In early July, the sun was shining brightly in the north. Fang Zilan was filled with joy and admiration as she watched the high-spirited soldiers in the army practicing diligently and sweating on the school field.
It was these people who never slackened even during the Taiping years. They used their backbones to hold up the sky above the heads of the people in the north, used their flesh and blood to build the strongest city wall in the north, and used their sweat to flow across the north. Every plant and tree on a thousand acres of land brings peace and tranquility to the entire capital.
Vice General Qin followed Fang Zilan and told her about the daily life of the soldiers in the camp, "Everyone has worked hard on the exams in the past two days. Master Fang, are you ready?"
Fang Zilan couldn't stop nodding and said: "It's great, thank you for your hard work."
Vice General Qin smiled honestly, "It's not hard work, it's all about duty. Speaking of which, that boy Shangguan Min is particularly hard-working. He is top-notch in horse riding and archery. He is indeed not bad. Even compared to the deputy generals in the army, he is not inferior."
Fang Zilan agreed: "I also think Shangguan Min is good. He will be promoted tomorrow."
"It seems that Mr. Fang has already decided?" Vice General Qin looked a little curious. Fang Zilan smiled slightly and said: "That's natural. Later, Vice General Qin, you and I will go back to the tent and discuss it with Old Li and Old Cao. , let’s finalize the list of promotions.”
"Okay." Vice General Qin nodded in agreement, and walked towards the tent with Fang Zilan.
The two of them had not gone far when they saw two horse-feeding soldiers with their backs facing them, head to head, whispering something.
Fang Zilan signaled Vice General Qin not to disturb them by making any noise, and the two of them got closer together to hear the conversation clearly.
"You said that Mr. Fang is so partial to Shangguan Min, isn't it because Shangguan Min's father, Shangguan Jing, was killed by her?"
"Shh, keep your voice down, it won't be good if someone hears you."
"What's wrong? Shangguan Min is a young boy. If Mr. Fang is partial, we will all be stepped on by him in the future..."
"If you don't practice your skills when you have time, you will just talk about it. If you don't get stepped on by Shangguan Min, do you still want to be a general?"
Fang Zilan's voice suddenly sounded, making the two soldiers tremble in fright. They turned around and saw her and Vice General Qin, and knelt down in front of them with a plop.
One of them advised another soldier to keep his voice down and kowtow like garlic, "I don't know that Master Fang and Vice General Qin are here. I know that I made a mistake. I hope you will not blame me."
The other soldier was unconvinced, "As Lord Fang said, we really want to be generals, so why don't you let us have non-commissioned officer status? Why should Shangguan Min step on us? Isn't it because Mr. Fang, are you biased and gave him the rank of non-commissioned officer?"
Fang Zilan snorted coldly, "Since you are not convinced, then I will give you a chance. Follow me to the school grounds."
After she finished speaking, she turned to Vice General Qin and said, "Vice General Qin, go find Shangguan Min and take him to the school grounds. Tell him that someone wants to challenge him and ask him to fight with all his strength."
"Yes." Vice General Qin took the order and left. Fang Zilan looked at the two people kneeling on the ground and said, "Let's go."
The challenging soldier seemed not to have expected that things would turn out like this. After hesitating for a while, he stood up and followed Fang Zilan to the school ground. The other soldier saw this and followed quickly, and the three of them arrived at the school ground together.
Vice General Qin and Shangguan Min were already waiting at the school grounds and greeted them when they came.
Shangguan Min tentatively looked at the two people behind Fang Zilan and asked, "I heard from Vice General Qin that these are the two people who want to challenge me?"
"Not bad." Fang Zilan stepped aside and said in a deep voice: "What do you two want to compare with Shangguan Min? Why don't you come and hear it, so that I can make a judgement."
"It's up to us?" the challenging soldier asked suspiciously. Shangguan Min nodded and said, "It's up to you to choose what you want to test."
"Okay, since you said so, let's compete in archery!" The challenging soldier's confident look made Fang Zilan chuckle. "Have you thought about it? Shangguan Min is best at archery."
"Master Fang and Shangguan Min want us to decide what we want to compete with, so naturally we have to decide the rules." The challenging soldier spoke confidently, and Shangguan Min said without hesitation: "Tell me, how do you want to compete?"
The challenging soldier raised his voice: "Each of us has three arrows. Let's compare who can hit the bull's-eye more times. The two of us have six arrows, and Shangguan Min you have three arrows. How about it? Do you dare to compete?"
Before Shangguan Min could reply, Lieutenant General Qin scolded him lightly: "You are using more people to bully less people."
Hearing this, another soldier had the courage to ask, "Master Fang asked us to decide. Does Master Fang mean to keep his word?"
Fang Zilan spread her hands and said, "I have no objection. What about you, Shangguan Min?"
"I don't have any objection either." Shangguan Min said, taking off the bow and arrow he was carrying and handing it to the two of them, "Come on."
"Shangguan Min, your bow is too heavy, we are not used to it." The challenging soldier did not take his bow, so Fang Zilan ordered someone to get another bow and arrows, "For the sake of fairness, Shangguan Min, just use the same bow as them. "
Shangguan Min nodded without any objection and said: "It's easy to say." The news spread, and the school grounds were quickly surrounded by soldiers watching the battle.
Fang Zilan signaled everyone to be quiet, and then asked the two soldiers on the field to fire arrows.
These two soldiers were good at archery, and six of their arrows hit the bull's-eye, which made Deputy General Qin on the side sweat for Shangguan Min.
"It's your turn." Fang Zilan waved his hand without any reaction. Shangguan Min walked to the center of the school field and took the bow and arrow from one of the soldiers.
After Shangguan Min weighed the weight of the bow and arrow in his hand, he said, "I would like to ask Mr. Fang to order three targets in a row, and then add six more targets. Every three targets will be arranged in a row, and the last target in each row will be against the wall." Available immediately.”
"Alright." As soon as Fang Zilan finished speaking, a soldier stepped forward to arrange the targets in order.
Most of the people watching were confused, but Vice General Qin frowned, "This bow is much lighter than what Shangguan Min usually uses. Can he do it?"
The sun was too bright at noon, so Fang Zilan squinted her eyes and said, "If it doesn't work, it will be a lesson. A true master will not be hindered by the weapons in his hands."
Her words were neither light nor serious, but they happened to reach Shangguan Min's ears.
He didn't look back, he just raised the bow and arrow in his hand, aimed and shot without any hesitation. He did it in one go, like clouds and flowing water, leaving everyone around him involuntarily stunned.
I saw that each of the three arrows passed through the first two bullseyes, and finally landed on the third bullseye at the end. The three targets were strung together like candied haws and nailed to the wall.
