Emperor Zhao Gou did not return to Lin'an City that night, but instead set up an imperial camp in a reserved open space in the middle of the military camp.
The night was already very deep, and Zhao Gou had not fallen asleep yet, so he was pacing back and forth in the tent with his hands behind his hands.
At this time, the guard reported outside the tent, "Your Majesty, Mr. Lu wants to see you!"
"Let him in!"
After a moment, Prime Minister Lu Yihao hurried in.
"It's so late, Mr. Lu is still not asleep?" Zhao Gou asked with a smile.
"Wei Chen is still considering His Majesty's reward plan and has some ideas."
Zhao Gou smiled slightly and said: "It's normal to have ideas. I'm just a preliminary idea and it's not perfect yet. Can you tell me where I need to modify it?"
"It is not impossible for Your Majesty to use land as a reward, but after all, the official land around Lin'an Prefecture is limited. I think the land should be used to reward military merit. It is more appropriate to use money cloth as a reward for this kind of competition."
Zhao Gou nodded, "The Prime Minister is right, but I also think there is something wrong. It is better to use land to reward military merit, but what about official rewards?"
"Your Majesty, this is the first competition for new recruits and generals, and it will definitely be held again in the future. The rules for rewards in the first competition are set, and they should be followed in the future. Therefore, Wei Chen suggested a principle, promotion is not promotion."
"Let's discuss it with other prime ministers! If you don't object, this principle can be adopted. In addition, I will consider adding a special outstanding reward as my personal reward."
Lu Yihao understood what the official meant. He wanted to reward outstanding generals in his own name and win over people's hearts.
"Since it is His Majesty's personal reward, it does not need to be included in the plan to avoid it becoming a tradition."
"Can!"
Zhao Gou added: "I have considered it. Yang Xizhong was changed to the commander of the Imperial Camp Army, and the two thousand recruits he led were reorganized into the Imperial Camp Army. Chen Qing continued to return to serve in the Western Army, but his army was also reorganized into the Imperial Camp Army.
military,"
Although Zhao Gou admired Chen Qing very much, he had no intention of keeping him by his side. Chen Qing was more suitable to fight against the Kingdom of Jin. This was Zhao Gou's decision long ago to let Chen Qing go to Qinzhou.
But Chen Qing's soldiers are basically from Lin'an Prefecture, so they are very suitable to become imperial soldiers.
Although Han Shizhong also fell in love with Chen Qing's army, it was a pity that his arms could not twist his thighs. He could not compete with Emperor Zhao Gou anyway. This excellent army was cut off by the emperor.
At night, Chen Qing also received a guest in the big tent. He was a messenger from Chengdu, who handed Chen Qing a letter written by Yang Yuanqing.
After Chen Qing read the letter, his face suddenly became very ugly. He put away the letter and said to the messenger: "Thank you for traveling such a long distance to deliver the letter to me!"
"General, there is no need to be polite. I am humble enough to send you hundreds of letters. The general's letter is just one of them. This is a matter within my humble duty."
Chen Qing ordered someone to give the messenger ten guan of money, and the messenger thanked him again and again, said goodbye and left.
As soon as the messenger left, Chen Qing slammed his fist on the table and said angrily: "Dignified Ambassador of Xuanfu, I trust him so much, how could he do this!"
There was the sound of hurried running outside, and Zheng Ping and Zhao Xiaoyi ran in, "Commander, did you hear a letter from Yang Yuanqing?"
Chen Qing put away the anger in his heart and smiled lightly: "He gave me the opportunity to send him a letter home."
He handed another letter to Zheng Ping, "There is an address on it, I don't have time tomorrow, please go and deliver it for me!"
"No problem, Xiao Yi and I will deliver it, but what did Yang Yuanqing say in the letter?"
"I didn't say anything. By the way, the letter said that all your rewards have been received. They are at Yang Yuanqing's place. You can collect them from him when you return."
Zheng Ping and Zhao Xiaoyi were overjoyed. After the competition, it was time for them to go back.
After the two of them left, Chen Qing paced back and forth in the tent with his hands behind his hands. He felt very tormented in the letter. He asked for the pension for 1,300 fallen soldiers! How could he forget about it like this? Absolutely not! Otherwise, how could he, Chen Qing, return the favor?
Have the face to face those soldiers who died for the country.
........
At dawn the next day, the martial arts campus was packed with people. Tens of thousands of recruits stood on the east, west, and south sides. The competition was extremely lively. The competition between the recruits was over. In the end, the Western Army took the lead, and Yue Fei's Army won the third place.
Second, third is Han Shizhong's army. Today will be the last day of the competition and the last event, the new generals' riding and archery competition.
Although it is called a new general, the conditions are actually quite relaxed. All generals below the command level can participate. It does not matter whether they are new generals or veteran generals, but the prerequisite is that they must be generals who participate in the recruit competition.
Currently, a total of ninety-four generals have signed up, and there is only one competition content, riding and shooting.
Cavalry and archery are the basic skills of a general. The so-called proficiency in bow and horse refers to cavalry and archery.
