Chapter Seventeen: The First Test of Golden Hands

  No matter in the previous life or this life, Xun had never really learned to ride a horse. Although Lun's family had said, "Anyone can ride a horse," that was just referring to casually sitting on a horse's back, not everyone could make the horse run and still sit steadily themselves. When he first came out of the Shi family's estate, it was Xun's first time riding a horse, which was a small pony, its neck stretched up but still not as tall as him. Later, when following Taishi Ci to Huang County, they borrowed a horse from an old man, but what the old man gave them was clearly a mule, and as they entered Huang County city, the people welcomed Taishi Ci along the way, so it was impossible for them to run.

  Tomorrow may not just be riding a horse to go out for a spring outing, it is said that hunting is also required. With his trashy riding skills, the probability of falling off the horse's back and getting hurt is estimated to be as high as the probability of lying on Beijing's Third Ring Road for a whole day without being crushed by cars. No way, I have to think of a good solution.

  As soon as he returned to his own house, he called the old slave who served him, and while gesturing, he drew a simple diagram on a wooden board with a brush, letting the old slave find someone to make it as soon as possible. What he drew was a pair of stirrups, made of wood, carved and glued together, connected by leather straps. In a wealthy family like this one, there were some simple workshops in the house, and daily utensils were rarely purchased from outside, but were all made at home, such as weaving, sewing clothes, making furniture, and so on. Of course, under normal circumstances, those who made these things were not professional craftsmen, but rather slaves with certain skills in the household.

  Because commodity economy was extremely underdeveloped at that time, it was impossible to have a "Seven-Eleven" store on every corner and a "Jusco" mall on every block. Generally speaking, even in the county seat of a big city, there were only three or four small workshops, and small items had to be bought from the market held at the city gate once every ten days or half a month. Big items had to be made by temporarily hiring workers. Therefore, for a wealthy family like this one, it was more convenient to be self-sufficient within their own household.

  However, there are family carpenters, and not just one, but blacksmiths are scarce. After all, it's impossible to keep a large furnace burning all day, it's too easy to catch fire. So Shi Xun couldn't make iron stirrups, he had no choice but to settle for wooden ones - in theory, they might be less durable, but they shouldn't be completely useless, right?

  The old slave obeyed and went out the door, was tired from kneeling, took advantage of no one seeing him, spread his two legs apart, and stretched a long lazy waist - this action would not expose his origin, but it's a bit undignified. But he didn't believe that in the absence of outsiders, the scholars of this era could really kneel all day without changing their posture? Could they still walk?

  Wow, I'm starting to get a golden touch too! - Xun thought with a mix of pride and nervousness. The Han Dynasty didn't have stirrups, the earliest ones discovered were from the Southern and Northern Dynasties era, which means those fierce generals from the Three Kingdoms period were all riding horses without stirrups on the battlefield, swinging their blades at each other... just thinking about it is terrifying. Hopefully, hopefully the stirrup can help me get through tomorrow's ordeal... otherwise, I might as well pretend to be sick!

  However, Xun Zhong still didn't pretend to be ill. The next morning, Jun brought a servant and led the horse to urge Xun Zhong to leave the city. As soon as they arrived at the gate of the mansion, they suddenly saw Xun Yu with a cold face, clenching his fists, staring at his own brother like a door god, and shouting angrily: "You're not learning from your mistakes again, where are you going?!"

  He was a bit afraid of his fourth brother, and involuntarily shrank back, then quickly calmed himself down and explained that he was going out to enjoy the spring scenery and go hunting. His brother asked: "And which friends are you going with? Don't lead your seventh brother astray!" He took a deep breath, puffed out his chest, and said: "Today's gathering is all good friends, including Zheng Yien." When he heard this, his brother's eyelids twitched, and he looked him up and down for a while: "It's rare... the remnants of the Yellow Turbans are still in Qi County, and you dare to go out on a picnic?"

  "Fourth brother, rest assured," Jun hastily swore an oath, "The Yellow Scarves are in the south, we're only heading to the north of the county, absolutely nothing will happen!"

  It was only after much persuasion that they finally managed to get him to let them go. The three of them went out the door and mounted their horses - at first, Jun didn't notice that Xun's stirrup was special, thinking it was just an ordinary footrest for getting on and off the horse. After they had traveled a ways, he glanced over and saw that Xun's foot was still resting on the stirrup, and what's more, the stirrup wasn't made of rope or leather, but was hard. This made him curious, and he pointed with his whip: "Seventh Brother, what is this thing?"

  Xing Xin said, "This is so complicated, I don't know how to explain it." He simply made a few random gestures with his hands and muttered "ah ah" - Jun completely didn't understand. It wasn't his fault he didn't understand, because even Xing Xin himself didn't know what he was gesturing about.

  Three horses rode side by side, with Xun in the middle, Jun on the left, and the servant from that family on the right. At this time, the servant also called out: "Seventh Master, there's a stubborn one over here too." Jun spurred his horse to circle around to the right and took a look: "Huh, this thing is interesting... Zheng Yi'en always carries writing instruments with him, I'll ask him to lend me some later and then ask Seventh Brother to enlighten me."

  As they approached the city gate, Ji Yun's "friends" finally gathered together. There weren't many people, but each one had at least brought a servant, so the total number was quite considerable. Ji Yun helped with the introductions: "This is Wang Zichun, son of King Lian of Gaomi; this is Shen Daochu, nephew of Chen Ling, Lord of Jimo; this is Wang Ziling, younger brother of Duke Wang Gong..." It turned out they were all from the same clique.

