After dinner, Wu Ma cleaned up the dishes and Zhou Tiezhu returned to the blacksmith workshop to look after the furnace and tools. Zhou Tiezhu usually lived upstairs in the blacksmith workshop. Yan Dechang said he was going out for a while, so he changed his clothes and went directly to the backyard to pull out the rhino horse, put on the saddle, and rode out without saying where he was going. Yan Liqiang was the only one left at home, and Yan Liqiang was suddenly free at home.
In the past, he had no free time. From dinner to bedtime, except for the time to digest the food, he basically practiced martial arts in the backyard of his house. Yan Dechang would stand by and personally supervise Yan Liqiang, and he never relaxed for a single day.
The little fame that Yan Liqiang had among the young men in Liuhe Town was all earned bit by bit with his sweat over the years, without any luck.
The front yard of Yan Liqiang's house is on the bank of Liu River. There is a water-powered hydraulic hammer machine in the blacksmith workshop. The backyard of Yan Liqiang's house is opposite to the front yard. Outside the backyard is a bamboo forest. It is very quiet.
The stable and the hay house are just below the two tiled houses in the backyard. There is a peach tree in the backyard. Under the peach tree is a weapon rack, on which are placed four weapons: swords, spears, swords and sticks. The stick is the ancestor of all weapons, the sword is the king of all weapons, the knife is the courage of all weapons, and the spear is the king of all weapons. These are the four most common weapons, and are also the four most used and most lethal weapons. For more than 90% of people who learn martial arts, their main weapon is basically one of these four. To be more specific, because the stick does not have much lethality, not many people use it. Most people's main weapons are the knife, spear and sword.
The so-called stick for a month, sword for a year, and gun for a lifetime. The gun is the most difficult of the four weapons to practice successfully, so relatively speaking, there are fewer people who practice gun skills than those who practice sword skills.
But Yan Liqiang's main weapon is the gun.
This was not Yan Liqiang's own choice, but Yan Dechang had already chosen it for him when he first started practicing martial arts. Yan Liqiang didn't know why Yan Dechang, who didn't know martial arts, chose such a difficult path for him. Over the years, Yan Liqiang had been practicing guns and practicing the basic skills of guns.
Not far from the weapons rack, there is a rack, under one of the racks is a row of iron beads the size of eggs tied with ropes. This is the prop Yan Liqiang uses to practice shooting. The row of iron beads are coated with fluorescent powder, so they can be seen not only during the day, but also at night when they are green in the moonlight, which is very eye-catching and can also be used for training.
The basic skills of shooting can be summed up in three words: block, take, and stab - block the gun, take the gun, and stab the gun. Blocking is defense, taking is using strength, and stabbing is attack!
Three simple words, three basic movements, Yan Liqiang has been practicing for eight years, but he is still not even at the entry level.
Because Yan Liqiang has not yet established a foundation and is not yet a true warrior, so practicing these things can only be considered as practicing a form and appearance. In this era, if a person has not established a foundation and has not become a true warrior, no matter how hard he tries, he cannot be considered to have truly mastered a skill.
Like today, he was knocked off the ring by Hong Tao with Iron Sand Palm. To be honest, Yan Liqiang really didn't expect Hong Tao to practice Iron Sand Palm at this time, because Hong Tao, like him, has not yet built a foundation and is not a warrior yet. Iron Sand Palm requires a lot of time to practice. It is very unwise to spend a lot of time on these external skills at this time. As the saying goes, practice skills first, then practice boxing. Kung Fu comes before boxing. Practicing martial arts without practicing skills will be in vain in the end. Boxing is external, and kung fu is internal. If you want to practice kung fu, you must build a foundation. Without a foundation, although these external skills look powerful now, they are only temporary. In the end, they are just illusions and it is difficult to last long, let alone to enter the door.
The time for a person to build a foundation is limited. God does not give you too much time to waste. Basically, if a person has not built a foundation before the age of 25, the hope of building a foundation in this life is very slim, that is, there is no hope of advancing to a warrior in this life. Just like Yan Dechang's apprentice Zhou Tiezhu, after the age of 25, it was still far from building a foundation and completely lost the possibility of building a foundation. Only then did he come to learn a survival skill from Yan Dechang.
In my previous life on Earth, warriors seemed to be everywhere. Many people just practiced martial arts for a few years, became a little strong, hung a knife on their body, and dared to chop and kill people, and then called themselves warriors. Such warriors, by the standards of this world, are complete nonsense.
In this world, the standard to become a warrior is to build a foundation, and to build a foundation one has to pass three levels, each more difficult than the last. Each level has very objective and verifiable standards. Only those who have passed these three levels and completed the foundation are qualified to call themselves warriors. Only warriors can truly practice various kung fu and combat skills to a high level.
