Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 44 Shooting Theory (4k)

Su Ze asked Su Dao and his followers to leave his house first, then he opened the door to welcome them in and introduced them to his sister Su Yuyao one by one.

He first pointed at Su Lin and said:

"Yuyao, this is my good friend in the army, his last name is also Su, with a single character Lin, and he will be staying at our house for the next few days."

Su Yuyao hurriedly saluted Su Lin, only to see that he was standing with his back straight, and like his father and brother, he had a military temperament. Naturally, she had no doubt that Su Lin was a member of the Yulin Army.

"This is my guest, Su Dao. You only need to buy him a pot of wine every three days. Don't worry about his food."

Keeping guests is also a common thing these days.

In the past, when Su Ze's father was a Yu Lin Lang, the family also had guests. Su Yuyao saw that this Su Dao had a wretched appearance, but since he was her brother's guest, she also politely saluted.

Su Ze then pointed at the embroiderer and the servant and said, "This is Xiuniang, the maid I bought from the market."

"Su Er, you can let him do the chores at home from now on."

"Xiuniang? Can you do housework?"

Xiuniang nodded repeatedly, and Su Yuyao showed a look of surprise and said, "Brother, don't worry! I will take good care of the family!"

Su Yuyao was in high spirits, so Su Ze left it to her to do the work. After all, his younger sister had been sensible since she was young.

Women these days do not yet have the same belief as in the Ming and Qing dynasties that a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent. Regardless of whether the family is large or small, women must know how to manage the household.

Women from wealthy families had to learn how to manage their homes, and women in troubled times even had to bring servants to guard their homes.

Early the next morning, Su Ze took Su Lin to the southern wilderness. Today he wanted to learn archery from Su Lin.

Su Ze's archery skills were half taught by his father-in-law, and the other half was learned in the army. In recent years, the training of the Yulin Army has become increasingly lax, and Su Ze is considered quite good in the army.

Of course, according to his father-in-law Li Tong, Su Ze's archery skills were just for show. They were fine for practicing shooting in training grounds, but useless in battle.

Originally, Li Tong was going to train Su Ze in archery, but he suddenly received an order to go on a temporary expedition, leaving only the military books behind and letting Su Ze practice on his own.

These days Su Ze read the military books left by Li Tong day and night, but these ancient military books had no illustrations and the texts were extremely obscure, and there was no improvement after practicing them over and over again.

It's no wonder that talented generals are so rare. A brave general must know how to ride horses and shoot arrows as well as how to use swords, spears, sticks and halberds. This is not the age of online videos. If you want to master these, you need someone to teach you personally.

The training system of the Northern Wei Yulin Army was also established by Emperor Xiaowen, and his uncle Li Tong was also a martial arts master, but even so, Su Ze only learned a little bit.

Fortunately, Su Ze was not going to join the battle right away. He just wanted to join the selection of soldiers to join the Qinghe Palace.

In a deserted place by the river, Su Ze took out a longbow from the system warehouse.

This bow was left by Su Ze's father. The brother and sister did not sell the bow even in the most difficult times. It is also the most valuable thing left by Su Ze's father besides the Su family house.

Use high-quality bamboo seedlings as the lining, ox horns as the outer bow surface, the heartwood of yellow mulberry wood as the bow end (the end of the bow), and sandalwood as the bow handle (the middle of the bow back where the hand holds). After these four materials are made into a rough blank, they must be air-dried for more than a year to dry thoroughly.

The glue used to glue the bow together is also secretly prepared by the bow maker. After all the parts are glued together, they need to be air-dried for another year. During this period, the bow maker also needs to constantly knead the bow and adjust the unreasonable parts of the bow.

Just like having clothes tailored to one's body, a good bow needs to be custom-made. This bow was custom-made for Su Ze's father by the master craftsman of the Ministry of Works after he took office as Yulin Lang.

Su Ze's height and build are similar to his father's, and he is very adept at using this bow, which is far superior to the inferior bows used by the Yulin Army.

When Su Lin saw the bow, his eyes lit up and he exclaimed, "What a great bow!"

Then Su Ze took out a bag of steel-clustered clipped feather arrows from the system. These were the arrows he bought from the store yesterday.

The blue equipment refreshed by the system is of high quality. The arrow body is made of straight old arrow bamboo, and the eagle feather arrow tail and fine steel arrowhead are connected together with thick glue. This is much better than the standard arrows of the Yulin Army.

Su Ze was about to put an arrow on the bow but was stopped by Su Lin.

"My Lord, wait a minute."

"My Lord, your arrow is wrong."

"The arrow is wrong?" This is a blue quality arrow generated by the system. Is this not right?
Su Lin said: "The master used Wushe arrows, which are used in battle formations. The arrowheads are small and sharp, and are specially used to penetrate armor. It would be a waste to use them to shoot willows."

