Sweep Yuan

Chapter 127 Yu Chunlai Displays His Unique Skills
"Marshal, there is one more thing I need to report."

Shi Shan had just finished inspecting the training of the Fourth Battalion and was about to get up and leave when Tang He suddenly mentioned that he had something to do.

"what's up?"

"Please wait a moment, Marshal, I'm going back to my room to get something."

Before long, Tang He returned carrying two wooden boxes, one large and one small. He opened them, handed them to Guo Ying, and then Guo Ying presented them to Shi Shan.

“Yesterday, the Ximen family of the herbal medicine shop in the East Market sent me these. I dared not keep them to myself, so I present them to the Marshal!”

The wooden boxes contained medicinal herbs; the smaller box contained ginseng, and the larger one contained deer antlers. The deer antlers were round and thick, and the ginseng was also quite large. Shi Shan did not count the numerous reeds scattered like stars, but he roughly estimated that they were at least thirty or forty years old.

After the news of Shi Shan proposing marriage to Liu Xingge's beloved daughter spread, the gentry of Haozhou became even more active. Those with daughters of marriageable age sent their daughters, and those without daughters also selected girls from close relatives and sent them to the Marshal's Mansion.

Shishan wasn't too picky. It was a political marriage, and the key was the cooperation between the two parties. As long as the other party could provide enough political resources, he would accept any woman they sent.

Those with excellent looks and character can be taken as concubines. Liu's daughter is not an option. For the time being, only Huang's daughter meets Shishan's requirements. The other women do not need to be returned. Such a large marshal's mansion always needs someone to manage it.

Although everything should be simplified during wartime, Liu was the intended mistress, and her father was the chief secretary, so some decorum was still necessary. Before consummating the marriage with her, it was not appropriate to mess with other women.

Before anything had even been done, Tang He was already eagerly offering him tonics, leaving Shi Shan speechless as he looked at Tang He.

"You're a local, so you can accept the gifts from the elders of the city. Why do you need to offer them to me?"

Tang moved slightly closer to the rocky hill, lowered his voice, and said:

"The Ximen family's daughter is quite beautiful and wants me to act as matchmaker to present her to the marshal."

The rumors about his lecherous nature are probably already circulating outside the secret passage in Shishan. He really is lecherous; he doesn't even look at ordinary women, yet he's not in a hurry to seduce them.

Don't talk about how beautiful women are the downfall of heroes. There are plenty of beautiful faces in this world. If you take every one you see, even if you had four kidneys and two guns, you still wouldn't be able to handle it all.

Moreover, the Ximen family has limited assets and a poor reputation; what resources do they have that would make him willing to form a marriage alliance with them?
Shi Shan guessed that this matter was mostly because the Ximen family intended to form a marriage alliance with Tang He, but this fellow did not dare to take the lead. Fortunately, the young lady of the Ximen family was quite beautiful, so he pretended to offer her to him to test the waters.

"No need. Since these medicines are a gift from the Ximen family, you can keep them."

"Then I will refuse them on behalf of the Marshal."

Tang He saw that Shi Shan's expression did not seem to be feigning, and knew that the marshal really had no such intention. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then thought that if the Ximen family continued to pester him, he might be able to go with the flow and marry Ximen Xiaoniang.

But a high-ranking military officer's marriage must be approved by the marshal. How will that be explained?
Furthermore, although he had a house in the city, officers usually needed to stay in the barracks, and it would be a headache to find a place for him to live after he got married.

After leaving the camp of the Fourth Battalion, Shi Shan was also pondering the issue of his soldiers getting married.

Since he started his troops, except for the occasional time when he stayed in the government office because he was dealing with government affairs too late, he spent most of his time staying in the camp. With Shi Shan taking the lead, and due to the urgency of the combat mission, officers of all levels in the Red Flag Battalion were able to insist on eating, living and training with their soldiers.

This kind of high-intensity collective life is conducive to quickly building team spirit and can also better prevent officers from being lured and corrupted by wealthy families in the city. However, it goes against human nature and can only be maintained for a short time, not forever.

After Shishan gets married, he will inevitably spend a lot of time living in the Marshal's Mansion. It would be less convincing to require his senior officers to stay in the camp every day. You can't have a different woman to sleep with every day while others have to stay in the camp and suffer, can you?

To stabilize morale, it will be necessary to establish a system sooner or later to reward meritorious soldiers with mansions, marriages, and rest days.

As for the problem of wealthy families trying to win over military officers, it's not a good idea to keep blocking them. Tang He stays in the camp all day, but he still managed to get close to Ximen Sheng.
What Shishan needs to do is to prevent problems before they occur by improving its systems and organization.

