Chapter 1: The newborn calf is not afraid of tigers

  In 1904, during the 30th year of Guangxu, on December 1st, in An County, Fengtian Prefecture (now Heishan, Jinzhou, Liaoning).

  The sky was overcast, the cold wind was particularly biting, and the streets of Zhen'an were crowded with people coming and going. The rickshaw pullers huddled their necks and shouted as they pushed through the dense crowds.

  A young man walked slowly onto the bustling street. He was about 1.75 meters tall, wearing a white down jacket and light blue jeans, with a pair of Adidas sneakers on his feet. His narrow and long phoenix eyes kept darting back and forth, as if full of curiosity about everything around him, looking around in all directions as he walked. At first glance, outsiders were shocked, because this outfit was considered "non-mainstream" at that time!

  This person has very short hair, a face as white as jade, a pair of small eyes that are bright and piercing, a high nose bridge, especially a cherry-like mouth like a woman's, although not very handsome, but also considered elegant and refined. Between the eyebrows, there is a calmness like a scholar, but behind the elegance and refinement, it's hard to say what it is, just like a sword, elegant and beautiful, yet cold and gleaming.

  This person's body is slightly thin, with a pale complexion, looking somewhat tired, but walking with his head held high. On the three raised eyebrows on his forehead, there is a shallow vertical scar, like the "king" character on a tiger's head, which gives people a sense of majesty, especially when combined with his somewhat delicate appearance, which is quite inconsistent.

  On the bustling street, people came and went. Despite the snowflakes still falling outside, it couldn't affect the lively atmosphere on the street. A young man slowly walked towards the crowd, stopping beside an old man with a long braid, and said softly: "Grandpa (read as 'dà yé', meaning 'old man' in Northeastern dialect), what's going on in our town of Anxian today? Why are all those people gathered over there?"

  The old man took a look at the young man's outfit, was surprised for a moment, and then carefully examined this strangely dressed young man without a queue. But thinking that this young man could speak fluent Northeastern dialect, and being so tall, he shouldn't be a little devil, probably a returned overseas Chinese, his heart also felt at ease.

  The old man let out a sigh of "aiya" and said with some indignation: "I'm telling you, young fellow, judging from your attire, you should have just returned from outside. You don't know, damn it, since last year those Russian big noses and Japanese little noses have been stirring up trouble in our Fengtian region. And what's more, the Qing government not only doesn't resist, but also requires us to avoid conflicts with the big noses and little noses."

  Young man is not a big brother, I'm telling you, big brother is older in age. If it were me when I was young, I would have gone up and killed several devils (foreigners).

  Old man, when he was young, went to Korea to kill Japanese pirates, nothing special, still two ears and one head. Forget it, don't mention this, from this year on, these old devils and Japanese ghosts fought to our Fengtian, Zhang Zongban, Zhang Xiluan Zhang prepared to retreat to our Jinzhou Prefecture, passing through our town of Anxian, as stated in the notice posted in front, our Gaoda is a neutral zone of Liaohe, our Liaoxi must be more strictly guarded neutrality, prohibiting conflicts with foreigners.

  At this time, the young man smiled slightly and politely said: "Thank you, sir. I didn't expect that you were quite brave when you were young." Then he made a fist bump gesture and politely said: "Sir, goodbye."

  After that, the young man looked up at the crowd and a Mongolian horse with a reddish-brown body slowly came into his view. Upon seeing the horse, he smiled somewhat strangely and muttered to himself: "It seems like this horse has some problems."

  He looked at the old man wearing a Qing dynasty official uniform next to him, surrounded by a group of Qing soldiers, and muttered: "Zhang Xiluan, good horse!"

  Young people can't help but think that Zhang Zuolin himself was a well-known figure, known as "Fast Horse Zhang" in the Northeast. He was a formidable force in the Northeast during the late Qing dynasty and was absolutely the de facto ruler of the region. Most importantly, he had successfully appeased two notorious bandits from outside the Great Wall, the Red Beards Zhang Zuolin and Feng Delin.

  "This 'Fast Horse' Zhang Xielong is deeply in love with horses, and his archery skills are renowned throughout the land. He has a bit of literary and military strategy. Looking at this sickly red horse again, he thinks to himself: "My chance has come, I'm going to make it big!"

  Only saw the young man walking into the crowd with big strides, his eyes fixed on the sorrel horse beside Mr. Zhang, suddenly, the young man walked to the front of Mr. Zhang's mount sorrel horse and circled around it looking at it.

  The guards around Zhang Xiluan wore big hats, with long braids hanging outside, holding real guns. At this time, a young guard showed an arrogant look, holding his gun and shouting at the young man: "What are you doing? Get out of here! If you don't leave, I'll blow you up!"

  Young man accompanied by a smile, politely said: "Master Bing, don't get angry, I'm just taking a look. This horse of yours is really great! Rarely seen!"

  The fierce-looking soldier shouted loudly: "You rarely see it, don't even look at it, get out of the way! Get out!"

  The young man hastily replied in a series of nods: "Got it, got it, I'm leaving." As he turned around, he loudly said, "What a fine horse! It's really too bad!"

  On the side, Zhang Xiluan wore a brocade morning dress, with court beads hanging from his neck and a second-class official hat with a red tassel on his head. As he raised his hand to throw something, an air of majesty was revealed between his movements. With a gloomy face, he shouted: "Young man, please stay, what do you mean by this?"

  The young man turned around and walked to Zhang's side, saying with confidence: "If the principal trusts me, I'll touch this horse's belly."

  Before Zhang Xiluan could respond, the soldier beside him shouted loudly: "No way, this horse is not allowed to be approached by outsiders."

