I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 118. Brother Guan is the present-day Guan Yu, Brother Lin is the present-day Yi De, and Brother Yue is the present-day Zilong.
Zhao Zicheng had just finished sparring with Guan Sheng, so naturally he wouldn't be wearing the long robes and wide sleeves of an official's uniform.

They used wooden weapons during their sparring, so they didn't need heavy iron armor to get in their way. Therefore, they simply wore the light leather armor of ordinary officers and strolled onto the parade ground to see what was going on.

Many of Guan Sheng's ordinary soldiers didn't recognize Zhao Zicheng; only mid- to high-ranking officers knew him. But all the soldiers recognized Guan Sheng, especially his signature long beard. The officers present all came forward to salute Guan Sheng and report the situation, but Guan Sheng gestured to stop them with a raised arm.

Guan Sheng knew that what Lord Zhao wanted to see was the most authentic recruitment assessment.

In the training ground in the center, where there was a pile of stone weights and powerful archery targets, a group of people were arguing noisily.

"How could you break your promise! Didn't we agree that if you could lift twice the weight of stone locks and draw a 300-pound bow, you would become a cavalry commander and receive triple the resettlement allowance!"

"Stop your noise, young man! The captain in charge of the sparring assessment has gone to eat. He'll make sure it's done after the marksmanship assessment is over this afternoon!"

Zhao Zicheng strolled over, gesturing to those around him not to disturb them, before asking, "What happened?"

Although the officer in charge of the verification was of low rank and not qualified to know Zhao Zicheng, he glanced up and saw Guan Sheng following behind Zhao Zicheng. He could guess that Zhao Zicheng must be an important person, so he quickly and respectfully explained:
"According to the assessment set by the commander, those who pass the tests of lifting stone weights and drawing a hard bow must wait until the afternoon to pass the final test of spear skills in order to serve as team leaders. These men from Daming Prefecture were getting impatient and asked if they could be exempted from the final test if they could lift double the stone weights. I... I was confused for a moment and, seeing that they couldn't lift them either, I just agreed without thinking, thinking that I could just watch them make a fool of themselves."

Zhao Zicheng nodded noncommittally; he was aware of this rule.

It's lunchtime now, and the officers in charge of the marksmanship practice assessments should all be eating. They can't engage in strenuous exercise immediately after lunch, so the daily assessments are all scheduled for the late afternoon. Those who pass will be granted the lowest-ranking officer status. Even if they fail the final practice assessment, as long as they pass the earlier ones, they can still be recruited as ordinary cavalry.

Few people passed the test in the past few days, so the person in charge of the assessment became somewhat lax. Just now, the visitor provoked him, and the officer in charge of the strength assessment, in a fit of pique and wanting to broaden his horizons, made some promises that exceeded his authority.

Zhao Zicheng then offered a fair assessment: "You were merely acting out of spite, and your words were meant to provoke me. You had no other malicious intent, so I won't punish you severely. But since you made a promise, you should keep it. Otherwise, wouldn't that undermine our army's credibility? Back then, Shang Yang moved a log to establish trust. He promised a reward of fifty gold pieces for moving a log from the south gate to the north gate, and he still kept his word."

This young man can draw a 300-pound bow and lift twice the weight of a stone weight, so he deserves three times the resettlement allowance—the extra money will be deducted from your military pay! Consider it a small punishment for making reckless promises.”

The resettlement allowance for ordinary cavalrymen was twenty strings of cash. Those who passed all the martial arts tests and were appointed as captains received sixty strings of cash. The difference of forty strings of cash was naturally deducted from the wages of those who made reckless promises, in order to maintain strict military discipline. It wasn't that Zhao Zicheng was short of these mere forty strings of cash.

The officer who was penalized didn't dare to say much, simply assuming it was a loss from a bet.

After Zhao Zicheng finished punishing Guan Sheng, he did not ask for the opinion of the other party in the dispute. Instead, he had Guan Sheng publicly reiterate the discipline and selection principles. Everything Zhao Zicheng did was not for individual cases, but for the sake of institutional rigor.

