Three Kingdoms: A Million Soldiers Grown from the Fields

Chapter 59 Leading a Yellow Dog on the Left, Holding a Falcon on the Right (Please continue reading)
After washing up and getting out of bed, I stepped out of the thatched hut and ran into Xiahou Lan.

"Brother Xian, I was just about to go find you."

"Why?"

He stopped and looked at Xiahou Lan.

The latter stepped forward and said, "Yesterday, the estate received 200,000 coins in cash, as well as 100,000 coins worth of coarse salt and iron ore. The Zhou family has also placed an order for 10,000 catties of fine wine for the next batch."

As he spoke, he took out a wooden tablet from his pocket and handed it over.

Zhang Xian took it, glanced at it, and nodded: "Thank you for your hard work. You didn't even have time to eat yesterday before rushing to register."

"Brother Xian, you're being too formal with me," Xiahou Lan said with a smile.

"Alright then, I won't stand on ceremony with you. The warhorses should arrive in about ten days. During this time, you should have people set up a stable so that there's nowhere to put the horses when they arrive."

"In addition, horse feed should be stored in advance. Right now is the time for farming, and the fields have not yet produced anything. You should arrange for some people to cut hay early, and the bean feed should also be steamed in advance to be mixed in for feeding."

Having warhorses on the estate is a good thing, but feeding them is also a real hassle. One horse needs to eat the equivalent of several people's food, and the feed needs to be carefully selected, otherwise it will lose weight.

"Understood, brother will arrange it properly."

The two walked forward, and Xiahou Lan readily agreed.

"By the way, Brother Xian."

"Ok?"

"My younger brother can stay at the estate more often today; Master has agreed."

"You graduated?" Zhang Xian looked over in surprise.

Xiahou Lan shook her head embarrassedly: "It can't be considered graduation. It's just that my master said my mind wasn't on the mountain, and even if I continued to practice, it wouldn't be of much use. So he sent me down the mountain and asked A-Yun to supervise my martial arts."

Zhang Xian sighed and patted his shoulder: "I'm sorry to have troubled you two."

"How can you blame Xian-ge'er? It's just that I'm not good-natured. After hearing your vision that day, I've been fantasizing about that scene all day long."

Zhang Xian looked at Xiahou Lan with some surprise and asked seriously, "Are you really sure? You should know that this path for Brother Xian is not easy to walk."

“But didn’t Brother Xian say that even if there are thousands of people, I will go? I don’t have that kind of mentality, but if my elder brother is in front of me, I should be able to persevere.”

His tone was filled with longing and composure, as if he had thought about it for a long time before making the decision.

Zhang Xian gently patted him on the head: "Thank you for your thoughtfulness."

He then slapped him hard on the back: "Then hurry up and get to work, don't rest."

"Haha, Brother Xian knows how to order people around." Xiahou Lan smiled and then cupped his hands in greeting: "Then I'll go and get busy."
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After finishing tending to his homestead template in the early morning and instructing several new doctors who had come to Taoyuan to learn smallpox vaccination, Zhang Xian went to the bow-making workshop.

Huang Zhong was already busy there, and the apprentices outside the thatched house had also moved a table and were cutting and shaping the bow.

"The patriarch is here. This four-stone bow should be finished today. After I straighten and string it, shall we test it?"

"Okay." Zhang Xian nodded.

After more than ten days, the first war bow is finally ready for use. In the next few days, the bow shafts of the rest will be almost finished. At that time, Taoyuan's military equipment can be replaced with three-stone bows.

With a bow force of 180 jin, coupled with an armor-piercing arrow, piercing through infantry armor would be a piece of cake.

After lingering for a while in the bow-making shed, and waiting for Huang Zhong to completely straighten the four-stone bow and attach the string, the two went to the archery range in Peach Blossom Spring.

The four-stone bow is formed by bending the bow body and drawing the string, with the animal horn extending outward close to the bow tip. The entire bow is wrapped with rope for anti-slip treatment, and the middle is oval with flat ends.

