Chapter Sixteen: The Emperor Calls for Li Zhi

  "Huh?" The old blacksmith looked puzzled, glanced at me, then at the iron hammer in his hand, and finally at the anvil in front of him, hesitating, unsure whether to tell me he could forge or not.

  A group of people glared at me with a black line on their faces, wanting to rush up and beat me up, but quickly changed their tone: "Do you know how to hit a horse's hoof?"

  "Horse hoof?" The old blacksmith looked puzzled, seemingly clueless about it.

  "I'll teach you!" I said with a flourish, waving my hand grandly. "Find me an iron bar about this wide, and get four of them." I gestured to the old man. Soon, from his pile of scrap metal, he found some iron bars roughly the length and width I had imagined.

  "Brother Ye, Brother Liu, the two of you trouble yourselves to set up a slightly higher horse nail frame for them."

  "Good" Li Yehui looks very elegant, but in fact, he is a bandit who lets his servants go to the nearby farmers' houses to rob them, of course, with money.

  Four wooden pillars stolen from a peasant's house, two of which were nailed to the ground, one was set up as a high crossbeam, and one was about half a meter off the ground. I patted it, very solid, can tie up horses.

  "Alright, bring the measuring stick over, you few, tie up this horse tightly, tie the reins to death, take a rope and tie up that hind leg, tie it to the pillar below, don't let it kick its hooves back." Under my command, my poor Western Treasure Horse stood on three legs, one hind hoof raised high, looking at me with very pitiful eyes, unable to do anything. For new things to happen, sacrifices must be made.

  He picked up the ruler, measured it against the hoof, and had Li Shuai record the size. Then, based on the size, he drew a rough outline of the horseshoe shape. Next, he took out a piece of cloth, as there was no soft tape measure available, to use instead. After measuring the total length, he called over the blacksmith. "Make me an iron bar this long and this wide, with eight holes on top, and flatten it at both ends. Also, make 43 two-inch-long horseshoe nails." He drew a rough outline of the horseshoe nail shape on paper.

  Then, everyone sat down to watch the show, my BMW maintained that eerie posture, which made a group of family members marvel. The old blacksmith was crazy, under the gaze of more than ten pairs of eyes, he shouted loudly, his hammer danced wildly, and sparks flew everywhere. Everyone's blood was boiling, Cheng Chuliang wanted to go up and show off, but was fiercely glared at by his uncle Li Ke: "The main event is important." He retreated with a hum, dissatisfied.

  A burst of thick steam rose, and a perfect horseshoe appeared before our eyes. I picked it up with a flourish, still warm, held it up to the sun for a look, made a few pretentious gestures on the anvil, nodded: "Hmm, not bad."

  The three big shots next to him also nodded quickly: "Hmm, not bad, not bad." I despise these guys, pretending to understand when they don't.

  Holding the horseshoe, I walked to the side of my Western Treasure Horse, picked up the horseshoe in my hand and compared it, then stretched out my hand: "Bring a knife"

  The most agile movement of the bright light, the three-foot-long obstacle knife is in my hand.

  "My god! You're using this to pare a horse's hoof? That's too much! He quickly compared them and chuckled, then pulled out the short dagger from his waist: 'Use this, it's sharp enough to cut flesh.'"

  I haven't done this kind of work before, but I've seen a lot of it. Thinking back to when I was a kid, every time there was a market day after school, I would squat at the entrance of our house and watch the old man next door hammering horseshoes with a clang-clang sound, very lively, just like watching a play. So I also learned the true skills from the old guy.

  He made a similar motion, trimmed off some of the hoof bottom that was slightly cracked, making it more even. Then he picked up the horseshoe and compared it again, calling over the old blacksmith to make some further adjustments to the width. Perfect! He put eight horse nails in his mouth, which was too many, causing his mouth to bulge out like a wolf's. He quickly spat them out and kept only two in his mouth. The remaining nails were handed to Li Ke. Picking up the small hammer, he got into position... Wow, haha, I felt like I had become a star among horse herders, but I forgot what that specific title is called.

  A lot of time passed with a single pillar of fragrance, and I finally nailed the last nail into the front palm with a big sweat. It was settled for the first time to do this kind of work, not very adapted, but still completed perfectly.

  The horse let out a loud whinny, its four hooves clattering against the ground. My precious horse seemed to be having some trouble getting used to these new-style horseshoes, and kept trying to kick them off with its hind legs. Luckily, Fang Cheng was right behind us, and under his soothing words, my horse finally resigned itself to wearing the new shoes, albeit unwillingly.

  "I'm coming! Let's gallop around in a circle and give it a try." Li Ye Huan, who had been waiting for what felt like an eternity and was on the verge of dying from boredom, shouted loudly as he leapt onto his horse.

  "Run to places with more stones in the morning! The harder the ground, the better!" Hurry up and shout, try horse hooves must be trampled on stones.

  "Jun Xian Di" Li Shuai Gu looked at me, his eyebrows filled with grievances. I was so scared that I quickly begged for mercy: "Boss, let the blacksmith do it for you, I'm really too tired to do it." As a spoiled rich kid, I'm used to getting by without doing any real work, and shoeing horses is not an easy task, we should find a professional blacksmith to do it.

