The first event in the martial arts examination is riding and shooting, followed by infantry shooting, and the test venue is the large school field in the middle of the military camp. The staff of the examination room had already designated ten examination areas. They first shoveled out a straight line one foot wide, then erected two wooden stakes a hundred steps away, and then used ropes to hang an archery target on the beam.
There are ten such archery targets in each examination area, which can provide ten candidates for the test at the same time.
Each candidate has ten arrows. As long as they shoot outside the straight line, the examiner doesn't care no matter how they shoot. The candidate's final score is based on the total number of rings. If there is no arrow above the target, That's naturally zero points.
This examination method is fine for fixed-point shooting; but for mounted archery, it not only tests archery and riding skills, but also tests a candidate's control of horses, horse speed, and time.
What's even more difficult is that there was heavy wind and snow during this period, which caused the target hung by the rope to swing slowly in the wind, turning the archery target into a living target. Therefore, there were endless calls for the target to be fixed.
In just one day and one night, more than twenty waves of candidate representatives came to see the deputy examiners Shi Wansui and Shi Xiang. These people represented the will of many candidates and made requests to them to set a target.
In the big tent, Shi Wansui and Shi Xiang faced dozens of candidate representatives and refused to give in. Shi Wansui had a strong temper. He slapped the table and said angrily: "Don't do this to me. Now every candidate will have to ejaculate." They are all moving targets, and they are not aimed at a certain person. What is there to object to? I feel that the more this is the case, the more it can test whether a person's archery skills are superb. I ask you, on the battlefield, the enemy will stand and shoot Do you shoot arrows?"
Before the candidates' representatives could speak, someone outside the tent said: "It's impossible!"
The representatives turned around in shock and saw Yang Ji and a white-haired old man wearing royal robes stepping into the tent.
When Shi Wansui and Shi Xiang saw the examiner Yang Ji appear, they finally breathed a sigh of relief, stood up and saluted: "I will see King Wei and King Ande at the end."
"No courtesy!" Yang Ji nodded to the two of them and strode to the main seat. After sitting down, he saw Qin Qiong, Shan Xiongxin, Zhai Rang and others were there. He asked Shi Wansui in confusion: "General Shi , tell me, what exactly happened?"
"These candidates asked for a fixed target." Shi Wansui explained the matter exactly as it was, and finally said: "The state has national laws, the family has family rules, and the military has military laws. The rules are the rules. I think this matter has been settled and there is no need to change it."
"That's it!" After hearing Shi Wansui's statement, Yang Ji nodded in agreement, and said to Qin Qiong, Shan Xiongxin, Zhai Rang and others with a stern face: "No commander likes to stab the soldiers, and neither do I, Yang Ji." Exception; if it were the eve of the war when the battle plan was issued, if any soldier dared to make such an insignificant and insignificant request to me, I would execute the soldier at least for the crime of shaking the morale of the army, and at worst, he would be executed. If his brigade and regiment were not like this, where would the military might, military law, and general authority be? How could he command tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of soldiers?"
"Although the martial arts competition is not a battlefield, and your request is not a big deal, the problem is that the rules have been set and the target has been set. If the requirements of the candidates are met this time, maybe they will go even further and ask for a hundred steps to be shortened to eighty. One step, fifty steps, thirty steps... In this case, wouldn't the martial arts become a child's play? So we must not let go of this bad habit."
After a pause, he continued to talk to everyone: "The government governs the officials, the government governs the people, and the commanders govern the army. They rely on strict laws, military regulations and other rules. They rely on officials and officers to enforce the law impartially. Otherwise, the world and the army will be ruined." It will be a mess, so the rules are the rules. If you become general officers in the future, you will understand this truth. And the so-called unfairness is that others have one thing and you have another thing; now since the conditions are the same, you have to take the test If you don't get good grades, others won't get good grades. There's nothing to argue about. Go back and tell those people that if anyone keeps nagging, get out of the barracks. Our Sui army doesn't need this kind of thing. A weakling who complains.”
"Well, we'll be convicted." Qin Qiong, Shan Xiongxin and others were not idiots. After listening to Yang Ji's words, they realized that they were really making trouble unreasonably, and they all surrendered to Yang Ji to plead guilty.
Is that the end? Shi Wansui and Shi Xiang's eyes widened in disbelief, and they looked at Yang Ji blankly. The difference was too big, right?
