Chapter 212: Back on Track

Zhao Zhentang couldn't help laughing too, and teased, "What, you think that's not good enough? Our family has been poor soldiers for generations — to become a household like that would be a real turnaround."

"Kong Jiuying is stronger than me right now, but that so-called power base of his isn't worth mentioning," Zhao Jin replied.

Zhao Zhentang laughed again, but just as he was about to speak, he noticed Zhao Jin's expression was dead serious, nothing like a joke, and couldn't help asking, "Why isn't it worth mentioning?"

"It's just too small," Zhao Jin answered very curtly.

That one sentence left Zhao Zhentang with no idea how to continue. But Zhao Jin had surprised him too many times already — he was almost numb to the shock. After a stunned moment, Zhao Zhentang shook his head and said slowly, "I don't have much I can help you with, and I can't even understand what you're doing. All I can say is, don't worry about things at home. Here inside Xuzhou city, I can still protect them. You must be extremely careful yourself. The Sun family still has two sons — our Zhao family has only you left!"

By the end, Zhao Zhentang's voice had grown a little hoarse. Zhao Jin didn't know how to express himself either, and just nodded heavily in silence.

Early the next morning, Zhao Jin arrived at the freight yard. The retainers' training on the yard had already begun. Training during the first month of the year was a bitter hardship — every other household was celebrating the New Year and paying visits, but here they were penned in training. The retainers all found it tough, yet after the ambush on the official road, that tragedy where over a dozen retainers were shot dead, their training zeal had surged considerably. Train harder, and when such a situation came, your chances of surviving were that much greater. At least, that was what Zhao Jin told them, and Zhang Hubin, who had survived, was indeed more outstanding than everyone else in training.

By now, there were no more idle onlookers around the training grounds. After an incident like that, no one wanted to come by, afraid of courting bad luck so early in the first month. As for this morning, even passersby were taking detours, because outside the training ground gate lay six corpses wrapped in straw mats.

"Big Brother, they were delivered by people from the jail just at daybreak," Liu Yong reported.

Zhao Jin of course knew what this was about. He nodded, then said, "Xiaoyong, take the Incense-Smelling Sect roster in a bit and summon every single circuit leader within the city and within ten li outside the city walls here. Tell them they must arrive today. You don't need to do anything else — just make sure the notice reaches each person. Note down anyone you can't find. No need to bring our retainers; go to Chen Ergou's side and get some men to take with you."

Liu Yong quickly agreed, tidied up briefly, and headed out. The other companions arrived one after another. The moment Ji Xiang walked in, he said, "Big Brother, there's another queue of buyers placing orders at the distillery. Those shameless Cloud Mountain Trading people actually came too — I just beat them and drove them off."

This Cloud Mountain Trading really was single-mindedly devoted to money. After things had blown up to this extent, they still thought they could get their hands on the liquor.

"Shameless wretches. Did they really think that just because they gave us a dry-share dividend, they could keep doing business in the city?" Zhao Jin sneered, then continued, "Daxiang, take the title deeds and property deeds from He Weiyuan's place and go to Clerk Ye's office to handle the transfer. Move everything under our Xu'an Trading Company."

He Weiyuan held a vast amount of property, not to mention He Family Manor and the distillery. Since that manor had been wiped out, these assets naturally had to be taken over.

Ji Xiang also hurried out the door. Chen Sheng and the others all arrived as well. As soon as Chen Sheng entered the room, he got straight to the point: "Zhao Jin, my father said last night that even though that Tiger Kong is formidable, his hand can't reach all the way into our Xuzhou. We brothers can handle him!"

After saying that, Chen Sheng lowered his voice and added, "The court hearing starts today. We'll follow the rules we set last night."

Zhao Jin pondered for a moment, then instructed, "Go withdraw five hundred taels of silver. Grease the palms of every presiding official at every level. Then find someone trustworthy to keep watch — not a single detail of what happens in that courtroom is to be missed."

Chen Sheng nodded. Before turning to leave, he glanced around and asked, puzzled, "Wang Zhaojing still hasn't shown up?"

"Maybe he overslept. After all that turmoil, he probably needs a bit more rest," Zhao Jin said with a smile. Normally, Wang Zhaojing always arrived together with him, but today he was late compared to usual.

Still, with everyone living at their own homes, arriving early or late was normal — trivial matters no one would mind. Chen Sheng had already gone to Chen Hong's place to withdraw the silver.

As they were talking, Shi Manqiang and Dong Bingfeng arrived together. The moment he entered, Shi Manqiang explained, "Zhang Hubin is leading men to watch over the distillery. I brought something for you to see, Big Brother."

After having gone through a life-and-death kill zone together, Zhang Hubin had become the most trusted man among the retainers. Everyone felt he could handle things on his own. Before, a place like the distillery always had to be guarded by Zhao Jin or one of the companions; now, they could confidently entrust it to Zhang Hubin.

When Shi Manqiang entered, he and a retainer carried in a wooden chest together. As he spoke, he opened it, revealing a suit of armor inside. This armor was unlike the Ming dynasty's chainmail or cotton-padded armor. It had a breastplate and a backplate that fastened together like an iron barrel, encasing the upper body. It had a neck guard and shoulder guards. Where the two plates connected, there were small holes laced tight with leather cords. The arm guards, wrist guards, waist guard, ankle guards, and leg guards all followed the same concept — each was a single piece or two pieces of steel plate fastened together.

