"What is a dewy couple?" Tao Kuo took off his silk and asked in a low voice.
"It's like dew on the tip of the grass. It only exists at night and is dried by the sun as soon as it breaks. It's as if nothing happened!" Li Xu thought about it and put it in words that Tao Kuo Tuoshi could understand.
For example.
"Lushui couple, this word is so beautiful. You Han people are so smart that you can come up with such interesting words!" Tao Kuo Tuosi didn't feel the derogatory meaning in the word at all. He twisted his body in Li Xu's arms and expressed his appreciation for the word dew.
Fascinating.
That night, Li Xu shared with Xu Dayan his martial arts training with the coppersmith. The coppersmith did not ask him to keep it a secret, so he was happy to invite his good friends to learn martial arts with him. Xu Dayan smiled.
He refused, and it was not until Li Xu invited him again that he explained in a low voice: "I have been practicing this art of personal enemy for ten years. It is more than enough to protect myself on the battlefield. If I want to make a big move, I am afraid I can't ask my master for guidance.
It can be obtained. As for the strategy of defeating thousands of enemies, except now, where can we find such a good opportunity?!" (Note 1)
Indeed, apart from the tribe outside the Great Wall, how could there be a general in the Central Plains who would be willing to hand over his troops to strangers when they first met? Li Xu understood in an instant that the opportunity God had given to him and Xu Dayan was real.
It was rare, so he no longer forced the other party to learn martial arts. Seeing that Li Xu was so generous, Xu Da did not hide his secrets, and pulled Li Xu to explain one by one the truths he had recently realized through actual military training and comparison with ancient military techniques.
Xu felt dizzy after hearing this, and his head was as big as a bucket, but because of the painstaking efforts of his good friend, he memorized these insights one by one and left them for future reference.
The next day, Li Xu didn't get up until midnight. When he rode his horse and rushed to the door of the coppersmith's workshop, the coppersmith had just climbed out of his felt bag. The master and apprentice looked at each other, laughed, and drank some warm drinks.
With a little wine in his body, he found two scimitars and continued to practice. As usual, he started with the big split, one move and then another. As usual, Li Xu fell to the ground in less than one move, then got up and started to fight again with the knife.
The coppersmith is an easy-going person, but he has very strict requirements for martial arts training. The coordination of the body, the angle of the attack, and the coordination of the steps all require Li Xu to be meticulous. High, low, medium, and flat, every possible angle of attack is required.
Li Xu had to do it dozens of times before he would give up. After practicing for a whole morning, he managed to master more than a dozen commonly used changes in the big split. Seeing the voices around him gradually rising, the coppersmith kicked Li Xu again
Kicked out of the house.
Li Xu climbed up from the snow and returned to his felt bag happily. After taking Gan Luo to deal with the daily inspections, he continued to find empty spaces with no one to shoot arrows and dance with knives. Tao Kuo took off his silk and took Gan Luo with him.
, visited him several times a day. Seeing that Li Xu's face was no longer as gloomy as before, the girl felt sweet in her heart, and was happier than wearing any unique and beautiful clothes.
In the following days, going to the coppersmith's house to practice martial arts became Li Xu's first priority every morning. Tao Kuo took off his silk and followed him several times. He couldn't stand the coppersmith's kicks and stopped practicing after one move.
But the coppersmith couldn't bear the distraction of her standing by and taught Li Xu another sword dance with beautiful postures but no practical value for her to go home and figure out. Tao Kuo took off her silk and had something to do, so she
She no longer got up early. Every once in a while she would take a long sword inlaid with gems and show it off in the snow. The sky was full of snow and the sword was like frost. Coupled with her long hair like a waterfall, it was also thrilling for onlookers to watch.
More than two months passed like this, and the scimitar in Li Xu's hand gradually became windy. He had fully practiced the eight basic moves and various changes, and the only difference was the heat. Although he couldn't escape the knife attack when trying to fight against the master,
Even though he was destined to be defeated in a face-to-face match, he could still deal with one or two face-to-face encounters. The coppersmith was experienced and knew that it would take some time for Li Xu to make a big progress, so he did not push him too hard. Practice the basic moves and changes.
After he became proficient, Li Xu was asked to move from step to horse.
Using a knife immediately is another story. When practicing step down, the emphasis is on the coordination of the whole body, the steps are coordinated with the moves, and the thighs, waist and arms exert force at the same time. But killing the enemy immediately entrusts the initiative of the body to
War horse. The speed and flexibility of the war horse are the most important. Instead, the person's movements must be turned around to match the mount. The previous sweeping, straight thrust and other majestic movements rarely have the opportunity to be used, smooth thrust, teasing, diagonal movement.
Several techniques that rely on speed to kill enemies, such as slicing, suddenly became the mainstream. Once again, the scimitar in the coppersmith's hand was wrapped in felt and dipped in cold water to prevent Li Xu's life from being pinched incorrectly.
Li Xu rushed forward with his horse and struck the empty space with his machete. The two horses stepped on each other, and the coppersmith used a felt soaked in water to slap a stain on his back. He suddenly remembered that this move was used by Xu Dayan when he killed the scout that day.
, enlightened, turned the horse's head and rushed back to try to surprise the coppersmith. As soon as the two horses approached, the scimitar in the coppersmith's hand swung out a stream of cold wind, and hit him on the chest with a "pop".
"Ah!" Li Xu shivered because of the ice water seeping out of the felt, and ran out screaming. When he turned the horse's head in a sullen voice, the coppersmith swung his scimitar wrapped in felt to kill him again.
In front of him, while slashing at Li Xu with a knife, he scolded: "A move is for death, but a person is alive, don't you know? You can't be distracted when charging, life or death can be determined in the blink of an eye. As long as you can hit the opponent, you
Why should you care whether he is forward or backward?"
