Chapter 457: The Students of the Community School

However, when he turned into Yongqing Street, he couldn’t help but linger. There was a vacant lot here where small vendors had set up stalls, selling everything from food to toys. In particular, there was a vendor with an Australian picture show. Recently, the Australian pictures had been updated very quickly. Originally, it would take at least half a year for new pictures to arrive, but recently, a new film came out every month. It was almost the end of the month, and he couldn’t help but look to see if there were any new films.

Seeing that they were still showing “The Burning of Zhongzuo Fort,” “The Test,” “Scenes of Lingao (Monthly Edition),” and “The Voyages of the Three-Jeweled Eunuch,” and no new films, he lost interest. The enthusiastic shouts of the vendors selling rice noodles and fried cakes made Zhang Yu’s stomach rumble. However, he touched the few copper coins in his sleeve, swallowed hard, lowered his head, and hurried towards the community school.

Because he had lingered on the way, he was late for school. As expected, the teacher for his grade had not yet arrived. Only the “senior student,” Wu Ming, was leading everyone in reciting texts. This Senior Wu was the easiest to talk to, and they both liked “Cropped-Hair studies,” so they had a lot in common.

As for the teacher, he was obsessed with the newly released lottery. This lottery had only appeared in the last few months but had quickly taken Guangzhou by storm. In terms of gambling, Guangzhou had hundreds, if not thousands, of different games, but none were as simple and easy as this lottery. A single bet didn’t cost much, and the draw was held twice every ten days. It quickly attracted a large number of citizens.

The teacher was just one of the thousands of obsessed participants. Once, during class, while the students were reading, “The Master said: ‘At fifteen, I had my mind bent on learning. At thirty, I stood firm. At forty, I had no doubts. At fifty, I knew the decrees of Heaven. At sixty, my ear was an obedient organ…’” the teacher suddenly shouted, “I’ve got it!” startling the daydreaming Zhang Yu. The teacher then rushed out of the room, leaving the students staring at each other. Later, they heard from the senior student that the teacher had found the numbers in the book and had even won the third prize of five taels of silver. From then on, the teacher’s passion for the lottery grew even stronger. Last month, Zhang Yu even saw him at the entrance of a lottery shop, excitedly discussing hot numbers with a group of short-shirted laborers, a far cry from his aloof demeanor in the classroom. Recently, his visits to the community school had become as fleeting as a dragonfly touching water, purely a perfunctory affair.

After mindlessly reciting a few passages, the senior student announced, “The teacher wants everyone to carefully study the thirteenth essay in the Selected Contemporary Essays.”

The good students obediently took out their books to study. Li Ziyu, sitting next to Zhang Yu, gave him a knowing look. He tacitly nudged his friends in front and behind, Zeng Juan and Chen Shixin. The four of them packed their schoolbags and brazenly skipped school. The senior student never cared anyway.

Running out of the study hall, the friends laughed and talked, enjoying the thrill of skipping school. The owner of a book rental stall on the street saw them and waved, “Young masters, the latest Romance of the Three Kingdoms comic books are here.”

The group immediately stopped, rushed forward, each grabbing a comic book, and found a stool in the crowd to bury their heads in reading. Shixin was reluctant to spend money and just peered over their shoulders.

Although the books printed by the Australians were all in simplified characters, they had no trouble reading them after getting used to them. Moreover, the illustrations were exquisite. Even a few old women were engrossed, of course, they were reading drama stories, and would wipe away a few tears at the sad parts.

After a long while, they reluctantly put the comic books back on the shelf, searched for any new books, paid, and squeezed out of the crowd. They didn’t forget to shout, “Let us know when the new Three Kingdoms comes out!”

“Lord Guan is still the most powerful,” the friends, still immersed in the book, chattered away.

“The next episode should be the attack on Xuchang.”

“Nonsense! Didn’t you see the preview for the next episode is the retreat to Maicheng?”

“It’s scaring Cao Cao to death first, then the retreat to Maicheng. My grandma told me.”

