Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 17. The Competition Begins

Ten days passed in a flash. Upon receiving the notice, the generals sent their well-trained troops to the outskirts of Chengdu and set up camp.

However, Wei Yan, a general at the border, had to defend against Cao Wei, and Hanzhong was too far away, so he only sent his son to participate. Many generals who were closer also went to Chengdu in person, and officers with their personal guards could be seen everywhere on the streets of Chengdu.

As the day of the military competition set by Liu Bei arrived, Liu Bei led important officials such as Zhuge Liang to the high platform and looked down at the densely packed square formations below.

Each phalanx is the army of a general, but for the sake of effect and venue limitations, each army can only be composed of 500 people participating in the actual combat competition.

Feng Xi and Zhang Nan naturally came with their own personal soldiers. As Liu Bei's direct subordinates, although their official positions were not high, only miscellaneous generals and lieutenant generals, no one dared to underestimate them in terms of their status.

"After the bitter battle with Cao Cao in Hanzhong, I have not seen you for several months, and I miss you very much. It just so happens that the generals Feng Xi and Feng Xiuyuan of the front army are very talented and have proposed a method of using wooden weapons for actual combat training. I think this method is very good, so I summoned all the generals to participate in this military competition, and promoted this method and incorporated it into daily training."

Naturally, Liu Bei had to give a leadership speech first on the stage, but Feng Xi did not expect that his name would appear in the content of his speech.

Sure enough, the moment Liu Bei mentioned Feng Xi's name, people who were familiar with Feng Xi couldn't help but slightly turn their heads to look in his direction.

It was a great honor to be mentioned by Liu Bei himself and praised in front of all the generals. Of course, it also brought with it hostility, dissatisfaction and questioning looks.

Feng Xi looked calm. As the saying goes, misfortune brings fortune. While gaining exposure, he was also envied by some colleagues. He had even considered dealing with this kind of thing in the future.

Moreover, Feng Xi now was not only Feng Xi, but also had a soul from the information explosion era two thousand years later. To him, such praise from the leader was just a drop in the bucket, and there was no need to get too excited or excited.

After Liu Bei finished speaking, he also scanned the expressions of the crowd. The astonishment of a small general of the front army being mentioned; the jealousy of knowing Feng Xi and being able to catch the king's eye; the deep contemplation of thinking because of such a wonderful method; the indifference of not knowing Feng Xi and not paying attention to it...

Liu Bei took in the expressions of all the generals. He also noticed Feng Xi's indifferent expression and couldn't help but nodded in his heart.

It is easy for young people to become excited because of the recognition from their superiors, and a few of them even become arrogant and domineering because of this.

Liu Bei wandered for half his life, and he saw many arrogant and arrogant people. Most of them were called "geniuses" by their neighbors when they were young, and they lost themselves under countless flattery and became arrogant.

Liu Bei did have the intention of observing Feng Xi, but Feng Xi's performance made him very satisfied. Facing Liu Bei's praise, Feng Xi's attitude of not being pleased with the material made Liu Bei know that he had made the right choice.

"The first part is a military fight. Before entering the battlefield, each unit must change into specially made wooden soldiers, which are smeared with madder juice. Anyone with red marks on vital parts of the body must immediately leave the battlefield and be considered dead in battle. If anyone is violent and refuses to leave after being injured, it will be considered as a loss of ten people on their side."

Liu Bei had people collect red plants such as madder and safflower, make red dyes and apply them on the blades of wooden swords and the tips of wooden sticks, so that the traces of blood would be very obvious.

In order to deal with those veteran soldiers who were determined to be dead but still refused to continue playing tricks on the field, Liu Bei also made a rule that if one was caught, it would be considered as the death of that person, and that side would send out ten extra people.

In this way, even if a veteran soldier wanted to cheat, he had to consider whether his commander and comrades would be angry with him because of this. Of course, Liu Bei also prepared doctors on the sidelines. Even wooden swords and wooden spears have risks, so some doctors are indispensable.

"In the first match, the Right General Zhang Fei and his Yanyun Cavalry will face the Left General Ma Chao and his Xiliang Cavalry!"

Of course, casualties are unavoidable when the cavalry charges, so even the cavalry will fight on foot in the first competition. They will fight on horseback after they are familiar with actual combat training and can control the intensity.

"Haha...Mengqi, the fellow countryman that I, Old Zhang, brought from the land of Yan and Zhao is no wimp."

Zhang Fei looked at Ma Chao with burning eyes. The two had fought a battle at Jiameng Pass that year, but it ended in a draw. Later, Zhang Fei was old and weak, and his physical strength could not keep up, so the two never fought again. Today, they could continue their fight with a battle of soldiers.

"Don't be so confident, Yide. I, a good man from Xiliang, didn't grow up eating vegetarian food."

Although Ma Chao, dressed in a white robe, is usually somewhat frustrated, when it comes to military affairs, he seems to be reborn, majestic again, and seems to have become the mighty general again.

There were only a thousand people on both sides of the field, and they quickly rushed towards each other with weapons in hand. In this era, even the so-called elite troops were inevitably out of touch and had poor coordination, especially when the commander was just watching from the side without giving any orders.

However, the two sides were evenly matched. Zhang Fei's personal soldiers naturally knew the grudges between their general and the left general Ma Chao, so they fought desperately.

Although at the beginning some people on both sides had red marks on their necks and did not want to leave the field, after dozens of people were sent off, even their comrades next to them would actively urge these "fallen soldiers" to leave the field.

In the end, Zhang Fei's Yanyun cavalry had a greater advantage in infantry combat. Ma Chao's personal soldiers did not seem to be good at coordinating in infantry combat, and they fought each on their own, so they were quickly overwhelmed by the Yanyun cavalry like a tide.

"In the first match, the Yanyun Cavalry under the command of Right General Zhang Fei won! The number of survivors is 278!"

Ma Chao looked unhappy. Zhang Fei had only lost less than half of his men before he had eaten up all of his own men, and that was after the other side had committed fouls and sent off many men.

"Hahaha, Mengqi, how about today's events?" Zhang Fei looked at Ma Chao with a big laugh.

"It's okay, let's wait for the next horse fight." Ma Chao was angry, but he knew his own business. His Xiliang cavalry had always fought on horseback, rarely on foot. Therefore, compared with Zhang Fei's troops, they were indeed somewhat inferior.

Liu Bei was also very satisfied with the results of the first match. He deliberately chose Zhang and Ma to play in the first match as the opening. In addition, the troops of both of them were considered elite, so the results of the fight were expected to be good.

Lao Liu’s idea is actually just like the warm-up match at the beginning of a modern game. Just play excitingly and liven up the atmosphere.

As Liu Bei expected, the fierce battle between Ma Chao and Zhang Fei's troops completely ignited the enthusiasm of all the generals in this competition.

(End of this chapter)