Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 134 Plum Blossom Fist Inheritance

Facing the goodwill shown by Wen Huanghua and others, Su Yun behaved in a proper manner. Although he did not reject them at a distance, he did not show any special enthusiasm either. However, this made Wen Huanghua and others very happy.

Wen Huanghua and others believed that a resourceful person like Su Yun would definitely not show a particularly aggressive side. After all, most shrewd people would plan before taking action.

So Su Yun's compliance was seen by them as an agreement.

Su Yun didn’t know what they were thinking, he just tried to get into a learning state as quickly as possible.

It would have been fine if he had not wanted to take the imperial examination to become an official before, but now that he has started to do it, he has to do it well. This is Su Yun’s character.

Su Yun has a very special character, which is that once he really does something, he must do it to the best of his ability.

In fact, everyone has overlooked the fact that many people with mental illnesses are more serious people.

People who are prone to depression are mostly those who are unwilling to admit defeat and are also very sensitive. It is precisely because they are unwilling to admit defeat that they have many obsessions in their hearts, which makes them fall into depression.

People like Su Yun who are easily trapped in emptiness also have one characteristic: deep down in their hearts, they have the idea that life must be valuable.

It may sound a bit ridiculous, but for a person who truly lies down, living a rich life and doing nothing, isn't that the life they like most?
Only those who regard it as essential that life should be valuable will feel that a life of doing nothing brings endless emptiness.

Therefore, people like Su Yun, their sense of emptiness actually comes from not finding the direction to strive for. Once they find the direction to strive for, they usually have a derogatory but very suitable nickname: struggler.

At this moment, Su Yun certainly has not found the direction of his life's struggle, but he has at least found his current short-term goal, which is to pass the state examination.

From the next day, Su Yun devoted himself to studying with great interest.

The first day of classes was quite full.

Before noon in the morning, the other people in the dormitory got up. Su Yun knew that there was archery practice in the morning, so he got up early as well.

Although Feng Qian and the other two kept their distance from Su Yun, they had no intention of offending him. Since Su Yun had gotten up, they invited him to go with them. However, after bringing Su Yun to the archery range, they kept their distance from him.

Su Yun naturally understood what they meant and also understood their concerns.

From what Wen Huanghua and others said yesterday, we can see that the Imperial College is a small imperial court. Not only do factional struggles exist here, but they are even more frequent than in the imperial court.

The struggle in the court is brutal. Although there are battles of will, they are more based on interests, so the struggle is restrained.

The struggles in the Imperial Academy may not be that brutal, but many things will become extremely troublesome once they are caught up in emotional disputes, because they will become extremely irrational, not distinguishing the important from the unimportant, and sometimes even look a little stupid.

Feng Qian and the other two probably had neutral fathers who did not dare to get involved, so it was understandable that they kept their distance.

Su Yun counted the number of people who came to participate. Excluding the people in their dormitory, there were about eighteen or nineteen people, totaling to twenty-three or twenty-four people. This venue should be the only ones with people from their dormitory.

Normally, there should be about thirty people in a vegetarian meal, but now there are only twenty-three or twenty-four. I don’t know if there were always so many people or if some people didn’t come.

Both should be possible.

The mobility of Tai students is not particularly high, but mobility exists, and it is normal for the school to be under-capacitated.

There are many possibilities for not coming to training. Although the Imperial College system is relatively strict, there are always people who can find reasons not to participate in physical training.

In later universities, some people found ways to skip even the mandatory military training, let alone this kind of normalized morning and evening training.

As for why they were the only ones shooting arrows here, it was probably because archery was a dangerous activity. Even if the bows and arrows were without arrowheads during training, casualties could still occur.

If more than 2,000 people train together, there might be arrows flying everywhere, and some unlucky person might get hit by an arrow.

Su Yun found an empty archery position and began to try archery himself.

Su Yun tried the bow and found it a little soft. He shot a few arrows and found they were a little off target, but fortunately they did not miss the target.

At this time, the instructor in the field came over and asked, "Have you learned this before?"

Su Yun smiled and said, "I joined the archery club when I was in my hometown. I have practiced it, but I am not very good at it."

The instructor nodded. In the Song Dynasty, crossbows and armor were banned items, but bows and arrows were not. Even the imperial court encouraged archery from top to bottom.

This is due to the need for national force.

The strong military pressure from Western Xia and Liao and the special role of archery on the battlefield made the Song Dynasty pay more and more attention to the sport of archery and regard it as a key means to enhance the combat effectiveness of the army.

