Chapter 46: The Competition in Front of the Temple
Horse racing with Turks is a normal thing. You just need to find a school field and the two countries send their own horses to compete. But now Li Shimin told this matter in front of all the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty. He obviously attached great importance to this horse racing. It can even be said that he is giving an order to his subjects that they must win.
At this time, the Minister of the Ministry of War, who was in charge of this matter, came out. He followed Li Shimin's wishes and said: "The Turks have always regarded themselves as a famous tribe on horseback, and they consider themselves to be as good as anyone in riding skills, but if we talk about it, In horseback riding and archery, my Tang Dynasty is not inferior to him. I feel that I can fight with them."
These words made him more ambitious. Li Shimin nodded and said: "Then it's settled. One person will be selected from the left and right armies to participate in the battle. Of course, in order to boost morale, there is still one person left. He should be selected from all the beloved ministers present. And selected it as the third round of competition,"
Two wins out of three, one person has been selected from the two armies, and there is still one left, who should be selected from the civil and military officials of the DPRK and China. Li Shimin's move can be considered as coordinating the overall situation. However, if the first two sentences are successful, then The last person was just going through the motions and showing off his power.
Most of the people in the court were ministers who had followed Li Shimin in his wars in the north and south. If they were to wear armor and compete in horseback riding, there was absolutely no problem. However, they were all relatively old, so such matters were naturally left to the younger generations below.
Among this group of rookies in the court, there were not a few who couldn't ride a horse. Li Shimin just said he wanted to boost morale, and people immediately came to sign up, saying: "Your Majesty, I volunteer to go out to fight."
Hou Wenhai’s son Hou Junji, the son of Hou Wenhai, was the number one scholar in the previous term and once dominated the government and the public. Before Meng Xinghe arrived in Chang’an, he was highly regarded by Li Shimin, but now he is everywhere. With Meng Xinghe overpowering him, Hou Junji's previous dazzling light was instantly eclipsed, and he was almost forgotten by the ministers.
Li Shimin was naturally happy when someone came out to ask for help.
"Your Majesty, I am also willing to go and give it a try,"
After Hou Junji said this, Wang Wensheng of Pingjiang County, who was born in the same ranking as Meng Xinghe this year, is not an ordinary weak scholar, but also a man with all-round talents in both civil and military arts. Because he knows a little martial arts , in addition, his uncle is an official of the Ministry of Punishment. After the imperial examination, he was assigned to the Ministry of Punishment. Generally speaking, he is a powerful and well-connected person, so he naturally dares to challenge Hou Junji face to face in the court, so that he can strive for performance. When you are alone, you have an excellent opportunity now, and no one is willing to let it go easily.
"It seems that young people are still motivated," Li Shimin chuckled. When he said this, he glanced at Meng Xinghe and said, "Now that both my beloveds want to enlist in the war, I have to think of a good way. Choose someone,"
Li Shimin thought for a while, but to no avail, and then said: "My dear friends, I don't know what to do. Both young dears are willing to fight. I am really in a dilemma."
After he said that, there were some ministers below who could not calm down. They originally wanted to give advice to the emperor, and simply let the two of them compete in a horse race to determine the winner. However, this method was not mentioned, because the people present did not know that Li Shimin was deliberately asking The purpose of the words is just to enable his ministers to come up with a better solution, preferably one that can be identified on the spot.
But it's just the opposite. It's easy to think of simple solutions, but if it's a little more complicated, your mind won't come up with the idea.
The ministers were dumbfounded. They might have a vague idea in their minds, but they just couldn't express it accurately in words. It would be a joke in front of others, so they simply stayed silent.
Meng Xinghe was also in the temple, and the group of old men were silent. Unexpectedly, someone suddenly pushed him in the back, and he couldn't help but stand up.
"Does Meng Aiqing have something to say?" Although Meng Xinghe moved a small step, Li Shimin, who had been observing him, had already thrown it to him, so Meng Xinghe couldn't help but hide.
You old Du, you went home to recuperate for a few days, and you actually learned to use me as a shield. Meng Xinghe grinned and said, "Well, I do have something to say,"
Li Shimin smiled sinisterly and signaled that he could speak.
Meng Xinghe had no choice but to say: "I have a way to quickly choose which of the two is the most suitable."
Li Shimin had already expected that as long as Meng Xinghe stood up, the matter would be resolved smoothly in all likelihood. He was not too surprised and said, "Then tell it in front of all the ministers."
Meng Xinghe walked up to Wang Wensheng first and asked, "I don't know how strong the horse that Mr. Wang likes to ride is good."
"It's not too good, it's only two hundred miles away," Wang Wensheng said matter-of-factly.
Meng Xinghe chuckled and walked to Hou Junji again: "How about the strength of Lord Hou's horse?"
Hou Junji snorted coldly. His mount was a thousand-mile horse. Although it was not as durable as a Turkic horse, its leg strength was even better than that of Wang Wensheng. Hou Junji was a little disdainful of Meng Xinghe's question. , said: "My good horse has a foot power of hundreds of miles. It only takes one day to go back and forth from here to Luoyang, the eastern capital."
Meng Xinghe didn't know if Hou Junji was exaggerating. After listening to the two people's answers, he analyzed them briefly and said, "Your Majesty, the results have come out."