  Finally, he introduced: "This is Zheng Yien..." As he said this, he suddenly winked at Shi Xun: "Can you guess who Zheng's father is?" Shi Xun shook his head lightly, thinking to himself that in the entire Beihai County, apart from their own family, he didn't know any other famous scholars. Staying at home all day and listening to the servants' gossip, how could he possibly know?

  That Zheng Yi'en had a honest face, hastily made a bow: "I don't dare, I don't dare, my father's taboo name is Xuán."

  Zheng Xuan, that is... I rely on Zheng Kangcheng! In an instant, Xun's eyes were wide with surprise. Zheng Xuan, also known as Kangcheng, was the last great Confucian scholar of the Han Dynasty. In his presence, even He Xiu and Lu Zhi had to step aside. To put it this way, if the dominant school of thought in later generations wasn't Song-Ming Confucianism but rather Han Confucianism, then Zheng Xuan would be on par with Zhu Xi... no, he would be several times more powerful than Zhu Xi, and could even be called a secondary sage alongside Mencius!

  Although his foot was in the stirrup, Xun still swayed on the horse and almost fell off.

  Finally, Jun turned to the crowd and introduced Zixun, saying: "This is my seventh brother, who has been living in Le Lang. He returned to Beihai at the end of last year. Because his father died a wrongful death, he cried out in grief and now cannot speak. Forgive him, brothers."

  Xun Luo circled around, made a bow and thought to himself: "I still thought this was a very mischievous guy, but his words are quite impressive." Perhaps he should reevaluate him, being able to be friends with Zheng Xuan's son, this little guy is not simple at all (in fact, according to their real age, he should be one year younger than Si Jun).

  Zheng Yi'en returned the courtesy, praising: "Filial conduct, admirable indeed." Jun Ce rode up to him, extending a hand: "Fetch pen and ink, I want to ask Seventh Brother some questions."

  He had no choice but to take over the brush and bamboo slips - how could he use the simplest words to express this stirrup clearly? After thinking for a while, he simply wrote: "Made by Goguryeo for convenient riding." If you have the ability, go to Goguryeo to verify it, go!

  He originally wanted to write that it was Japan's, but that would be a death wish. After some thought, he decided against it, this invention can't really be attributed to those little Japanese. Goguryeo is an ancient country within the great territory of China, although later on some people from another country insisted that not only Goguryeo but also half of Jilin province where Goguryeo originated were theirs, but we don't recognize that - anyway, let's just say it was invented by Goguryeo, that way we won't lose face.

  It's a rare sight, and he let out a soft sigh: "Seventh Brother, you're really stingy with your ink. Never mind, next time also give me a pair to try."

  Everyone laughed and left the city heading north. Along the way, Xun thought about getting close to Zheng Yien - if he could get familiar with Zheng Xuan's son, maybe there would be a chance to listen to Zheng Xuan's lectures! I don't even need to really learn anything, just follow people and brag "Master Zheng Kangcheng"... I'm awesome, right? Walking horizontally among scholars is not bad at all! Unfortunately, unfortunately, his old man couldn't speak at this time, and there was no way to get familiar with him, it's really going to cost my life!

  Fortunately, the pen and ink were still in his hand, so he wrote on horseback: "Where is your respected father?" After finishing, he looked at it and felt a bit awkward, thinking that there was no precedent for writing on horseback, but everyone would understand. He handed the bamboo slip to Zheng Yien, who glanced at it, smiled and replied: "Last year, the Yellow Turbans invaded Gaomi, my father fled to Xuzhou to avoid the chaos. Kong Beihai had warmly invited him to return home, but he had not yet agreed."

  What's going on? Zheng Xuan is not in Qingzhou... This shameless thief of a heaven, indeed not worth hoping for. I've been looking forward to it all day, but in the end, it was all just pouring water into a bamboo basket - a complete waste.

  Not far from the city, the terrain gradually opened up, and the group of people slightly loosened their reins and let out the horses' speed.

  Then Jun understood that he had miscalculated, and the stirrup was not very helpful for riding horses - when galloping on horseback, if you stepped on the stirrup, your buttocks would easily get hurt. To protect your buttocks, you had to hold the horse's belly tightly with both legs, but what's the difference between having a stirrup and not? At this time, he felt that the stirrup was only convenient for him to lightly step on from time to time to adjust his posture.

  Actually, this is what he thought was left. To make an inappropriate analogy, riding a horse is like driving a car, and the stirrup is like a seatbelt, which can ensure that when you encounter unexpected situations, you won't fly out directly - of course, a seatbelt saves lives passively, while a stirrup saves lives actively. A novice rider with a stirrup doesn't instantly become a knight just because they have a stirrup, just as a novice driver with a seatbelt can't go racing in F1.

  So the main function of stirrups is to enable riders to stay on horseback for a long time. When the horse runs, it must be clamped tightly with both legs, and when the horse trots, it can be fixed by stepping on the stirrup without having to rub the inside of the thigh all day long. It's said that those nomads who have lived on horseback since childhood can stay on horseback for several days and nights without getting off, and ordinary people from the Central Plains would not be able to make long-distance marches without stirrups.

  The second function of the stirrup is to fix the knight in a lateral position during combat, making it convenient to shoot arrows and chop - of course, at this moment, he couldn't have imagined that he would soon experience the preciousness of this second function...