To be honest, if it were any other county magistrate, he would not have personally come out like Fatty Di. He would have even specially tested those brawny but simple-minded martial artists through a question-and-answer session.
In any case, the higher-ups only asked them to assess whether these martial artists were literate. This kind of small matter could be completely done by the advisor and the small officials below.
However, Di Gong was a famous official. Even though he had analyzed that this martial arts competition was just a show for the Emperor and did not really want to replenish the young blood of the army, he still did not slack off. Instead, he wanted to do better.
Because no matter what the Emperor's motive for holding the martial arts examination was, at least in terms of the results, this matter was beneficial to the court and to the improvement of the military's combat effectiveness. That was why he personally came forward to see if he could recommend one or two good generals for the country in his later years.
Fatty Di had originally given up hope of finding any talents in Pengze County after passing the assessment these few days. However, with the appearance of Zhang Dingguo, he knew that his efforts were not in vain. He had finally found a young talent with the potential to be a good general.
There were two main reasons why Fatty Di valued Zhang Dingguo. One was that he had a strong physique and was obviously a warrior.
Secondly, he had an extraordinary temperament. Unlike those martial artists who looked very reckless, reckless, or a little timid in the previous assessment, Zhang Dingguo gave off an unyielding aura. At the same time, he was polite, calm, and fluent in answering questions. One look and one could tell that he had received a good education.
So much so that Fatty Di felt like a Confucian general?
It could not be helped. People who had read books and those who had not gave off different feelings. It was because Zhang Dingguo had studied hard for more than ten years before he transmigrated that Fatty Di had such a high evaluation of him...
"Dingguo, what books have you read?”
"Milord, I have mainly read the Analects of Confucius, Records of the Historian, Records of the Three Kingdoms, Sun Tzu's Art of War, Three Lue, and Six Tactics of War. However, most of them were just extensive reading and could only understand the general idea. They could not memorize it.”
Of course, Zhang Dingguo's predecessor had never read these books. At most, his predecessor had learned the Analects of Confucius for a few years during his enlightenment. He had not even read the famous military book, Sun Tzu's Art of War, many times. Even though there were indeed these books at home, and they were all painstakingly obtained by his grandfather, his predecessor still could not read them.
In fact, Zhang Dingguo could not read it either. The main reason was that the classical Chinese was too obscure. What he had read were the vernacular texts of the later generations. Although it was much thicker, there was no difficulty in reading it. That was why he dared to say that he had read these books.
"Hmm, not bad. I wonder what Dingguo thinks?"
Even though Fatty Di had high hopes for Zhang Dingguo, he could not believe him so easily.
"I don't dare to say anything about insights, but after reading military books for so many years, I do have some insights.”
Although Zhang Dingguo could not memorize these books, he could still cope with them with his military concepts and knowledge that was more than a thousand years ahead of this era.
Moreover, although Fatty Di was a god in solving cases, his ability to march and fight was relatively ordinary.
In this way, Zhang Dingguo really managed to fool Fatty Di with his theories.
"Dingguo is really a great talent! If he could make the country a general, it would really make our Great Zhou stable!”
Fatty Di couldn't be blamed for his praise. There were really no generals in the imperial court now!
This was because after Wu Zetian replaced Tang, in order to consolidate the throne, he killed many senior generals in the army during the Gaozong period. Then, she sent many members of the Wu family, even her male companions, to lead the army. As a result, the combat effectiveness of the army decreased greatly, and they lost more than they won in the external war.
There had even been a few times where more than 100,000 people had suffered a crushing defeat. If it wasn't for the fact that the Great Zhou was still relatively stable and the foundation hadn't been shaken, Wu Zhou would have been overthrown by others!
That was why he was so concerned about national affairs and valued Zhang Dingguo, who had the potential to become a famous general.
"Daren is really praising me too much. This commoner is just talking on paper.”
" Dingguo, you're underestimating yourself again," Fatty Di said with a very happy smile." But you're right. You can't just talk on paper." However, you are still young now. If you settle down and train in the army for ten to twenty years, you will definitely become a famous general in the future!”
"Then this commoner will thank you for your high hopes!”
In fact, Zhang Dingguo did not want to lead troops to war. He only wanted to build a good relationship with Fatty Di so that he could find an opportunity to follow him in the future. However, Fatty Di wouldn't leave a good-for-nothing by his side, right? That was why he had thought of a way to show off his talent and make Fatty Di value him.
"Dingguo, this old man will ask you one last question. I wonder how your calligraphy attainments are?”
" Well, I won't hide this from you, sir. Although I can write, my calligraphy is a little unsightly," Zhang Dingguo said with some embarrassment.
"Haha, Dingguo is really straightforward! However, it didn't matter. He just had to practice more when he had time. He didn't ask for good writing. As long as he could ensure that it was neat and tidy, it was enough.”Fatty Di was right. He was a general anyway. It was enough as long as he could write properly and not make frequent alterations.
After chatting for a while, Fatty Di signed the admission ticket for Zhang Dingguo.
With this piece of paper, Zhang Dingguo could go to Fairy's Capital to take the Martial Arts Examination…
That night, Fatty Di went home from work after assessing everyone who wanted to take the martial arts examination.
However, he did not rest after returning home. Instead, he entered the study and began to grind ink to write a letter.
He was prepared to write a letter to the Prime Minister of Luoyang, Zhang Jianzhi, hoping that he could take care of Zhang Dingguo. It was not that he wanted to get Zhang Dingguo through the back door. He just hoped that Zhang Dingguo would get a fair chance to compete and not be secretly persecuted by some powerful people and inexplicably fall behind...
Of course, Zhang Dingguo did not know about Fatty Di's letter.
After he returned home, he only wanted to have a good night's rest before leaving for Fairy's Capital the next day.
After a peaceful night, Zhang Dingguo went to bid farewell to his sister-in-law the next morning.
Although his elder brother had died in battle with his father a few years ago, his elder brother had married a wife and given birth to a child before he died.
However, Zhang Dingguo did not have a good relationship with his sister-in-law. It was not because they were fighting over the family property. The main conflict was over his nephew's education. Her predecessor wanted her nephew to learn martial arts, but her sister-in-law wanted her son to learn literature so that he could take the imperial examination in the future.
In the end, under Uncle Li's mediation, the predecessor gave in and no longer interfered with his nephew's education.
However, after this incident, his predecessor and sister-in-law did not have much contact.
However, he was going on a long trip this time, and he needed his sister-in-law to take care of him at home, so he had to say goodbye before he left…
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