Li Shimin couldn't understand what trick Meng Xinghe was playing. When he heard the result, he still didn't know that Meng Xinghe could tell the winner just by asking about the horse's leg strength. Li Shimin curiously asked: "Then please hurry up, Meng Aiqing." Tell me quickly, everyone is confused,"
Meng Xinghe did not hide it. After all, he had learned common sense about horses for a few days from the wretched old man in the Imperial College. He knew that the speed of a horse was closely related to the strength of its legs. Facing the gazes of all the ministers, Meng Xinghe tried his best to relax and said: " All of you may have experienced that horses with long-lasting leg power will only run faster and faster after halfway through the distance. And I also observed Mr. Wang and Mr. Hou, and it is obvious that Mr. Wang's body is slightly thin. , Sirs, just imagine, if Sir Wang has certain advantages in horses and body, then the chance of winning is relatively large. However, these are just guesses. If you don't believe it, you can go outside and let the two adults The truth will be revealed after a trial."
Meng Xinghe suppressed Hou Junji in an understatement, which made Hou Junji very angry.
"Your Majesty, your Majesty is willing to compete with Mr. Wang in front of the palace, and please your Majesty's permission," Hou Junji no matter how Meng Xinghe suppressed him, anyway, as long as he competes with Wang Wensheng, whether it is as Meng Xinghe said, everything is unknown. .
Li Shimin didn't believe what Meng Xinghe said had any basis for it. Seeing that the ministers below also wanted to let them compete and test whether Meng Xinghe's words were true or false, Li Shimin did not reject Hou Junji's proposal and said: "It's accurate."
Hou Junji was happy for a while. If he defeated Wang Wensheng today, he would undoubtedly slap Meng Xinghe directly. This bad breath was quite refreshing.
He immediately resigned and went home to prepare, and Wang Wensheng also resigned at the same time.
Fortunately, there is a nine-foot-wide passage in front of the Taiji Hall that leads directly to Xuanwu Gate. The distance from this starting point to Xuanwu Gate is not too short. The results should be able to be determined. After a while, Li Shimin led all the civil and military officials. , arrived at the passage in front of the Tai Chi Hall, Hou Junji and Wang Wensheng, who had received the permission, had already come from outside the palace on their own horses.
Since the incident was caused by Meng Xinghe, he naturally cannot be the referee. Li Shimin called the Minister of the Ministry of War to preside over the event as the referee. The two contestants were ready. As long as the Minister of the Ministry of War who was standing next to him gave an order, they would Then you can whip your whip and run towards the finish line, Xuanwu Gate.
Hou Junji entered the competition this time with the idea of revenge on Meng Xinghe. He tightened the reins, and the horse under his crotch had already made a crisp neigh. He was ready to shoot out like an arrow to win. Wang Wensheng, standing side by side with him, He was riding an old horse with dull coat, waiting without arrogance or impatience.
The Minister of War walked behind the two men and said formally: "Get up,"
"hold head high,"
After two screams of varying degrees, Hou Junji and Wang Wensheng ran out almost at the same time as if they were shooting arrows.
The ministers squinted as they watched the two men running away in front of them. Since the race road was straight, they could clearly see the trajectory of the two men running one after another.
When Hou Junji started running, although he was alert and had the advantage of running first, the horse under him was a thousand-mile horse. As Meng Xinghe said, usually it would not run for a long time at the beginning. How fast, because this is the characteristic of a thousand-mile horse, but Wang Wensheng's horse is just the opposite. It is a short-horsepower horse. From starting to running, it is like a sports car that suddenly accelerates statically. It shoots with a whoosh. When we got out, we were half a head ahead of Hou Junji's horse.
When Hou Junji saw that his opponent was indeed slightly better than him, he suddenly became panicked. He kept waving his whip to spur the horse under his crotch, and he was so cruel that you could even see him abusing his own mount like crazy. There were several red whip marks on the majestic horse. It must be said that he was too cruel to abuse the mount in order to win.
It’s not too far from the Tai Chi Hall to the Xuanwu Gate, and it won’t take much time until the end of the competition. Not long after, the redundant competition in front of the palace ended, and Wang Wensheng finally lived up to Meng Xinghe’s guess and won the competition. He was dejected. Hou Junji not only suffered the loss of his good horse, but was even frustrated and discouraged for a time, making him feel that from now on, he would never dare to ask for any advantage from Meng Xinghe in his life.
Li Shimin obviously also saw the answer to the competition. As Meng Xinghe said, Wang Wensheng did have an advantage in the short and medium distance races, but if Hou Junji was willing to switch to a horse with shorter legs, maybe this race would be better. He didn't necessarily lose. The only reason was that Hou Junji didn't study horses in depth. He only knew that those who could run thousands of miles were of course the best, but he ignored that horses, like people, also need to be used rationally according to their abilities.
Li Shimin glanced at Meng Xinghe with admiration, called Wang Wensheng forward, and said: "In this battle, Wang Qing's family will lead all the civil and military officials to fight against the Turks. Remember, you are not allowed to lose, you are only allowed to win."
Wang Wensheng understood Li Shimin's instructions. Regardless of whether he won the first two games, at least he must win this game. This is Li Shimin. He always has ideas in his mind that others cannot guess. Even if he wins two out of three games, he is willing to win all three games.
All victory, so as to combat the provocations of the Turks. Perhaps, it is an early warning to launch war against the Turks at any time.