The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 87 Wu Jialiang Visits Dongmiaozi Village
Wu Jialiang rode his horse at full speed towards Dongmiaozi Village.

Today, Dongmiaozi Village is quite famous in the entire Jimo County. Well, it is a famous den of thieves.

Even the beggars in the county town knew that King Gong was entrenched in Dongmiaozi Village.

Ordinary people really don’t dare to come to this place!
Wu Jialiang had to be very brave to come here...

The seven of them rode their horses at full speed and arrived at the official road five miles away from Dongmiaozi Village. They saw a group of young farmers also heading towards Dongmiaozi Village.

Wu Jialiang couldn't help but stop his horse and asked, "Where are you going, fellow villagers?"

Seeing him dressed like a businessman, riding a horse, and accompanied by guards, the group of young farmers did not dare to neglect him and replied obediently: "Master, we are going to Dongmiaozi Village."

Wu Jialiang: "Isn't that a den of thieves? What are you doing there?"

The farmer replied, "Oh, what den of thieves? Only city dwellers are afraid of it. We country folk are not afraid of King Gong. King Gong has been very kind to us. He often sends us food and even invites an old immortal to teach us how to farm."

Wu Jialiang: "Okay, even if Prince Gong is a good man, why did you go to Dongmiaozi Village? Aren't you farming at home?"

Farmer: "We are going there to be apprentices."

Wu Jialiang asked curiously, "What are you learning?"

Farmer: "Learn to be a blacksmith."

Wu Jialiang: "It's better to farm at home than to learn this. Being a craftsman is not as good as being a farmer."

The farmers all laughed, "Master, you don't know, being a blacksmith for King Gong is much better than being a farmer. The wages are much higher. If one person in a family learns well and can forge a weapon that satisfies the immortal master, they will be immediately promoted. The wages they earn are more than enough to support the whole family. It makes money much faster than farming. Li Tiezhu from our village has become rich. This time we are following Li Tiezhu to Dongmiaozi Village."

One of the young men pointed at his nose and said proudly, "I'm Li Tiezhu. I've learned how to forge wolf-whip whisks, boring hammers, eyebrow-tipped knives, spear tips... I can make a lot of things. Master Xianjiang said I'm good enough, so Brother Qian immediately gave me a raise. Now I earn several strings of cash a month."

"Recently, a group of immortal craftsmen have arrived and are teaching us how to forge immortal firearms." Li Tiezhu said with longing, "The immortal craftsmen said that if I learn how to forge immortal firearms, my wages can be increased by another two taels of silver."

Wu Jialiang asked curiously, "Silver?"

Li Tiezhu: "Master Immortal Craftsman is good in every way except that he doesn't understand the money of us mortals. He always uses silver as money. We are used to it now. When Master Immortal Craftsman says two taels of silver, you should just think of it as two strings of cash. Besides, we don't want money. Even if we have money, we can't buy food. We all need Second Brother Qian to convert our wages into food and distribute it to us."

Wu Jialiang was speechless for a moment.

Wu Jialiang automatically ignored the two words "immortal craftsman" and "immortal firearms" and regarded them as nonsense of fools.

He was just thinking about the fact that the wages were more than enough to support his family, and if he learned new skills, he could get an extra two strings of cash in wages. He thought: Treating the craftsmen well means that they have to work hard to forge weapons. This is not surprising. I just don't know where King Gong gets so much money to pay the craftsmen so much.

No matter how many farmers he asked, they would not be able to figure out the reason. He whipped his horse's butt, passed the group of farmers, and sped towards Dongmiaozi Village.

Just as he ran a dozen meters, he heard Li Tiezhu singing behind him: "Morning ironwork, evening ironwork, making a pair of scissors for my sister. My sister asked me to rest, but I won't rest. I want to go home and ironwork at night... All of you follow me and learn. When you ironwork for King Gong, you must learn this song, otherwise your master will look down on you." A group of young farmers quickly followed Li Tiezhu's lead. Beginners, many of them sang left and right...

Wu Jialiang gasped, thinking, "Do you all want to exterminate my descendants?" No, I have to stay away from this group. Their weird song has such a strong rhythm, I'm almost getting used to it.

He rode his horse all the way, and the five-mile road passed by in a flash. Finally, he could see Dongmiaozi Village in front of him.

As soon as I arrived at the outskirts of the village, I saw a flat open space.

A large square frame had been drawn with stone powder on the clearing, covering at least ten acres. Two gates were propped up on either side with wooden frames, and rotten fishing nets were hung on the gates. (The modern goalposts Yue Wenxuan had put down had been taken back after the match to avoid occupying command space. The current goalposts were built by the villagers themselves.)
A group of young men were playing Cuju with their bare chests in the open space.

Cuju was not new to Wu Jialiang. When he was still following Song Jiang, he had a good brother named "The Prodigal Yanqing" who was good at it.

Wu Jialiang didn't plan to look at it for long. He just wanted to take a quick glance and then ride past. However, he didn't expect that when he took a quick glance, he would see something different.

A young man rushed towards the opposite goal with the ball. A defensive player came over and stretched out his foot to grab the ball, but failed... Instead, he used his shoulder to push the young man with the ball back several steps, and the ball left his feet.

The defender immediately snatched the ball away and laughed heartily: "Brother Wu Zhan, you are too weak. No matter how good your footwork is, you can't get past me."

Wu Zhan, who was pushed away, was quite angry: "Dashu, you son of a bitch, you squeezed me again!"

Dashu grinned and said, "I didn't kick you. I just bumped into you when we were scrambling for the ball. It's not a foul."

Wu Zhan was so angry that his mouth twisted, but there was nothing he could do.

Wu Jialiang was startled at this. He glanced across the field and saw more than ten players from each team, spread out across the field. From a bystander's perspective, he could clearly see they were divided into three levels...

Obviously, the front layer is responsible for attacking, the middle layer is responsible for organizing, and the last layer is responsible for defending the goal.

How can this be called Cuju? Is this a war?
Even the battle formation method was used!
King Gong's soldiers, even while playing Cuju, were using this method to train their physique and teamwork. It was truly terrifying. Such training required a tremendous amount of physical strength, and therefore a vast supply of food. Where did King Gong get such immense power? Was it through his monopolies on coal, iron, and salt?

He was staring at the court, lost in thought, when a group of sentries ran over and shouted, "Who are you? What brings you to Dongmiaozi Village?"

The rebel army had no sentries before, and Yue Wenxuan complained about this, saying that anyone could walk into the central army.

After Qi Jiguang took over the military training, this problem was remedied. Dongmiaozi Village is now patrolled all day long to maintain public order and arrest spies.

Wangjiazhuang Fort, the core location of the rebel army, is now heavily guarded.

Wu Jialiang lowered his voice and said, "I am Wu Yong, a friend of Prince Gong. Please let my brother know."

The sentry left a team of people to watch him and sent one person back to Wangjiazhuang Fort to pass the message. After a while, Gong Er Niangzi and Qian Zhuoqian came out with people, greeted Wu Jialiang, and walked towards Wangjiazhuang Fort...

(End of this chapter)