On February 13, the eighth year of Zhenghe in the Song Dynasty, Xin Chou and the auspicious day of the zodiac, everything is suitable.

The genius was shiny, and Sun Tu had already arrived at Class 3 with a slave in Tong's house to participate in today's shooting test palace. This will be a key test to change the fate of others.

Unlike the rules that later civil officials were managed by the Ministry of Personnel and military officers were managed by the Ministry of War, the civil and military officials of the Song Dynasty were actually under the jurisdiction of the Political Affairs Hall and the Privy Council. Although the six ministries were still there, the powers of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War were significantly reduced by most of them.

However, as a central organization, the Political Affairs Hall and the Privy Council are busy with official duties every day, it is impossible to manage some small matters and small officials, so they set up Liu Neiquan and Class 3 Academy to select and dismiss civil and military officials of the sixth rank and below. From this we can see that the Three Academy has a considerable power in the entire court. After all, among the hundreds or thousands of military officers in the world, the sixth rank and below account for the vast majority.

The selection of military officers is divided into Yinxing, military merits, recommendations, etc. After these people get a chance to get an official, they will rush to Tokyo from all over the place to conduct the shooting test palace here to make the final selection.

As the name suggests, the so-called shooting test palace court is to use his martial arts in front of the emperor (it is a custom in the officialdom to refer to the emperor as a palace court). Because the Song Dynasty was born with innate shortcomings after its establishment, not only was the large amount of land north of the Yellow River occupied by the Liao Kingdom, but the Hetao area was also taken away by the Western Xia, resulting in the Song army's serious shortage of horses. In this way, the defense can only be used as an offensive, so the most important thing in the selection of crossbow tactics, and the selection of soldiers was more likely to choose those who were good at shooting. Over time, they also value shooting skills the most when selecting military officers.

However, the current shooting test palace is different from the past. The word "shoot test" is still there, but the palace court has long disappeared. Since Renzong, the officials of the Song Dynasty have not paid much attention to the selection of such low-level military officers, let alone really move to the Third Class Academy to watch this competition. After all, it is an era of light military and literary emphasis. No matter how good your martial arts are, can you compare with the pillars of the country who are well-read in poetry and books?

However, although the emperor did not come, the rules of the shooting test palace were still quite strict. After Sun Tu came to the door and revealed his identity, he searched again as usual, and then compared the conduct he submitted to ensure that he was undoubtedly himself. It was not until everything was tested that they were willing to let Sun Tu enter. At this time, the slave gave a congratulation: "The little official who prayed for his return in triumph." Then he turned and retreated.

Although the current officials can only call them official, rather than even women who call their husbands like later, they can call them like they did, so they called them so much that they wanted to get a fuss. Sun Tu frowned, thanked him, and then walked into the gate of Class 3 with his head held high and his chest held high.

Although the three yards have low quality, they occupy a large area, which is more than three times larger than the Sixth Inner Quan not far away. So there is such an arrangement. After entering the door, you will have the answer. When you turn a screen wall and pass through a portal, you will have the answer - in the place where it should be the second hall, except for an official booth, it is a schoolyard that covers a lot of land.

This is the examination venue for the Palace Court today. At this time, there were more than a hundred martial artists waiting to be tested on the side of the school field, observing the surrounding environment with solemn expressions and considering the next competition.

After Sun Tu finished his clothes, he also walked over. He didn't expect that these competitors would come earlier than him. However, there were few people who greeted each other. At most, they looked at each other with their eyes and guessed the strength of the other party. After all, this is a major event that concerns their own future, and no one wants to lose his reputation.

After waiting for a while, a young official from green robe came late. After looking around, he took out a list of people and named them one by one, while also having to observe the other party's appearance and do the last check.