“Don’t argue, don’t argue. The next episode will be out in ten days.”

“This comic book only comes out once every ten days. I can’t wait!”

Laughing and talking, they walked to the bank of the Pearl River. Before them was a boat-shaped rock, the Haizhu Stone, one of the Eight Scenic Spots of Guangzhou at the time, known as “Clear Waves of the Pearl Sea.” A temple, the Wenxi Temple, was built on the rock, and it was crowded with people. They didn’t join the crowd. They went to their “secret base” by the river, under a large banyan tree. As soon as they sat down, Shixin impatiently took out an Australian charcoal pencil from his schoolbag and began to copy the comic book he had just read. The other three were used to it. Zeng Juan suggested, “Let’s play ‘Legends of the Three Kingdoms’.”

Li Ziyu, rummaging through his schoolbag, said, “Hold on, my family bought a new game from the Cropped-Hairs yesterday.”

Zhang Yu took a look, “The Great Ming’s Pillars? Is it the Cropped-Hairs’ version of the promotion game?”

“It’s much more fun than the promotion game. I heard it was created by the Cropped-Hairs’ ‘Eight-Character Imperial Exemption Prince Ma’. The Cropped-Hairs believe that worshiping this worthy predecessor can protect one’s home.”

Listening to Li Ziyu’s explanation and studying the instructions, they quickly got the hang of it and became more and more engrossed in the card game.

“You’re colluding with the eunuch faction!”

“I want to submit a memorial to defend myself!”

“The Grand Secretary’s favor is almost gone. Impeach him quickly!”

After half an hour of card battles, Li Ziyu successfully reached the pinnacle of power. The three of them joked with each other as they cleaned up. The topic soon turned to the Liaodong situation. Thanks to the Cropped-Hairs’ military magazines, the boys no longer considered duels between generals to be the content of warfare. Articles they had read in the magazines transformed into their own thoughts, flowing from their mouths:

“You must form a pike formation.”

“That’s right, just thrust to the right, and the Tartars will be helpless.”

“Shaking the long pikes can break the rain of arrows.”

“Javelins are the only way to defeat the enemy!”

Zeng Juan was deeply moved and said, shaking his head, “Even if the Tartars are good at fighting and one can fight ten, there are at most two hundred thousand who can fight. Our great Ming has a large population. If we select one out of a hundred, we can have two million elite pikemen. Annihilating the Cropped-Hairs and slaughtering the Tartars will be certain! It’s a pity that the court officials are all incompetent fools. If we execute all the officials in the court, the Liaodong and Cropped-Hair affairs would be nothing to worry about.”

Zhang Yu snorted, “Two million? Where would we get so much money to recruit soldiers?”

The concept that warfare costs money was something they had only learned after reading the Australians’ military magazines.

“Liaodong is a thousand li of fertile land. The people of Liaodong have been slaughtered. We can grant the elite soldiers land certificates. Once Liaodong is recovered, they will get the land. Would the generals and soldiers not fight with all their might?”

Before Zhang Yu could open his mouth, a steam whistle sounded from the river. A Cropped-Hair steamboat, pushing through the waves, sailed up the river. A few sailors with cropped hair and short clothes were busy on the deck. Although it was a common sight, a sense of powerlessness washed over each of them.

Shixin also put down his charcoal pencil and murmured, “The Cropped-Hairs’ firearms are so fierce. What can we do? What can we do?”

Li Ziyu sneered, “Although the Cropped-Hair bandits’ firearms are fierce, our great Ming also has great weapons yet to be deployed.”

Zhang Yu knew that Li Ziyu’s uncle was a chiliarch of the Guangzhou Front Guard, so he often boasted about being able to see the great Ming’s Wubei Zhi. He asked, “Is it the ‘Fire Dragon Emerging from the Water’ you mentioned last time?”

“No, no,” Li Ziyu shook his finger and also began to speak in a scholarly manner, “This thing is called the ‘Flying Sand Tube’. You take two rockets and tie them together upside down. When it hits an enemy ship’s sail, it can spray poisonous sand, specifically to injure the eyes of the Cropped-Hair bandits.”

