Chapter 802 Expedient Measures
It was already noon when they returned to the camp. Feng Tianba, Li Haitang and Wu Chan gathered in Liu Xunyi's tent, discussing intensively how to deal with the upcoming "Nadam" conference.

However, the heated discussion that lasted the entire afternoon was between Feng Tianba and Li Haitang, with Wuchan occasionally saying a few words. Liu Xunyi sat alone in a corner, holding a jar of strong liquor and lost in deep thought, unable to extricate himself for a long time.

Although they knew that Liu Xunyi was not in the mood to care about the "Nadam", the 15th of July was only three days away, which was a short time. Therefore, even though Feng Tianba and Li Haitang felt reluctant, they had to bite the bullet and ask him.

After all, Liu Xunyi is their backbone. Even if others are passionate and arguing, it is still Liu Xunyi who ultimately decides what to do next.

"Master Liu, that Hulan...is not easy to deal with."

Feng Tianba held his aching waist with his hands, stood up tremblingly, limped over, took the jar of wine from the stunned Liu Xunyi, and replaced it with a bowl of water.

"I am incompetent. I have brute strength but I am not good at archery, horse riding, swords and arrows. Therefore, I am afraid that I can't help much with the Nadam Festival."

As if disturbed by Feng Tianba's voice, the lost Liu Xunyi's body trembled slightly. He stared blankly at Feng Tianba, who had a sad face. For a moment, he was at a loss, with confusion in his eyes.

It seemed that Liu Xunyi did not hear a single word that Li Haitang and Feng Tianba said during the entire afternoon's discussion.

"Master Liu, are you... okay?"

"Oh! No... I'm fine." Liu Xunyi suddenly came to his senses, quickly calmed down, and asked with concern, "Your injury..."

"It's just a superficial wound, no big deal." Feng Tianba twisted his limbs nonchalantly.

"That's good!" Liu Xunyi breathed a sigh of relief and comforted him, "Don't worry about Nadamu. Leave it to us."

"that is!"

Li Haitang walked up to Feng Tianba with a smile and said, "I've said it before, no matter how powerful Hu Lan is, can he be more powerful than Brother Liu? If he fights Hu Lan, he will definitely win one match. And if I, 'Invincible Divine Arrow', win the 'bow and arrow' contest, won't it be easy to win two matches? As for the 'weapon' contest, winning or losing is not important at all."

"Of course I have full confidence in Lord Liu's martial arts, but the use of internal force is not allowed in a 'fist and kick' competition. Hu Lan is obviously a master of bare-handed close combat. He studies this style almost every day and has already mastered all kinds of techniques. On the other hand, Lord Liu... may lack experience." Feng Tianba explained.

“That’s right!” Wu Chan nodded repeatedly. “This morning, even Donor Su admitted that Hu Lan is very skilled, so we shouldn’t underestimate his strength. After all, every man has his own strengths and weaknesses…”

"Hu Lie and Wang Dechen are so smart, how could they do a business that would lose money?" Feng Tianba continued, "The fact that they dared to let us participate in the 'Nadam Festival' shows that they are well-prepared and have already secretly calculated everything."

"This……"

After being repeatedly reminded by Wuchan and Feng Tianba, the absent-minded Liu Xunyi gradually realized the strangeness of the matter and pondered, "So, in this case, we are not sure of winning the three competitions of fists, weapons, and bows and arrows?"

"Although Li Haitang's archery skills are superb, it is also known that the Mongolians are good at riding and shooting." Feng Tianba said helplessly, "They were able to conquer such a large country with bows, horses, swords and arrows, so how can their archery skills be underestimated? Maybe Hu Lie has already chosen a master with outstanding archery skills in his mind, and that person's archery skills... may not be inferior to Li Haitang's."

Having said this, Feng Tianba hurriedly bowed to the indignant Li Haitang to show that he had no ill intentions.

