Chapter 97: The Competition Begins

Early in the morning, just as Zhu Gaoxu walked out of his room, he was dragged away by a eunuch who had been waiting for a long time.

The location for the Seven-Day Agreement was set within the Imperial Palace; Zhu Yuanzhang arrived at the scene in person, and the ministers at court had also received the news, so basically everyone who could attend had arrived.

By the time Zhu Gaoxu entered the palace, the others had already been waiting for a while.

One look at this situation and Zhu Gaoxu knew these people must have just finished the morning court session; he turned to look at the competition grounds, and his brows furrowed slightly.

He saw that on the square of the main hall, a group of ministers stood surrounding Zhu Yuanzhang outside the Fengtian Hall, while down on the square, targets for the test firing had already been prepared.

And it was precisely these targets that made Zhu Gaoxu secretly frown.

The firing range of the Three-Eyed Gun was only thirty or forty paces, while the effective lethal range of Zhu Gaoxu's Daming Gun was two hundred paces.

What exactly was the meaning of placing these targets at about twenty paces?

However, regarding these little tricks of the other side, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't be bothered to say much; he had his own countermeasures for when the time came.

These things were just what Zhu Gaoxu saw as he walked past.

Zhu Gaoxu's footsteps never stopped.

First, he performed a salute in front of Lao Zhu.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded; in front of outsiders, Zhu Gaoxu was very disciplined, and Zhu Yuanzhang did not show excessive affection.

"The little monkey cub has kept us and these ministers waiting; if you lose the competition later, don't blame me for spanking your bottom."

Hearing Lao Zhu's teasing, Zhu Gaoxu just smiled and did not reply.

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang raised his hand, and Eunuch Li, who was behind him, stepped forward and said, "Since the Nanyang Commandery Prince has also arrived, let us begin."

As he spoke, Eunuch Li clapped his hands, and several young eunuchs below brought over the Daming Gun, the Three-Eyed Gun, and the corresponding gunpowder, iron pellets, and other items.

At this time, taking advantage of this gap, Zhu Gaoxu walked toward Hu Weiyong.

Given Hu Weiyong's status in the imperial court, he was naturally not far from Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang clearly noticed this move by Zhu Gaoxu and gave him a look of keen interest, though he did not stop him.

After walking a few steps to Hu Weiyong's side, Zhu Gaoxu stopped and said, "I wonder if your honorable residence's servant delivered my words."

When Zhu Gaoxu was collecting the land deeds earlier, he had asked Hu Weiyong's servant to bring a message to Hu Weiyong.

The meaning was to take advantage of today's opportunity to place another bet.

Hu Weiyong immediately understood Zhu Gaoxu's meaning.

He was likewise full of confidence regarding today's competition.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu take the initiative to come over and ask for trouble, Hu Weiyong sneered inwardly, naturally unwilling to let the current opportunity slip by.

"Since the Little Prince is in such high spirits, this old man will naturally accompany the gentleman at the risk of his life."

Neither of them was far from Lao Zhu, and they did not avoid being overheard while speaking.

Furthermore, Lao Zhu had been secretly paying attention to this side; hearing their conversation, Lao Zhu suddenly interjected: "What are Prime Minister Hu and this little rabbit cub of mine talking about? It looks like you two are in very high spirits."

Lao Zhu's words were exactly what Zhu Gaoxu wanted, so without waiting for Hu Weiyong to speak, he preempted him: "Prime Minister Hu and your grandson are making a bet, saying that if your grandson wins, he will grant me one thing, and vice versa."

Hearing this, Lao Zhu gave Hu Weiyong a meaningful look, nodded without speaking, and turned his gaze back to the square below.

By now, all preparations were complete, and the Daming Gun and Three-Eyed Gun were neatly arranged.

The person using the Daming Gun had already arrived on the field and was saluting Lao Zhu.

And at this moment, Zhu Gaoxu also walked toward the field.

That's right, he was going to compete in person.

It was mainly because, through target practice earlier, Zhu Gaoxu had unexpectedly discovered that he seemed to have a talent for shooting.

Even when competing against the most accurate Embroidered Uniform Guard in the Military Camp over the past two days, he won more often than he lost.

Therefore, for this competition, Zhu Gaoxu decided to step onto the field himself to meet Hu Weiyong.

The person Hu Weiyong had found was clearly a veteran; one could tell by his gait and the way he held the gun that his military service was certainly not short.

Thinking about it, one could also know that with the influence of Hu Weiyong and his ilk, it would be fake if they had found just an ordinary person.

Arriving on the field, both sides prepared themselves.

Subsequently, a eunuch was the first to announce the rules of the competition.

After a long string of gibberish, Zhu Gaoxu roughly understood the items of the competition.

It's no wonder people say the ancients are troublesome when they speak, especially in such formal and grand competitions, where they must find a pretext and make it sound very plausible.

Zhu Gaoxu summarized it himself: the first item was a test of firing speed, which was how many shots could be fired in one minute.

The second item was precision, shooting at a target at twenty paces to see who was more accurate.

The third item was to test power, placing leather armor twenty paces away to see whose effect was better.

The fourth item was close-combat efficiency.

The fifth item was mounted efficiency.

Just as the eunuch finished speaking, Zhu Gaoxu did not fire immediately; instead, he turned and shouted to Lao Zhu: "Imperial Grandfather, your grandson has something to say."

Seeing that the rules had just been stated and the competition hadn't even begun, yet Zhu Gaoxu started interrupting, the crowd of ministers thought Zhu Gaoxu had lost his nerve and began to gloat.

After all, Zhu Gaoxu's current prominence was a bit too great.

Many ministers at court, whether they were of Hu Weiyong's Huai-Xi Faction or the Crown Prince Faction, did not find him very pleasing to the eye.

Although they didn't say it aloud, each of them wanted to see Zhu Gaoxu make a fool of himself.