At this time, Zhao Gou and his ministers of civil and military affairs also walked up to the north stand. Zhao Gou looked at the list, smiled and asked: "With more than 90 people competing in riding and shooting, is one day enough?"
Li Hui, who knew the Privy Council, said quickly: "Report to your Majesty, the martial arts competition is very simple. Run one hundred and fifty steps and shoot three arrows. The one with the highest score wins the championship. Ten generals compete against each other. In fact, the speed is very fast. It can be completed in one morning.
End the game."
Lu Yihao smiled and asked: "What is the highest score?"
"The basic points are thirty points, that is, all three arrows hit the vital points above the neck. In addition, five points are added for shooting the bow left and right, five points for moving the target, and there is also a bonus of five points for the Mantangcai. All three arrows are in the same position, but only for the first one.
Three Arrows is a moving target, and the highest score you can get is forty-five points, but it’s almost impossible.”
Zhao Gou nodded, "Hurry up and get started!"
............
'Boom! Boom! Boom!'
As the war drums beat on the school field, the atmosphere among the tens of thousands of soldiers around became even more enthusiastic. It was like boiling water, and the entire school field was about to boil.
The horse-riding archery track is two feet wide and about two hundred steps long. The first fifty steps are preparations, and the next one hundred and fifty steps are the timed archery area. You must run out of the archery area and shoot three arrows before the sound of the drum ends.
There are three wooden targets placed about 80 steps away on the north and south sides. In addition, there is a trench more than ten steps long to the south 120 steps away. There will be soldiers running in the trench holding small wooden targets. This is movement.
Target.
The drawing of more than ninety generals has been completed, and Chen Qing was chosen to appear sixth in the eighth group. The generals are waiting east of the school ground.
At this time, the first group of ten generals had already entered the school grounds on horseback. The leader was a preparatory general under Liu Guangshi, named Wang Miao. He rode a black horse, holding a five-dou bow in his hand and holding a quiver on his back.
There are only three white feather arrows.
The official waved the red flag, the general galloped out, and the game began. Everyone's eyes were on the general.
Chen Qing also watched the general's riding and archery. He needed to learn some unpublished information through this general's archery.
Wang Miao galloped fifty steps on his horse, crossing the cavalry line in an instant, and the intensive drum beat sounded, 'Boom! Boom! Boom!' It was so tense that there was silence in the school grounds, and everyone's heart was twitching.
Wang Miao's hands were a little trembling. He controlled the horse with both legs, took out an arrow and shot it towards the wooden target in the south.
The arrow grazed the wooden target's shoulder, and there were boos all around.
After running fifty steps, Wang Miao took out a second arrow, stretched his bow and shot it. This arrow hit the chest of the wooden target, but an accident happened. The arrow bounced up and did not nail the wooden target.
On the target, there were boos all around.
The generals preparing for the game all looked at each other, wondering what happened?
Cao De said to everyone in a deep voice: "I heard a statement before that this time a jujube target was used. I didn't quite believe it. Now it seems that this statement should be true."
The waiting area suddenly became noisy, and Hu Yantong whispered to Chen Qing: "The jujube wood target is very hard, and it takes eight buckets of bows to nail it. Those who use five buckets of bows are in trouble."
Chen Qing could understand that cavalry shooting with five-doubled bows was almost meaningless on the battlefield. It could not penetrate the armor of Jurchen soldiers at all. Using jujube wood targets actually limited the power.
At this time, Wang Miao shot the last arrow, but still failed to hit the wooden target. He got zero points, was the first to be eliminated, and left the school dejectedly.
The generals at the back rushed up to shoot arrows like a stream of water. Most of the scores were a few or more than ten points. The highest score in the first group was sixteen points.
The second group came on stage, and the sixth person in the second group was none other than Zhang Xian, the commander of Yue Fei's army. He changed his horse to a white horse with silver armor. He was tall, holding a vulture bow in his hand, and was particularly heroic and dashing.
Amidst the intensive beating of drums, Zhang Xian galloped across the cavalry line, stretched his bow and shot an arrow. He used a stone bow, which was very powerful. The arrow hit the wooden target's throat, which was very critical.
Then he switched to his left hand to hold the bow, and fired another arrow with his backhand. This arrow hit the throat of the wooden target in the south.
After finishing shooting the bow left and right, Zhang Xian took a deep breath and fixed his eyes on the moving target 120 steps away. The target was only a foot tall wooden man. He was lifted high by a soldier and ran wildly in the trench to face Zhang Xian.
And go.
Zhang Xian didn't wait for the moving target to disappear, and shot an arrow while running. The arrow hit the moving target. There was thunderous cheers all around, and even the emperor Zhao Gou couldn't help but applaud.
Zhang Xian shook his head secretly. The moving target failed to hit the vital part of the throat. Unfortunately, he did not get the five points from Mantangcai.
The horses crossed the finish line and the drum beat stopped.
Zhang Xian scored three basic points, plus five additional points for left and right shooting. The moving target failed to hit the three points and only scored five points. He scored a total of forty points, far ahead in the shooter list.
Zhang Xian turned around and glanced at Chen Qing from a distance. He wondered whether he could defeat him this time.