Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 303: Archery Competition in the Military Camp
Zhao Zhen turned to Zhao Ji and said, "Move all the mats to Baishizhuang, and tomorrow pick five mats with copper coin patterns and water ripple patterns to take to Jingyang Town."

After that, Zhao Zhen and his companions left the carpenter's workshop and returned to Baishi Valley. Zhao Zhen wrote a proposal and sent it to the Ruan brothers, telling them about the plan he had discussed with Wu Yong to occupy the area around Shijie Lake, and asked the three of them to come to discuss it at noon the next day.

Zhao Xing arranged for people to pick bamboo mats made of bamboo strips for the mats to be delivered. He first picked the heroes with families to deliver the mats, and then heroes from other places gradually delivered the mats. Cheng Wan'er asked Bai Zhi to personally deliver the mats to Lin Chong, Jiao Ting, and Ruan Xiaoer, and she also asked Bai Zhi to check the pulses of the pregnant women.

The next morning, after breakfast, Zhao Zhen rode on the Zhaoye Jade Lion Horse, and together with Hu Sanniang and a group of female riders, they set up a carriage, took a bone bow, bamboo mats, and escorted the carriages to Jingyang Town. Passing by Heihu Temple Town, they rested their horses, chatted with Duan Jingzhu, and left a green bamboo mat behind when they left.

When they arrived at Jingyang Town, it was noon. Hua Rong and others welcomed Zhao Zhen into the camp.

After the greeting, Zhao Zhen first asked everyone about the situation in the army. Hearing that everything was fine, Zhao Zhen said, "I came here this time because I got some new cool bamboos and made bamboo mats for you brothers. These bamboo mats are very cool and can be used in the future. When there are more, the soldiers in the army can also use them."

Li Ying said: "Your Excellency cares about the soldiers. The soldiers are grateful for this favor."

Zhao Zhen said, "Soldiers should be rewarded on weekdays when they go to war. The second thing is that I brought a lot of snake bone bows. Brother Hua Rong is the archery instructor of the whole army. In addition to training these soldiers, brothers Li Ying and Sun An, the two cavalry soldiers, also need your concern. I know you are good at horse fighting, but it's a pity that there are not enough war horses in the county. After a while, I will send a few brothers to the north to buy horses, and then I will form a cavalry for you."

Hua Rong was excited when he heard this: "Unfortunately, there are few horses in Shandong. I wanted to buy war horses in Qingfeng Village, but unfortunately, there were no war horses to buy and I didn't have enough money, so I only bought a few horses for daily riding."

Sun An said: "Not only Shandong is short of horses, but also the northwest, the army is short of horses. When I killed five riders of the Iron Harrier, three good horses and two injured horses were all stolen."

Deng Fei said: "There are corrupt officials like this everywhere."

Fu Yu also said: "I am not afraid of the county magistrate, I am only afraid of the current manager. This has been the case since ancient times. We are blessed to be able to follow the great official in our previous life."

Everyone laughed when they heard this.

"We are indeed living a carefree life, with no shortage of food and clothing, and good wine and meat every day. We could not have imagined having such a cool mat in the past," said Deng Fei.

"Brothers, it is much happier to compete with each other in martial arts every day than to be a rich man." Li Ying also said.

As they were talking, lunch was being arranged in the camp.

After dinner, Hua Rong and his men accompanied Zhao Zhen to look around the camp. Zhao Zhen suggested, "The morale of the army is high. I heard that most of the soldiers brought by Brother Hua Rong are good at archery. Today, we will gather the soldiers to compete with the farmers in Jingyang Town. I will offer a first-class snake bone bow. The winner will own it. The second place will be rewarded with 10 taels of gold, the third place will be rewarded with 5 taels of gold, and the fourth to tenth places will be rewarded with 1 tael of gold. What do you think, brothers?"

Li Ying asked, "Sir, Brother Hua Rong is a great archer. We have all seen him these days. With Brother Hua Rong here, the others can only compete for second or third place."

Zhao Zhen said: "Brother Hua Rong is the chief examiner, how about not participating?"

Li Ying said: "This is what makes it interesting."

Sun An asked, "Sir, do you want to invite the farmers in the town?"

