Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 123 Archery Ceremony
The next day, Li Chengdong invited Emperor Yongli to review the army and hold a shooting ceremony. There were three armies reviewed: Li Chengdong's 10,000 cavalry, Chen Bangfu's 5,000 cavalry infantry, and Jiao Lian's 3,000 cavalry infantry.

The armor was bright and the flags were fluttering. The number of soldiers and horses undoubtedly symbolized the strength. As for Lu Kezao's Fu Biao personal army, the soldiers and horses were weak and the weapons were different, so they simply did not participate in the review.

Emperor Yongli rode a horse to inspect the three armies, but he lacked dignity and the inspection did not achieve the expected effect. Fortunately, he ordered rewards for the three armies, and the morale of the soldiers improved slightly.

After that, it is the archery ceremony. Archery is one of the six arts in ancient times. Archery ceremony is an important part of ancient etiquette and has been valued by all dynasties.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, conquered the world by force and eliminated the heroes. Naturally, he attached great importance to the archery ceremony. In the second year of Hongwu, he ordered that all official schools in the country set up subjects for teaching in "ritual, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy and mathematics", and students were required to practice martial arts for one hour every day.

The archery ceremony became popular. In the early Ming Dynasty, the archery ceremony was initially set at 30 steps, but soon it was extended to 90 steps and became a regular practice.

However, the archery ceremony of the Ming Dynasty was similar to that of other dynasties. It initially tended towards martial arts, but as the country became more peaceful, it gradually became more ceremonial in nature, deviating from Taizu’s original intention of respecting martial arts and training archers.

Guangxi Governor Lu Kezao presided over the archery ceremony, and Emperor Yongli sat in the pavilion to watch the archery.

According to the rules, the emperor used six archers for the archery ceremony, the princes used four archers, and the officials and scholars used three archers. One archer was divided into two archers, one for the upper archery and one for the lower archery. Today's archery ceremony had a total of six archers, but there were actually only twelve archers.

A couple came out of the outer court. The upper archer was Liu Yuansheng, the Minister of Military Affairs, who belonged to the "chastity-keeping" faction, and the lower archer was Zhang Xiaoqi, the Imperial Censor of the Ministry of Personnel, who belonged to the "rebellion" faction.

Zhang Xiaoqi was from Wujiang. He failed in his uprising against the Qing Dynasty in Jiangnan and was captured by Li Chengdong. His wife jumped into the sea and died. Li Chengdong felt sorry for his loyalty and hid him in the army, treating him with great respect.

After the Guangdong troops rebelled, the court valued Dong Xun, and Li Chengdong recommended Zhang Xiaoqi to the court to serve as a censor in the Ministry of Personnel.

Etiquette is a major issue for a country. Lu Kezao, as the archer, arranged Liu Yuansheng and Zhang Xiaoqi to be a couple, which was a painstaking effort, with the intention of achieving harmony and uniting the two factions.

A couple came out of the inner court, the upper archer was the eunuch Zhang Fulu, who held the seal, and the lower archer was the commander of the Jinyiwei, Li Yuanyin. Zhang Fulu was from Daxing, was strong, could draw a strong bow, and was loyal and diligent.

Dongxun had a couple, the upper archer was Li Chengdong himself, and the lower archer was Ma Bao, the governor-general. Ma Bao was born in the Dashun Army and joined Li Chengdong's army in the last years of Chongzhen. He was resourceful and brave. His status was not as high as that of Dongxun Yuancong such as Du Yonghe and Zhang Yue, but he was actually a first-class general under Li Chengdong.

A couple came out from Qu Shisi's camp. The upper archer was Ma Qijiao and the lower archer was Cen Danchu.

When it was Chen Bangfu's camp's turn, a small accident happened unexpectedly.

The archer Lu Kezao came to Chen Zengyu with a bow and arrow in his hand and said, "Now that the bow and arrow are ready, please shoot."

Chen Zengyu declined and replied, "I can't do it. I'll be your second or third choice."

This was the proper courtesy in archery. Lu Kezao did not take it seriously and said with a smile, "General, there is no need to be modest. The Emperor is above us and I have to do it."

Chen Zengyu had already seen that Lu Kezao was holding a large bow with great bow power. He was as uneducated as his father, so even if he pulled hard, he would definitely not hit the target.

"I am not feeling well today and cannot wield the bow and arrow." Chen Zengyu declined.

Li Chengdong, who was standing by, wanted to humiliate him, saying, "The emperor is here, personally attending the archery ceremony. I am old, but I am still trying my best. How dare you, a junior, not try your best?"

Ma Qijiao also said, "It is not good that Duke Qing cannot personally protect the emperor. Millions of soldiers are watching the ceremony, so the marshal must not be disrespectful."

Chen Zengyu stammered and said nothing, and refused to take the bow and arrow.

Li Chengdong sneered and said, "You and your son have done nothing but seek personal gain. You surrendered to me at first, and when I rebelled, you and your son took it as your own achievement. You are so shameless. Now that the emperor is in power, you have no respect for me. Don't think that Dongxun has no one."

Chen Zengyu turned pale with fear under the watchful eyes of the crowd. With the troops of his father and son, they could bully the common people, but if they really wanted to fight, they would definitely not be Dongxun's opponent.

