In addition to Deng Ai and Shi Bao, there were also 18 officers of the Xiaocai Battalion who participated in the selection competition, and these officers were either military marquis or Dubo, and they were all elite among the junior officers.

The military system of the Han and Wei eras is in the same line, and there is not much change, five people are a team, the chief of the army, the second army is a tithe, the chief is a tithe, the chief is a team, the five tithes are a team, the team rate is set up, the second team is a tun, the Dubo is set up, the five tun is a song, the military marquis is set up, the second song is a one, the chief officer is the captain, the adjutant is Sima, the five departments are a battalion, and the battalion officer is the Zhonglang general or the crown general.

The military marquis is the chief of the qu, generally the big qu leads 500 people, the small qu leads 200 people, and Du Bo is the tun chief, which is a hundred generals. However, Junhou and Dubo are both junior officers, and if they can be promoted to lieutenant and Sima, it will be regarded as stepping into the threshold of middle-level officers, so the competition for Sima in other departments this time is still quite fierce.

Cao Liang sat at the bottom of Cao Yan, in this position, you can overlook the entire school field, and the twenty test takers are neatly organized, waiting for the start of the competition.

Cao Yan loudly announced the rules of the competition, the competition is divided into three contents, the first competition is riding, riding around the school for ten laps, the first to win, the last four eliminated, the first sixteen people to advance to the second round of the competition.

In fact, the first round of the competition is the speed horse race, the test is the ability of the contestant to control the war horse, as an officer of the cavalry battalion, if you can't ride a horse, you are naturally unqualified, so the content of this competition is understandable.

But Cao Liang immediately expressed his dissatisfaction and protested: "Father, this is not fair, your people ride war horses every day to train, and they have long been familiar with the temperament of war horses, but Shi Bao and Deng Ai are newcomers, and they have never ridden the war horses of the Xiao Cavalry Battalion at all, so it is unfair to compete like this." ”

Cao Yan said disapprerovingly: "There is absolute fairness in this world, since you want to participate in the competition of my Xiao Riding Battalion, you must abide by the rules of the Xiao Riding Camp, if you can't even control the war horse, then I still advise your people to quit as soon as possible, so as to save the bottom of the ranking and embarrass people." ”

Wen Qin said at this time: "General Cao, what the little marquis said is not unreasonable, since it is a competition, it should be fair and just, and the last general thinks that in this competition, all candidates are not allowed to ride their own war horses, and from other camps, twenty war horses of the same size are selected, and each person chooses one, so good?" ”

Cao Yan nodded slightly, agreed to Wen Qin's suggestion, and instructed the Chinese officer to select twenty sturdy war horses from other camps.

Taking advantage of the horse selection, Cao Liang got off the stands, replaced Deng Ai Shibud in front of him, and said: "The first competition is horse racing, twenty into sixteen, do you have confidence and certainty?" ”

Shi Bao looked at those competitors, and said with a hearty smile: "Don't worry, Gongzi Cao, a certain martial arts has been practiced since childhood, and he is good at riding, and a few soldiers and cubs are not a problem." ”

Shi Bao has been striking iron for many years, his body is strong, and he is powerful, Cao Liang is not too worried about him, but Deng Ai, it seems that his physical condition is much worse than Shi Bao, Cao Liang doesn't know if he has practiced horseback riding before, and now the first test is riding, if he can't pass the first level, Deng Ai can't show his ability no matter how much he can't perform.

Sure enough, what made Cao Liang more worried still happened, although Deng Ai had ridden a horse before, but he had not undergone formal training, and there was still a significant difference between him and the soldiers of the cavalry battalion who were crawling on horseback all day long, Deng Ai's more hesitant eyes made Cao Liang very worried.

Shi Bao and Deng Ai are both Cao Liang's internal generals, and this time they are placed in the Xiaocai camp for training, which is Cao Liang's long-planned plan, these two top generals in the post-Three Kingdoms era, they can't let them lose anything, let alone let them be used by the Sima family, so they can be their opponents.

Therefore, today's competition is very important, Shi Bao and Deng Ai, two must pass the test, and neither of them can be missing.

But obviously riding is Deng Ai's weakness, and it is very difficult to compete with these knights in the Xiao Riding Battalion.

Cao Liang was secretly anxious, so he had to say to Shi Bao: "Brother Zhongrong, this time you two go to war, you need to take care of each other, these officers of the Xiao Cavalry Battalion are usually more familiar, and they will definitely unite to deal with you, if you fight separately, you will definitely be broken by each other, only by taking care of each other, can you have a chance to win." ”

Shi Bao immediately agreed, this time he was able to participate in the selection and allocation competition of the Xiao Riding Camp, Cao Liang made great efforts, otherwise it would not be their turn at all, at this moment, Cao Liang opened his mouth, of course Shi Bao could not refuse.

Cao Liang was a little relieved, as long as Shi Bao took care of him, it should not be a big problem for Deng Ai to pass the first round, but when Cao Liang returned to the stands, he saw the eighteen test takers from the Xiao Riding Camp muttering something together, and he couldn't help frowning slightly, and there was an extra layer of worry in his heart.

Cao Liang can arrange for Shibao and Deng Ai to take care of each other, but these competitors in the Xiaoqi Battalion don't have the same thoughts, and they usually practice together, and they are very familiar with each other.

But Cao Liang doesn't help them now, and when they go to the arena, they can only rely on themselves.

Chen Junhou and Lu Junhou, who have the highest military rank among the eighteen people, are also the favorites to win this competition, originally thought that the positions of the two other Sima belonged to them, but they killed two agricultural officials halfway through, and actually wanted to grab their appointed positions, which made Chen Junhou and Lu Junhou very unhappy.

The two of them immediately gathered the others together to discuss how to deal with it, and Lu Junhou proposed that everyone suspend the competition and unanimously eliminate the two outsiders in the first round of horse racing.

Not to mention that the status of Chen Junhou and Lu Junhou is relatively high, this proposal is also in line with the interests of the majority of people, sixteen promotion places, excluding these two outsiders, there are only two of them who need to be eliminated.

If they fight separately, it is likely that the praying mantis catches the cicada and the yellow finch will be behind, allowing these two outsiders to take advantage of the loophole, and such a result is obviously impossible to satisfy the people of the Xiao Cavalry Battalion, so they must join forces to control the game and suppress the two outsiders out, so that it is in the interests of the Xiao Cavalry Battalion.

Soon, twenty horses were brought in, and the twenty examinees each selected a horse for the final warm-up on the field.

Eighteen officers of the cavalry battalion gathered together, whispering, while Deng Ai and Shi Bao stayed alone on the other side, and the lines of the two sides were clearly divided.