In order to encourage the people to practice archery, successive emperors frequently held archery reviews, led officials to watch in person, and even personally demonstrated archery.

Last year, the imperial court also promulgated the "Teaching Methods and Illustrations", which provided text and illustrations for the archery standards of holding the bow, shooting arrows, and shooting on horseback, which are extremely similar to the modern "Drill Manual".

At the same time, many groups who love archery have emerged among the people, especially "archery clubs" that focus on practicing martial arts and archery. In Hebei alone, there are nearly 600 such clubs and more than 3 archers.

Those who join the club need to buy a bow, thirty arrows, and a knife. In the mountains and valleys near the prefectures and counties of Hebei, there are archery clubs and hunters among the people, and their habits are convenient, just like the enemy.

The imperial court encouraged the people to learn archery, so once they recruited soldiers, they could basically use bows and arrows. In this way, once they joined the army, they could basically form combat effectiveness.

The instructor said, "Shoot a few more arrows for me to see."

Su Yun immediately shot out a few arrows. The previous few arrows allowed him to get a little familiar with the characteristics of the bow, so these few arrows were very accurate and all hit the bull's eye.

The instructor looked at Su Yun in surprise and said, "Your archery skills are amazing. Is there anyone in your family who is in the army?"

Su Yun smiled and said, "I guess so."

From what the old Taoist said, it seems that he had served in the army in his early years and even participated in the Battle of Sanchuankou?

This may be true, because the old Taoist taught his boxing and archery skills, which have a strong military style. The old Taoist was a Taoist priest in a small wild temple in Meishan. Su Yun's parents were relatively devout Taoists. When they were alive, they often worshipped this wild temple and often took young Su Yun to this temple. Therefore, Su Yun and the old Taoist were familiar with each other since childhood.

Su Yun could tell that the old Taoist was not an ordinary person. After all, it was impossible for an ordinary person in his seventies or eighties to climb a mountain as if he were walking on flat ground.

After Su's father and mother passed away, Su Yun still went there often. The old Taoist priest felt sorry for Su Yun who had lost his parents at a young age, and was grateful for Su's father and mother's years of worship, so he taught Su Yun some martial arts, hoping that he would not be bullied in the village.

Unexpectedly, this teaching was so extraordinary. He found that although Su Yun was young, he had amazing comprehension and especially amazing perseverance. Other five or six-year-old children were playful, but Su Yun was wholeheartedly devoted to martial arts. This immediately made him want to pass on his legacy.

The old Taoist priest had served in the army, but before that he was the successor of an ancient boxing school. According to the old Taoist priest, their tradition was called Plum Blossom Fist.

Su Yun had never heard of this boxing school, but according to the old Taoist priest, Plum Blossom Fist was one of the few boxing styles recorded in the "Wujing Zongyao" in the Song Dynasty, and it was a very powerful tradition.

This power is reflected in the inheritance of Plum Blossom Fist. According to the old Taoist priest, Plum Blossom Fist can be divided into civil and martial arts. The civil field respects the ancestors and studies the theory of boxing. They integrate the theories of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism and the theory of Zhouyi into one. They have rich cultural classics passed down from generation to generation, cultivating one's body and mind, refining the spirit and qi, which is called civil work.

The Wenchang teacher leads the entire activities of the boxing school and is responsible for educating the disciples; the Wuchang teacher is mainly responsible for martial arts training, which has rich and colorful martial arts content, unique training methods and styles, and everything is completely different from the currently popular martial arts routines.

It not only has obvious effects of strengthening the body, but also has extremely strong practical combat capabilities.

The purpose of their martial arts training is to practice the form and qi, from the outside to the inside, and then from the inside to the outside, to achieve the unity of inside and outside, the unity of essence, energy and spirit, and finally to rise to the level of literary skills.

Su Yun didn't know whether it was true or not, but the old Taoist did have real skills. Not only was he skilled in martial arts, but he was also proficient in literature and science. He was good at using yin and yang and the Eight Trigrams, and could practice medicine. Although he was already over 70 or 80 years old, he was in good health, had a quick mind, and was able to judge the situation, which was quite extraordinary.

Su Yun didn't know whether the old Taoist was bragging or he was really awesome, but he had nothing to do, so he followed him to learn for many years. Before leaving Meishan, he practiced with the old Taoist whenever he had time, and he really developed some kung fu skills.

When doing business in Meishan, Su Yun also went through some struggles. He had a battle with the ruffians sent by his competitors and never lost a single battle. He was indeed very useful.

Su Yun didn't know that the Plum Blossom Fist was not only extremely powerful, but had even been passed down to later generations.