Emperor Yongli and his ministers also noticed that something was wrong with Chen Zengyu, and they all turned their eyes over.

Chen Zengyu had no choice but to agree.

Lu Kezao was relieved, and quickly went up the stairs to report to the emperor: "Your Majesty, I would like to shoot at the guest, and the guest agrees."

Emperor Yongli nodded and signaled to start.

The archery ceremony is solemn and complicated, and the next step is pairing. The upper archer and the lower archer stand together to form a pair.

"Fire up your archery equipment," Lu Kezao said in a long voice. Each archer took a long bow and equipped it with four arrows.

"Lean on the flag in the middle of the target." A lieutenant served as the winner and used a yellow flag to indicate the center of the target for everyone. "Shoot in order, no one is allowed to cross paths!"

The archer began to prepare, took off the sleeve of his left arm, put on a ring for hooking the bowstring on his right thumb, put on an arm guard on his left arm, held the bow in his left hand, clamped an arrow between the fingers of his right hand, and inserted the other three into his belt.

"Luring shot."

Induced archery is actually a demonstration of archery by the archer, and there is also a set of strict rules. There are four bows, then walk to the shooting position, look at the center of the bull's eye to show that you are determined to shoot, then bend over to check your feet, adjust your steps, and finally draw the bow and shoot until all four arrows are shot.

Although Lu Kezao was a civil servant, he had practiced archery on horseback for a long time. He hit two of his four shots, which drew a round of applause. This was a pretty good result for archery on foot at a distance of ninety steps.

It was Cen Danchu's first time to participate in an archery ceremony, and it was the Emperor's Six-Pair Archery, which greatly broadened his horizons.

Tens of thousands of soldiers, banners covering the sky, and officials from the inner and outer courts gathered. The scene was solemn and the ceremony was exquisite, giving people the illusion that the Ming Dynasty was reviving.

He realized the importance of etiquette and ritual. Etiquette is the external ritual and the internal ritual. Solemn rituals can strengthen etiquette, and collective rituals can help strengthen unity and form internal cohesion.

Advocating equality can win the support of the soldiers. Strengthening rituals can enhance the unity of the soldiers. Everything is dialectical unity and nothing can be neglected.

"Ichibansuke."

The first round of shooting was for practice and the results were not counted. Despite this, all the shooters were very serious and did not want to embarrass themselves in front of the soldiers.

Li Chengdong was already a duke, but he still managed to hit three out of four shots, a pretty good result. The archer Ma Bao, who was an excellent archer, actually hit four out of four shots. Dongxun's 10,000 cavalrymen cheered loudly, feeling very proud.

It was Ma Qijiao and Cen Danchu's turn to shoot. Ma Qijiao shot three arrows and felt a little regretful. He said to Danchu: "Zhuoru, calm down and save some face for Lord Qu and Xinxing Hou."

Danchu smiled slightly, did not answer, drew the bow and arrow, pulled the bow to its full extent, took aim, and shot the first arrow.

"middle!"

He was secretly delighted, and tried again, shooting three more arrows, all of which hit the target.

The winner goes to check the target. Mingshe Ceremony stipulates that if the arrow cannot penetrate the target, even if it hits the center of the bull's eye, it cannot be considered a hit.

"Four arrows shot through! All hits!"

Ma Qijiao and Cen Danchu greeted each other, and the three thousand soldiers behind them cheered loudly.

It was Chen Zengyu's turn to shoot. He had little strength and could only pull the bow with difficulty. The arrow flew out crookedly and fell to the ground before it hit the target. The remaining three arrows were also weak and none of them hit the target.

The soldiers were in a commotion, booing. Chen Zengyu also lost face and felt extremely ashamed.

"Second round shooting." The second round shooting is a formal competition and there is wine to drink.

In the early Ming Dynasty, those who were good at archery were rewarded with wine. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the archery ceremony was reformed, and the winner did not drink, but the loser drank wine, which was called penalty wine. This completely lost the original intention of Taizu to combine martial arts with literature.

Chen Zengyu was punished to drink and his face turned red.

Sanfanshe is basically the same as Erfanshe, but with vocal accompaniment.

Li Chengdong laughed at Chen Zengyu and said in front of everyone: "We all shot our arrows without missing, so we are not allowed to drink. But you didn't hit the target with a single arrow, but you still got to drink. Do you know how great God's grace is?"

Chen Zengyu did not dare to get angry and said, "General Sir, your accusation is correct. I am deeply ashamed."

"You and your father have received the emperor's grace, but you have no respect for the emperor's subjects and have the intention of rebellion and surrender. The court has already issued an edict to appoint Cen Danchu as the general of conquering the barbarians. Why did your father keep the seal privately and refuse to hand it over until now? Go back and tell your father to be loyal to the country and abide by the rules of a subject. Otherwise, I will definitely raise an army to attack him."

Chen Dengyu trembled and said, "Yes."

Danchu was secretly delighted. He had never thought that he would get the seal of the General of the Conquest of the Barbarians in this way. Qu Shisi had no soldiers, so his words were not effective. Li Chengdong had a strong army, and Chen Bangfu was very afraid of him.

Nowadays, you can only stand firm if you have soldiers at your disposal.

(End of this chapter)