Zhao Zhen said, "We are all new to the town. We want to reassure the farmers and deter lawbreakers. Also, we want to see if there are any good men in the town. If there are good archers, we can recruit them to serve in the army. Therefore, this competition is open to all men, women, young and old. Anyone who is good at archery can participate. Brother, have someone shout in the town that the competition will start at the end of the afternoon in the parade ground. Farmers with nothing to do can come and watch."

After hearing this, Sun An said, "I'll find a few loudmouths to shout around the town."

Li Ying said: "I ordered the soldiers to set up targets on the training ground."

Hua Rong said, "I have never used a snake bone bow before, so I'd like to go take a look. I wonder how powerful the snake bone bow that the master brought is?"

Zhao Zhen said, "We will go and prepare ourselves. Brother Fu Yu, please take down the names of those who have signed up for the competition. Those who are not participating in the competition should all be fully armed and maintain order in the training ground."

Everyone agreed and went about their business.

Zhao Zhen took Hua Rong to try out the bows. Looking at the neatly stacked bow arms, bowstrings, and arrows, Zhao Zhen said, "Brother Hua Rong, the snake bone bows delivered this time range from six to nine dou. Unfortunately, the elasticity of the snake bones is still a bit poor, and even with the addition of ox horns and sheep horns to increase the bow strength, the maximum is still six or seven dou."

"The bow made of the first-level green water python's snake bones has a maximum bow strength of six dou. A first-level green water python can make less than 3000 bows. The remaining bow strength is not enough and can only be used as a hunting bow. Except for the fourth-level green water python's snake bones, all other usable snake bones have been used, and only more than 20 bone bows with more than six dou were obtained. There are only 45 one-stone hard bows, more nine-dou bows, a total of 200, and more than eight-dou bows."

"We got seven first-order snake bone bows and two second-order snake bone bows. They all used entry-level materials. The second-order bows even used entry-level tiger tendons as strings. Although all nine bows are eight-bucket bows, their range is longer than a stone bow."

"This time, we sent 300 six-dou bows, 500 seven-dou bows, 3000 bowstrings, and archery, conical arrows, and armor-piercing arrows as regular bows and arrows for the army. Brothers, please train these soldiers well. Brothers, you should also go to the Wanzi City recruit camp to practice from time to time. It would be best if everyone can shoot arrows."

As he spoke, Zhao Zhen took a second-level snake bone bow from Zhao Ji and handed it to Hua Rong: "Brother, how about trying this bow? Is it better than the thin bow with golden magpie pattern that I used?"

Hua Rong reached out to take the bow, held it in his hand, stretched out his hand to test it, and took two arrows. Just then, a group of wild geese flew over, and Hua Rong said, "Master, watch me shoot the last two wild geese."

After saying that, he shot two arrows in succession, and finally two geese fell straight down.

Zhao Zhen hurriedly asked Zhao Ji to take people to look for it. Hua Rong held the snake bone bow in his hand and said, "Sir, this bow is really good. My third-level clay gold magpie-painted fine bow has the same strength as this second-level snake bone bow, but it is much lighter."

Soon, Zhao Ji and his men retrieved the two wild geese that had fallen outside the camp. Zhao Zhen saw that he had shot both wild geese on the head and praised them, "Brother, you are a great archer. You are like Li Guang reborn. It is a blessing for Liangshan to have brothers together!"

Zhao Ji and his men's search alarmed many people inside and outside the camp. When they saw the two wild geese Hua Rong had shot down, they all praised him. All the farmers in the town and the soldiers in the camp admired Hua Rong. From then on, they all called Hua Rong "General Shenbi".

A high platform had been built on the training ground. Zhao Zhen and other heroes went on stage. Nearly 400 people who had registered were standing below the stage. The rest of the soldiers stood around to prevent the farmers who came to watch the competition from rushing into the archery range.

With the sound of horns and drums, the noisy parade ground suddenly became quiet.

Zhao Zhen did not say much. He asked a few loud farmhands to make a loud announcement, and the soldiers and farmhands who signed up were divided into teams of 30 people, each with five arrows. They shot at the straw target 80 steps in front of them with a drum beat.

After nearly an hour of competition, seventeen people hit the target with all five arrows. Fourteen people in armor were soldiers brought by Hua Rong. The two older ones dressed as hunters were brothers, the elder Qiao Bo and the younger Qiao Yang. The younger one was called Hua Bao.

Zhao Zhen saw this and smiled secretly: "This first round will decide the seventeen who all hit the target with five arrows. What do you think the next round will be like?"