  The old blacksmith seems to have received my true transmission, and under the temptation of Li Shuai's and Cheng Chuliang's money, he excitedly forged sixteen iron bars in one breath, starting his Great Leap Forward in horseshoe production.

  How boring! A bunch of old men gathered around an old man shoeing a horse. What a joke!

  Picked up the iron fan of the blacksmith, feeling cool and comfortable, watching them in that surprised and frightened state.

  The sound of hooves is like thunder, and the smoke and dust are rolling, are they mountain bandits or local bandits?

  Hurry up and stretch your neck, Li Yehui came back with a fierce aura, followed by more than ten cavalrymen. Buddha, what is this guy doing?

  Li Ye Huan arrived at the blacksmith's shop, before the horse had even come to a stop, he leapt down from his mount and stood fixedly staring at me for a long, long time.

  "Junior Brother Jun Xian, please accept this gift." Li Ye Huan patiently pulled me out from behind the pillar of the blacksmith's shop and bowed deeply. The group of fierce-looking generals behind him also bowed to me in unison.

  "My mind is a bit muddled, what have I done?"

  Li Ye Hui quickly told me the reason. This scum, this sadist, not only made my precious horse run on the big green stone slab, but also deliberately had the soldiers throw down their knives, guns, swords and arrows on the ground, letting my precious horse trample over them.

  "Hey, Jun Xian, I'm also doing my best for the country and the army. I wanted to try out this horse's hoof, and it really worked wonders! This horse's four hooves are completely unharmed. If we were on a battlefield with swords clashing..." Li Ye raised his head to look at the sky, with a wistful expression, as if he couldn't wait to grab the blacksmith uncle's hammer and smash it on this guy's head. My precious horse

  "Then you won't have to kill your horse just now?" He was worried about this guy, who seemed not to be an ordinary scoundrel, too bloody and violent.

  Li Yehui chuckled twice, and was actually a bit shy: "Actually, brother just didn't have the strength at that time, wanted to ask Cheng brother to help me cut off the rope on the injured horse's body, saddle girth, so that the horse can reduce some burden, in order to pull it back home to nurse its wounds, we've always done it this way hehehe" Li Yehui walked over to me and gave a fist bump, then walked towards Li Ke. I didn't expect it, but this guy is actually shy, I'm very moved, no wonder at that time those guys looked at me with eyes that weren't quite right. My face is thick-skinned, doesn't need you to be shy for me, first of all, you're a bit too much, despise this kind of pretending-to-be-a-good-person handsome guy.

  "Don't let this freak get close to you again, next time it tries to get close to you, roll on the ground and see how it rides" One side stroked my Western horse with pity, while whispering to it.

  Li Ke, Li Ye Hui and Cheng Chu Liang the three men huddled together, whispering something in a low voice. The cavalry who had come with Li Ye Hui earlier had already surrounded this small ironwork shop, sealing it off completely.

  "Let's hurry back, otherwise those killers will probably get impatient." Li Ke waved his hand casually and we collectively rushed towards the hunting ground. However, that cavalry team seemed to be enthusiastically helping the old blacksmith move house? What's going on?

  Back to the camp, I lay on the grass and pounced on the roasted meat that was grilled over the fire. I was so hungry, it was all those three guys' fault, lunch had almost become afternoon tea.

  The house was full of food, and a whole roasted rabbit weighing about five or six catties was gnawed by this guy to only leave bones, and he still walked towards the rabbit meat on the fire pit with an unsatisfied expression.

  I'm already stuffed to the brim, it's strange that no one is paying attention to me now. Li Ke and his gang are galloping wildly on iron-hoofed horses in the wilderness, shouting and yelling like uncaged wild men who have been locked up for years. I ignore them and decide to sneak away alone to practice my skills. Fang Cheng is busy by the fire pit, I take my longbow and borrow Fang Cheng's treasured dagger, slipping into the forest alone, still not believing it.

  I saw a four-legged animal, don't know if it's a roe deer or a deer, whatever, I'm not a zoologist. I drew my bow, took a deep breath, and shouted "Whoosh!" I XXXXX, you go first, it's too infuriating! Clearly aiming at the front, why is the arrow not listening to orders?

  "Who is it? Come out! Who dares to disturb my cultivation? Come out quickly, or beware of my Soul-Stealing Arrow of Death!" Enraged, who is this blind fool, daring to sneak a peek at my secret training of the Soul-Stealing Arrow of Death, causing me to miss my target.

  Hey, isn't this the pretty little kid who was just following behind Li Yu's butt at the Mingde Gate?

  "What's wrong with you? Can't you see I'm practicing archery?"

  The little brat seemed to be intimidated by my majestic aura, and it took him half a day to stammer out: "I am Li Zhi, the 17th sister sent me to see what you're doing?"

  "What?! The precious bow in my hand almost fell to the ground, "You, you said your name is...?" I took two steps forward, sizing up this pretty little boy. My expression was ferocious, my tiger eyes wide open, my whiskers standing on end, too shocked - Emperor Gaozong was actually still a young boy?!

  P.S: It's a problem with the website... I'm resending it now, hoping everyone can see it.