Chapter 876: Rumors of the Martial Tournament

Zhao Jin and his companions weren't too concerned about this. After all, the government troops in those two places were practically their own local militia, and the men in charge were their own company commanders.

The truly sensational news wasn't this — in fact, hardly anyone paid it any mind. The truly sensational news was that Xuzhou was going to hold a martial tournament. The champion of this tournament would receive a title, hailed as the Greatest Hero Under Heaven. In civil pursuits there is no first, but in martial arts there is no second. No one knows how many are driven by the desire to compete and prevail. In ordinary times, rankings were determined only by word of mouth, propped up by family influence and behind-the-scenes maneuvering. But this time, giving everyone a chance to face off directly — that was genuinely thrilling.

Not to mention the martial artists already in Xuzhou, even those from other regions who had no interest in seeking wealth and rank were hurrying this way. Beyond them, large numbers of wealthy idlers eager to watch the excitement were also making inquiries everywhere.

"They say that for the first-place winner, Big Brother, you'll give a treasure blade that cuts through iron like mud, and also a prize horse that can run a thousand li in a day." As he said this, Liu Yong's face was full of embarrassment, and the expressions of the others in the room were odd as well.

"Have they been watching too many plays and listening to too many storytellers? With so many people here already, it's vexing enough, and now someone wants to hold some martial tournament — do I look like I've lost my mind?" Zhao Jin said, caught between laughter and tears.

The embarrassment on Liu Yong's face turned to shame. He stood and bowed, saying, "Big Brother, your younger brother still hasn't been able to trace where this rumor came from. All of a sudden, everyone was talking about it."

"If there really were a tournament, Big Brother and Second Brother, you two would definitely be first and second — how would it ever be anyone else's turn to fight?" Ji Xiang said with a chuckle.

"Are you very eager to go up on the platform and compete?" Zhao Jin asked. Ji Xiang was about to explain, but when he saw that Zhao Jin's expression wasn't all that stern, he immediately relaxed.

Zhao Jin smiled wryly and said, "Don't just talk about you — even I'm a little tempted. A martial tournament, a challenge platform, with so many people watching below — that really would be entertaining."

The men in the room all laughed along. They were all young men who trained in martial arts — how could they not care about something like a tournament to decide the champion? Being able to go up and fight was one thing, but being able to watch from below would be plenty of fun too.

Chen Sheng nodded, then shook his head again, and said in a muffled voice, "Even if we went up to fight, we might not win many bouts. What we train are skills for the battlefield. The platform is for jianghu duels. If it's not to the death, we might not have the advantage; if it is to the death, then why bother going through all that up there?"

From the sound of it, Chen Sheng was quite tempted as well. For someone of his steady temperament, that was truly rare.

Zhao Jin waved his hand to quiet everyone, then spoke: "This martial tournament definitely won't happen. But we must rigorously investigate how this rumor started. Is someone trying to make things more chaotic here so they can fish in troubled waters, or is it just idle chatter and nonsense spread by a bunch of bored people?"

Liu Yong and Ruhui exchanged a glance and both agreed. Originally, Cloud Mountain Trading was just for doing business and managing the territory, and Ruhui as chief steward was that in name and fact. Now Cloud Mountain Trading also had to shoulder the tasks of surveillance and intelligence gathering — it was becoming more and more like the Internal Guard.

After saying all this, Zhao Jin turned to Liu Yong and asked, "Have you found out the background of that Xin Qitao clearly yet?"

At the mention of this name, the room quieted considerably. Everyone looked toward Liu Yong. Wang Zhaojing and Ruhui were especially intent. Liu Yong nodded and said, "The information was gathered by Ma Liu and just arrived last night. This Xin Qitao comes from an official family. His great-grandfather served as a county magistrate in Shaanxi, his grandfather as a prefect in Shanxi, and his father was a director in the Bureau of Construction and Repair of the Ministry of Works, who retired and returned home the year before last. This Xin Qitao passed the provincial examination in Kaifeng Prefecture in the forty-fourth year of Wanli, at the age of twenty-six. In the forty-seventh year of Wanli, he went to the capital for the metropolitan examination but did not pass. He has been traveling back and forth between the capital and Kaifeng Prefecture ever since."