When they carefully thought about their handling methods, they understood the difference. When they faced the candidates' representatives, they would only forcefully say "impossible" and "dream", and then reject their requests. Therefore, they are not convinced either heartily or verbally. But Yang Ji reasoned with everyone and convinced them with his reason, so the effect was completely different.
However, in the Sui Dynasty where official ideology was prevalent and bureaucracy was serious, all civil and military officials were very high-handed. It cannot be said that there are no officials like Yang Ji who talk to candidates' representatives, but even if they are, they are very few. .
"General Shi! Candidates think that moving targets are difficult to shoot, and some may think that we are forcing others to do something difficult." Yang Ji said to Shi Wansui: "You and I might as well shoot a few arrows to let them know that there is a sky outside the sky, and there are people outside the world. , if they can’t do it, others may not be able to do it.”
Shi Wansui suddenly became interested and asked with a smile: "How to ejaculate?"
The world only knows Chang Sun Sheng who "kills two eagles with one stone", but they don't know that Yang Su, Shi Wansui and others are also people with amazing archery skills. Yang Jian used to like to ask ministers to compete in arrows at banquets, and Yang Su won the championship every time.
Shi Wansui's most outstanding performance was when he followed Liang Shiyan, the commander-in-chief of the march, to attack Yuchi Jun. He encountered a group of wild geese flying high on the road. Shi Wansui said to Liang Shiyan, "Please allow me to shoot the third goose." The bow shoots away, and the wild geese fall in response to the string. When Liang Shiyan saw this, he suddenly became interested and asked Shi Wansui to continue shooting at the wild geese that had become confused. As long as Liang Shiyan named which one to shoot, Shi Wansui would shoot down that one. All are sincerely convinced.
Yang Ji said: "There are ten archery targets in each examination area. At the same time, we all shoot from one horse. The first five arrows shoot at the target, and the last five arrows shoot at the rope. The target is scored by the number of rings, regardless of the rope. One point will be counted if the shot is broken or hit, and if there are no marks on the rope, it will be reset to zero."
"Interesting, interesting!" Shi Wansui said with a smile: "Since King Wei has such an elegance, I will follow it. However, since ancient times, there is no first in literature and no second in martial arts. If you compare it like this, it will lose a bit of flavor after all."
Yang Jixiao asked: "How to make it taste better?"
Shi Wansui said to Yang Ji: "The first five arrows remain unchanged, but the last five arrows are not limited in time. This means that if King Wei finishes shooting the first five arrows but I haven't started yet, you can rush to shoot the sixth arrow." , seventh, eighth target, and vice versa.”
"General Shi's method does have a bit of a competitive flavor." Yang Ji nodded and said in a consulting tone: "How about changing the distance to two hundred steps?"
"Okay!" Shi Wansui readily agreed.
Qin Qiong, Shan Xiongxin, Zhai Rang and other candidate representatives heard the two talking and laughing, and decided that this was an arrow contest that related to the dignity of the two commanders, and couldn't help but take a breath.
In fact, it is not difficult to shoot two hundred steps. As long as the bow is strong enough, it is not a problem to shoot five hundred or eight hundred steps. Legend has it that the highest record of a bow and arrow's shooting range is one thousand meters. But it's one thing to be able to shoot, and it's another thing to be successful.
After all, human eyesight is limited. If the distance is too far, you can't even see the object clearly, let alone hit it. Therefore, the limit for a bow and arrow to hit the target is generally within 150 steps. Only people with super vision can break through this limit.
They heard that the good archers in the army could shoot at most living creatures a hundred paces away. Those skilled archers could generally shoot at a hundred and twenty paces, but if they could hit a living creature as big as a rope two hundred paces away, they I have never heard of it, let alone seen it.
However, listening to Yang Ji and Shi Wansui's tone, they didn't even take the two hundred steps distance into their hearts.
If they can both hit the bullseye and the rope, then their archery skills would be too terrifying, right?
In fact, some people do have the talent to break through the limits of human beings, such as Qin Qiong, Yu Chigong, Shan Xiongxin and others.
It’s just that such “non-human beings” are rare to see in a hundred years, and even rarer to be born in the same era.
It was now four o'clock in the morning, almost an hour and a half before the last six o'clock of the exam. The candidates were all raising their spirits in the military tents. When they first heard that someone was competing with arrows, they were not very interested. This is because during this period, warriors gathered in the capital, and martial arts and archery contests became popular. Before entering the military camp, samurai competing in martial arts could be seen in various schools in the city. At first, people would still watch the battle, but after seeing more of it, few people went to watch.
