In the forty-first year of the Qianxi Dynasty of the Celestial Dynasty, on the twenty-first day of September in the year of Jiayin (November 8, 1914), Xiaozhan Town, Jindi Prefecture, Zhili Province.

Two columns of officers and soldiers escorted a luxurious sedan chair with 32 sedan chairmen carrying a bedroom and a guest room, and drove from the official road outside the town into the small station market, which was the queue of the government.

The officers and men in the front row all held high the tiger head sign with black letters on a red background and retreated from the solemn book, and the queue of honor guards was huge and pompous, and the momentum was magnificent, passing through the crowd and swaggering all the way through the city. When the people on the side of the road heard the sound of the gong in front of the honor guard of the official palace, they all hurriedly avoided it.

The people all know that this is the car of the local vassal king Qi Junwang, the general judge of the Hongwu election is Qi Junwang Zhu Yanqun, Qi Junwang is not only responsible for the final personnel review and ranking of the general election, but also personally serves as the chief judge of the small station town ring, so the specifications of this honor guard are naturally extremely high, and the people all know that "the road is cheap and expensive", so they all retreated to both sides of the road early, and they were silent when they lined up and walked in front of them.

According to the etiquette system, even some petty officials, if they collided with the prince's queue, they would be arrested and beaten with fifty torture rods.

The people have known about the election of Prime Minister Hongwu of Qijun for a long time, and this is something that the government announced to the public when the ring was built half a month ago.

However, what they didn't know was that in the bedroom of the luxurious sedan chair at this moment, in addition to King Qi Jun, there were also Zhu Shikai, the more noble Prince of Han, and Zhang Hongyi, the first assistant of the dynasty and the third prince.

In the Hongwu general election, there was no local audition link, but it crossed the prefecture, county and township levels, just like the imperial examination in Beijing to rush to the examination, and directly set up sub-rings in all counties and towns in the Jindi Prefecture of Zhili Province.

Tens of thousands of masters and martial arts masters who were confident in themselves from the entire territory of the Celestial Empire and even from many neighboring countries and states were eager to try their skills all went directly to the battle and won with martial arts.

However, there is no clear rule that victory or defeat will affect the outcome of the election.

The general election is divided into two parts: the primary election and the general election. There are 20 primary election rings, which are located in the townships of the counties of Jindifu.

The general election ring is set up at the most conspicuous Dongshi Square in Xiaozhan Town.

Each person participating in the primary election will have to play three to five matches a day according to the lottery number, and after the end of the general election on the same day, those who win more than half of the games will enter the next day's re-election, and those who lose more than two games or are obviously weak will be directly persuaded to return.

If two of the best players match each other in the first day of the primary, and both perform well on stage, the judges and judges are likely to decide that both the winner and the loser will advance to the second day of the second round or go straight to the final round.

If the ability is particularly outstanding, while keeping into the general selection link, you can even get the opportunity to be directly elected to Hongwutang.

After all, this is not an open Enke temple test, and there is no absolute fairness.

The sub-rings built at the entrance of the bazaar are not only responsible for the selection of martial arts in the general election, but also exercise the functions of registration and audition.

The initial screening process is expected to take more than a dozen days, with about half of the people screened out each day, and by the last day of the election, fewer than 100 of the tens of thousands of applicants remained.

After conducting such a first round of general selection, seven or eight out of ten applicants who will participate in the general election can be screened out, and the real talents can be divided according to their victories and the number of promotions.

In the end, the top 20 winners of each tournament will gather in Xiaozhan Town for the final general election half a month after the end of the primary election.

As for those who perform well outside of the top 20, their performance in the previous days will also be recorded and reviewed, and some people will also have the opportunity to obtain the qualification to enter Hongwutang.

Therefore, although the number of victories and losses and the number of victories are important, they are not decisive, after all, it is the Hongwu election, not the martial arts examination.

Therefore, regardless of whether they can win or not, everyone will do their best to show their strongest strength, so that their rating can be higher, so as to get the opportunity to enter Hongwutang.

