History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 159 Orchid Archer

The venue is divided into a "suspension target range" and a "beast shooting range".

The hunting grounds were spacious, and the small wild animals enclosed included pheasants, rabbits, and raccoons.

There are three types of suspended target ranges. The first is a single-bell range, where a large copper bell is suspended in a fixed position. The second is a double-bell range, where two copper bells, one high and one low, are suspended. The last is a multi-bell range, where several copper bells of varying heights and sizes are suspended.

Each student took turns trying their hand at archery. The students from Wei Yao and Bu's Academy, who were the worst at archery, were sent to the single-sword arena.

The three people qualified to enter the shooting range are Wei Mao, Yuan Zizhi, and Yuan Heng.

Yuan Jingrong, Hu Ertiao, Zhou Tai, and Hai Yeren entered the multi-bell arena, while the rest entered the double-bell arena.

Each category's field was small, and fortunately, she was the only student in Wei Yao's field. Her archery instructor was a woman around forty years old, surnamed Lan. Instructor Lan told Wei Yao not to rush to shoot the copper bell, but to first learn to focus on the copper bell.

"Yes! I will obey the archer's orders." Whether studying literature or martial arts, Wei Yao took it very seriously, and she obeyed the instructions in a loud voice.

Lan Sheshi was amused by the young girl's seriousness, so she spurred her horse to ride almost as long as Lieutenant Yao's mount, and the two of them ran in circles around the outer road of the copper bell.

The archer quickly changed his commands: "Watch the bell, watch the bell, watch the bell... Stay calm and don't look at the road, stay calm, okay, turn around!"

"Keep turning steady, don't spur the horse, maintain a steady speed... watch the bell, watch the bell, watch the bell, keep your upper body as steady as possible."

"Imagine your upper body as floating clouds, and even if ten thousand horses gallop beneath them, the clouds should not tremble..."

Lan Sheshi taught Wei Yao to gradually gain courage and trust her horse. He generously shared all his experience in stabilizing his upper body on horseback with Wei Yao. From the initial stages of riding and shooting, Lan Sheshi also taught Wei Yao to develop the habit of looking at the target from all directions.

Every twenty or so laps, Wei Yao would dismount and practice shooting copper bells in place. During this process, she would also practice the action and speed of taking arrows from the quiver on her back.

During their first real break, Qu Rong arrived. He had no archery skills whatsoever, and the archery range he was assigned to happened to be the same one where Wei Yao was.

However, his archery instructor was a man with a violent temper, and his teaching method differed from Lan's gradual approach. The more Qu Rong was reprimanded, the less he could concentrate, especially since Wei Yao, who was resting in the corner, was his most disliked fellow student.

He thought that Wei Yao was mocking him all the time. In fact, when Wei Yao learned that Lan Sheshi and her mother were both from the Wuluolan tribe, she deliberately started to steer the conversation and had a serious chat with Lan Sheshi.

Lan Sheshi was an outgoing person, and when he talked about his military experience, he was very talkative: "At that time, there was no Xiao Qi. We fought against Liu Song and the Rouran. In the second year of Yanxing, the Rouran army attacked Dunhuang. The retired emperor personally took command and led us to drive the Rouran out of the north of Yinshan Mountain and all the way to the depths of the desert."

"Later, the Rouran's forces turned to Tuyuhun and Khotan, and there were fewer battles in the north. Alas, this was both a good thing and a bad thing. Wounded soldiers, veterans, and women were the first to be discharged and return to their fields. I didn't know how to farm, but because I was good at riding and archery, I was kept in the Pingcheng County Office as an archery instructor."

“Our Ulolan tribe was originally small. After we moved to Pingcheng, our people gradually dispersed. There are very few of our former comrades who still know about us.”

"By the way, if you think I'm a good teacher, could you please spread the word for me? The more praise I receive, the more the county officials will value me, and maybe I can even stay in office for another ten years or so, haha. What's wrong, young lady?"

Tears welled up in Wei Yao's eyes as she said, "I miss my mother. My mother was also a soldier. There are many women in my neighborhood who were soldiers. You were all brave warriors who fought for the country. But every time I hear people talk about war, it is always the young men who are praised for their bravery. I am not convinced."

