Lin Xie and Qin Chengzu got into a carriage and left Baiyuan Garden, returning to Jiyun House.

  "That one knife of yours is truly not simple, the swift and fierce strike was extraordinary. I think that even among the people on Changshan Island, there are only a few who can withstand your knife," Qin Chengzu still savored the memory of Lin Xie's knife striking the plum branch in Baiyuan, and only asked Lin Xie when he returned to Jiyun House, "By the way, what kind of knife technique did you learn? The direct strike with a waist knife is quite rare."

  "I've made Mr. Qin laugh, what knife skills have I ever learned?" Lin Xie said with a smile, on this matter he could only continue to make up lies to make others more acceptable, "I liked reading miscellaneous books and learning miscellaneous skills since childhood, when I was young, I got a book called 'Practical Record of Slashing' which briefly talked about some methods for practicing slashing. At that time, I didn't take it seriously and practiced it as a physical exercise, and all along I didn't think there was anything special about it. It wasn't until after experiencing many things on Longshan Island that I felt it had some practical uses. After returning to Shiliang County, I wanted to find that book again to study it carefully, but I don't know where I lost it. During this time, relying on my vague memories, I organized some content, but there are still many omissions. Just as I was about to ask Mr. Qin for help to see if there were any deficiencies...". Then he let Liu Yue'er go inside and bring out the manuscript of his explanation of slashing techniques that he had organized.

  "You've been with Leopard all day, he's an expert with knives, what can I see that's lacking?" Qin Chengzu smiled and stood on the steps of the corridor waiting for Liu Yu'er to bring over the "Practical Record of Slashing" that Lin Xuan had copied from memory. He was curious about what kind of extraordinary book could make Lin Xuan, a seemingly weak scholar, have such great power with his knife.

  Qin Chengzu said that the leopard was Zhou Pu, a thorny leopard. In Qin Chengzu's gang of bandits, no one could beat Zhou Pu with a knife.

  The manuscript was brought over, very thin, only six or seven pages long, and it was completely different from the usual martial arts books that Qin Chengzu had seen. There were no illustrations of moves, nor any mention of techniques or routines. It would be more accurate to say that it was a record of key points for practicing splitting and striking rather than a martial arts book.

  "He hadn't actually split, I cautiously moved my hand and body to avoid being taken advantage of by the enemy; every day I need to practice until the enemy's sword and spear meet my body again and counterattack, making the enemy unprepared. Splitting requires strength, wounding people requires severity, otherwise it is easy to be injured by the enemy. Striking people requires striking vital points, a good striker not only needs to strike accurately but also with force. Often practicing against novice hands increases courage and experience, changes in virtual and real situations all come from actual combat experience, the more actual combat experience, the more opportunities to take advantage of momentum. Basic methods practice strength, changes in virtual and real situations, cannot be precise without actual combat, fancy moves and routines are useless. When actually splitting, you must adopt a continuous striking method, strike the enemy without hesitation, take advantage of the momentum to continuously strike and rush, do not retreat or jump, advance and retreat continuously. In hand-to-hand combat, it is both practice and not yielding, not showing mercy..."

  Qin Chengzu roughly flipped through the manuscript in his hand, which was only six pages long and filled with tiny characters. There were about 40 to 50 items listed, totaling around 3,000 to 4,000 words. However, what it described wasn't martial arts in the usual sense, but rather the key points of daily practice for striking techniques. It even explicitly rejected ordinary martial arts' fancy moves and routines as useless.

  If it were another martial artist, they might have to argue with Lin Xie: What kind of crappy swordsmanship is this?! Qin Chengzu and his men had been in the military and later became bandits. Their skills had long since polished away those useless fancy moves and routines they initially learned. Naturally, they recognized that this "Practical Striking Record" directly pointed out the key to striking techniques and taught methods for practicing them.

  Qin Chengzu had a deeper understanding, he was a scholar from a young age, and only abandoned his studies to join the military at the age of 30. Before that, he could only be said to have a strong physique, but after joining the army, he learned some basic boxing and sword fighting techniques in the military camp. When he joined the army, he didn't need to use his knife to fight on the battlefield, but it was only after becoming a bandit that he seriously practiced martial arts. In traditional martial arts terms, he didn't practice basic skills when he was young, and didn't train his muscles and bones well, so even if he trained hard at the age of 30, he would still be a useless person. However, Qin Chengzu led his troops to become bandits for ten years, and although his martial arts skills were far inferior to those of Zhou Pu and Fu Qinghe, he was still not afraid of seven or eight ordinary strong men, and when fighting with knives on the battlefield, he never fell behind; thinking back, he usually only practiced practical combat techniques.

