The martial arts examination was held in the Right Guard Training Ground, which is the flat polo court that Li Zhen saw after coming out of the tunnel of Linzhi Temple, and was chaired by the Ministry of War.

In fact, the martial arts examination started seven days ago, and some basic exams were conducted, mainly step shooting, weightlifting and routine shooting skills. Those who passed the three items took the formal martial arts examination on the fifth day of the second month.

In the martial arts examination, riding and shooting are the core. More than 3,000 scholars who participated in the martial arts examination basically passed the preliminaries, but if they wanted to pass the strict riding and shooting examination, they needed a superb riding and shooting level. According to the ratio of fifteen people to admit one person, only 200 people were admitted in this martial arts examination, and the competition was also very fierce.

As soon as dawn, thousands of scholars who participated in the martial arts competition had already gathered outside the training ground of the Right Guard. As well as the entourage and the groom, there were as many as five or six thousand. The examinees were all wearing the same leather armor and equipped with waist cards. Many were recommended by the army from various army members, most of whom were in their thirties, including Lang Generals, Zhonglang Generals and other intermediate officers.

The training ground was crowded with candidates and war horses, and all kinds of discussions and noises were heard. Li Zhen and Di Yan stood by. Li Zhen had already changed into leather armor, and Di Yan was helping him tie the straps behind him.

"Did you find that many of them come from the army, they are not young and their military positions seem to be low." Di Yan whispered to Li Zhen.

Li Zhen looked at a group of officers not far away. There were about twenty people. There were some unknown officers, all of whom were powerful, with rough faces, and not young, at least in their early thirties. It was obvious that they were all senior military officials, gathered together and were discussing something.

"They are all local soldiers from all over the country. They participated in the martial arts to gain fame and lay the foundation for the next step of promotion."

Li Zhen did not despise these officers because he himself was the same. He had become the deputy commander of the inner guard and came to join in the fun and squeeze in the quota. I guess others would also complain about him.

At this time, Zhang Li walked over from the crowd, with someone following him, "Commander, see who did I bring?"

Li Zhen had long seen the person behind Zhang Li, Li Pan, a member of the Li clan of Dunhuang. When Li Pan was in Dunhuang, he followed Li Jin to his house to withdraw from the Martial Arts Examination. Later, Li Pan also got a place to go to Beijing to participate in the Martial Arts Examination.

Li Pan's face was a little red, and it was red until his ears. He gritted his teeth and stepped forward and bowed, "See Commander Li!"

Although Li Zhen did not want to remember the feud for the quota, he could not be intimate with Li Pan, mainly because Li Pan's father Li Ze wanted to plot against him in the stone wall of Mogao Grottoes, which triggered his confrontation with his family. Li Zhen has not forgotten it yet.

However, Li Zhen is now a person with status and is no longer a flat-headed villain who is angry. Since he has become an official, his mind has become much broader, at least he seems a little generous on the surface.

Li Zhen replied with a smile on his face and said, "It turns out it's Brother Pan. I haven't seen you for a long time. I wonder when Brother Pan came to the capital?"

Li Zhen and Li Pan are members of the tribe and have blood relationships. If Li Zhen calls him his second brother, it means he still recognizes this tribe brother, but if he calls him Brother Pan, they will change from relatives to friends, and a small name will exaggerate his attitude.

Li Pan felt sad. He had a good personal relationship with Zhang Li. He heard that Zhang Li had entered the inner guard and he also wanted to enter the inner guard through Li Zhen's relationship. Unexpectedly, Li Zhen had not forgotten what his father had done. There was probably no hope of entering the inner guard, which made him very depressed.

Zhang Li also heard the coldness hidden in Li Zhen's enthusiasm. Of course, he knew the feud between Li Zhen and Li Pan, but it was a different meaning to bring Li Pan over.

He quickly pulled Li Zhen aside and whispered to him: "Suo Wen has been trying to win over Li Pan these two days and wants him to join Lai Junchen's gangster. You know that once Li Pan joins the gangster, I'm afraid there will be a change in Dunhuang."

This was beyond Li Zhen's expectations. Suo Wen was actually trying to win over Li Pan. He pondered for a moment and said, "Does he have no third way to go?"

Zhang Li sighed, "It is your patriarch who hopes that he will seek development in the capital. If he has no backer in the capital, it will be difficult to survive in Dunhuang!"

