Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 468: Martial Arts Competition to Recruit a Bride (Special thanks to the book friend Guangming Shendeng for two monthly tickets!)
After Yang Ye returned home, the whole family was overjoyed and surrounded him to ask about his well-being.

Yang Ye respectfully invited He Yao to sit in the main hall of the front yard, served him tea and chatted with him, and wanted to keep him in the mansion for a banquet.

He Yao sat for a while, saying that he had to serve the emperor and could not leave for a moment, and then he got up and left.

The housekeeper of the Yang Mansion hurriedly presented a package. Yang Ye took it and handed it to He Yao with both hands, saying:

"If it weren't for Eunuch He's hard work in presenting the truth to Your Majesty, Yang Ye would have already been confiscated and thrown into prison!
It's just a small gift, I hope you won't mind it, Master He."

After He Yao refused for a while, he saw that Yang Ye was sincere and had to accept the package. He smiled and said:
"Commander-in-Chief Yang is really flattering our family!
Your Majesty has a clear understanding of all matters, and others cannot influence them.

In our opinion, Commander Yang has taught his son well, and he will surely become a famous general in the future."

Yang Ye's family saw He Yao and his party off and did not return until they saw them turn the corner.

After drinking heavily at the dinner, Yang Ye lay down on the big bed at home and had a good sleep.

He slept on the ground outside the south gate of the imperial city for the past two nights. Although he often had to sleep in the open air during marches and battles, Yang Ye still felt a little sore in his back as he was old after all.

As he got older, he became less sleepy. The next day, Yang Ye woke up at the beginning of the morning.

When getting up to have breakfast, Yang Ye saw that Zhe Saihua was unhappy and frowned:
"Madam, I have committed a great crime of disrespecting Your Majesty. Now Your Majesty is kind and righteous, and has only given me a light punishment and released me to return home. Isn't this a happy event?

You look unhappy, what are you doing?"

Zhe Saihua said sadly:

"My husband is extremely loyal. He has gone through many life and death situations since he entered the Zhou Dynasty and has made many achievements. That is why he has won the favor of His Majesty and was conferred the title of Duke.

Now my Yang family has paid 200,000 taels of silver to atone for our sins. At most, we will lose our savings, but your husband has been dismissed from his post as the commander-in-chief of the Longxiang Army Corps by His Majesty, and the civil and military officials in the court have also excluded my family. Without an official position, won’t we be bullied by others in the future?”

Yang Ye was going to turn sixty next year and retire from the position of Grand Commander of the Longxiang Army. Although he has been dismissed and retired now, the two events are about the same in time, but very different in meaning.

Yang Ye said angrily:

"I, Yang Ye, have lived an upright life and have been loyal to my emperor. The civil and military officials in the court have excluded me simply because I am a surrendered general of the Northern Han!
But this is not my fault, it is fate!"

Yang Ye paused and continued:

“Don’t worry, ma’am.

Your Majesty is an eternal saint. He values ​​the actual contributions of his subjects to the country. He has already made arrangements for my family. Don't worry. How can we allow others to bully our Yang family?"

Zhe Saihua thought:
"Your Majesty has shown great grace by only fining and dismissing officials from their posts when all the officials in the court have been criticizing my husband.

Now that my husband has lost his official position, there is nothing we can do about it."

Folding flower path:

"Your Majesty has granted permission to hold a martial arts competition for my eighth and ninth sisters. I heard that originally, more than 100,000 young martial arts talents from all over the country came to Bianjing City. But the day before yesterday, my husband was dismissed from his position by His Majesty and was punished to kneel at the south gate of the palace. After the news spread, I heard that more than 30,000 people left the capital yesterday alone!"

Yang Ye snorted and sneered:
"What a woman! Isn't this a good thing? Why should I feel bad about it?

Those who withdrew from the competition for the “Martial Arts Contest to Win a Bride” upon hearing that I was punished are all shameless villains who curry favor with the powerful!
Wouldn't it be better if they left?
In this case, I have to thank Your Majesty for the punishment, which easily screened out tens of thousands of snobs!"

