Chapter 0147: Zhu Xiaobiao’s Duet Performance, Xie Chengze the Profiteer
Xie Chengze’s words were simply too vicious, drawing furious glares from the rebel soldiers. Relying on his protection, he immediately glared back:
“What are you looking at me for? Do I have a Martial Arts Manual on my face? Will staring at me help you defeat them?”
“Tomorrow, bring your leader here. I want to see how he raised his subordinates—utterly useless!”
He chattered incessantly: “If you don’t want to work, just quit! But don’t drag down the other Standing Army soldiers—they still want to climb the ranks! Those who won’t struggle with you but pull you down are just jealous, unable to bear your success. And you? You think they share your grievances!”
“Exactly, exactly~ All brawn, no brains!” Zhu Xiaobiao cleared his throat and chimed in loudly, “How have you survived this long? Could it be by eating your own brains?”
Some soldiers overheard and couldn’t hold back their laughter. This momentary lapse was seized by the enemy, who pinned them to the ground. A rebel soldier roared at Xie Chengze, “Shut up!”
All this chirping and chattering—more annoying than the officials! So pleasing to the eye, yet so nagging and venomous with words!
Xie Chengze curled his lip, his face full of righteous indignation, and declared firmly: “What’s wrong with criticizing you? It won’t make you lose a piece of flesh! Besides, I’m not wrong. You know you can’t beat the regular army, yet you insist on resisting this way. In my opinion, it’s utterly foolish!”
As soon as he finished, Zhu Xiaobiao immediately amplified his words with an echo: “Utterly foolish~ foolish~ foolish~ ish~”
The rebel soldiers: …
What lunatics!
“Your Highness, they’re truly stupid!” Zhu Xiaobiao covered his mouth as if whispering, yet his voice carried clearly across the snow. “They know full well the consequences of losing, yet they’re so reckless—completely inflexible!”
“Exactly! If it were me, I would definitely…”
Xie Chengze trailed off, suddenly covering his mouth as if he had let something slip. Pretending he had said nothing, he turned to leave.
Immediately, a rebel soldier shouted, “Wait!”
This rebel was the leader of a small faction. He stared intently at Xie Chengze and asked, “Second Prince, what did you mean just now? What kind of flexibility are you talking about?”
They couldn’t stand this treatment any longer. They were just local militia, not formal soldiers. All they wanted was to comfortably draw their monthly salary while doing easy chores. But now these soldiers forced them to work from dawn to dusk, and on top of that, insulted them as worthless, hopeless mud, stinking stones in a latrine—
They just wanted to defeat the soldiers to prove they weren’t useless, only unwilling to work!
Seeing that the fight had gone on long enough, Xie Chengze said leisurely, “Actually, you’re not that bad. You’re just inferior because you haven’t undergone military training or battlefield experience. In terms of pure martial skill, these soldiers are winning unfairly. Even if they defeat you, it doesn’t prove you’re worthless.”
The rebel soldiers looked at Xie Chengze in surprise, feeling that he was absolutely right. They just hadn’t joined the army—if they had, they might not be worse than these soldiers!
“In our Jingcheng, settling disputes through brute force among men is considered a rather crude approach.” Xie Chengze shook his head, speaking with an air of authority. “If the gap between two parties is too great, the proper way to determine superiority should be through ice hockey.”
“Ice hockey? What’s that?”
Not only were the bandit troops puzzled, but the soldiers were equally confused.
Xie Shoujun also turned his gaze over. Having long resided in the northern regions, he had never heard of such a game as ice hockey in Jingcheng.
“Well…” Xie Chengze drew out his words, then pursed his lips. “Why should I tell you? You’ve been shouting about striking and refusing to work. I have no intention of giving you a chance to prove yourselves.”
The bandits grew anxious immediately. “Don’t say that!”
“We’re just too exhausted. This snow never seems to end, and the rations have been cut recently. It’s been over half a month since we last tasted meat—we simply don’t have the energy to work!”
“Exactly! And then we get called useless parasites. Do they think we chose to become mountain bandits? If it weren’t for those officials…”
The bandits grumbled resentfully. After all, they were men of the north, fiercely proud. You could fight them, but if you insulted them, they would never let it go!
“Ah, hearing this, you do seem to have it rough,” Xie Chengze feigned sympathy. “Very well, then I shall explain the rules of ice hockey to you.”
The so-called ice hockey was essentially the ice hockey sport from Xie Chengze’s world, similar to football played on ice.
Xie Chengze simplified the rules: the game requires two teams, each fielding six players. Wearing ice skates, they wield hockey sticks to hit the puck on the ice. Scoring a goal by getting the puck into the opponent’s net earns one point. The match consists of three periods, each lasting half an hour. The team with the higher score at the end wins the period, and the first to win two periods claims victory.
For both the bandits and the soldiers, this was an incredibly novel and thrilling game. They exchanged glances, seeing blazing competitive spirit in each other’s eyes.
“Here’s what we’ll do: each side selects what you believe are your best candidates—those who can move freely on the ice—and come with me to the rink for a few days of training. Once you’re familiar with how to play ice hockey, I will organize a special match for you.”
“During this time, you can substitute players at any time or come watch their training after duty hours.”
Xie Chengze enticed them step by step: “The winning side will be rewarded with three days of freshly slaughtered mutton, guaranteed to be plentiful. Moreover, the top scorer on the winning team will receive a gold cake, and the second-highest scorer will get a silver cake. As for the losing side, the top and second-highest scorers will be granted three and two days of rest respectively!”
As soon as Xie Chengze finished speaking, the bandits and soldiers grew even more excited!
Not only could they eat freshly slaughtered mutton for three days if they won, but they could also get gold? Even if they lost, the top scorers could still get days off?
Both sides’ eyes blazed with determination.
They were absolutely going to win this ice hockey game!!!
…
Upon learning that Xie Chengze planned to host an ice hockey match and use mutton as a reward, Shen Yuan couldn’t help but ask, “Where do you plan to buy the sheep? Do you have enough money?”
In this harsh winter, meat was far scarcer than grain. Feeding so many people with mutton would likely require considerable effort and silver, and wasn’t his funds running low?
If he failed to produce the sheep, who knew how the bandit troops would react.
However, Xie Chengze gave a mysterious smile and gestured with his chin toward the city gate. “Isn’t she here already?”
Shen Yuan turned to see Sheng Yiren dressed in men’s clothing, waving excitedly at them from atop a tall horse in the distance. Behind her stretched an impressive procession of over thirty plump sheep.
He stared in astonishment. “Where did all these sheep come from?”
“Traded coal with the Xiongnu!” Xie Chengze rubbed his chin, grinning slyly. “With this heavy snow coming, the grasslands are freezing too. Compared to their endless supply of mutton, coal is truly precious. Just a bit of coal can trade for plenty of sheep!”
Coal that sold for mere pennies per jin to common folk could be exchanged for sheep worth three thousand coins from the Xiongnu. No wonder merchants loved being middlemen—the profit margin from this arbitrage was absolutely fantastic!