In large-scale military operations, military discipline must be strict, and the systems for recruiting and promoting soldiers must be even stricter.

After dealing with these institutional matters, he casually asked the strongman who had just lifted double the weight of the stone weights, "Where are you from? Judging from your age, you don't seem very old, probably about the same age as me."

The strong, muscular man, who was six feet tall, then bowed and said, "My name is Yue Fei, and I am from Xiangzhou. I will be twenty next year. When I was in Daming Prefecture, I heard that Jinan Prefecture was recruiting soldiers with generous rewards, so I came here with my teacher and younger brother."

Even before Yue Fei announced his name, Zhao Zicheng had already discerned that the man possessed extraordinary martial arts skills. After all, he could lift a 120-jin (60 kg) stone in each hand overhead, then slowly lower it, repeating this several times, and he could also draw a 300-jin (150 kg) hard bow. Such a warrior, even if unknown and unrecorded in history books, was still worthy of being given important responsibilities.

Even though Zhao Zicheng was mentally prepared, he still couldn't help but be shocked when he heard the name Yue Fei.

He had planned to take advantage of this recruitment drive to attract a wave of heroes and warriors who had been stranded on the Song-Liao border due to the war, and finally caught the biggest fish, without any doubt.

At the turn of the Northern and Southern Song dynasties, the era of heroes and valiant figures across the land came to an end.

Fortunately, Zhao Zicheng had been practicing martial arts for three years, and was particularly skilled in breathing techniques. No matter how agitated he was, he could still breathe evenly, and at most, he would take a deep breath, which was particularly deep and long.

Upon hearing the name Yue Fei, Zhao Zicheng was inhaling, and he maintained that inhalation for a minute, then exhaled slowly for a minute or two.

To avoid embarrassment, he simply paced slowly, walking back and forth around Yue Fei and his entourage to observe them.

Yue Fei was stared at coldly for three minutes. Being young and inexperienced, he began to feel uneasy.

Fortunately, Zhao Zicheng finally broke the silence: "You'll be of legal age next year? I should have been of legal age next year too, so in that sense, we're destined to meet. But the country is in great turmoil, and I had no choice but to take up my post two or three years early. What month is your birthday, young man?"

Yue Fei cupped his hands in greeting: "I was born on the fifteenth of the second month."

Zhao Zicheng did some calculations, then raised an eyebrow: "Didn't you say you weren't yet of legal age?"

Yue Fei: "It was the fifteenth day of the second month of the second year of Chongning."

Zhao Zicheng calculated again before nodding in satisfaction: "That's right. You're still younger than me. I was born in the twelfth month of the first year of Chongning. Young brother, didn't you want to be a squad leader? Now I'll give you a chance. Try your hand with me. You don't have to win. As long as it's a draw, I'll make you a captain, and I'll add another hundred strings of cash to your settlement allowance. I always keep my word."

Yue Fei was quite surprised to hear this: "You...aren't you a civil official?"

Zhao Zicheng said, "I am also fond of martial arts."

Yue Fei was quite clever; after a quick thought, he exclaimed in surprise, "You are Zhao Zicheng!"

"How dare you! How dare you address Lord Zhao by his name so casually?" A military officer immediately shouted, and even Guan Sheng couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and widen his eyes.

Yue Fei was young and had only ever made a living in the countryside. Although he had learned some martial arts, his only real combat experience was fighting bandits in his own prefecture. Seeing this display of power, he quickly backed down, saying, "I am not worthy to spar with you, Your Excellency."

Although I live in a remote rural area, I have heard that Your Excellency is a renowned hero of Jiangnan. Despite being a civil official, you single-handedly quelled the rebellion of Fang La, slaying a traitorous general amidst a vast army. My mentor and I came here from hundreds of miles away because we heard that Jinan Prefecture offered generous rewards for recruiting soldiers and that there was a wise ruler to serve under. How could we dare to be presumptuous!

