Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 57 2.34 A martial arts expert is indispensable today.
Volume Two

2.34 Today, a martial arts scholar is indispensable for his fame.
On the sixth day of August, the weather was fine. It was a good day specially chosen by Qin Tianjian, and everything was suitable.

Qiu Huhu is still exerting his power crazily, making the midsummer atmosphere in the air that should have dissipated become even more manic. Also manic are the piles of soldiers in front of the Thousand Household House of the Fifth Army Camp stationed in Shuntian Prefecture. These martial arts The scholars all pointed at the fish leaping over the dragon gate today, but they had to queue from early morning to nearly midnight under the supervision of a group of Qiu Ba. It was strange that they were in a good mood.

Of course, even in this situation, not everyone is arrogant. For example, under the tree on the roadside not far from the military camp, Zhou Yang arrived less than half an hour before the exam time, and then tied the bloody horse. Under the tree in the forest, I threw a bag of soybeans beside me and prepared a basin of water with salt.

"Master, here it is!" After a sweet female voice came from the carriage, a pair of small hands held a large piece of watermelon on the window and handed it out. Moreover, the watermelon was obviously chilled, so that as soon as it appeared, a layer of watermelon formed on the surface. There was a layer of "fog", Zhou Yang was not polite, he took the watermelon and made a meal, ignoring the jealous eyes around him.

"Zhou Yang, Shilipu, Daxing County, is Zhou Yang here?" Finally, a cry came from the direction of the camp gate. He quickly threw down the eaten watermelon rind and rushed over on horseback.

"Zhou Yang is here!"

"You are quite generous. You just came here when the exam was about to start. I shouted four times and thought you weren't coming." The general manager of the inspection at the door waved his hand angrily, "Well, the image matches the description, Wu The scholar's credentials are correct, let's go in!"

The martial arts examination is different from the imperial examination. It is an on-site display. You can know at a glance whether it is successful or not. It does not involve problems of entrainment or cheating. Therefore, the personnel review is also much looser. Basically, as long as the credentials of Wu Xiucai can be matched, there is no need for any inspection. Next It is a series of procedures such as registration, personal image inspection, and scholar certificate review. After all procedures are completed, you enter the formal examination room, and a man in military general uniform speaks loudly on the high platform.

"I am Chen Ruiwen, the commander-in-chief of the Shenji Battalion. Today we are all great talents from our great Zhou Dynasty. As the saying goes, 'learn martial arts well and your goods will be with the emperor's family'. Whether you will be a fish leaping over the dragon's gate or a dragon swimming in the shallow water depends on your performance. .Finally, I wish you all the best!" As usual, the examination is invigilated by a first-level general officer in the provincial army general. Fortunately, this person is not a fan of the [-]-[-] parallel body, and he finished his speech in less than half a quarter of an hour. , the exam begins!
There are more than a thousand martial arts scholars in the examination room, competing for less than fifty martial arts examination places, which is already a lot. According to convention, the quota for all levels of martial arts examinations is half of the imperial examinations. Zhili is at the foot of the emperor. In addition, martial arts has always been prevalent. , this talent is allocated about fifty places according to the standard. As a comparison, Jiangnan Province, which has always had a strong literary style, only has less than thirty places for military examination candidates. Some border and poor provinces are even more exaggerated, such as Akarin Province, which has no more than Twenty.

"Zhou Yang, Shilipu, Daxing County!" Finally, after waiting until almost noon, the roll call official finally called his name!

"Arrived!" Zhou Yang shouted and rushed into the examination room on horseback. This was the first and most important event of the martial arts examination, mounted archery!Only when you pass can you talk about the next project. If you can't pass, you can go home. There will be no discussion or make-up exams. In other words, this is the real "registration"!
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-" On a runway of less than two hundred steps, the sweaty horse passed by almost in a flash, and three powerful arrows flew out. Under normal circumstances, mounted archery only requires jogging. In order to ensure the hit rate, most of the Candidates will try to slow down their horses as much as possible. This is just like the modern driving test. Driving slower will help you pass, but Zhou Yang did the opposite!
"Ouch!" Both the invigilator and the other candidates were all shocked by what he did. They saw the three arrows passing by like three black lights. When he looked again, two arrows had already hit the target 35 steps in. Archery target, now even the examiner is not calm.

"Is that him?" Chen Ruiwen tilted his head slightly and asked a young military attache behind him dressed in a hundred-family uniform.

"Back to Uncle Chen, it's him!" Baihu immediately stepped forward, bowed and bowed his hands and replied, "My nephew followed him in the scholar test. There was no mounted archery at that time, but the foot shooting was really good."

"No wonder I can build a relationship there. Such strength is worth it." Chen Ruiwen nodded, "I just don't know why, whether he is here or there, he hasn't said hello to me yet? This year's Zhili Martial Arts Autumn It was decided at the beginning of the year that I would be the invigilator for Wei, so if the other party really had an idea, they should have said hello long ago."

"Maybe it's because you have confidence in him and you don't want to take the reputation for nothing?" Baihu thought for a while and replied softly.

