Of course, no one showed up in public...especially since Lu Benzhong had just been embarrassed.
On the other hand, as the rewards were handed out, the expected situation occurred - after the rewards were handed out, less than one-third of the many gold, silver and copper threads on the stage were gone, and many soldiers below the stage could not help but become agitated.
At this time, there was of course no need for Emperor Zhao to speak, as the chancellors Zhang Jun and Zhang Deyuan stood up to explain the situation, and then took the opportunity to announce the start of the "military review and military exercise."
However, for some reason, something unexpected always happens today.
Before Zhang Deyuan could go down to speak, the commotion below the stage suddenly escalated, and then there was a commotion somewhere on the side of Yuetai, as if someone could not bear it any longer and was making a noise.
The civil officials on the stage looked at each other, then their faces turned pale. This was the thing they feared the most.
Even Zhao Jiu had a calm expression, but was somewhat shocked and angry in his heart.
Fortunately, the noise went away quickly. Before Liu Yan led the imperial guards down the Yuetai, Wang De came up with the troublemaker to apologize. Upon asking, it turned out that it was Wang Shun, the second son of Wang De, who had made the greatest contribution in Hezhong Prefecture.
Perhaps it was because of this that Wang Shun couldn't help making a noise.
But no matter what, this kind of thing could not be tolerated. Emperor Zhao thought about it for a moment and immediately dealt with him. He deprived him of his military merits, took back his rewards, and expelled him from the army... Although he was extremely angry, he could not really kill anyone in front of Wang De.
Moreover, if this kind of thing happened, it would not be a big deal if it was really Wang Shun who suffered from the Yanei disease. But it was probably a problem for the entire army - there had not been a real war for a year or two, and the various old problems in the army had not been corrected, but instead a certain kind of arrogance and impatience had arisen among the grassroots.
The latter is what really shocked and angered Zhao Jiu.
After another small disturbance, the emperor and his ministers on Yuetai each forced themselves to suppress the great vigilance that arose in their hearts, and the military review and military exercises officially began.
Seeing the obvious rewards, the soldiers were naturally excited.
Then, as the martial arts performance instructions were issued, the military scholars gave their routine explanations. Only then did everyone realize that this martial arts performance was not as confusing as in the past, but rather quite interesting...
For example, in a cavalry horse racing competition, there are short-distance and long-distance competitions. The short-distance competition is allowed to discard armor and travel light, and the only thing to do is to see who can complete a circle around Yuetai and Yuetai camp along the road first. The long-distance competition requires full armor, a day's dry food, a barrel of drinking water, and a bag of fodder. They start from Yuetai and go to Qingcheng outside the south gate of Dongjing City to pick up a token, and then return to Yuetai. They can choose their own route, and are not allowed to lose key items except for food and fodder, and are not allowed to eat elsewhere during the journey. Whoever returns first is the winner.
In addition, there are mixed cavalry exercises, which are divided into two types. One is a team of fifty people, with two teams competing for supremacy; the other is a mixed exercise of a hundred people, where each team fights on their own. They all hold wooden poles wrapped in cloth and attack on horseback, but are not allowed to install reins and stirrups. Once they fall off the horse, they are considered a loser.
For example, some infantrymen also run, which is similar to cavalry riding horses, except that they don’t have mounts.
The infantry mixed drill is similar, but the practice is changed to taking the names posted on the opponent's vests.
There is also archery. The competition is not about who has more tricks. They just put up a target with ten circles drawn on it from the inside to the outside. After a tube of arrows is used up, with the same bow, same distance, same time, and same target, it is easy to see who is the most accurate.
But crossbow shooting is different from archery. It is not a competition of accuracy, but one has to use a magic arm bow and load the crossbow by oneself to ensure that the crossbow arrows will be effective only when they reach a certain distance. The competition is about who can shoot all 20 standard crossbow arrows in the shortest time.
Other activities include iron ball throwing, tug-of-war, weightlifting, spear throwing, and cuju in the army.
There were many projects, and the schedule was scheduled for more than ten days...On that day, the matter was only announced, and from the evening, all officials returned, but only Emperor Zhao and the imperial guards, as well as relevant officials from the Ministry of War, stayed in the Yuetai camp to observe and deal with the matter.
In the next few days, officials occasionally came, but they were all casual.
Regardless of other things, after several days, thanks to the support of Emperor Zhao and the fairness of the martial arts performance, the matter was finally on the right track. It did indeed arouse the desire of all units in the army to win, the scene became more and more exciting, and even attracted a large number of people to watch every day... These scenes made Emperor Zhao put aside the matter of Wang Shun for the time being, and his mood improved day by day.
By the end of April, although there were some flaws because it was held for the first time, the martial arts competition was still considered a success. After all the rewards were awarded, Emperor Zhao finally returned with the civil and military officials who left the city again... According to Zhao Jiu's plan, this time when he returns, he will use the simplified Arabic numerals that he had already used (Arabic numerals at that time were actually completely different from those in later generations, and even a little strange), and then promote them thoroughly and widely together with the chart system, incorporating them into government work and even the imperial examinations.
Just like that, Zhao Jiu, who was in a good mood, took the lead and turned back with the civil and military officials. When they reached Kaiyuan Gate (the west gate of Tokyo City facing Xuande Tower), they encountered an accident again - they still had to kneel down to file a complaint to the emperor.
Of course, it would be a bit inappropriate to say that it was an accident. This happened too often, and it even had a tradition. Zhao Jiu did not take it seriously, and just like last time, the relevant personnel handled it according to the established procedures - since it was a complaint rather than an admonition against the emperor, it was natural that the imperial guards would take the person to the side of the road, and then the officials from the Ministry of Justice would come forward to take the documents, and other officials would come forward to comfort and ask questions.
At the same time, the large army continued on its journey, still slowly returning to the city.
No one took the matter seriously. Zhao Jiu, who had watched a military sports meeting and had a new plan in mind, took it even less seriously... Until the grim-faced Minister of Justice Ma Shen suddenly stepped forward, bypassed the four ministers, and handed a document to Emperor Zhao in public.
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