Historically, Yue Fei was supposed to officially join the army at the beginning of next year, enlist as a "brave warrior" in Zhen Ding Prefecture, Hebei, to participate in the imperial army's northern expedition against the Liao Dynasty to recover Yan and Yun. However, due to the overall failure of the Liao expedition, Yue Fei's first military service did not result in any significant achievements.

The journey from Daming Prefecture north to Zhending Prefecture and east to Jinan Prefecture was roughly the same, both around 300 li. It was quite reasonable for Yue Fei to have started his career six months earlier than expected.

Zhao Zicheng's reputation and treatment clearly played a significant role in this.

Seeing that the other party was reserved, Zhao Zicheng didn't want to show too much favoritism, especially with so many people watching. A superior cannot casually display the carelessness of Emperor Wu of Han, who believed that "Your Majesty uses people like piling up firewood, and those who come later surpass you," lest it discourage the old man.

Even if it wasn't to avoid upsetting the elderly, Zhao Zicheng wanted to avoid incurring Yue Fei's hatred, as that would also be detrimental to Yue Fei's future development and growth.

He's only nineteen, after all, and many of his talents haven't been fully developed yet. Forcing him to grow too quickly isn't a good thing. Zhao Zicheng would never promote someone without principle. At the very least, Yue Fei should participate in the battle against Song Jiang. Only after he has made real contributions in battle should he be promoted, so that the people will be convinced.

Fortunately, Zhao Zicheng quickly thought it over and immediately found a ready-made excuse for a friendly spar: "Let's make friends through martial arts, what's the difference between superiors and inferiors? How straightforward! I just saw that you have good martial arts skills and are exceptionally talented, and I was just curious and wanted to try my hand at it."

Speaking of highly skilled generals, I have seen quite a few in my life. This General Guan, your martial arts surpass yours. When I pacified Fang La in Jiangnan, my subordinates Yang Zhi and Lin Chong were also exceptional. However, in my life, almost everyone I have seen is more than ten years older than me. It is rare to see one who is my age, or even a few months younger.

"I'd like to see if I'm the most skilled martial artist under twenty in the world! Take this!"

As Zhao Zicheng spoke, he swept his wooden model double-hooked spear across the ground, using the butt of the spear to send a long white waxwood stick flying towards Yue Fei.

The white waxwood staff was swept and spun rapidly. Yue Fei had no way to dodge, and his innate talent from years of training with spears and staffs was activated. He naturally turned slightly to the side, lifted his foot to deflect the force, and then reached out and caught the white waxwood staff, which was now spinning slightly slower.

For a moment, Zhao Zicheng was also slightly dazed, feeling that this scene was similar to the flying kick with the spinning knife handle that Zhao Wenzhuo had seen in later generations, combined with Messi's exquisite ball control. But Yue Fei's movements were obviously cleaner and more decisive, without the slightest hesitation.

"Good skills! Take this!" Zhao Zicheng was also genuinely eager to win, and his double-hooked spear moved like the wind, swiftly thrusting out close to Yue Fei's spear shaft.

Yue Fei dared not fully unleash his full potential in sparring with Shangguan, so his initial approach was naturally focused on parrying. He immediately swung his white waxwood staff horizontally, precisely blocking Zhao Zicheng's thrusting angle, attempting to deflect the attack outwards.

But just as the two spears clashed, Yue Fei felt an immense force emanating from Zhao Zicheng's spear shaft, directly colliding with his own. Even with Yue Fei's astonishing strength, he was caught off guard and nearly lost his grip due to the force.

"Lord Zhao's spear technique is indeed strange and extraordinary! It was clearly a swift thrust, as fast as thunder, but how come the force of the thrust was not great when they finally clashed, while the sweeping force was so abundant?"

Yue Fei narrowly deflected the attack, and he couldn't help but be secretly shocked and pondering.

But you can't blame him for that. It's not that his martial arts skills weren't good enough; he just suffered from a lack of experience. He had never seen a hook-and-sickle spear before, so he didn't know the difference between hook-and-sickle spear techniques and normal spear techniques.