  The young man waved his hand lightly and smiled helplessly: "Then I'm out of luck, I have to take the pulse when treating someone!"

  Zhang Xiluan smiled and pointed to the soldier: "You go hold the reins, let Song Daibiao hug the horse's neck." He also said: "Young man, it's okay, come touch it!"

  Only to see this young man around the horse, turning around, first with his hand stroking the chest of those sick horses, then stopping for a moment. He ordered these two soldiers to pry open the horse's mouth, and as soon as it was pried open, a foul odor came out, and the tongue coating was dark yellow.

  The young man furrowed his brow, thought for a moment, and then returned to the crowd, clearing his throat and saying, "I think this horse has been fed too much fodder and not enough grass."

  The young conscript with a squinting eye sneered, "I told you not to spout nonsense! Do you know what kind of horse this is? This horse is called 'Fire Dragon'. It's Master Zhang's treasure! Not feeding it good fodder, but instead feeding it grass?"

  "Shut up! Don't be rude. Young man, don't mind him, go on."

  The soldier stepped aside, and the young man fell silent for a moment. He told himself to calm down, adjusted his breathing, took a slow breath, and said slowly: "Even good things can be fatal if eaten too much. Ginseng is a good thing, but eating two kilograms at once will cause nosebleeds. Horses are herbivores, and the feed must be matched well to feed them. If you overfeed this horse for years, it will easily get a disease."

  Zhang Xiluan was deeply in love with horses and had a good understanding of their habits. How could he not know that his horse was ill? He even knew how much meat was left on the bones of his horse. Naturally, he had already noticed that his beloved horse, Huo Long, was ill. Since Huo Long arrived in Jinzhou, it had been unable to eat and had been seen by veterinarians in the army, but they were still unable to determine the cause of the illness.

  So I brought this horse out just to find a doctor, but as soon as I arrived in Town An, I didn't have time to post a notice looking for a veterinarian. This young man came uninvited, but looking at the strange attire of the young man opposite him, he was clearly somewhat puzzled. Then, lowering his voice, he said: "Young man, what's wrong with my 'Fire Dragon'?"

  "Don't worry, adults. This disease is called a knot syndrome. To put it simply, this is a rich and noble disease. You eat too much greasy food and not enough roughage, so the oil in your intestines builds up and causes blockages. If you put it bluntly, it's like when a horse runs too hard and its intestines suddenly rupture, causing it to fall to the ground and die."

  At this time, Zhang Xiulang was somewhat surprised, but more suspicious, because he knew about the symptoms of this knot. As a person who has loved horses for many years, he had some understanding of common horse diseases. He asked back: "I don't know how to say this, although I'm not a veterinarian, but I also have some knowledge of looking at horses, and this knot is not that serious."

  The young man was taken aback for a moment, then calmly said: "Governor Zhang is indeed worthy of the title 'Fast Horse Zhang', I admire him, but sir, this fire dragon is indeed a symptom, however, he also suffers from another disease, which is unaccustomed to the local water and soil."

  Zhang Xiluan let out a cry of "eh" and looked disbelieving, asking in return: "Is this really true?"

  The young man smiled and said confidently: "Just now, the student felt a hard lump in the abdomen of the sick horse with his hand, which is a symptom of unadaptation to the local environment. When the two soldiers opened the horse's mouth, the tongue coating was cyan and yellow, and there was a foul odor in the mouth, which is caused by stagnation."

  Listening to the young man's words, which seemed reasonable, he was gradually convinced by the young people, but still felt that something was not quite right, and showed a hesitant expression, then whispered: "This horse shouldn't be so severe"

  This young man put down his guard as soon as he saw Zhang Xiluan, and felt even more at ease. He said slowly: "Diseases come like a mountain collapsing, and go away like pulling out silk threads! This disease is gotten a little bit every day, no one notices it. When the time comes, thinking of treating it, the yellow flowers have already wilted. I think this horse's belly pain is incurable."

  The soldier's face revealed a hint of mockery, and he shouted while pulling his neck: "You're just talking nonsense! Two days ago, our superiors rode horses from Fengtian to Zhen'an County in one breath, over 100 miles, how about that? You say it can't be ridden?"

  The young man slapped his thigh and said loudly, "Ah, I told you! This horse has run over 100 miles? This horse had a tendon injury and can't run long distances, I'm right! This horse can't be ridden anymore."

  Zhang Xiluan was a veteran of the officialdom, which led to his being overly suspicious and not fully trusting. He ordered the soldier: "Go ride this horse around."

  The young man smiled and said in a low tone, "Listen carefully, young man. If this horse can't be ridden, it proves that what you said is reasonable and there must be a reward. But if the horse can be ridden, it means you are deceiving me and deceiving the officials of the imperial court. You won't be able to get away with it! It's not that I'm making things difficult for you, but now I'm giving you an opportunity. If you regret it now, it may still be possible!"

  PS: (As it's my first time writing a book, the protagonist develops a bit too quickly and there are some unrealistic parts. Due to having too many drafts stored up later on, the main storyline is already set in stone and can't be changed much, so please forgive me for that. I'll slow down the pace in future chapters and appreciate any feedback from you all. Also, if you're reading this book, could you please give it a collection? It's free, just a light tap to add it to your bookshelf is fine! If not, my ranking on the new author leaderboard won't be good and nobody will read it! Of course, if you have money, high-quality gentlemen can give me an evaluation vote or reward me. For now, I'll sign off here, hoping everyone will give me more collections, striving for good data to motivate me - when I'm motivated, you know what that means... more updates! Thanks again, everyone!)