Chapter 43: Friends Come, There's Fine Wine; Jackals Come, There's Rockets!

"The military households have too much excess energy, which is also a troublesome matter."

Gazing at the crates of plastic and silicone products before him, Lin Dao frowned in thought.

"Handing these things directly to the soldiers would look bad on the surface."

"Could it be that I still have to personally demonstrate how to use them?"

Imagining himself, before hundreds and thousands of big masters, holding plastic and silicone~~~

'Hiss~~~'

"Can't do it, can't do it~~~"

Lin Dao shook his head repeatedly; even if he were beaten to death he wouldn't do such a thing.

Once the news got out, in the Yonghe Spacetime he might as well be socially dead.

After thinking for a long while, Lin Dao signaled someone to go call Jin Lian into the Qin Palace.

In this Xiangguo City of the Yonghe Spacetime, he resides inside the Jian De Rear Hall.

Not far from the ruins of the Taiwu Hall that was burned down.

The Jian De Rear Hall, located behind the Jian De Hall, was built as a sleeping palace when Shi Lei greatly constructed Xiangguo City.

Originally the palace interior held many gold and silver vessels.

But they were all flattened by Lin Dao, taken away and melted into gold bars.

At this moment the palace interior was obviously quite empty and hollow.

Jin Lian, her pretty face flushed red, delayed a good while before coming.

It wasn't putting on airs, nor was she too busy with work to get away; she had gone to bathe and change clothes.

She had changed into a beautiful guiyi robe, her pretty face adorned with slanted red makeup.

On her coiled hair bun, was inserted the gold hairpin she had been longing for.

When she entered the sleeping hall, Liu Hu guarding the door glanced at her, signaling a female official nearby to step forward and search her.

Even if summoned by the Master, she still had to be searched.

This was actually already quite perfunctory.

If it were the Qing period, they would be scrubbed clean and wrapped in a blanket before being sent in.

The Qing emperors were all afraid of death to the point of madness.

After confirming there was no contraband, Liu Hu let her pass.

Jin Lian walked all the way into the bedchamber, seeing her Master with his back to her, holding a strange object in his hand, puffing and blowing into it.

"Master~~~"

Lin Dao rose and turned his head. "You're here?"

"Came at just the right time, hurry over and help me blow~~~"

Liu Hu outside had pretty good hearing.

He heard continuous 'whoosh whoosh whoosh~~~' sounds coming from inside the bedchamber, and was also puzzled and confused.

'What is this for?'

"Master, this thing~~~"

After much effort blowing up the plastic, looking at the humanoid object before her, Jin Lian also reddened.

"And this one." Lin Dao took out the silicone object.

"Now I'll teach you how to use these things."

He earnestly instructed, "Remember, this matter only you yourself must know; absolutely not a single word related to me may be spoken."

He couldn't afford to lose this face~~~

Ever since Lin Dao killed those Jiehu in Sanhe Village, avenging her father's murder, Jin Lian's loyalty had never wavered.

She immediately declared sincerely, "Master rest assured, this slave would die before speaking!"

"Not that exaggerated."

Lin Dao waved his hand, explaining and introducing to her how to use these things.

On this side Jin Lian's pretty face was also crimson, fidgeting endlessly.

After the introduction was finished, Jin Lian with her head lowered then hesitantly asked, "Master, this slave is a woman~~~"

I'm a female, what use is knowing how to use these strange things?

Master giving me these things, I have no use for them either.

"It's like this."

Lin Dao patiently explained, "You find a batch of women who have husbands and have given birth."

"Tell them how to use these things."

"Afterward have them tell their husbands how to use them."

"Gather those who have learned it together; I'll arrange tasks for them later."

Jin Lian came full of anticipation, and left in a daze.

When she left, she also took away a large bag of plastic and silicone products.

These are her teaching materials.

She originally thought the Master summoned her to the sleeping hall to favor her~~~

'Sigh, when will the Master finally be willing to accept me~~~'

'Bang! Bang! Bang!'

On the drill ground, Qin Lang and the others were curiously watching the ball Lin Dao kept patting in his hand.

"Master, what is this object?"

Lin Dao casually tossed it toward the Sky, saying, "This is a basketball."

Pointing to the simple basketball hoop not far away, he said, "Throw this ball into that hoop over there, so it's called basketball."

"This thing can only be used with hands, not feet."

Catching the falling basketball, Lin Dao assumed a shooting stance, put force into his wrist, and threw the basketball out with a beautiful motion.

Without any surprise at all, it was a complete miss.

Lin Dao, his expression as usual, took out a football from the bag under his feet and kicked it up into the sky.

"This one is kicked with feet, called football."

"See that iron gate frame with a net over there? Just kick the ball into it."

"This thing can only be used with feet, not hands."

"After seeing you train, you're mostly idling around waiting for meals."

"I made these things for you to play with."

The football fell, Lin Dao stepped forward a few paces and launched a flying volley, the football whistling as it flew into the sky.

After the Sima Family stored away their swords and spears and put their horses out to pasture on Southern Mountain, the army's combat effectiveness and soldier quality plummeted rapidly.

Especially under the hereditary military household system, the army was filled with large numbers of the old and weak.

Children aged seven or eight to their teens, and people over fifty or sixty, were everywhere in the army.

Lacking training, unable to get enough to eat, neglecting their weapons, of low status, plus the old being old and the young being young.

Such an army being crushed by the various Hu was only natural and just.