Yan Liqiang has been practicing martial arts since he was a child, and he sweats profusely in this small courtyard every day, but he has not even passed the first of these three levels.
The first of these three levels is horse stance, which is a basic skill that any martial artist must master.
Horse stance seems simple and everyone can do it, but in reality, there may not be only one person out of a hundred who can pass it.
What is considered a pass in the horse stance? You must be able to achieve unity of waist and horse, and use all your strength from your feet, so that you can create a horse stance under your body. Once you pass this level, if you really want to fight with fists and feet, you can fight ten people at once and leave most people far behind.
In order to help Yan Liqiang pass this level, Yan Dechang spent a lot of money to buy a rhinoceros horse. The rhinoceros horse was raised at home not only for Yan Liqiang to learn riding skills, but also for Yan Liqiang to experience and appreciate the tremendous power brought by the unity of man and horse when he punches and shoots on the rhinoceros horse while learning riding skills.
When a person who has mastered the horse stance punches, it is as if he is riding a horse. The power of his feet, thighs, waist and back can be transferred to his fists. Such a punch can easily crush ordinary people. There is a saying that the arm cannot twist the thigh. Think about the comparison of the muscle strength of a person's arm and thigh, and you will know how big the difference in strength is.
When ordinary people punch someone, they use the strength of their arms. Going a step further, they can use the strength of their chest muscles and back muscles. Professional boxers on earth can use part of the strength of their waist. However, the sign of a successful horse stance is that you can even use the strength of your toes. This is why all martial artists regard the horse stance as a basic skill. Once you have mastered the horse stance, it is like having an extra horse's strength. Even if a person is standing on the ground, it is like riding a horse and moving without moving.
Yan Liqiang did not understand these principles before on Earth, but in this world, everyone knows these principles.
But knowing does not mean being able to do it, just like almost every high school student on earth knows that the atomic bomb comes from Einstein's mass-energy equation, but even if they know the mass-energy equation, not everyone can make an atomic bomb.
To pass the horse stance test, in addition to willpower, character and sweat, there may be some unknown tricks. As an ordinary blacksmith, Yan Dechang can only do his best to help Yan Liqiang pass this test. Since he himself does not know the secret and cannot afford a famous teacher to teach Yan Liqiang, like most parents who want their children to succeed, Yan Dechang can only buy a rhinoceros horse for Yan Liqiang based on the popular experience, so that Yan Liqiang can experience the mystery of horse stance after learning riding skills.
In this world, those real skills, those mysterious secrets and knowledge related to kung fu and martial arts are extremely expensive. Those knowledge and skills, like the high-value patents in the commercial society on Earth, are not something that ordinary people can possess. They are exclusive to a few people. Only the real wealthy families have the confidence and resources to hire famous teachers. Let alone, with the strength of the Hong family in Liuhe Town, the Hong family does not have the confidence and resources to hire any famous teachers.
A true master teacher is one who has at least the skills of a warrior, possesses skills and secrets, and is willing to teach.
As far as Yan Liqiang knew, there were almost no such people in Qinghe County, but there were two in Pingxi County. One of them lived in the county town of Pingxi County. His surname was Song. He taught people horse stance. After ten years of hard training, almost one-third of the people who became his disciples could pass the basic horse stance.
Yan Liqiang's father wanted to send Yan Liqiang to study, but he couldn't afford the thank-you gift. If he wanted to take the man surnamed Song as his master, he would have to pay at least 100 taels of gold, no bargaining. And the entire property of the Yan family, including the blacksmith workshop, was worth at most 20 taels of gold.
Without gold and silver covering the ground, how can you learn real skills
The kind of things where you carry a basket of eggs, cut some pork, and take two bottles of wine to become an apprentice to learn skills can only be seen in TV dramas and movies on Earth. As for the kind of things in TV dramas and movies on Earth where after you become an apprentice, the master will support you, teach you martial arts secrets for free, let you eat and drink for free at the master's house, and you just need to practice martial arts and improve your skills, and the master and his wife will even give birth to a beautiful little apprentice sister for you to date, these are plots that are impossible even in dreams. If Yue Buqun in Jin Yong's novels was born in the Silver Continent, he would have become a first-class figure that people worship.
The reason why this martial arts county exam is so important is that the top candidates in the county exam will have the opportunity to enter the county-level martial arts academy to learn skills. The apprenticeship qualification of the county-level martial arts academy is almost the only way for ordinary people to hope to learn some real skills and thus advance to a warrior. Its value is naturally self-evident.
