Jinting Han people

Chapter 82: Shooting at Yunlong Gate

In the eyes of people in later generations, celebrating birthdays may be a natural and right thing, but in the Western Jin Dynasty, it was not a common custom.

After all, in ancient times, people died too frequently. There were countless heroes who died young, but only a handful of mortals lived long lives. Therefore, people did not feel that the arrival of life was precious, but only felt surprised by the longevity of the elders.

Therefore, during the Han Dynasty and even earlier, people were accustomed to celebrating the birthdays of the elderly and neglected celebrating the birthdays of children.

However, with the rise of the gentry, the first birthday celebrations gradually became popular, and the gentry began to attach importance to their children's birthdays. To commemorate the celebrations, some doting families held large banquets on the same day every year. It was not until the late Southern and Northern Dynasties that the tradition of everyone celebrating their birthday gradually became established.

At this time in the Western Jin Dynasty, celebrating birthdays was still a relatively niche activity, a way for parents to show their love for their children.

Princess Yingchuan's birthday last year was roughly like this. Emperor Sima Yan held a grand banquet in the palace, notified the princes in advance, and asked them to prepare gifts. It was considered a very grand occasion.

But such a grand event does not take place every year. At least this year, the emperor was in poor health and was bedridden, so no preparations were made.

So the fifth prince Sima Wei, who had shined brightly last year, took on this responsibility and held another banquet for his sister in the palace.

While Princess Yingchuan was chasing the Ninth Prince all over the place, Sima Wei explained to Liu Xian the whole story of the banquet.

Liu Xian was both amused and confused. He couldn't help but ask, "But shouldn't the princess' birthday be held in the harem? It's fine for His Highness to hold his birthday party at Yunlong Gate, but why did he invite so many soldiers?"

Sima Wei also smiled bitterly. He sighed and said, "That's not up to me! This is what my little sister wants to see!"

"Ah?! What does the princess want to see?" Liu Xian was a little confused. Didn't the princess like music the last time he saw her? What could he possibly see among a group of soldiers?
"I want to see a sword fight!" Sima Wei explained, "That's a long story..."

It turns out that the princess and Sima Wei had visited Jingu Garden the previous year when they happened upon the Jinu Garden robbery. A torrential downpour had isolated Shi Chao and the princess in the outer courtyard. When the rain subsided, Shi Chao took the princess to Chongqi Tower for shelter, where they happened to witness a man in black kidnapping Lu Zhu.

Although it was dark at that time, the princess was immediately impressed by Lu Zhu's face. She looked at the man in black, carrying Lu Zhu on his back, galloping on his horse, wielding his sword as fast as lightning, rushing left and right in the rain and among the heavy siege, and even killing two people in a row while being surrounded, and then galloping into the apricot forest without hesitation.

Although the princess did not witness what happened later, she had a general idea of it: Shi Chong sent more people to capture him, but they still couldn't stop him, and he escaped from the Jingu Garden in full view of everyone.

The blood, darkness, the swift horse, the swift sword, and the beauty, these elements frightened the princess at first, and she had nightmares for several days after returning.

But after she came to her senses, she began to think about it again. When she listened to the music again, she felt a little bored. Instead, she thought that swordsmanship was more beautiful.

So over the past six months, Xiu Hua loved to pester Sima Wei to watch sword fighting whenever she had nothing to do. Later, she came up with a unique idea and wanted to watch the guards fighting with swords on her birthday. Sima Wei couldn't persuade her, and he loved his sister from the bottom of his heart, so he finally agreed.

Sima Wei sighed to Liu Xian, "It can be considered a fateful relationship. If the Imperial Household had not spared the beauty and directly shot the man, wouldn't there have been so many problems?"

The culprit in front of him felt a little embarrassed, rubbed his neck, and thought, is there such a thing?
He said, "Perhaps the princess is just in a momentary mood. After a while, the mood will pass and she will return to her old ways."

The two talked for a while longer, and then the princess finally let Sima Yun go. Her face flushed like the morning glow, and she ran over to Sima Wei and asked, "Fifth brother, are you ready for the sword fight?"

"Okay, okay." Sima Wei nodded with a smile, and called out the names of his soldiers, eight or nine people in a row, and asked them to come to a wooden platform in the middle of the crowd to compete with swords in turn.

Sima Wei then turned to Liu Xian and said, "I heard you know some swordsmanship. Today is a rare opportunity. Would you like to show off your skills here?"

How could Liu Xian dare to agree? If he was recognized by the princess, it would be a disaster. So he waved his hands and said, "I only know a little bit about swordsmanship, so I won't embarrass myself in front of Your Highness."

