Chapter 303: The Grand Community Archery Rite

On the sixteenth day of the first month, the day after the Lantern Festival, the drinking revelry by the Macheng River still had not ended.

For Zhang Zhao used the Community Drinking Rite to strip away old Tibetan customs, restore the ancient ways of Han and Tang, and win over the village elders and headmen of every district.

These men represented political authority and the people's hearts — the civil side of things. The military side could not be handled with the Community Drinking Rite; it required the Archery Rite to draw in the warriors.

The Archery Rite was divided into four kinds: the Grand Archery, the Guest Archery, the Banquet Archery, and the Community Archery.

Before the Eastern Han, the Grand Archery Rite was used by the Son of Heaven and the feudal lords.

After the Eastern Han — to be precise, after the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms in the Western Han, when the feudal lords gradually lost their legal standing to rule over the Chinese land — it could only be ordered and carried out by the Son of Heaven.

It was also an extremely important sacrificial activity, and the emperors of the Tang dynasty were fond of holding the Grand Archery Rite.

The Guest Archery was held only when feudal lords came to pay court to the Son of Heaven, or when lords met one another. After the enfeoffment system had basically ended, it too became rare.

The Banquet Archery was less ceremonial than the Grand Archery and the Guest Archery — even less than the Community Archery. It was generally held during large-scale feasts among meritorious officials.

Zhang Zhao was neither the Son of Heaven nor a feudal lord, and the present circumstances were not suited to holding the Banquet Archery. So the Community Archery became his only choice.

Originally, the Community Archery Rite was generally held together with the Community Drinking Rite, and like the original Community Drinking Rite, it was an activity in which local officials feasted local talents in order to recommend men of ability to the state.

But in Zhang Zhao's hands, the Community Drinking Rite became a tool for controlling the localities, and the Community Archery Rite became a tool for drawing in the brave and martial among the Six Departments and the Han and Sogdian men of Liangzhou.

Likewise, the Community Archery Rite was originally an archery rite with a strong cultural flavor and fairly strict ceremonial requirements.

Men were grouped in teams, and how the first round, second round, and third round of shooting were to proceed — all of it followed set rules.

But Zhang Zhao chose to basically ignore all that. As a man from a later age, what the hell did he know about archery rites? At the same time, the whole lot of people in Longyou and Hexi had been under Tibetan rule for over a hundred years, and the identity of many of these sons of Tang could not withstand close scrutiny — they understood none of it either.

The only ones who knew a little, apart from Pei Yuan, who was too busy for anything, were the Shazhou civil officials headed by his maternal uncle Song Shantong, who still knew some of the rules.

But after Song Shantong explained it all to Zhang Zhao, Zhang Zhao immediately realized that the traditional Community Archery Rite was not suited to his present purposes.

Because this set of rites was meant to be used when the state was stable, to regulate the conduct of the gentry and promote mutual understanding.

But now he urgently needed to pull back the great mass of Wenmo-ized descendants of the sons of Tang in Hexi and Longyou, and at the same time display military might and attract more followers by the strength of his fist. A Community Archery Rite that leaned too bookish simply would not do.

So Zhang Zhao at once set about revising it, changing the Community Archery Rite into four categories: archery, horsemanship, combat, and craft.

Archery compared skill with the bow, divided into mounted archery and foot archery.

Horsemanship tested riding skill, while for infantry it tested endurance and load-bearing after donning armor.

Combat meant single combat in leather armor using wooden spears and wooden swords. Zhang Zhao also adopted the point-scoring method common in later ages: the wooden spearheads and blades were wrapped in lime, referees were assigned, and victory was decided by points.

Craft was of course not art, but the skill of raising horses, training horses, and treating livestock ailments.

In an army built around cavalry and mounted infantry, men who could raise horses, train horses, and especially veterinarians who could cure horses were absolutely top-tier talent.

An excellent cavalryman was generally also an excellent veterinarian. The warhorse beneath you was the partner your life depended on; a man who could not even treat his own warhorse's ailments would generally find it very hard to become a truly skilled rider.

To heighten competition, Zhang Zhao prepared lavish rewards for this event — called a Community Archery Rite but more like an army-wide martial tournament — and also prepared two titles.

