Can any one tell me what the ancient Chinese Military exams consisted of?
Some reference in the Water Margin but it only has a trial by combat in order to justify promoting a hero to be a military officer. Horse back with spears and bows, they used felt raping to tip weapons and applied dye. Had white cloths over their armour and went at it. Then they counted the markings on the cloth after a few exchanges.
Is this typical of the exams or just an exception as promotion was outside official examination period?
Seems a cool way of testing weapon skill without to much danger.
How would this relate to the classical 18 weapons? Chinese weapons training is a bit outside my current experiences but I would love to study them.