On the first day of the 11th month of the fourth year of Chongzhen (Gengzi), the Yansui area was covered with heavy snow again. Although there is a saying that Ruixue is a good year, God's temper has been uncertain in the past few years, and no one knows what the coming year will be like. Moreover, in this world, the people of northern Shaanxi have become thieves, and the coming year will definitely not be peaceful, so I really dare not hope for this bumper year.

However, the residents of Jinding Mountain are living a good life. The previous autumn harvest brought sufficient food to Jinding Mountain, and with the efforts of the leaders of the cottage, there were many livestock in the village. And there are quite a lot of mothers-in-law and aunts who have been taken captive to the cottage in the open, and the days of the cantonment under the rule of Jinding Mountain are quite fulfilling.

Presumably, next year, there will be a baby boom in the village. At that time, the men in the village will have to work extra hard to keep their families from starving.

The leaders of Jinding Mountain are now temporarily stable, no longer chasing other thieves around, but living with their families with good wine and meat.

Zhang Mengcheng's two sisters-in-law rushed to Ningsai together under the escort of his second brother Zhang Mengguang. accompanied by Zhang Shuangxi and the families of some other leaders.

And Zhang Mengcheng, who had to stay in the cottage to deal with many matters, was a little lonely at this time. He is not yet married, so naturally he will not have any family around him, and most of his students go home to party with their families during the holidays.

In order to pass the time, Zhang Mengcheng even conceived a playful wargame on his own. Although the initial wargame is very rudimentary in all respects, some of the rules of the game are even quite flawed. However, some of the data used in it was summarized by Zhang Mengcheng based on the various casualties and results of the battle that Jin Dingshan had been fighting all the time.

The lethality of the cavalry charge in the wargame alone, as well as the actual casualty data of the rain of arrows, and other details, are incomparable to the wargame makers who lack the actual battle details of the cold weapon era for reference.

However, this wargame is still being perfected after all, and Zhang Mengcheng does not plan to do it well in one go. Therefore, as a teacher in the cottage, he still chose to celebrate in the grass hall with the orphans taken in by the village.

"Si Kui, if you write the first thirty words of the hundred family names, I will give you an egg to eat." After inspecting the other children, Zhang Mengcheng turned his head to Liu Sikui and asked a question. For the other children in the cottage, this topic may be easy. However, for Liu Sikui, who has only joined the cottage cottage for a long time, this topic is still challenging.

After Liu Sikui heard Uncle Zhang's words, he didn't feel empty-hearted, but said to Uncle Zhang with great confidence: "Sir, if I can write the first forty words, how about you reward us two more roasted sweet potatoes?" ”

"Well, if you can write forty words, I will bake three sweet potatoes for you to eat. Come on, come on, everyone else is optimistic, no one can help behind their backs, let's see how Si Kui has studied recently. Unexpectedly, Liu Sikui was very confident, and Zhang Mengcheng thought that this was worthy of praise, so he directly raised the standard of reward.

After getting Mr.'s assurance, Liu Sikui took a small wooden stick and wrote word by word in the snow. Although there was a stagnation on the way, and some of the characters were not very good-looking, Liu Sikui still wrote all forty words. After writing, Liu Sikui proudly raised his head and looked at Zhang Mengcheng.

Zhang Meng was honest and trustworthy, and took an egg to Liu Sikui. took out another bag of sweet potatoes, asked Liu Sikui to pick out three, and personally roasted the sweet potatoes for Liu Sikui. At the same time, he told the other children around him that everyone should learn from Liu Sikui and work hard to complete their homework.

As their husband, Zhang Mengcheng will definitely reward the hard-working children. As long as they study hard, they will be recommended to participate in the martial arts in the future, and if they can take the martial arts examination and even come back, they can make themselves glorious ancestors.

Since Zhang Mengcheng flipped through the newly received imperial court newspapers, Zhang Mengcheng often used martial arts exams to motivate his students. Why? Because Zhang Mengcheng learned that the martial arts organized by Chongzhen in four years gave birth to the first real martial champion of the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, this martial champion was directly appointed to the position of deputy chief soldier by Emperor Chongzhen.