Sima Wei just mentioned it casually. He didn't know what level Liu Xian's swordsmanship was, and he wasn't very interested in swordsmanship.

He still remembered how, back in Jingu Garden, Shi Chong had called his most prized swordsman to his presence and lectured him on profound principles like "the heart of the sword" and "abandoning the easy and pursuing the difficult." He had been taken aback. The result? In the blink of an eye, the swordsman had been stabbed through the throat by a sword, dying in obscurity in the shadows.

It can be seen that no matter what we do, practicality should be the top priority.

Soon, the fencing competition began.

Liu Xian sat in front of the campfire and watched with interest for a while.

To be fair, both figures on stage possessed decent swordsmanship. The one on the left, armed with two long swords, was performing a two-handed sword fight, Gu Yingfa, while the one on the right, armed with an unusual four-foot sword, was performing a rising and falling technique. Their footwork, one nimble, the other heavy, made for a spectacular clash, with the shimmering, clanking sounds of blades. However, it was clear that neither of them was truly focused, not displaying their true abilities, preferring instead to perform.

And after watching for a long time, it still becomes a bit boring. The two of them are fighting each other for more than twenty rounds, and there is no sign of the end for the time being.

The princess, who had not yet entered the industry, watched with great interest, but the knowledgeable guards in the audience began to concentrate on their meal.

During this boring moment, someone stood up and said, "Such a grand event has sword fighting, how can we not have archery? There are so many excellent archers in the army. Who would like to compete with me?"

Compared to swordplay, archery was quick and easy, with the winner immediately clear, and it attracted more participants. Naturally, the guards responded en masse. Soon, thirty or so guards, armed with bows and arrows, set up targets in the nearby grove and formed a circle to compete.

Compared to sword fighting, Sima Wei also prefers archery. After sitting for a while, he heard the guards cheering for the archery competition. He couldn't resist the urge to watch, so he went over to watch. Liu Xian also followed him.

He saw that the targets in the forest were not ordinary, but a variety of them. Large targets included bear heads and bamboo poles, small targets included grass seed bags, and someone even got a few rabbits from somewhere, saying they wanted to shoot live targets.

Most of the target shooters were indeed good, and they hit the target nine out of ten times. The most outstanding among them were those who shot at grass seed bags.

The grass seed bag was no more than two inches wide, smaller than a fist. From a hundred paces away, it looked like an ant. Hitting a target like this required extremely sharp eyesight and wrist strength, something even the most skilled marksman wouldn't be able to do. When Liu Xian arrived, he happened to see a warrior practicing his target. He was about thirty years old, seven feet tall, with a full beard and a square face. But his expression was remarkably calm, his brows relaxed as he held the bow, not a hint of murderous intent in his eyes.

He stood naturally with his legs apart, hooked the string, pulled the arrow, aimed at the target, and shot the arrow. The arrowhead passed through the bag and the grass seeds inside fell out.

The onlookers all applauded. Sima Wei ordered his men to remove the torn bag, replace it with a new one, fill it with grass seeds, and hang it up. He then introduced him to Liu Xian, saying, "This is Meng Guan, the Palace Attendant. He's from Bohai. Although he's only a fourth-rank official, his archery skills are truly first-rate."

Now, another archer took over. He looked about the same age as Meng Guan, his hands covered in calluses, a true veteran. Unlike Meng Guan, however, his eyes were sharp as an eagle's. He drew the bowstring, aimed the arrow, and, even before the arrow had even been released, everyone felt they had already hit the target. This man didn't hesitate, lowering his shoulders and taking a breath for a moment. Then, he raised his finger and released the arrow. With a whoosh, he, too, found his target.

Everyone cheered again. Both of his men had hit their targets, which made Sima Wei's face light up. He said to Liu Xian very proudly, "This is also my man, Li Zhao, the Palace Attendant, from Yingchuan. What do you think? He's not worse than Meng Guan, right?"

Liu Xian praised sincerely, "They are indeed masters among masters."

However, the archery competition has not yet ended. Meng Guan and Li Zhao are evenly matched on a daily basis, and now they are competing here to see who is better.

Seeing that shooting at the grass seed bags was not enough to determine the winner, they ingeniously designed a new target: none other than a round jade disk with tiger patterns all over it, emerald green. The disk was about four inches wide, with a hole in the middle only three fingers wide. The competition was to see who could hit the hole best. If anyone accidentally damaged the disk, they would pay ten pieces of gold as compensation.

This was indeed a very difficult competition. Back then, when Lu Bu shot the halberd at the gate and shocked the three armies, the archery skills he displayed were no more than this.

This time it was Li Zhao who shot first. He stood up and put the arrow on his head as before, squinting his eyes and aiming at the target.

