These businessmen who traveled from south to north are well-informed people, and they are very shrewd in their hearts, and their understanding of the whole society is much higher than that of ordinary people, and it is difficult to hide many superficial phenomena from them.

For example, in this gladiatorial performance, the winning party will be acquitted and expelled, and can be free, which is very tempting for people who have been convicted of serious crimes, but after regaining freedom, can they really live smoothly? This is obviously very difficult.

Because they are all people who have committed serious crimes, it is very likely that they have enemies, and if they have enemies, they will not be able to live smoothly after they go out.

Especially the two people who participated in the gladiatorial fight this time, one was a pirate who was sentenced to death, the other was a rapist, and he also raped the concubine of a relatively wealthy businessman.

Businessmen are people with good face, especially businessmen with money and status, they pay more attention to their own face, and their delicate concubines are smacked, which is simply a great shame, how can they tolerate it, however, this kind of thing was bumped into by the Tang Dynasty soldiers, and according to the laws of the Tang Dynasty, it is natural that they can't ignore it.

And when the merchant heard that this kind of felony was going to be taken into the Colosseum to duel with the pirates, he naturally would not have any opinions, once a person entered such a Colosseum, sooner or later he would be played to death, and he would die very miserably, and he could watch the bad guy who raped his concubine enter the Colosseum to fight, which was also a very hateful thing.

Of course, this businessman would not have expected that Ang Lee would release the winning side with a word, so if the rapist won and was released, then he would definitely not be able to bear this breath.

In this case, the merchant will definitely not let go of the rapist who wears a hat on him, that is to say, even if the rapist wins in the Colosseum and regains his freedom, it is impossible for the rapist to really live, as long as he is expelled from Anzhu City, he is not under the jurisdiction of Datang, and he can be put to death by finding a few random people.

After the fifteen merchants had returned to the Colosseum, the second gladiatorial battle had begun, and they had squeezed through the crowd so that they could see more clearly and clearly.

It is said that one inch is long and one inch is strong, and one inch is short and one inch is dangerous, and after the two gladiators entered the Colosseum, they all quickly chose the longest spear as their combat weapon.

Although different weapons have different advantages, if two people who are not too big apart fight together, the person with a longer weapon will have a greater advantage, because the long weapon is more powerful to wield, and can also kill the opponent when the opponent can't reach him.

A man with a spear is fighting with a man with a broadsword, as long as the two people have about the same combat strength, then the person with the spear will definitely win.

Pirates and rapists are not fools, they both understand that long weapons have incomparable advantages, which cannot be compared with short weapons, not only in the age of cold weapons, but also in the age of hot weapons.

Later generations of artillery are known as the god of war, thicker caliber and longer range, always the goal pursued by the military of various countries, especially the longer range, has always been the military is very concerned about the performance.

This is also because if the range of the artillery is long enough, it can destroy the opponent's artillery beyond the range of the opponent's artillery, so that you can win the war.

Short means that you can't reach the enemy, but will be easily reached by the enemy, which is very dangerous, so whether it is desperately pursuing the length of the weapon, or the future generations to pursue the range of the weapon, in the final analysis, it is for your fist to be able to stretch farther, to better hit the enemy and protect yourself.

The two gladiators were undoubtedly shrewd, and they both chose the longest spear to be able to attack their opponents better.

Of course, this choice is enough to show that their martial arts are not strong enough, they are a very ordinary person, if they are particularly strong in martial arts, they can give full play to the excellence of this weapon no matter what weapon they use, so as to achieve victory.

The spear is relatively long, and there are advantages that the spear should have, but short weapons also have the advantages of short weapons, and this different advantage, only the master who is good at using weapons can use it flexibly, and the average person still uses the long one more reliable.

The same is true for weapons in later generations, such as firearms, the range of the pistol is short and the power is small, while the range of the rifle is far and powerful, so the rifle is naturally more powerful, but the rifle is relatively large, far less flexible than the pistol, if it is a guerrilla war in a place with more complex terrain, the pistol is sometimes more flexible and easy to use than the rifle.