Everyone looked at Hua Rong, who was frowning and looking down without saying anything. Deng Fei said, "Sir, the sharpshooter in the army must not only shoot accurately, but also shoot far. Why not move the target back 20 steps, and erect targets at 100 steps, 120 steps, 140 steps, 160 steps, and 180 steps respectively? Shoot at the straw target at 100 steps first, and then shoot after you hit it. It will also be five arrows, and the one who hits the target with more arrows wins."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Zhao Zhen also said, "This is a good idea. Brother Fu Yu, please arrange the straw targets. Brother Deng Fei, please talk to the 17 sharpshooters about the rules. If anyone wants to change their bows, I have brought ten eight-bucket, nine-bucket, and one-stone bows for them to choose from." As he said that, he asked Zhao Ji to follow Deng Fei off the stage to question the archers who won the preliminary round.

Soon, the target was erected and the archers had chosen their bows and arrows. A cannon shot was fired and the second round of competition began, again with a drum.

All the archers on the field held their breath, drew their bows and arrows, and shot at their respective targets.

As soon as the drums stopped, the counting soldiers came forward to count the numbers, recorded them in a book, and sent them to the stage.

Zhao Zhen flipped through the roster. Seventeen people hit the targets at 100 steps and 120 steps, eleven people hit the targets at 140 steps, five people hit the targets at 160 steps, and three people hit the targets at 180 steps.

After Zhao Zhen finished reading it, he passed it to Sun An and Li Ying who were standing by. After they read it, Li Ying said, "I didn't expect that two of these three farmers hit the target at 180 steps."

Zhao Zhen called up the seventeen archers on the stage and divided them into four rows.

Zhao Zhen first asked the three hunters, "Would you three like to join the army and become archery instructors? The salary will be the same as that of the guards. If you are meritorious in teaching archery, you will be rewarded separately."

Hunters Qiao Bo and Qiao Yang said in unison: "We are willing to teach archery in the army."

Zhao Zhen looked at Hua Bao who was lowering his head and deliberately said, "What do you think, little brother?"

The hunter who called himself Hua Bao was about to speak, but Hua Rong beside him said, "No."

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Hua Rong scolded Hua Bao, "Little sister, how long are you going to keep making trouble?"

The young hunter raised his head and protested, "What nonsense! Didn't we say that all the soldiers and farmers in the town can compete?"

Li Ying smiled and said, "So it's General Hua's sister. No wonder she's so good at archery."

Fu Yu also said: "It is true that there is no restriction on men and women. Besides, there are women in the army. My master's wife [Flying Sword Fairy] Wu Sanniang, my wife [One Zhang Qing] Hu Sanniang and the female riders under their command are all skilled in martial arts. The archery skills of the Hua family sister are also very good in the army."

Hua Rong wanted to say more, Zhao Zhen quickly said: "It is true that it has not been stated. Sanniang, if the sister of the Hua family is interested in the army, how about going to the Madam?"

Hu Sanniang understood and said, "Master, you are right. Although female riders can use swords, they cannot shoot arrows. It would be the best if Miss Hua can come."

Hua Baoyan said excitedly: "I have also learned archery, so I am willing to go to your army and teach archery."

Zhao Zhen said to Hua Rong, "Brother Hua Rong, this female rider is not part of the army. She doesn't need to report for duty or perform military duties. She only needs to practice riding horses. It's better to let her stay there. They are all women, so it's more convenient. She won't be able to stay at home and run around everywhere."

Hua Rong said helplessly: "I will follow your orders, sir."

Then, he said to Hua Baoyan, "Now that you have joined the Women's Cavalry Team, if you make trouble again, you will be beaten with a stick. Don't cry."

Hua Baoyan said: "Who is kidding? I won this by shooting arrows."

Seeing that Hua Rong no longer objected, Zhao Zhen smiled and said, "Today's competition is the best among the seventeen of you. There is no need to compete again. Qiao Bai, Qiao Yang, and Hua Baoyan are the best archers and are tied for first place. I will give you a first-class snake bone bow as a reward. I only brought one today. You all follow me to Liangshan County to get the bows."

"The two who tied for second place will be rewarded with ten taels of gold, the six who tied for third place will be rewarded with five taels of gold, and the six who tied for third place will be rewarded with one tael of gold. They will all concurrently serve as archery instructors and receive an additional salary."

After hearing this, everyone thanked him in unison.

(End of this chapter)