Chapter 37 Tossing Pots
Murong Ying was never an emperor who liked to stay deep in the palace. Less than two months after arriving in Luoyang, he immediately made new plans.

Return to Chang'an to celebrate the New Year and worship ancestors.

As for Li Silang, he was about to go to war just a few days after taking office as the Tiger General of the Xiaoguo Army.

Because the Wagang rebels made a big fuss this time, they captured Shangqiu County and surrounded Suiyang, the capital of Liang County.

Suiyang is an important route of the canal and the gateway to the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers. Occupying Suiyang would cut off the canal and separate the north and the south.

The battle situation was urgent, so Murong Ying took it very seriously and ordered General Wei Wang Murong Ding, the General of the Eastern Expedition, to lead the left and right armies as well as the brave and fruitful army, more than 100,000 infantry and cavalry, to wipe out the Wagang bandits.

Within a year, Li Yuanhui jumped from a captain in charge of 50 men to a general in charge of 5,000 men. Now he has to lead these 5,000 men to fight, and he feels a lot of pressure.

Three days before the expedition, when Li Yuanhui and a group of generals followed Murong Ding into the palace to bid farewell to the emperor, Murong Ying pointed at him and joked to his uncle: "Uncle, the bandits here should be killed quickly, otherwise it will delay Jinyang's wedding."

Murong Ding also smiled and said, "These are just some bandits that can be quelled in a few months. Tell the little girl from Jinyang that her marriage will not be delayed."

"Ha ha ha ha."

All the generals burst into laughter when they heard this.

Only Li Yuanhui felt a little embarrassed. He was engaged, but he had never even seen what his fiancée looked like.

However, when Li Yuanhui was about to leave the palace with his uncle Li Cang, Wei Xiaoju and other generals, he was suddenly stopped by a eunuch, who then handed him a letter.

Before Li Yuanhui could say anything, he left quickly.

Several colleagues burst into laughter again, but did not force him to open the brocade bag for everyone to see. After all, they all knew the importance of the matter. This must be given to Li Yuanhui by the princess. It was okay to make a fuss, but if they really wanted to dig into the matter, that would be immature.

It's okay to offend Li Si, but it's not good to offend Her Royal Highness the Princess.

Li Si opened the envelope after returning home. The handwriting on the envelope was beautiful and much more beautiful than his own.

The content is very simple, just eight words: "There will be a banquet at Prince Gaoyang's palace tomorrow."

"There's a banquet at the Gaoyang Palace? How come I didn't know about it?" Li Yuanhui was very confused, because the Li family had been very close to the Gaoyang Palace recently. Not to mention that the Gaoyang Prince thought highly of Li Yuanhui, he also had a very good relationship with Li Yuan. Generally, when such a wealthy family wants to hold a banquet, it is normal to notify and send out invitations at least a few days in advance, or even half a month in advance.

It’s the same as in Beijing, where you have to invite someone to dinner three days in advance.

Besides, King Gaoyang was not in Luoyang. He had returned to Guanzhong. Only his son was in Luoyang. Why would he suddenly hold a banquet?

But soon, he was no longer confused, because Gaoyang Wang's son Murong Wuji came to the Li family in person and sent invitations to several men in the Li family, inviting them to come to their house for a small gathering tomorrow.
When Murong Wuji came, he felt very embarrassed, because it was somewhat rude to invite someone at such a last-minute request.

But there is no way, who asked the prince in the palace to hold a banquet tomorrow? At this time, you have to do it whether you need it or not.

Normally, when sending an invitation, one would just send someone to deliver it, but because it was considered impolite, Murong Wuji went there in person.

I visited all the houses I knew.

Li Yuanhui saw Murong Wuji out the door and watched him hurriedly run to the next house. Even if he was slow-witted, he would understand.

Princess Jinyang wanted to meet him, but she was too embarrassed to ask him to go out with her.

Although the separation between men and women at that time was not as strict as in later generations, meeting each other after getting engaged was not a big deal.

But a young girl would feel a little embarrassed to meet a man alone, even if he was her fiancé.

So, just have more people at the meeting place, so that it won't be too awkward for the two of them to meet.
Li Si suddenly found it funny. Isn't this essentially the same as when the two male and female dormitories had social gatherings in college?
It was through such activities that he met his ex-girlfriend, a girl from Beijing who was tall, cheerful and generous.

During her four years in college, she bought him several pairs of AJs and two Apple phones. No matter how much money he spent on her, she would find ways to double it back.

After being envied by several of his roommates, they slandered him as a gigolo.

After graduation, I went abroad, and that was all.

I can't believe that in ancient times, people would go back to their old jobs and make a living again.

The Li brothers were all smart people. They understood without thinking too much that the Gaoyang Palace suddenly held a banquet for guests, and they were all young ladies and gentlemen of the same generation, just as foils.

It's just that Her Royal Highness the Princess wants to meet her fiancé.