"I think that although Hulan is extremely skilled, he is the easiest one to deal with because we have all seen his methods with our own eyes." Wuchan seemed to be thinking about something and spoke slowly. "On the contrary, we don't know what kind of experts Mongolia will send out in the 'weapon' and 'bow and arrow' competitions, so... the outcome is unpredictable."

"Little monk, what you said is just to boost others' morale and destroy your own prestige." Li Haitang sneered at Wuchan's worries and said with a curled lip, "I don't care about anything in the world, except archery... I admit that I am second to none in the world, who dares to claim to be number one?"

"There is always someone stronger than you, and there are always better people." Feng Tianba retorted, "I know you are extremely talented and have trained hard in the cold winter and hot summer, but who can guarantee that there is no one in the world who is more talented than you and has trained harder than you?"

"I understand now. You are targeting people instead of things!" Li Haitang was angry and unhappy. "It's not that you don't believe in my archery skills, but you don't believe in me as a person."

"You are frivolous, slick, arrogant, and conceited. What's so strange about not trusting you?" Feng Tianba was not willing to be outdone and retorted, "This matter concerns a prefecture of the Song Dynasty. It's not just a few melons and dates, but thousands of hectares of territory and millions of people..."

"According to your opinion, I shouldn't have gotten involved in this matter." Li Haitang laughed in anger, self-deprecatingly, "It's really like a dog biting Lu Dongbin, not knowing the good heart. I'm not an official appointed by the court, why should I meddle in other people's affairs and risk my life to bear the eternal infamy for you?"

"Although you are not an official appointed by the imperial court, you are a Han Chinese. How can you be indifferent to the rise and fall of the world?"

"It's really unreasonable!" Li Haitang said angrily, "You are the one who asked me to help you, and you are also the one who didn't let me help you. What do you mean?"

"I'm just reminding you not to treat Nadam as a joke, and don't be blindly arrogant just because you have some skills!"

"You obviously don't trust me..."

"Stop arguing!"

Liu Xunyi, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly interrupted the argument between the two and said in a deep voice: "What is more important than winning or losing is the people's hearts. If we fight among ourselves, won't it make the Mongols laugh at us?"

"Does Mr. Liu have any advice?" In order to prevent Feng Tianba and Li Haitang from arguing again, Wu Chan hurriedly changed the subject.

"It's not a brilliant idea, but it's better than us running around like headless flies." Liu Xunyi pondered, "Have you heard of the story of 'Tian Ji's Horse Race'?"

Hearing this, Feng Tianba, Li Haitang and Wu Chan were stunned and fell into deep thought.

"I understand what Lord Liu means, but right now we know nothing about anyone except Hu Lan." Feng Tianba was skeptical and hesitated, "How can we determine who is the top horse, the middle horse, and the bottom horse?" "Although we don't know each other's details, we know our own details very well." Liu Xunyi smiled slightly and took the opportunity to ease the conflict between Feng Tianba and Li Haitang. "Although your worries about Li Haitang are not unreasonable, his archery skills are obvious to all. Let's not talk about 'people beyond people, heaven beyond heaven', just say that in our lives, have you and I ever met anyone with better archery skills than Li Haitang?

"This..." Feng Tianba was speechless.

"Undoubtedly, the 'Top Four' among us is none other than Haitang. Similarly, the Mongols are good at riding and shooting, so there must be no shortage of people with superb archery skills, but whether they can reach the pinnacle of Haitang is still unknown. Therefore, the people sent by Mongolia in the 'bow and arrow' competition... let's just count them as their 'Middle Four'." Liu Xunyi analyzed in an orderly manner, "With the Top Four versus the Middle Four, Haitang is undoubtedly the most likely to win first."

"The middle and lower horses..."

"Compared with Mr. Liu, I am ashamed of myself. Therefore, he should be the 'middle horse'." Wuchan answered before Liu Xunyi, "I just don't know... in the Mongolian competition of 'weapons' and 'fists and feet', is Hulan considered the 'upper horse' or the 'lower horse'?"