……

The venue for the all-army competition was ultimately decided in the western suburbs because there simply wasn't enough space in the city to accommodate both military personnel and civilians.

To prepare for this military-civilian competition, Liu Xingge hadn't had much rest in the past few days and had been running around the entire Experience Department, finally managing to complete the relevant preparations before the event started.

The Yuan court only cared about collecting money and was indifferent to the people who toiled all year round. The lower classes were poorly clothed and starving, let alone had any cultural or entertainment life.

People in the city could spend a little money to watch variety shows and acrobatics during the Spring Festival; while people in the countryside could only gather to play boring games like "tying sheep intestines" (using paper ropes to tie knots to divine good or bad fortune) during the off-season, or listen to storytellers' tales at temple fairs.

Even for these low-cost activities, ordinary people rarely have the energy or spare money to participate.

Therefore, when people learned that the Red Flag Battalion was holding a temple fair where the people could watch the soldiers compete for free, and those with special skills could even compete on the same stage, and that the lowest six-point contestants could win a bushel of mixed grains, the people in both urban and rural areas were thrilled.

On the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, the people in the city ate a quick breakfast and then left the city through Linhuai Gate and Tushan Gate, organized by neighborhood.

Thanks to the city defense construction project some time ago, the people have gradually become accustomed to the new government's management model of dividing areas into zones, allowing people to enter and exit on time, and acting collectively. Although there are many people, including the elderly and children, the situation is still relatively orderly.

The villagers who lived further away got up even earlier. By the time they had gathered their friends and companions and arrived three miles outside the city, the Marshal's Mansion had already arranged for people at various key points to guide many of them who were visiting Haozhou City for the first time in their lives.

At each guidance point, a team of Red Flag Battalion soldiers was assigned to maintain order on site; two Yulin Battalion youths were also assigned to count the number of people and record information such as which village or community they came from and who the community leader was.

Anyone who provides information that does not match the facts will be detained first.

Because the Yuan army had extremely poor discipline and often killed innocent people to claim credit, the people had a deep-seated fear of the army. In addition, the Red Flag Battalion had just won a great victory, so no fool dared to cause trouble in such a situation.

The primary responsibility of these Red Flag Battalion soldiers was actually to protect the young soldiers of the Imperial Guard and to deter those with ill intentions.

After registration was completed, someone pointed out the location of the competition venue and its zone.

Regardless of whether they were from urban or rural areas, there were designated viewing areas. The city was divided into sections based on the "li" (neighborhood) and the countryside outside the city. The Marshal's Office had made arrangements in advance, and there were dedicated personnel on site to guide them to their respective areas.

Every hundred paces along the way, a small flag was planted, making it easy to spot and preventing people from getting lost. If someone did "deliberately take the wrong path," the patrolling cavalry would "teach" them how to find their way. If a traveling merchant from out of town sensed a business opportunity and no one could verify his identity, he would be led to a designated trading area after being checked to ensure he was not carrying any weapons.

Before the competition officially began, the Marshal's Mansion provided some money and supplies to encourage people from each spectator area to showcase their "special skills".

Even among the most simple and honest people, there are those with a lively and unconventional personality. Even without monetary rewards, these individuals are happy to perform their talents in public.

As a result, boxers, stick dancers, singers, and somersaulters performed one after another, constantly drawing cheers and applause from onlookers. Even before the competition started, the scene was already bustling with excitement.

During this period, an unexpected incident occurred at the western suburbs guidance point.

Among the crowd who came to join the fun was a stranger who had come with a horse. He claimed to be from Huaiyuan and had come to Haozhou to make a living. He had come to watch the open martial arts competition held by the Red Flag Camp.

Li Song was maintaining order at the scene. Seeing that the man had an extraordinary appearance and a very strong horse, he dared not be careless. He explained the Red Flag Battalion's conscription rules to him and repeatedly told him not to cause trouble. He then specially arranged for someone to "escort" Huaiyuan Han to the viewing area where the villagers in the west of the city were.

At this moment, the various battalions of the Red Flag Battalion were just lining up to leave the city. Their majestic military bearing and (relatively) orderly formations were in stark contrast to the undisciplined Yuan army they had seen before. The villagers in the western part of the city, who were seeing such military bearing for the first time, were so shocked that they dared not utter a word.

"Only with such a powerful army could we possibly defeat tens of thousands of government troops head-on. Excellent! Very good!"

The man from Huaiyuan suddenly cheered, startling the villagers from the western part of the city. They quickly realized what was happening and joined in the cheering.