"So he passed the provincial exam the same year as Zhaojing," Zhao Jin said with a smile. Wang Zhaojing also smiled and nodded.

In the Ming dynasty, "same year" referred to passing the provincial examination in the same province and same cycle, or passing the metropolitan examination in the same cohort in the capital. Only that carried the value of mutual association. This was because the evaluation and promotion of capital officials involved a very important rule: they had to solicit the opinions of officials from the same province. Absurd as it was, it was the rule, so everyone had no choice but to form cliques and factions.

However, passing the provincial exam in the same year but in Henan and South Zhili respectively — the two parties would at most exchange a polite greeting when they happened to meet by chance. There was no other connection.

"Back in the day, the Xin family latched onto the connections of Noble Consort Zheng's family, the Zhengs. Ma Chonghao also confirmed this. But this Xin Qitao does have real ability. He's very famous within Kaifeng city, reputed to be accomplished in both civil and martial pursuits, peerless in both letters and the sword. The examiner for his provincial exam deliberately tried to suppress him, but he still passed. However, after the Zheng family fell from power, it became very difficult for Xin Qitao to advance. Over the past two years, he's spent a great deal of silver, but those above still haven't relented. I'm afraid it's already unlikely he'll ever pass the metropolitan examination."

Wang Zhaojing let out a soft breath, a trace of emotion on his face. This man's circumstances were very similar to his own — it was no surprise he felt a pang of sympathy. The Zheng clan that the Xin family relied on had collapsed, while for the Wang family, the faction at court had disintegrated, the elders' official careers were blocked from any advance, and the younger generation was dragged down with them, unable to have their names inscribed on the golden roster.

"Quite a few families have proposed marriage to the Xin family. They're already ranked among the great houses within Kaifeng city. But this Xin Qitao's ambitions are very grand. He often says he won't marry and start a family until he has brought glory to his ancestors."

After finishing this, Liu Yong looked up and glanced around, then continued, "After learning this news, your younger brother called Ma Chonghao over for a chat. Ma Chonghao said that Kaifeng city is full of great houses and wealthy nobles — a mere provincial graduate wouldn't be too arrogant or indulged. The Xin family has been officials for four generations, and the previous two generations were both metropolitan graduates. This Xin Qitao is fixated on the metropolitan graduate honor, so it's not strange that he's frustrated and resentful after being thwarted. However, for a provincial graduate from a wealthy family to be willing to come to our Xuzhou territory — that is still a bit peculiar."

"A former director of the Bureau of Construction and Repair in the Ministry of Works — that's a position of mountains of gold and seas of silver," Zhao Jin murmured. He then turned to Wang Zhaojing and asked, "What's your take? He stayed a few days and then sought you out first."

Wang Zhaojing nodded and said thoughtfully, "There is a certain resentment in his heart, but overall he's still quite composed. He said that since our Xuzhou could use blades and soldiers to win an amnesty, and now the court offers him no path of advancement, if he were to do some things for Xuzhou, or stay here waiting for the right price, perhaps that path to the court might just open up."

"You mean, when two parties bid against each other, the price goes up?" Zhao Jin asked with a laugh. Wang Zhaojing smiled and continued, "This man is indeed from a top-tier wealthy family. His manner is similar to that Yu Zhiyuan, but with very little of the profligate air and no trace of pedantic sourness. He truly has ability. Setting aside his sword skills, he studied construction and management at home, and he's well-versed in the bureaucratic procedures of the yamen. He genuinely has great aspirations and wants to accomplish great things. He made considerable preparations for this beforehand. It's just that with the court factional strife, he has no path of advancement. Having learned so much yet unable to realize his ambitions — his resentment is indeed great. Kaifeng isn't far from us, and quite a bit of news can travel over. It's not strange that he's developed other ideas."