Su Lin took out an arrow with a wide arrowhead and handed it to Su Ze, saying, "Your Majesty is participating in the selection of the elite troops for the military parade, and it is for the competition on the parade ground, so you should use a competition of arrows."

Professionalism, what is professionalism!

Su Lin added: "Also, the master's bow is wrong."

"The bow is wrong too?"

Su Lin nodded and said, "My Lord, this bow is a large bow. The bow is long and elastic. It is stable to hold and the arrows shot out are very powerful. This is a battle bow. It can be used for fighting and hunting."

"But if it's a shooting competition, it's better to use a small bow."

"Why?"

Su Lin said: "The small bow is light and easy to hold. It is more accurate in archery competitions and saves energy when practicing archery. You can draw the bow more times. When hunting, you can use the small bow to hunt ordinary prey."

I didn't expect that there is so much knowledge about archery. After listening to Su Lin's explanation, Su Ze felt that those contents that he couldn't understand in the book suddenly became clear.

Su Lin handed his small bow to Su Ze and said, "My Lord, you can practice with my bow."

Su Ze put the family heirloom longbow into the system warehouse and pulled Su Lin's small bow, which was indeed much less labor-intensive than his own longbow.

Su Lin said: "Han archers practiced shooting with small bows every day, and also used large bows to build up their strength."

"Build up your strength?"

"You can't fire a bow without any purpose, my Lord, you know that, right?"

Su Ze nodded. If there is no arrow in the drawn bow, the huge kinetic energy of the contraction of the bowstring will damage the bow.

This is what Su Ze's father-in-law repeatedly told him when he first started learning archery.

Su Lin said: "The bow cannot be released in vain, but pulling the empty bow and slowly releasing it is a very effective way to train arm strength. Therefore, archers in the Han Dynasty would slowly release the longbow ten times every day to build up their strength."

So that's how it is. Su Ze couldn't help but sigh, no wonder the Han Dynasty's army was so powerful, the Qin and Han dynasties had very complete methods of training their armies.

It is a pity that after the late Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty and the Five Barbarians Invasion, all this knowledge was divided up and privately kept by aristocratic families, becoming the so-called "family learning".

It's not just military knowledge. The aristocratic families at the end of the Han Dynasty devoured the "corpse" of the empire. The knowledge of the bureaucratic system, academics, and literature were all turned into private schools by them. This is not just a cultural regression, but also a civilizational regression.

"My Lord, you can practice archery now."

Su Lin's voice pulled Su Ze back from his thoughts. He looked at the willow branches swaying by the river a hundred steps away and asked doubtfully, "Can you hit it from such a distance? I used to practice at a distance of thirty steps."

Su Lin said: "My lord, I'm not asking you to shoot the willow branches, but the willow cage I just woven." Following Su Lin's finger, Su Ze saw a cage made of willow branches hanging on the branches.

Su Lin said: "When practicing shooting, shoot far rather than near. When practicing long-range shooting, it is better to shoot at a larger target rather than practicing shooting at a smaller target at a closer distance."

"Because the bow and arrow have different feel at different distances, if you want to practice shooting from a hundred steps, then you have to practice from a hundred steps away."

So that's how it is. There is also such a passage in Yafu's military book. After Su Lin's explanation, he immediately understood the meaning.

The movement trajectory of a bow and arrow is different at different distances, so it only makes sense to practice at a fixed distance. That's why!
After determining the target, Su Ze straightened his body, pulled the bow and arrow, held the bow with his left hand like an eagle's claw, and double-nosed the arrow with his right hand, and shot an arrow at Liu Long.

Su Ze was in good condition. He shot an arrow into the willow cage. He looked at Su Lin triumphantly, but heard him say:

"My Lord, your shooting technique is wrong."

"Shooting method?"

Su Linxu drew the bow and demonstrated:

"The only two archery methods in the world that can be used in battle today are Han Shooting and Hu Shooting."

"Han archers hold the bow in their left hand with an eagle's claw, and nod the arrow with their right hand."

"The Hu archer holds the bow with his left hand and nocks the arrows with his right hand."

"My Lord, you are holding the bow with the Han style, but you are drawing the arrow with the Hu style. This is wrong."

Su Ze gestured for a while, and it turned out that Su Lin's movements were more convenient. He asked:

"What is the difference between Han Shooting and Hu Shooting?"

Su Lin said: "The Han shooting method allows more time to concentrate after drawing the bow, and can shoot more accurately. The Hu shooting method makes it easier to exert force when drawing the bow, but the concentration time is short, so it is a method of winning by force."

"My Lord is going to participate in a competition, so the Han shooting method will do."

When Su Lin mentioned "Shen Gu", Su Ze also mentioned it many times in Yafu's military book, he quickly asked, "What is Shen Gu?"

