Chapter 5 Spring Dawn (Third Down)

  "Got it, thanks!" Wang Xun responded in a low voice. With Li Yuanqin's encouragement, his confidence in winning grew stronger. He quickened his pace and followed the crowd to the martial arts arena, determined to teach those who had bullied him a lesson.

  Feng Changqing's strict hand in drilling the troops had long been making the usually lax Fei Long Imperial Guards feel stifled with pent-up frustration. The new recruits, who had just enlisted, also felt unaccustomed to the dull training. Suddenly discovering a hot spot where they could vent their inner pressure, the two groups almost instantly clicked, and they began to gather at the martial arts arena, calling out to each other and inviting friends to join in.

  By the time the two parties arrived, the martial arts arena was already packed to the brim. Fortunately, Su Shenxing and other veteran soldiers from Anxi had rich experience in handling such situations, and upon receiving the news, they immediately entered the scene with wooden sticks to maintain order, using ropes to separate Wang Xun and Qi Heng's "supporters", thus avoiding even greater chaos due to overcrowding.

  In the military, there is naturally a set of strict rules for martial arts competitions. The old soldiers of Anxi are familiar with them. Su Shenxing, despite being a stubborn and eccentric person, was chosen by the generals and soldiers of Anxi as the judge of this competition because of his fair handling of matters. Although the old soldiers of Feilong Imperial Guard were dissatisfied, they had to accept the choice of the judge since it was brought up by others.

  In an instant, both sides of the martial arts competition arrived on the scene. Under the judge's prompt, they reorganized their clothes, first facing each other with fists and courtesy, then turning to face all the spectators with fists, arms raised, legs lifted, and waist twisted, to express gratitude to supporters and indicate that they did not bring any miscellaneous items from the Jianghu. Immediately following, Su Shenxing announced the trial rules in the briefest words: one side falls and does not get up or falls off the platform, it is forbidden to intentionally harm people's lives, it is forbidden to hit the sun hole, back neck, and three inches below the ribs on both sides of the body and between the two legs. The vital parts, otherwise, will be subject to military law. After both parties took an oath to understand the rules clearly, they grabbed the drumstick and heavily beat the big drum next to the platform, announcing the start of the trial.

  Qizhong had been waiting for a long time, and as soon as he heard the drumbeat, he immediately swung his fist as big as a basin and heavily smashed it towards Wang Xun's face. Wang Xun quickly retreated backwards, avoiding the opponent's full-strength blow, and then countered with a sideways hook kick. Qizhong saw this, didn't dodge or evade, let out a loud shout "Enough energy!", and actually raised his arm to hard-block the move.

  Both forearms collided, emitting a dull thud. Wang Xuan's move was ineffective and abandoned halfway, his arm suddenly transmitting a wave of soreness, as if he had accidentally bumped into a tree branch. Looking at Qi Heng again, he was also knocked back several steps by Wang Xuan's forceful strike, stabilizing his figure, gritting his teeth, clearly also pained by the hard collision.

  The men in the army camp, what they least like to see is fancy footwork. Like this kind of straightforward and forceful approach, it's just what everyone likes, "Good!" Someone immediately shouted loudly, "Beat him down, beat him down, hurry up, hurry up, we're waiting for our share of the money!"

  After a fierce exchange, both sides of the duel became cautious. Qi Heng, the provocateur, realized that the young man was not as others had said, with no real skills and relying solely on his family's reputation to become a team leader. He began to take this duel seriously. Wang Xuan, the defender, also quickly judged through the first exchange that Qi Heng was not as weak as Li Yuanqin and others had said, and in terms of reaction speed and arm strength, he was actually comparable to himself.

  The two sides were evenly matched, and neither of them dared to slack off. They stared at each other's eyes, circling around the arena. At this point, the surrounding onlookers became impatient, stomping their feet and shouting, "Hey, hey, Old Qi, are you capable or not? Did you have a leak last night and your legs are still soft now?"

  "That little white face, don't hide. If you're a man, just rush up and fight him. You can't stare down a piece of meat with your eyes!"

  If ordinary people heard this, they would definitely rush up and fight. But Qi Heng was a thorn in the Flying Dragon Guard, he had fought too many times on ordinary days, and his experience was rich, so he didn't care how others scolded him. The Wang Xuan opposite him, although new to the scene, was also a small overlord among the evil young masters of Chang'an City, and every year he would fight dozens of battles with all kinds of messy frames. As soon as he started his hand, he immediately became focused and unaffected by the surrounding noise.

  In the deafening applause, both sides circled each other again and again. They all tried to find their opponent's weakness and quickly end the fight. But they became more and more cautious, fearing that a slight mistake would give the opponent an opportunity to take advantage of it, and thus be beaten off the stage, losing face.

  Just then, a loud shout came from the entrance, "General Feng has arrived!"

  "General Feng!" "General Feng!" Under the accumulated prestige, the generals and soldiers of the Anxi and Feilong armies turned their heads one after another to steal a glance at the face of this iron-fisted general who was notorious for his strict military discipline. Before they could get a clear look, a pained cry suddenly came from the platform, "Ah!" As the crowd became alert and shifted their gaze back, Qi Heng's massive body had already flown into the air, and with a loud crash, he landed amidst the crowd.