The final selection is similar to the primary selection, and the loser will not be eliminated directly, but will also receive corresponding attention and even rewards according to performance.

Zhu Shikai, the prince of Han who served as the chief presiding officer of the Hongwu general election and was also the governor of the local Zhili, had arrived at the station in person a few days earlier and met with a number of officials from Jindi Prefecture.

However, today, the general soldiers and prefects of Jindi Prefecture still led officials of all sizes to greet each other at the Dongshi Gate in front of the general ring of the small station, in order to show the dignity and solemnity of the royal power, and to make a sufficient form for the people of the world to see.

The luxurious sedan chair traveled to the tall parade steps that had been set up in advance, but in the end, Taishi Zhang and Prince Han did not get off the sedan chair.

Only Qi Junwang walked out of the luxurious sedan chair, and he walked straight to the Guanwu Parade Platform located in the north of the general ring of Xiaozhan Town and sat in the first place.

Next to it were Ji Yun, the pipe band of Hongwu Hall, and several other ministers of the DPRK and China who had been waiting for a long time to serve as judges.

Although this ring is the main ring of the general election, it is also used for division today. Although the jury is made up of these dignitaries, the primary selection process is not special or different from other rings.

After King Qi Jun sat down, his luxury sedan chair continued to travel towards the East Market, and did not stop until the sedan chair entered a deep alley where no one was in the queue.

A moment later, out of the alley came an old man with slender white hair and long beard wearing a black gorgeous suit, a jade belt around his waist, and a middle-aged man with the same extraordinary bearing.

The middle-aged man was dressed in a red robe, tied with a topaz jade belt, and held a folding fan with a purple tassel rope and jade pendant. The two of them gracefully blended into the market while talking and laughing, leaving the guard of honor in place......

Zhang Hongyi and Zhu Shijing fell in love with a restaurant in front of the door, went straight to the third floor, and spent a lot of money to wrap a private seat by the window from others, where they could directly look at a small station downstairs in the west of the town.

The rest of the better seats were also filled early, and the empty spaces on the streets, except for those controlled by the government, were also full.

At noon, the selection of the rings from all over the world kicked off with the unanimous cheers of the judges everywhere:

"The auspicious time has come, let's go! Please participate in the general election and the strong men will appear in the order of the corresponding draw!"

So the two contestants who participated in the general election came to the ring from two directions, east and west.

"The Hongwu election is intended to select heroes and talents to serve the country. Although the sword will inevitably be disabled, the court still does not want to see someone die because of this.

If one party surrenders and the other side still deliberately harms him, he will be disqualified from running for election, and if the circumstances are serious, he will be punished according to the law. ”

Although the election is fateful, and the people who come to participate in the general election are not ordinary people to whom the law can be applied.

But the court still has to say this kind of scene that embodies benevolence, righteousness and humanity.

After the referee finished speaking, the referee in the ring under the restaurant where Zhang Hongyi and the others were located, turned around and walked out of the court.

The ring was wide and fenced, and the referee walked briskly for more than two minutes before stepping out of the ring.

The referee has stepped down, and the two warriors who have won the No. 1 lottery to participate in the primary election have walked up from the steps on the east and west sides of the ring.

To the west of the ring, that is, to the left under the window of Zhang Hongyi's private room, is a tall man with a hideous face, rough and fierce, with a tiger's back and a bear waist and a foot nearly two meters high, and the strong man is holding a golden-topped mace weighing 100 catties and a length of seven feet.

To the east of the ring is a calm man, who at first glance looks much thinner, much smaller than the man, and the mace of the strong man on the left has a thick waist.

But fortunately, the lean man is better than having a calm breath, and his breathing is even, perhaps because of the refinement of his internal strength.

He was wielding a three-foot short sword, and his demeanor was calm, and he didn't seem to care about the disparity in size between the two and the weight of their weapons.

The names of each of the two men:

"Zhou Yuanhao of Beihai County. ”

A rugged man.

"King Beilin of Jinyang Mansion. ”

The lean man said.

