Green Mountain
Chapter 395 - 318, Brother Pao

Chapter 395: 318, Brother Pao

Yulin Army Commander’s Mansion.

Long covered buildings formed into the shape of the character "门" encircle the training field, with the left side housing stables, keeping the war horses of the Yulin Army; on the right is the government office, along with the storage area for military equipment.

Above the government office hangs a plaque with the golden characters "Loyalty and Diligence in Military Preparations." The couplet on the front reads, "Devising strategies with a three-foot sword," and "Serving the king with all one’s heart," though no one knows which flatterer wrote it, but the calligraphy isn’t bad.

Inside the office, Chen Ji sits behind the desk recording with a brush: "Duobao, tuition fee fifteen taels; Zhou Chong, tuition fee eight taels; Zhou Li, tuition fee five taels..."

With a slap, Qi Zhenzhuo hits the back of Zhou Li’s head: "Zhou Chong is because his family is strict, what’s your reason? You’re only paying five taels to learn real skills?"

Zhou Li replied helplessly: "Lord, my Zhou family can’t compare to your Qi family, my monthly salary is only ten taels."

"You haven’t been to the Eight Great Hutongs any less!" Qi Zhenzhuo said to Chen Ji: "Master, mark him for ten taels!"

Chen Ji smiled gently and said, "No need, if everyone has to give all their silver for tuition fees, how can they live?"

Saying that, he wrote in the account book: "Zhou Li, nine taels."

Chen Ji flipped through the account book and silently calculated: The Yulin Army returning from Guyuan, excluding him, totals thirty-seven people, collecting a total of five hundred seventy taels of tuition monthly.

If at this speed, in two years, they could save enough for a stripe, and in eight more years, they could enter the Seeking Dao Realm. A Grand Official at twenty-six years old in the Seeking Dao Realm would be enough to establish oneself.

But Chen Ji couldn’t wait that long.

Qi Zhenzhuo saw him frowning silently and assumed he thought it was too little, softly explaining: "Master, those who are sent by their families to the Yulin Army aren’t really favored at home, just a stable position without causing trouble is enough, they don’t have much money. Those truly skilled and favored are sent to academies. Now that everyone has returned from Guyuan, it’s like they’ve awakened from a dream, they’re eager to make achievements. If you think the silver is too little now, we can embezzle military salaries to honor you when we become Generals later!"

Li Xuan angrily said, "What nonsense are you saying? If your intention is to embezzle military salaries, don’t learn any skills now, to avoid harming others in the future."

Qi Zhenzhuo hurriedly explained: "I was just joking..."

Chen Ji stood up: "It’s not that I think it’s too little, I’m just thinking about what to teach."

Qi Zhenzhuo, seeing Chen Ji close the account book, eagerly asked: "Master, you could teach your skill in hitting the bull’s eye at long distance with archery, or perhaps your skills with handling the lance?"

Chen Ji stood behind the desk, pondering, his fingers tapping on the desk repeatedly.

Qi Zhenzhuo, seeing him silent for a long time, anxiously waved a hand in front of Chen Ji’s face.

Chen Ji suddenly said: "First learn battle formations."

Qi Zhenzhuo raised his eyebrows: "Battle formations? Why learn battle formations? We already know formations, we regularly train Three Talents Formation and Plum Blossom Formation... You never used formations before, Master?"

Li Xuan glanced at him: "Talking back again, don’t you remember?"

Qi Zhenzhuo shrank his neck: "I just think learning formations doesn’t look impressive, if during the autumn hunt we could show a hand at archery with long-distance accuracy it would be more impressive... Learning formations is learning formations, whatever the master teaches, I’ll learn."

Chen Ji stood up and walked out: "Martial skills need honing, for long-distance accuracy, one needs to shoot ten thousand arrows first. I won’t teach fancy stuff. Since I’ve taken your tuition fees, I should teach you skills to survive. Lord Li, fetch two sets of shields, four lances, one long spear, two tridents, a hard bow... and two bamboo poles each sixteen feet long."

