In the second year of Yifeng, the imperial court was afraid of the threat of Tibet, and issued the "Edict of Raising Warriors" to recruit warriors who are good at martial arts from all over the world, regardless of cloth clothes and officials, they can be recruited, and therefore recruit a group of loyal and brave people to fill the army.

In the third year of Yifeng, the imperial court continued to send Cao Huaishun, the general of Zuojin Wuwei, and others to Henan and Hebei provinces to recruit loyal and brave people to replenish the number of soldiers and discover useful people.

As the emperor, Li Zhichang lamented that today's Tang Dynasty is far less warlike than his father's generation, and he has lost many victories in the war against Tibet, especially after Xue Rengui's defeat in Dafeichuan, the northwest has become more and more unpeaceful, and even the Turks who were originally subjugated are ready to move, and rebellions continue. This time, at the request of Murong Nuo, the king of Tuyuhun, and his wife, Princess Honghua, the imperial court once again sent a large army to attack Tubo to help it restore the country, and at the same time to deter the Turks in the northwest. However, Li Zhi also knew that the war against Tibet could not be solved once and for all, so he decided to continue to recruit brave soldiers into the army in the next few years, and at the beginning of the year, he decided to prepare to hold a martial arts conference in the autumn of that year, so as to select some warriors with good martial arts, who could strategize and know military affairs, so as to train as reserve generals.

And Empress Wu Zetian, who felt that the power in the army was weak and there were too few generals who obeyed her, also wanted to take this opportunity to recruit a group of capable people under her own disciples, and focus on cultivation, so that they would be of great use in a few years.

Although the emperor and the empress had different thoughts, they had the same goal and made the same decision, so they also decided at the beginning of the year to hold a competition for the selection of good warriors in Chang'an after the autumn.

The decision of the emperor and empress was supported by most of the courtiers in the court, so the military department was busy with this matter at the beginning of the year, and instructed the prefectures and counties to select some brave warriors, and send them to Chang'an to participate in the final selection.

The prefectures and counties near Chang'an also posted the notices of the imperial court in various places, and held a martial arts competition before the summer harvest was over, and also selected a large number of warriors with good qualifications and extraordinary martial arts, and sent them to Chang'an to participate in the final competition.

These selected brave warriors, after arriving in Chang'an, even if they can't get a ranking in the martial arts competition, they will stay in the army and enlist in the army, and the quality of these people is much better than that of the government soldiers.

The warriors selected by these states and counties, take the best of them, will be in the final competition after the concentration in Chang'an, the ranking will be assessed by scores, and after the preliminaries, a section of personnel will be taken, and then the final final will be carried out together with the brave warriors recommended by the officials, and the final ranking will be determined, and the warriors in front of the ranking will be entrusted with military positions, and the first warrior who finally wins will be awarded a higher position, and will be received by the emperor and empress.

The imperial court also encouraged officials to recommend brave warriors, and those recommended by officials above the fourth rank could directly participate in the final two-day competition.

The martial arts competition was still held in a hurry, so most of the candidates were from the prefectures and counties near Chang'an, and some were recommended by officials, and there were no personnel from distant places.

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On this day, Liu Mai came back again, and as soon as he returned to the mansion, he couldn't wait to talk to Liu Yi.

Mother Zhang told Liu Mai that Liu Yi was practicing martial arts in the back garden, and Liu Mai hurriedly ran to the back garden.

Before he passed the gate of the garden, Liu Mai stopped, and he saw through the pane on the wall that on the big martial arts training ground in the back garden, Liu Yi was practicing riding and archery, and the two attendants Liu Ben and Liu Quan stood and watched.

I saw Liu Yi riding his horse running quickly, opening his bow and drawing arrows, and shooting towards the arrow target nearly a hundred steps away, because of the distance, Liu Mai couldn't see where the arrow was shooting, but he heard Liu Ben, who was watching on the side, shouting in a loud voice: "Third young master, you are too powerful, and you are the bull's-eye..."

When Liu Mai heard such a shout, he was very curious, so he quickly stepped across the gate of the garden and walked towards the martial arts training ground.

saw that Liu Yi had already changed his posture and was shooting, with one foot hooked on the saddle and one foot hanging on the pedal, leaning over to shoot the arrow in his hand, and shooting two arrows in a similar posture.