Then the two pulled out of their positions, and the referee shouted:

"Let's go!"

The moment the referee's words fell, the two of them rushed to their opponents with wide eyes.

Wang Beilin on the right is even quicker and has the upper hand.

Before Zhou Yuanhao's mace could turn over his head, he jumped forward, and the three-foot sword in his hand preemptively stabbed Zhou Yuanhao in the chest.

Seeing the situation, Zhou Yuanhao had to hold the mace with both hands to remove the thorn, and then he wanted to turn the long-handled gold-topped mace again and grind the lean Wang Beilin.

But once Wang Beilin seized the lead, it seems that he can no longer take the initiative.

After this stab was provoked, before Zhou Yuanhao could raise his hand to attack, Wang Beilin slashed at him with another sword, and Zhou Yuanhao had to pick up and block again.

Wang Beilin saw that the two blows were not successful, so he was angry and dantian, and his luck stabbed several swords again, and the moves were ruthless, directly locking the vital point, forcing Zhou Yuanhao to constantly resist.

However, although it was thrilling, Zhou Yuanhao relied on his quick reaction to barely block it all.

Zhou Yuanhao had the heart to fight back, but the golden-topped mace in his hand weighed 100 catties, and the handle was more than seven feet long.

At this moment, he was forced in front of Wang Beilin, although he had more than enough to parry, but he couldn't fight back, Wang Beilin blocked Zhou Yuanhao's weapon with stabbing several times, and slashed with force, which was very sticky.

After resisting the sword stab, Zhou Yuanhao had to raise his mace to resist the slash, while his arms and wrists continued to bear the weight of the gold-topped mace, and at the same time, he also had to bear the force of the man's short sword blade.

Wang Beilin naturally also knew the weakness of the enemy's weapons, and he knew that the golden-topped mace was a long-handled weapon, which was powerful and heavy, and he paid attention to breaking the enemy with one blow. If it has the opportunity to pick it up, it can smash the iron sword and crush the flesh with only one stick of gravity.

Therefore, he must constantly suppress Zhou Yuanhao, once he is discouraged, I am afraid it will be the end of his life.

So Wang Beilin used the internal force of his whole body to bless his arm, which was also sore, and he screamed violently and stabbed several swords in a row.

Instead of seeking to kill his enemies, he stabbed several swords at the lower end of the golden-topped mace. Sure enough, after the strong man was forced, he almost couldn't stand steadily, and the weapon in his hand almost fell off the force.

Seeing the opportunity, Wang Beilin no longer attacked the stick body on the left side of his left hand, but jumped into the air and slashed at the top of Zhou Yuanhao's head.

Zhou Yuanhao saw that the enemy sword had returned, so he had to rely on his elbow with all his strength, grasp the long handle and raise his mace to block the sword again.

I never thought that Wang Beilin was just splitting in the void, squatting down and then slashing horizontally with a sword, Zhou Yuanhao's hands that had just raised his mace to block the sword were already insufficient, so he had to put the long handle up again and try to block it vertically.

Wang Beilin was waiting for this moment, jumped off and kicked on Zhou Yuanhao's right hand that was holding the long handle of the mace, he was already unstable and his calves were not strong.

The hands that raised the mace to block it were even more powerful, so that the sword that Wang Beilin swept away was already powerless, but who knew that this sword was only shaking.

This kick almost broke his defenseless right hand, and the mace seemed to be unstable.

The long handle of the mace erected in the air of one hundred and ten catties lost the support of one right hand, and directly pressed down with his left hand to the side, Wang Beilin saw the opportunity and immediately jumped up and swung his sword towards Zhou Yuanhao.

At this moment of crisis, Zhou Yuanhao made an unexpected move to Wang Beilin, he completely abandoned his weapon and took the initiative to let go and let the mace fall backwards to the ground.

and rushed forward towards Wang Beilin, stretched out his hands to give a bear hug, and his hands were precisely under Wang Beilin's armpits, and he was successfully caught.