Taking advantage of Yue Fei's momentary lapse in judgment, Zhao Zicheng launched a series of fierce attacks. While Yue Fei was desperately blocking his sweeping blows, Zhao Zicheng swiftly changed his sweeping motion to a pulling motion, yanking back against Yue Fei's spear shaft, ensuring that Yue Fei's attack rhythm was always a beat slower than his own.

Zhao Zicheng's spearhead had one of the two hooks on either side hooked into Yue Fei's spear shaft. With a sudden burst of power, Yue Fei lost his grip.

If it were any other master marksman, being ambushed like this by Zhao Zicheng would likely have caused them to drop their spears. But Yue Fei was exceptionally gifted; in the blink of an eye, his right hand, acting as the lead hand, briefly resisted and absorbed the force before decisively releasing it, while his left hand suddenly exerted force in the opposite direction.

The gun barrel, like a fully drawn bow, shot out towards Zhao Zicheng's face.

This sudden turn of events caught Zhao Zicheng completely off guard, even though he had practiced martial arts for several years, had extensive knowledge, and was skilled in various techniques of counterattack.

He leaped backward hastily, his footwork executed with extreme speed and agility, barely managing to dodge Yue Fei's rebounding staff. However, his previous hook-and-sickle spear attack was completely neutralized in this chaotic scramble.

If you don't dodge this, even if you're not seriously injured, you'll at least suffer a terrible injury, like when a bowstring is suddenly snapped after it's been fully drawn and the bow's wooden frame bounces off and hits your face.

Even after dodging, Zhao Zicheng could still feel a slight burning sensation on his face, along with a chilling, eerie wind. Perhaps it was a combination of the physical attack and the psychological pressure.

By taking advantage of this unexpected move, Yue Fei completely reversed the initial setback caused by a lack of experience in the first two moves.

By the fourth move, the two had engaged in a fair fight, with neither able to gain the upper hand through sneak attacks or trickery, and the fight became increasingly exhilarating.

After breaking out in a cold sweat, both Zhao Zicheng and Yue Fei became completely focused.
Zhao Zicheng no longer thought that "the other party is a future unparalleled general," and Yue Fei also disregarded the fact that the person in front of him was a member of the imperial family and a high-ranking official whose status was many times higher than his own.

Both sides focused on the matter at hand and displayed their martial arts skills to the fullest extent in the purest form. For a time, their spears moved like dragons, swift as lightning, and they dodged and parried with increasing ferocity.

Before long, the two had exchanged fifty moves, and as the fight continued, neither of them had the time to keep track of the count in their minds.

Finally, Yue Fei felt extremely hungry and his strength was gradually failing. He swept away Zhao Zicheng's spear and jumped back with all his might, admitting that he was no match for him.

Zhao Zicheng slammed his wooden double-hooked spear on the ground and exclaimed, "That was exhilarating! How could we stop now! You haven't lost yet! Of all the sparring matches I've ever had, today's was the most exhilarating! Although my first two shots were clever, your third shot's response was truly unexpected. For someone who can use such a risky move when sparring with Shangguan, you can't be a sycophant!"

The instinctive reactions of martial arts cannot be faked. Zhao Zicheng has always believed that martial arts reflect the person. When Yue Fei was about to be hit by the burst of short-range force and lose his weapon hook, he instinctively thought of turning the spear into a bow and rebounding it to injure the enemy. This alone shows that he respected the competition and did not hold back in terms of competitive spirit.

Yue Fei quickly bowed and explained, "My family is poor, and I have not had a proper meal during my travels here. I am truly hungry and have no strength to fight any longer."

"My argument with that captain earlier wasn't meant to cause trouble. I've simply heard that soldiers only receive wheat porridge upon enlistment. But if you enlist as a squad leader, you get to eat meat..."

Zhao Zicheng was taken aback upon hearing this.

It turns out that Yue Fei's earlier commotion, his insistence on passing the spear skills assessment before the officers had lunch, was all for the sake of getting a free meal of meat at lunchtime.