Approaching the park, Liu Mai has seen the landing point of these two arrows, one arrow is still in the bull's-eye, the other arrow has a slight deviation, a little distance from the bull's-eye, shooting on a running horse in such a posture, nearly a hundred steps away, can shoot such a result, the archery can be said to be very high, Liu Mai couldn't help but cheer.

Liu Yi, who had already seen Liu Mai coming, also jumped off the horse and ran over to Liu Mai, "Big brother, why are you back?" ”

"Third brother, your archery skills have improved by leaps and bounds during this time, and the eldest brother is absolutely out of reach!" Liu Mai looked at the arrows that seemed to be a little dense on the bullseye of several arrow targets, and praised sincerely.

If these are Liu Yi's riding and archery achievements, then the level of archery has reached a staggering level, and Liu Mai feels that he is too far behind.

"Big brother, it's not good enough, a few arrows didn't fall on the bull's-eye!" Liu Yi handed the bow and quiver to Liu Quan, who was on the side, and then looked at the arrow target that Liu Ben carried, and said with a little regret.

Fifty arrows were shot, and on the five arrow targets, at least four of the arrows did not fall on the bull's-eye, which made Liu Yi a little depressed, and he couldn't make every arrow fall on the bull's-eye.

"Third brother, you are riding and shooting, it's still so far, if the eldest brother comes to shoot, it is likely that a lot of them will be targeted!" Hearing Liu Yi say this, Liu Mai was deeply shocked, his younger brother is so good at archery, and he is still regretting that he is far inferior to Liu Yi's archery, isn't he depressed and about to throw a bow?

"Big brother, do you want to try it? Let the younger brother see it," Liu Yi heard Liu Mai say this, and he was also interested, pointing to the arrow target, wanting to see the archery level of the eldest brother.

"Forget it, the eldest brother is not ugly," Liu Mai shook his head resolutely, not wanting to lose face in front of his younger brother, "I say that the eldest brother has good news to tell you when he comes back today!"

"What's the good news?" Liu Yi was a little surprised.

Liu Mai motioned for Liu Yi to go into the house together, and said as he walked: "Third brother, the martial arts competition held by the imperial court will start at the beginning of next month, and the children of the eunuchs who are not recommended by anyone in Chang'an can sign up, do you plan to sign up by yourself and enter the finals after passing the preliminaries selection, or do you find someone to recommend and directly participate in the finals in the last two days?" ”

"Big brother, my father is not in Beijing, who should I recommend to go?" Hearing Liu Mai say this, Liu Yi was a little discouraged.

Liu Yi already knew the rules, and asked his mother what were the high-ranking officials in the DPRK and China who were familiar with his father, and wanted to find a high-ranking official above the fourth grade to recommend him, but his mother refused to say and did not allow Liu Yi to sign up for the competition, which made Liu Yi very depressed.

"Pei Shilang is familiar with his father, why don't you go to him?" Liu Mai thought for a moment and said.

"Pei Shilang? Pei Xingjian? Liu Yi was stunned.

"Exactly, Pei Xingjian, the servant of the ministry," Liu Mai nodded, "The Pei family is a family friend of our Liu family, and my grandfather has worked under Pei Xingjian's father for many years, but later it happened, but the friendship is still maintained..."

"Big brother, I want to try it myself, don't be recommended!" Pei Xingjian's name is too big, and now Liu Yi has never been in contact with it at all, and he doesn't even know which person is Pei Xingjian, so he is inexplicably a little scared. Liu Yi has decided to stand out from these applicants with his own ability and make a name for himself!

"That's fine!" Liu Mai thought for a while and said, "Pei Shilang is the referee of this martial arts competition, it is really inconvenient for him to recommend him, and other people who are familiar with my father basically have recommended people..."

"Big brother, don't worry, the little brother will definitely get good results!" Liu Mai looked at Liu Mai very confidently.

"Big brother also believes in you," Liu Mai gave Liu Yi an encouraging smile!

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Liu Yi was more diligent in practicing martial arts and preparing for the upcoming martial arts competition, but he never expected that a sudden event would shatter all his dreams...;