Chapter Ninety-Six: The Competition

The next day, Ma Teng ordered Pang De to lead 1,000 cavalry and infantry to maintain order outside the city. The heroes who settled inside and outside arrived at the demarcated place early and waited for it.

Chen Cheng put on a full set of gorgeous armor and ordered Lu Fang to take a hundred Yue horsemen to open the way in front, and he himself rode on the back of a tall war horse, with Zhao Yun holding a battle flag in front of him, and a cart carrying Liu Qian, the princess of ten thousand years, behind him. When he left Luoyang, Chen Cheng brought a lot of cloth and silk out, and also brought a lot of palace clothes. At this time, Liu Qian naturally put on the most gorgeous clothes and sat quietly in the carriage.

Behind, there were a hundred more Yue riders in a neat row. All the soldiers' armor and weapons were polished, and the horses were well fed, and the whole army looked strong. Although there were only two hundred horsemen, they put on the momentum of thousands of troops.

The procession marched through the city gate and appeared on the viewing platform of the tournament venue. Chen Cheng first helped Liu Qian to sit on the stage, then took a few steps forward, pressed his sword and looked around, surrounded by a dense crowd. Those who can appear on the field of the competition are all the heroes in the county, and there are many contradictions between these people, and in the practice of two or three days, there have been a lot of battles, and several lives have been lost.

Even when they arrived at the venue of the martial arts competition, many people were still glaring at each other. Chen Cheng looked around, taking in the surrounding situation, and then said in a calm voice: "For well-known reasons, Princess Wannian and I are standing here, and we don't talk nonsense. Today, there are a total of six events, namely horseback riding, archery, running, weightlifting, throwing, and unlimited fighting, and the winner of each event can get a set of iron armor! ”

Six large chests were lifted onto the stage and opened, revealing six sets of polished shiny armor in front of everyone.

In this era, a set of iron armor is very valuable no matter where it is, even if it is Ma Teng, even if he knew it in advance, he was a little surprised after seeing Chen Cheng really take out six sets of iron armor. Six sets of iron armor, which is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Ma Teng is still like that, let alone others.

He turned his head and said to Ma Chao, "Do you want to go up and try it?" ”

Ma Chao said proudly: "Naturally, I want it!" I want to see what kind of face Chen Cheng will be if these six sets of armor are all taken by me alone! ”

Chen Cheng kicked one of the boxes with his foot and said loudly: "Everyone present can participate, and the strongest person can take one set!" ”

His voice was so loud that he could silence the voices of everyone present. Chen Cheng didn't care what the people on the side were saying, and directly announced: "The first item is to ride a horse!" ”

Those who can come here are either from some families, or those who are bold. Besides, Xiliang is full of martial virtues, and hundreds of people immediately picked out and asked to participate in the competition. The rules of the competition had already been worked out, and at this time, Chen Cheng also commanded the specific parts of the competition, but pushed everything to Yan Zhong. He himself took a few steps back and knelt beside Liu Qian.

Liu Qian said in a low voice: "Ma Chao said some unpleasant things just now. ”

Ma Teng is the local host, so naturally there is a place on the viewing platform. When Ma Chao spoke, he didn't think about avoiding others at all, and many people heard it. Chen Cheng smiled and said, "Oh, what did he say?" ”

Liu Qian whispered Ma Chao's words, and said a little worriedly: "The Ma family has many soldiers and horses, if we are embarrassed, will we have to flee elsewhere?" ”

Chen Cheng thought for a while and said, "Probably not." ”

"Why?"

Chen Cheng looked at Liu Qian's little face full of worry, and said with a smile: "Because they don't dare." ”

"Really?"

"Really."

Liu Qian was relieved a lot and began to watch the game on the field. Because of the prizes, and because of the title of "strongest", there were many participants, and Yan Zhong had to divide the people into several groups, and the first place in each group was compared again, and then the champion was selected.

Horse riding competitions require a good horse first, and a good riding skill secondly. Horses come first, and the human factor comes second. The Liangzhou cavalry was famous in the world from the Han Dynasty to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Five Dynasties, and even to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The name of "Liangzhou Malaysia, the world" has been loud for one or two thousand years.

This is mainly due to geographical reasons, Liangzhou is connected to China and the Western Regions, and the endless grassland is in the north, which is an excellent place for cavalry to gallop. East and West cultures blended here, and horses were constantly crossbred to one of the best producing areas in the world until the Industrial Revolution.

Those who can come to watch the tournament have at least one good horse, but there is still a difference between a good horse and a good horse. Those with a shoulder height of less than four feet five, although there are also many excellent horses, but without Yan Zhong coming out to speak, they are directly afraid of others to come out.

Among the people who came down, there were not only Ma Chao, but also Ma Tie and Ma Xiu, Jiang Xu, Yang Fu and others who looked at them with hot eyes, and they all participated in the competition with their excellent riding skills. In addition to this, there were also some Qiang, Xiongnu and other Hu people who also participated.

Chen Cheng talked to Liu Qian in the stands, and then walked to the side and talked to Ma Teng. He doesn't care about the outcome of the game. It was just a few sets of iron armor, and now the cavalry under his command was equipped with at least a hundred.

