Chapter 125 Duke Charles
There are three arenas in Anduntepu Port, two of which are owned by Old Joe's family, and the remaining one belongs to Andrew's family.
The one that Old Joe brought with them was one of his own warriors. His name translated into Chinese is "Victorious Lumba". It is said that a Warrior named Lumba won 99 consecutive games here and set a record in history, so the name was changed.
There were people selling tickets at the entrance of the Colosseum. One ticket cost three silver coins. Three silver coins may not seem like a lot, but an arena could accommodate thousands of people and there would be five or six performances every day, so the income was still very substantial.
When Zhao Xiao entered the arena, he found that it was extremely spacious. There was a circular flat area in the middle and stepped stands built around it. People could sit on them without their vision being blocked, which was very convenient.
They arrived a little late, and the stands were already full of people. In the central open space, a few women were performing a warm-up dance. They were wearing revealing skirts and twisting their bodies, causing the people on the stands to cheer.
It was the first time that Ge Zhongshun saw a woman dressed so lightly. His face turned as red as a cooked crab and he didn't dare to look up.
Old Joe took them to an exclusive viewing seat, which was spacious with a wide view, and waiters brought them red wine and snacks.
Soon the warm-up dance ended, and a man wearing a tall hat walked to the center. He spoke loudly, and the people in the stands suddenly cheered.
Zhao Xiao looked at Song Yutang, who shook his head and said he didn't understand either.
Old Joe translated for them: "This is Latin, the language used by the ancient Romans. It means that we are about to see a man vs. a bull."
Ge Zhongshun couldn't help but say, "What's the point of a fight between humans and cows..."
Soon he was speechless, for he saw a bull of unusual size being let out of a cage in the ground.
The bull had a black body and its horns were like two sharpened spears. It lowered its head and pawed the ground to gather strength, then suddenly rushed towards the audience seats nearby and hit the guardrail hard, causing the audience to exclaim.
"Oh my god..."
On the other side, a sturdy man was also released from the cage. He was not wearing any protective armor and was holding an ordinary spear in his hand.
Zhao Xiao asked the two captains beside him: "Can you two beat this bull with just one spear?"
Chen Jing said: "The bull is too strong. If we can't kill it with one blow, we'll probably be gored to death."
Ge Zhongshun rubbed his hands and said, "We can give it a try."
The cow on the field noticed the man behind it and immediately changed its target and ran towards him.
The bull was running quite fast and its huge size caused a lot of dust to fly up when it ran, choking the person sitting at the bottom and making him cover his mouth and nose.
The man did not confront the bull head-on, but dodged left and right to avoid the bull's attacks.
The bull became more aggressive when it couldn't hit anyone, and kept digging in the mud and sand, increasing the frequency of its attacks.
The man and the bull fought like this for about half an hour. The man's strength was almost exhausted. If he continued fighting like this, he would definitely be caught up by the bull.
As the distance between the bull and the man got closer and closer, the cheers in the arena reached their peak.
"Kill him!"
“Kill it!”
Just when the bull was about to hit the man, he finally took action. He twisted his body at an extremely fast speed to avoid the bull's horns and stabbed the spear in his hand into the bull's neck!
The bull was in unbearable pain, and it neighed and shook off the man, running back and forth in the middle with the spear. Blood flowed down its neck and soon the ground was wet.
The people in the spectator stands cheered, and it seemed that many of them bet on someone to win.
The man in the audience was so tired that he rested his hands on his thighs. His body was covered with sweat and dirt, and he seemed to have turned into a mud man.
Just as he was about to celebrate his victory, the injured bull suddenly turned back and hit him hard on the back.
The sharp horns penetrated directly into the man's body, pushing him around on the field. The man let out a sharp cry and blood gushed out all over his head.
Song Yutang was so scared that he shouted, "Go and save them!"
Old Joe comforted him, "Don't panic, these people have signed a life and death agreement, and there is no way to end it before killing each other."
Song Yutang couldn't bear to watch such a bloody scene. He covered his mouth with his hands, his stomach churning.
The cheers from the people in the stands were getting louder and louder. Some were hoping that the cow would die first, others hoped that the man could hold on and it wouldn't matter if he died after getting off the stage.
Finally, with a dull thud, the bull fell to the ground, and the man on its head was dying, groaning weakly.
The referee walked forward to check, and finally ruled that the cow and the man died at the same time, and all the money from the bet went to the dealer.
The people in the stands groaned in disappointment, and during the halftime show, several slaves ran onto the stage, dragged the bodies of the cows and humans off the stage, and cleaned up the venue in preparation for the next show.
Song Yutang said anxiously: "That person is not dead, that person is not dead yet."
Old Qiao said, "They can't live without dying. The lives of these slaves are worthless. Sir Song doesn't need to care about them."
Zhao Xiao held Song Yutang down. In such a place, human life was worthless and it was not something they could interfere with.
The next scene was a fight between people, and the scene was even bloodier than the fight between people and cows.
Even though Zhao Xiao was used to seeing fighting on the battlefield, he still couldn't help frowning. Song Yutang couldn't bear it even more. This scene reminded him of the scene of himself killing with a sword, and he covered his mouth and vomited.
Zhao Xiao said: "Let's not watch it anymore. Let's go back."
Ge Zhongshun quickly supported Song Yutang, and the group walked out of the arena.