In addition, the exam time is coming, who has such leisure?
But when they heard that the opponent was actually Yang Ji Shi Wansui, the soldiers and warriors in the camp became excited.
The former is a cutting-edge new commander, and the latter is a well-known veteran commander in Yu Nei. Their high levels, great achievements, and fame are beyond the reach of ordinary samurai. So they rushed to the school grounds one after another and surrounded the archery test area into a large circle with a sea of people.
In the examination room, they quickly took a hundred steps outside the straight line and drew another straight line. When the crowd of onlookers heard that the two men were going to shoot off or hit the rope at two hundred steps, they couldn't help but burst into exclamations.
The rope hanging the target is not small, but it can't be seen from two hundred paces away. How could it be possible to hit it?
Yang Xiong and Shi Xiang stood directly in front of the 'shooting range', with the widest view, while Yang Ji and Shi Wansui were in front of them on war horses. The two stood side by side, and as soon as they heard the order to start, they would draw an arc. , running sideways to release arrows from both ends, which adds to the competition of physical coordination, riding skills, horse control and other qualities.
Shi Xiang couldn't help but said to Yang Xiong: "King Ande, I saw King Wei's archery skills in Renshou Palace, but at that time the shooting range was short and the target was large, which did not reflect the level of archery skills. Do you think he won over General Shi?" ?”
Yang Xiong asked instead: "What do you think?"
Shi Xiang said: "General Shi is old and his eyesight is not as good as before, but he has a skillful hand, and his judgment of wind speed and other factors is deeply rooted in his bones; while King Wei has the advantage of being young and having good eyesight, but young people, The judgment and control of the indescribable perception is definitely not as good as that of the experienced General Shi. And today it is windy and snowy, and the distance is far, so I think King Wei has little hope of winning."
Yang Xiong stroked his beard and smiled: "That's the truth, but don't forget that King Wei is a man who is good at creating miracles. Nothing is impossible for him."
"King Wei is indeed good at creating miracles, but on the other hand, he is unstable and has not yet formed his own style. Moreover, archery relies on years of accumulation, and nothing can be achieved in vain." Shi Xiang said At this point, he smiled and said to Yang Xiong: "So, I still think that King Wei cannot defeat General Shi."
"Then let's have a small bet. Since you are optimistic about your surnamed Shi," Yang Xiong said with a smile, "then I will pay a thousand taels of gold and bet that our surnamed Yang will win."
"What a coincidence!" Shi Xiang laughed: "In that case, I'll take our surname as Shi."
"It's a deal!" Yang Xiong said.
On the playing field, Shi Wansui didn't feel nervous at all. He raised the bow in his hand to Yang Ji carelessly. Although his four-stone bow had long lost its luster and looked very old, it was because it belonged to The world-famous Shi Long live thing seemed to have an indescribable magical power in Yang Ji's eyes. After taking one look, he couldn't help but want to take another look.
Shi Wansui stroked the riding bow with his hand. His old body was full of vitality and vitality. He stared at Yang Ji and said slowly: "King Wei, are you ready?"
Yang Ji smiled and said: "Always be prepared." Although he was smiling, he didn't feel a little nervous in his heart. After all, the shadow of a famous tree did not allow him to be careless at all.
Shi Wansui's eyes did not blink for a moment, and he said in a loud voice: "King Wei, do you know how many Northern Qi, Nanchen, Turkic, and Kunzhou Qiang generals have died under my soul-losing bow over the past few decades? ?”
Without waiting for Yang Ji to answer, he spoke a series of names. The people he mentioned were all famous and powerful figures in the past. Finally, he said: "King Wei, you are destined to lose."
The moment Shi Wansui spoke, the surrounding soldiers and warriors all consciously became quiet. Listening to his words, they felt that his voice was full of murderous intent. Every time he said a word, some people's bodies became unconscious. Shiver.
Among the guards nearby, Liu Rumei, Zhang Chuchen, Murong Xianyue, Liu Xu and other women had cold sweat on their palms unknowingly.
It's no wonder they are so nervous.
Although this sudden competition was just entertainment before the martial arts competition, if it was really a competition in front of tens of thousands of soldiers and warriors, it would be related to Yang Ji's honor. How could they, those who were close to Yang Ji, not care about winning? burden? How could you just laugh it off?
