Royal Road Chapter 95

Published at 1st of August 2022 06:29:51 AM

Chapter 95
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Liu Xuan had already arrived at the river far earlier and sent subordinates to surveil the situation on the other side. When he'd heard that Liang Feng had shown up in white clothes, he'd guessed that he was plotting something. With that attire, far more unconventional and stunning than what he'd worn to the Buddhist ceremony, and his looks, it wouldn't take long at all before he became widely renowned for his beauty.

It was good that he'd made preparations beforehand. The Senior Subaltern of Xinxing Commandery, Sun Zhi, had more ambition than ability, was jealous of his betters, and yet he was from a prestigious family of Taiyuan. So, Liu Xuan had made sure to mention to him in idle chatter, just how overinflated Liang Zixi's reputation was. Seeing Liang Feng's elegance for himself would only rile him further and spur him to provoke him. Even if Liang Feng could disengage himself from his pointed attacks, he'd likely be blemished. 

But who could've expected that in just a meal's time, Sun Zhi would be driven from the general's tent. Liu Xuan instantly realized that he might've underestimated Liang Feng. A lack of understanding of Confucius and Mencius's teachings didn't imply a lack of intelligence. Just the dialogue at the winding stream party was enough to bolster Liang Feng's name. If things went on like this, not only would he not achieve his goal, he'd end up helping Liang Feng grow his reputation. How could he sit back and let that happen?

Thus, Liu Xuan brought his subordinates and came to Sima Teng's tent himself. No one knew better than he how much Sima Teng feared the five Xiongnu divisions. As one of the Emperor's clansmen, Sima Teng, priding himself on his superior status, saw the barbarians of Bing Province as slaves. But while the Jie, the Qiang could trade in livestock, the Xiongnu could not. The five Xiongnu divisions had lived in Bing Province for generations, had intimate ties with many noble families of Taiyuan, and due to the imperial court's decades-long instability, the position of Commandant of the Five Divisions, originally held by the Han, had returned to the hands of the Xiongnu. Under these circumstances, Sima Teng was utterly unable to compel the five divisions. Of course it was a thorn in his heart.

These tent-dwellers who he could not beckon or call, and who occupied large territories in Bing Province, had never received so much as a pleasant smile from Sima Teng, much less any sort of respect. Visiting him at his Shangsi banquet and having a contest of skill would only worsen his mood.

That was exactly what he wanted! 

Seeing the soft bow exchanged for a heavy bow, Liu Xuan laughed, “The bow is good, but the target is too crude. I'm afraid it would be difficult to decide the victor. Why don't we imitate Yang Youji of Chu, and shoot willow instead?”

Legend had it that when the Kingdom of Chu's best marksman, Yang Youji competed against the warrior, Pan Hu, the target was set fifty steps away. All three of Pan Hu's arrows hit the bullseye. Yang Youji said that the fifty-step target was too easy, and marked a leaf on a willow tree a hundred steps away, setting that as the new target. In the end, Yang Youji “pierced the willow leaf from a hundred steps' distance,” and was hailed as an unrivaled archer.

Everyone knew the story, but hearing Liu Xuan say it rankled Sima Teng even more. He was the one who'd ordered the targets to be set up, did that make him Pan Hu then?

“Alright, as you suggest, we'll shoot at a willow,” Sima Teng said coldly.

At his order, the underlings instantly burst into action. Eventually, they decided on a nine-meters tall willow tree and painted six of its leaves red. A hundred steps away, one with poor eyesight could hardly see where the leaves even were.

This time, Liu Xuan nodded pleasedly, “Please, you first, Duke.”

Sima Teng didn't bother with any niceties, and ordered the officer Nie Xuan had brought to step up and shoot. The officer was evidently a good marksman, for he was calm and confident as he stood before the tree. Arrow notched, then three sharp whooshes, and three red leaves fluttered to the ground.

“Excellent!” Sima Teng applauded happily. 

Liu Xuan chuckled, “It seems you lack not for able subordinates, Duke. Ah-Wei, you'll have to watch out.”

The tall, skinny man behind him nodded slightly, walked to the tree, and casually drew his bow. Three arrows, three leaves fell simultaneously.

“You went easy on us,” Liu Xuan said politely.

Sima Teng's face darkened. The other hadn't loosed three arrows at once, but the three leaves had touched the ground at the same time. Each arrow had been faster than the last – what absurd archery technique. It was apparent that this round, he was at a disadvantage. If they kept shooting willow, they might just suffer defeat. 

