The viewing platform is neither high nor big.
Once a row of chairs is set up, there will be no more than ten people sitting there. In the city of Chang'an, the capital of the Great Sui Dynasty, since His Majesty the Emperor and the Empress were not present, the person sitting in the middle was naturally Prince Yi Yang Yin. And that old man who was dressed in civilian clothes and could sit in the middle next to Prince Yi, who else could it be except Zhou Banchuan, the director of the Academy of Martial Arts.
It's just that on such an important occasion, which is related to the ranking of the top three students of the Yanwu Academy, before the final competition that is about to start, Dean Zhou actually leaned on his chair and fell asleep.
Not only did he sleep soundly, but there was also drool on the corner of his mouth.
Prince Yi asked if it was okay to start, but after seeing no answer, he realized that Dean Zhou, who had unrivaled prestige in the Sui Army, was actually meeting his own family, Duke Zhou. With a helpless smile, Prince Yi Yang Yin ordered someone to fetch his cloak , Covered it for Dean Zhou himself. In fact, this seemingly simple move often contains two meanings.
One is to express my respect for Dean Zhou.
Second, it's time for you to wake up.
It's a pity that Dean Zhou, who has forgotten whether he is sixty, seventy or eighty years old, doesn't seem to have this awareness, and he has no intention of waking up at all. , where there is no dignified posture as the head of the Academy of Martial Arts.
If Dean Zhou is not awake, the last assessment cannot begin.
Therefore, a prince, a second rank, and six or seven members of third and fourth ranks on the viewing platform could only watch helplessly and wait quietly. loudly.
Sitting under the viewing platform were the professors of the Martial Arts Academy and the generals of the Sixth Army of the Son of Heaven stationed in Chang'an City. They were not surprised at all when they saw this scene, especially the professors of the Academy of Martial Arts, who were already used to this scene. In fact, every time there is a regular meeting of the Martial Arts Institute, President Zhou spends most of the time sleeping, and the lesser half of the time he is distracted.
After waiting for a while, Dean Zhou did not wake up. The somewhat bored Prince Yi Yang Yin stood up and stretched his body, looked at the four beautiful beauties behind him, and suddenly said something beyond everyone's expectations: Why don't you guys do a dance first to relieve everyone's boredom?"
The expressions of the others immediately changed, and they were really afraid that this distinguished prince would turn such a solemn occasion into a song and dance performance. Fortunately, His Royal Highness Prince Yi also has this awareness. Without waiting for someone to persuade him, he smiled and said: "It's really boring just sitting around, just joking around."
All the people present let out a sigh of relief.
An unreliable dean is enough, if there is another unreliable prince...
General Xu Xiaogong, who was also ordered by the emperor to watch the competition, was the most calm and indifferent among all the people. He sat on the chair, his upper body straightened. Slightly lowering the head, watching the nose with the eyes, watching the heart with the nose, it is like an old monk in meditation. This veteran in his fifties was once an old subordinate of Dean Zhou, so he naturally would not blame nor dare to disturb Dean Zhou dozing off at this time.
Among the six armies of the Son of Heaven, General Xu Xiaogong of Youzuowei was the second oldest in terms of age. He had just celebrated his fifty-third birthday a few days ago, and received a folding fan written by the imperial pen as a reward from His Majesty. Speaking of it, Xu Xiaogong was a very special one among the Sixteen Guards of the Sui Dynasty. Because he has never fought an earth-shattering battle in his life, nor has he ever fought a battle worthy of being written down in the history books.
Someone once said disdainfully that Xu Xiaogong was the most incompetent of the sixteen generals. The reason why he was able to sit in the position of the general was nothing more than three reasons. One is seniority, the other is duty, and the third is good background. He first joined the army and served as a scout captain under Zhou Banchuan. For thirty years, his official career has been smooth and steady, without major ups and downs. It took thirty years to become a general.
But it happened to be such a person, and His Majesty the Emperor seemed to appreciate him very much.