The aspirations of the poor are indeed so simple.

According to the History of the Song Dynasty, Yue Fei loved reading from a young age and had already read Zuo Zhuan and Sun Tzu's Art of War. Zhao Zicheng thought that he must at least be able to make a decent living.

"Why didn't you say so earlier! Come, all of you, have some wine with me!"

As Zhao Zicheng spoke, he instructed Guan Sheng to immediately set out wine and meat in the martial arts hall.

There is a good supply of meat in the military camp. Although it is usually given to officers, it can be made available at any time.

The variety of meats isn't that great; there's definitely not enough time to prepare meats like chickens and ducks that require immediate slaughter.

However, Yue Fei and his men were not particular about food; they were just glad to have meat to eat, and they didn't care about the type of meat.

Zhao Zicheng waved his hand, and the camp cooks immediately brought over three large pots used for stewing meat. One pot was stewing a whole sheep, another was stewing half a pig, and the last pot was stewing all the heart, liver, offal, and other scraps from both the sheep and the pig.

There were also several jars of cloudy wine, which were loosened and warmed on the charcoal stove after being sealed with mud.

It's already late September, so drinking warm wine is just right, and it also avoids the problem of fusel oil poisoning from cold, cloudy wine.

Many people in later generations drink homemade rice wine cold, unaware that they should learn from the ancients who brewed plum wine. They think that "rice wine is strong, and although it doesn't seem to have a high alcohol content, I get drunk without even realizing it." They believe this is a sign of the rice wine's richness and quality, but in reality, it's methanol poisoning.

Yue Fei was poor in his youth, and when he saw fine wine, he couldn't resist wanting to drink it. Zhao Zicheng, however, was strict about the rules and even hit Yue Fei's hand with a spoon.
"From now on, no cold wine is allowed in the army! People who drink too much cold wine will have trembling hands, which means they are poisoned. You must all remember this."

Yue Fei was naturally convinced and immediately admitted his mistake.

Guan Sheng, who was also fond of wine, had never paid attention to these principles before, so he couldn't help but ask, "When you're on a military campaign, the conditions are bound to be harsh wherever you go. Where can you find the opportunity to brew wine everywhere?"

Zhao Zi said, "If it is warmed and then cooled, there will be no problem. If the wine or water is boiled to about 20% of its original temperature, the poisonous gas will naturally evaporate."

Unable to explain precise temperatures to the ancients, he resorted to analogies using the cooking oil temperature that they could understand.

The oil temperature is 30 degrees Celsius for every 10% of the product, so 20% would be 60 degrees Celsius, which is close to the boiling point of methanol, without causing the ethanol to evaporate as well.

After giving his instructions, Zhao Zicheng knew that Yue Fei and his group were hungry and thirsty and would be impatient while waiting for the wine to be cooked, so he told everyone to eat meat first.

"What are you looking at? We can't drink the wine yet, let's eat the meat first. Didn't you just say you lost because you were hungry and couldn't muster the strength? Come on! After we've eaten and rested enough, Brother Yue, let's have another hundred rounds! Today we must have a good sparring match!"

Yue Fei glanced at his master Chen Guang, still hesitant.

He also knew that officials and scholars always observed proper etiquette when hosting banquets. Generally, there would be several rounds of drinks before the meal could begin; it was unheard of to start by stuffing oneself with food.
Seeing the hesitation of the crowd, Zhao Zicheng drew a dagger with a gold-plated sharkskin sheath and a gold-plated hilt from his belt, dipped it into the mutton pot, and held it with long chopsticks in his other hand.

With three swift strokes, he cut off a lamb leg bone from each of them, taking one for himself and gesturing for Chen Guang and Guan Sheng to each take one. Zhao Zicheng took a bite of the lamb leg with one hand, then handed the gold-handled dagger to Yue Fei with the other.

"Today, we don't distinguish between high and low status, only between elders and juniors. It's natural for me to cut the food for the elders, but do you expect me to do it for Brother Yue as well?"

