Traveling back to the Northern Song Dynasty: Picking up a princess as my wife

Manager Sun and Steward Cui were led into the main village by the guards. At that moment, they saw hundreds of soldiers from Li Family Village practicing the military tactics brought by Li Zhen. If a modern Chinese person were present, it would not be difficult to see that the so-called military tactics of these people were actually the military boxing of the Chinese army.

Don't underestimate the power of military boxing. It's a practical martial art originating from ancient Chinese military training. Through long-term military practice and innovation, it has gradually developed into a systematic training method. Military boxing's movements are simple and easy to learn, emphasizing practicality and combat effectiveness, aiming to improve soldiers' combat and survivability.

The origins of military boxing can be traced back to ancient Chinese military training. Its movement design emphasizes practicality, with each movement serving a specific combat purpose. For example, the "horse stance punch" mimics the charging motion of a horse, aiming to improve a soldier's impact and explosive power. Furthermore, military boxing emphasizes body coordination and flexibility, using various rotations and jumps to enhance soldiers' coordination and agility to cope with complex combat environments.

Military boxing includes combinations of punches, kicks, grappling, and disarming techniques such as disarming opponents of knives and guns. A standard military boxing routine comprises over twenty basic movements, each with its specific name and application. These movements not only require accuracy in form but also emphasize the generation of internal power and coordination of breathing.

Watching the strange, powerful fist techniques, the two couldn't help but feel a sense of fear towards Li Family Village. Although many landlords and powerful families in this era liked to gather warriors, a formalized system like Li Family Village was very rare.

Li Zhen met the two in the reception room and warmly had jasmine tea, which he had taken out from his own space, served to them.

Li Zhen: "Hehehe, Brother Sun, what brings you here today? Don't leave yet. I just caught a few pheasants today, and I've already had them stewed."

Upon hearing Li Zhen's words, Manager Sun's mood immediately improved. He was so nervous because he was afraid that the Cui family would take away his grain business.

"Chief Li, it's been a long time since I've been here. I just happened to have some free time today, so I came to visit you and try your fine wine."

At this moment, the Cui family steward also stood up: "Hello, Chief Li. This is our first meeting. I am the Cui family steward. I have come to discuss business cooperation with you. I came in a bit of a hurry and brought some small gifts. Please don't mind them, Chief Li."

As he spoke, he took out a gift list from his sleeve and respectfully handed it to Li Zhen.

Li Zhen glanced at the list and was somewhat surprised, noticing many fine items: ten bolts of fine silk, two bolts of brocade, and even six gold bars. It seemed the Cui family had really gone all out this time, knowing Li Zhen's fondness for gold.

In fact, anyone with a discerning eye could easily find out that Chief Li had exchanged almost all the gold in every money exchange in Tangyin City. To wealthy people today, Li Zhen's actions seem incredibly foolish; silver is far superior, offering both liquidity and value retention. In this era, silver is generally considered better than gold, hence the limited circulation of gold. Little do they know that in modern times, gold is the true king.

Li Zhen casually placed the gift list on the table and said to the Cui family's butler, "Tell me, what do you want?"

When the Cui family steward heard Li Zhen ask this question, he finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Chief Li is a straightforward man. We want grain, the more refined rice and flour the better. Our Cui family's business is much larger than Manager Sun's. Let me put it this way, we have grain stores all the way to the capital in the north. We can handle any amount of grain Chief Li has with us."

Upon hearing this, Manager Sun became enraged and immediately jumped up from his chair: "What does your Cui family mean by this? I was the one who cooperated with Chief Li first. Aren't you openly trying to steal our Sun family's business? Fine, since your Cui family has been unjust first, don't blame our Sun family for being unjust. Although our Sun family is not as large as your Cui family, our shareholders are several powerful families. I don't believe that we, the combined forces, can't defeat you!"

Seeing this, Li Zhen smiled and pressed Manager Sun back into his chair: "Brother Sun, please calm down and listen to what they have to say."

The Cui family steward continued, "We've also considered the relationship between Chief Li and Manager Sun. So once we cooperate with Chief Li, as long as the Sun family's grain store is there, our Cui family won't sell the grain we purchase from you. You should know that our major clients are the military and local governments; we don't care about those small, scattered sales in small places."

This statement hits the nail on the head, clearly telling you they won't compete with you for market share. Their biggest market is the government; they don't care about the small amount of money from ordinary people. This also shows that the Cui family has considerable ambitions.

After pondering for a while, Li Zhen looked at Manager Sun and asked, "Brother Sun, what do you think?"

Although Manager Sun was somewhat angry, the steward's words made perfect sense. No matter how his family's grain store sold its grain, the Jin army and local governments could not interfere.

Manager Sun sighed and said, "Although I'm unwilling, I must say that your Cui family does have the strength. I just don't know if Chief Li's grain supply is enough for both of our families?"

Upon hearing this, Li Zhen laughed and arrogantly said, "Don't even mention the two of you, even if several more come, it wouldn't be a problem."

Hearing this, the two men breathed a sigh of relief. Had they known about such a large grain reserve, they wouldn't have been so worried. This also revealed the immense power of Li Zhen's family background. The Song and Jin dynasties had just fought a major war, and the Song had deployed heavy troops at various checkpoints to strictly prohibit grain from entering the northern regions. Under such circumstances, the fact that Li Zhen still possessed such a large grain reserve indicated that his family had military connections.

By this time, the discussion was almost over, and the delicious aroma of chicken wafted from the cafeteria.

Li Zhen smiled and stood up, inviting the two of them: "You two must be hungry after traveling all this way. Come on, let's eat and talk."

During the meal, Li Zhen brought out Erguotou again. As expected, the Cui family steward praised the liquor highly and, like Manager Sun, began to inquire about the sales rights of the liquor.

At this moment, Li Zhen had a large quantity of bulk Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) in his spatial storage, which pleased him. He pretended to be in a difficult position and agreed to the Cui family steward's request. However, Li Zhen repeatedly insisted that both the liquor and the grain must be traded in gold. This was nothing to the wealthy Cui family, who ran their own money exchange and had plenty of gold, a commodity not commonly circulated in the market.

Regarding grain sales, Li Zhen proposed that sales should not be made within the territory of the Song state, because he wanted to play a bigger game.

From the perspective of Manager Sun and Steward Cui, this was tantamount to a regional protection policy. After all, the Li family was located within the territory of the Song state, and if they were to sell their grain back to the Song state, wouldn't that be stealing their business?