“That’s nothing special.”

“The most amazing thing is that after spraying the poisonous sand, the other rocket can ignite and fly back to our camp. Even with their sharp firearms, the Cropped-Hair bandits must have never seen anything like it. They will be terrified. Our army can then take advantage of the situation and attack, and defeating the Cropped-Hairs will be as easy as turning over one’s hand!”

Everyone couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration. Zeng Juan was even more excited, “Our great Ming is full of talented people. Although the Cropped-Hair bandits are fierce for a time, they cannot match the strength of our great Ming.”

Zhang Yu thought about it carefully: how many people could this divine weapon scare, and how many times could it fool them? Wouldn’t it be better to remove the returning rocket and pack more poisonous sand and gunpowder? But Li Ziyu’s family had been military officials for generations, and he had access to books they couldn’t see. He was considered the leader of their small circle, so it was best not to question him publicly.

Zeng Juan became agitated, “Our great Ming has such a divine weapon but cannot use it. It’s because these corrupt officials are colluding with the Cropped-Hair bandits. I heard that the other day, the Ziminlou gathered the gentry of Guangzhou for some ‘Sea and Sky Grand Banquet’ and ‘Gathering of Orioles’. The sounds of debauchery could be heard outside the building.”

“To destroy a country, first corrupt its scholars. How venomous are the Cropped-Hairs’ intentions!”

“The Cropped-Hair bandits have no respect for rulers or fathers. They are naturally licentious and are best at colluding with shameless people!”

As they were cursing enthusiastically, Shixin, who had been silent, stammered, “Actually, I think the Cropped-Hairs are not bad. They don’t disturb the people, and they are trustworthy in their dealings. Even the merchants like to do business with them.”

Li Ziyu sneered, “You speak so well of the Cropped-Hair bandits. Why don’t you go and get your hair cropped?”

Zhang Yu suddenly understood, “Could it be that Shixin, you’ve met a Cropped-Hair?”

At this, everyone perked up and pressed Shixin for the truth. Shixin had to admit that he had been too curious a few days ago and had gone to the “Great World” construction site by the river to have a look.

“That Great World is truly magnificent,” Shixin swallowed. “Although it’s not finished yet, it’s all iron frames and glass. It’s not painted with dragons and phoenixes, but it has a different kind of shock. And those steel machines, they are truly both awe-inspiring and terrifying…” He got so excited watching that he couldn’t help but take out his drawing paper and charcoal pencil to start sketching.

As he was engrossed in his drawing, a voice sounded beside him, “The perspective here is wrong.”

The startled Shixin looked back and saw a smiling Cropped-Hair, tall and straight, clearly a real one. Shixin had seen real Cropped-Hairs from a distance before, but this was the first time he was so close. He was a little scared but also a little unconvinced. He had seen the unheard-of illustrations in the Cropped-Hairs’ books, so he had bought charcoal pencils to copy them. Although he had no teacher, he relied on his own talent and could achieve a seventy to eighty percent resemblance. Everyone who saw his drawings was amazed, but now he was being criticized for being wrong.

The real Cropped-Hair sat down next to him and talked to him for a good half an hour about the principles of perspective and drawing techniques. He even took out a Cropped-Hair art book. The lifelike oil paintings and sketches opened Shixin’s eyes. In the end, he even invited him to Lingao, saying there was a special place to learn painting, and after finishing, there would be plenty of work.

“You’re not really thinking of going to Lingao, are you?” Li Ziyu said seriously. “That would be joining the bandits! Besides, you have no official rank. No matter how well you paint, you’ll just be a painter. How much money can you make?”

“I don’t know,” Shixin’s eyes were full of confusion. “Actually, I really don’t want to study. I don’t want to take the scholar examination—I probably wouldn’t pass anyway. I just want to paint. To think of being able to create such paintings, it would be worth dying for.”

Thinking of their own futures, the others couldn’t laugh anymore and fell into silence.