Standing at the archery range, Huang Zhong held his breath and focused intently as he drew his bow and nocked an arrow, his arm muscles bulging.

"Go!" *Buzz!*
The four-stone bow, almost as tall as a person, emitted a metallic clang, and the arm-length arrows nocked on it shot out like black lightning.

Snapped!
In the distance, the straw targets exploded, sending straw fragments flying everywhere.

"Two hundred and seventy steps! Okay! Hansheng is amazing!"

Zhang Xian acted as the announcer. From the front of the bow to the grass target, it was exactly 270 paces, almost 300 meters. The grass target was no bigger than a chopstick in people's eyes, but Huang Zhong hit it accurately, and the force of the bow was so strong that it shattered the grass target.

"A divine bow! If such power were to strike a living creature, wouldn't it shatter armor and tear a person to pieces?! Even Li Guang's feat of shooting stones and wrestling tigers was no more than this!"

"Hahaha." Huang Zhong looked at the longbow in his hand with satisfaction and said with a smile, "My skills are still good. This bow is excellent. However, what the patriarch said is a bit exaggerated. How can I compare to General Li's skills?"

"That's true, that's true. We, the descendants, must surpass the achievements of our predecessors. If Li Guang could be called 'Old General' by Han Sheng, what's wrong with Han Sheng? Perhaps in the future, others will also call Han Sheng 'Old General Huang'!"

Zhang Xian was somewhat excited; it was the first time he had ever witnessed such terrifying archery skills and the power of a strong bow.

"I'll try, I'll try."

He stepped closer and looked at Huang Zhong.

The latter readily handed him the four-stone bow: "Patriarch, be careful. You don't need to use the full bow; just do your best."

"I understand." Zhang Xian took it, touched the powerful bow that now seemed to have an extra filter on his eyes, drew an arrow that was the length of his arm, and nocked it.

The bowstring snapped taut against the bow.

He actually drew the bow fully, and seemed quite adept at it.

The weight capacity attribute has taken effect.

He instantly understood that with nine points of strength reducing the weight of ninety-nine pounds, plus the extra strength boost from the skill's brute force, drawing the bow wasn't particularly difficult for him.

However, while the distance may be widened, whether the shot hits depends on the archer's skill.

There are no separate archery skills on the panel, so they must be integrated into the combat skills.

His level one combat ability wasn't particularly strong, and he didn't feel any significant boost to his archery skills.

Instead of imitating Huang Zhong by aiming for the furthest target, he simply aimed at whichever target was closest and whichever he felt confident shooting at.

"Go!"

The bowstring was released, and the arrow shot out, instantly piercing through the grass target twenty paces ahead. The entire arrow flew dozens of meters behind the grass target before finally embedding itself in the ground.

A look of surprise also appeared in Huang Zhong's eyes.

'The head of the family has made progress again!'

"Hahaha, good, not missing the target is a victory!" Zhang Xian looked at the straw target that had been shot through, filled with joy.

With a whistle, a falcon swooped down from the sky like a sharp sword and landed on his shoulder.

"The patriarch's archery skills have improved significantly. With diligent practice, he will surely be able to hit the bullseye from a hundred paces away."

Huang Zhong stepped forward and looked at Zhang Xian, who was holding a bow in one hand and teasing the eagle's jaw with the other, and felt a strange sense of heroism.

Zhang Xian smiled and handed over the powerful bow: "Thanks to Hansheng's careful instruction, you are now proficient in both archery and bow techniques. Hansheng, you will have to take care of the archery skills of the Peach Blossom Spring people."

"It's my job!"

"Hahaha, good!" Zhang Xian laughed heartily, looking at the falcon on his shoulder, he said with great pride, "Leading a yellow dog on the left and holding a hawk on the right, I must go find a good dog, this is what a real man should be like!"

(End of this chapter)