Their eyes were full of inquiry and teasing, which made Li Si very embarrassed. After breakfast the next day, Dalang was on duty as usual, and Erlang, Sanlang and Silang, the three brothers packed up, rode on tall horses, took a few small gifts and rushed to Gaoyang Palace.

The Prince Gaoyang's palace is also in the south of the city, located in Xiuyefang, while the Li family is in Chunfengfang. They are not far apart and can be reached in just a cup of tea.

Murong Wuji was welcoming guests at the door. When he saw the Li brothers coming, he hurried over to greet them.

After the greeting, the brothers followed the guide into the front hall of the palace, where many peers and old friends had already gathered.

Zhao Er, Zhao San, Yu Zhongheng, Wei Guangxia, Wei Chong, Du Jun, Du Bing, cousin Dou Xianjun, cousin Dou Xianguo, and many other clan members.

Most of them were men, but there were also quite a few women. Some of the women wore long skirts, while others wore men's robes and a fu hat.

Most of the women were in the back hall, and there were quite a few in the front hall as well. They gathered together, some playing Landlord, some playing Mahjong, and some playing Tossing Pots and chess. They didn't have any scruples.

The second brother was no longer sleepy when he saw the game of tossing pots. For Li Er, who was an unparalleled archer, this game was not challenging at all, so he pulled his two brothers over to watch the fun.

The game of touhu has a long history. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, one of the etiquettes when the princes entertained guests was to invite them to shoot arrows.

At that time, it was considered a disgrace for an adult man not to be able to shoot arrows. If the host invited the guests to shoot arrows, the guests could not refuse. Later, some guests did not know how to shoot arrows, so they used arrows to throw wine pots instead. Over time, throwing arrows into wine pots replaced archery and became a game during banquets.

After the Qin and Han Dynasties, although the archery ceremony was abolished, pitching pots remained popular among the scholar-officials. Every banquet would have a program of "elegant songs and pitching pots" to liven up the fun. In the process of spreading, the difficulty of the game increased, not only did many new names emerge, but some people also ingeniously set up a screen outside the pot to throw blindly, or sit with their backs to throw.

During the Han and Wei dynasties, pitching pots were also popular, and improvements were made to the pots, with two ears added on both sides of the pot mouth. As a result, there were many more names for pitching pots, such as "Yi Er", "Guan Er", "Dao Er", "Lian Zhong", "Quan Hu", etc.

At this time, a young man in brocade clothes was seen holding an arrow, and he was ten steps away from the pot-tossing game, throwing arrows at the copper pot continuously, and finally hit eight arrows in a row.

"Colorful, colorful, colorful."

A large group of young boys and girls cheered.

Li Yuanhui knew this young man. His name was Cao Fu. He was the nephew of Empress Cao, the grandson of Taifu Qing Qiao County Duke Cao Wenyan, a member of the royal family of the Former Wei Dynasty, and a descendant of Chen Si Wang Cao Zhi.

After the young man in brocade robe won the applause, a fat man walked to the shooting area. It is not accurate to say that he was fat. To be precise, he was very strong. He was eight feet tall, with a waist that was ten times bigger than his waist. He had sideburns at the age of a teenager, just like Hei Xia Zi. It was Duan Wuda who was confronted by Li Silang by the river.

Duan Wuda threw two arrows in succession, hitting the two ears of the bronze pot respectively.

This was considered a high score in the game of pot-throwing, so the cheers from the audience became even louder.

The Li brothers came over to watch the fun, but were seen by the complacent Duan Wuda. Thinking of the humiliation he suffered by the river, he said directly: "I heard that Mr. Tang is good at archery, but I don't know how good Li Silang is at archery? Can you open our eyes?"

Touhu is a game of shooting at a fine level, which means that people who are good at shooting will definitely be able to shoot it easily.

Li Silang glanced at him and frowned, thinking to himself that he could do it, but it was definitely not as good as this fat guy. He was thinking about how to deal with it when he saw his second brother walked up and said, "Silang injured his wrist while practicing archery yesterday. If you want to see my Li family's archery skills, let me do it."

After saying that, Li Erlang rolled up his sleeves, then walked to the tossing pot and took out the two arrows from his ears. He turned around and walked a dozen steps, with his back to the tossing pot. Then, he threw the arrows backwards with both hands at the same time, with extremely fast movements.

The two feather arrows drew a curve in the air, and then fell into the ears of the bronze pot at the same time.

"Two arrows through the ears! Or a shot from behind?"

One person exclaimed, and everyone was amazed by this move.

Then everyone started to shout: "Cai cai cai!"

"Caicaicai!"

Did you think that was the end? Of course not. Li Er's skill was amazing, while Li Sanlang picked up a few arrows, walked behind a screen 20 steps away, and then threw three arrows in succession through the screen.

All in the pot!

"Blind shot across the screen!"

As a result, the cheers became louder.

Li Si was smiling from ear to ear, even forgetting that his wrist was "injured", and cheered and applauded very hard.

With such a family, is there any need to work hard?
(End of this chapter)