Anyone who could earn an above-average rating in two of the four skills — archery, horsemanship, combat, and horse-raising — would receive the title of Loyal and Steadfast Colonel.

Those who received the title of Loyal and Steadfast Colonel would, in the coming distribution of official fields, receive a double allotment of land per man, and at the same time would receive a fine saber and one Tianzhu fold-eared horse.

And on seven festival days — New Year's Day, the Lantern Festival, Cold Food Festival, Shangsi, Dragon Boat Festival, Double Ninth, and their own birthday —

they would receive from Zhang Zhao ten jin of fine white flour, ten jin of meat, one jin each of Hexi white sugar and rock sugar, two bricks of tea, and one bolt of fine white cotton cloth.

Correspondingly, in times of large-scale warfare, all Loyal and Steadfast Colonels who joined the army would immediately become officers, with the responsibility of leading the brave men of their villages, and in ordinary times they were to assist the village elders and headmen in catching thieves and rooting out spies, maintaining public order.

The second title was called Guiyi Gentleman. From the name alone one could tell how hard it was to obtain.

Only those who, in each Community Archery contest, placed in the top thirty in one of the four categories — archery, horsemanship, combat, and craft — and placed no lower than the top hundred in two of the other three categories, could receive this title.

Those who received the title of Guiyi Gentleman were first granted land at four times the standard allotment, and the seven festival rewards were double those of the Loyal and Steadfast Colonel. In addition to the fine saber and fine horse, they were also granted fine armor.

When not on duty and not serving in the army, they received an extra monthly stipend of one string of silver cash; when in the army, an extra monthly stipend of three strings of silver cash.

At the same time, Guiyi Gentlemen had the chance to enter duty at Zhang Zhao's side. From then on, Zhang Zhao's personal guard, the Hanshan Unit, would be selected entirely from among the Guiyi Gentlemen.

Moreover, the Guiyi Gentlemen could compete for the top three honors: First Place, Second Place, and Third Place.

These top three, apart from the usual rewards, would also be granted residences in Liangzhou and be given beauties selected from Samanid Persia, Tianzhu, and the two states of Zhenyuan and Anyuan.

Most important of all, Zhang Zhao personally promised: a Guiyi Gentleman does not kill a Guiyi Gentleman — just as in history the Iron Sparrowhawks of Western Xia did not kill Iron Sparrowhawks.

If a Guiyi Gentleman in the army committed a capital crime, he could not be beheaded on the spot; the case had to be reported to Zhang Zhao for review. Guiyi Gentlemen were granted personal iron plaques and had the right to seek audience with their lord.

Hmm — the whole imperial examination routine and the death-exemption golden plaque: Zhang Zhao had truly played these to perfection.

A Guiyi Gentleman was not an officer, yet outranked officers. When battlefield formations fell into chaos, ordinary soldiers obeyed the Loyal and Steadfast Colonels, and the Loyal and Steadfast Colonels obeyed the Guiyi Gentlemen.

Zhang Zhao planned to hold such a Community Archery Rite once every two years, stirring things up directly from below, using a few benefits to draw out the outstanding youths and fierce warriors of every unit.

On the Community Archery field, cheers thundered. In foot archery, Fan Quan, from a hundred paces out, hit the target ten times out of ten, nine of the ten striking the red center — the highest score on the spot.

Meanwhile, the mounted archery on the other side became a contest among Murong Xinzhang, Li Cunhui, and the cousin of Zhebu Jiashi.

The three men wheeled and flew on horseback, competing in fixed targets, moving targets, side-shooting at a gallop, and shooting behind the body.

In the end, Murong Xinzhang won the final victory with three rapid shots behind the body.

As for foot combat and the trials of armored endurance and load-bearing, Man Xiong emerged the winner in the end.

In spear fighting, the first place went to Erzhu Jing, of the Khotan palace guard; in short weapons, the first place unexpectedly went to Cui Huxin, who had just been punished for brawling.

In the craft competition, several sick horses were even led directly onto the field, and Zhang Zhao personally went down to inspect. Though it was not as intense as the archery, horsemanship, and combat, because of the personal attention of Minister of Works Zhang, the contest was still fiercely fought.

For a time, the field was thronged with people coming and going, gongs and drums sounding to the heavens — far livelier than yesterday's Community Drinking Rite.