Everyone in the room was nodding. After Wang Zhaojing finished, he said to Zhao Jin with great gravity, "Big Brother, your younger brother believes you should go meet this Mister Xin soon. A man of his caliber should be recruited and received by you personally. If it's always your younger brother out in front, the other party might feel slighted."

Compared to the news of the martial tournament, the news that a Henan provincial graduate had visited Wang Zhaojing was what truly caused a sensation in Xuzhou. Although not many people knew of it, those who did were utterly shocked.

No matter how presentable it looked on the surface, no matter how normal it seemed, Zhao Jin's faction in Xuzhou had, after all, fought the imperial court with real blades and real guns, forcing the court to offer amnesty. No matter how you glossed it over, a power like that was, in truth, a band of rebels. Scholars, having received the state's grace for generations, were sworn to irreconcilable enmity with such rebels.

Moreover, in this world, rebellions and uprisings were usually the work of heretical cults deluding the common folk or local strongmen stirring up trouble. No literati or scholars would ever follow or attach themselves to such causes. When scholars did follow, then the orthodox mandate was no longer held solely by the court — often, the rebels themselves would then possess a measure of Heaven's mandate, not to mention the participation of a scholar with official rank.

In the Ming dynasty, just Shandong alone had seen so many great upheavals, yet each time, at most, a few helpless and ignorant licentiates were coerced into participating. Who had ever seen a provincial graduate or metropolitan graduate join the rebels? On the contrary, there were provincial graduates who, when coerced, would rather take their own lives than follow. It was the same across the realm. How many times had the Mongol tribes on the steppes grown powerful, subduing the Great Ming, besieging the capital not just once or twice? Yet never had a ranked scholar or gentry member surrendered and served them. The same was true now for the so-called Great Liang of the She clan in the southwest and the Great Jin of the Jianzhou Jurchens in the northeast — at most they had a few licentiates. How could there possibly be any provincial graduates?

But here in this trifling Xuzhou, a few young men with outrageous audacity stirred up a storm, defeated the imperial government troops, forced the court into appeasement, and didn't even formally raise a rebel banner — so how was it that a scholar, and a full provincial graduate at that, had come to join them?

This Graduate Xin naturally did not say, "I am here to join the rebellion and follow the outlaws." He simply came as a traveling scholar, bringing his page and attendants, wanting to tour and see the sights around He Family Village. Since this place was full of merchants and martial men, and a fellow provincial graduate, the young scholar Wang Zhaojing, was a rare find, it was only natural to pay a visit and chat for a while.

After meeting, they discovered that neither was the sort of ignorant, pedantic, and sour scholar, but rather men of experience, broad knowledge, and impassioned, pillar-like talent. Naturally, they took a great liking to each other, a mutual recognition of kindred spirits. Under such circumstances, Wang Zhaojing naturally developed the intention to recruit him, while Xin Qitao was in no hurry to pledge allegiance, saying only that he had come to broaden his horizons.

Whenever a man of extraordinary ability appears, how could he pledge allegiance so easily? If he agreed the moment it was suggested, that would be far too cheap and self-debasing. Everyone understood this pattern. Wang Zhaojing was in no hurry either; he simply invited the man to stay in his own residence, wined and dined him well, specially arranged for people to guide him on tours and sightseeing everywhere, and then reported the matter to Zhao Jin.

The news that a provincial graduate had come here was not leaked by Wang Zhaojing. When Xin Qitao stayed at the inn, he didn't deliberately conceal his identity, and when he went to visit Wang Zhaojing, he openly and righteously came to the door in broad daylight. Naturally, many idle eyes, both attentive and casual, were watching, and once word spread, it caused a sensation.

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