The diameter of the Colosseum is fifty meters, and the terrain is open enough to fight, and in such an occasion a duel, a longer spear, indeed has an incomparable advantage, and the choice of the two gladiators is correct.

Of course, if Li An went down to fight with them, he would definitely not choose a spear, because Li An is a powerful character with strong martial arts, so he will naturally not choose a spear, a long weapon that seems to have a great advantage, but will choose a slightly shorter Mo knife.

As long as the Mo knife is in hand, Li An only needs one rotation to easily split the spear in two, and if he continues to spin, he can cut the opponent into two pieces.

"Hey! Two rookies again, haha! ”

A Tang military general spoke.

"Only rookies can appear in this kind of place! Not everyone is as well-trained as our Datang soldiers. ”

Another Tang military general said proudly.

"The point is that these pirates and felons are ordinary people, or just a little bit stronger than ordinary people, and it's really not worth mentioning."

"Let's make do with it! Although the fighting is not professional enough, as long as it is exciting enough, the beast fighting performance we watch is better than dog eat dog! ”

The two Tang generals laughed and talked.

The spears in the hands of the two gladiators were the same length, both two zhang long, which can be said to be very long, and in the army, such a long spear is not very common, because it is too long.

And you can't use the full length of such a long spear, because you can't hold the end of the spear! In this case, the spear cannot be raised, and the hand is the most comfortable only when it is placed in the middle of the spear, but in this way, half of the length is lost, which is not conducive to the length advantage of the spear, and the end is not good, so put the hand further back and hold it in the back third of the spear, which is the most suitable way to use the spear.

Most people who use spears hold the position of the back third of the spear, so that they can use it most conveniently, and they can also give full play to the length advantage of the spear, and can take care of both aspects.

Li An raised his eyes and saw that when the two gladiators held the spear, they held it as far back as possible, about the back fifth of the spear, which was a little further back than the average person who used the spear.

Their purpose in doing this is naturally to give full play to the length advantage of the spear, and to stab the opponent down before they assassinate themselves.

However, it will be very tiring to hold the spear in this way, especially when it is stretched straight forward, because the spear shaft behind the arm is too short, resulting in a serious forward shift of the center of gravity, so that the spearhead will naturally fall downward, and in order to better maintain the assassination effect of the spear, you have to lift the spearhead in front of you hard, which will inevitably consume more physical strength.

The two gladiators held their spears flat like this, approaching each other step by step, looking for an opportunity to stab each other to death in one fell swoop, and the two spears were getting closer and closer, and they could attack at any time.

"Closer, they started fighting."

"Who will win?"

"It looks like it's half a catty, and it must be another wonderful show."

"Don't talk about it, they're fighting."

The onlookers looked quite excited, because a wonderful show was about to begin.

Both gladiators were dueling for the first time, and they were forced, so they were naturally very scared, and they did not dare to attack with all their strength at first, but instead tried to attack each other.

The two spears with a length of two feet kept colliding, but the strength was obviously not very large, but after a few tests, the intensity of the collision became stronger and stronger, and they approached step by step, and the fight became more intense.

Soon, the two pirates raised their spears and stabbed each other's hearts, and after a few attempts, they stabbed them violently, because the two spears were of the same length, and they were protected by armor, so they were stabbed almost at the same time, and quickly grasped the shaft of the spear that pierced the chest.

The two gladiators were like carrying sedan chairs, both holding two spears and pushing each other back and forth, trying to kill each other and protect themselves.

One gladiator stretched out his leg and kicked, and one of his spears was broken and broke in two, and the other gladiator saw that he was terrible, and one of his spears that he stabbed at the opponent was kicked and broken, and the situation was not good for him, so he also stretched out his leg and kicked, and the opponent's spear was broken in two.