"Okay, okay!"

The cheers started from the villagers in the west of the city and gradually spread to all the spectator areas. In particular, the people in the city had witnessed the profound changes after Marshal Shi captured Haozhou and understood the differences between the old and new armies the best, so they cheered the loudest.

At the Tushan Gate on the west city wall, Huang Yanwen, a gentry from Haozhou, got the chance to watch the game with Shishan thanks to his youngest daughter—although his seat was much further back than Liu Changshi's, and he couldn't even hear Shishan's whispers.

Seeing the enthusiastic welcome from the people for the Red Flag Battalion soldiers, Huang Yanwen stroked his beard and deliberately raised his voice, saying:
"Even at the height of the Yuan Dynasty, we probably never saw such a magnificent scene of the army and the people working together. Hahaha, the Marshal's military leadership and tactics are comparable to Yue Fei, and what's even more remarkable is the unity between the army and the people. With such a foundation, what can't we accomplish!"

Shishan pretended not to hear Huang Yanwen's low-level flattery and continued to praise Liu Xingge for handling the matter diligently. He instructed the man that the new regime should have a new look and, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Red Flag Battalion's public display, should also take some practical actions in civil affairs that are different from those of the Yuan Dynasty.

Liu Xingge knew that the Marshal also had many profound insights into civil affairs, so he adopted a receptive attitude and listened to Shi Shan's instructions.

While the two were discussing, the entire army had entered the arena, and the competition began.

First came the iron ball throwing competition, which was less entertaining, but the competition itself was not boring, and whenever there was a good result, the people cheered.

Next came the javelin throwing, which was much more entertaining and drew louder cheers.

Some ordinary people, confident in their strength, volunteered to participate, and one of them actually won fifth place in the iron ball throwing competition.

An awards ceremony was held immediately after each event. The spectators were extremely envious when they saw that this honest and simple man could actually go on stage with the Red Flag Battalion soldiers and even receive two bushels of grain. They regretted that they did not have such means.

The third event was archery, which Huaiyuan Han had been eager to participate in for a long time. He signed up and was placed in the second round.

After one round of the competition, the man stepped onto the field, but instead of taking an arrow, he picked up the bow used in the competition, tested the bowstring, and suddenly exerted force, making the ox-horn bow creak.

The supervising officer was about to reprimand him when he saw him loosen the bowstring, shake his head, and loudly proclaim:
"This bow is too soft, do you have a stronger bow?"

The supervising official was also perceptive; he knew this person had real skills and dared not make a decision on his own. He looked towards the gate of Tushan Mountain.

At the Tushan Gate, Shishan had already noticed the man's unusual behavior. The competition between soldiers and civilians, besides showcasing the Red Flag Battalion's image and winning popular support, also aimed to discover talent. He immediately shouted:
“Bring the precious carved bow and give it to that brave warrior.”

When the precious bow was delivered, the man tested the bowstring, then stretched out his arm and shouted "Open!" He drew the powerful three-stone bow to its fullest extent. Those in the spectator area who recognized the bow's strength immediately cheered.

Huaiyuan Han and others were delayed for quite some time by the time they had finished shooting their arrows. When this person returned to the field, he stepped back ten paces from his shooting position and used his boot heel to press against the boundary stone before drawing his bow.

whoosh-

The arrow whistled sharply through the air, splitting the shaft of the arrow that had been used by the predecessor in two, and driving it deep into the red silk of the bullseye.

Before the Red Flag Battalion soldiers on the sidelines could cheer, the second arrow had already left the bowstring and hit the bullseye of the adjacent target perfectly. The third arrow was even more amazing, deliberately grazing the edge of the gong and piercing the bullseye with a buzzing sound, while the sound of the gong was still vibrating in the air.

The man possessed superhuman strength, shooting arrow after arrow. In less than twenty breaths, he had fired six arrows in succession, and every single one hit the bullseye.

Such incredible skill caused even skilled archers like Fu Youde and Feng Guosheng to gasp in disbelief, let alone ordinary people.

"it is good!"

At the Tushan Gate, Shishan stood up and cheered.

"Okay!"

On the field, cheers soared to the sky.

After the cheers subsided, Huaiyuan Han returned the precious carved bow, clasped his hands in a fist salute at the Tushan Gate, and said in a booming voice:

"Marshal Shi! How was my archery?"

Shi Shan had also seen the archery skills of Fu Youde, Feng Guosheng, and others, all of whom were excellent, but compared to the men on the field, they still had a gap.

"Incredible skill! May I ask your name, brave warrior?"

"May spring always grace Huaiyuan!"

(End of this chapter)