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The servants quickly went and cut a branch of willow. Sima Teng went first again, but this time the archer wasn't so composed as he was the last time. He stood in place looking at the target for a while before raising his bow. The first arrow brushed the branch and flew past it, whisking a leaf away with it. The second arrow severed a different branch. The officer was sweating now, as he took his time aiming his third arrow. Crack, it hit the right branch, but missed the white by half an inch.

Sima Teng's expression grew stormy when he saw the willow branch, but the officer was already his best archer. There was no one who could replace him. 

Disregarding Sima Teng's foul mood, Liu Xuan chuckled, “Ah-Wei, looks like it'll be tough this time.”

The Xiongnu man wordlessly stepped up before the tree, loosed an arrow, the willow branch snapped. It had hit the spot of peeled bark right on. Now, it was obvious who had won and who had lost.

Not expecting the mangy barbarians would be so brazenly impudent, Sima Teng was almost unable to suppress his rage. But the other was older than he, and it was Shangsi, if he unleashed his anger now, it'd make him seem petty and narrow-minded. Pushing down his temper once and again, he managed to smile stiffly, “It seems you've many skilled marksmen amongst your ranks.”

“Haha!” Liu Xuan guffawed, “Oh, but it was hardly an even competition. Although, I hear the Liang Estate has a few Jie slaves who shoot well; why not summon them over, Duke, for a third round?” 

With one tie and one defeat, seeing no hope of victory, Liu Xuan's sudden suggestion caused Sima Teng to turn to Liang Feng, “Zixi, do you really have Jie slaves who know archery?”

Surprised at being pushed onto the stage by Liu Xuan, Liang Feng raised a brow and said plainly, “There is one whose archery is superb.”

“Oh? Excellent! Hurry and summon him!” Sima Teng couldn't help his excitement. He'd been backed into a dead end by Liu Xuan's contest, and since that officer had no chance of winning already, so why not have a Jie come and compete? If he won, it'd save his face, and if he lost, well, it was just a little match between barbarians, hardly worthy of note. Either way, it didn't cost him anything.

Glancing at the nonchalant, white-haired old man, Liang Feng cupped his hands in assent, and ordered a servant to call him. Wang Wen, somewhat worried, said by his ear, “Commandant Liu's soldiers are all incredible marksmen, if your person is defeated as well, the Duke might be displeased….” 

Liang Feng had thought of the possibility, of course. Liu Xuan was obviously targeting himself. But Sima Teng's face was already hanging by a thread, if he refused, it might arouse his resentment. In a competition of archery, Liang Feng wasn't worried, but he wondered just what Liu Xuan was aiming for. Shying away wasn't as good an option as countering his tricks.

“It's merely a sport, it should be fine,” Liang Feng said, smiling slightly.

※

“What? My lord wants me to compete in archery?” Yiyan's brow raised when he heard the servant's words. 

“It's an order from the Duke of Dongying himself,” the servant hurriedly corrected.

Yiyan ignored him. This trip to Jinyang worried him more than the Buddhist ceremony they'd come here for last time. Because this was an outdoors banquet, lowly subordinates like him, forbidden from entering the tent, could only stand guard by Wang Wen's carriage. Would his lord get tired, would he be ill-treated by Sima Teng, would he encounter anything he couldn't handle? Such thoughts tumbled around in his mind, not allowing him a moment's peace. How could he not be surprised by a servant abruptly telling him that his lord had ordered him to pit his archery against another's?

But his shock faded in an instant, and he said, “Lead the way!”

The servant flinched at the Jie barbarian's menacing expression, and hastily brought Yiyan towards the tents. 

When Yiyan entered the tent, quite a few people were taken aback. Sima Teng pointed at him, asking, “Is this the Jie slave?”

They could hardly be blamed for being shocked. The Jie person's face was all sharp edges, his eyes deep-set, and he had a pair of blue-gray eyes; he almost seemed inhuman. Standing beside someone as graceful as Liang Feng, the beauty was more beautiful, and the ugly was uglier.

Liang Feng said impassively, “His name is Yiyan, a soldier of my estate's militia.”

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“How tolerant you are, Zixi.” Sima Teng sighed, “Though he does seem fit and strong, have him compete then.” 

Standing in the tent, Yiyan tightly clenched his fist. Of course he could feel the nobles' gazes, their disdain, their curiosity, their fear and disgust. But not one of them saw him as a living person. He'd followed his lord for so long he'd almost forgotten just how these people treated the Jie.

“Yiyan.”