In the past, He Ruobi defeated the Turkic archer in an arrow competition, which made him re-employed by the late emperor. Although it is not a confrontation between countries now, the Sui Dynasty was a dynasty that valued martial arts after all, and there were tens of thousands of people in it. Look, how could they not be anxious and nervous for Yang Ji?
At this time, after hearing about Shi Wansui's brilliant achievements in archery, his nervousness doubled.
"General Shi, have you ever heard of a poem?" Yang Ji didn't feel nervous at all. If he couldn't even tell that Shi Wansui was playing psychological warfare tactics, then there was no need to mess around, and he believed that Shi Wansui didn't care about the outcome. , because he is a general who has experienced hundreds of battles and knows that personal courage cannot make much trouble in a battle.
However, he still admires Shi Wansui in his heart. Generally, people with good archery skills are also masters of confusing people's minds. Only when others are confused can he take action. Otherwise, archery skills can only deal with ordinary people, and it will be extremely difficult. Injuring an expert with a strong sense of danger.
In addition to Shi Wansui, who among the archery masters such as Yang Su, Chang Sun Sheng, and Yang Yichen are not experts in psychological warfare?
"What poem?" Shi Wansui asked in surprise.
"You must have never heard of it. It doesn't mean that you are uneducated, because these are the two sentences that I just thought of." Yang Ji recited: "'The waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves in front, and the waves in front die on the beach'." There is talent in every generation. People come out, and each leads the way for hundreds of years."
Shi Wansui was not angry and smiled cheerfully: "Then I want to see if the front wave died on the beach, or if the back wave hit the front wave and was shattered."
A knight galloped up on his horse and shouted: "King Wei, General Shi, after three golden sounds, the competition officially begins!"
"When" the first golden sound struck, it hit the hearts of many spectators, and the school ground with tens of thousands of people became deathly silent.
"When" the second golden sound sounded, the audience suddenly felt a low murderous aura coming towards their faces. This chilling aura made some people in front feel uneasy and involuntarily backed away slowly.
"Dang!" As the third golden sound sounded, Yang Ji and Shi Wansui turned their horses' heads in unison and separated to the left and right.
Yang Ji's black war horse is better than Shi Wansui. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is the king of horses. Not only is it fast, but it is also extremely flexible when making U-turns and braking suddenly. It has a huge advantage. As soon as it was pinched, it immediately roared and rushed forward like a dragon descending from the earth.
Yang Ji galloped on the school field, making everyone feel an invisible majesty rushing towards them. This was the murderous aura accumulated on the battlefield. Every muscle in his body was ready to go. But he seemed to be very relaxed. Everywhere he passed, people nearby felt as if they were about to be attacked, as if Yang Jihui was shooting an arrow at him at any time, and everyone involuntarily took a step back.
When crossing the arc, the war horse turned south and then ran wildly to the southeast. In the moment of galloping sideways, Yang Ji, who was leaning on the horse, pulled out an armor-piercing arrow made of pure iron and bit it in He took out another wooden arrow from his mouth and ran more than 230 steps away.
A look of solemnity appeared on Yang Xiong's face as he looked closer. Although both sides of the arrow competition were from the same family, he hoped that his clan brother would be better than the one named Shi. This was not because he couldn't afford to lose the thousand taels of gold, but because of the difference between closeness and distance. . But Yang Ji's arrogance in placing his war horse dozens of steps away from the line really made him want to jump up and curse.
Why is this guy so crazy?
Yang Ji's horse was very fast, and he was close to the first target in an instant. However, when he was only more than thirty steps away from the target, he still did not release the arrow and continued to let the horse speed forward.
This is too conceited. Cheng Yaojin in the crowd couldn't help but slap his forehead heavily and begged: "My Royal Highness, King Wei, please hurry up and cum. I bet ten dollars on you." Woolen cloth!"
Yang Xiong and Shi Xiang made a bet, and Cheng Yaojin made a bet with Zhai Rang. They were not as rich as Yang Xiong and Shi Xiang, so they only bet ten dollars, but for ordinary people, ten dollars was definitely a big sum of money.
Shan Xiongxin's eyes were fixed on the arrow in Yang Ji's mouth. He was also a distant relative. Compared with Shi Wansui, who was a stranger to him, he naturally hoped that Yang Ji would win. He had seen Yang Ji's arrows very... It is complicated, including "light" bamboo arrows, wooden arrows, and large iron arrows made entirely of iron. However, these arrows are extremely heavy and cannot be carried by ordinary bows. And Yang Ji is currently two hundred and thirty steps away from the target in a straight line.