It was not until everything was confirmed that the small official left. After a while, several officials surrounded a familiar figure and appeared in front of Sun Tu. It was Wang Fangnian, the head of the Third Class Office who had met on Tong Guan's mansion that day. However, when he came to Sun Tu, he did not react at all. He didn't even scan the end of his eyes, just as if he had no acquaintance with him.

But Sun Tu knew very well what this person's appearance meant. Obviously, Tong Guan had already arranged everything. This time the shooting test palace court can definitely achieve a good result and thus win a military official position.

While thinking, a man suddenly came to him and whispered: "Are you Sun Tu from Yuncheng County?"

"That's right, who is yours?" Sun Tu glanced at the strong young man with a little surprise. He didn't remember any interaction with him.

The other party smiled and said, "I heard about you from my master. It is said that your martial arts are really good. Today I will have a good experience and ask for advice."

"Sir, Master?" Sun Tu was still confused. He didn't even remember what this person was named.

"My master is Soti of Daming Mansion. My name is Zhou Jin." As he spoke, the officials there finally spoke again and started to speak to the referees. Although they were talking about some clichés that made them loyal to the emperor and patriotism in the future, Sun Tu and the others no longer dared to speak below.

It was not until after he finished speaking that Wang Fangnian made the point: "Today's shooting test is mainly stair and horse shooting technique, and those who are outstanding can give additional tests. Next is the sequence of everyone's tests, Wang Yun, the first one, Feng Nian, the second one..." Just reported it all the way, and to Sun Tu's surprise, he actually ranked very behind, and it was not his turn until fifty-three.

This surprised him a little. Logically speaking, this kind of exam is often the most advantageous thing for some people in the front. As the examiner goes to the back, he will feel tired and impatient. Although there is a standard for determining the level of ejaculation, he should not be so behind when someone takes care of him.

But everything was settled, and no candidate dared to raise objections. He could only enter the school field with others with suspicion, and looked at the top of the king wall to show his ejaculation skills.

This shooting test first tested step shooting, each person had seven arrows and shot targets eighty steps away, but they used the eight-dou bow provided by the Third Class Academy. This was one of the criteria for selecting elite imperial guards in the Song Dynasty today.

In fact, the standards were higher when the Song Dynasty first established the country. If you want to be selected as an imperial guard, you had to use a hard bow with one stone and be able to hit a target of 100 steps away from seven arrows. However, after a hundred years of wasted changes, the combat effectiveness of the Song army was no longer as good as before, and even this hard standard was 20% off.

However, even so, there are still people who fail in this shooting test. Some people have good grades in the foot shooting, but they completely lose their accuracy as soon as they get on the horse. This is also the consequence of the general lack of horses among the people. Many people have not even ridden a horse a few times, so how can they have superb riding skills and horse shooting skills?

However, Zhou Jin was obviously higher than many people. He had just come out with more than ten, and he could even have a clever continuous bead arrow. The seven arrows only appeared in a short time and all hit the target's heart. Then he also ran around the horse immediately, without any hindrance. The seven arrows shot out, and the arrows hit the target, which was the best among the top ten people.

Wang Fangnian and several invigilators only showed a satisfied smile, and called Zhou Jin to the front and said, "How strong are you? How about you try another hard bow?"

Zhou Jin was not polite, and immediately took a stone bow and pulled it effortlessly, and then hit seven arrows again. Then he drove a two-stone hard crossbow, and only lost his hand on a strong crossbow with three stones, but this performance was already eye-catching enough that everyone was impressed.

Sun Tu was also admired by this. No wonder this person is so arrogant. It turns out that he really has extraordinary abilities. In terms of archery skills, there is still a big gap between him and him.

However, Zhou Jin's performance put more pressure on the candidates behind him. The next few people failed one after another and failed to pass the step shooting. Seeing that several examiners kept shaking their heads, it seemed that they might not be able to get the official position.

They made their debuts one by one. By the time it was almost noon, all the fifty candidates in the first place had already tried, and it was Sun Tu's turn to play.
Chapter completed!