will be split in two. Only 300 people will remain in the guard team and be renamed Chen Family Army. The rest will all be transferred to the security team."

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhong was taken aback; this was something he didn't know.

"Uncle, what's the difference between the Chen Family Army and the security team?" Chen Zhong asked, and the other guards sitting not far away also turned their gazes to Chen Da.

"The security team is responsible for maintaining order in the village, while the Chen family army is responsible for defending against external enemies."

Chen Da replied that the original guard team had the attributes of both constables and soldiers. They were responsible for maintaining order in the village and defending against external enemies, so they were roughly equivalent to a combination of police and army.

After this expansion of the guard team, its responsibilities will be more clearly defined, and the security team will assume the duties of the police to maintain security in the village.

Chenjia Village was mainly responsible for defending against foreign enemies, which meant it bore the responsibility of the army.

"Uncle, will there be any changes to the treatment of the security team and Chen's army?"

A member of the guard team sitting behind Chen Da asked, which was the question he and the others were most concerned about.