But he took longer to aim than before, and did not make a move for a long time. The veins on his forehead were throbbing slightly, and he was obviously a little nervous. Seeing this, everyone couldn't help but worry for him.

The pressure was still too great. Li Zhao was not sure about his arrow, but he couldn't help but shoot. So he simply adjusted his breath and aim, slightly turned sideways, and released the bowstring.

The arrow quickly drew a trajectory in the air, and with a thud, people heard the cypress trees rustling and many leaves falling. It turned out that the arrow hit a tree trunk, several feet away from the jade disk.

This was not a mistake a sharpshooter would make, and everyone sighed.

Obviously, Li Zhao was not sure about hitting the center of the jade disk, and he did not want to damage it, so he deliberately shot it off target.

Li Zhao also shook his head in dissatisfaction, sighed, and gave up his seat to Meng Guan.

Meng Guan was not excited about his opponent's defeat, but rather showed a look of pity. He patted Li Zhao on the shoulder and gave him a thumbs-up.

Only then did Liu Xian notice that Meng Guan was wearing a white and green jade ring on his thumb. A faint scratch ran down the ring, the mark of prolonged stringing. He picked up his red-painted three-stone bow, which was wrapped with a grayish-yellow rope, faintly stained with blood.

Meng Guan held the bow in his right hand, his left thumb hooking the string with the jade ring. Without exerting much force, he drew the bow slightly. He lifted his right hand, and without pausing or aiming, his left hand quickly released the string. The sharp arrow flew silently, piercing the center of the jade disk. As the arrow struck the tree trunk, it clattered slightly against the jade disk, making a snapping sound.

The audience was stunned when Meng Guan hit the target. After a long silence, they erupted in thunderous applause. Such a brilliant archery skill made the faces of these martial arts-loving warriors flush, as if they had drunk fine wine.

Liu Xian couldn't help but applaud Meng Guan and said to Sima Wei beside him, "I think Yang Youji, who was famous for his archery in ancient times, is probably no better than this!"

Compared with Li Zhao's archery, Meng Guan's archery was not only accurate, but also calm and composed, without any tension or stagnation throughout the whole process. This shows that Meng Guan not only had superb archery skills, but also had a cultivation of his mind that far exceeded that of ordinary people.

Such a lively scene attracted Princess Yingchuan and several other princes. When they heard that Meng Guan had such amazing archery skills, they clamored to see it again.

Meng Guan couldn't persuade them and had to perform again.

This time he aimed at the jade disk and shot another arrow nonchalantly. Everyone thought that his previous archery skills had reached the peak, but unexpectedly, Meng Guan's arrow was even more exaggerated. They followed it with their eyes and heard a very slight breaking sound. Then everyone saw that Meng Guan's arrow actually broke through the shaft of the previous arrow and hit the previous arrow head exactly.

Everyone was choked for a moment, unable to utter even words of praise. In the face of this miraculous archery skill, any words they said were pale in comparison.

The first hit could be said to be a fluke or good luck, but hitting it twice showed that Meng Guan's shooting skills were so good that he could hit whatever he pointed at. If they met on the battlefield, it would be a nightmare.

Sima Wei was the first to react. He was extremely happy and waved his hand to call Meng Guan over to him. He exclaimed, "I knew you were an excellent archer, but I didn't know you were at this level!"

"I've overlooked your talent! You took first place in the archery competition today. Is there anything you want? As long as it's within my authority, I can grant it!"

When the guards heard that King Shiping wanted to reward Meng Guan, they were quite envious and could not help but listen attentively to see what request the sharpshooter wanted to make.

Unexpectedly, Meng Guan bowed his head and saluted, calmly saying, "Although I have mastered these rudimentary martial arts, I have never been able to use them in my daily life. Now, I can serve the court and lead the way for Your Highness. This is already a great blessing. What more could I ask for?"

This is a show of loyalty to Sima Wei.

Sima Wei laughed when he heard this, and personally helped Meng Guan up and said, "When the country has a warrior like Meng Jun, we don't have to worry about border bandits and barbarians! How can I treat a warrior badly?" After that, he immediately ordered Gongsun Hong to take out twenty horseshoe gold coins and reward them to Meng Guan.

Liu Xian watched this scene from the side, his heart moved slightly, and he turned back to look towards Yunlong Gate.

As he passed the dragon-patterned stone archway, he happened to see a group of old men in front of the door. They wore gold seals and purple ribbons on their waists, and dozens of guards stood beside them. They were obviously high-ranking officials with great power.

Although they were far away, Liu Xian could feel that the old man in the lead had a serious expression and cold eyes.

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(End of this chapter)