Tibet

An Shouzhong hesitated and said: "Today is the birthday of the Dugu family. If we deal with him now and are rude to the master, why not do it in a few days?"

At this time, there was a burst of cheers from the sword competition room, and An Qingxu said coldly: "Who said there is no way, go practice swordsmanship with him!"

"Second Young Master, he may not accept the challenge!"

An Qingxu thought for a while and said: "I will pay two thousand dollars to set up a stage. When the time comes to call General Anxi Army, I don't believe that he will not come on stage?"

There are many ways to play gambling games, and setting up the ring is the most interesting one. There are literary contests and martial arts contests. The literary contest is about reciting poems and composing poems, and the martial arts contest is about fists and kicks. The ring can be set up by the host or by the guests themselves. To set up the ring, of course, the premise is that the master agrees.

An Qingxu immediately proposed to the Dugu family to set up a ring for sword competition. Dugu Lie saw that many of the guests were bored and sleepy, and he also wanted to find something to cheer everyone up, so he agreed immediately.

There was a ready-made arena in the garden of the atrium, and An Qingxu immediately announced that the most powerful general in Youzhou was willing to use martial arts to make friends and add to the fun of the birthday banquet, and placed two hundred taels of gold as a bet.

The entire birthday banquet immediately became a sensation. Guests came from all directions to the garden ring and soon filled the surroundings of the ring. Thousands of people gathered. Everyone was excitedly looking forward to the grand occasion of the martial arts competition.

No one was playing pot anymore, everyone went to the ring to compete.

The competition between Li Ye and Suzaku has also ended. The two of them competed at a score of four to four. Suzaku missed his third arrow and did not throw it into the copper kettle. Naturally, Li Ye was not competitive. He also failed to shoot the fifth arrow. Missing slightly, the arrow hit the edge of the copper pot and bounced out.

This result made Zhuque very happy. The outcome was not important, but that Li Ye was willing to let her, protect her face, and love her. This heart was the most important.

At this time, the old lady sent someone to find Zhuque. The old lady was the protagonist of the birthday party tonight, and Suzaku was responsible for accompanying the birthday boy. She also had to understand all the rituals in advance.

Li Ye became a loner again. At this time, he didn't know that An Qingxu was actually aiming at him when he set down the ring. He also walked towards the ring in the garden.

"Li Ye!"

Someone shouted from behind, and when Li Ye turned around, it was Yuan Xiao.

"Ah! It's Mr. Yuan."

Li Ye stepped forward and said with a smile: "There are too many people. I didn't expect to meet Mr. Yuan."

To be honest, it was still a bit embarrassing to meet Yuan Xiao at this time. Last year, Li Ye promised for his grandfather to recommend Yu Wenjing to replace Yu Wenjing as the new prime minister. However, after Yu Wenjing was overthrown, the emperor canceled the plan for the general to become the prime minister, and finally changed Zhang Jun became prime minister, which really disappointed the Yuan family.

Of course, the Yuan family didn't know that Li Ye was behind Zhang Jun's appointment. He used the recommendation of Wang Jian, an aide of the Yang family, to make Zhang Jun become the prime minister, and also allowed Li Linfu to gain control over Zhang Jun.

On several very important appointments, Zhang Jun did not listen to Yang Guozhong's arrangements and adopted a neutral or even biased attitude towards Li Linfu, which caused great setbacks to Yang Guozhong's expansion of power.

However, Li Linfu still gave some benefits to the Yuan family. For example, Yuan Xiao is now serving as the magistrate of Meiyuan County, Jingzhao Prefecture, which was the actual vacancy arranged by Li Linfu in May this year. This was also one of the conditions agreed upon by both parties at that time.

Although his grandfather did not serve as Prime Minister, Yuan Xiao was still very grateful to Li Xiangguo and Li Ye. With his qualifications and conditions, it was impossible for him to get this position.

"Congratulations to Mr. Li on his promotion to an official position!"

Li Ye nodded and said apologetically: "I'm sorry that I didn't let your grandfather get the chance last year!"

Yuan Xiao waved his hand, "It doesn't matter! My grandfather looked away a long time ago, but I got the real deal, thanks to your grandfather's help."

"Where is Brother Yuan working now?"

"Mihara County Magistrate!"

Li Ye looked him up and down and smiled: "Okay! He's actually the Prime Minister of Yuan County. It's not easy!"