  Qin Chengzu furrowed his brow, looking at Zhou Pu sitting under the eaves of the corridor, and said: "This slash technique is a knife technique, but it's a sharp knife technique specifically used to kill people... The practice method doesn't seem to be limited to using a waist knife. Do you think practicing with this method can work for a broadsword?"

  "This slash technique must have been created by a master in the military, and with some modifications, it can also be used to guide gun practice..." Zhou Pu said with certainty. Lin Xie wanted to incorporate the slashing technique he learned from later generations into the knife techniques of his time, so naturally, he had to ask Zhou Pu for advice on many aspects. Zhou Pu was already familiar with the thin six or seven pages of the manuscript of the slash technique and also verified it with the combat techniques he mastered, putting forward many suggestions for improvement. This manuscript can be said to have been jointly developed by Lin Xie and Zhou Pu, but it was attributed to an unknown predecessor under a pseudonym. How could he know that the original slashing technique was actually created by later generations of martial artists who borrowed from various combat techniques for military use?

  Qin Chengzu carefully reviewed the manuscript again, and when he encountered something he didn't understand, he asked Lin Fu and Zhou Pu to come over, and even pulled in Wu Qi. Together, they studied this "Record of Actual Combat" under the eaves of the corridor in front of the main hall. The more they pondered, the more flavorful it became, and before they knew it, night had fallen. They lit lanterns, and under the light, Zhou Pu and Wu Qi even began practicing their swordplay in the snowy courtyard. Liu Yue'er came over twice to ask if they could have dinner, but none of them felt hungry.

  "This slash technique can be used to guide the training of martial arts soldiers, and it's as easy as turning one's hand over...” Qin Chengzu judged and said, then asked Lin Fu, "Can I copy a copy back to Changshan Island?"

  "That's for sure, spending so much effort to organize it, not just for personal practice with the knife." Lin Xuan said with a smile. The chopping technique is still the most basic method of training soldiers, and persistent practice can only improve the individual soldier's ability to wield a weapon. To truly turn ordinary soldiers into elite troops, it's far from what can be explained in a thin book of six or seven pages. Lin Xuan had some experience from his past life, but different combat situations required greatly different training methods and tactics. Many of the training methods and tactics he remembered from his past life needed to be adjusted and modified, fortunately, Zhou Pu could provide him with enough experience in small-scale cold weapon tactics. Thinking that after the New Year's festival, he would officially take office as the warden of Jiang Island Prison, Lin Xuan still had some expectations in his heart. First, he could use the nearly two hundred guards of Jiang Island Prison as a testing ground for his military training.

  ***********************

  Qin Chengzu did not stay in Jiangning for the New Year's festival after all, and only stayed for one more day. Lin Jingzhong, on behalf of the Ji Yun Society, directly bought an old cargo ship with a black awning and two masts with silver, loaded it with rice, flour, cotton cloth, and a small amount of tea leaves, and set sail down the river to Chongzhou under the pretext of selling goods.

  This Wupeng boat will go directly to the sea, and cannot be used by hired sailors. Wu Qi took two of his men, Qin Chengzu, and one person who escorted Qin Chengzu to Jiangning, a total of five people, to drive the boat away from Jiangning.

  It's hard to imagine how Wu Qi and his men adapted to the life of a sailor after leaving their horses behind, Lin Xie calculated that it would take some time, Qin Chengzu and his men were doing well, and they could reach Changshan Island after the New Year. Fortunately, the winter sea was relatively calm, otherwise, even large ships like the double-masted Wu Peng old cargo ship couldn't avoid the risk of capsizing on the Yangzi River, after all, Changshan Island was a day and night's journey from the mouth of the Yangzi River.

  Qin Chengzu managed to get a few more ships from Xinpucheng, but they were all inland river boats that were not suitable for sea travel. There were even two oarless boats that had to be towed together to Changshan Island. Sailing long distances on the open ocean without using wind power and relying solely on human rowing would exhaust the sailors to death. These inland boats could only navigate within a range of tens of miles around the islands, and when the winds were strong, they had to return to the island to avoid the storm; Changshan Island still only had that one three-masted pirate ship that Lin and his men had originally captured for long-distance sea travel.

  Although there are ready-made ships for sale in Jiangning, considering the strong winds and waves near the coast, especially in summer, and even considering the possibility of confronting other pirate ships at sea as a warship, Lin Xie required that even if they had to rent a few old ships to transport goods first, the new ships they purchased must be sturdy enough to withstand the devastation of summer coastal winds and waves, no matter how many times the price.

