On March 3rd, the Shangsi Festival, the Shayuan grassland located southwest of Shangyang Palace was filled with flags and people.
March in spring is sunny and sunny, which is a good time for outings and fun. Since last year’s Shangsi Festival, when Tang Gong gathered warriors from various prefectures to perform martial arts and test military skills, which received a warm response, Shangsi Festival is no longer just a fasting festival.
Exorcism, a festival for outing and fun, adds a bit of a brave and majestic atmosphere.
This year's Shangsi Festival is the same, and because of last year's preparation and experience, the scale has become larger and the rewards are more generous. If the soldiers who participate in the martial arts competition can perform well and come out on top, they will not only get rich
You can be rewarded with gold, jade, money and goods, and you can also get rewards from honorary officers.
Although the honorary officer does not have specific duties, it can be used as a reference for seniority when conferring military positions in the military. When running for the same position, the person with the highest honor will win. With the establishment of the honorary officer system, it means that even those with no background
From then on, ordinary soldiers in the army also had an institutionalized standard and channel for promotion based on meritorious service.
Therefore, all the military knights are full of enthusiasm for the martial arts competition on the Shangsi Festival, because as long as they can perform well, they will not only get financial rewards, but also bring about an improvement in status. Naturally, the knights are interested in this.
Opportunities abound.
Because the Shangsi Festival martial arts performance is not a formal parade and there are not many large-scale military battle drills. It is mainly a team and individual competition among sergeants. Therefore, the public is not prohibited from watching. However, people participating in the ceremony need to wait.
Within the fixed viewing area, no random movement is allowed to avoid violating camp regulations.
So on the day of Shangsi Festival, in addition to the soldiers from various military offices who had already gathered here at the Weibei Shayuan School Ground, there were also many people from time to time who poured into the venue after the opening of the viewing hall, waiting for the martial arts competition.
Start.
In the morning, Tang Gong and a group of dignitaries from the government arrived at the sand garden under the protection of three guards. The atmosphere at the scene immediately boiled, and the cheers and cheers of the soldiers and civilians resounded throughout the sky, lasting for a long time.
"Your Majesty, there are thirty-six mansions and 76,000 knights participating in the martial arts training this spring. Each mansion will present the master's book here, and we are waiting for your inspection!"
As Tang Gongyi arrived at the center of the school grounds, Gao Le, the leader who was responsible for convening and reorganizing the soldiers from all provinces, and Lu Teng from the Ministry of War strode forward to greet them and presented the list of soldiers from various provinces who participated in the martial arts performance this time.
In the past two years or so, although the Western Wei Dynasty's hegemony focused on recuperating and adjusting internal affairs, it has never slackened in its military construction. In particular, the military mansion, which is mainly composed of conferring land knights, has been expanding.
Its traces have spread all over Guanzhong, Longyou, northern Shaanxi, Hedong, Shannan, Hanzhong, Bashu and Jingxiang.
The largest of these military mansions is the Hussar Mansion, which usually has between three and five thousand soldiers. The smaller ones are the Chariot and Cavalry Mansion, with between one and two thousand soldiers. When the large and small military mansions are added up, the scale has reached
There are more than fifty people, and the number of honorary members registered in various prefectures has reached over 150,000.
Most of these knights have completed the land conferment, and their lives have been basically guaranteed. At the same time, their military status is affiliated to the military government. They are no longer subordinate to a certain general's private department, but are directly under the control of the overlord.
Of course, this is not all of the Kansai Prefectural Army. At the same time that the military government granted land, the original organizational method of recruiting Hao Youbu for the Prefectural Army was not banned, and it was still developing in some newly occupied areas. Only in Guanzhong
, Shannan and other original core ruling areas have squeezed out the original quota of government soldiers due to the increase in the number of land-granting knights.
Up to now, under the entire Western Wei Dynasty, all kinds of armed forces such as military officers, Hao Youfu soldiers, and state, county and township soldiers have been added up. The number of troops that can be mobilized for combat has reached more than 300,000. Compared with the Yuwen clan's hegemony,
During the government period, not only did it fully recover, but it also greatly improved.
The Shangsi Festival martial arts performance is not a regular military parade, and those participating in the martial arts performance are mainly the military officers in the core area of Guanzhong and those who are currently garrisoning and guarding Guanzhong. Even so, the number of soldiers participating in the martial arts performance has reached a full 70,000
The remaining people show the strength of the standing armed forces in Guanzhong.
After Li Tai reviewed the military book, he did not continue to review it in depth. Instead, he moved his hand towards the various camp formations, and then shouted loudly: "Let the martial arts performance begin!"
Following his order, the sound of drums and horns suddenly sounded around the school grounds, and several elite cavalry teams carefully selected by various military offices rode into the camp, kicking off the martial arts performance.
The nature of the Shangsi Festival martial arts performance is a grand sports meeting, but the content of the competition is mostly related to military affairs.
The first thing that started was the wonderful equestrian performance. Each of the six knight teams were divided into one team based on the color of their horses. After riding their horses into the arena, they not only vividly demonstrated the changes in the cavalry's maneuvering and clutching, but also mixed in wonderful personal skills.
To perform, you may wear a horse under the belly, hang from the side of the saddle, or jump to change horses.