"It's not easy. According to the normal situation, I should be the chief registrar, not the county captain, but Li Xiangguo happened to be the official in charge and directly asked the Ministry of Personnel to appoint me as the county magistrate, which saved me ten years of official career. "

Li Ye also understood that from the chief clerk to the county magistrate, even if he was related, it would take two terms, and he would be able to serve as the county magistrate after ten years. It would be a big loss to miss ten years of official career. Coupled with the Yuan family's family background, Yuan It will definitely be no problem for Xiao to pass the fifth rank before he is forty years old. After passing the fifth rank, if he survives for more than ten years, he will be promoted to the third rank in his early fifties, and he will have hope of becoming the prime minister.

"I can't compare with Mr. Li. Even my grandfather praised you for becoming the mainstay of the Tang Dynasty and asked me to make good friends with you."

Li Ye chuckled, "Then treat me to a drink tomorrow!"

"No problem, I'll treat you to a drink at Pingkangfang Wude Restaurant tomorrow."

At this time, the competition on the ring had already begun. The two hundred taels of gold were shining brightly, which really tempted many people, and they were all ready to jump on the ring to challenge.

Of course, real swords cannot be used in the competition, but wooden swords. The Dugu family brought more than thirty wooden swords, of various types and weights.

The first challenger to take the stage is Changsun Hualing. He is a general of the Jinwu Guard. He comes from the Changsun family of the Guanlong family and has very strong martial arts skills.

Changsun Hualing took a wooden sword, held a sword flower in his hand, cupped his fists and said, "Please!"

An Shouzhong slowly pulled out the jujube sword and held the sword with both hands as steady as a mountain.

Yuan Xiao whispered to Li Ye: "Changsun Hualing is the legitimate son of the Changsun family. He is very skilled in martial arts and ranks among the top ten in the Forbidden Army."

Li Ye smiled and shook his head secretly. An Shouzhong was not an ordinary person. An Lushan's fierce general was second only to Shi Siming. His murderous aura could be felt from his movements. This eldest grandson Hualing was far from the best.

Changsun Hualing shouted loudly and thrust his sword towards An Shouzhong. An Shouzhong ignored him and launched like a tiger. The wooden sword in his hand struck towards Changsun Hualing like a storm. Changsun Hualing was frightened by the opponent's momentum. , quickly raised his sword to block.

An Shouzhong struck with fifteen swords in a row, and Changsun Hualing took fifteen steps back, stepped on the air, and fell down onto the ring with a plop.

Verbally admitting defeat, losing the sword, being stabbed three times, and falling off the ring, as long as one of these four things happens, the opponent will lose.

There was an uproar all around, and no one expected that Changsun Hualing had not even completed a round.

An Shouzhong said coldly: "The Forbidden Army is nothing more than that!"

His words immediately angered many people, and a general came up to the stage and said, "Stop talking nonsense, I'll meet you!"

Yuan Xiao whispered again: "His name is Xiao Zhen. He is also a descendant of the Xiao family of the Liang Dynasty. He was a subordinate of my grandfather and the general of the Qianniu Guard. He has superb swordsmanship. He once took ten moves to defeat the sword master Pei Min. "

Li Ye nodded. Being able to perform ten moves under Pei Min showed that he was quite capable, unlike the one just now who was one of the top ten masters of the Forbidden Army and had a false reputation.

Xiao Zhen snorted coldly and fired his sword first. His swordsmanship was indeed good. His sword speed was very fast, and his long sword flew up and down, airtight, with the momentum of Mount Tai. An Shouzhong seemed to have nothing to do, so he had to retreat step by step. About to retreat to the edge of the ring, Li Ye sighed, this Xiao Zhen is finished.

Sure enough, An Shouzhong suddenly stabbed out with his sword, and Xiao Zhen screamed. His hand was stabbed, the pain was unbearable, he couldn't hold it anymore, and the wooden sword fell to the ground.

Yuan Xiao suddenly came to his senses and said, "Is this guy using a trick to back off at first?"

Li Ye said with a smile: "General Xiao was too impatient. He went all out from the beginning. The so-called one-stop power, then weakened, and three times exhausted. An Shouzhong gave way to his fierce momentum. When he was a little exhausted, he was He caught the loophole and hit it right.”

Xiao Zhen has a high status in the Forbidden Army, and even he was defeated. Many young people who were originally eager to try have stopped, and they would rather not fight than go up and lose face.

At this time, An Shouzhong saw the look in An Qingxu's eyes and said with a smile: "Let me challenge you! I have heard for a long time that the Anxi Army is known as the best army in the world. Is it true or is it a false reputation? On behalf of Fan Yangjun, I would like to challenge Anxi Army Challenge, is there any Anxi Army General below who is willing to compete with me?"

Only one person said coldly: "Since you named me to challenge the Anxi Army, let me compete with you!"