  On the east bank of Longjiang Lake, which is connected to Xuanwu Lake, there is a shipyard under the jurisdiction of Jiangning Gongbu, which was the largest state-run shipbuilding base in the Great Viet Dynasty and had the ability to build large ships with eight masts and a load capacity of up to 20,000 or even 30,000 stones.

  Longjiang Shipyard not only built ships for the government, but also for private merchants and individuals. In its heyday, Longjiang Shipyard was said to have produced so many new boats with sails that they could cover the entire Dragon River Lake, which spanned over 10 miles in circumference.

  Since the Xie family rebellion, the imperial court had no intention and ability to mobilize naval ships from the East China Sea to raid the Xie family's territory. The shipbuilding funds allocated to Longjiang Shipyard were naturally cut off and used as military salaries for the Dongming Pacification Army. In addition, in recent years, the taxes and grains collected from the southeast have been mainly used for the war efforts in the southeast, and the grain transportation to Yanjing has become weak. The annual grain transportation volume has dropped from 8 million dan to less than one-third of that level. As a result, many grain ships in Jiangdong and Liangzhe have become idle. Longjiang Shipyard has hardly received any new ship orders in recent years. It's not just Longjiang Shipyard; other official and private shipyards in Jiangdong have also been struggling to survive. Official shipyards can barely hold on, while private shipyard owners have had to close down their businesses.

  These shipyards have always had several or even dozens of new ships that were either already built or about to be completed, but the buyers backed out or couldn't afford to pay for them, so they ended up stuck with these ships. Lin Jingzhong's task during this time was to inspect various official and private shipyards within the Jiangning Prefecture on behalf of Lin Xian, not only to select new ships that could be used for sea travel in the future but also to take advantage of the situation to lower the purchase price, as these new ships were stuck with the shipyards and couldn't be sold.

  These days, the tea shop run by Gu Tianqiao has been selling nearly two thousand catties of old tea provided by the Gu and Lin families in Jiangning City. Lin Xian has established a reputation for Ji Yun She in the provincial capital, and Zhang Yubo, the left commander of the Jiangning Prefecture, has also taken care of it. The tea shop did not encounter any major obstacles, and even the example money given to the patrol officers of the Military Affairs Department was half less than that of other shops. However, the daily profit for these days is only two taels of silver, which is already considered a fairly well-run tea shop in Jiangning.

  The tea shop will have to wait until next year for the new tea from Gu's family to be listed, but even if they sell well next year, Ji Yun Society can only make a net profit of about 2,000 taels of silver. Even if Lin Jingzhong still has nearly 7,000 taels of silver in his hands now, where else would he dare to spend it casually?

  A few days after the Lantern Festival, the people of Jiangning City were busy preparing for the New Year. Lin Xie personally went to Zhao Shuhan's residence to deliver New Year's gifts. Gu Wu Chen was embroiled in party struggles and refused to use Zhao Shuhan, which also made Lin Xie feel a bit guilty towards Zhao Shuhan. However, Zhao Shuhan suddenly opened up and knew that Lin Xie had done his best for him. In recent years, he had also seen through some things and his mood was not affected. Before and after the New Year, he either stayed at home writing books or came to Jiyun House to drink with Lin Xie, rarely going to the Jiangning Criminal Court.

  Except for New Year's Eve, Lin Mengde also came to invite Lin Xuan to attend the gathering of fellow villagers who stayed in Jiangning at the Dongyang Guild Hall on New Year's Eve. Lin Xuan first drank wine at Gu Wuchen's mansion and then went to the Dongyang Guild Hall to drink wine. He returned to Jiyun House, drunk, already deep into the night, listening to the sound of gongs and drums, and the cheers of the people in the alleys. A new year, Chongguan 9th year, had arrived like this.

  The New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is the most important festival for the people of this era. The first few days of the first month are concentrated with several important festivals, including the fifth day of the first month to welcome the God of Wealth, the eighth day of the first month for the Grain God Festival, the thirteenth day of the first month for the Lantern Day, and the fifteenth day of the first month for the Yuanxiao Festival. The festive atmosphere only gradually subsides until the eighteenth day of the first month, when the lanterns are taken down.

  The various government offices in Jiangning City resume their normal work, and those who need to go out to work can now do so. People can now travel to other places by boat or carriage. For both officials and ordinary people, the long holiday period of almost twenty days to a month finally comes to an end on this day, the eighteenth day of the first month.

  On this day, the official document appointing Lin as the Jiangdong Provincial Inspector and Jail Warden is formally delivered into his hands.

  *****************

  P.S: Looking for red envelopes.