Chapter 135 Martial Arts Children’s Examination
The square in front of the palace is where officials stop their horses and unload their sedan chairs when going to court. It is also occasionally used as a military training ground for the imperial army. It covers a large area and is five times the size of the square in front of Ni's mansion. At this time, the huge square has been boarded up. Thousands of forbidden troops wearing light armor were divided into two circles: the inner and outer circles. The people watching the battle stopped in the outer circle, and the arena used for the competition was in the inner circle.
There were nine arenas in the imperial court for this children's competition, located in all directions and in the middle of the inner circle. The arena was not as tall as the arena set up by Ni Mansion. It was only three feet above the ground and no more than three feet square. However, it was different from the Ni Mansion Arena. What's more, all nine arenas are covered with yellow carpets, highlighting the royal majesty.
There is only one entrance to the competition, which is located due south. Chang Sheng and Yang Kai came from the west, so they had to go around to the south to enter.
When we walked from the outside to the south entrance, the entrance for the children's examination was almost over. Most of the young talents who participated in the martial arts examination had already entered and were waiting for the battle. Changsheng once again spotted Datou's figure at the entrance.
When he saw Da Tou, Da Tou was stuffing money into the baggage on his chest, and a sweaty young man had just walked away from him, holding a wooden sign and heading towards the entrance with anxiety.
"Brother Datou, what are you doing here?" Changsheng waved to Datou.
Hearing the call of longevity, Big Head bent over and squeezed through the crowd, "Little Taoist Priest, why are you here? Have you got your number plate? If you forgot to bring it, I have a spare here."
"You are too courageous. How dare you forge the number plate for the martial arts competition?" Chang Sheng said in a low voice.
"Hush, these number plates are all real. They were replaced at the entrance." Datou rushed to the guard guarding the entrance and nuzzled his mouth. "They took the initiative to find me, and the silver they received was divided into 91 cents."
While the two were talking, another latecomer appeared near the entrance. Seeing this person eagerly inspecting his surroundings, Datou knew that business was coming again, waved to Changsheng and Yang Kai, turned around and got into the crowd again.
At this time, there were still people queuing up behind, and Chang Sheng could not delay, so he and Yang Kai walked towards the entrance one after another. There was a school captain and more than a dozen forbidden troops guarding the entrance. There were seven tables on the right side of the passage. Behind the tables There were several officers sitting there. The officer in front took away the wooden sign presented by the candidate, and the officer behind him reissued the number plate with numbers.
The two walked into the square holding number plates with numbers, and were led by the school captain responsible for maintaining order.
After entering the queue, Changsheng lowered his head and looked at the number plate in his hand, 2137, which meant that more than 2000 people had entered the venue before him.
After joining the ranks, you are not allowed to talk to each other. If you whisper to each other, you will be reprimanded by the captain.
Not allowing martial arts candidates to talk privately may just be to keep the examination room serious and orderly. There may also be other considerations. When the number plates were replaced at the entrance, which number plate was in the hands of which sect was not recorded. This would eliminate favoritism and opportunism to the greatest extent.
Yesterday, the upper age limit for marriage competition was thirty years old, and the upper age limit for children's examination was twenty years old. Changsheng was confident and not nervous, but other candidates were not as calm as him. The imperial edict clearly stated that if the sect If you fail to qualify for the martial arts examination in both the child examination and the main examination, the sect will be forcibly dismissed by the court. This battle is not only related to your own face, but also related to the survival of the sect.
Although the martial arts test for children is not as brutal as the martial arts competition, the pressure from everyone is not small. There are now more than 2,100 people, and people are still being let in at the entrance. It should not be a big problem if it is 2,233. The number of people who won the martial arts examination in the first round was 240, almost one in ten. This means that after this battle, two thousand small sects will be forcibly dismissed by the court.
Regarding this competition, the imperial court has put some thought into it. All sects, large and small, have been notified, including Qingyun Mountain, which has been in decline for more than ten years, and Tiancan Sect, which has no people. There may be quite a few sects with similar circumstances.
The direct result after this battle was that there were only more than 200 Jianghu sects left from more than 2,000. The court's move was undoubtedly a bit unkind, but the Jianghu sects were indeed too complicated at the moment. The entire Tang Dynasty included Gyeonggi Province, Duji Province On average, there are more than a hundred large and small sects in each of the fifteen roads including Guannai Road and Henan Road, which is indeed too many.
