The Red Chamber: Starting from Saving Xue Baochai

Chapter 10 This is what a man should do

August 12, the sixteenth year of Yuanzhen.

Midnight finally arrived.

Shen Yuan suddenly felt his eyelids heavy, so he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he found himself lying on the bed.

He stood up suddenly and looked at the hourglass on the table.

The first quarter of the morning!

Shen Yuan quickly put on his clothes, left the room, and called the waiter.

Seeing that it was a strange face, he asked, "Where is the waiter who served here before?"

"My lord, something happened to his family. He resigned from his job with the shopkeeper yesterday and returned home overnight."

Shen Yuan understood in his heart that the man must have delivered meal to him on the night of the 11th, and then he was afraid that the matter would be exposed and he would be held accountable, so he hid overnight.

Just keep this account in mind and he will settle it later.

Shen Yuan put aside his thoughts and asked, "Is today the twelfth of August?"

"Yes, what do you want, sir?"

"It's okay, just go ahead."

The waiter was a little confused, so he just responded and went down to do other things.

August 12 was indeed reset, and the time I woke up was exactly the same.

After a simple wash, Shen Yuan took his tooth cards, left the inn, and headed towards the martial arts garden where the autumn examination was held.

That will be the starting point for Shen Yuan to make his mark in the world.

A quarter of an hour later, Shen Yuan arrived at the martial arts garden.

What you see is a solemn atmosphere.

The military examination held every three years in autumn is the top priority of Jinling Province. In order to maintain order on site, the Dusi Yamen dispatched hundreds of elite soldiers to guard every aisle and entrance.

Teams of soldiers in black armor and holding swords make today's martial arts park particularly solemn.

Outside the examination room, Wu Xiucai who were waiting to take the exam lined up in groups of three or five, waiting for their identities to be verified.

As Shen Yuan stopped, he suddenly heard a familiar voice.

"Shen Yuan!"

He looked up and saw Jiang Fan waving at him.

Soon, Jiang Fan came over, followed by Jiang Qiuer, who was dressed as a man.

Of course, Jiang Qiuer didn't know that her identity as a girl had been discovered by Shen Yuan. Even the two visits to Tongfu Inn 'yesterday' had never happened to her.

"Brother Jiang, Xiaoqiu." Shen Yuan greeted the two with a smile.

Jiang Fan also nodded in response.

But Jiang Qiuer was a little surprised. In the past, Shen Yuan always seemed to be indifferent to her, so why did he take the initiative to greet her today?
The girl still had a proud and arrogant attitude in her heart. She looked at Shen Yuan and said, "With so many people here today, I hope I won't be able to pass the imperial examination by then."

Shen Yuan looked at the little girl who couldn't help wiping away tears 'yesterday' because she was worried about him, and smiled.

"Heh, you're such a tough mouth."

Jiang Qiuer blushed when she heard this, and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? Who is being stubborn?"

The girl had her own unique way of caring for others, and Shen Yuan did not argue with her. He said in a gentle voice: "Yes, I know."

Jiang Qiuer: “.”

What do you know? What does he know?
This guy is a little bit weird, but he seems to be quite gentle to her today, unlike the cold guy before.

This felt pretty good, but it was difficult for her to confront him again.

Well. If this man speaks so gently in the future, then. Then she will force herself not to say anything about him.

Shen Yuan didn't know the little girl was thinking so much, so he looked up and said, "Brother Jiang, let's go in."

"Well, I hope you and I can achieve good results."

After that, the two of them walked towards the entrance door of the examination room.

"I wish you all the best, big brother!" Jiang Qiu'er shouted behind him. After a pause, she added softly, "Shen Yuan, you too!"

Shen Yuan paused for a moment, but did not turn around. He raised the corners of his lips slightly and walked straight forward.

At three quarters past noon, with a loud shout from the supervisor of the Censorate, the autumn military examination of Jinling Province officially began in the sixteenth year of Yuanzhen.

The first thing to do is to recite the core outline of the "Seven Military Classics" from memory.

The so-called "Seven Military Classics" is a military textbook compiled from seven military books, including "The Art of War" and "The Art of War by Wu Zi".

Even the core outline has more than a thousand words. For an average warrior, it is not easy to write it out in full from memory.

Of course, it was easy for Shen Yuan and Jiang Fan.

After that it was the outdoor field, where skills and bravery were tested, including archery, swordplay, and stone lifting, each divided into three levels. Strength was tested, and Shen Yuan and Jiang Fan both passed the first level.

Then came the walking shooting. They shot thirty arrows from a hundred steps away from the target. Without any surprise, both of them hit the target.

In just one morning, Shen Yuan and Jiang Fan became the focus of examiners and other candidates.

There's no other reason. These two perverts basically finished the morning exam with full marks, and they looked calm and composed, as if they felt very relaxed.

"Who are these two people? They are so amazing!"

"The one in white is Jiang Fan, you should have heard of him."

"So he is Jiang Fan. No wonder he passed the exam so easily."