Qi Zhenzhuo froze: "What is this? Bamboo poles?"

This time even Li Xuan was puzzled: "All the other things can be found, but what do you want bamboo poles for? Sixteen-foot bamboo poles are hard to find in the North, you’ll have to take a chance with the Qi Family Bamboo Forest."

Chen Ji made a sound of acknowledgment: "Go find them, we’ll talk once you have them."

Qi Zhenzhuo asked curiously: "Master, what kind of formation is so strange that it even requires bamboo poles? What is the name of this formation?"

Chen Ji casually replied: "Mandarin Duck Formation."

The Yulin Army looked at each other in silence.

Mandarin Duck Formation? Never heard of it.

Qi Zhenzhuo muttered softly: "The name is so strange, not imposing at all."

Chen Ji did not explain further, this not imposing name actually represented the last glory of infantry formations in the cold weapons era.

Qi’s Army treated the Mandarin Duck Formation as their ultimate skill, winning nine battles out of nine.

He waved his hand: "Go look for the bamboo poles."

Qi Zhenzhuo rode off and did not return until evening.

He was seen carrying two bamboo poles of uneven lengths, one twelve feet, the other eleven feet. He dismounted and handed the reins to a hand of the Yulin Army.

Li Xuan took a glance at the bamboo poles: "Not long enough."

Qi Zhenzhuo looked at Li Xuan with difficulty: "Brother-in-law, you’ve been to our family’s bamboo forest. I searched the entire Qi Family Bamboo Forest, and these two are the longest, I brought them all... Father and the old man love that bamboo forest the most, always saying it represents the literary spirit of the Qi family, if they find out I chopped down the tallest two, they might chop me down!"

Li Xuan’s expression became stern: "You didn’t get seen chopping the bamboo, did you?"

Qi Zhenzhuo chuckled: "Don’t worry, I avoided people, otherwise how would I dawdle until now? Hmm, where’s my master?"

Li Xuan explained: "He left just after the evening, saying he’s going to Tianqiao to watch some wrestling techniques."

Qi Zhenzhuo was puzzled: "What’s there to see? A group of rough men tangled together, it’s ugly to death."

At this moment, not far away, Chen Wenren, who was chatting idly under the stable to cool off, stopped his conversation and turned to look at Qi Zhenzhuo, who was carrying bamboo and was stuffing two bamboo poles into the hands of Duobao and Li Cen.

Someone whispered, "What are they doing, playing house with bamboo?"

Chen Wenren frowned, "Our Yulin Army is the Imperial Guard, how can we be so childish? Nonsense!"

Someone beside him teased loudly, "Qi Zhenzhuo, are you volunteering to clean the training field today to sweep the dust? Your instructor is fun, not even giving you a handy weapon?"

Duobao and Li Cen exchanged a glance, awkwardly turned their heads: "Lord Li, can we switch to other weapons? Both of us are quite good with spears. When we were in Guyuan, we picked up the Heavenly Strategy Army’s long spears and cooperated to kill over ten people."

Li Xuan took a deep breath: "You all returned from Guyuan together. There were five hundred of us when we left, only thirty-seven returned. As long as you can survive and kill the enemy, don’t care about losing face. Look at the Dandy Army under the stable, that’s how you used to be, living like them is what’s truly shameful."

At this moment, louder mocking voices came from under the stable, someone holding a bamboo broom imitating the antics of Duobao and Li Cen, like a clown on stage.

Li Xuan gave a cold glance: "Ignore them, you all know Chen Ji’s skills, he wouldn’t joke about such things with everyone. Follow him and train well. If you can really achieve something, I’ll lead you to join the Longevity Army, where is the place for real men."

...

...

Entering the Imperial Capital from the south requires passing through Yongding Gate.