At such a distance, it was difficult for a fully-charged three-stone bow to 'send' the arrow to the target, so he felt that the arrow in Yang Ji's mouth was most likely an ordinary wooden arrow disguised as an iron arrow.
Just when there were still more than twenty steps away from the target, Yang Ji leaned to one side, opened his bow and fired an arrow. The wooden arrow was like a meteor chasing the moon, shooting towards the target. The moment the arrow came out of the string, He drew out another arrow, and when the horse was moving forward, he stretched his bow like a full moon with his arms and shot out an arrow. The arrow was shot to the second target, and then he shot the third and fourth target in the same way.
While Yang Ji was shooting, Shi Wansui also opened his bow and shot arrows. However, he was old after all, and his body flexibility and eyesight were not as good as those of young people, so he was not as arrogant as Yang Ji, but walked close to the line. Moreover, his horse was not as good as Yang Ji's, so when Yang Ji was shooting the third target, he was still shooting the second target. However, he was extremely steady and controlled the time very well. When Yang Ji was shooting the third target, he was still shooting the second target. When it came time to hit the target, he also rushed towards the third target. Next, too. Therefore, it is not far behind Yang Ji.
But just when the two were about to cross each other, Yang Ji took out an arrow and shot it at the fifth target. At the same moment as the arrow left the string, he let go of the iron arrow in his mouth, and the iron arrow It fell into his hands, he stretched the bow like a full moon with both arms, and shot the iron arrow like a black dragon towards his sixth target, which was Shi Wansui's fifth target.
Only the sound of "grabbing" was heard. The iron arrow nailed the rope on the beam. The rope was cut by the sharp edge of the arrow, causing the target to fall heavily to the ground. This also made Shi Wansui slow down by "half a beat" The fifth arrow missed.
When the two horses passed by each other, Yang Ji's arrows shot like lightning and shot the other four arrow targets to the ground. Shi Wansui also shot down Yang Ji's five shoes one by one.
There was silence all around, followed by a burst of earth-shattering shouts.
"Maybe I lost!" Shi Xiang said to Yang Xiong with a wry smile.
If Yang Ji's first five arrows and Shi Wansui's first four arrows all hit the bull's-eye, then Shi Wansui's fifth arrow missed the target.
Yang Xiong said: "Let's look at the score!"
Soon, a soldier keeping score excitedly shouted: "King Wei's five arrows hit the bull's-eye, General Shi's four arrows hit the bull's-eye, one arrow missed, and the ropes of the last five targets were all broken. King Wei is one point ahead." "
After a long time, applause, screams, and whistles sounded like thunder, and the cheers soared into the sky. Yang Ji and Shi Wansui's archery skills completely conquered them.
Liu Rumei, Zhang Chuchen, Liu Xu and other women clenched their pink fists, and tears of gratitude could not help but roll down from their eyes.
Yang Ji and Shi Wansui turned their horses and walked towards each other.
Shi Wansui laughed loudly on horseback, pointed at Yang Ji and praised: "'The waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves in front, and the waves in front die on the beach', I lost."
"I'm really ashamed!" Yang Ji bowed to Shi Wansui and said solemnly: "I relied on the power of the war horse, but I couldn't win with force. If it was a fair fight, the best I could do was draw with General Shi. .”
Regarding Yang Ji's statement, Shi Wansui shook his head disapprovingly: "To fight with the enemy, you use your own strengths to overcome the other's weaknesses. A fast and good horse is also a major advantage of one's own. If you don't use it and pursue the so-called It's just and fair, how is that different from Song Xianggong? Besides, you are two hundred and three steps away, and I am close to the two hundred step line, isn't this unfair to you?"
With achievements, prestige, and age reaching the level of Shi Wansui, he has long been indifferent to this kind of entertainment-like winning and losing. Otherwise, he would not have deliberately lost to the competitive He Ruobi.
What's more, if he loses in archery, is it possible that Yang Ji's ability to command troops exceeds his own when fighting in a large army?
not necessarily.
Therefore, this kind of competition is useless and meaningless for people of their level.
"The general is grand." Yang Ji also knew that what he said was reasonable. If you have an advantage and don't take advantage of it, that would be the stupidest thing to do.
