Chapter 207: Heaven-Defying Arm Strength

Of course, the equipment used for the competition was very crude. For example, the things used for weightlifting were just wooden sticks with stone slabs attached. The weight was completely unknown, but since everyone used the same thing, if you could lift what others couldn't, then good, you were stronger than them.

The stones were basically circular stone slabs, the kind of thinner sedimentary rock. A stonemason could just drill a hole in them to use them, and when adding weight, one just had to slide a stone slab onto the stick.

The wood used to connect the middle was a very thick elm stick. Originally, Baifeng felt this thing was not safe enough and easily broken, but then he thought, isn't a shoulder pole the same? It still carries hundreds of catties of goods, so he approved its use.

Long jump and high jump were too slow to compare, as they had to be done one by one, and they weren't very entertaining. Everyone didn't understand any technique and relied entirely on the muscles of their legs. In these two events, the first place in the long jump was a Free Person, and he was rewarded with the status of a tribesman.

The second place in the high jump was a new tribesman. Baifeng gave him a separate house as a reward because these newcomers, although they held the status of tribesmen, had not yet provided labor or contributions, so their food and housing were much worse than the old tribesmen.

But they had no complaints, because in the process of daily communication, they learned about the past of the Yishang Tribe, which was even worse than them at the beginning. But after only a short year, their treatment was exactly the same as the old tribesmen; they just needed to provide labor and make contributions to the tribe.

As for the winners of other events, they were basically old tribesmen of the Baifeng Tribe. Because everyone was watching, no one had any objections to these rankings.

Archery was participated in entirely by people from the Baifeng Tribe, because apart from them, other people had never even seen or touched a bow, let alone used one.

For the stone-throwing competition, tools were not limited. At a distance of one hundred meters, a row of Bamboo Tubes was placed on the ground. Using a specified number of stones, the one who knocked down the most won. If the numbers were the same, there would be a tie-breaker.

The reason for not limiting tools was that Baifeng wanted to select some people with sufficient arm strength, and also to let the newcomers know that no matter how much strength you have, in front of the right tools, everything can be leveled, thereby making everyone value invention and creation.

Most people used a sling, which was both far-reaching and powerful. Those who didn't know how to use it threw by hand. Unexpectedly, there were indeed a few people who didn't know how to use a sling but had astonishing arm strength. Not only could they throw a hundred meters, but at that distance, the stones still had the power to knock down the Bamboo Tubes.

Some people were purely strong, throwing far but not accurately enough, and those few people who threw by hand were not tribesmen of the Baifeng Tribe; they were all newcomers.

Among them, one person had poor accuracy. The flying stone hit a tribesman who was watching the number of Bamboo Tubes in the distance and resetting them, which was to say, a tribesman assisting in the competition. The result was, "An arrow fired at the field, hit the Drum Clerk, and was expelled."

Actually, no one drove him away, but after he hit someone, everyone except him and the person hit burst into loud laughter, making him lose all face. He was no longer embarrassed to continue competing, so he forfeited and fled the competition field. This scene happened to be seen by Baifeng, and besides finding it funny, he also became interested in him.

Calling over the man who squeezed out of the crowd and ran away, Baifeng intended to ask him carefully, but he thought Baifeng was going to punish him. After all, he was a Free Person, yet he had hit a tribesman of the Baifeng Tribe, so his mood changed from embarrassment to panic.

Unexpectedly, after Baifeng called him over, he patted his shoulder, squeezed his arm, and stared at him for a turn, which made him feel numb all over. In the end, not only did Baifeng not blame him, but he even called out "good" several times, which left him confused, and the people around who heard the commotion and watched the fun were also confused.

It was mainly because Baifeng had looked at the man's arm circumference, shoulder width, arm length, and so on; he was a natural good seedling for using a bow. As long as he was trained a little, he would definitely become one of the new master archers of the Baifeng Tribe.

However, in order to see his limit, Baifeng asked him to pick up a stone and throw it again to see how far he could throw. But this man didn't dare to let go, and threw it toward the open space once, which was obviously closer than when he threw it during the competition.

Baifeng told him not to be nervous, saying that he liked his strength and that he might be a good seedling to be an Archer. At the same time, he mentioned the treatment of Archers; not to mention the treatment of ordinary tribesmen, it was top-notch even among the old tribesmen.

Hearing Baifeng's promise, the man finally understood the situation and became very excited, just incoherently patting his own arm and telling Baifeng that his strength was very great.

When Baifeng asked him to throw again, he weighed and chose a good stone, stepped back a few steps, did a small sprint forward, then jumped up, swung his arm straight, and threw the stone out. Baifeng, who was on the side, could hear the sound of the wind breaking as the stone flew out. He saw the stone fly straight into the distance, land on the ground, bounce, and fly another distance. If it weren't for Baifeng's good eyesight, he might not have been able to keep track of it.

Baifeng clicked his tongue in wonder, then placed his thumb between his two eyes, first opening his left eye and closing his right, then opening his right eye and closing his left. He estimated the distance between the positions of the stone's landing point when viewed by the two different eyes, then multiplied by ten. This was the approximate distance between him and the stone's landing point.

It wasn't very accurate, but it was only an error of ten meters or so. Baifeng had taught this method to all the tribesmen, but they had no concept of units of length, even if he took out a ruler to teach them, let alone having to multiply by ten. In the end, only a few Soldiers could use this method.

Using this method to estimate, Baifeng found the distance the stone was thrown exceeded two hundred meters, a very heaven-defying number. Even if the stone was relatively small, it was still very surprising.

So Baifeng immediately took him under his command and expressed that he had very high expectations for him. Afterward, he took him to see Xiong. Xiong said to let that person find him at the training ground after the competition ended, as he didn't have time to arrange it now.

That man was at a loss because of this sudden surprise. His face had been red; at first, it was because of embarrassment, but now it was because of excitement. Originally, he considered himself strong and said there was a stone-throwing competition, so he came to try because winning could make him a tribesman.

Who knew that throwing stones required not only throwing far but also throwing accurately? As soon as the competition started, he lost a bit of confidence. After hitting someone, he completely cut off the thought of obtaining status through the competition and fled in the midst of mocking laughter. He didn't expect that after a dark willow, there would be a bright flower and another village. In one fell swoop, he straightened his back, leaping from the bottom to the top, achieving a great leap in class. Who wouldn't be happy?

Those who mocked him now only had envy left, sighing that his luck was really good. Some people who were competing saw this situation and deliberately threw stones at the tribesmen assisting in the competition, hoping to repeat this process, but they were disqualified from the competition on the spot.

Baifeng also left to watch other competition fields after arranging for this person, to see if there could be any unexpected gains, not realizing at all that he hadn't even asked what the man's name was.