Chapter 147
Xie Chengze’s remarks were so cutting that some of the former bandits glared at him. Confident he had protection, he promptly glared back.
“Why are you looking at me? Is there a martial arts manual on my face? Will staring at me help you beat them?”
“Bring your leader here tomorrow. I’d like to see how he raised you children. Not a promising one among you!”
He chattered on. “If you don’t want to work, fine. Resign! But don’t drag the other standing troops into it. Some of them want to get ahead! Anyone who won’t work toward something with you and tries to drag you down is jealous. They can’t stand seeing you do well. Yet here you are, thinking they’re your allies against a common enemy!”
“Exactly, exactly! All muscle, no brains!” Zhu Xiaobiao cleared his throat and joined in. “How did you live this long? Have you survived by eating your own brains?”
One soldier couldn’t help laughing when he heard that, breaking his concentration. His opponent seized the opening and pinned him to the ground. The former bandit roared at Xie Chengze, “Stop talking!”
All that chattering! He was even more annoying than an official! How could someone so endearing be such a vicious blabbermouth?!
Xie Chengze curled his lips, looking entirely justified. “What’s wrong with a little criticism? It won’t take a chunk out of you! Besides, I’m not wrong. You know you can’t beat regular troops, yet you insist on resisting this way. If you ask me, it’s utterly idiotic!”
Zhu Xiaobiao immediately provided an echo. “Utterly idiotic~ idiotic~ otic~ ic~”
The former bandits: …
Lunatics!
“Your Highness, they’re so stupid!” Zhu Xiaobiao covered his mouth as though whispering, but his voice carried clearly across the snow. “They know what will happen if they lose, yet they’re still acting on impulse. They don’t know how to adapt at all!”
“Exactly! If it were me, I’d definitely…”
Mid-sentence, Xie Chengze suddenly covered his mouth as though he had let something slip. Pretending he had said nothing, he turned to leave.
One of the former bandits immediately shouted, “Wait!”
The man was the Chief of a small mountain stronghold. Fixing his eyes on Xie Chengze, he asked, “Second Prince, what did you mean just now? How should we adapt?”
They couldn’t bear this humiliation. They were local prefectural troops, not regular soldiers. All they wanted was to comfortably collect their monthly pay for doing a few easy odd jobs. Now these soldiers were making them work from dawn until night. Working was bad enough, but they also called them useless: hopeless mud that wouldn’t stick to a wall, stinking rocks in a cesspit –
They just wanted to beat the soldiers and prove they weren’t useless. They simply didn’t want to work!
Seeing that the fight had more or less run its course, Xie Chengze said unhurriedly, “You aren’t actually so bad. You’re only at a disadvantage because you haven’t had army training or been hardened on a battlefield. When it comes to fighting skills, these soldiers have an unfair advantage. Even if they beat you, that doesn’t prove you’re useless.”
The former bandits looked at him in surprise, feeling that he was absolutely right. They simply hadn’t been in the army. If they had, they wouldn’t necessarily be worse than these soldiers!
“In the capital, settling a dispute between men by fighting is considered the lowest sort of method.” Xie Chengze shook his head and explained with complete assurance, “When there’s too great a difference between two sides, you should settle things with ice hockey.”
“Ice hockey? What’s that?”
The soldiers were just as puzzled as the former bandits.
Xie Shoujun also looked over. After spending so long in the north, he had never heard of an ice hockey game in the capital.
“It’s…” Xie Chengze drew the word out, then pressed his lips together. “Why should I tell you? You’re shouting about going on strike and refusing to work. I don’t want to give you a chance to prove yourselves.”
The former bandits immediately panicked. “Don’t say that!”
“We’re just exhausted. The snow never stops, and we’ve been given so little to eat lately. We haven’t had a taste of meat in over half a month. We just have no energy left!”
“Exactly! And then we’re called useless parasites. Do you think I wanted to become a bandit? If it weren’t for those officials…”
The men protested indignantly. They were northerners, after all, with a fierce sense of pride. You could fight them, but if you insulted them, they would never let it go!
“Ah, hearing that, you’ve had a pretty hard time yourselves.” Xie Chengze feigned sympathy. “Very well. I’ll explain how to play ice hockey.”
This was ice hockey from Xie Chengze’s world, a sport rather like soccer on ice.
He simplified the rules. There would be two teams, with six players on each side. Wearing ice skates, they would use hockey sticks to strike a puck across the ice. Sending it into the other team’s goal would earn one point. The match would consist of three rounds, each lasting one hour. Whoever had more points when time ran out would win that round; winning two of the three rounds would win the match.
To both the former bandits and the soldiers, this was an entirely new and exciting game. The two sides exchanged looks and saw fierce fighting spirit in each other’s eyes.
“Here’s what we’ll do. Each side will choose the best players you can find who can move easily on the ice, and they’ll come train with me at the rink for a few days. Once you’re familiar with ice hockey, I’ll arrange a match just for you.”
“During that time, you can change players whenever you like. You can also come watch them train after you’re off duty.”
Xie Chengze tempted them step by step. “The winning side gets freshly slaughtered sheep to eat for three days, as much as you want. And that’s not all. The winning team’s top scorer will receive a gold disc, and the next-highest scorer a silver disc. The losing team’s top two scorers will get three days and two days off, respectively!”
At his words, the former bandits and soldiers grew even more excited!
Win, and they would get three days of fresh mutton, as well as gold. Even if they lost, their top scorer would get time off?
Fierce flames of determination blazed in the eyes of both sides.
They were definitely going to win this ice hockey game!!!
…
Learning that Xie Chengze planned to hold an ice hockey match and offer mutton as a prize, Shen Yuan couldn’t help asking, “Where are you going to buy sheep? Do you have enough money?”
In the depths of winter, meat was far scarcer than grain. Buying enough sheep to feed so many people would take considerable effort and silver. Wasn’t he already running low on money?
If he couldn’t produce the sheep, who knew what trouble those former bandits would stir up?
But Xie Chengze gave a mysterious smile and gestured with his lips toward the city gate. “Aren’t they right there?”
Shen Yuan turned. In men’s clothes, Sheng Yiren sat astride a tall horse, waving excitedly to them from a distance. Behind her came an impressive herd of more than thirty fat sheep.
He was taken aback. “Where did those sheep come from?”
“Traded coal to the Xiongnu for them!” Xie Chengze rubbed his chin, smiling wickedly. “With all this snow, they’re freezing out on the grasslands, too. They’ve got more mutton than they can eat, but coal is precious. Just a little coal can buy quite a few sheep!”
Coal sold to the common people for only a few copper coins per jin could be traded to the Xiongnu for sheep worth three thousand copper coins. No wonder merchants loved buying things up to resell. Making that middleman’s markup felt so fucking good!