After the time entered September, there were a lot of arrow warriors with bows and arrows on the streets of Bianjing, and the arrow warriors were the unified name of the contestants who participated in the bow and horse competition, most of these arrow warriors were representatives of the township soldiers in various states, and there were also scholars who did not pass the selection of martial arts in various states, and they were not in a hurry to return to their hometowns, but stayed in the capital to wait for the opening of the bow and horse competition. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although the archery and horse competition is not as popular as the imperial examination, it is a different landscape for the people of Bianjing, who have always liked entertainment and excitement, especially in the Song Dynasty, when the folk bow and arrow society flourished, and people's love for bows and arrows was enough to make the bow and horse competition a topic of conversation in the streets and alleys of Bianjing.

When there was still half a month left in the archery and horse competition, the three major Guan Pu shops in Bianjing opened their own arrow warrior rankings, and the Guan Pu shop bow and horse rankings were only limited to mounted archery, and did not pay attention to foot shooting, after all, the real competition between bows and arrows was still in mounted archery, and foot shooting was just a foil.

Bianjing's largest guanpu shop is called Yutangge, which is based on the top 10 of the last year's mounted archery, removing three arrow warriors who did not sign up for this year's competition due to promotion, and removing two arrow warriors who are not in good shape, and then including five archery rookies who have risen in recent years, forming a new bow and horse competition list this year.

There are three ways to bet, one is to bet on the top three, the other is to bet on the top of the list, and the third bet is arbitrary, not necessarily according to the list of the list, and write your own list, after all, the list is just a reference, and there may be a dark horse to kill.

Among the top 10 in the list of archers and horses, eight are from the forbidden army, two are from martial arts, and eight of the forbidden army arrow warriors are divided into three parts, four from the Kyoto army, two from the Northwest Army and two from the Hebei army.

In a way, the Bow Horse Tournament is actually a competition between the three forbidden armies.

Although this year is a bit special, there are five arrow warriors from the Liao State and the Western Xia who will also participate in the bow and horse competition, but the bet made by Guan Pu did not include them, in short, even if the top three are taken away by the Liao State or the Western Xia warriors, and the Great Song Dynasty only wins the fourth place, then this fourth Great Song Arrow Warrior is the first place recognized by Guan Pudian.

The list opened by Yutangge was echoed by the other two major guanpu shops, both of which approved the reference list, and the last betting date was the Double Ninth Festival in early September, which is the eve of the start of the archery horse competition.

As the day of the archery and horse competition approached, more and more people placed bets, and the attention of the entire Bianjing City began to focus on this archery competition, which represented the highest level of riding and archery in the Great Song Dynasty.

Bao Yan Zhai has gradually come out of the business predicament caused by the rupture of the capital chain, as the jade fat soap began to be widely known among the general public, Bao Yan Zhai's rouge, perfume and jade fat new products once again triggered a hot sale in Bianjing, with Bao Yan Zhai has been recognized by the palace and the store is located in the prime location of the royal street, Bao Yan Zhai has surpassed the century-old store Zhang Gu Rouge shop in one fell swoop, becoming the best rouge brand recognized in the capital.

Even Xinqiao's Li Ji Rouge Shop has gradually been recognized by the middle and lower class people because of its high quality and low price, and the business has begun to be on the right track, although the sales are still far from Bao Yan Zhai, but with its special relationship with Bao Yan Zhai, Li Ji Rouge Shop can also squeeze into the top ten in Beijing.

In the afternoon, Tie Zhu rushed back to the Yujie store, which was twice the size of the Shimbashi store, which not only made the store much larger, but also had a few more rest rooms in the backyard.

Tie Zhu entered the store through the back door, and at a glance he saw the shopkeeper Wu drinking water.

"Iron pillar, how much did you buy?" Shopkeeper Wu asked with a smile.

"I bought a hundred bets and bet on the petty official to win the championship."

"Only buy a hundred notes, 10,000 dollars, why are you so stingy, even if you lose, you support the proprietor, even I bought a thousand bets, the proprietor even bet a thousand taels of silver, bought 10,000 notes, you!"

"What to buy?"

Yang Xin's Hunjia Xie Sanniang jumped in and asked curiously, "What are you talking about, what thousand taels of silver, what pigs to buy?" ”

Shopkeeper Wu smiled: "It's not a pig, it's going to Guan Pu Shop to place a bet, isn't this about to hold a bow horse competition?" The junior officials will participate on behalf of Taixue, and we are all betting on the junior officials to win the championship. ”

"How about winning the championship?"

"The cap is increased tenfold, which means that if the petty official wins the championship, we can earn ten times, my one hundred taels of silver will become one thousand taels of silver, and the proprietor's one thousand taels of silver will be turned into ten thousand taels of silver."

Xie Sanniang's eyes suddenly lit up, and she smiled and said, "There is such a good thing, I also have to bet five hundred taels of silver." ”

Shopkeeper Wu shook his head and said, "It's not a good thing, let's tell you this!" The ranking of the petty officials did not even enter the top 100, and the possibility of winning the championship is almost none, we are grateful to the proprietor to bet to express support, in fact, this money is lost, so I said that the iron pillar is too stingy, only to bet ten taels of silver, the owner is usually so good to him! ”

Tie Zhu scratched his head and muttered in a low voice, "Then I'll bet another forty taels of silver." ”

Xie Sanniang heard that she had to lose nine times out of ten, she suddenly lost interest, shook her head and turned to leave, walked to the door, she suddenly thought of something, and asked a little nervously: "Shopkeeper Wu, did I bet on that mouth?" ”

"Of course, he put down fifty taels of silver, and he originally wanted to give down one hundred taels of silver, but he was dissuaded by the proprietor, so in the end he put down fifty taels of silver."