Originally, Zhang Mengcheng was really a little disdainful of the martial arts of the Ming Dynasty. In the past, when he was still famous for showing talents, Zhang Mengcheng hoped more to take the civil official route. However, Zhang Mengcheng, who was unable to find a way to recover after Xiucai's identity failed, came up with some ideas of taking the martial arts route because of the recent news from Beijing's martial arts.

In August of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Beijing once again organized a routine martial arts examination. In this martial arts test, there was an unexpected situation, and then the influence gradually expanded, directly leading Emperor Chongzhen out.

In the martial arts examination of the Ming Dynasty, the main score was generally a test of bow horses. And in this martial arts, a project that is actually of little use has become the main criterion, that is, to make the candidates dance the big sword.

In this martial arts test, the only people who could dance the hundred-pound sword at that time were Wang Laipin and Xu Yanqi. But after the release of the list, Xu Yanqi was not on the list, and public opinion was in an uproar for a while.

After Emperor Chongzhen heard all kinds of news, he showed great anger, and he directly sent the chief examiner and the invigilator to prison, and twenty-two officials of the military department were also demoted.

After that, Zuo Yude and the waiter lectured Fang Fengnian, and Ni Yuanlu, who was also the editor of the right Zhongyun, presided over the re-examination, and a total of 120 candidates were admitted. Fang Fengnian and Ni Yuanlu further asked the Holy Lord to allow the organization of the palace examination, and sent the top thirty admitted this time to the emperor's eyes.

The martial arts students who were fortunate enough to become the first batch of palace exams in the Ming Dynasty were very excited, because the message expressed by the saint was to improve the treatment of the martial arts students who were on the list, so they all worked very hard in front of the emperor.

Through this very significant Ming Dynasty's first martial arts palace examination, Wang Lai hired this candidate with excellent results in all aspects, and became the first real martial champion of the Ming Dynasty without any suspense. (Note 1)

Originally, if it was just like this, Zhang Mengcheng would not be tempted. However, when the news of the dismissal came out later, Wang Laipin was directly appointed by His Majesty to the position of deputy chief soldier. This made Zhang Mengcheng, a former showman, feel very envious, you must know that Jin Dingshan and his group of brothers fought to the death, and only then did Zhang Mengjin, the big boss, become the garrison officer of Ningsai Fort. (Note 2)

If in the next martial arts, if Zhang Mengcheng participates and works hard, even if the martial champion is not good, Wu Jinshi still has a lot of hope.

As for becoming a martial artist in Shaanxi before, Zhang Mengcheng felt that it was not very difficult. He thought that if he started to prepare seriously, he still had six or seven points of certainty that he could successfully obtain the identity of a martial artist. Because of the martial arts exam in the Ming Dynasty, only a few things were tested.

In the case of the examination, the first riding and archery test is usually held on the ninth day of the month of the examination. The candidates shot a total of nine arrows at the target thirty-five steps away, and as long as they could hit three arrows, they were considered qualified.

In the second exam on the 12th, everyone shot nine arrows at a target eighty paces away, and as long as they could shoot one arrow, they were considered to be qualified.

These may be a little difficult for others, but for Zhang Mengcheng, whose bow and arrow skills have been constantly improving, it is still easy to do.

The next step is to take the exam, which requires two strategies and one discussion. If Zhang Mengcheng puts in some effort, it shouldn't be a big problem with his literary talent.

PS: Note 1: Because Chongzhen's martial arts in the Ming Dynasty four years ago were all at the end of the examination. Although many people also call the first name of the martial arts examination as Wu Zhuangyuan, this statement is actually not formal, and it should be called Wu Huiyuan is the correct statement. Chongzhen's first martial arts palace test in four years, Chongzhen personally selected the first three people in accordance with the habit of Wenju, and the leader Wang Laizhi was the martial champion in the real sense.

Note 2: In the 91st volume of "Guoyi", Wang Laipin is "Li Changping's general". This book adopts the statement of 157 in the "History of the Ming Dynasty".