"I don't know." Liu Xunyi was stunned, then turned bitter, "We have seen Hulan's kung fu. Feng Tianba was defeated by him three times, but still couldn't get the slightest advantage. It shows that this top master of the Wanggu tribe who is favored by General Wang... is not simple. As for me, compared to fists and feet, I am actually better at weapons. Therefore, if we go all out in a duel, I have a greater chance of winning with 'weapons'."

"Master Liu is right! In fact, I am not good at using weapons. In comparison, bare hands are more suitable for me..."

"Wait!" Li Haitang frowned and waved his hand to interrupt, "Hu Lie said that Nadam would let Brother Liu compete with Hu Lan. If the monk is replaced temporarily, will Hu Lie and Wang Dechen agree?"

"No!" Liu Xunyi said firmly.

"hiss!"

When these words were spoken, Li Haitang and the other two were shocked, and a look of confusion appeared in their eyes when they looked at Liu Xunyi.

It seemed that none of them knew what Liu Xunyi was up to.

"So, the middle horse is me, and the lower horse... is also me." Liu Xunyi said quietly, "These three competitions are related to the future national policy of Song and Mongolia. Whether it is us or the masters sent by Mongolia, we will fight to the death and never admit defeat. Master Wuchan is a Buddhist, and he is born with a heart of a bodhisattva. How can he make up his mind to fight to the death with them?"

"If I let you fight two people alone, will you..."

"Don't worry, I've already thought of a countermeasure." Liu Xunyi smiled faintly, "On the day of the Nadam Festival, no matter whether the 'weapons' or 'fists' competition comes first, I will put all my energy into the first match and fight to win the first match. As for the second match... I will do it according to my ability and will not force it."

"Good idea!" Li Haitang was the first to agree. "If Brother Liu goes all out, he will surely be able to defeat Hu Lan even in a fight."

Wuchan thought for a moment and then nodded slowly. Only Feng Tianba kept frowning, as if he was depressed.

"Brother Feng, what do you think?"

"To be honest, I have always been worried." Feng Tianba said awkwardly, "If I tell you, I hope Master Liu won't be offended..."

"But it doesn't matter!"

"It's not that I don't believe in Lord Liu's martial arts, nor am I worried about the competition between Lord Liu and Hu Lan." Feng Tianba repeated his words in his mind and hesitated, "What really worries me is the 'weapon' competition. If the 'weapon' competition comes first, and Lord Liu fails to win even if he tries his best, then... won't the Song Dynasty lose?"

"Brother Liu has already said that!" Li Haitang said dissatisfiedly, "Compared to fists and feet, he is better at using weapons. As the name suggests, Brother Liu has a greater chance of winning in the 'weapon' competition..."

"That being said, it depends on the opponent you are facing."

"hiss!"

As soon as Feng Tianba said this, Liu Xunyi immediately held his breath and covered his face in dismay. At the same time, Li Haitang and Wu Chan, who were hesitant to speak, also had a sense of foreboding in their hearts, but they couldn't figure it out for a while.

Under Feng Tianba's mixed gaze, Liu Xunyi, who had been confident of victory, seemed to have suddenly fallen into an endless abyss. His heart was empty as if he was a wandering ghost in the underworld, forever in darkness, never... able to see the light of dawn.

"I have calculated everything..." Liu Xunyi muttered in a daze, "But I just forgot to calculate that he is right in front of me..."

"Brother Liu, who are you talking about?"

"I……"

“Brother Liu!”

Before Liu Xunyi could open his mouth to answer, a deep and loud voice suddenly sounded from outside the tent.

The curtain was gently opened a crack, and then someone seemed to hesitate for a moment. Then, the curtain was lifted high, and a majestic man with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a strong back walked in.

The person who came was Su He, the "fastest swordsman in Mobei".

……

(End of this chapter)