Chapter 10, The Dispute Over Archery

  Zu Chao and Zhang Yuan parted ways at Xihua Bridge and headed northwest into the suburbs.

  People coming and going on the Xishi River Bridge had already been startled by the movements of Zu Zhao, Zhang Yuan and others. Although ordinary commoners were mostly peaceful and did not want to cause trouble, there were still many busybodies who mistakenly thought that something big would happen. Especially after recognizing Zhang Yuan and Zhang Yu, two brothers, knowing that they were wandering knights, it was determined that there would be a bloody rainstorm. With the intention of watching the excitement, these people followed from afar, pointing and discussing various theories.

  The crowd rode horses and walked slowly for two or three miles, in front of a vast expanse of desolate wilderness, with a few withered and lifeless solitary trees scattered about.

  Zhang Yuan pulled the reins, turned his head and looked back. He saw that about 300 steps behind him, dozens of villagers had gathered to see what was happening. There were young men carrying farm tools, old men holding packages, women with baskets and food containers, and even three or five children. Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but feel a little proud, hoping to make a good impression.

  "Great Master, although it's more about archery skills, but if we just follow the rules and shoot at the grass target, it's obviously not interesting. Zhang has never seen an enemy stupid enough to stay in one place waiting for him to shoot arrows. Let's have a more practical duel," he said with a confident attitude, while untying the wine gourd hanging on the side of his horseback, "Tie this wine gourd to that crooked-necked tree in front, we each shoot three arrows, whoever hits more wins. How about it?"

  Zu Zhao took a glance at the withered tree in front of him and observed the current wind direction.

  It's the season of cold autumn wind, and the northwest monsoon has been blowing for several days. Today, although the wind is not too strong, it's quite tricky, suddenly switching between west and north, sometimes big and sometimes small, making it really hard to grasp its pattern. The wine gourds hanging from the tree trunks are swaying unpredictably in the wind, and with such a small target, it's truly testing one's skills.

  What's more unfortunate is that he was adjusting the saddle and stirrup sizes a few days ago, but today's ride didn't have this equipment at all, without any advantage to speak of, and could only rely on accumulated basic skills to fight. To say, in this regard, Zhang Yuan really had an advantage.

  "What the elder brother said is very reasonable, so let's follow what the elder brother said." Although it was a bit thorny, Zu Zhao resolutely had no room for retreat. Fortunately, he had been training hard and diligently every day, and he still had some confidence in his basic skills.

  "Excellent." Zhang Yuan smiled and tossed the wine gourd back to Zhang Yu, who was not far away.

  Zhang Yu was Zhang Yuan's younger brother, with an age difference of about four or five years. However, the aura on Zhang Yu's body was even more intense than his older brother's. After taking over the wine gourd, he kicked the horse's belly and rushed towards a withered tree about two hundred steps away in front of him. When he arrived under the tree, he didn't wait for the horse to stabilize before jumping down to the ground with ease. Then, along the trunk, he climbed to the middle of the tree and tied the wine gourd to the branch that extended outward.

  There is still some wine in the gourd, but it can't stop the push of the high winds on the plain.

  A wandering knight rode up to Zhang Yuan, handing him a bow with deer horns and a quiver of arrows. Zhang Yuan took the bow and tested its string, making fine adjustments until it felt just right in his hand.

  At this time, one of the young men from the Zu family rode up to Zu Chao's side on horseback and asked, "Young Master, what bow will you use today?"

  Zu Chao came prepared this time, carrying three different bows: light, medium and heavy. He remained calm and said, "Don't rush."

  Zhang Yuan took out all the arrows from the quiver, leaving only three. He held his bow and turned to ask Zu Zhao, "Who will go first?"

  Zu Zhaodao said: "The order of seniority is clear, with elder brothers going first."

  Zhang Yuan coldly smiled and didn't say another word, one hand grasping the reins and the other twisting the deer horn bow as he rushed towards the crooked neck tree. Zhang Yu and the group of wandering heroes immediately cheered and jumped for joy, holding up their bows and swords to loudly cheer him on. This caused many onlookers in the back to stretch their necks to take a look.

  Zu Zhaowu narrowed his eyes and stared at Zhang Yuan tightly. Since Zhang Yuan proposed the archery competition, he chose to hang a wine gourd on the treetop. The opponent must have two tricks up their sleeve in this aspect. It's really necessary to see the skills of this Anyang Pavilion wandering knight leader.

  Only to see Zhang Yuan advancing northwest with the wind, facing the crooked neck tree. After entering within a hundred steps, his horse slowed down, using his mouth to hold the reins, freeing up both hands to open the bow and pull the string. As it was a test, the first arrow was crucial, he held his breath, concentrated and aimed, advancing to about seventy steps before suddenly releasing the bowstring. Only to hear a "whoosh" sound of the arrow, the first arrow shot towards the crooked neck tree like a thunderbolt, hitting the middle part of the calabaza.

