After half a month of investigation, Zhang Dingguo was even more confident that he would be the champion of the martial arts examination.
He had investigated all the top scorers that were going viral outside. They were basically all third-rate experts. Although they all practiced physical martial arts well, as long as they did not have internal energy, they would definitely lose to him.
On the contrary, some unknown martial artists were discovered to be second-rate experts with internal strength.
Fortunately, these martial artists 'internal strength was not deep and they were not Zhang Dingguo's match.
However, this also reminded Zhang Dingguo that those who were truly capable tended to keep a low profile. Usually, only those who were not capable liked to brag about their strength everywhere in order to seek additional points in other aspects.
There was also another piece of good news, which was that there were no sons or nephews of the big shots in the court participating in the competition for the Martial Arts Champion.
Perhaps the big shots in the court also saw that this martial arts examination was more of a project for the emperor's face. It did not mean that he would be put in an important position just because he won the martial arts champion.
Besides, for a true big shot, did he need to participate in the imperial examination to support his nephew? Moreover, to be honest, in this era, even the literary examination was not valued much, let alone the martial arts examination. Basically, promotion still depended on connections. Even the top scholar could only be a county magistrate.
There was another point. After all, this martial arts examination was to select talents to go to war, so the big shots were not willing to let their sons and nephews go to the battlefield to fight.
However, this was also good. It would save someone from using their family connections to compete with Zhang Dingguo for the top scorer.
Although Zhang Dingguo was not afraid of power, it was easy to dodge an open spear but hard to defend against an arrow in the dark. It was best not to offend the big shots if possible…
Zhang Dingguo had not enjoyed the scenery of Fairy's Capital for the past half a month in order to gather information.
Even his plan to visit the brothel was postponed.
However, due to the large influx of outsiders, even though the brothels in Luoyang were not as famous as Pingkang Lane in Chang 'an, they were still very popular. Almost every house was full every night, and there would be no seats if one went late.
However, since most of the outsiders were hot-tempered martial artists, the public security situation in Shen 'du had greatly deteriorated during this period of time. There were fights and drunkenness almost every day.
Even though the local officials of Luoyang had long made preparations and sent out a large number of bailiffs to patrol the area every day, they could not deter these troublemakers. On the contrary, as the Martial Arts Examination approached, more martial artists arrived, and the situation became more and more intense. When public security was at its worst, there was actually a martial artist who dared to arrest someone at the feet of the emperor. The constables on the streets and maintaining public security had taken action!
This matter had even alarmed Wu Zetian. If it wasn't for the fact that the martial arts examination was a project she wanted to do, she might have canceled it in a fit of anger.
However, she still gave the order to severely punish those martial artists who caused trouble and directly mobilized the army of the Sixteen Guards to maintain the peace and order of Luoyang.
He even ordered that anyone who dared to ignore the law would be killed on the streets without reporting!
Under such circumstances, Zhang Dingguo did not dare to act rashly. He did not even inquire about the news. Instead, he just stayed in the inn to recuperate and prepare for the Martial Arts Examination that was not far away...
March 15th, the martial arts examination officially began.
Since this was the first time he had participated in the martial arts examination, he did not have any experience to learn from. Therefore, the examination process made Zhang Dingguo feel a little casual.
As early as a few days ago, Zhang Dingguo had already handed over the admission ticket issued by Fatty Di to the Ministry of War, a department that was specially responsible for this martial arts examination.
As there were nearly 5,000 people participating in the martial arts examination this time, and this was under the situation where several hundred martial artists were disqualified for causing trouble, the first round of the martial arts examination could only be held in a few larger barracks outside the city.
The content of the first round of the exam was very simple, which was to run with weights.
The participants were required to carry a sack weighing about 50 pounds and run about ten miles in 25 minutes (about half an hour). In other words, it was a five-kilometer weight-bearing cross-country.
Was the exam difficult? In Zhang Dingguo's opinion, it was still alright. He would definitely be able to complete it easily.
50 pounds sounded heavy, but it was nothing to a soldier from ancient times. After all, a full set of equipment during a war, including armor and weapons, weighed about this much. Moreover, some of the stronger ones would even wear two layers of heavy armor just to save their lives!
Half an hour was also reasonable. After all, in the later generation of the People's Liberation Army, the requirement for a five-kilometer heavy-duty cross-country was also more than 20 minutes. Moreover, this world was a low-level martial arts world with internal energy. The physique of people was obviously much better, so most martial artists should be able to complete it.
Although it wasn't appropriate to replace armor and weapons with burlap sacks filled with soil, it was understandable that the conditions were a little crude since it was the first martial arts examination.
After the burlap sacks were distributed, the martial artists who were taking the exam in the military camp also stood up one by one.
Looking around, there were about a thousand people squeezed together. Although there was a certain distance between them, so many people could not stand in one row. Instead, they stood in a square formation of twenty-five rows.
It was unknown whether the people standing in the first row were simply lucky or had connections. In any case, the people standing at the back were almost all thinking about how to squeeze the people in front as soon as possible when they started running.
Zhang Dingguo's luck was not that good either. He was actually assigned to the middle. He might as well stand in the last row!
Dong dong dong, dong dong dong!
As the drumbeats rang out, it signified the official start of the first round of the arsenal examination. The 1,000 examinees immediately carried their sacks and charged forward with all their might. Although the first round of the exam only required one to reach the destination within the stipulated time, who could guarantee that the order of arrival would not be based on the results of the martial arts examination?
In the end, under the pushing and shoving of everyone, except for the first few rows that could still run normally, the ones at the back were all squeezed together, causing the originally neat square formation to become chaotic all of a sudden.
In this chaos, the people who were squeezed together could not even accelerate normally, let alone compete…
"Ah, I can't take it anymore! Looks like I can only let you see my Golden Goose Skill!”
Zhang Dingguo, who was squeezed in the middle, felt even worse. The people behind and on his left and right were squeezing towards him, while the people in front were blocking him from escaping. This was really not as good as sitting in the last row. At least no one would squeeze him.
In any case, compared to the total distance of ten miles, there was no need to fight for the gap at the beginning.
But it was the first time for the other martial artists to participate, so they did not understand this!
If it wasn't for the fact that this was the martial arts examination and there were a large number of invigilators and soldiers around to maintain order, a fight would have broken out long ago. Moreover, if they continued to squeeze, Zhang Dingguo would not be able to hold back and would beat them up!
Therefore, Zhang Dingguo could only choose to use his lightness skill and quickly break out of the crowd...
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