Once through Yongding Gate, there is the Heavenly Temple and Mountain and River Altar, where temple fairs are held regularly, considered one of the most bustling places in the capital. But if any parents heard their children went to Tianqiao, they would definitely scold them, saying "respectable families are not allowed to go to such places."

Chen Ji walked among the bustling crowd, with the smell of cow dung and the sound of street vendors all around.

A man wielding a red-tasselled spear was surrounded by spectators, the man pressed the spear tip against his throat and bent the spear shaft forcefully.

As a boy next to him walked in circles, beating a copper gong, shouting: "Ladies and gentlemen, those with money can support with money, those with people can support with people, one cent is not too little, a hundred is not too much..."

As he spoke, the spectators quickly dispersed, leaving only two or three copper coins in the gong.

An old man laughed, "You can tell he’s an honest man who just came to the capital to sell his skills, next time he should be smarter, hasn’t he heard of ’all talk and no action’?"

The honest man put away the red-tasselled spear and humbly asked, "May I ask, elder, what is ’all talk and no action’?"

The old man continued teasing, "You should collect money before pressing the spear tip, when the audience is anxious with curiosity. Once you’ve done it, who will give you money? Look at Fatty Wang from the neighboring flying knife act, every day he says he will blindfold himself and throw knives at the red fruit on his daughter’s head, but he collects money before throwing the knives. Once he collects the money, he starts the act all over again. I’ve lived in Tianqiao for so many years and have never seen him actually let his daughter hold the red fruit."

The man asked in confusion, "Then, does he know how to do it?"

The old man laughed and cursed, "Even if he knows, he wouldn’t throw it at his own daughter!"

Chen Ji walked past the red-tasselled spear stall, seeing acts like flying knives, breaking stones on the chest, and holding large jars, the smell of stewed tripe filled the air. Laoshi Ji’s stewed tripe had already reached the eighth pot, and people were still queuing.

As he walked, a vendor passed with a shoulder pole, shouting: "Mugwort rice cake, freshly cooked mugwort rice cake!"

Chen Ji stepped aside to let him pass, then turned to see the liveliest area, surrounded by people in layers, unsure of what was inside.

He turned his head to observe, then went upstairs to a roadside tavern, standing at the second-floor railing to look down.

In the crowd, there were two bare-chested men, one with a full back tattoo, the blue ink extending from his neck to his wrist, his body glistening with oil in the setting sun.

The other man was clean, without tattoos or oil, his muscles seemed to stretch like silk.

In the field, someone shouted to the clean man: "Brother Pao, get him!"

Chen Ji observed with a calm demeanor, noticing that those surrounding the two men were not kind souls, one side had iron rulers and axes at their waists, while the other side had daggers a foot long, clearly divided.

A skinny old man, wearing black cloth shoes, slowly walked into the field.

His young henchmen held swords, spears, and staffs, positioned at the four corners of the field. This was a set place, non-wrestlers were not allowed in, trespassers would face three stabs and six holes.

The old man stood in the middle, confidently saying: "Today, Heji and Rui Fuxiang have invited you all to preside over justice for ’Li Shamao Alley’ business. Regardless of who wins or loses, accept your fate, don’t let the young and old laugh at you. Enough with the nonsense, let’s start."

Before he could turn around after stepping out of the field, exclamations of "Good!" erupted from Rui Fuxiang’s side.

Chen Ji silently watched as Brother Pao suddenly made his move, swiftly navigating behind his opponent to apply a rear naked choke.

Brother Pao used his forearm to compress the opponent’s carotid artery, his right hand locked onto his left wrist, rendering the opponent unable to break free no matter how he struggled.

In just a few seconds, the opponent fell into oxygen deprivation and fainted.

Chen Ji realized he didn’t need to watch anymore; Brother Pao already provided him with the answer he sought.

From ancient times, wrestling techniques have always included control moves, mostly similar. But before the nineteenth century, jujutsu and wrestling skills primarily focused on "control technique."

The emergence of "suffocation technique" marked a new form of art in jujutsu.

Brother Pao, we meet again.