A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 170: Training Envoy

The carriage traveled on Shenheyuan after the snow.

The field was covered in white, and the snow was half a foot thick, making a squeaking sound when stepped on.

"rabbit!"

I don't know who was sharp-eyed, but someone shouted, and the hare that came out to look for food was scared and ran away. With a whoosh sound, it was like an arrow shot from a bow, and a white snow mist rose from under it.

It's too late, it's too soon,
A group of people were already chasing after them, cheering.

Although rabbits seem to run fast, they are actually just very agile in turning. In reality, they are no faster than humans. The thick snow made it difficult for rabbits to change direction as swiftly as usual.

A group of people chased and tried to stop the rabbit, and soon the rabbit was knocked down and caught.

"What a fat rabbit,"

"It must weigh about six or seven pounds."

Li Yi also got off the carriage and came to look at the rabbits. It was quite interesting to chase rabbits in the snow.

The one who caught the rabbit was a guard.
When he returned home this time, he brought a lot of people with him. In addition to the slaves in his household, there were twelve servants allocated to him by the court, and four imperial guards.

For the sake of good fortune, Li Yi cannot make any mistakes.

On normal days, he was accompanied by four imperial guards for protection when he went to and from get off work.

Even if he asked for leave to go back to the countryside, four people were still assigned to him.

"I didn't bring a dog. Otherwise, it would be easier to chase them, especially a greyhound, which is best at chasing rabbits."

The Imperial Guard Zhao Yongan who was speaking laughed and said, "These snow rabbits usually come out to forage at night. It was destined that this one came out during the day."

Others also laughed and said that they might as well look for it again.
When rabbits come out to look for food at night, they will still leave traces in the snow. Although rabbits are also very smart and can camouflage themselves, they will deliberately run back and forth near their nests to make their tracks confusing.
But it can't escape experienced hunters.
If you look carefully, you may be able to find the hiding place. If you can't find it, you can crack a whip or make loud noises to scare the timid rabbit out of its nest.

Once you spot a rabbit, it will be hard to escape in the snow.

Li Yi smiled and said, "Then catch a few more rabbits."
A group of people split up and quickly chased out several more rabbits.

Chase and intercept,

Zhao Yongan and his men also took out slingshots to fight,

This guy has excellent aim. He uses mud balls and every hit is accurate.

Li Yi was a little curious about his slingshot.

Different from the Y-shaped slingshot he had in mind, Zhao Yongan's slingshot looked just like an ordinary bow, except that it was shorter.
But the string is different, there is a spring pocket in the middle of the bowstring.
The bow string is specially made, or you can directly use the bow of the bow and arrow to replace the sling string.

Slingshots are quite powerful, especially for shooting birds and rabbits, which is better than arrows.

Li Yuan, Zhang Sunsheng and others were all good slingshot users. When Li Shimin's father-in-law Zhang Sunsheng was on a diplomatic mission to the Turks, he not only killed two birds with one stone, but also encountered a flock of kites while hunting with the Khan. The Khan did not believe that Zhang Sunsheng had killed two birds with one stone, so he asked him to shoot down all the birds.

Changsun Sheng took out his slingshot and fired ten balls in quick succession. All ten balls hit the target, and the kites fell to the ground in response to the balls.

Even after becoming emperor, Li Yuan often used a slingshot to shoot birds in the palace. It was said that he used golden bullets, and whoever picked up the bullet would be rewarded.

The playboys of noble families were also called "the dandy young man."

Aristocratic dandies liked to shoot gold bullets, but most of them actually used copper bullets.

"Is this slingshot easy to learn?" Li Yi asked Zhao Yongan.
"The slingshot is the most powerful hidden weapon. Its use is the same as the bow, but once you master the slingshot, it's easy to practice the bow. The stance for both is the same."

"When you first learn to slingshot, you must stand steady and draw the bow in a circular motion with both hands. Pull the bow with your back hand until it is three and a half centimeters behind your eyes and in front of your ears. When you release the bow, do not exhale. Exhale low and inhale high.

You have to hit three circles, namely the bow circle, the nest circle, and the marble circle, otherwise it will not be accurate.

You can practice hitting incense sticks at night and target shooting during the day. The key is to master the word, and you will be able to do it as you please in the future."

Li Yi asked, "How long will it take to master it?"

“It will take three years.”

He was a little surprised when he heard it would take three years. "Will it hurt my hands?"

