Jian Cheng and Zhao Xingde walked to the archery venue. It was relatively quiet here, and the archers quietly raised their bows and opened their bows in the face of the arrow targets a hundred paces away, only to hear the sound of "whooshing", and one by one the arrows were launched out, steadily piercing into the arrow stacks, and none of them missed the target.

"Good arrows!" Zhao Xingde secretly praised. It was as if he saw dozens of archers shooting together, shooting all of an enemy squad on the spot.

Jian Cheng's face was shrouded in a dark cloud: "It seems that the competition is indeed fierce." He gently pinched the horn bow in the quiver with his right hand, "Shoot the tiger, shoot the tiger, don't let me down." "I felt that the horn bow was like a psychic, as if it was an extension of my arm, and I stabilized my mind a little.

In addition to the weapons issued by the imperial court, the archers of the Xia Kingdom generally prepared a good bow that really suited them, and practiced diligently day and night, like a part of the body. At the end of his service, he retired with the bow. This "Shooting Tiger" horn bow is made of top-grade Zhemu as the body, two feet five inches of fine horns as the abdomen, deer tendons as the back, and fish maw as glue, which took three years to make. This bow shoots two stones and five buckets, the bow is soft, the tension is even, and it is not easy to cut the fingers, which is complementary to Jian Cheng's bold and resolute character, and it is a treasure that he cherishes as if he were his life. Usually this bow is stored in the bow bag, carefully maintained at four o'clock, and is reluctant to take it out when it is not used.

"After!" With the officer's order, the sergeant turned the winch, the arrow stack was dragged ten paces, the archers raised their bows again, opened their bows, and dozens of arrows "swished" away, and three rounds of arrows rained down, and only five arrows missed the target. A trace of chagrin flashed in the corners of the eyes of several sergeants, and they immediately calmed down and entered the realm of no distractions.

"After!" The officer gave the order again, and the battlements were again dragged back ten paces, reaching a distance of one hundred and twenty paces. The archers raised their bows again, this time, all the bows seemed to be fuller than just now, some slightly raised their bows more obliquely, and the different breaths of different depths were quickly broken by a "whoosh" arrow, and the other archers also released their arrows, and three arrows missed the target in this round, and the next two rounds of arrows feathered, a total of eleven arrows missed the target.

The officers who selected the archers kept giving orders to drag the stacks of arrows back to a distance of one hundred and fifty paces, and most of the sergeants took the method of throwing arrows diagonally upwards to get the arrows right, and after three rounds of arrows swished down, seventy percent of the arrows were still firmly planted on the target.

The fierce competition made Jian Cheng, the ten-division commander of the Tiger Wing Army, also feel a little nervous, and casually asked beside him: "Which army are you from?" ”

Zhao Xingde just wanted to speak, but he heard the officers on the school field shout, "Rush!" Dozens of sergeants pushed the winch together, and the dozens of arrows were as fast as the enemy were attacking the sergeant who was shooting the arrow, and the track underneath was like a serpentine bend, as if the living were dodging left and right.

All the archers showed their housekeeping skills, staring at the arrows rushing at full speed without blinking, many of them held the bow in their left hand, and took several arrows at the same time in their right hand, and when the thumb pulled the string, the other fingers still held several arrows, and after the arrow was released with a whoosh, the finger was flexible and moved the arrow between the thumb and index finger, and almost instantly opened the bow again.

"Arrows!" Zhao Xingde secretly exclaimed, he didn't expect that half of the archers were using the beaded arrow skills taught to him by Yuwen Bingxin, and the other archers put a few more arrows on the left hand holding the bow, and after an arrow was issued, the right hand immediately quickly took an arrow from the left hand, and pulled the bow and released the arrow again, but the left and right hands intersected like this, which was slightly slower than the fingers of the right hand to hold the arrow, and the fingers of the arrows were slightly slower, and it slightly affected the stability of the archer.

Zhao Xingde noticed that most archers did not wear wrenches, but relied on the thick calluses they had trained for a long time, and they stubbornly resisted the pull of the bowstring, and the flexibility of their thumbs made them release their arrows a little faster.

The ancient precept of only three shots against the enemy was almost completely broken by the skill of the arrows, and dozens of archers poured the arrows like splashing water. Get out. All the archers' nerves were in extreme tension, so much so that when the arrow stack was pulled in front of them, some people even put down the bow and arrow without thinking, and reflexively pulled out the talisman flat saber and slashed it on the arrow stack, only to wake up, this is just a competition.

After the stacks of arrows with dense arrow feathers stopped, the archers slowly relaxed, some gasped, some had bean-sized sweat on their faces, and some felt soreness in their shoulders and backs, obviously they had gone all out just now.

Zhao Xingde was shocked by the elite level of the archers of the Xia Kingdom, not to mention the infantry army, even if it was the same number of cavalry, in front of this group of archers, I was afraid that it would be difficult to please them, and the battlements full of arrow feathers were proof.

Just as he was dumbfounded, Jian Cheng patted him on the shoulder and said in a deep voice, "It's our turn." He strode behind the white line where the archers stood.