The reason why everyone in this world wants to successfully build a foundation and become a samurai is that samurai is not just a title, but also a privileged class that is completely superior to ordinary classes. Becoming a samurai means that one has become a member of the noble family and has the hope and ladder for rapid advancement. Wherever one goes, he is a superior person.
In ancient China, there is a saying that everything is inferior except reading, but in this world, everything is inferior except martial arts.
The only reason why the Hong family in Liuhe Town is so powerful is that Hong Tao's great-grandfather, that is, the grandfather of Hong Tao's father, was the only warrior in the entire Liuhe Town. Based on this, Hong Tao's great-grandfather earned a huge fortune for the Hong family in Liuhe Town - dozens of storefronts in Liuhe Town, seven or eight oil and rice workshops, and thousands of acres of fertile land in the town, all of which are the Hong family's assets. The achievements of one person have brought blessings to three generations of descendants...
Thinking of this, Yan Liqiang had a flash of inspiration in his mind, and suddenly he understood everything and completely realized the situation of the Hong family.
The Hong family hasn't produced a warrior for three generations. As the old saying goes in the Silver Continent, a warrior's legacy will be cut off after three generations. The Hong family seems to be doing well now, but the head of the Hong family, Grandpa Hong Tao, is probably already filled with a sense of crisis. Hong Tao is the only one among the younger generation of the Hong family who has hope of becoming a warrior. That's why the Hong family is so anxious and spared no effort in the county examination this time.
It would be the most ideal outcome for the Hong family if Hong Tao became a warrior. But even if Hong Tao could not become a warrior, as long as no one in Hong Tao's generation could become a warrior in Liuhe Town, the Hong family's position in Liuhe Town would remain unbreakable and no one could challenge it. The Hong family could still continue to prosper and place their hopes on the future.
Therefore, making Hong Tao a warrior is the Hong family’s current primary goal, while preventing themselves from becoming a warrior is the Hong family’s bottom line goal.
Thinking about everything he had encountered in the ring today, thinking about the ice ant, and thinking about the nervous expression on Qi Donglai's face when he saw him, Yan Liqiang suddenly understood everything.
Qi Donglai's family is also an ordinary family in Liuhe Town.
It’s really despicable!
The experience in his previous life made Yan Liqiang understand a truth very early on. When facing a problem, there is no possibility of escape. Those problems that come at you are the ones you are destined to face. If you escape and retreat, the problems that come at you will not disappear. They will just change their appearance and continue to target you. In the end, you will find that your space will become smaller and narrower, until there is no way to retreat.
When faced with a problem, either you defeat it or you are defeated by it. There is never a third way.
Well, since God has allowed me to live two lives as a human being, and arranged for me to be born in such a magical world in this life, and has chosen such a path for me, then I will live a life that will be exciting, and walk resolutely along this path, to see what differences there are in the scenery along the way, and to see where I can go in the end.
Yan Liqiang suddenly understood the Hong family's plan and thought of his own injuries. Endless fighting spirit surged in his heart and he completely immersed himself in his current role.
"If you don't struggle, you are just like a salted fish..."
Under the moonlight, looking at this quiet backyard, Yan Liqiang said to himself, with a smile on his face...
…
Yan Dechang rode out on his rhino horse and returned home near dawn.
Hearing the noise in the backyard, Yan Liqiang hurried out of the house and saw Yan Dechang, who looked tired, and the Rhino Horse, which was sweating and snorting constantly. Yan Liqiang hurriedly stepped forward to remove the saddle and horse lamp of the Rhino Horse and put them away, moved the Rhino Horse to the stable, added fine feed mixed with distiller's grains to the stable, and then returned to the room to see Yan Dechang.
"You will leave Liuhe Town and Qinghe County tomorrow!" Yan Dechang sat upright on a wooden chair, wiping his face with the basin and wet towel brought by Wu Ma, and spoke seriously to Yan Liqiang.
Yan Liqiang was a little surprised, "Ah, I wonder where my father wants me to go?"
"Go to Huanglong County. I have a good friend there. He will take care of you when you go there. Don't worry. You can recover from your injuries there. Everything will be settled after you recover..."
After Yan Dechang said this, Yan Liqiang understood that his father Yan Dechang also saw the threat posed by the Hong family to him, especially since he was severely beaten by Hong Tao in the ring today. He was worried that the Hong family would do something to him. In order to be on the safe side, they did not want Yan Liqiang to stay in Liuhe Town. Liuhe Town was almost the territory of the Hong family. He had to leave Liuhe Town temporarily, ostensibly to recuperate, but actually to avoid disaster.
Yan Liqiang was silent for a moment, then nodded, "Everything will be arranged by your father!"
"Well, it's getting late. Let's go and have some rest after burning incense at your mother's memorial tablet..."
"Um!"
(End of this chapter)