Chapter 57

Chen Ergou, who had made a good life for himself, also knew how to be grateful. He knew that without Zhao Jin, he wouldn't be where he was today, so he would always go to the Zhao family's doorstep to kowtow and greet them during festivals.

Everyone understood that this ruffian wanted to use the pretext of gratitude to establish a connection with the Zhao family, but at least he had the heart to do so.

Using this connection, Zhao Jin arranged for Liu Yong, who had always wanted to join the underworld, to be sent over. Liu Yong usually stayed in the southern part of the city, where he was very envious of the lives of these underworld figures. This time, with this opportunity, he was so happy that he almost kowtowed to Zhao Jin.

Liu Yong also understood that the key to his success lay with Zhao Jin, so he worked diligently every day and even came to spar.

Speaking of the strength of a few people, Shi Manqiang was still strong, and his work at the blacksmith's shop had made him even stronger. With some basic techniques, even Zhao Jin had to put in some effort to win against him. Ji Xiang, on the other hand, became increasingly agile and flexible. Ji Xiang had much better insight than Shi Manqiang and was more outgoing, often seeking advice from Zhao Jin and others, and he never fell behind.

As time passed, Liu Yong's strength gradually lagged behind everyone else's, but he had his own strengths, which was his ruthlessness and increasing willingness to fight. When a person has no way out, some will become depressed, while others will become ruthless.

The one who progressed the fastest was Dong Bingfeng. After half a year, he could face Chen Sheng and Wang Zhaojing without falling behind and even caused Zhao Jin a lot of trouble.

After all, he was from a martial family, and from a young age, he had trained his body. After he got on the right path, his progress became very fast. At first, the two personal guards from the Dong family came with him, but later, they let Dong Bingfeng come alone.

Zhao Zhentang, who usually didn't care much about Zhao Jin's sparring, gave a rare instruction: "You can lose to anyone, but not to that Dong family boy."

Zhao Jin soon found out the reason: "Dong Jike looked down on everyone in the garrison, and his son is not as good as mine." This story from the past was still being passed down.

At the beginning, there were over a hundred young people who participated in the sparring at the cargo yard. Later, new people joined, and old ones left. The only ones who remained unchanged were these eight, plus Chen Hong and Mu Shulan, making ten in total.

The other young people either moved away with their families, or were busy making a living, or fell ill or died for other reasons. When Zhao Jin first heard the news of their deaths, he was shocked, but as he heard more, he realized that such things were actually quite common. Some were pierced by wooden splinters and died of tetanus, some drank cold water and died of stomach problems, some were sold to pay off debts, and some were kidnapped and sold, and no one knew where they went.

This outcome made Zhao Jin feel very disappointed. He had gathered these people and spent money on them every day, but in the end, only ten remained.

However, besides making ten friends, Zhao Jin and his group became very famous in and around Xuzhou City. Every day, more and more competitive young people joined the sparring. If the draw was good enough to prevent Zhao Jin and the others from meeting early, the final eight, four, and the champion were always them.

As the sparring went on, Zhao Jin could no longer remain undefeated, but he maintained a win rate of about 70% with his bravery and seriousness.

"First among the young men of Xuzhou," many people started to call Zhao Jin this.

It wasn't that Zhao Jin was particularly outstanding. In Xuzhou City, the children of poor families couldn't have good physical conditions, nor could they afford to hire martial artists to teach them. Moreover, literature was valued more than martial arts, so the children of wealthy families mostly studied literature. Zhao Jin and his group honed each other in the sparring at the cargo yard and never relaxed, so they naturally became stronger than others.

This sparring circle was protected by the elders of various families. Not to mention Wang Zhaojing's father, Zhao Jin and Chen Sheng's families could also act recklessly in most parts of Xuzhou City, so no one dared to come and disturb them, and no older children or ruffians came to cause trouble. This situation continued to exist.

In fact, by the third year, the sparring had become an internal competition among Zhao Jin and his small circle. The reason why new young people kept joining was that they still had hope of entering the top eight. Additionally, watching these strong fighters was more interesting than watching plays. Moreover, seeing the "golden boys and jade girls" was also appealing. Because of these attractions, adults often appeared around the cargo yard, and even ruffians set up betting stalls, but these stalls were smashed by Cheng Tongtou's people the next day.