Lin Dao learned the lesson of the Jin Dynasty army's collapse, and the army was all vigorous young adults.

But problems followed.

Young people have hot tempers, and they can't train every single moment, or they'd wear themselves to death, and it would also affect their mental state.

While training them, we need to give them a way to relieve stress.

Sports are a very good choice.

The rules of football and basketball are very simple, simplified by Lin Dao himself to be simple.

"Basketball, just throw the ball into the opponent's hoop."

"Football, just kick the ball into the opponent's goal."

Besides basketball not allowing feet and football not allowing hands.

And besides not maliciously injuring people, there are no such fouls or those rules.

It's simple and rough, letting the vigorous soldiers go rob, go fight, go collide.

Train and exercise until sweating and exhausted, just wanting to eat and sleep.

After hearing Lin Dao's explanation of the rules, soon someone started coming onto the field to compete.

By squad as the unit, each squad sends out the corresponding number of people to take the field.

On Lin Dao's side, he was still adding fuel to the fire.

"Whichever side wins, I will give rewards here."

"Qin Lang, light an incense stick."

Hearing there were rewards, the soldiers' motivation became even more abundant.

Lin Dao found a place to sit down, watching the ball game with great interest.

"Lord."

Jin Lian brought over a dozen men carrying boxes to pay their respects.

"You're here?" Lin Dao nodded to signal, "Put the things down first, we'll talk after the match ends."

Jin Lian stepped forward and knelt beside him, Xiao Yi massaging her shoulders to serve.

There was no professional venue, just racks and goals set up.

Both sides didn't even have clothing to distinguish teammates.

Anyway, teammates were comrades of the same squad, recognizable at a glance.

Competitive matches, lacking rule constraints.

Before long, conflict inevitably broke out.

It was just that everyone knew Lord was watching nearby, so they barely endured without beating each other senseless.

But powerful collisions, trading insults, kicking, grappling, and underhanded tricks were endless.

Lin Dao waved to Qin Lang.

Looking at Qin Lang kneeling beside him, Lin Dao instructed, "Arrange the squad leaders of other squads to serve as referees."

"If the motion is directly aimed at injuring someone, send them off the field."

"Here~~~"

Rules and such, roughly just need to prevent injuries from being too severe.

Essentially it's to give the military men a channel to vent their energy, not to form any professional team.

As long as there are no major injuries, it's fine.

As for technique, there definitely isn't any.

Whether playing basketball or football, they basically rely on their bodies to get things done.

At least in Lin Dao's view, it felt more like a wrestling war.

As one incense stick burned out, Lin Dao stood up and called a stop to the match.

The four teams from both sides gathered before him, panting and sweating, yet their mental state was quite good.

"The victors step forward."

Those who played basketball and those who played soccer each had a team step forward.

Their faces wore an unmistakable look of smug satisfaction.

"Hmm."

Lin Dao signaled to Jin Lian, "There are some prizes here, you all just take them."

Jin Lian waved her hand to signal, and the ten-plus big men carrying boxes all bent down to pick up the boxes, leading the bewildered soldiers back to the barracks.

On Lin Dao's side, he instructed Qin Lang, "After training ends, you can organize competitions and confrontations between the various teams."

"Other people can also spectate and cheer from the surroundings."

"Try to make them expend all their energy on training and the playing field."

"The winning teams, I have arranged rewards for them on my end."

"Right, those with dependents don't get rewards, you need to inform them of this in advance."

Qin Lang nodded repeatedly, "Roger~~~"

Several days later, traces of the Jiehu cavalry began to appear around Xiangguo City.

Qin Lang led the cavalry out of the city to drive them away, but the Jiehu cavalry did not engage in battle, instead voluntarily retreating.

But as time passed, more and more Qianghu appeared.

They blocked the roads, built camps, stockpiled supplies, obviously intending to besiege the city long-term.

"Recall all the scouts from outside the city."

Lin Dao on the city tower withdrew his gaze, "All departments take turns guarding the city and standing night watch, absolutely must not let the Qianghu succeed in a sneak attack."

Lin Dao did not fear defending the city.

There were plenty of industrial goods from the Modern World, even if Shi Hu sent a million-strong army, it would be enough to greet them.

What he worried about was the city being suddenly breached, and a large batch of Qianghu rushing into the city.

Although Lin Dao himself would definitely be fine, worst case he could just run back to the Modern World.

No matter how fierce the Qianghu were, could they possibly break through the spacetime barrier and chase him to the Modern World to kill him?

The ones who would suffer were the Qihuo Army inside the city.

Given the Qianghu's cruelty, regardless of man or woman the outcome would be extremely miserable.

Lin Dao's Transmigration ability could not carry organisms possessing Souls, so there was no way to save people.

For Lin Dao, the only concern in this city defense battle was not being sneak-attacked, letting the Qianghu charge into the city.

After arranging the city defense tasks, Lin Dao set off to return to the Modern World.

Arriving at the Cang Ku, looking at the piles of gas canisters, iron wire nets, lime powder, fireworks and firecrackers, and other supplies.

A smile appeared on his face.

To welcome the Qianghu, he had specially ordered many good things.

Now it was time to bring them over.

Squatting down, he reached out and patted the steel pipe in front of him.

His finger brushed across the 'Laiyang Steel Factory' printed on the steel pipe.

"When friends come there is fine wine, when jackals and wolves come they get rockets!"

(End of Chapter)