When Li Hao arrived at the western suburbs camp, he found that the military camp was different from what he had imagined. The entire camp was continuous and seemed like a small city.
When the two arrived, the guards of the camp saw that Gu Tingye was leading the group, so they let them go without stopping them.
As the carriage drove into the camp, Li Hao looked outside from the window, wanting to see what the elite imperial guards of the Song Dynasty looked like.
As a result, I was greatly disappointed at this glance. The soldiers that I could see were extremely lazy, had no morale, and seemed to have no energy at all.
After seeing Li Hao's expression, Gu Tingye said, "Isn't it different from what you imagined? It was the first time I came here and you were like this. I have heard about the relaxation of the imperial army, but in reality it is still shocking."
Li Hao asked: "Our subordinates are all like this. I think they are a little unreliable."
Gu Tingye said: "You have to go and see this for yourself and you will know."
Li Hao said angrily: "You still lie to me?"
After seeing that Gu Tingye didn't reply to his words, Li Hao didn't want to look outside anymore, so he started to close his eyes and rest.
After walking for a while, the carriage stopped. Li Hao opened his eyes and looked at Gu Tingye to indicate whether he was at the right place.
Gu Tingye turned around and got out of the car. Li Hao hurriedly followed. After getting off the carriage and looking in the direction Gu Tingye was walking, he saw that it was an independent barracks, separated from other areas by wooden walls.
After walking into the barracks, you can see the soldiers in the barracks training. Although the overall situation is not very neat, it is still much better than the people outside. Li Hao is very pleased to see it.
Then Gu Tingye introduced: "This barracks contains all the officers and soldiers of the Imperial Army. They are equipped according to the full strength of 2,500 people. The selected ones are all brave men of the Fourth Army. After simple training these days, they are still pretty good." of the past."
After saying that, he took Li Hao to visit the surrounding area. When he arrived at the archery range, Li Hao saw someone training and asked, "What is the standard score here?"
Gu Tingye said: "If a bow shoots sixty steps and produces twelve arrows, the one who hits eight arrows is considered first class, the one who hits six arrows is second class, and the one who hits four arrows is third class.
Every crossbow shoots one hundred and twenty steps and has twelve arrows. Ten arrows that hit are classified as first class, eight arrows that hit are classified as second class, and six arrows that hit are classified as third class.
The crossbowmen selected here are at least second-class or above. "
Li Hao roughly converted in his mind, which means that the effective range of the archer is 90 meters and the effective range of the crossbow is 180 meters, which sounds good.
Li Hao was not very interested in the data of ordinary crossbows, but he was very interested in the divine arm crossbow, a weapon that was rumored to be a killer in later generations, so he asked about the most powerful crossbows today.
Gu Tingye replied: "When it comes to power, it is of course the Eight Bull Crossbow. It can shoot a giant that is thousands of steps away and kill it if it touches it. However, its operation is cumbersome and it is generally used for attacking and defending cities. This This time we didn’t have it.”
After introducing the Eight Ox Crossbow, he stopped. Seeing this, Li Hao guessed that the Divine Arm Crossbow had not been developed at this time, otherwise Gu Tingye would not have mentioned it.
Then Li Hao watched the soldiers practicing archery and found that, as Gu Tingye said, the probability of hitting the target was very high. It was obvious that he had really put a lot of thought into selecting this group of people.
While the two were watching, a military general came over. Gu Tingye introduced Li Hao: "This is Xu Ning, the deputy commander of the army. He was sent by the imperial court to assist you." Then he whispered: "He is The Gu family is in the military, but my mother and brother can't get involved yet, but they can be trusted."
After Xu Ning approached, Gu Tingye introduced Xu Ning: "This is Commander Li. Today I will accompany Mr. Li to take a look."
Seeing this, Xu Ning hurriedly saluted. After all, he was a civil servant and his immediate boss, and he was also on good terms with Erlang of the Gu family, so he could not be neglected.
However, Li Hao was still very polite to Xu Ning. After all, Li Hao did not despise generals. Li Hao would never be stingy in being polite to his subordinates as long as they could help him perform meritorious service.
After lifting Xu Ning up, he asked: "I think all the soldiers are elites, but I don't know how long it will take before those noble men join the army."
After hearing this, Xu Ning hesitated and said: "It depends on the specific situation, because the noble children come in to fill the officer position, and they must be well adjusted before they can leave."
