Chapter 187
“Did Langjun write all this himself? It’s brilliant!” Meng Hun said as he flipped through Jiang Pengji’s proposal about the soldier’s training . Xu Ke then showed him her first draft with torment in his eyes .
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The excited man took a quick glimpse at it, fell into silence, and decided to put it aside .
“Coach Meng, please feel free to ask me if there’s any problem . ”
Meng Hun did not want to trouble Xu Ke any longer . He was relieved by Xu Ke’s peaceful tone throughout their conversation, and thus made a polite hand gesture to him . “Thank you, Xiaoyu . ” He was starting to like the boy already .
Although Xu Ke was completely unfamiliar with the military, he had made extra efforts in the designing the training . After his detailed explanation, Meng Hun had obtained most information they needed about the new force even before he officially met the soldiers .
The two did not chat much, and talked only about their work . Even so, during their interactions, the talented Xu Ke had learned much about fighting battles . He was especially skilled in internal affairs and arrangements, and was therefore intrigued by the logistics of wars .
It was true that food came before soldiers, for a well-thought out supply chain in a battle could determine the ultimate result of it . Obviously, Jiang Pengji wanted more than the victory of one fight . To assist her, Xu Ke knew he could not merely be a bookkeeper for a family––that would not suit his own ambitions, either .
He inquired to Meng Hun in that regard and the coach told him everything he knew . The grown up was not as educated as Xu Ke, yet his experience was equally as valuable as knowledge from books . As last, he recommended some relevant readings to him .
They talked until dusk, had a simple dinner, and then parted ways for their respective duties .
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Meanwhile, in the gambling house, Jiang Pengji was wearing all black and hiding the two rolls of bamboo slips in the shades of the storage room .
“Here we go…” She smiled . Everything was under control .
Her shadow vanished in the darkness of the night .
That evening, the gambling house was busy as usual . Gamesters did not care about how much the boss had lost recently; all their attention was on the money in their pockets .
Losing four thousand taels to Jiang Pengji was enough to make the boss faint on the spot . Soon, he heard about someone kidnapping the pretty captive in the storage room and injuring the guards on duty . At that moment, the boss thought he would die instantly at the news . Fortunately, he did not .
The two blows were not enough to kill his enthusiasm in squeezing money out from other gamesters . As long as he opened the gambling house, hundreds of pieces of silver would be his . With that belief, he paid for the physician and medicine for his guards and called others to replace their shifts temporarily .
“Big! It must be big!”
“No way! It has to be small!”
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Men were roaring in the lobby . A banker was wearing a smile on his face, trying to conceal his nervousness .
He opened the dice cup . Once again, it was three sixes . The banker won .
A bunch of gamesters were irked, and shouted that the he was cheating .
“Not again! This is the third time tonight! I’ve lost twenty taels already!”
“The last turn was three ones, and this time it is three sixes . Who are you trying to fake?”
“Give me back my money! I sold my land for it!”
The banker looked at them and despised them secretly . Every gambling house played tricks . Did they expect fair games there?
As the crowd was getting out of control, he gestured some guards to hold their wooden sticks for intimidation . The angry gamesters gradually became quiet; they could not fight those men .
The banker retained his composure . “It’s not our fault that you have bad luck . You can’t yell just because you’re not the ones who win . ”
In fact, he was uncertain of what to do next . If he continued to make them lose, even the unsuspecting guest would know something was wrong . However, he had no choice . The boss had ordered them to win all silver crumbles from the gamesters and, unlike their past practice of winning little by little, they must win as much as possible .
“Just leave if it suits you . ” The banker shook his head .
The people looked at one another, exchanged a look of, “What if we win the next turn?” and sat back around the table .
The banker made a silent “Tst!” sound .
Stupid people!
The noise of angry moans and excited shrieks resumed until dawn .
The sky was not fully bright . Dew was hanging on grass and leaves . The town gate was still locked, yet peasants were already waiting outside, preparing to sell their produce in the market .
Creak . When the gate opened, the people quietly queued up, went through checks one by one, and entered the town .
Clip-clop! Clip-clop! Horses were heard in the distance, while some peasants at the back were attentively counting the eggs in their baskets . They had collected them for days and had hurried to the market that morning, hoping to sell them for a good price .
“Stay clear!”
The peasants had taken a few steps aside when the horses approached, not supposing that they would run them over directly instead of turning away or stopping in front of the gate .
“Ouch!”
“Help!”
“My eggs! My eggs!”
“Who stepped on me? That hurt!”
The horses ignored the crowd, leaving a mess behind .