And behind all this liveliness, what showed through was the extremely formidable military power of the new Liangzhou military bloc that Zhang Zhao was building.

On the left side of the assembly ground, through the introduction of Master Dinghui of Weiyan Temple, the Jincheng Wang clan, leaders of the Wenmo tribes entrenched in Lanzhou, and the Tibetan Sulun family had finally sent representatives.

In fact, the composition of the Lanzhou Wenmo was simpler than that of the Liangzhou Wenmo. This place was close to Guanzhong, and although it had fallen along with Hexi when the Tibetans took it, a good number of powerful Han clans still remained.

Moreover, the local Qiang people and the White Sheep Tangut and other groups left behind in this area were not heavily Tibetanized.

In the old days, when the Tibetans enslaved this land, the Han, Qiang, and Tangut people huddled together for warmth.

And after the Tibetans retreated in defeat, the Tang court had also recovered Lanzhou. Rather than saying they belonged to the Wenmo, it would be more accurate to say they were a local strongman force that had emerged after the Central Plains court lost the ability to govern them.

However, historically the reason the Lanzhou Wenmo never became as famous as the six Wenmo tribes of Liangzhou, and were ultimately absorbed, was —

The main reason was that the fighting strength of the Lanzhou Wenmo still lagged considerably behind that of Liangzhou.

During the Tibetan period, the Liangzhou Wenmo could to a large extent be called the most important auxiliary troops of the Tibetans.

The craftsmen under the old Longyou and Hexi Military Governor's headquarters were basically all in Liangzhou, and they could manufacture swords and armor themselves, making them considerably stronger in battle than the Lanzhou Wenmo, who could only produce inferior swords.

Faced with Zhang Zhao's forceful order this time, the Wang clan of Lanzhou and the Sulun family naturally did not dare to resist openly.

So they sent Sulun Yan of the Sulun family to Liangzhou to investigate. At a single look, Sulun Yan was nearly frightened to death.

Unlike the old impression that the Liangzhou men had just over a thousand armored troops and could field ten thousand soldiers, what Sulun Yan saw this time were bear-and-tiger warriors who could wear heavy armor, shoot from both sides, and fight continuously for the better part of a day — at least a thousand of them — and several hundred at least who were superb riders worthy of being called divine marksmen.

The Liangzhou men also possessed a kind of tall, rather strange-looking warhorse, whose sprinting speed, explosive power, endurance, and carrying capacity were the finest Sulun Yan had ever seen in his life.

He sighed. Just these few thousand warriors at the Township Archery Ceremony were more than his own clansmen, in their leather robes and wielding inferior iron swords, could possibly stand against.

Just as he sighed, Zhang Zhao walked over, and the person Zhang Zhao was pulling by the arm was Sulun Yan's cousin, Sulun Luxin.

"The Sulun Administrator's household indeed conceals hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Your younger brother has defeated quite a few of my brave warriors and won the title of Loyal and Valiant Commandant in one stroke."

Zhang Zhao was smiling, but the two brothers Sulun Yan and Sulun Luxin both wore mournful faces.

Sulun Luxin was already one of the bravest warriors of the Sulun family, yet he could only obtain a Loyal and Valiant Commandant title, not even making the top thirty.

And the ferocity the Liangzhou men displayed at the Township Archery Ceremony made it even harder for them to relax.

"Although it is only Loyal and Valiant Commandant, you are not a man of Liangzhou, so achieving this much is already excellent. Nothing else would be fitting to reward you with, so take this fine horse as your reward."

As he spoke, Zhang Zhao ordered a tall, fold-eared horse led before Sulun Luxin. It was a fine horse standing over three chi at the shoulder, with powerful muscles.

Sulun Luxin had been feeling rather humiliated by Zhang Zhao's words — a warrior of some renown in the Sulun family could only win a Loyal and Valiant Commandant title — but this warhorse bestowed by Zhang Zhao instantly filled him with delight.

"Sulun Luxin kowtows in thanks for the Minister of Works' generous reward!"

Watching his cousin kneel and kowtow, Sulun Yan did not know what to feel. The strongest among the Wenmo were the Six Valleys tribe of Liangzhou.

And once Zhang Zhao had subdued the Six Valleys tribe of Liangzhou, the remaining Wenmo forces could no longer resist.

All chapters have been cached for you. Download the APP to view them.