Speaking of this, Shopkeeper Wu glanced at Xie Sanniang, and the meaning in his eyes couldn't be clearer, as if to say, 'It's not because I'm worried about you!' ’

Xie Sanniang heard that her husband actually bet fifty taels of silver, she was shocked at first, then her eyebrows were raised, her apricot eyes were round, and she jumped up and scolded: "The dead winter melon with a thousand knives dares to steal the old lady's silver, the old lady has to peel his skin and pump his tendons today!" ”

Xie Sanniang turned around and rushed away angrily, Shopkeeper Wu looked at her back and couldn't help shaking his head, at this time, Tie Zhu said: "Shopkeeper, I'll go to Guanpu Store again!" ”

"Go ahead! Go early and come back early. ”

Tie Zhu also walked away quickly, and the shopkeeper Wu suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly chased after him and shouted: "Tie Zhu, go to Yutang Pavilion Guan Pu Shop, their family has credit." ”

"I know!"

Tie Zhu said yes from afar and galloped away.

"What did the Iron Pillar do?" Li Daqi stepped forward and asked.

"This kid only made a hundred bets, and I said two words to him, and he couldn't help it, so he raised again."

"Don't do this next time, it's okay when you get your mind, so am I, I'm dizzy, and I actually bet a thousand taels of silver, hey-"

"The proprietor regrets it too?" Shopkeeper Wu asked in surprise.

Li Daqi nodded, "This is not the Xiangzhou Liberation Test, this is the Great Song Dynasty Bow and Horse Competition, he is just a scholar, even if he meets a good master and knows a little martial arts, how can he compete with the real army?" Forget it, the shopkeeper will settle the accounts, and the money everyone bets on will be counted as mine. ”

"The proprietor is too pessimistic, and the petty officials are working hard! Everybody saw it. ”

"I know he works hard, not only him, but everybody works, but there are things that can be done without hard work, and you and I should understand that."

After speaking, Li Daqi shook his head and left, and when he walked to the door, he said: "Don't forget, calculate the money everyone bets, and I will bear it." ”

"I see!"

........

It was already very late at night, Li Yanqing was still practicing archery in the martial arts training ground, although the time from the competition was very short, but he still decided to challenge himself, give up the original leopard head bow, and use the copper bow to practice riding and archery.

Most of the time, Li Yanqing did not draw the bow, and he needed to use his heart to experience the sense of momentum that was ready to be fired, which was also one of the several points detailed in the booklet that Zhou Tong gave him before he died.

He had to find the powerful sense of momentum at the moment of the arrow, not only at the target, but also at his heart, and he had to use his heart to capture the subtle changes when each arrow was fired, and then find out the pattern, and finally control the law, and he succeeded.

Li Yanqing has been practicing hard for seven days, starting from dawn every day, practicing until the end of the third watch in the middle of the night, his arms are extremely painful, exhausted, and at the end of every day, the arrow can't be pulled, and after recovering from the massage with medicinal water, it continues the next day, and the cycle repeats.

In a large number of repetitive bow and arrows, he tried to experience the subtle changes with his heart every time, and the experience accumulated little by little, and the law was gradually figured out, but how to control this law, Li Yanqing never found a feeling, which made him a little anxious and frustrated.

At this time, Xu Ning appeared beside Li Yanqing and said with a faint smile: "I feel that you are a little impatient, why?" ”

Li Yanqing sighed: "My current feeling is that I am touching a big stone ball in the river with one hand, and I have really touched it, but I can't pick it up, I can't control it." ”

Xu Ning said with a smile: "When I talked to your master about archery, he also mentioned this feeling of being within reach, but uncontrollable, I asked him how he solved this problem in the end, and he said practice guns!" ”

"Gun practice?"

Li Yanqing pondered and said: "What my master means is that the marksmanship and archery are the same, and they can be mastered, and a solution can be found in the practice of guns?" ”

"In fact, it's not just marksmanship, it's the same with reading, how to turn the books you read into your own knowledge, isn't this the same thing? Everything in the world has something in common, you have a good understanding of a certain talent that you have broken through, and think about what is the key to it? Maybe you'll be able to get bypassed. ”

Xu Ning's martial arts experience undoubtedly opened a window for Li Yanqing, he suddenly had a hint of enlightenment, and took out a stone chess piece from the horse bag, he rubbed it in his hand for a moment, and hit it out casually, at that moment, he felt his strong control over this chess piece, as if this chess piece was part of his hand.

He played more than 20 stone chess pieces in a row, savoring the control, he suddenly pulled out an arrow, pulled the bow suddenly, turned around and shot an arrow, this arrow was ruthless and fast, only to see the incense fire a hundred steps away was extinguished, but the incense did not move.

At the moment when the arrow was shot just now, Li Yanqing suddenly felt that the arrow had turned into stone and became part of his hand.

Although this feeling of controlling the arrow was very faint and fleeting, he finally found it.

Xu Ning laughed, gave a thumbs up and praised sincerely: "Blue is better than blue, your master has practiced hard for a year to find this feeling, but you only took seven days, this kind of shooting talent, I'm afraid even your master can't reach it, it seems that passing on the copper bow and iron arrow to you is the most successful decision in your master's life." ”

Li Yanqing was not a little complacent, he knew that he had only touched a trace of the door, and if he wanted to master it thoroughly, he would need to put in extremely hard work in the last three days.