Man Tanghong

Chapter 1037 Zheng Rentai

Li Yuanji did not respond to Li Shimin's words, but continued to watch the competition intently.

After the first pair of generals competed to determine the winner, the second pair quickly came on the stage, followed by the third pair, the fourth pair... until the No. 20 pair came on the stage, the second and third pairs The arena was also set up, and then the No. 20 pair, the No. 20 second pair, and the No. 20 pair competed together.

The competition lasted from afternoon to evening, and from evening to midnight.

During this period, Yin Kaishan also proposed to suspend the competition and wait until dawn tomorrow. However, the soldiers were so enthusiastic that they were unwilling to leave or return to the camp to rest, so he could only rush to the high platform again to ask for instructions. .

Li Yuanji saw that the officers and men were very enthusiastic and showed no sign of being sleepy at all. In addition, the pairs of generals who participated in the competition were also in high spirits, so he simply signaled Yin Kaishan to continue the competition.

Then the competition lasted from evening to midnight, and from midnight to the rising sun. It was not until noon the next day that the first round of competition was completed.

Although the soldiers were already sleepy and began to yawn, and some began to doze off during the competition, but when they heard that they were asked to go back to rest and eat some food, they still refused and still wanted to watch and said nothing. He was unwilling to leave the three arenas and the main campus.

The reason why they are so enthusiastic and persistent is probably related to the lack of entertainment projects in this era. High-end entertainment projects, such as throwing pots, playing polo, going to Jiaofangsi to enjoy singing and dancing, etc., they are in a People at the bottom of society cannot participate, so after encountering such a large-scale entertainment project in which everyone in the camp participates, they just keep watching, even if they are sleepy and doze off, and their hungry stomachs begin to growl. Cooing, they also wanted to continue watching.

However, no matter how enthusiastic and persistent they were, they were eventually suppressed by a group of generals headed by Yin Kaishan.

In the end, Yin Kaishan couldn't afford to play anymore, so he directly asked Xie Shufang, Hou Junji, Li Junxian and others to start driving the army and horses away.

Regardless of the identities of Xie Shufang and others, Army Sima had the responsibility of supervising the war during the war, and all the war supervising teams were led by them.

Therefore, they are the nemesis of all officers and men in the army. Except for the generals and colonels in the army, all the remaining officers and basic officers are not afraid of them.

So after they came forward, they easily suppressed all the soldiers.

When Yin Kaishan rushed to the high platform again to report the results of this competition, Li Shimin also teased him about this matter, "Kaishan, you did something offensive this time. I saw that those soldiers were leaving before they left." They are all secretly scolding you.

It is estimated that in the minds of some soldiers, the eighteenth generation of your ancestors have already been greeted. "

Yin Kaishan responded with a wry smile, "Erlangjun, please stop teasing me. I had no choice but to do this."

The soldiers in the camp will soon participate in the war against the Western Turks. Maybe it will be tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow, anyway, it will be these two days, so the soldiers in the camp will have fun and have fun, but they must rest. good.

Otherwise, if Li Shiji wanted to lead his soldiers to attack as soon as he returned to camp, it would be impossible given the mental outlook of the soldiers.

If the soldiers became tired during the attack, or fell asleep, delaying the military mission assigned by Li Shiji, then Li Shiji would kill people.

Therefore, Yin Kaishan did this for the benefit of the soldiers. If possible, he did not want to dampen the elegance of the soldiers.

Li Yuanji understood Yin Kaishan's difficulties, so he didn't pay attention to this matter or the conversation between him and Li Shimin. Instead, he asked directly: "Is there any outstanding person in today's competition?"

The outstanding figures mentioned here refer to those who are unknown in the military, or have little reputation, but have emerged in this competition.

This kind of character is what people often call a dark horse.

Dark horses like this often appear in competitions where they can show their face and are very likely to rise to the top.

After all, whether in the Tang Dynasty or in later generations, there will always be people whose talents are not appreciated.

This kind of competition is a battlefield specially set up for such people who have little talent.

If people who are not recognized for their talents want to show off their talents and be favored by the nobles, they can recommend themselves by fighting for a good ranking in this kind of competition.

Therefore, in this kind of competition, some dark horses often emerge, which is not surprising.

When Yin Kaishan heard this, he quickly stopped talking to Li Shimin and bowed to report: "Returning to Your Highness, there are indeed a few outstanding people. One of them is Zheng Rentai, the former primary school student of Erlangjun..."

When Yin Kaishan mentioned this person, he glanced at Li Shimin.

Li Shimin just curled his lips and said nothing.

Yin Kaishan continued: "This Zheng Rentai was drafted into the army when the saint started his army. He followed the saint and Erlangjun to participate in many battles. He was promoted to captain of the school, and was awarded the title of Amber. Last year he was transferred to the army. Under the command of Hou Junji, he now serves as the captain of the Ma Army under the command of Hou Junji.