Old Joe followed the others out and said, "Would you like to have a drink? There's a pub owned by my family nearby."
As he was speaking, he was suddenly blocked by a group of people in front. These people were wearing leather armor, helmets on their heads, and holding sharp spears in their hands. They looked somewhat like regular soldiers.
"You who have come from afar in the East, our master wants to see you."
"Hey, you can't do this!" Old Joe stood in front of them.
Song Yutang asked in a low voice: "What do these people do?"
"This is the Andrew family's Cavaliers. Damn, why are they here..."
The Andrew family is one of the three major families in Andontepu Port. The current head of the family is named Charles, and he has always called himself the Duke.
The three families have been restraining each other for many years. Because of Reynold's sudden death, the Evans family and the Russell family have become closer and closer, which made Charles alert.
Especially after the appearance of this Eastern caravan, old John Russell made a lot of money. Hearing that this group of Eastern merchants was coming again, Duke Charles couldn't wait to meet these people and do business with them.
Zhao Xiao was not interested in the feud between the three families, but he hated being invited by someone with weapons.
"Master Song, tell them, is this how your master treats guests?"
After Song Yutang finished translating, the people on horseback didn't take these Oriental people seriously at all.
He walked to Zhao Xiao with his horse's belly between his legs and said condescendingly: "It is an honor for you that the Duke wants to see you, don't be ungrateful..."
Before he could finish his words, Zhao Xiao pulled him down and he fell heavily to the ground.
"No one has ever dared to speak to me in this tone."
The man was furious and was about to draw the knife from his waist to resist, but Zhao Xiao stepped on his hand and broke his wrist.
"Ah! I am the captain of the knights of Duke Charles, you...you can't do this to me..." The man rolled back and forth on the ground in pain.
Others held spears and prepared to rush over to rescue people.
"Stop! Do you want to declare war?" Old Joe finally couldn't stand it anymore. He asked his servants to call the servants in the arena, and a large group of people with weapons surrounded them.
The leading knight captain did not dare to cause any more trouble and hurried away with his subordinates.
"I'm so sorry to have scared you."
Song Yutang said: "It doesn't matter, these people are coming for us, it has nothing to do with you."
Old Joe wiped the sweat off his head and said, "You better be careful these days. Charles will definitely cause trouble for you again."
*
The next day Old John came to visit the manor.
Old John walked up and hugged Zhao Xiao warmly: "Zhao, long time no see."
"haven't seen you for a long time."
"I heard that Charles brought people to cause trouble for you yesterday?"
Old Joe said, "Yes, his knight captain stopped us and tried to take General Zhao away."
Old John said, "Do you need my help?"
Zhao Xiao shook his head: "No, we can handle it."
John smiled and said, "You don't know Charles. If you anger him, he will definitely find a chance to retaliate. The best way is to strike first. I can provide a hundred slaves to help."
Old Qiao said: "My people can also help..."
Zhao Xiao interrupted the two people's unison and said: "If you want to use me to deal with the Duke, you are wrong. I am here to do business, not to fight."
Song Yutang was stunned for a moment and quickly translated the words.
Sure enough, Old Joe and Old John looked at each other and their faces looked a little ugly after hearing this.
Old Qiao said, "General Zhao, you misunderstood. We didn't think so."
Zhao Xiao said in a distant tone: "Sorry for disturbing you these two days. Let's go back to the boat and rest." After that, he stood up and prepared to leave with his men.
"General Zhao!" Old Joe stretched out his hand to stop him, but when he saw Zhao Xiao's expression, he instantly lost his courage. He still remembered the scene of the Massa port being bombarded by artillery, and he did not dare to anger these Oriental people.
After everyone left, Old John looked a little unhappy: "I didn't expect he would find out."
Ni Qiao said in annoyance: "I told you not to underestimate these Orientals. If you anger them, the whole port will suffer."
"There is no time. Charles is clearly determined to be our enemy. He has the support of the Frankish Empire. We are no match for him."
"If all else fails, we can disguise ourselves as Charles' men and sneak onto the ship..."
*
On the way back, Song Yutang asked in confusion: "General, how did you guess that the two of them were using us?"
Zhao Xiao said: "I didn't know at first, but John came today and kept saying that he wanted to help us deal with that tea..."
"Charles."
"I have no grudge against him. Yesterday, I just said a few words to him. It's not worth it to fight to the death. They keep inciting me to be an enemy of Charles. I'm afraid they want to use our weapons to get rid of him."
Song Yutang nodded: "No wonder Antonio said that the Merchant of Venice is the most cunning fox."
Ge Zhongshun said angrily: "How could they do this? I thought he was a good guy!"
Song Yutang said: "Merchants value profit over friendship. In their eyes, there are only eternal interests, but no eternal friends."
Back on the ship, Zhao Xiao ordered the soldiers to step up their alert and patrol in four shifts every day. If anyone was found approaching the Hope, they would be killed without mercy. He was afraid that someone would take the opportunity to tamper with the Hope.
That night, a few small boats really approached quietly on the sea.
The soldiers on patrol warned the ships not to approach again.
As a result, those people still approached the Hope. Ge Zhongshun hurriedly ran into the cabin to report: "General, someone is coming!"
Zhao Xiao said: "No need to leave any alive, just kill them all."
"yes!"
The soldiers shot arrows and killed them all in a short time.
The next morning, the Duke named Charles actually came to visit on his own initiative.
(End of this chapter)
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