Chapter 120: Informing (Vote for monthly tickets!)

Not to mention that back in the military training of those days, the content was nothing more than formation drills and obeying commands, which made Zhao Jin decide to copy the training routines from his school days wholesale.

By the time everything was explained, nearly half a shichen had passed, and Zhao Jin had shouted himself hoarse.

Next came the combined drill for the thirty-seven household guards. Just as Zhao Jin was about to order them to form ranks, he remembered something else. He raised his right hand high and said, "Watch carefully, this is the right side. Roll up the sleeve and trouser leg on this side and remember it firmly."

The household guards below all followed suit, though some still rolled up the left side in confusion, only realizing the mistake when their companions pointed it out.

"You even have to teach left and right?" Wang Zhaojing asked quietly from behind.

"Of course you have to teach them. Yesterday when Brother Zhao was training, this bunch couldn't tell left from right and made a complete laughingstock of themselves," Shi Manqiang answered.

"Use Lu Da as the standard, tallest to shortest, line up to the right!" Zhao Jin shouted out.

The household guards immediately fell into chaos. Some couldn't grasp "tallest to shortest," others couldn't grasp "to the right." If they'd been given time to react under normal circumstances, they wouldn't have been this chaotic, but with the demand so urgent, every one of them panicked.

Zhao Jin set down his long spear, picked up a wooden club, and walked closer. Whenever he saw someone at a complete loss, he brought the club down on them in a flurry of blows, then pointed out the correct way.

Through this combination of beatings and curses, a crooked, slanted horizontal line was finally completed.

Zhao Jin's face was stern, and sweat trickled down his forehead. Standing in line, forming ranks, marching in step — things he had always thought were simple and taken for granted turned out to be this difficult for people with no foundation at all.

But since they had started, things would only get better and better. Zhao Jin encouraged himself with this thought!

While Zhao Jin was shouting and drilling over at the goods yard, a circle of people had already gathered outside to watch the spectacle. The sun had risen, and many children had come to play as usual. Seeing this scene, they all watched with great delight. Not just the children — even adults passing by stopped to enjoy the show.

The martial contests at the western goods yard were quite famous in Xuzhou City, but today's spectacle seemed different. Yesterday's great battle had already spread throughout Xuzhou City.

"I heard that Zhao Jin fought over a hundred knife-wielding bandits all by himself. One thrust of his long spear could pierce through five men. He thrust twenty times and slaughtered them all!"

"Who says they had knives? I heard those bandits also had quite a few archers. That young lord charged in and bellowed, 'I am Zhao Jin of Xuzhou! Who dares face me in battle?' Arrows fell like rain, but Zhao Jin whirled his long spear like a windmill — not even water could have gotten through..."

The idlers standing on the outskirts spoke with spit flying everywhere, as if they had witnessed that fierce battle with their own eyes the day before, though their accounts were outrageously exaggerated.

The children near the idlers pricked up their ears and listened, then excitedly discussed it among themselves. Before long, everyone was looking at Zhao Jin as if they were looking at a ghost or a god.

The formation drills of those "household guards" were a parade of blunders. Even after being told left from right, they were still a beat slow when it came time to react, many far slower than that. Collisions, tumbles, and spinning in place happened constantly.

The onlookers watched as if it were a monkey show, bursting into laughter from time to time. If the laughter grew too loud, Zhao Jin's gaze would sweep over, and they would immediately fall silent, as silent as cicadas in winter.

The onlookers were laughing, and the trainees were suffering too, every face red with shame, wishing they could bury themselves in the ground. But Zhao Jin showed them not a shred of mercy. The moment anyone made a mistake, he would immediately stride in with his club and give them a fierce beating. Once they'd tasted the lesson, they no longer cared so much about their embarrassment.

Another shichen passed like this, and the scene still showed no improvement. Even Chen Sheng and the others grew somewhat bored watching. The children had already gone off to play, though some mimicked the drills and burst into loud laughter now and then. Wave after wave of idlers came and went, all pointing and whispering about Zhao Jin.

Halfway through the drill, Zhao Jin had someone bring out the wooden clubs and had them hold the clubs in their right hands. With this clear marker, judging direction and formation both improved considerably.

"Make way! A good dog doesn't block the road!" "Didn't you hear your grandpa speaking?"

Curses and shouts came from the direction of the intersection. The idlers all scrambled aside, and the children ran off in another direction.

Zhao Jin stopped the training, gripping his wooden club as he looked toward the source of the noise. Wang Zhaojing, Chen Sheng, and the others also grabbed their weapons and stood up.

Who would dare come here to cause trouble? After what happened yesterday, Zhao Jin didn't think anyone in the city would dare provoke them.

Liu Yong was not slow to act. He climbed straight up onto the wall, stood at the high vantage point and looked over, then jumped down and said to Zhao Jin, "Brother Zhao, it's Butcher Li. He's brought a dozen or so men, but they're all carrying things. Doesn't look like they've come to fight."

Butcher Li was a major butcher from the south of the city, with a status similar to Cheng Tongtou's, running the same kind of business. In the pig-slaughtering and meat-selling trade, a shout could always summon a dozen or so men with cleavers, so in terms of armed force he was somewhat stronger than Cheng Tongtou, and his power and territory were also a bit larger.

The crowd of onlookers had already parted. A fat, burly man wearing a fine silk long gown walked at the front — this was Butcher Li. Behind him followed two porters, and the rest of the men carried an assortment of gifts as they headed toward Zhao Jin. The fat, burly man had thick, dark eyebrows, not much of a beard, and a wide mouth, giving him a rather jovial, festive appearance.