Almost all the candidates present had heard of Jiang Fan's name. He came from a scholarly family, but became a martial arts genius, famous in Jinling. The reason why Shen Yuan had not heard of him was mainly because his previous life was keen on literary examinations and did not pay attention to the affairs of martial artists.

Although everyone was surprised at Jiang Fan's achievement, they were also mentally prepared. However, another person...
"Who is that man in green? Does anyone know him?"

"Never seen it before."

"Looks unfamiliar"

No one here knows Shen Yuan, which makes people even more curious about his origins. However, there is no relevant information, which makes it even more mysterious. We can only leave it undisclosed for the time being.

"As far as I can remember, there has never been a situation in Jinling Province where three games were scored perfectly, right?"

"Let alone Jinling, even if we look at the entire Great Zhou, there has only been one perfect score in the martial arts examination in the past hundred years."

"You mean the current General Feng Tang? It seems that General Feng also hit the target with his horse and archery."

"That means he got full marks in all four games. Oh my god, is he still human?"

"As the saying goes, there are always better people than you. Maybe these two people today can also get four perfect scores."

"This brother is dreaming. Horseback archery is much more difficult than the three rounds this morning. It's already good enough if you can hit half of them."

"Damn it! I wanted to compete for the top spot, but these two monsters showed up."

"Lao Diao, if I'm not mistaken, you only hit ten out of thirty shots. It's hard enough to get a juren, let alone the first place? You're dreaming!"

"Hahaha"

Someone revealed the old man's secrets, causing everyone to laugh.

After having the lunch provided by the government at noon, the candidates took a short rest and then welcomed the highlight of this autumn examination - horse riding and archery.

This is also the assessment that the court values ​​the most and carries the highest weight.

At this time, Jiang Fan looked at Shen Yuan beside him with an excited look, eager to try.

"Brother Shen, how about you and I compete in this autumn exam?"

"I'm happy to accompany you! But before at the East Suburbs shooting range, you and I both hit all 30 shots, so I'm afraid we'll be evenly matched later."

"There is only one champion. According to the rules of the martial arts exam, if the scores are tied, additional shots will be fired until the winner is decided." Jiang Fan said, smiling, and said proudly: "But this is not very interesting. I wonder if Brother Shen is willing to increase the difficulty of the competition?" "Oh?" Shen Yuan also became interested after hearing this, "What do you think, Brother Jiang?"

"According to the rules, the distance for horseback archery is fifty steps. How about we increase the distance to eighty steps?"

Shen Yuan thought about it.

The rule states that it should be fifty steps away, and in the past candidates basically took fifty steps. In order to get good scores, no one would take the initiative to increase the distance.

However, if they really increase the distance, it does not seem to violate the assessment rules.

"Shen accepts the challenge."

"Good! Brother Shen, please be happy."

At this time, no one knew that the two of them had privately agreed to increase their stakes.
At the beginning of the evening, the autumn air was clear and crisp, the sky was cloudless, and the sun was shining brightly.

On the horseback archery training ground of the Yingtian Prefecture Martial Arts Park, flags are fluttering and standing in the wind.

Soldiers were lined up around the parade ground, guarding the entire venue tightly.

On the grandstand on the north side of the parade ground, a group of officials sat solemnly, including several officials in scarlet robes.

Almost all the top bureaucrats in Jinling have arrived.

In this world of the Red Mansion, Jinling is not just Nanjing in later generations, but a province, and Nanjing is just Yingtian Prefecture.

The Jinling Province is basically the same as the Nanzhili Province of the former Ming Dynasty, roughly equivalent to Jiangsu, Anhui and Shanghai in later generations.

The Great Zhou imitated the Ming system, with three offices set up in one province, namely the Provincial Administration Office, the Censorate and the Military Command Office.

The governor was an imperial envoy sent by the central government. He was usually not a permanent position and only temporarily coordinated and commanded the military and civil affairs of a province.

However, Nanjing, as the birthplace of the Great Zhou Dynasty, had a permanent governor's office. The governor of Nanjing was a high-ranking official of the second grade and was in charge of three departments, which showed the importance the court attached to Nanjing.

On the grandstand, the Jinling Governor Jiang Zhongnian sat in the main seat, with Jinling Provincial Historian Xu Yang, Commander-in-Chief Shi Ding, Censor Zhong Huai and other officials on his left and right.

Of course, as the official of Yingtian Prefecture, Jia Yucun was also present.

Xu Yang, the governor, looked at Jiang Zhongnian beside him and said with a smile, "I heard from them that the son of the governor's family got full marks in all three exams this morning. The governor's family is going to have a top scorer in the martial arts exam."

Previously, Shen Yuan had guessed that Jiang Fan was the descendant of a military family, but he never imagined that he was actually the son of the Governor of Nanjing.

The Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Zhong Huai echoed, "I have heard that my nephew Jiang Fan is extremely brave and has the talent of a military commander. With the guidance of the Governor, he is a man of both civil and military abilities. In the future, he will surely be able to wipe out the enemy for our Great Zhou and establish great military exploits."