In 1988, the famous historian Professor Lu Yao collaborated with Professor Yan Zijie, a disciple of Plum Blossom Fist, and others to conduct several in-depth investigations in areas such as Hebei, Shandong and Henan where the Boxer Rebellion against imperialism was fierce or peasant uprisings were active. A large amount of facts proved that the Boxer Rebellion was the Plum Blossom Fist.

In addition to practicing Plum Blossom Fist, the old Taoist also passed on some of the army's boxing, archery and swordsmanship to Su Yun, saying that it would allow Su Yun to see more routines and that they could learn from each other. Therefore, he also learned archery and other things, which saved him some effort now.

The instructor stood by and watched for a while, then found that Su Yun was an excellent archer and there was nothing much to teach him, so he went to instruct others.

The instructor didn't say that it would be a waste not to join the army. He didn't dare to say that.

The students of the Imperial College are all gifted children of heaven. Nowadays, literature is valued more than military affairs. If anyone dares to trick these children of officials into giving up their studies and joining the army, and their parents find out, he will probably lose his job.

This was just a small episode. Although Feng Qian and others kept their distance from Su Yun, they had been observing him. Seeing Su Yun's accurate archery, they were just a little surprised and did not have any special thoughts.

Although the imperial court encourages learning archery, for these students, no matter how good it is, it is just a way to get a few more credits. Who can really use this thing?
Su Yun was having a lot of fun. This thing might not be very useful, but it was fun. Running, jumping and shooting were things that were rooted in a man's genes.

After all, before entering the agricultural society, a man's life achievements all depended on hunting, and hunting was nothing more than running, jumping and shooting.

This is also why men particularly like to play basketball and football. It’s because the habits of running, jumping and shooting are deposited in their genes.

Oh, yes, men in later generations either played ball or went fishing because they could not hunt. If hunting were allowed, many sports enthusiasts would probably join in.

Su Yun hasn't enjoyed archery so much since he left Meishan. When he has free time on weekdays, he can only practice boxing in private.

So while everyone else was just fooling around with archery, Su Yun became more and more excited as he shot. If he didn't have to go to class, he could have played here all day.

But unfortunately, the bow and arrow was too soft for him.

The past year since he came out was a time of rapid growth for him. Although he did not grow much in height, his muscles and physical strength were increasing rapidly. This bow was just right for other students, but he used it like a toy.

After shooting arrows, I followed the crowd to the cafeteria to eat.

Archery was practiced separately in each dormitory, but all the students in the Imperial College came to eat in the cafeteria, allowing Su Yun to truly see how many people there were in the Imperial College.

Including the faculty and staff, the cafeteria could accommodate thousands of people. There were more than a dozen windows serving food. The crowds of people made Su Yun feel like he was back in the days when he was in college and eating in the cafeteria.

Well, we still have to grab it.

Su Yun grabbed several Taixue buns.

Taixue steamed buns are very famous.

Last year, Zhao Xu visited the Imperial Academy and wanted to learn about the students' diet. He happened to see them eating steamed buns. After tasting them, Song Shenzong was very satisfied and said: "I have no shame in supporting my scholars with this."

Because the steamed buns were praised by the emperor, students from the Imperial College would bring steamed buns from the Imperial College back home to visit their families, and thus the "Taixue steamed buns" became famous.

Recently, some people are selling steamed buns called Taixue Mantou, but they are just borrowed names.

Su Yun took a bite and found it better than the ones outside, but no matter how delicious it was, it was just a bun.

Oh, yes, although Taixue steamed buns are called steamed buns, they actually have fillings. According to the name in later generations, they should actually be called Taixue buns, but in the Song Dynasty, both with and without fillings were called steamed buns.

Su Yun chuckled and said, "A few days ago, Ah Hui said that the stall selling egg-filled pancakes near the Imperial College was making a lot of money, selling one or two thousand a day."

This Taixue steamed bun is pretty good, but you can’t eat it every day. You will get tired of it eventually. Now the egg-filled pancake can help to relieve the greasiness.

Just when Su Yun was concentrating on eating the steamed buns from Taixue, he suddenly felt a large group of people pushing aside the crowd and walking towards him.

Su Yun looked up in surprise and saw a young man with a vulgar appearance walking frivolously, with a crowd of people following him.

"You are Su Yun, the Song Dynasty man, the author of Linjiangxian, the author of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the nephew of Su Zizhan, and the Jiangyou Su Lang who is known for his unparalleled filial piety?"

(End of this chapter)