Zhe Saihua thought about it carefully and realized that this was true, but she was still upset about Yang Ye's dismissal.

Seeing his wife like this, Yang Ye was too lazy to persuade her and arranged for the servants in the mansion to prepare for the "martial arts competition to win a bride" in a few days.

By November 8, the arena had been set up in the open space outside the south gate of Duke Yang's mansion, with a sign saying "The emperor has granted Duke Yang's second daughter, Yang Bamei and Yang Jiumei, a martial arts competition to find a husband." After Yang Ye discussed with his family, three levels of defense were arranged:
The first level is the brothers Yang Zhong and Yang Yi, who are the leaders of the Yang Mansion’s guards. They are also old servants of the Yang family for several generations and are in their thirties this year.

Yang Ye treated him like his own son or nephew since he was young. He also learned martial arts from Yang Ye's seven sons and two daughters. His martial arts skills were second only to the two daughters in the Yang family.

If you take part in the imperial examination, not to mention that it is almost certain that you will pass the imperial examination, there is no problem at all that you will pass the imperial examination.

The second level is Yang Liulang and Yang Qilang, two of Yang Ye’s seven sons.

Since these two men were only in their twenties, had passed the military imperial examination and had only been in the Longxiang Army for a few years, they were assigned to the newly established 17th to 25th Corps and sent to garrison local prefectures. They were on their year-end rotation leave.

The third level is where the two main characters of this "martial arts competition to win a bride" appear: Yang Bamei and Yang Jiumei.

In order to show his sincerity in the marriage proposal and to attract more talented people to participate, Yang Ye specially ordered Zhe Taijun to bring the two daughters to the "Bao'en Temple" in the north of the city to burn incense and pray for blessings, giving the many young people who came to participate in the "martial arts competition to propose marriage" a chance to see the appearance of Yang Bamei and Yang Jiumei.

After seeing the two girls' appearance along the way and in the main hall of Baoen Temple, the young men were all very satisfied.

At one time, nearly a thousand inns in the city of Bianjing were almost all full, housing nearly 100,000 young warriors who came from all over the country to participate in the "martial arts competition to win a bride". There were also many people from neighboring prefectures of Bianjing who had heard of the beauty of the two girls and decided to join the competition on a whim.

A few days later, at noon on November 10, the 33rd year of Kaixi, the "martial arts competition to win a bride" officially began.

Many of the young people who came to the south gate of Duke Yang's mansion from various inns in Bianjing were dumbfounded:

In front of the arena, there was a team of Yang family guards and servants standing, and on the ground was a row of more than ten large stone locks of the same model. It turned out that those who wanted to enter the threshold had to be able to lift the stone lock weighing three hundred pounds with both hands one foot off the ground and hold it for six breaths.

Although these young martial artists from all over the country think highly of themselves, when it comes to real strength, it is not easy for them to lift a 300-jin stone lock.

Under the supervision of the Yang family's servants, the young martial artists who came to participate in the "martial arts competition to win a bride" began to line up and lift the stone locks with both hands.

By the end of the first day at 3 p.m., only about 30% of the young people had passed this test and were able to enter the competition venue.

Everyone saw that from north to south, there were three arenas, about two meters wide and three meters long. The northernmost one was decorated with colorful brocade. It should be the final stage where the winner could take home one of the two daughters, Yang Bamei and Yang Jiumei.

From Chenshi to Shenshi that day, excluding the time for rest and meals, there were only seventy-six young men, including the champion and the commander of Yang Mansion's generals, Yang Zhong or Yang Yi, who made it through the first level, with a passing rate of less than 5 percent.

The young men who could enter the second level were already as powerful as the top martial arts candidates. However, they met the defenders, Yang Liulang and Yang Qilang, both of whom were martial arts scholars. The difficulty of fighting was much greater than that of the household commanders in the first level.

(End of this chapter)