Li Xu was beaten so hard that he ran away and ran a long way before he dared to return to his horse and fight again. He was hit by countless knives throughout the morning, and even the horse was hacked under his crotch. It was embarrassing. Every time he saw it,
The coppersmith raised his hands and ran to both sides. Seeing that the results might not be achieved if he continued refining like this, he came up with an idea for Li Xu. He ordered him to find an open place to erect two rows of wooden stakes as high as war horses.
He tied a straw bag filled with sand to a wooden stake and asked him to practice his attack accuracy and horse control ability. Li Xu went away in great distress. He practiced alone for two days and came to the coppersmith to dismantle it on the morning of the third day.
Sure enough, the frequency of beatings was greatly reduced.
The coppersmith fought with him again, and became familiar with the basic movement requirements of the horse. After practicing for more than ten days, he ordered Li Xu to pull up the wooden stakes and rearrange them. They were no longer allowed to line up in two straight rows, but were buried in staggered formations.
Various infantry formation shapes.
Li Xu followed the instructions and gradually became able to move his horse through a group of wooden piles. He could cut open a straw bag with a knife in an instant without being hit by the wooden piles. When the coppersmith saw this, he ordered him to retreat.
Instead of using wooden piles, they set up a dozen wooden frames of different heights in the open space. A straw bag filled with soil was hung on each frame. Li Xu ran past the straw bag on horseback and slashed the straw bag with a wooden knife, but failed.
Be sure to avoid being hit by the swinging straw bag.
This time was much more difficult than dealing with a fixed target. Li Xu had to deal with it for another full month before he could barely get over it. During the more than three months of his martial arts training, how did Xu Dayan and Suo Tou Xibu redeem prisoners?
He had no intention of participating in major issues such as how to guide the Zhuxin coalition forces to practice cavalry formation attack, how to secretly set traps for the elders of other tribes to consolidate the control of the troops for Su Chuixil, etc. Xu Dayan occasionally
Mentioned to him, with Li Xu's current scheming, he couldn't understand the mystery, let alone give any good and effective suggestions.
He was so focused on practicing martial arts that he naturally progressed faster than ordinary people in terms of swordsmanship, horseback riding and archery. At first, the coppersmith scolded him for being stupid, but later, the word "idiot" already meant a reward. Master and Disciple Two
People immediately used the knife. It was no longer just a matter of wrapping the knife with felt to keep it in order, but the other one holding a scimitar with an edge and swinging it wildly. Both people's knives were wrapped with felt and dipped in cold water. Li Xu
After being beaten and running away, he would occasionally take the risk of being hit in the vital part to surprise the master. Whenever this happened, the coppersmith always scolded him for not knowing the severity of his attack, and he beat the old man until he couldn't help it for a whole day.
Work.
Li Xu apologized and went to swing the sledgehammer for his master. The coppersmith who had taken advantage of him smiled happily and praised him for his amazing physical strength and strong physical resources. He suggested that he get himself a heavier scimitar to compete with others.
Arm strength matches.
"In a time of peace, with your figure and appearance, you could hold a sword for the emperor," the coppersmith praised Li Xu, who was polishing the mirrors for the women, while blowing air in the stove.
The ceremonial sword is a ceremonial weapon used by emperors on patrol. It is long and gorgeous. The wielder of the sword must be tall and burly, so that he can hold the sword in the same position for several hours without moving. Li Xu didn't know whether the master was praising his strong arm or scolding himself for being stupid.
Just as he was thinking about the words to retort, he heard the coppersmith say: "It's a pity that your kid's beard has grown out. He is only fifteen years old, and there are black hairs bulging out from his cheeks. Eat less beef in the future, otherwise your beard will grow longer."
Go faster!”
This is one of the things that worries Li Xu the most. Scholars value "honest and honest people," and their beards must be long and beautiful and sparse. But in the past few months, because of eating meat and drinking every day, not only has his height increased significantly,
He has grown up a lot, and the cold hairs on his face are getting more and more, each one is thick and hard, enough to compare with the hard hair on Gan Luo's body.
"As long as you grow, you can't be considered a scholar anyway. You can't live happily if you have a beard, sell horses, and get stuck in here and there!" Seeing the young man cover his face and worry, the coppersmith comforted him with a smile. He already knew why Li Xu came.
Outside the Great Wall, I sympathized with the young man's plight, but did not feel that there was anything to regret about losing the qualification to take the imperial examination.
"Being an official is more troublesome than practicing martial arts and fighting. When it comes to practicing martial arts, you can get ahead as long as you work hard. When it comes to fighting, you can know the victory or defeat at a glance, and you can't evade it even if you want to. Only being an official does not depend on who has it.
It’s about your true ability, but who can please your boss. No matter how talented you are, if you don’t flatter your boss, you won’t get good results. If you flatter your boss and you become accustomed to being bent over, you will inevitably become a hunchback.
When the opportunity arises to straighten one's back, one cannot straighten oneself." The coppersmith once taught Li Xu this while the master and apprentice were drinking.
How could a young man who had just stepped into the mortal world understand these incisive words? He hesitated while listening, but in his heart he thought of Bu Xiaowei's majesty back then.
"That's not how the sword is used!" When Li Xu was making wild gestures with the hammer, the coppersmith couldn't help but give him some advice. This weirdo's martial arts were very complex, ranging from common knives, swords, sticks, and spears to the uncommon iron caltrops.
Bones, sledgehammers, maces, I know a little bit about almost everything. Once I danced a sword while drunk, the movements were free and neat, even more elegant than Tao Kuo's naked dance, if it weren't for the oil stains on the opponent's body
Li Xu simply suspected that he had met a legendary hidden fairy in the mountains. (To be continued)