The various thrilling actions were breathtaking and dizzying to watch, and thunderous cheers erupted from time to time outside the stadium. The people watching outside the school grounds were sweating for the knights performing on the field, and it was also a good thing for their country and the country.
I feel deeply comforted and proud of the athletes guarding them.
"Watch and enjoy!"
As the wonderful equestrian performance came to an end, Li Tai stood up on the high platform, drew his bow and shot an arrow at a tent piled up in the shape of a mountain in the field. The knot on the top of the tent was broken by an arrow, and immediately the curtains hung around it.
It rolled down, and a golden mountain suddenly appeared in front of everyone.
"So many golden treasures!"
The onlookers around them all stared and exclaimed when they saw this. It turned out that the curtain was covered by a tall wooden frame with several sides. Each layer of the wooden frame was covered with gold cakes. In this brilliant scene,
Under the sunlight, it looks like a golden mountain.
All the knights in the school field were overjoyed when they saw this, and they all crossed their hands and greeted Li Tai on the high platform: "Thank you, Duke Tang, for the reward!"
Then all the knights rode forward, each picked up a gold cake, and then returned to camp with the gold. A mountain of gold was quickly divided up.
When the onlookers saw the knights receiving such rewards, they were all envious. While clapping their hands and praising them, they did not forget to teach the children around them: "Open your eyes and see that Duke Tang treats the strong men so favorably. In the coming year, you boys should also learn your skills."
, sell it to the imperial court!"
In a good world, there is no need to shout slogans, stir up emotion and shed tears. The best and most practical way to promote something and make people pay attention to it is to throw money! The value and dignity of an individual never depend on emotions.
I feel that most of the time, money brings dignity!
Li Tai has always been generous with rewards for his soldiers. Even if he had no money, he would borrow or rob his soldiers. He would never treat his soldiers lightly. Loyalty and righteousness are the requirements for high-ranking officials. The first desire of ordinary soldiers is to have enough food and clothing. If
If you can't even satisfy this point, there is no need to talk about anything else.
After several wonderful performances, the martial arts competitions officially began. These competitions include individual confrontations such as fighting, fighting, riding and shooting, etc., as well as various group confrontations. Among the various confrontation events,
The most ornamental and the most popular game is polo.
Polo has a long history. It has been a form of military entertainment as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty. With the development of the times, the skills and rules have gradually matured and improved. However, in the old years, it was limited in the Western Wei army.
Due to factors such as skills, mounts and venues, it has never become popular on a large scale.
However, in recent years, as the number of high-quality war horses in the Western Wei Dynasty has skyrocketed, coupled with strong official support, especially the Bafu's previous regulations, all military camps and military mansions with more than 500 people must provide polo fields, horse racing and other venues.
It is used for battalion soldiers to train and compete. The sergeants are also very enthusiastic about this kind of activity that is both educational and entertaining, and at the same time high-intensity competitive competition. Therefore, the army quickly cultivated a group of skilled polo players.
.
Li Tai is also very enthusiastic about polo competition, and he formulated various policies in Bafu to promote this sport. The reason why he does this is of course not the entertainment of polo, but the sport.
The popularity can subtly provide a large number of qualified knights.
Of course, developing martial arts and strengthening the army is a comprehensive task, and we cannot expect that the popularity of one sport will directly improve national strength. After all, many emperors of the Tang Dynasty since Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty were polo enthusiasts, and some even
He is a fanatical fan, but the result is that the army, especially the Central Forbidden Army, is getting worse and worse.
Therefore, in the final analysis, everything from regulations and systems to folk customs and atmosphere, including resource allocation, must be carefully constructed and reasonably adjusted in order to maintain a brave, martial, prosperous and confident world in the long term.
Thanks to past promotions, every military prefecture can now recruit a polo team with good skills to participate in the competition. In order to give each prefecture's polo team an opportunity to display their skills, the polo competition has been
It is divided into two modes: competition and performance.
The former is a two-by-two match-up, with the winner scoring points and advancing through points, with a formal schedule and rewards. The latter is a challenge initiated by the teams on their own initiative, and any opponent can be selected to initiate the challenge. It is a new competition added this year.
The purpose of the format is to allow some people who have lost the game due to mistakes to regain their position with dissatisfaction, which is better than having a private fight.
However, when the competition officially started, the arrangement of this competition system seemed to be a bit contrary to the original intention. Because almost all the military polo teams temporarily gave up the points competition, but chose the challenge competition, and all the challenges were announced in unison.
Gave it to the three-guard polo team.
As expected, no matter what age, the second-generation people are a group of guys who are hated by gods and ghosts. Anyone who gets the opportunity wants to be beaten and taught a lesson.
Li Tai was very happy to see this result, and he also ordered the three guardsmen not to evade the challenge in order to avoid chaos in the world. As a leader of the hegemony who has overcome all obstacles and made a fortune from scratch, he also really wanted to see these second-generation men on the playing field.
Picture of being beaten and taught a lesson.
Just after the game started, there were numerous galloping horses galloping all the way from Tongguan to Shangyang Palace. The urgent military situation from the front line did not allow Li Tai to stay and appreciate the miserable situation of the three guardsmen, so he had to quickly return to Shangyang Palace to deal with it.