The sixteen guards of the Sui Dynasty, sixteen generals, sixteen generals, dozens of generals, plus twenty-four governors, so many giants in the army and officials in frontiers, no one will be rewarded by His Majesty on his birthday .
Prince Yi glanced at Xu Xiaogong who closed his eyes and meditated, and scolded the old fox in his heart. He smiled and walked to Xu Xiaogong's side, and whispered a word into Xu Xiaogong's ear. The voice was too low, Xu Xiaogong couldn't hear it clearly. He could only open his eyes and ask, "Your Highness, what did you just say?"
Yang Yin said in a low voice: "Don't pretend, you know how to wake up Dean Zhou."
Xu Xiaogong smiled wryly, and had no choice but to lower his voice and say something. Yang Yin couldn't believe it, so he couldn't help asking again. Xu Xiaogong nodded resolutely, Yang Yin stood up straight, hesitated for a while and said tentatively: "Bring up the leaf card, I just want to play a few rounds with you adults."
As soon as the voice fell, Dean Zhou immediately opened his eyes and asked: "Three missing one? Count me in!"
He glanced around, but after seeing several adults watching their hearts, they immediately understood. On the contrary, the professors sitting below couldn't help laughing. No one in the Academy of Martial Arts knew that Dean Zhou liked to play cards the most, and his luck at cards was extremely stinky. Play once and lose once, and if you lose, you will renege on your debt.
So much so that when the professors of the Academy of Martial arts have nothing to do and want to play the leaf card, they all act like spies. But as long as someone utters the three words Leaf Card, Dean Zhou will definitely come to hear the news.
Seeing that Dean Zhou woke up, Yang Yin secretly gave Xu Xiaogong a thumbs up.
Xu Xiaogong secretly glanced at Dean Zhou who was staring at him fiercely, with an embarrassed expression on his face.
"Get started..."
Dean Zhou wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth, looked at the three young generals standing side by side below, waved his hands casually and said: "Fight as you want, the defenders of Tucheng are two thousand, but I will only give you five dollars each." Hundred soldiers, whoever is defeated will be the first. There is no need to divide the second and third, since it is useless anyway."
"five hundred?"
Yu Xiao, Luo Wen, and Li Fubo repeated it at the same time, with astonishment on their faces.
The three looked at each other, but none of them dared to ask.
Didn't you agree to have 1,000 soldiers per person? Why did Dean Zhou reduce the number to 500 people after sleeping? Naturally, they didn't know that the reason for reducing their number of troops was because Dean Zhou and his old man were disturbed in their dreams, and they were very upset.
…
…
Because the imperial capital is too big, it was almost noon when Fang Jie's carriage left the city gate and followed the official road to the martial arts field. The official was so careful that he even prepared food in the carriage. Although they were just snacks, it was good news to Fang Jie who hadn't had breakfast yet.
Although the official didn't take Fang Jie's banknote, he didn't seem to be unhappy. After the greeting Fang Jie ate, he thought for a while and confessed: "When you arrive at the place in a while, don't ask too many things. You can go wherever the person who is waiting for you leads you. Scold, don't say I didn't warn you."
Fang Jie responded, and slipped the bank note from his cuff again into the officer's hand: "This snack is really delicious, but it's a pity that I don't know where I can buy it when I first arrived in the emperor. If you have nothing to do, big brother." I’ll buy it when I’m ready, remember to bring some to my little brother, thank you.”
The officer hesitated for a moment, and finally took the bank note: "I bought it, and I will send it to your house."
When he said this, there was a faint pity and regret in his eyes that were fleeting.
Putting away the banknote, the officer murmured in his heart: Don't blame me, I can't help this matter. Later, I bought some snacks and candle paper money and put them in front of your grave.
Although it was the first time they met, he had no ill feeling towards this clean and handsome young man.
But there was nothing else he could do except to say a pity to himself.