Upon hearing this, the commander-in-chief Shi Ding, who was standing by, looked gloomy and remained silent.

As a person of military honor, he had always been at odds with this group of civil officials. Or it could be said that the imperial court sent Jiang Zhongnian to govern Nanjing in order to check and balance the military generals.

Jiang Zhongnian's face was calm as he said thoughtfully, "He is not the only one who got full marks in the three games this morning. There is also Shen Yuan, who may be a pillar of society. Jiang Fan may not be able to beat him."

After hearing this, Shi Ding's expression eased a little, and he secretly decided in his heart that if Shen Yuan won the championship, he would do everything he could to win him over to his own advantage.

At this moment, Jia Yucun, the prefect of Yingtian, who was sitting in the back row, was a little uneasy. He didn't know how his father had managed to allow Shen Yuan to appear in the examination room today. What worried him even more was that this boy had caught the attention of the three officials in Jinling. If Shen Yuan won the first place, it would be difficult to control him easily in the future.

Let’s not talk about the power struggle in the Jinling officialdom on the stands for now.

At this time, on the training ground, the horse riding and archery examinations had been carried out in batches.

Overall, the number of people taking the exam this year is not much different from previous years and there is nothing special to be said about it.

I don’t know if it was an intentional arrangement by the examiner, but Shen Yuan and Jiang Fan’s assessment was arranged last.

It was the first quarter of the afternoon when the people in front had finished the test. The best result was 25 out of 30, which was pretty good.

Next, it was the Shen Yuan and the other person who attracted everyone's attention and made their final appearance.

Because of their performance in the morning, everyone had high expectations for them.

At the examiner's signal, Shen Yuan and Jiang Fan jumped on their horses, walked slowly side by side, and rode to the center of the shooting range.

"Brother Shen, we will decide the winner today!"

"Brother Jiang, please."

After saying that, the two of them looked at each other and saluted, just like good friends who had known each other for many years, which surprised everyone around them.

It turns out that these two perverts knew each other before and seemed to be very familiar with each other.

Sure enough, birds of a feather flock together and people flock together.

Shen Yuan and Jiang Fan rode their horses at full speed and began the first round of horseback archery under the watchful eyes of the crowd.

At this moment, everyone's eyes were fixed on them, and the huge training ground was unusually quiet.

But what happened next was beyond everyone's expectations.

Two men were seen riding their horses at full speed. When they were still eighty steps away from the target, they both drew their bows with their arms horizontally and pulled the strings like a full moon. Then the bowstrings vibrated, making a sound like thunder, and sharp arrows flew out of the air. The two arrows hit the center of the bull's eye at the same time, and the clanging sound lasted for a long time.

this.
Everyone in the audience was shocked. They opened their eyes wide and remained silent for a long time.

The invigilator was also a little confused. After a moment of silence, he collected his thoughts, looked at Shen Yuan and the other person, then turned his gaze to the stands and pavilions.

This was the first time he encountered such a situation. Did archery on horseback, eighty steps, comply with the examination regulations?
He is a little confused now and needs the decision of the adults in the pavilion.

On the second floor of the stands, Jiang Zhongnian and others were stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted.

These people are all smart people. How could they not see that the two people thought the difficulty of the test was too low, so they made it more difficult for themselves?

In theory, it should not be against the rules, but since this matter involves the son of the governor, it is not convenient for others to speak up.

Shi Ding favors Shen Yuan, while others favor Jiang Fan.

But this suddenly increased the difficulty of the assessment. Who would benefit from this? No one could say for sure at this time, and no one dared to speak rashly.

There was silence in the stands, but the candidates on the training ground were talking about it.

"Damn it, am I seeing things? This distance should be about seventy steps, right?"

"More than that, I'm afraid it's at least eighty steps!"

The other candidates looked desperate upon hearing this.

The guy shot the ball from 80 steps away on horseback and hit the bull's eye. How could they see that?

"These two guys are so fucking hopeless."

"Despair is bullshit. Anyway, we can't regard them as opponents. Isn't it good to just watch them for fun?"

"Yes, this autumn's Jinling Martial Arts Examination may go down in history. You and I are in the same period as them. Isn't it an honor for us to be there?"

"Hey, that's right. After all, people are different."

"The key is, are these two guys still normal people?"

"."

"Why don't you compete anymore? Let's continue the horse riding and archery competition!"

Suddenly someone asked awkwardly, "Speaking of which, isn't it against the rules for them to do this?"

"It has not violated the regulations." Jiang Zhongnian still gave a ruling on the stands, "Continue the assessment."

Soon, someone conveyed the governor's decision to the examiners on the training ground.

"Continue the assessment!"

Following the examiner's loud shout, the entire training ground erupted in cheers.

Obviously, everyone treated this as something funny, and brought it into the audience's perspective, watching the fun and cheering for the side they favored.

For a moment, the whole audience was filled with passion.

Looking at the two people and two horses in the center of the shooting range, everyone's heart was filled with excitement.

Everyone is moved. A real man should be like this!

(End of this chapter)