  The gourd bottle shook violently, and the feathered arrow stuck in the gourd body was like a proud rooster's raised tail feathers.

  Zhang Yu was the first to shout loudly: "Good!"

  The young rascals immediately followed with a loud shout, occasionally throwing provocative voices at the descendants of the ancestors.

  Zhang Yuan ran around the crooked-neck tree and returned to his original position. He looked at Zu Zhao with a pleased expression, without saying too much nonsense, and pointed to the crooked-neck tree with his deer horn bow, saying: "It's your turn."

  Zu Zhao's face was calm and serene, he bowed slightly to Zhang Yuan in a polite manner, then turned to the young man from his family and said: "Fetch the Winged Bow."

  The young master of the ancestral home immediately brought over a bow that had been painted white, with carvings resembling animal feathers at both ends of the bow.

  This bow is the usual one that Zu Chao Ping uses for daily horseback archery practice, with a draw weight of about 80 jin, which is a typical medium-sized bow. For him, since he didn't have his horse saddle and stirrups today, using his most familiar bow would allow him to perform at his best.

  He adjusted his quiver, Zu Zhaoyu took a deep breath and urged his horse to charge towards the crooked-necked tree. The other young men of the Zu family also shouted loudly, and due to their large numbers, they were even more shocking than Zhang Yuan and others. The onlookers in the distance couldn't help but take a few steps forward at the sight.

  Zu Chao also chose to move forward in the direction of the wind, but when he was about a hundred steps away, he quickly loosened his reins and shot out the first arrow without aiming. This arrow had no arc, flying straight towards the wine gourd. However, this arrow also had no suspense, not even touching the edge of the wine gourd, directly piercing into the trunk of the crooked-necked tree behind it.

  The originally enthusiastic and passionate young men of the Zu family suddenly felt as if they had fallen into an icy valley. Zhang Yuan, Zhang Yu and other rascals burst out laughing without restraint. Zu Ji was choked with anger, his face flushed red, glaring at Zhang Yuan with gritted teeth.

  Zu Zhao rode back on his horse, despite the arrow missing its mark. His face was calm and serene, showing an almost unbelievable composure. Several of Zu's family members rushed over to surround him, some taking the bow from his hand, others trying to change the subject with words of comfort, thinking that one mistake wasn't a big deal. However, many more people were disheartened, hanging their heads in dismay and sighing.

  Zu Qi anxiously asked: "Young Master, what is this?"

  Zu Zhao smiled and said, "No need for excuses, missing is just missing, no need for extra explanations."

  Several of his family members sighed softly and shook their heads.

  Zhang Yuan, who was standing beside him, initially wanted to go forward and tease Zu Zhao a couple of times. However, upon seeing Zu Zhao's calm demeanor, some strange thoughts suddenly arose in his mind. At Zu Zhao's age, he had always been competitive and eager to win, especially since the current competition was one that Zhang Yuan himself had instigated repeatedly. Anyone with even a little bit of passion would have been stirred up by now, but Zu Zhao seemed unusually calm, almost as if he were beyond his years. Thinking back to how quickly he had drawn his bow and shot earlier made him all the more incomprehensible.

  How can this child have such a broad and heroic air about him? He couldn't help but mutter to himself in secret.

  Zu Zhao stopped his horse and looked at Zhang Yuan, smiling: "Brother, it's your turn."

  Zhang Yuan ignored Zu Zhao, picked up the deer horn bow and rushed towards the crooked neck tree again. This time he approached within sixty steps, didn't aim too much, raised his bow and shot an arrow at the gourd. This arrow was slightly weaker than the first one, although it still hit the gourd in the end, but it was more off-target than the first arrow. He had just ridden back on horseback when the second arrow unexpectedly couldn't withstand the wind blowing and shaking, and fell straight down.

  "Great archery skills, Big Brother!" Zhang Yu shouted at the top of his lungs.

  The young heroes were taken aback at first, and then followed with cheers and jubilation.

  In the distance, more onlookers gathered, and many of them began to whisper to each other. In their opinion, Zhang Yuan's archery skills were obviously a notch higher.

  It was Zu Chao's turn, he remained calm and composed, using his bow to swiftly strike the horse's flank, accelerating forward. He still raised his bow at a distance of just over 100 paces, shooting rapidly, with only a fleeting shadow of the arrow. Unfortunately, this arrow also failed to hit the gourd, instead becoming lodged in the tree trunk next to the first arrow.

  The young masters saw this scene and directly booed. The disciples of the ancestral family looked at each other in confusion, completely unable to understand what was wrong with the young master, after all, it's not like he would miss twice in a row. Zhang Yuan still had some doubts in his mind, but he couldn't help but sneer, no matter what, the fact that two arrows missed was clear-cut, and the outcome was already decided.

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