The carriage swayed for another half an hour, and finally arrived outside the martial arts arena. When they stopped outside the gate, a man in a black robe was already standing there waiting. After Fang Xie got out of the car, the man in black robe glanced at him, and asked coldly, are you Fang Xie
Fang Jie nodded and said yes, the man turned around and walked inside. Fang Jie hurriedly followed, and subconsciously grasped the rusty broken knife stuck in his waist.
The man in black robe whispered something to the soldier guarding the gate, and the soldier glanced at Fang Xie before letting him go. Following behind the man in black robe, Fang Jie kept looking at the terrain of the martial arts field along the way.
The Great Sui reigned supreme in the Central Plains, with military power unparalleled in the world. No matter what kind of pride it is, the Emperor of the Sui Dynasty and the court have shown a characteristic in many ways. That is the atmosphere, from large buildings to small clothing, all pay attention to an atmosphere.
The imperial capital Chang'an is the most powerful proof.
And the Martial arts arena also displayed this atmosphere to the extreme. There is not only a flat and vast school field here, but also a four-mile earth city, but it accommodates almost all kinds of terrain, and even a mountain of earth is piled up by manpower. Rivers, lakes, dense forests, grasslands, everything is available.
What he saw made Fang Xie feel emotional.
"You go directly along this road, and go in when you see a small door. The Tucheng is just south of the wall, and you can see the viewing platform within a short distance. All the adults who want to see you are there Side. I don’t have a military order not to enter, so you have to go there by yourself.”
After the black-robed man stopped, the other party explained: "When the adults finish asking, you go back the same way, and don't disturb the competition of the top three in the Academy of Martial Arts."
"Here."
Fang Jie responded, straightened his clothes and walked out.
"Wait."
The man suddenly stopped Fang Jie again, pointed to the broken knife on Fang Jie's belt and said, "No weapons are allowed in."
Fang Jie was silent for a while and said earnestly: "The frontier soldiers of the Sui Dynasty never left their swords and swords. Even when they went to the pilgrimage to see them, they would not remove their swords unless ordered by the emperor."
The man was slightly taken aback, and muttered in a low voice that it's good to have a knife in his hand, and he will die sooner. He waved his hand, as if he didn't bother to pay attention. But just because he didn't insist, the vigilance in Fang Jie's eyes became more and more intense. He walked slowly to the small door, took a deep breath, pushed the door open and walked in.
Just pushed open the door and squeezed in.
A knife suddenly appeared in front of Fang Jie's neck.
Fang Jie didn't dare to move, but said: "I was ordered to come here to ask, when will I bring you lunch?"
It's an idiotic statement, but it definitely works.
Just when the man was taken aback, Fang Xie looked at the scene in front of him.
Where is there any viewing platform, there is a military camp in front of it!
And the one who delivered the knife to Fang Jie's body was a soldier wearing a black leather armor and a dark blue livery. What this small door leads to is not the viewing platform at all, but the barracks of one of the three upstarts from the Yanwu Academy participating in the competition! Fang Jie realized instantly in his mind that the black robe that brought him earlier purposely told the wrong direction. The man said that the viewing platform is to the north and the Tucheng is to the south, but the facts are the opposite of what he said.
The viewing platform is simply on the other side of Tucheng.
That is to say, he couldn't see the spectator platform through an earthen city that was four miles long and wide, and it was absolutely impossible for the people on the spectator platform to see him. So if he dies here, it will never arouse the ideas of those big shots.
It was at this moment that Fang Jie finally understood how he was being calculated.
Just when he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of the soldier to get out of the door, there was a creaking sound from behind, and the door was closed from behind, followed by a sound of chains, obviously locked from the outside.
Just when Fang Jie had just understood what was going on, the knife in the soldier's hand suddenly moved, and the sharp blade had already reached Fang Xie's throat, and he could even feel the coldness of the blade. The knife was a Sui standard horizontal knife, and Fang Jie had no doubt that as long as the soldier's wrist was pushed forward, the blood in his aorta would spurt out like a waterfall.
At stake!