"This is that type of armor you described, Big Brother. It was forged a while ago. If we'd been able to wear these that time, it wouldn't have..." Shi Manqiang said a few words, then immediately realized it was a poor choice of topic and changed the subject: "Big Brother, try it on. If it fits, you should wear it regularly from now on!"

Zhao Jin nodded. Beside him, Dong Bingfeng was clearly very interested. They had made a set for everyone; this was a perfect chance to see how it looked when Zhao Jin tried his on.

Shi Manqiang helped Zhao Jin put on the armor. The full suit weighed about thirty jin — not much of a burden given Zhao Jin's physique. Zhao Jin walked into the courtyard, deliberately picked up his long spear, and casually performed a few moves. He found everything very flexible. Back then, he had only drawn a rough sketch of this armor and described the general structure of each part to Shi Manqiang's father, but the proportions and specific measurements of each armor component had been left for the other man to figure out.

Everything was excellent. The helmet even had a small iron face-guard. If he had been wearing this on the official road that day, he could have charged straight at the archers. Unless the archer was a divinely accurate marksman who could, on a tense battlefield, hit a spot the armor didn't cover — and on a target that was constantly in motion — there would have been no way to harm an armored warrior.

Wearing this armor, Zhao Jin felt a surge of emotion. In this era, the Ming military had already fallen behind the West, yet there were many things the Ming wasn't incapable of making — they simply lacked the concept, never thought in that direction. He had merely proposed a direction and a concept; the blacksmiths had executed the rest of the work perfectly.

"This set is quite good. You all can wear yours too. The costs will all come from the common account," Zhao Jin said with a nod. Shi Manqiang and Dong Bingfeng watched with keen interest, both imagining how they would look in their own sets.

Zhao Jin moved around a bit more and said, "Wearing iron armor over a cotton-padded robe isn't quite right. The inner clothes will get worn through, and the armor won't sit securely on the body. We need to add a leather lining inside. Shitou, find someone today to get this made."

Shi Manqiang quickly agreed. Zhao Jin, however, was in no hurry to take the armor off. Picking up his long spear, he walked outside, smiling as he said, "It's been a while since I led the retainers in training myself."

Dong Bingfeng quickened his pace to catch up and said, "Big Brother, Instructor Luan, who teaches me archery and horsemanship, is coming tomorrow. He's agreed to teach us cavalry skills."

Learning to ride had always been part of the plan. From the skirmish on the official road and the destruction of He Family Manor, Zhao Jin and his group had seized nearly two hundred horses, all kept at the horse farm outside the city. Fortunately, the distillery had a huge stockpile of sorghum, which was perfect for feeding horses.

Dong Bingfeng had learned his martial skills, archery, and horsemanship from the personal soldiers of the Guard Commander. While many in Xuzhou city could ride a horse, few understood true battlefield cavalry combat techniques. Dong Bingfeng's instructor was one of the outstanding ones, and inviting him to teach was ideal.

"When Instructor Luan arrives tomorrow, all of us brothers will go out together to welcome him," Zhao Jin said.

Hearing this, Dong Bingfeng was delighted. Such regard from Zhao Jin would certainly give Instructor Luan face and make things much easier for him here.

Zhao Jin had already carried his long spear onto the training ground. The retainers rarely saw Zhao Jin in full armor; seeing him so suddenly, they all thought he looked majestic and heroic.

There were now over a hundred retainers on the field, with the rest standing guard at the distillery and the Zhao family home. Zhao Jin gave the order, and the retainers formed ranks and stood at attention. He walked before the formation and said, "Everyone already knows the news that nineteen brothers gave their lives. You are training in the skills of slaughter — don't imagine you can stay inside the city and live peaceful days. None of you want to die, and I don't know any secret to immortality either. I have only one thing to tell you: 'Sweat more in peacetime, bleed less in wartime!'"

Silence fell over the field. Even Shi Manqiang and Dong Bingfeng stood at solemn attention, listening. Zhao Jin swept his gaze across the ranks and raised his voice: "Shout it out loud with me — 'Sweat more in peacetime, bleed less in wartime!'"

After a brief pause, the retainers roared the phrase in unison. Zhao Jin turned around, leveled his long spear, and said, "The battlefield has no room for fancy tricks. If you want to stay alive and kill the enemy, what you must do is thrust your spear out with power and precision!"

With that, Zhao Jin stepped forward and thrust his spear. The retainers behind him also stepped forward, thrusting their long shafts out in a motion perfectly uniform, as if the very ground of the training field shook in response.

They had not been drilling long when a few furtive figures appeared near the training grounds, poking their heads around. These men were completely different from the usual idle onlookers — they weren't curious, but cowering.

Security around Zhao Jin's freight yard was tight now. Seeing that these few men looked suspicious, the sentry retainers immediately leveled their spears and ran over, spearpoints aimed, shouting sharp questions. After a couple of exchanges, one retainer ran back toward Zhao Jin — it turned out these men had received Liu Yong's notice, telling them to come here and watch.