Suddenly restrained, Wang Beilin panicked and turned the short sword with his backhand, raising the sword to stab Zhou Yuanhao's neck, but before Wang Beilin could make the first move, Zhou Yuanhao had already exerted great force and threw Wang Beilin directly to the edge of the ring.

Before Wang Beilin landed, Zhou Yuanhao quickly turned around and picked up the mace on the ground, and raised the mace to accumulate strength while running quickly to Wang Beilin's direction.

When the distance was enough, he slammed down violently and smashed straight into Wang Beilin's torso.

Seeing that the athletic Wang Beilin couldn't dodge, he supported the ground with his right hand, quickly rolled to the left, and dodged Zhou Yuanhao's blow, Zhou Yuanhao's stick smashed a pit in the ring, but it was not too deep, it can be seen that the ring built by the government, even if it is divided, the quality of the ring is extraordinary.

Zhou Yuanhao saw that the blow was unsuccessful and he picked up another stick, Wang Beilin hurriedly jumped up from the ground, and jumped back to the edge of the ring on the other side.

Although he successfully dodged the attack, the distance was completely pulled to his disadvantage, and if he wanted to get close again and slash with a short sword, it would probably be impossible.

Zhou Yuanhao was beaten aggrieved, and he couldn't use his strength, and now he seized the opportunity to fight back, so he naturally wouldn't let it go, he danced the mace with both hands to gather momentum, while observing Wang Beilin, who was constantly moving around him and waiting for the opportunity to make a sword.

As a result, the convenience of the attack has changed, and now the situation has become that Zhou Yuanhao has more initiative, as long as he catches an opportunity that seems to be able to hit Wang Beilin, he will flip the dancing mace, lock Wang Beilin's position and directly smash it.

Zhou Yuanhao's mace smashed from top to bottom with the strength of a thousand catties, Wang Beilin could only dodge and did not dare to take it hard, he knew that with the blade of his short sword, he would definitely not be able to parry such a seven-foot heavy weapon as the other party.

Zhou Yuanhao saw that Wang Beilin only knew how to avoid concessions, so he was even happier, and left one by one in the ring.

And Wang Beilin, who was obviously better than Zhou Yuanhao in speed and body style, was embarrassed and was driven around the ring by the mace, but he finally dodged all the heavy blows.

Zhou Yuanhao saw Wang Beilin circling around him like a fly, so he was a little impatient, and then swung the stick harder, in order to pursue the flexible Wang Beilin, he changed the heavy blow to the swing of the stick sweep.

In this way, not only does it require more energy, but the power of the sweep is much weaker than that of the smash.

But in Zhou Yuanhao's opinion, this is better than not being able to hit the enemy, he swung his stick violently with both hands, and kept slashing left and right.

Zhou Yuanhao thought to himself that as long as he could hit Wang Beilin once and beat him with a stick, he would no longer be able to dodge so unscrupulously......

"Defeated, impetuous, and stupid. ”

Zhang Hongyi no longer looked at the back and forth fights in the ring below, but took a sip of tea with his eyes closed and said lightly.

"Oh, how can the master see it?"

Zhu Shikai asked knowingly with a smile.

"Although it is an inch long and an inch strong, this doll cannot fully control the weight of the weapon in its hand. Therefore, forcibly harnessing it will make it impossible to achieve the slightest subtle control of power and speed in all aspects. In this way, since the blade is not handy, it will only become uncoordinated with the strength and weapon if it lasts for a long time.

And now they have failed to calmly analyze the situation, regardless of their strength, choose their dangerous paths, and panic and exert their strength, so anxious that they will be defeated. On the other hand, his opponent was a little embarrassed, but he was agile in avoidance, and his expression was more than stable, and he was obviously not in a desperate situation......"

"Also, this strong man has been bullied and suppressed for a long time, and he finally found an opportunity to take the initiative, and he should have won calmly, but seeing that he is so anxious now, I am afraid that he will be in an embarrassment again. ”

Although Zhang Hongyi has lost interest in the duel on the field, Zhu Shikai, the prince who is not a martial arts practitioner, is still watching the battle between the two below with great interest at the moment......