Lan Sheshi's expression was complex. In her prime, she had also been defiant about this. But the hardships of life had buried her ambition and pride beneath the mundane realities of daily life. Recalling the past, she sighed, "How I wish that among those generals, a female general could emerge, gathering together women like us skilled in horsemanship and archery!"

Wei Yaotian nodded in agreement: "Yes, how wonderful it would be if such a female general really appeared. I'm sure there are many female warriors who share the same thoughts as Lan Sheshi!"

"Of course! There are more than a dozen of us old friends like me." At this moment, Qu Rong rested, and Wei Yao mounted her horse and began another round of practice.

In the distant Shuozhou region, Wei Jing passed through the ancient city of Guyang County in the far northwest. He passed a group of people and glanced at the sign "Yu" on the convoy. He wondered if they were the carriages of the Yu family from Woye Town. Then he continued on his way northwest, estimating that he would be able to enter Huaishuo Town the day after tomorrow and find Gao Loujin.

The convoy traveling in the opposite direction from Wei Jing was indeed dispatched by Yu Zhenyu, whose purpose was to escort his eleven-year-old daughter, Yu Baoying, to Pingcheng to study the Book of Poetry, and then, when the time was right, directly to Luoyang.

Yu Baoying spent more time on horseback than by carriage. From the moment she left Woye Town until now, the scenery along the way consisted of nothing but wastelands and fields, hardly anything beautiful. Yet, Yu Baoying smiled and seemed interested in everything. She said to her maid, "The young man who just passed by was quite handsome."

The maid turned around perfunctorily, forcing a fake smile to appease the young lady: "Yes." Sigh, the young lady's speech and behavior were all very strange this time she went out, and she always came up with all sorts of weird tricks, slowing down the procession.

It really comes to whatever you want.

Yu Baoying jumped off her horse and, as if she had never seen flowers before, picked one, smelled it, threw it away, picked another, put her nose into the petals to smell it, and then threw it away again.

And that's how it went on and on.

There were two female teachers who taught Bao Ying: one surnamed Yu, who taught women's virtues, and the other surnamed Han, who taught women's handicrafts. When Teacher Yu noticed that the procession had stopped again, she lifted the carriage curtain and called out, "Young lady, please get in the carriage."

Yu Baoying pretended not to hear.

“If you don’t get on the bus, I’ll make you copy Buddhist scriptures as punishment.”

Yu Baoying turned around and smiled playfully: "I get dizzy in the car."

“Sigh, I get dizzy in the car too. The more it stops and starts, the more uncomfortable I feel.” Ms. Yu said, covering her mouth with a handkerchief. “Every time it stops and starts like this, I feel so uncomfortable that I break out in a cold sweat.”

Yu Baoying pouted and sat back on the horse: "Okay, okay, I promise I'll behave myself before noon, alright?"

Ms. Yu smiled kindly, nodded, and lowered the curtain.

As soon as the carriage started moving, Ms. Yu, being elderly, lost her balance, but fortunately, Ms. Han helped her up. Ms. Han said worriedly, "At this rate, when will we ever reach Pingcheng?"

Ms. Yu's response was completely different from when she had urged Ms. Yu earlier. "What's the rush? Even if you arrive early, you can't expect to get first place, can you?"

Ms. Han was amused and whispered, "I knew it, you dote on the young lady the most."

"Alas, having cared for her since she was little, how could I not know what she was thinking? If she really goes to that place in the future, she will never be able to return to her hometown. All the beautiful and ugly scenery in the world will only remain in her memory and be slowly recalled. Even if she has wings, she cannot fly out of the many palace walls."

A butterfly fluttered down and landed on Yu Baoying's shoulder. The future first empress of the new emperor laughed heartily, startling the butterfly away. She then asked her maid with delight, "Are the butterflies here prettier, or are the butterflies in our Woye Town prettier?"

The maid was in a dilemma: neither of them looked good.

Yu Baoying then answered herself, "I think they all look good."

(End of this chapter)