Su Lin said: "Observation means to observe with your heart and eyes, so-called judging the situation. Solidity means to hold firmly. After pulling the bow to the full, you must fix the bow and aim, and your arms must not tremble."

"Only by careful examination can one hit the target, and only by holding firmly can one shoot far and accurately. Only by combining the two can one master the essence of archery."

Su Lin was like a patient teacher, correcting Su Ze's mistakes one by one, correcting his archery posture, and helping him develop a training plan that better suits him.

The two practiced from morning to noon. After eating some dry food to restore their strength, they continued practicing.

Su Lin said, "The methods of archery on foot and archery on horseback are different. My Lord, let's only practice archery on foot today, and practice archery on horseback next time, so as not to confuse the methods of exerting force."

Su Ze naturally followed suit. What Su Lin said today exceeded all he had learned in archery before, and some of the things he needed to digest before he could learn them.

Su Ze has a solid foundation and outstanding comprehension ability, so he clearly feels that his shooting skills have improved.

Just as the two were practicing archery, Su Ze heard a noise in the distance.

Looking up, it was the direction of King Qinghe's hunting ground.

Su Ze saw the domineering Steward Lu from last time, who, under the protection of the palace guards, bossed the villagers around in an arrogant manner.

Su Ze brought Su Lin closer and heard the villagers wailing to Manager Lu:

"Please ask Manager Lu to let us in to weed. If we don't weed the new seedlings, the crops in the fields won't grow!"

Manager Lu still looked domineering and said, "I've already said that this is the hunting ground of King Qinghe, not your land at all! You have committed a serious crime by privately reclaiming the hunting ground of King Qinghe! It's only because our king is kindhearted that he doesn't bother with you common people! If you come again! Next time, I'll send you to Henan Prefecture!"

"Call me out!"

The palace guards stepped forward one after another, and the people kneeling on the ground could only leave unwillingly.

I only heard that Manager Lu said to the guards: "In order to organize the king's selection ceremony, I will live in the hunting ground for the next few days. You must guard more strictly at night and don't let those unruly people in again!"

"only!"

Su Ze looked at the domineering steward of the palace and his heart was filled with resentment. He suddenly had an idea and opened the map.

Sure enough, on the large map of the southern wilderness, a small map of "Qinghe Palace Hunting Ground" appeared.

Su Ze picked up the chess piece representing Su Dao and placed him on the small map of "Qinghe Palace Hunting Ground".

[In the adventure area "Qinghe Palace Hunting Ground", "Dog Thief Su Dao" can perform adventure commissions: 1 sneak in, 2 steal (you can specify the target and object of the theft), please choose? ]

[Note that when performing tasks in the adventure zone, you may encounter risks such as death, detention, and injury of subordinates. The risk depends on the level difference of the zone.]

Sure enough!

Su Ze decisively placed the chess piece representing Su Dao in the hunting ground area of ​​Qinghe Palace, and chose to steal from the steward Lu of the palace in front of him.

Su Dao, who was at Su Ze's house, suddenly sat up from the bed, grabbed the wine that Su Yuyao had just bought on the table, took a big gulp, and then crawled out from the dog hole in the wall beside Su Ze's house.

Su Dao deliberately avoided the main route, made a circle in Jianyangli, and then went out through a dog hole in the outer wall of the inner quarter.

After Su Ze completed the commission, he took Su Lin home and saw a familiar figure again.

"Brother Wang?"

Su Ze walked over and saw that the person standing by the river shooting willows was none other than his colleague in the Yulin Army, Wang Hui, who was also a Han Chinese member of the Yulin Army.

Su Ze and Wang Hui are old friends, but unlike Su Ze who likes to contradict his superiors, Wang Hui is one of the majority of Han Chinese military households in the Yulin Army. They usually dare not say a word when faced with the oppression of Xianbei officers, and even have to bow down and scrape to please these "nationalities".

Later, I heard that something happened in Wang Hui's family and the two became more distant.

"It turned out to be Su Lang."

Wang Hui looked a little flustered when he saw Su Ze, but he quickly recovered and said, "I have also signed up for the Qinghe King's selection of frontline players. I heard that Su Lang is also going to participate?"

Su Ze said quickly: "Brother Wang, you have the archery skills passed down from generation to generation, you will definitely be selected this time! When you become a white-robed scholar in the Qinghe Palace, remember to invite me for a drink!"

Wang Hui gave a bitter smile and then said reluctantly, "Sure, sure, I'll ask Su Lang to drink next time."

After the two said goodbye and left, Su Lin suddenly said to Su Ze: "Master, there is a monk hiding in the willow forest ahead."

"Monk?" It was normal for monks to appear in Luoyang, but it was already late at night, and it was a little abnormal to see monks acting suspiciously.

"That monk seems to be with Captain Wang."

Tomorrow will still be 6k
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(End of this chapter)