The young Yue Fei, when encountering such an important figure, still harbored a degree of social anxiety. Seeing that Lord Zhao had spoken so earnestly, he couldn't help but feel warm inside. He quickly took the dagger, cleanly and efficiently chopped off a leg of lamb, and joined the other three in gnawing on it.

Zhao Zicheng patted Yue Fei on the shoulder with his clean, ungreasy hand:

“Brother Yue, your martial arts skills are similar to mine, so I’ll give you this dagger. Anyway, I also acquired it through capture. I heard that this dagger was a family heirloom of the King of Wuyue. The King of Wuyue had a lineage of descendants who had no noble title and had become maritime merchants for over a hundred years. When Hangzhou fell, Fang La killed their entire family. Later, I defeated Fang La and killed countless of his generals before I was able to search for their bodies and seize it.”

Yue Fei quickly put down the lamb leg, tears of gratitude streaming down his face: "I am but a nobody, though I have some martial arts skills, I am so grateful to the Prefect for recognizing and promoting me. I am truly deeply indebted to him!"

Zhao Zicheng waved his hand magnanimously: "Why bring this up? Let's eat first! Let's eat first!"

As he spoke, he took the lead, holding a leg of lamb in both hands, no longer caring about the greasiness, and began to devour it with great gusto.

He had sparred with Guan Sheng and Yue Fei earlier that day and was quite hungry, so he quickly devoured the skin and meat from an entire lamb leg bone. Only then did he wipe his mouth, grab a jar of warmed wine, and gulp it down, feigning drunkenness and laughing heartily:
"It's quite a coincidence that the scene today is quite similar to that in the story: Brother Guan's martial arts are superb, and his Green Dragon Crescent Blade is comparable to that of his grandfather, the Marquis of Hanshou."

I had a subordinate general named Lin Chong, who was once the instructor of spear and staff in the Imperial Guards of Tokyo. He had a connection with Brother Guan in the matter of killing Wang Lun. Brother Lin was known in the martial arts world as Leopard Head. In folk tales, Zhang Fei is also said to have a leopard head and round eyes. Isn't that a perfect match?
However, I am young, and I have rarely encountered any promising young men in my ranks. Meeting Brother Yue today is quite a stroke of fate. I observed that Brother Yue's spear technique is indeed sharp and swift, even surpassing that of Zhao Yun of Changshan—

I just heard from Brother Yue that they originally planned to try their luck in Zhen Ding Prefecture to serve under Lord Liu and enlist as brave warriors, but they saw that Jinan Prefecture offered better rewards, so they came here to give it a try. Zhen Ding Prefecture is the ancient Changshan County, isn't it? If Brother Yue were to make his fortune in Zhen Ding Prefecture, wouldn't that be a perfect coincidence?

Therefore, Brother Guan is my Yunchang, Brother Lin is my Yide, and Brother Yue is my Zilong. From now on, let us all unite to support the Song Dynasty, sweep away internal traitors, and defend against the Tartars! In times of crisis, we will face the national calamity together; in times of success, we will share in the wealth and honor!

The Song Dynasty had strict restrictions on who could refer to themselves as "I, the Orphan." Princes and dukes could definitely use this term, but it was very difficult for dukes and marquises to do so, as it was easy to offend them.

Although Zhao Zicheng had achieved the rank of Duke of the Founding County, he had always been very cautious and had never referred to himself as "I, the Lord".

Today, since there were no outsiders present, and in order to win people's hearts and appear approachable, and given the atmosphere had already been set, I temporarily used the word "lonely."

Upon hearing this, Yue Fei was still quite shocked: "I am already extremely ashamed to have been given the position of captain by the Prefect, how dare I call myself Zilong of today!"

Guan Sheng, who was standing on the other side, had also drunk some wine and his face was already flushed. This was mainly because he was prone to turning red after drinking, so he did not immediately decline the offer.

A vague thought crossed his mind: if that's the case, then in terms of heroes and valiant men, Lord Zhao is no less than Liu Bei. But something about this comparison just doesn't feel right.

(End of this chapter)