After hearing this, Li Hao said: "I understand what you mean, but don't worry, I don't like to criticize people. After they come in, if they don't obey the rules, you can come directly to me, and Gu Tingye and I will find a way. It will embarrass you.”
After hearing this, Xu Ning felt relieved. At least he didn't have to worry about becoming a scapegoat.
Then he said that he would take Li Hao around the camp, but Li Hao was mainly interested in the archery range at this time.
You must know that Li Hao often practices bows, but crossbows are prohibited from private collection. Li Hao has not used them yet, and he looks a little eager to try them this time.
After looking at it, Gu Tingye said: "Since we are here, Brother Li might as well try the power of this big yellow crossbow."
After hearing this, Li Hao said: "This is not good." But his footsteps were involuntarily walking in the direction of the crossbowman.
Xu Ning and Gu Tingye watched and followed, and then Xu Ning ordered someone to take a crossbow and hand it to Li Hao.
After Li Hao got it, he took aim and shot towards the target, but he missed it a little far and flew high over the target.
Li Hao looked a little embarrassed, and Gu Tingye said: "Brother Li, this is his first time using it, so it is reasonable that he can't shoot accurately. Let's try again."
Seeing this, Xu Ning asked someone to help Li Hao load the arrows. Li Hao shot fifteen arrows in a row before hitting the target twice, which made Li Hao look completely ugly.
Xu Ning didn't react at all, but Gu Tingye smiled from ear to ear.
Seeing this, Li Hao said: "Crossbows are not my strong point. Why don't I switch to bows and arrows? Bring me a one-stone bow."
Seeing this, Xu Ning was afraid that Li Hao was trying to save face, so he advised: "Why don't we forget it this time and let's go see the formation training. Now the imperial camp army can practice multiple formations and can march The formation has changed, Mr. Li can take a look."
Seeing this, Gu Tingye also persuaded Li Hao.
But Li Hao wanted to save face at this time. Although he was a civil servant and was not good at archery, no one would really care, but Li Hao didn't want Gu Tingye to see the joke.
So Xu Ning was asked to get a bow, in order to save face.
Xu Ning didn't know what to do after hearing this, so he looked at Gu Tingye and saw that Gu Tingye also waved his hand for him to get it, so Xu Ning gave the order.
After waiting for the bow and arrow to arrive, Li Hao pulled the bow a few times to familiarize himself with lowering the bow. He fired ten arrows in a row, and all of them hit the target. Li Hao suddenly felt comfortable, and he could be considered a success in regaining his respect.
So he said: "This stone bow is not very easy to use. Next time I will try it with a two-stone bow."
Gu Tingye looked at it and said in surprise: "The bow you use is really good. If you fight on foot, it is much stronger than ordinary soldiers." Then he paused deliberately, waiting for Li Hao to be happy.
Then he continued: "Just looking at your aiming posture, you must have never practiced mounted archery. If you are riding a horse and shooting arrows while moving, you may not be very good at it."
After hearing this, Li Hao said angrily: "I know you can do it, okay, why bother showing off to me here."
Gu Tingye burst out laughing, while Xu Ning remained silent beside him, as if he couldn't hear anything.
Next, Li Hao had no intention of shopping anymore, so he and Gu Tingye left the western suburbs camp.
Three days later, the game was finally about to begin, and the plaque given by Yu had been hung in the main hall of the stadium.
All the participating families came on this day. Originally, Li Hao asked Ouyang Xiu to host the opening ceremony, but now that the league has gained momentum and all the participating families are Lords, it would be a bit awkward to invite a civil servant to host it.
Li Hao asked Gu Tingye to invite Marquis Ningyuan, but Gu Tingye said that Gu Yankai would not listen to him and did not want to talk.
Li Hao asked Gu Tingye to give it a try. After all, most of the honorable men he could invite had children and nephews competing, and it would be easy to favor one over the other.
Moreover, Li Hao didn't think that Gu Yan would refuse during the meeting. After all, he didn't really dislike Gu Tingye. As long as Gu Tingye was doing business, he would still support it, but Gu Tingye didn't feel it himself.
Sure enough, just as Li Hao thought, after Gu Tingye went to explain the situation, Gu Yankai agreed to host the opening ceremony.
However, when the day of the game finally arrived, the following scene still made Li Hao feel heartbroken.
