“The roster of the guards is here. You can pick out those who treat we Ling family as foolish spenders to earn living, and directly send them out.” Handing Ling Zhang the roster, Fu Caiwei said in all seriousness.

Ling Zhang took over the roster, and opened it to peruse. He first marked the names of those who were not qualified after these days’ observation. He checked their birthplaces and backgrounds one by one, to confirm that there was no mistake made, and then said to Fu Caiwei, “Aunt, these people can be laid off directly.”

Those marked accounted for twenty percent of the guards’ list, which amounted to 6 since there were only thirty guards in Ling family.

"These people just pretend to be hardworking, and they are actually gluttonous and lazy,” Ling Zhang simply explained to Fu Caiwei why he had picked out these six.

Fu Caiwei nodded, “Those people really shouldn’t stay in our family any more. Without your observation of the guards, they must plan to drift along in Ling family. It is really outrageous!”

“Aunt, don’t be angry. In fact, not only in Ling family, this problem must exist in other families. The situation in Tanyang is quite special, and most of these guards can only have a deterrent effect; they can only fight against those villains but can’t fight against the bandits at all. And they are very clear about it in their mind, so they dare to appear hard-working on the surface because they are sure that their master's family will not let them go and fight the bandits,” Ling Zhang said.

Fu Caiwei was very angry after hearing about it, but in several years’ management of the Ling family, such people were not uncommon. So she soon calmed down, “Are there some others to be cleaned out?”

Ling Zhang nodded, and then marked other three people’s names, “These three people, although they don't appear hard-working on the surface, they are sticky fingers and they all have debts outside either from gambling or something else. They are easily exploited by others, so we cannot let them stay in the guards’ team.”

Fu Caiwei had let Ling Zhang handle this matter, so she had no objection to Ling Zhang’s disposal, “With these nine dismissed, there are only 21 guards left.”

“Whether the rest guards can stay is yet to be decided; we still need to observe them for some time,” Ling Zhang said.

Fu Caiwei was confused, “Will you continue laying off other guards?”

Ling Zhang nodded, “Aunt, I want to train the guards, so that they will have the ability to fight against a group of bandits when meeting them.”

Fu Caiwei was surprised, “You want these guards to fight against the bandits?”

“Just be prepared for all contingencies,” Ling Zhang replied.

“Are you going to do something dangerous?” Compared with others, what Fu Caiwei concerned most was Ling Zhang’s safety, so she showed a little disapproval in her face.

“Aunt, it’s not me who want to do dangerous things, but our Ling family is now in a very dangerous situation. We have offended Jia family, as well as the commander of the Prefecture Guards - Zhang Chong; these people are not upright gentlemen, and they will get rid of dissidents by fair means or foul. Since our family is now a thorn in their flesh, we don't know what treacherous act they will use in order to deal with us. Training the guards, is a protection for Ling family. Maybe one day, they will fight against the bandits,” Ling Zhang said.

With so many frequent activities in their family, Fu Caiwei was clear about what her husband, father-in-law and nephew would do. She knew what Ling Zhang said was not alarmist talk.

“However, how will you train them? How can you train such numbered people to have the abilities to fight against a bunch of bandits directly?” Fu Caiwei asked.

Ling Zhang replied, “I want to train them with some formations.”

“Arrays?” Fu Caiwei was puzzled, “What kind of formations? Where did you learn it?”

No one could blame Fu Caiwei for asking so carefully, it was because she had always treated Ling Zhang as her own, so it was only natural that she was being overanxious.