"General Ma," Chen Cheng said: "I heard that your army is about to start a war with Han Sui, although there are not many soldiers under my command, but their combat strength is outstanding, all of them are warriors who can fight one enemy and ten, and they are willing to lead troops to garrison Gaoping and share the general's worries." ”

Ma Teng is still reluctant to answer this question head-on, but he hasn't figured out how to deal with the current chaotic situation, and he is forced to be in a hurry, and he is only in a hurry, taking care of him.

Seeing this, Chen Cheng chuckled twice and said, "Then I know what General Ma meant, don't worry, after tonight's banquet, I will leave tomorrow with the troops." ”

"That's not what I meant," Ma Teng was startled, and hurriedly said, "I didn't mean to let Juluhou leave." ”

Chen Chengjian raised his eyebrows and said coldly: "Oh, don't let us leave, is General Fei Ma trying to keep us here?" ”

He was so easy to get angry, Rao is Ma Teng was used to fighting, and he couldn't help but have the hairs on his back stand up, he was frightened in his heart, his face changed color slightly, he straightened up, and his hand was pressed on the short knife on his waist, and then he laughed dryly twice, and said, "Don't dare, how could I do that?" Juluhou misunderstood me. ”

"It's not, it's not, what is it?" Chen Cheng looked at him coldly, "We have been waiting here for ten days, is General Ma going to let us wait here until the earth is barren?" ”

Facing Chen Cheng's aggressive posture, Ma Teng looked left and right, but there was no one who could save the scene, he hesitated for a while, and finally said: "Give Juluhou an answer tonight, it will definitely satisfy Your Excellency, how about it?" ”

The expression on Chen Cheng's face softened, and he smiled again. Said: "Then wait for the general's reply!" ”

On the court below, the preliminary round has ended, and a total of six people have been selected to participate in the second round, including Ma Chao and Yang Fu. Other people, such as Ma Tie, Ma Xiu, Jiang Xu and others, were all brushed down.

Ma Tie pinched the whip unhappily and said, "Oh, I'm just a little bit behind, I knew that I would have led out Ah Da's good horse." ”

Ma Yunlu shaved his face and said coquettishly: "I'm so ashamed, are you a little bit worse?" You're a lot worse than your big brother. ”

Matthew also smiled and said, "You are still a little short of me, how can you compare with your eldest brother?" ”

They were all in a group with Ma Chao, and they were easily crushed. Ma Tie swung his whip fiercely, slapped it on the fence, and shouted: "That's because the eldest brother's horse is good, if I have a good horse, I will definitely win!" ”

Under Yan Zhong's scheduling, the rematch soon began. Six horses about five feet tall at the shoulders started and rushed towards the finish line after the drums sounded. Chen Cheng finished talking with Ma Teng, and at this time he watched the game below with great interest. He pointed to Ma Chao's vigorous figure and said with a smile: "Meng Qi is heroic and heroic, and he really deserves the name of Jin Ma Chao!" ”

Ma Teng was forced to give Chengruo, at this time his face was a little ugly, but seeing his son fierce in the arena, his face was slightly better, and he squeezed out a smile on his face, and said: "Meng Qi is still too impatient." ”

Seeing that the thin line of the end line is in front of him, Ma Chao has already thrown Yang Fu, who is the closest, off a position, if there is no accident, victory is in sight. Ma Chao showed a satisfied smile on his face, and said in his heart: It's really like picking up things, it's easy!

He was in the midst of his rejoicing when his crotched mount stumbled on its front legs, and almost threw him off his horse. This situation is also very common, the horse's hooves are stepped on the hard ground too much, and it will crack, and then the situation will appear, and there are other reasons, this will also happen.

Ma Chao stabilized his body, and the secret road was dangerous, but when he looked up, he suddenly found that Yang Fu took advantage of the fact that when his horse stumbled, he suddenly rushed to the front and crossed the finish line. Yang Fu laughed and reined in the horses, and said in a loud voice: "Bo Yi, do you see it?" I just said I could win! ”

Jiang Xu laughed and ran over, hammered Yang Fu on the chest, and said loudly: "Okay, you Yang Yishan, you actually beat Ma Chao!" ”

On the viewing platform, Chen Cheng was stunned for a moment and said, "It's a pity, Meng Qi was going to win." ”

He said to Ma Teng, who had a surprised look on his face: "In this way, even if Meng Qi and that Ren are tied for the first ........"

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly exclaimed. Chen Cheng hurriedly turned his head and saw Ma Chao snatching the spear in the hand of a soldier and running towards Yang Fu angrily.

"Major General, Major General!" A chief with several soldiers hurriedly stopped Ma Chao and shouted: "The young general is angry, angry!" ”

Yang Fu also brought his entourage over, and several people held swords in front of him. Jiang Xu shouted: "Ma Mengqi, in front of everyone's eyes, do you want to kill people to vent your anger if you lose?" ”

Ma Chao scolded, "Fuck your mother's loss, uncle, I obviously won, if it weren't for the horse's hooves pouting, how could I lose to this mongrel?" ”

Yang Fu was furious, pushed away the entourage in front of him, snatched the ring head knife in the hand of one of them, and said angrily: "Keep your mouth clean, others are afraid of you Ma Mengqi, I'm not afraid!" ”