If it involves the dispute between major families in Dunhuang, it is another matter. No matter how Li Zhen hates the Li family in Dunhuang, it is his family after all, and he will never want the Li family in Dunhuang to join Lai Junchen's camp.

Compared with Lai Junchen's threat, Li Zhen's personal grudges seemed insignificant. Li Zhen nodded, "I'll think about this matter and let him concentrate on participating in the imperial examination first and strive to pass the exam."

Zhang Li was secretly happy. Li Zhen's tone calmed down and there was room for discussion. He quickly turned around and whispered a few times to Li Pan. The two of them bowed to Li Zhen again and left together.

Di Yan next to him didn't say anything until they left, and Di Yan asked, "Is he a member of your tribe?"

"How do you know?" Li Zhen asked in surprise.

"I feel like you look a little like this!"

"Does it look like?" Li Zhen touched his chin. His face was longer, while Li Pan had a square face, and his eyebrows were even more different. Where did they look like each other?

Di Yan laughed, "Just to you, I heard from Fatty before that there is another Dunhuang scholar who participated in the martial arts ceremony, your clan brother, so I guess it is him."

"Well! It's him. He wants to join the inner guard, and I'm a little hesitant."

"hesitate?"

Di Yan's face showed a usual sarcastic smile, which was a unique expression for Li Zhen's lack of understanding of the rules of the officialdom. "Others tried every means to pull the tribe members in, but you were so sad that you were different from others!"

Li Zhen had long been used to Di Yan's expression changes. His eyebrows raised slightly, offsetting the blow caused by her sarcastic smile. "Things are not what you think, I will tell you slowly in the future."

At this time, there were sounds of drumbeats coming from afar. This was a signal that the martial arts and cavalry began to be prepared to start. Li Zhen looked at his license plate. He was registering at the end, so the sorting was also at the back, which means that he would take the exam later.

"Let's go! I'll take you to find a stand first."

The martial arts examination is different from the imperial examination. The examinations are almost open. The huge examination venue is not surrounded by a curtain. The martial arts scholars can clearly see the riding and shooting performances in the training ground. This determines that the martial arts examinations rely on real skills to win, and it is difficult to speculate and cheat. The reason why the Ministry of War did this was a helpless move due to pressure from the various armies.

The Ministry of War’s cavalry and archery examination is the same as the Martial Arts Examination in Shazhou. It also shoots three arrows within 150 steps to evaluate the candidate’s cavalry and archery level.

Of course, the Ministry of War should consider other factors at the beginning of the selection of military personnel, such as strength. The scores of candidates who draw a stone bow and eight dou bows will definitely not be the same. For example, the preliminary test scores such as step shooting and shooting skills are obtained, and the comprehensive scores are finally obtained, ranking the top 200 admissions.

The first place is the top martial arts scholar, which is the highest honor in the martial arts competition every year. The top martial arts scholar will receive the reception from the emperor and special commendations. This is also the dream of every martial arts examinee.

As the drums sounded, a large number of palace guards slipped to the Dongcheng Right Guard Training Ground, all wanting to watch the annual riding and shooting competition. The number of people watching on both sides of the Right Guard Training Ground increased rapidly. Li Zhen wanted to find a corner with a small number of people to accommodate Di Yan.

Just then, a familiar voice came from a distance, "Old Li, here! here!"

When he turned around, he saw Jiuzhi standing not far away, waving to him. Jiuzhi appeared here, and he was not surprised at all. On the contrary, it would be strange if this extremely lively guy was not here today.

Of course, the leader still had to be posed with airs. Li Zhen urged him to step forward and said with a heavy face: "Are you okay to do today?"

Jiuzhi then remembered that he was Li Zhen's subordinate. He looked embarrassed and embarrassed. He glanced at Di Yan next to him. He turned his eyes and immediately smiled with a saliva: "I know that Girl Di is coming, so I come to help you take care of her. Besides, the commander participates in the competition, how can you not come to cheer for the subordinate? If you need a horse boy or something, someone must prepare!"

Di Yan behind her couldn't help but chuckled. The fat man was even more slick than before. At this time, the sound of drums in the distance sounded again, urging the candidates to enter the venue and starting to call the name. Li Zhen no longer felt embarrassed and said to him: "A Yan will leave it to you, find a place with fewer people."