Watching this was indeed more exciting than watching plays. Martial plays were just jumping around, but here, it was a real fight. Martial plays were performed in costumes, but when using weapons, they also wore armor.

As Zhao Jin and his group became stronger, the bamboo armor they originally used could no longer provide enough protection. The armor was damaged quickly, so they started to improve the leather and wooden plates on the bamboo armor. In the end, they used steel.

This design brought business to Shi Manqiang's blacksmith shop. The bamboo frame of the armor was changed to steel, and then covered with iron plates. Although it looked rough, the defense was much better. After the rough prototype was made, someone quickly decorated the exterior with leather.

The bamboo armor maker's business was also very prosperous. He was the best at making bamboo armor in Xuzhou City and knew many styles. Even families that didn't want their children to learn martial arts would buy a set to take home. Boys liked martial arts and were always happy to wear them. Even people from Haizhou and Yangzhou came to buy and sell them.

Most of the merchants and craftsmen in Xuzhou City were not as lucky as the bamboo armor maker. Some went to other places to make a living, and some lost everything.

Compared to the gradual decline of Xuzhou City, the Zhao family's life was getting better and better. As the people's lives declined, more people committed crimes, and more heads were to be cut off. Zhao Zhentang earned a lot from beheading, and Zhao Jin noticed that the monthly allowance his father gave to his mother was increasing. Once, when Zhao Zhentang was tipsy, he said more: "The world is bad, but the underground business is thriving."

With more underground business, the government received more bribes. The Chen family was even better off than the Zhao family.

With more cash in hand, Zhao Zhentang started lending money to earn interest. He bought a couple who had fled from a famine to work as servants, and He Cuifang also became more relaxed.

Xuzhou City was becoming more and more dilapidated, and no one wanted to come here, so the prefect could only serve one term. This had nothing to do with Zhao Jin, but when he was fourteen, the Yellow River outside the city flooded, and the flood entered the city, which scared Zhao Jin. He originally thought that the Yellow River flooding was far from him, but this time he realized that the flood was right next to him.

Because of this flood, Zhao Jin finally understood why the north of Xuzhou City was richer than the south. The north was at a higher elevation, so it suffered less from floods. There was only a thin layer of water in front of his house, but the cargo yard in the southwestern part of the city was already flooded.

The Yellow River outside Xuzhou City had a small flood every five years and a major flood every ten years. In the past, because Xuzhou was the hub of the Grand Canal, it could quickly recover after a flood, but now it couldn't.

After the flood receded, many mud houses in the southern part of the city collapsed, and the market was filled with more refugees and beggars, making the city even more dilapidated.

The owner of the shop that Zhao Xingzhen guarded came once in the winter of 1613 and sold the entire shop to Zhao Xingzhen for ten taels of silver.

Xuzhou City was declining, but the Zhao family was thriving. Zhao Xingzhen seemed to have nothing to do with these things. He silently guarded the back yard of the shop, which had become his home, but the shop remained the same. Several times, Zhao Zhentang suggested renovating it, but he refused.

Zhao Xingzhen's life was truly a straight line, teaching Zhao Jin martial arts and picking him up, and only occasionally taking him out of the city.

Zhao Xingzhen's health was getting worse. In the summer, he was still fine, but in the winter, he needed more rest and coughed up blood more often. The couple that Zhao Zhentang bought mostly served him.

However, Zhao Xingzhen devoted all his energy to Zhao Jin. After two years, Zhao Jin had completely mastered the techniques, and the only things left were familiarity and practical experience. Zhao Xingzhen started to spar with Zhao Jin and told him about the battles he had encountered every day.

When it was too cold to be outside, Zhao Xingzhen would sit at the door of the house, with a brazier in front and behind him, watching Zhao Jin train and telling stories.

The more they talked, the more Zhao Jin understood. He found that his uncle had a rich experience, having participated in two major battles, one to aid Korea against the Japanese and one to suppress Yang Yinglong in the southwest, and he had also fought against the Tartars on the northern border.