That night, the Luo family held a welcoming banquet for Yan Liqiang and his party in the Luo family mansion in Jinzhou City. Concubine Rong, Prince Min, Princess Anping, as well as Concubine Yi, Concubine Duan and Concubine Rui all attended the banquet. Yan Liqiang, who was invited, naturally also brought Liu Xitong, Sima Qingshan and others to attend.
At this banquet, Yan Liqiang got to know many key figures of the Luo family, the civil and military officials of Jinzhou, and local wealthy merchants. Naturally, as the one who escorted Concubine Rong and others to Jinzhou all the way, Yan Liqiang also became the focus of everyone's attention at the banquet, especially several elite figures of the younger generation of the Luo family, who frequently glanced at Yan Liqiang, but Yan Liqiang always looked calm. For him, such scenes were nothing strange. In addition to having a good meal, the only significance of such occasions for him was to take the opportunity to learn more about the strength of the Luo family and Jinzhou. With the Nian Snake in his body, as long as he came to such occasions, even without saying a word, he could get a lot of data and information that ordinary people could hardly imagine.
I have to say that the Luo family is indeed extraordinary. Let alone anything else, just looking at the civil and military officials attending the banquet, they are not comparable to ordinary wealthy families. Among those officials, there are officials from the Jinzhou Governor's Office, as well as a group of senior generals from the Black Mountain Army in the Jinzhou camp. The civil and military officials were seated in two rows, and the hall was filled with talents. Not to mention the civil officials, the generals in the Black Mountain Army were all calm, strong and muscular, with different temperaments, which left a deep impression on Yan Liqiang.
In such a grand banquet, music, singing and dancing are naturally indispensable to liven up the atmosphere. After several groups of singing girls and dancing girls finished their performances, a group of warriors performed sword dances. After the sword dances, in the banquet hall, some people started to compete in pushing circles. It was this competition that pushed the atmosphere in the entire banquet hall to a climax.
In the past, Yan Liqiang had seen this kind of circle-pushing competition mostly among the people. This was the first time he had seen it in such an occasion. Moreover, the contestants were not arranged by anyone, but the guards of all kinds and the officers of the Black Mountain Army present all came out to compete in person. Their status was not taken into consideration, only their ability level was considered. The group of dignitaries and wealthy ladies present were cheering and watching, and many people even bet on the outcome on the spot. Those who performed well in the circle-pushing competition would even receive various rewards.
In the first few rounds of pushing the circle, not only Yan Liqiang, but even Liu Xi and others were very interested and eager to try. After drinking a little wine, Guo Sida was itching to try his luck and couldn't help but pluck up the courage to play two rounds. In the first round, Guo Sida defeated a guard of a wealthy merchant in Jinzhou, but in the second round, Guo Sida was defeated and pushed out of the circle by a guard brought by another guest attending the banquet. However, Guo Sida was very happy. After winning a round, Guo Sida also received a reward of 20 taels of gold from the Luo family. He returned to his seat with a smile and drank a glass of wine in big gulps, "It's so enjoyable, so enjoyable..."
At the beginning, the people who went out to compete in pushing the circle were of average strength, but as the competition began, the people who stayed in the circle became stronger and stronger, and their cultivation became higher and higher. The competition became more and more exciting. As the competition progressed, it often attracted exclamations and cheers from the ladies and young ladies present. Hearing these sounds, the people competing in the field were like they were given a shot of chicken blood, and they tried their best to perform. Although this game of pushing the circle would not hurt lives, when the competition became intense, it was common for people to suffer bruises, bloody heads, or even broken bones.
"Interesting, interesting!" Yan Liqiang drank his wine and watched the competition on the field. He turned his head and looked at Sima Qingshan, "Are all the banquets of the wealthy families in Jinzhou so wild and passionate?"
Sima Qingshan, who attended the dinner today, also changed into a suitable outfit, with a feather fan and a scarf, and sat at the second seat behind Yan Liqiang. He looked quite extraordinary. Hearing Yan Liqiang's question, Sima Qingshan leaned forward slightly and answered in a low voice.