"No problem, I promise to take good care of Sister Di, one piece of hair... won't be missing."

Li Zhen glared at him, then told Di Yan a few more words, urging the horse to turn around and leave.

Soon, all the students in the test were concentrated in the northeast corner, with more than 3,000 candidates holding horses waiting to be tested, which was quite spectacular with cavalry gatherings. A group of 100 candidates passed five archery tracks to take the exam. After the archery was completed, they went out directly from the west without waiting for the results. Therefore, although there were many people, they were not slow.

‘Dong!Dong!Dong!’ With the sound of the third drum, the riding and shooting test finally began. After the five candidates tested their bows and arrows, they turned over and rushed out, holding the bows and arrows in their hands and ran towards the target. The thousands of guards watching the battle on both sides were immediately excited, shouting loudly, and applause was like thunder.

In a corner of the training ground, Jiu Zhi was also extremely excited. He pointed to the arrow target in the distance and explained to Di Yan in four enclaves: "You see the grass man's arrow target over there. The upper part of the neck is the upper part, the middle part of the body is the lower part, and the lower part of the limbs is the lower part, and the off-target is the left."

"What if I hit the middle of my eyebrows?" Di Yan asked curiously again.

"This needs to be further subdivided. For example, shooting at the center of the eyebrows, the middle of the forehead and the throat are the upper and upper, shooting at the mouth, nose and eyes are the upper and middle, shooting at the cheeks and neck are the upper and lower, but shooting at the center of the heart is also the upper and middle, which is the same as the mouth, nose and eyes."

"It's still so strict?"

"Not only this! For example, there are also differences between bows and arrows. One stone bow is the standard, one dou is added, one dou is added, one dou is reduced, and the scores in the pre-exam are all calculated as additional points. If you can get three or more points, the additional points behind are very high, and you can basically enter the top twenty. However, if you want to pass the martial arts exam, you must at least shoot three or more. The Tang Dynasty hides dragons and crouches tigers!"

At this time, Di Yan found a group of guards behind him paying for betting. She couldn't help but ask in a low voice: "Fatty, this martial arts are still gamblers?"

Jiu Zhi glanced at him and smiled, "It's normal! Most guards are good at gambling. How could they let go of such martial arts competition? To bet on you, I also bet twenty coins, and I bet on Lao Li to win the championship."

Di Yan suddenly became interested, and she took out a ingot of silver, "I will also beg Brother Li to win the championship."

Jiuzhi took her silver and weighed it, at least twenty taels, and then smiled and said, "Wait, I will help you bet!"

Jiuzhi ran over, registered and bet the money, and soon came back and laughed: "Okay, bet on the 20-ton coins, but he bets Lao Li to win the championship. If you win, you won't make much money. You can earn up to 20-ton coins."

When Di Yan heard that it could double, she immediately smiled and said, "It's good to have twenty coins! If he wins the championship, I'll treat you to drink."

At this time, a cheer came from afar, and three high scores appeared in the examination room. A candidate hit the throat with three arrows eighty steps away. Di Yan was also infected by the atmosphere on the scene and shouted loudly.

As time goes by, batches of candidates shot arrows, and more and more high scores of "Three Up" began to emerge. This year's score is significantly higher than last year. At this time, the additional scores behind are the key to whether you can get a good ranking in the end.

Perhaps because of betting, Di Yan was particularly concerned about whether Li Zhen could win the championship. She asked again: "How many competitors are Brother Li?"

Jiu Zhi stretched out a slap and said with a smile: "In fact, there are only five people. These five people are superb in riding and shooting. Their additional points are about the same, two forty points, three forty points, and the last top score must be generated among them. All bets are on the five of them. Lao Li is the best among them, two stone bows, tied for the first place in the preliminaries, and his additional points are forty points."

"Who is there another person?" Di Yan asked, "The same person as Brother Li."

"He is a royal family member, the great-grandson of Emperor Taizong, named Li Yi. He is about thirty years old. He is very good at riding and shooting, and he plays polo very well."

Di Yan suddenly became a little worried, "What if he is a royal family and receives special care?"

At this moment, the noisy guard suddenly became quiet, and someone could hear the low voice of the
Chapter completed!