“Teach the soldiers? Does Xu Shu intend to humiliate me? If that is the case, you might as well kill me!” Lu Su angrily said. Lu Su initially thought that Xu Shu cherished talent and he himself did not want to die. Since Yangzhou was destined to fall, he could leave eventually. It was similar to when Xu Shu entered Cao Cao’s service in the original timeline.
However, Lu Su now felt humiliated that he was asked to teach illiterate soldiers. Soldiers were of the lower class to the people of that era. Even the private soldiers of nobles only have a slightly higher position. They were all usually illiterate. Asking Lu Su to teach them was as though saying that Lu Su was only qualified to teach people how to read.
“Humiliate you?” The official beside Lu Su was stunned. While he was trying to think of a way to explain things to Lu Su, they were interrupted by a haughty voice.
“You are Lu Su Lu Zijing right? If you think teaching us is a humiliation for you, the exit is right over there!”
“General Cheng?” The official quickly cupped his hands towards Cheng Yu. This showed that Cheng Yu had quite a high position in Yangzhou. Cheng Yu followed Liu Mang out of Xiapi and was one of his trusted aides. That was why plenty of people respected him.
“Cheng Yu?” Lu Su could not recognize the man’s face but he knew this name as the commanding general of the Urban Army.
“Master Lu. The General did not mean that. I hope Master Lu would not take his words to heart.” Huang Xu said as he quickly tried to rein in Cheng Yu. If Cheng Yu were to send Lu Su back in anger, he would be punished by martial law.
“Since General Cheng already said this, then I will take my leave here. Please send me back to prison.” Lu Su said and extended his hands as though awaiting punishment.
“Haha. As expected of a defeated general! How fortunate that His Highness has praised you!” Cheng Yu mocked. To Cheng Yu, Lu Su was an enemy that caused many deaths amongst the Urban Army. Rather than trying to persuade this person to surrender, killing him was much better. That way, he would be able to console those that have died.
“Hm?” Lu Su felt angry hearing those words. He admitted that he was defeated but getting humiliated like this after the fact was a different story. “A mindless brute is not worth talking to.”
“Just kill me!” Lu Su then said to the official.
“So what if I am a brute? In the end, you, a famous scholar from Jiangdong still lost to me! I think you are just worthless!” Cheng Yu continued to mock.
“Confucius says that education has no class distinction! You have fame but is only fishing for compliments. Teaching us is humiliating to you! The nobles in academies are people, are we not people as well?” Cheng Yu added.
“Haha. The nobles can read an entire book and then govern regions! What use would this skill be to soldiers like you?” Lu Su refuted Cheng Yu. Soldiers only needed to obey like soldiers. Education was useless to them.
“Really? Our Lord said that soldiers who did not want to be generals are all worthless soldiers! What meaning is there in life if people did not have the drive to forge ahead, like those nobles who just eat and wait for their deaths!
“A soldier who wants to be a general?” Lu Su thought for a moment and then shook his head. A person’s place in the hierarchy was determined by birth. Out of a hundred people, ninety nine will perish and the last one would become a 100-man commander. This person that needed to climb over many others to eventually get promoted to a general.
“Haha. Then let me ask you. Can you all read this? If you can’t even read, how am I supposed to teach you?” Lu Su sneered back in reply and wrote a few things. In that era, those that learned how to read were usually people from the upper crusts of society. Those that usually had nothing to eat like soldiers wouldn’t be able to read.
Instead of refuting Lu Su’s words, Cheng Yu went onto the stage and addressed the soldiers. “Brothers! Those that are able to read that step forward!”
“Hm?” The soldiers did not know why Cheng Yu did this over eighty percent of them stepped forward. The remaining ones that didn’t step forward hesitated because they weren’t sure whether they were considered ‘able to read’.
“Master Lu Su. What do you think?”
“Hm? Can these people really read or are you just trying to fool me?” Lu Su could not believe it. He would be able to believe it if only a few hundred people in the group could read. However, there were over one thousand and five hundred men claiming they could read while a few hundred could not. Why would people who can read still be soldiers? They would be better off as secretaries where they could live a safer and more comfortable life.
“You can test all of the soldiers that stepped forward. If even a single one of them can’t read, I, Cheng Yu, would let you go back to Jiangdong!” Cheng Yu promised.
“General! Are you mad?” Huang Xu panicked. Liu Mang had specifically ordered that Lu Su must never be released. At worst, Lu Su will have to die.
“Are your words true?” Lu Su was startled. He still wanted to go back to Jiangdong.
“I am willing to give a military order!” Cheng Yu coldly replied.
“Good!”
“However, what if you lose?” Cheng Yu then asked.
“Impossible” Lu Su immediately replied.
“Haha. Is Master Lu Su unwilling to take the risk?”
“If I, Lu Su, loses the bet, General Cheng can punish me however you want!” Lu Su said to Cheng Yu yet his words were actually inconsequential since he was already a prisoner in Yangzhou and that his fate was theirs to decide.
“I don’t need anything much from you. If you lose, I want you to apologize to my men!”
