The Red Chamber: Starting from Saving Xue Baochai

Chapter 55: The Limits of Shen Yuan's Horseback Archery

Emperor Yuanzhen felt the cheers from the audience and felt pleased.

The momentum generated by this martial arts examination was beyond his expectations.

It is conceivable that when everything that happens here today is published throughout the country through the official gazette and the Hanmo Zhai tabloid, what kind of martial spirit will be set off in the Great Zhou Dynasty?
As for whether the situation would get out of control, Emperor Yuanzhen was not too worried, as he already had a plan in mind.

The key lies in the three people on the training ground, especially the young man in blue. He must keep a firm control over them and make them always loyal to the emperor.

He did not seek the opinions of the ministers, but directly instructed the chief examiner, Minister of War Yu Qian: "Let Shen Yuan continue the examination. I also want to see where this boy's limit is."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Yu Qian responded and went to convey the emperor's order.

After hearing this, Shen Yuan understood Emperor Yuanzhen's thoughts. The emperor would not miss any opportunity to build momentum.

This was not a negotiation, this was a royal decree, and he could not refuse it.

Of course, he didn't think of refusing.

The emperor wanted him to build momentum for the military examination, and he also wanted to build momentum for himself.

Since you have chosen to enter the officialdom through military service, you should move forward directly. There is no need to look ahead or behind. As for possible hidden dangers, we will fight them with our soldiers and block the water with earth.

Shen Yuan made some preparations and changed to a strong bow weighing 2.5 stone.

He felt that the 2.2 stone bow had reached its limit when it shot 130 steps.

A 2.5 stone bow should be able to increase the shooting range by several dozen steps.

He felt the string and realized that it was already a bit strenuous to pull the bow to its full length. This bow just hit his bottleneck.

Shen Yuan mounted his horse with a bow in hand and began a new round of archery on horseback, one hundred and forty steps.

He is now the top scorer, and whether this shot is successful or not will not affect the result of the martial arts examination.

His only purpose was to demonstrate the limits of his riding and archery skills to the people, the emperor, and the entire Zhou Dynasty.

"Shen Yuan has started! He wants to shoot 140 steps this time?"

"Do you think we can hit it?"

"Of course there is no problem. The 130 steps just now were very steady."

At this moment, people inside and outside the school basically hold the same view.

At the same time, everyone is guessing a number in their mind, the final number.

One hundred and forty steps, or one hundred and fifty steps, or...
With everyone's witness, there was no suspense. Shen Yuan galloped one hundred and forty steps away, bent his bow and shot the arrow, hitting the bull's eye.

One hundred and forty steps completed!

The crowd no longer had the same surprise they had before. Today's martial arts competition, which was destined to go down in history, had already shocked them enough. They were just waiting for the final distance to be revealed.

After this arrow was shot, Shen Yuan could clearly feel his arm trembling slightly.

The horse did not slow down, and it circled back, and he continued to shoot the next arrow.

The target was hit at one hundred and fifty steps, but it was off the center.

Shen Yuan did not stop and continued.
One hundred and sixty steps and it just missed the target.

After shooting the arrow, the young man reined in his horse and stopped.

Obviously, one hundred and fifty steps is Shen Yuan's limit.
"One hundred and fifty steps!"

At this moment, everyone on the training ground was silently reciting this number, the horseback archery record created by Shen Yuan.

Jiang Fan's archery limit on horseback is one hundred steps.

Feng Ziying's limit was 120 steps. Before today, the longest recorded archery on horseback in the Great Zhou Dynasty was 110 steps by the Divine Martial General Feng Tang.

In other words, two people broke Feng Tang's record today, and Shen Yuan even revised it to an unprecedented 150 steps.

Now that the dust has settled, many martial arts candidates are at a loss.

"Our previous test was to use a 1.8 stone bow and shoot fifty steps on horseback. Shen Yuan directly increased the shooting distance to three times!"

"Damn it, this is so embarrassing. I must practice very hard when I get back. There is no hope for 150 steps, but there is still a chance for 70 or 80 steps."

"Yes, I heard that the Jianlu in the northeast can shoot at a distance of 70 steps. If we don't work hard to catch up, we will only be shot at one side when we go to the battlefield."

"."

These more than 2,000 martial arts candidates were shocked, but also felt a sense of urgency.

Shen Yuan used this unprecedented achievement to inspire the warriors of the Great Zhou to strive for strength.

This may be the greatest purpose of today's spring military examination, and it is also the effect that Emperor Yuanzhen wants to achieve.

Emperor Yuanzhen was sitting high on the observation deck at this moment, taking in the expressions of the many candidates on the parade ground, and felt very pleased.

He said to Gao Yue behind him: "Everything that happened here today, no matter how big or small, must be spread to the whole country as soon as possible."

"Don't worry, Father. Within a month, the news will spread throughout the Great Zhou."

Emperor Yuanzhen nodded, and then instructed the Minister of War Yu Qian: "Check the results and prepare for the palace examination."

All the internal and external examinations have been completed. The next step is to summarize the results of each subject and select the top 113 people, and the emperor will personally select the top three.

"Your Majesty, are you ready to return to the palace now?"

"No need, it's right here."

Yu Qian was surprised when he heard this: "Your Majesty, do you mean to start the palace examination right here? But here..."

Emperor Yuanzhen waved his hand and said thoughtfully: "It doesn't matter. The palace examination does not have to be held in the palace."

When Yu Qian heard Emperor Yuanzhen say this, he said no more and went down to prepare.

During the time when the examiners were checking the results, everything that happened on the training ground was transmitted to every corner of Shenjing City at an extremely fast speed.

Ying'er also brought the news back to Rongguo Mansion.

When the six girls with golden hairpins, Chai, Dai, Yun, Ying, Tan and Xi, learned that Shen Yuan made history with his 150-step horseback archery, they were all shocked.

Baochai and Xiangyun were particularly happy. Confidence was confidence, but when everything became a reality and even exceeded their imagination, how could they not be happy?
Daiyu, Tanchun and other girls were more amazed. From the comparison of those groups of data, they could feel how powerful Shen Yuan was.

"The next step should be the martial arts palace examination, right?" Baochai murmured softly.

Tanchun asked curiously, "Sister Bao, what is the martial arts palace examination about?"

Upon hearing this, Daiyu also looked at him with curiosity.

Baochai said in a clear voice: "The martial arts palace examination is presided over by the emperor. The top three martial arts scholars, as well as the top, second and third martial arts scholars will be determined based on the results of the spring examination."

"Mr. Shen is now ranked first in the exam, so doesn't that mean he will definitely be named the top scorer?"

"The second and third places are basically determined by the results of the Spring Examination, but the ranking of the first place will be determined after the Emperor's examination." Baochai paused and said, "In most cases in the past, the results were consistent with the Spring Examination, but there were also some surprises."

Obviously, because of Shen Yuan, Baochai had already made sufficient understanding of the martial arts examination.

Xiangyun, who was listening at the side, roughly understood what was said, and said with certainty, "Brother Shen will not have any surprises."

In fact, not only Baochai and Xiangyun, but now in the entire Shenjing City, almost no one doubts that Shen Yuan will eventually win the title of No. 1 martial arts champion.

Everyone was just waiting for the moment when the names would be called out and the results would be announced after the palace examination.
(End of this chapter)