"My dear, you may not know that the people of Jinzhou are bold and brave, so the trend of pushing the circle is very popular in Jinzhou. From high-ranking officials to peddlers, everyone likes this. Many wealthy families have many warriors and masters who practice the skills of pushing the circle at home every day in order to shine and win the first place in such occasions. The Luo family has many masters of pushing the circle! !"
"Haha, this is interesting. Although this pushing circle competition is related to the way of fighting training, frequent playing and competing can indeed improve people's fighting skills, but it is not completely equivalent to the way of fighting training. If you practice this skill for a long time, your entire martial arts training will definitely be wasted. In Jinzhou, are there really masters who are willing to do nothing every day and just practice this pushing circle skill?"
"Your Excellency is very rich in the northwest, so you may not know the hard work of ordinary people in the martial arts world. Nine out of ten ordinary people in the martial arts world are poor. It takes money to concentrate on practicing martial arts, buy various good elixirs, and learn from a master. How can ordinary people have so much money to support their martial arts training? So naturally there are various ways to make a living, such as joining an escort agency, guarding people's homes, becoming someone else's bodyguard, or becoming a ranger. Some people go directly to the underworld to do business. The few martial arts fugitives recruited by the Luquan County Magistrate belong to the latter category. They can make them work for only a few thousand taels of silver every year. This Jinzhou The profits from coal and iron are the highest in the world, and the local wealthy families are so rich that outsiders can hardly imagine it. There are countless masters willing to pay money and participate in the art of pushing circles. For those wealthy families, although it is expensive to raise these masters, as long as these masters can win a round in the key pushing circle competition, the stakes of that round may be one or two mines, and the value is definitely far more than the cost of these masters. In many places in Jinzhou, there are conflicts between wealthy families and fight for mines and land. In many cases, they do not seek help from the government to resolve the conflict, but instead seek help from the masters of pushing circles to decide the winner... "
"I see!" Yan Liqiang suddenly realized, and then looked at Sima Qingshan approvingly, "You are not bad, you know a lot of things?"
"When I was young, I failed to learn martial arts, so I had to study literature. In order to learn literature, I traveled all over the world and paid attention to the customs and habits of different places. Now I am blessed to serve you, young master!" Sima Qingshan lowered his head and said modestly and cautiously.
While Yan Liqiang was talking, a young Montenegrin officer in his twenties had already won seven games in a row. No one was ready for the eighth game yet, so the young Montenegrin officer looked at Yan Liqiang with burning eyes and said loudly, "I've heard that Lord Yan is an outstanding martial artist and a young hero. Could you please come down and teach me a lesson?"
After hearing the words of the young officer in the circle, the huge banquet hall suddenly became quiet. Everyone's eyes were focused on Yan Liqiang's face. They were all full of curiosity. They had heard of the name Yan Liqiang for a long time and had long wanted to see what this upstart and master craftsman of the Han Empire was capable of, but it was rare for someone to directly challenge them.
"Nonsense..." Yan Liqiang hadn't even started to speak when Luo Yutian's face darkened and he began to scold him, "Lord Yan is a guest from afar, how can you let a guest go? Besides, Lord Yan is famous all over the world, a young hero, it's not your turn to judge, why don't you get off..."
Yan Liqiang saw that the young officer who wanted to challenge him looked somewhat similar to Luo Yutian, so he knew at a glance that he must be from the Luo family, and might even be Luo Yutian's nephew or relative, otherwise he wouldn't be so bold. In this kind of occasion, he didn't want the atmosphere to be too awkward, so he glanced at Yan Hong next to him.
Yan Hong stood up immediately, and walked into the circle with a big laugh. "I just wanted to try my skills. I want to challenge Master Yan, but I have to beat you first..."
Now that Yan Liqiang's side had been eliminated, Luo Yutian's expression suddenly eased up, and he just smiled apologetically at Yan Liqiang. Yan Liqiang also smiled and raised the wine glass in his hand to Luo Yutian, indicating that he didn't mind...
(End of this chapter)