Zhao Xingde followed behind Jian Cheng and also stood behind the white line. The sergeant was counting the results of the previous round of archers, and when he saw Zhao Xingde coming over, he casually asked, "Which army, what is the name?" ”

At present, Zhao Xingde is reining in his mind, secretly meditating on the essence of the whole body, and when he sees the question, he casually replied: "Tiger Wing Army, Zhao De." ”。 He even felt the palm of his hand holding the bow heat slightly, as if he wanted to establish a sense with the bow in his hand. Zhao Xingde knew that it was all an illusion, but it helped to improve the accuracy of archery.

Hearing Zhao Xingde's self-declared identity, Jian Cheng glanced at him strangely, his lips moved slightly, but he didn't speak, and continued to concentrate and prepare for archery.

The bow in Zhao Xingde's hand was "lent" to him by Ma Rui, called "Shooting the Sun", with the rhino horn as the abdomen, the mountain mulberry as the body, the sandalwood as the bow, the tiger tendon as the string, and the yellow bladder glue bonding, only the treasure is self-obscure, and the inconspicuous coarse linen rope is used to tie the card, and at a rough look, it is just an ordinary horn bow with a large size. This bow shoots three stones, and the bow is strong and violent, which just complements Zhao Xingde, and the person and the bow complement each other.

Seeing another group of archers on the field, on the stands of the school field, the commander of the Chengying Army turned his face to Zhou Yuanzhong. The Chengying Battalion fought alone in the territory of the enemy, mostly sneak attacks, fierce and short battles, and even assassination and assassination missions, so the role of the archers was more than ordinary. Zhou Yuanzhong once commanded thirty archers to ambush a Turkic general who often crossed the border to plunder, each shot two arrows, the enemy general and fifty guards, even an effective response was not made, and all died.

As the stacks of arrows faded away under the traction of the winch ropes, the archers had all taken out their bows, held them in their left hands, and stood upright behind the white line. One of them was holding a bow that was one size larger than the others, which attracted Zhou Yuanzhong's attention. He estimated that either the man lacked arm strength and used a long, soft bow to increase the stroke of the string, or the man had amazing brawn, and if the bow was a real hard bow, it was likely to shoot more than two stones. A sharpshooter with a three-stone bow can penetrate the armor two hundred paces away, even among the Xia army, it is rare.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yuanzhong couldn't help but look at that person, he was tall, raising the bow, opening the bow, and every posture and movement was a glance, but the strength seemed to be long and soft, and it seemed that he was pulling a big soft bow, not like the feeling of being strong and powerful when he pulled a hard bow.

Zhou Yuanzhong was slightly disappointed, before he could look away, the officer on the school field gave an order, the bow was like a thunderbolt, and with a "whoosh" sound, the powerful arrow sent by the big bow was as fast as lightning faster than other arrows, breaking through the wind, and with a "snap" sound, it was deeply pierced into the arrow stack, leaving only a short tail feather.

"It's actually a hard bow, a hard bow with three stone forces!"

In the stands, in addition to Zhou Yuanzhong, there were other officers such as General Zhang Shanfu of the Marching Division of the General's Mansion, everyone's eyes were very vicious, this arrow target was made of thick elm, and the arrow could be shot so deep that it immediately made the officers who paid attention to the archer competition. Two or three people were still whispering, "Which army is this person from?" Why haven't you heard of it on a regular basis? ”

The officer who gave the order had no time to care, and still ordered the sergeants to move the stacks of arrows back again and again, according to the predetermined procedure, and when the stacks were moved to a distance of one hundred and fifty paces, the trajectory of the arrows from the three-stone bow was obviously much lower than that of the others, and the archers who wielded the bows became more and more conspicuous. Almost all the generals and lieutenants in the stands noticed this side of the field.

Zhao Xingde was unaware of the changes outside the field, because the most nervous moment was coming, he did not hesitate to take out five arrows at a time, one string, four between his fingers, and held the bow firmly in his left hand, accompanied by a loud shout from the off-field officer, "Rush!" "The right hand quickly drew the bow, barely aimed, and with a gut instinct he shot the arrow, and then mounted an arrow and bent the bow to shoot. When all the five arrows were released, there were still more than fifty steps in the arrow stack, Zhao Xingde's right hand quickly went down to explore the arrow pot, and when he raised his hand again, it was five arrows between his fingers, he bent the bow and took the arrow, and swished out, because the arrow stack was approaching, at this time, there was no need to pull the full string, and the rate of fire was better than just now, just when the arrow buttress rushed in front of him, he actually shot five arrows again.

When the battlement full of arrows was forced in front of him, Zhao Xingde instinctively avoided it, and when the arrow battlement stopped moving, he realized that the competition was over, and he was overconcentrating just now, and a feeling of exhaustion came up, and even his eyes were a little black.

There was already an uproar outside the field, only the archers on the field only paid attention to their own results and did not pay attention to others, and Zhao Xingde didn't realize it at all, because of his special performance, the officers in the school stands had already started talking in surprise.

"He actually used a three-stone bow to send five arrows!" "No missed shots!" "Which army is it from? Why haven't I seen this person in previous years? ”

Zhou Yuanzhong, the commander of the Chengying Army, smiled on his face, and when he heard the last question, his face changed slightly, and he said in a deep voice: "He came here to participate in the selection of the Chengying Battalion, and he is naturally a member of my Chengying Army. Lao Zhou, I said ugly things in the front, no one is allowed to get stuck and not let go! ”