Although this was a famous figure in the underworld circles of Xuzhou City, Zhao Jin and his group showed not the slightest tension. After the trials of the past few days, their courage and insight were already on a completely different level.

The two sides came face to face. Someone behind Butcher Li leaned in and whispered a few words in his ear, and Butcher Li's gaze immediately settled on Zhao Jin.

After just one glance, Butcher Li's face broke into a broad smile as he strode over. Halfway there, he was already cupping his hands in greeting.

"This must be Young Master Zhao Jin, Young Master Zhao. Truly a young hero — remarkable, remarkable," Butcher Li called out loudly from a distance.

Zhao Jin stood where he was without moving. He couldn't guess Butcher Li's purpose in coming, but he also noticed that the companions beside him were all a little tense. Smiling, he said, "Relax. He can't overturn the heavens here."

Hearing Zhao Jin's words, everyone took their hands off their weapons. Zhao Jin stepped forward two paces, clasped his fist, and said, "May I ask how I should address you?"

This was also Butcher Li's first time seeing Zhao Jin. Looking at this tall, strapping youth in his teens, he found it hard to believe that the shocking deeds — killing the six monks of Cloud Mountain Temple, helping Chen Ergou ascend to power, and the bloody battle against the desperate bandits — had all been done by him.

Yet when Butcher Li usually walked the streets, ordinary people would dodge him in fear. Very few faced him with such calm composure. From this alone, Butcher Li felt that Zhao Jin was no ordinary person.

"My name is Li Apu. I live by the north gate and have a butchering business in the south of the city. I've come today to congratulate Young Brother Zhao on the opening of your trading company!" Butcher Li said in a loud, casual manner.

The so-called trading company was merely a pretext Zhao Jin had casually thrown out, something only the people in the yamen knew about. That Butcher Li could use this piece of news as his reason meant he likely had connections in the yamen.

"So it's Brother Li. The Xu'an Trading Company's formal opening will still have to wait for some time. I thank you in advance," Zhao Jin replied calmly.

Seeing Zhao Jin's attitude, neither servile nor overbearing, Butcher Li grew a few degrees more cautious in his heart, though on the surface he remained the same. He turned and shouted, "You lot, carry the things inside. Young Brother Zhao, these are a few congratulatory gifts. Please accept them."

"Today is the first time Brother Li and I have met. If you have something to say, please speak plainly," Zhao Jin said, getting straight to the point.

The words were direct, without the slightest courtesy. Butcher Li frowned, thinking to himself, You don't hit a smiling face. I'm older than you, I've been in this game for so long, and I've come bearing gifts — and you, a little brat, treat me like this?

But this flash of anger was only fleeting. He thought about the news his men had brought back yesterday — these youngsters, barely of age, had actually slaughtered such formidable desperate bandits to the last man, and had chatted and laughed in the face of dozens more, not to mention the backgrounds behind these half-grown boys. People like this, he could not afford to offend.

Thinking this, Butcher Li suppressed his anger, gave a dry laugh, and said, "The reason I've come is that I have a matter to discuss with you, Young Brother Zhao. Shall we talk inside in detail?"

"No need. Let's talk right here," Zhao Jin said, without a trace of courtesy.

This was giving him no face at all. Butcher Li's expression finally turned ugly. He was about to say something, but then instinctively glanced to his sides. At that moment, Chen Sheng, hand on his saber hilt, had taken a step forward, his eyes fixed squarely on him, while the gazes of the other few were fixed on what lay behind him.

Butcher Li couldn't help but shiver. He was a man of the underworld and had dealt with ruthless killers who didn't blink at taking a life. The look in the eyes and the bearing of Zhao Jin and his people right now were almost exactly like those formidable figures.

How on earth were these sons of wealthy families raised? Wouldn't it be nice to just stay home and enjoy their blessings? Butcher Li grumbled inwardly, then forced another smile onto his face and said, "There's a piece of news I'd like Young Brother Zhao to know. Yan Heilian took his whole family and left the city yesterday afternoon. They say he's going to stay at a relative's estate for a while. No one knows when he'll be back."

Yan Heilian? Zhao Jin had heard the name. Cheng Tongtou, Butcher Li, and Yan Heilian were pretty much the three biggest underworld forces in the south of the city. Before he could think further, he saw Lei Cai running over quickly. Seeing that Zhao Jin had someone with him, Lei Cai first went to Liu Yong's side and said a few words. Liu Yong hesitated a moment, then walked toward Zhao Jin.

"Brother, those several dozen ruffians we saw yesterday were Yan Heilian's men," Liu Yong whispered into Zhao Jin's ear.

The day before, when Zhao Jin and his group had slaughtered those dozen or so swordsmen and charged out of the street, they had seen several dozen ruffians there, looking as if they had been lying in ambush beforehand. Although those men had been scared into scattering, Zhao Jin was determined to trace this to the very end.

The desperate swordsmen had all been killed. The mastermind behind them would have to be traced through those several dozen ruffians who had been lying in ambush beforehand. Whoever had sent them was the mastermind. To think it was Yan Heilian.

What had originally been an internal dispute within Cheng Tongtou's sphere of influence had unexpectedly dragged in Yan Heilian. A man of the underworld had to keep a constant watch over his territory, or chaos and a change of hands would follow. A boss or big brother couldn't afford to be away for too long. Yan Heilian's hasty departure from the city perfectly confirmed his identity as the mastermind.

Had Butcher Li come today to sell this information as a favor? Zhao Jin nodded to Liu Yong, this thought running through his mind.