The rules of the main examination are not clear yet. If the juniors who participate in the martial arts examination fail, the master may still win. If the master can win, he can also keep his sect.
Just as Changsheng was pondering, the hour had arrived and the entrance was closed.
The examiners took their respective positions. Since there were nine arenas set up for the preliminary examination, each arena had three examiners, namely officials from the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Ministry of War. There are also three examiners, served by the third deputy, that is, the minister.
The imperial examinations were presided over by the Ministry of Rites and assisted by the Ministry of Personnel. Only the Ministry of War was added to the military examinations, but the Ministry of Rites was still responsible for presiding over them.
The seats of the three examiners were located in the north. First, the Minister of Rites read out the taboos in the examination room, strict order, and more than a dozen of them. In summary, they were not allowed to cheat in violation of regulations, not to cause trouble, not to use weapons, and not to poison. If a hidden weapon is used, there are two ways to determine victory, either the opponent voluntarily admits defeat, or the opponent is knocked off the ring.
After reading out the rules and taboos of the martial arts competition, the Minister of Rites took out a wax-sealed piece of paper, which contained the emperor's handwriting, which stipulated the order of battles in the martial arts competition.
It is not a sequential battle, nor an odd-even battle, but a head-to-tail battle, that is, the first to enter the battle and the last to enter the battle, playing in order, retreating to the middle.
Once the battle order was announced, everyone couldn't help but whisper and discuss. However, most people still recognized this rule, so no one could cheat.
The rules were announced, and the school captain responsible for maintaining order began to lead people first and last, and went to nine arenas. Before taking the stage, the examiner recorded the number plate and the sect they belonged to, and then went on stage for the competition.
The invigilators in the nine arenas all have a gong in front of them. However, they do not sound the gong at the beginning of the competition. They will sound the gong only after the winner is determined. As soon as the gong sounds, the captain in charge of leading people will send two more people. , and the winners of the previous contests will be taken to the north and lined up to wait, and the losers will also be led away from the west by someone special.
Martial arts competitions are much faster than martial arts contests for marriage. It is not uncommon for a kick to determine the winner and a punch to determine the winner or loser. The three-foot-square arena is ten paces long and wide, which is not too small. It is enough for both parties to move around. A person can only fail in the arena because he is not good at his studies.
It makes sense not to allow children to use weapons. Banning the use of weapons can reduce unnecessary casualties. Moreover, weapons are only extensions of limbs. A real tiger will not become a sick cat because of the ban on weapons, but will instead be a poor scholar. People like to fight with weapons.
Changsheng was not tall, and there were too many people standing in front of him. He could not see clearly what was going on in each arena. He could only hear the sound of gongs coming continuously, and people standing behind were being taken away.
Da Tou also lied about his age and got into the children's examination. Because he was a dwarf, the sub-examiner could not make up his mind. After consulting the examiner, he finally decided to let him participate. After all, Da Tou was the only person from the Tianzan Sect to participate in the war, so he would not be allowed to participate. It is unreasonable to dismiss Tianchanmen.
If Datou participated in the main examination, it would not be easy to win, but he participated in the children's examination, and they were all young people under the age of twenty, so there would be no suspense in winning.
Soon Yang Kai was also taken away, followed closely by Chang Sheng.
When he followed the captain to the front of the queue, everyone standing in the front queue felt relieved, while the fat man who was about to fight him had his eyes wide open with a look of astonishment on his face.
Yang Kai and his opponent were taken to the arena in the northeast corner, while Chang Sheng and the fat man with a double chin were taken to the southeast arena.
"Tao, Tao, Tao, Tao, Taoist Priest..." The fat man wanted to talk to Changsheng, but he didn't know whether he was a stutterer or was stuttering because he was too nervous. Before he could finish speaking, the captain turned around and scolded him. , "No talking."
The two were brought in front of the examiner. The fat man stared at Changsheng nervously. When he reported his guru's name and Taoist name, the fat man collapsed instantly, trembling all over, crying, "I, I, I, really, really, it's all upside down." , fell down, eight, eight, eight lifetimes of bloody luck."
"Show your number plate and state the name of your master." the examiner urged.
"Come out, come out, come out, who, who, who can beat him, pass him, pass him..."