"If you're not mistaken, that's what I think." Chen Ruiwen nodded and agreed with Baihu's answer, "That's all, as long as Nephew Hou Xian knows about it, since they didn't mention it there, we won't mention it, that's all. In terms of strength, it would be a pity not to praise him."

"My nephew will definitely not be mistaken!" Baihu surnamed Hou replied without hesitation, "This is not the first time that the martial arts official who signed his name as a guarantor has come forward. He can also be regarded as a disciple of that family. It's a pity that his qualifications are limited, and he has long given up the idea of ​​advancement. On weekdays, relying on his reputation as a martial arts scholar, he can be regarded as a powerful force.

Because he had seen the situation and knew the situation, my nephew specially came to ask about it. The reason why he came forward to act as guarantee that time was because he received the name card from there. The person who came to the door holding the name card was also an outside steward of the house over there. It’s just that For some reason, he didn't know the steward. If the same situation happened in the past, a steward named Zhou Rui would usually come forward. "

"Oh?" Chen Ruiwen's heart moved, but he couldn't touch the door. Finally he shook his head and gave up. "Zhou Yang, Shilipu, Daxing County, shot nine arrows three times from his horse, and scored six out of nine. He was rated as excellent!" Just as the two were joking, the results had already come out in the examination room. This time, the roll call official's voice was obviously full of emotion. Excited, because Zhou Yang's achievements are indeed outstanding.

"Uncle Chen, it seems that this is the reason why we didn't say hello over there." A hundred households with the surname Hou showed admiration, "His riding and shooting hit six out of nine times. Looking at the army, he can be regarded as a top player. There are many people under my uncle's command. How many sharpshooters are there with such ability?"

"Boy, you're trying to trick me again." Chen Ruiwen laughed, but did not give any answer, but changed the subject, "With his riding and shooting skills, even if he failed to hit the mark this time, I am willing to try Baihu If there is another war in the future, as long as he survives a few battles, a fifth-grade identity will still be able to escape."

"Uncle Chen, my father knows that my nephew is coming to stand today and that you are taking the exam today, so he asked his nephew to give a message." The man named Hou smiled slightly and didn't care about Chen Ruiwen's teasing at the beginning. It was obvious that the two parties were close, "I've invited you to sit down several times in the past few days, but why haven't you come every time? But the food and wine in the house are not to your liking? If so, my nephew will kick out all the servants in the kitchen when he gets back."

"Okay, you think I don't want to go?" Chen Ruiwen shook his head helplessly, "It's not the news that came from the south a few days ago. The navy found that there was internal strife among pirates, so they took the opportunity to make a surprise attack and saw a few battles. They achieved good results. Since the Supreme Emperor pacified Southern Xinjiang, they have not shown their faces like this for many years. However, among the captured prisoners, some people provided some very strange information.

When they were collecting routine "safe money", they were raided by an unidentified fleet. The opponent's firearms were extremely sharp. The intensity of the barrage almost caught up with the crossbows, but the power was even more exaggerated. We didn't see any explosions or ceasefires, so they suffered heavy losses and were exploited by the navy. "

"So, the navy sent the news to you?" Hou responded, "That's right. You are recognized as a firearms master in the world. If you have any questions, just send them here."

"Stop flattering me." Chen Ruiwen glared at him angrily, "The problem is that I can't think of any. It's not like you haven't seen the firearms of Shenji Camp before. When it comes to artillery and the like, no one in the world dares to be higher than me. But when it comes to attacking a city, how has the Shenji Camp been missing? But when it comes to fire blunderbuss, even we ourselves are unwilling to use them."

"Zhou Yang, Shilipu, Daxing County, shot 150 steps at the target, hit seven out of nine shots, excellent!" During the discussion, the trembling voice of the roll call official came from the other side of the examination room, which made both of them look over in surprise. .

"What a skill!" Baihu surnamed Hou said in surprise, "He can hit seven out of nine shots at the 150-step archery target. It seems that he is still using a one-stone and a half strong bow. If it is replaced with the commonly used hundred-step archery target, this is not a hundred hits." ?”

"Well, after all these years, the people over there finally see eye to eye. No wonder they took action but didn't say hello to us." Chen Ruiwen looked at Zhou Yang who was walking back to the sidelines with a smile on his face. "According to the usual practice, candidates who are 'double good' must win, not to mention those who are 'double good' in riding and archery subjects. As long as his bravery is not dismissed in one subject, a martial arts examiner will be indispensable today."

"It's indeed good!" A hundred households named Hou also nodded in approval, but were more concerned about another question, "Uncle Chen, can you send a sample of the fire gun you just mentioned?"

"If there were samples, why would I still have such a headache? They would have been sent to the Ministry of Industry's Ordnance Supervision for counterfeiting." Chen Ruiwen shook his head helplessly, "Let's go and see how brave this kid is - huh?"

Just as he was talking, there was an exclamation from the other side of the bravery examination room, "The twenty-year-old warrior can pull the bow so easily", "Is this the end?" "How can this compare?"

"Uncle Chen, it seems that this time, no matter what, we will give enough money to the house over there." Baihu, surnamed Hou, said with a smile.

"Not bad!"

(End of this chapter)