The lethality and deterrence of the broken spear were greatly reduced, and both of them smashed the half-cut spear shaft in their hands into each other, and quickly ran to the position where the weapon was placed, looking for a more convenient weapon again.

This time, the pirate chose the mace, and the rapist chose the Mo knife, both of which are more powerful weapons, however, the mace is made of wood, and the Mo knife is all metal, and the quality gap between the two is still very obvious.

The Mo knife is obviously better than the mace, and in the entire field of cold weapons in Datang, there is no weapon that surpasses the Mo knife.

According to the records of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty's knives have four kinds, one is the instrument knife, the second is the obstacle knife, the third is the horizontal knife, and the fourth is the Mo knife, and the Mo knife is in the last place, and it is also the most powerful weapon.

The Mo knife, also known as the long knife, is a weapon of hoplites, and only the most elite troops of the Tang Dynasty will be equipped with a strategic-level weapon like the Mo knife, which is somewhat similar in appearance to the horse sword of the Han Dynasty, but it is better than the horse sword.

This kind of strategic-level Mo knife weighs fifteen catties, according to the weight unit of the Tang Dynasty, one catty is six hundred and sixty grams, and the weight of fifteen catties is equivalent to ten kilograms in later generations, which is also a very heavy knife, but for soldiers, it is not too heavy, but if it is not a strong soldier who wields it, only a strong soldier can wield a Mo knife well, so the Mo knife soldiers of the Tang Dynasty are all tall and strong soldiers.

Because it is very material and labor intensive to make a Mo knife, and the technical requirements are relatively high, the Tang Dynasty court stipulates that Mo Dao is not allowed to be buried with it, so later archaeologists have not been able to find the style of Mo Dao, and can only rely on guessing to speculate on the general appearance of Mo Dao.

Mo knife is the main weapon of the infantry, and because the blade is very long, so, it will give people a very strong deterrent, can scare the opponent, at the same time, because the Mo knife is relatively long, it can be well wielded and chopped, as long as it is arranged in a neat formation, it can be very effective in restraining the impact of the cavalry troops, and even defeating the cavalry troops.

In the history of the Tang Dynasty, many important battles have the figure of the Modao Army, and these Modao Army can often play a decisive role, affecting the victory or defeat of the battle, and making great contributions to the Tang Dynasty.

However, the Mo knife was lost in the end, as for why it was lost, it was naturally because the production process of the Mo knife was too cumbersome, that is, the cost was too high, and in the late Tang Dynasty, the war was very frequent, and the consumption of weapons was very high, if it could not be replenished in time, it would greatly affect the combat effectiveness of the troops, and the replenishment speed of the Mo knife could not keep up with the speed of the army's consumption, so it could only be ruthlessly eliminated, replaced by a simple weapon such as a spear, which only needed a metal head and a wooden pole or a bamboo pole. It is very easy to manufacture and very easy to replenish troops, so it is naturally loved by all mercenary generals and quickly becomes a trend.

Of course, after Li An invented firearms, the status of Datang Modao has been in continuous decline, at present, the ironclad artillery car and artillery unit have been expanding, and the Modao army can only retreat to the secondary army, if Li An invents guns and equips more powerful gun troops, the status of Modao will be even lower, and finally completely replaced.

And the reason why Li An is not in a hurry to invent guns is because Li An looks down on arquebuses and flintlock pistols, and feels that there is no need to invent such inferior muskets, and now the gradual accumulation of technology is what Li Ang is keen on, as long as the technology is accumulated enough, Li An will directly invent the rifle, that guy is too powerful, one bullet after another, no iron armor can resist, and even, you can also invent machine guns, if this kind of perverted weapons are equipped with the Tang army, the northern nomads will be completely out of play, There is no idea other than to bow down.

The opening of the Maritime Silk Road is very important, after taking Li An back to Chang'an City, Li An will go to tinker with the rifle, and after the successful invention of the rifle, Li Ang will start to form a rifle army to establish a more modern and powerful military force