Yiyan heard a soft voice call out to him. He turned and saw his white-robed lord smiling faintly at him, “The competition is to shoot willow, the target is a section of willow branch whose bark has been removed. Can you do it?”

Those black eyes were bright and shining as they had always been, undyed by any other color. Shooting willow was a classic tale his lord had taught him himself. Yiyan felt his fury slowly fade away. He nodded, “I can.” 

“Commandant Liu's subordinate is also a master archer, who can strike the target in one arrow. How do you intend to win?” Liang Feng continued.

After a moment of silence, Yiyan said, “I am willing to compete in mounted archery!”

Everyone gasped. They couldn't even win in standing archery, and mounted archery was the Xiongnu's bread and butter. This Jie barbarian was too presumptuous!

Yet Liang Feng nodded, turned to Sima Teng, and said, “Since we've already seen how adept Commandant Liu's soldier is in archery, another round of standing archery would be quite boring. How about the two of them race, on horseback, for the target. It would better distinguish the difference in skill.” 

Sima Teng hadn't imagined that Liang Feng would dare to mention mounted archery, but, at any rate, it wasn't his subordinate, and mounted archery was certainly more exciting. He thought it over and nodded, “Very true. How about it, Commandant?”

Liu Xuan looked searchingly at Liang Feng, “Why not?”

With their assent, the competition instantly took a turn. Two steeds were led to the willow tree, one on each side, half a kilometer away. Yiyan and Liu Wei had arrows with fletchings of different color. At the order, the two would gallop side by side towards the tree, to see who could shoot down the branch first.

Now, Sima Teng wasn't the only one excited, the other gentries were as well. Shooting willow was a rare event to begin with, let alone racing for the target on horseback. 

Countless eyes followed their every move, but Yiyan was not the least disturbed. He patted the horse's mane, and looked to his lord, standing outside the field. He seemed completely unaffected by the people around him, he was still smiling faintly at him as if he knew for certain that he would win.

Yiyan took a deep breath, unslung his bow, tugged the string, retrieved an arrow, and nocked it. The horn sounded with a low bellow, the two horses simultaneously took off.

At this close of a distance, keeping one's steed from running into the other's was already a challenge, much less shooting arrows. But both riders, completely unbothered, drew their bows at the same time, and for some reason, the Xiongnu man seemed just a tiny smidge faster. Boasting extraordinary strength, he unhesitatingly loosed his arrow first.

It's going to hit! Liu Wei was very confident in his archery. All he needed to do was shoot first. If his arrow hit first, then it wouldn't matter how good the other's aim was, it would all be useless. But his self-confidence was shattered in the next moment. An arrow flew out from beside him, not towards the willow, but to the other arrow. Clack, the two arrows collided and dropped out of the air. 

Shit! Liu Wei rushed to draw another arrow and shoot again, but the horse was too fast, and passed the optimal spot in a blink, while at the same time, another arrow left the string and struck the willow branch.

“Ah!” Someone in the crowd gasped as the branch marked out as the target fell.

“Excellent!” Sima Teng exclaimed. To shoot two arrows in an instant, one aimed towards his opponent's arrow, and the other towards the willow branch – the speed, the daring, how astounding!

The servants retrieved the branch and presented it. The arrow had struck exactly on the white. Sima Teng was even more elated now, and said eagerly to Liang Feng, “This Jie slave is truly brave and fit! Zixi, would you be willing to part with it?” 

Having finished the competition and dismounted his horse, Yiyan was walking over when he heard Sima Teng's words. His eyes widened, hating that he couldn't raise his bow and give him an arrow too!

But Liang Feng said expressionlessly, “If a fine hound risks its life to save its master, could its master, after being saved, gift it to another?”

Sima Teng lurched, “Of course not.”

“It's true of a dog, even more of a person,” Liang Feng said evenly. 

Sima Teng hadn't thought he'd be denied so decisively, but with the comparison to a loyal dog that'd saved its master, there wasn't much else he could say. He chuckled, “As expected of one of your slaves, Zixi! Come, there's reward!”

Among the nobles, it was smiles all around, and Yiyan's heart, which had been taut with anger, floated back into place. His lord really wouldn't discard him! The only one who'd treat him as a person was his lord!

To the side, Liu Wei went to Liu Xuan and said regretfully, “Prime Minister, I am useless.”

“No matter,” Liu Xuan chuckled, and turned to Liang Feng, “How worthy of being a soldier of your estate, Zixi. An army of men like these might even surpass my own cavalry.”

Chapter end