Master Kong Zhongni

Chapter 73 The Summer Solstice Has Arrived
"Hold your breath, draw the bowstring, let it go!"

In the courtyard of Zigong's house, Zaiyu was instructing him to draw a bow and shoot an arrow.

According to Zaiyu's instructions, Zi Gong drew the compound bow, aimed at the set target and shot an arrow.

The departing arrow made a sound of piercing the air, as if tearing through the shackles of space and time, like a dragon ascending to heaven, vowing to shatter everything.

With his hands behind his back, Zaiyu stared helplessly at the arrow falling to the ground, and gave a bland report.

"Ninety steps, miss the target!"

But even though he missed the target, Zigong didn't show a look of decadence on his face, instead he was a little excited.

"It's finally ninety steps!"

Looking at Zi Gong's hopeless appearance, Zai Yu couldn't help but sighed.

He practiced archery with Zigong these few days, and witnessed this guy's shameless transformation.

On the first day, winning the first place in the big shooting instrument means that our Confucianism is the most prominent school in the state of Lu.

The next day, because I am Duanmuci.

On the third day, I will guard everything about Confucius.

On the fourth day, it is my duty to recast the glory of Zhou Li.

Now, shooting ninety paces is considered a success.

But Zi Gong would not be wrong to think so.

The improvement of archery is not something that happens overnight. Making good use of compound bows and increasing the effective shooting distance can at least save some face.

Because there are a total of three types of archery targets in the large shooting instrument.

The archery target decorated with bears is ninety steps away, the target with leopards and moose decorations is seventy steps away, and the target with bamboo decorations is fifty steps away.

If you miss the target in ninety steps, you can also find a reason for yourself, saying that you want to challenge the high difficulty, which is why you missed the target.

But if he misses the target by fifty steps, it will only make others laugh.

The grand shooting ceremony is extremely grand, and everyone from the king, the high officials, and the common people will come to watch the ceremony.

If Zigong performed a fifty-step miss on the spot, he could basically be sentenced to social death.

When Zi Gong shot the last arrow, the sun in the sky had just risen to the tops of the trees.

Early this morning, the monarch led a group of high officials from the Lu Kingdom to the ancestral temple and the Sheji Altar to hold sacrifices. When the sacrifices are over, the shooting ceremony will be carried out in the wilderness in the outskirts.

Zai Yu counted the time, put on the jade ring finger Wu Feng gave him, and drew an arrow from the quiver, bent the bow and set the arrow in one go.

When the arrow shot out, there was only a sound of shattering through the air. Zaiyu didn't check to see if he hit the shot, but picked up the small cloth bag containing various odds and ends, and said to Zigong, "It's almost time, let's go." Bar."

Zigong stared wide-eyed, watching the arrow nailed to the center of the seventy-step target without any deviation.

"Pi Qi Niang Xi!"

My kid, my archery has improved again!

Zigong picked up his things and ran out the door after Jaeyu, asking him questions as he walked.

"My son, why are you so good at archery?"

There was a hint of sadness in Jae Yu's eyes.

"Because of poverty."

As the saying goes, one will succeed and ten thousand bones will die. Behind Zaiyu's terrifying archery skills are the broken families of countless rabbits.

In ancient times, Yang Youji pierced Yang Youji with a hundred steps. Although Zaiyu couldn't do Yang Youji's level, as long as he was hungry enough, he could still shoot a rabbit within seventy steps with one arrow.

The two walked together, and before they left the city, they met several other students who were going to participate in the shooting ceremony.

This time, a total of five Confucian students were recommended to become officials, and they all received invitations from Da Sheyi.

In addition to Zaiyu and Zigong, there are also Yanhui, Gongboliao and Zilu.

Among them, Yan Hui, like Zigong, belongs to the accompanying runner type.

After all, you can't expect a person who has not had enough to eat all year round to show such dazzling results on the big guns.

As for Gongbo Liao, he is a moderate and stable player. In the six arts of a gentleman, he has no particularly outstanding items in his studies, and he has no obvious shortcomings.

For him, as long as he doesn't encounter strong opponents, it's no problem to advance to the second and third rounds.

And Zilu is the seed player in this big shooting instrument. Not only is Zilu's swordsmanship superb, but his archery skills can be said to have been passed down by his master, and there is even a tendency that the blue is better than the blue.

Long before the shooting ceremony, the students were discussing whether Zilu would come out on top. Everyone basically believed that even if Zilu could not win, he would definitely be the best student among the Confucian disciples this time.

And in a game set up by a classmate surnamed Zai who did not want to be named, Zilu’s odds of achieving the best result among the disciples of Confucianism reached an astonishing [-] pieces of jerky to lose one piece of jerky. .

However, not all the students placed bets in this game. Some students refused to participate because they followed the teaching of the master, "a gentleman does not gamble". risk.

And most of the rest of the people took a piece of jerky and bet on Zaiyu with a fluke mentality.

There are also some who have lost their minds, and they target Zigong who lost one hundred.

With the help of the 'big data actuary' Zi Gong, Zaiyu quickly calculated the various situations and results that may occur in this big shooting instrument.

In the end, it was concluded that as long as Jai Yu didn't win the big shot this time, he would be sure to make a profit without losing money.

Because, in order to encourage everyone to participate, there is a special rule in the game, that is, the winning odds are doubled.

With Zilu's competitive personality and his archery foundation, it shouldn't be a problem to enter the top few.

So, for the jerky, but also for the face of Confucius.

Zaiyu only needs to follow Zilu and lock a second seat in Confucianism.

The small calculations in Zai Yu's heart were crackling, and in a blink of an eye, everyone had arrived at the large archery venue arranged in the outskirts.

Many people are nervously busy, making the final preparations for the big shooting instrument.

In the center of the venue, a temporary high-platform palace was built, which was where the monarch would sit for a while.

On the two sides, there are archery targets that have been arranged in advance, and they are divided into three levels of [-], [-], and [-] paces.

A raccoon step is six feet, which is about 1.3 meters in modern units. The distances of the three targets are about 120 meters, 90 meters, and 70 meters.

At a distance of ten steps to the left and right of the shooting target, various mounds are also set up to prevent accidental injury by the arrows that miss the target.

Right below the high platform, various musical instruments are arranged, and the musicians are checking them intensively.

The layout of the east steps includes the Sheng chime placed facing west, the Sheng bell placed in the south, and the 鑮 to the south of the Sheng bell.

The drums are placed on the west side of the east steps, with the drum facing south, and the drum facing east.

Most of the musical instruments on the west stage are the same as those on the east stage, except that the sheng and chimes are replaced by song chimes.

Two square jugs are hung on the tall Dongying column, and below is a tile pot filled with wine, which is covered with fine Gebu cloth to prevent dust from entering.

According to the regulations of the Dasheyi, the winner of the archery later needs to offer drinks to the loser as a show of relief.

The master had repeatedly emphasized the various etiquettes of the shooting ceremony to Zai Yu and the others before, but Zai Yu didn't pay attention to it at first, but now seeing such a grand battle, he suddenly felt dumbfounded.

This this……

It's just shooting an arrow, isn't this too complicated?

　You clearly agreed to vote for me in three years, three years after three years, three years after three years, almost ten years, readers!
　　——Excerpt from "Zaiyu's Diary"

　　
　
(End of this chapter)