This man was good at using a long spear, but in a horse battle, he easily defeated one of my generals with an armor-piercing awl and an armor-piercing axe. "

When Li Yuanji heard this, he laughed and said, "This is showing off your skills!"

Logically speaking, one on one, and on flat ground, infantry has no advantage over cavalry, let alone Zheng Rentai is using an armor-piercing awl, so he has no advantage.

Yes, the armor-piercing cone is calculated using a rod.

In many people's perception, the armor-breaking awl is an awl held in the hand, similar to a dagger. After encountering an enemy, the awl is thrust out to break the enemy's armor.In fact, no, the armor-breaking awl is actually a long weapon. It has a pole like a gun or a gun, and the awl blade is not sharp. When it encounters an enemy, it is not thrust out, but is propped on the ground and directly mounted. Get up and wait for the enemy to hit the door himself.

In addition, this weapon is not used to deal with infantry, let alone hand-to-hand combat, but to deal with cavalry.

When the cavalry charges, just add these weapons and shields together to form a shield cone formation. After the cavalry rushes forward and collides with them, they will pierce through all the cavalry, including men and horses.

This is the true use of this weapon.

The reason why this kind of weapon is called an armor-breaking awl is because when the enemy's cavalry rushes over, this weapon can easily smash the enemy into candied haws, including men and horses, no matter how thick the enemy's armor is. No matter how thick the flesh is, it cannot block its penetration.

It is precisely because of this that this weapon is not an active weapon, but a passive weapon.

It uses the force of the enemy's charge to pierce through the enemy, so it itself does not have much piercing power, and its lethality is naturally not high, so it cannot be used as an active weapon.

Zheng Rentai was able to use this weapon to dismount a battle-hardened general, which shows that he is not only superior in skills, but also shows off his skills.

He was probably using this to tell everyone that his ability was far beyond that of General Pi, who was not even qualified to let him out. He could easily defeat General Pi with just one shot of an armor-piercing awl.

"I have embarrassed you..."

Yin Kaishan said with some shame.

The people under his command were defeated easily, and they even stepped on the heads of his subordinates to show off their skills. The face of him who was the master of the battle was also not bright.

Li Yuanji didn't pay attention to this, but said with a smile: "Since he likes to show off his skills, let's arrange a fight between him and Xue Wanche tomorrow."

Li Yuanji knew Zheng Rentai. There are records in history. Although this person was not as famous as Qin Qiong, Yuchi Gong, Cheng Yaojin and others in history, he was also Li Shimin's confidant and participated in most of the unification of the Tang Dynasty. war, and also participated in many foreign wars of the Tang Dynasty.

It can be said that he witnessed the rise of Datang with his own eyes and participated in it personally.

Historically, his experience was similar to that of Hou Junji. Before the Xuanwu Gate Incident, his status was not high and he was an unknown person. After the Xuanwu Gate Incident, he rose to prominence.

He sat all the way to the position of General Zuotunwei. He was given the title of Duke of Tong'an and the title of Shangzhu Kingdom. After his death, he was buried with Zhaoling.

It is not difficult to see from his and Hou Junji's resumes that Li Shimin had hidden a secret before the Xuanwumen Incident. He hid many people who were good at fighting and did not give them too high status and status. The purpose should be Leave yourself enough escape routes so that you don't lose everything.

From this point, it is not difficult to see that Li Jiancheng's defeat to him was inevitable, and it was only accidental that Li Jiancheng defeated him.

He has made more preparations than Li Jiancheng, has hidden more things than Li Jiancheng, and has deeper calculations than Li Jiancheng.

It would be strange if Li Jiancheng could beat him.

However, no matter how successful and capable Zheng Rentai is in history, he cannot be promoted or reused in a short period of time.

Because Zheng Rentai's surname was Zheng, and he was born in Xingyang, and the Zheng family in Xingyang had just been destroyed by the Li family.

Therefore, after promoting him and giving him power, there is no guarantee that he will not retaliate.

So you have to press it and let it go.

When Yin Kaishan heard this, he was shocked and said: "Let him have a fight with Xue Wanche?"

Xue Wanche may not be Zheng Rentai's opponent in terms of intelligence and conduct, but he can definitely crush Zheng Rentai in terms of force.

Moreover, Xue Wanche's position is more than one or two levels higher than Zheng Rentai.

If Xue Wanche wins, everyone will take it for granted. If Xue Wanche loses, then he will not be able to join the ranks of senior generals.

This is only bad for Xue Wanche, not good.

Yin Kaishan didn't quite understand the purpose of Li Yuanji's arrangement.

Li Yuanji didn't explain much, just looked at Yin Kaishan and said with a smile: "Why, can't you?"

Yin Kaishan hesitated for a moment and shook his head.

He couldn't guess what the purpose of Li Yuanji's arrangement was, and Li Yuanji was unwilling to tell him, so he wouldn't guess. He would just follow Li Yuanji's instructions. As for the rest, it was not his responsibility to worry about. .

(End of this chapter)