  "Alright, alright!" Wang Cong didn't have the energy to care about being called General or Marshal, someone was distracted during the martial arts competition and looked outside, leaving such a big advantage unclaimed would be foolish! Moreover, this trial was entirely caused by the other party, even if Fourth Uncle Feng handled it impartially, the blame wouldn't fall on his own head!

  "You cheated!" Unaware whether he was knocked down by Qi Heng's massive body or because he lost money and it hurt, a chubby round-faced man struggled to get up from under the stage near where Qi Heng had fallen. He rushed towards the stage, shouting loudly at the top of his lungs. "This doesn't count! This time can't count! You cheated, taking advantage of Lord Feng's entrance..."

  "Who cheated?" A loud shout interrupted his pale shouting. General Feng Changqing, a short man with a dozen guards, parted the crowd and walked up to the stage in big strides. "Who cheated? The person who just spoke, come up on the stage and say it. This general will take charge for you and absolutely won't let the cheater's plot succeed!"

  He narrowed his eyes and scanned the martial arts arena. Instantly, all the noise, whether it was in support of Wang Xun or Qi Heng, disappeared. The round-faced fatty didn't dare to lift his head, burying it behind Qi Heng's back, fearing that he would be recognized by Feng Changqing.

  A dozen or so of Feng Changqing's personal bodyguards, led by Thirteen, walked into the crowd, scanning around with inquiring gazes. No one dared to speak to them, not even daring to meet their eyes. New recruits and old soldiers alike lowered their heads one after another, holding their breath, their eyes fixed only on the tips of their own shoes.

  "What's wrong?" Feng Changqing suddenly opened his eyes, and a flash of lightning shot out from his double pupils. "You have the guts to say it, but not the guts to admit it? With behavior like yours, are you worthy of being soldiers of the Great Tang?"

  The crowd below still didn't dare to speak, the atmosphere was oppressive like the dark night before a storm, even the sound of breathing seemed unusually heavy. After a while, Qi Heng, who had led the provocation against Wang Xun, plucked up his courage, gritted his teeth and said loudly: "General, you are right, we admit defeat. The previous contest was indeed won by Young Master Wang. I, Qi, am convinced!"

  "You clearly regained your senses when you heard that General-sama had arrived!"

  "If he hadn't taken advantage of the sneak attack, you wouldn't have lost at all!" Several flying dragon guard officers around them, unwilling to see their copper coins spent in vain, grabbed Qi Heng's sleeve and whispered loudly.

  "Compare with him? He's the one who set the rules himself! Can speak on the rostrum!"

  Feng Changqing swept his gaze over the crowd again, suppressing all the noise, and then pointed with his finger, "You, repeat what you just said on the stage!"

  "Alright!" Qi Heng stepped forward with a fist, and strode back onto the stage. He bowed deeply to Wang Xuan, "The previous match was indeed won by Young Master Wang. I, Qi, admit defeat wholeheartedly!"

  "It's thanks to Brother Qi's mercy that I, Wang, am spared!" Wang Xun couldn't bring himself to hate this rather straightforward ruffian. He smiled and returned the greeting with equal courtesy.

  "Losing is losing and winning is winning, what's the point of making so much fuss?!" Feng Changqing glared again, leaving Wang Xun bewildered.

  Ignoring Wang Jun's confusion, he turned his head towards Qi Heng, "Fool, do you know where you lost?"

  "Subordinate, shouldn't you be focused?" Qi hesitated for a moment before responding.

  "It's not stupid enough to go home. If there were two armies in front of you, and a general suddenly appeared behind your back, would you turn around to look? Your head would have been chopped off long ago!" Feng Changqing nodded, coldly scolding. "Get out, run three laps around the camp by yourself, consider it a lesson for yourself!"

  "Alright!" Zhi Heng finally conceded, jumping down from the stage.

  A not-so-brilliant martial arts competition has come to an end, and the lost money can't be recovered. The watching officers shook their heads in dismay, preparing to return to camp for dinner. Who would have thought that Feng Changqing suddenly glared again, loudly commanding the people below, "Bring me the main culprits Yu Lingyuan, Bian Jian, Han Shichen, and Zhang Mou, who despise military discipline and incite trouble!"

  "Seize him!" Before the crowd could react, the Imperial Guards who had earlier blended into the crowd suddenly made their move, swiftly overpowering the round-faced fatty and the three military officers beside him, dragging them to the front of the stage.

  "It's a miscarriage of justice!" The round-faced fatty shouted loudly, with beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.

  "Unjust! Sir, we are unjust!" As soon as they heard the eight words that scorned military discipline and incited trouble, several officers of the Flying Dragon Imperial Guard knew things were not going well. They followed behind the chubby round-faced man, loudly shouting "unjust".

  "Unjustly accused?" Feng Changqing burst out laughing, "You still dare to say unjustly accused? If you have the ability, explain it clearly in public, how exactly did I, Feng, wrong you all? Release them, I reckon they don't even have the guts to run away!"

  Note: The area three inches below the ribcage on both sides of the body is where the ancient people believed the kidneys were located. A severe strike to this area can cause a person's entire body to instantly paralyze, and even lead to death.