When he was a child, he saw others playing with Y-shaped slingshots and followed suit. As a result, his hands were beaten so badly that his skin and flesh were torn and his bones were almost broken.

After a few times, I didn’t dare to play it anymore.

"Beginners will definitely hit their hands, so they need to practice diligently. At the beginning, they cannot directly use clay balls, pottery balls, stone balls, etc. They have to use soft balls, such as paper balls, to practice first."

Zhao Yongan did not hide anything from Li Yi, teaching him everything he knew and even demonstrating it directly. "Another point is that the moment the bullet is fired, the hand holding the bow should turn its wrist. This will prevent it from hitting the bow handle or your hand."

Li Yi took his slingshot and pulled it a few times.

It is indeed the same as an ordinary bow and arrow. Unlike the Y-shaped slingshot that relies on the elasticity of the rubber band, this one relies on the bow body, and the bowstring has no elasticity.

"Practice more, and after three years, you'll be able to basically shoot whatever you point at, and archery will be quite easy too."

Slingshots are best for hunting small prey, such as birds and rabbits, without damaging the prey.

Another thing is that for ordinary people, arrows are very wasteful, while bullets are cheaper.

In some dynasties, people were prohibited from owning bows and arrows, so they could only use slingshots.

Li Yi has also practiced archery for a while, but he has no perseverance and determination. He fishes for three days and rests the net for two days, and has not made any progress.

"Brother Zhao, how about I learn slingshot and archery from you?"

Zhao Yongan’s hometown is Hedongxihe County, which is now Haozhou. His family used to be from Yongan County, but now Yongan has been incorporated into Lingshi.

There are the famous Queshu Valley and Gaobiling Ridge in his hometown. His family has been hunters for generations, and shooting birds, mice and rabbits with slingshots is a family skill.

When Li Yuan first started his army, Xihe County, south of Taiyuan, was still loyal to the Sui Dynasty, so Li Yuan sent Jiancheng and Shimin to lead the troops to take it.
The two brothers traveled back and forth for nine days, and Xihe was finally settled.

It was at that time that Zhao Yongan joined the Li Tang army and later became a member of Li Yuan's 30,000-strong army heading south. However, he was not originally from the Sui army, but was recruited after the capture of Xihe.

When Li Yuan sent troops to Taiyuan, he appointed two lieutenants, Xuanhui and Suide, to the 30,000-strong army, and awarded each of them a rank of either the seventh or the lower seventh grade. Zhao Yongan was awarded a rank of the lower seventh grade at that time.

After Li Yuan attacked Chang'an, many young men from Xihe who had property in their hometown returned to Hedong. Zhao Yongan's family used to be ordinary hunters. They didn't even have their own land and usually rented farmland, so they didn't leave. They were settled in Sanyuan, Weibei, and were given 100 acres of good fertile land. They became part of the Yuan Dynasty's imperial guards.

But I don't know if Zhao Yongan was unlucky or what, from Xihe all the way to Chang'an, he didn't catch a decent battle,
It's been more than a year.

Thanks to several honors, he is now the Grand Commander of the sixth rank, and the seventh rank Xuanhuiwei.

As for his military position, he was only a fire captain and had not even earned the rank of deputy team leader, which was below the ninth rank.

At that time, so many people from Xihe joined the Tang army. No matter they stayed in the capital as imperial guards or returned to Xihe County as palace soldiers, most of them at least got some official position thanks to Yuan Congzhi's merits.

Li Yi felt that Zhao Yongan was tall and strong, and he was very skilled with a slingshot, so he must be good at using a bow and arrow. As one of the first group to follow Li Yuan in the uprising, it was indeed strange that he didn't even get the ninth rank.

Maybe it's his personality, or maybe he offended someone.

"If Lord Qianshui thinks highly of me, I will teach you how to practice archery every day."

"Okay, when we get back to Wuji Castle, I'll offer tea and become your disciple."

"I dare not become your disciple, I just want to give you some pointers."

Several wild rabbits were harvested on the plateau.

Li Yi also found a teacher who taught him how to play the bow.

Keep going, everyone.

Soon they passed by Fengjiabao. After the last incident, Feng Liulang and Dong Xiucai, two wealthy villagers of Fengjiabao, also called on all the villagers in Fengjiabao to contribute money and labor.

During this period, the east and north walls of the fort were raised and reinforced, and the fort gates were replaced with thicker ones.

There are cliffs on the west and south sides, so there is no need to worry.

Feng Liulang also raised and reinforced his own Fengjiashan Manor, which looked even more majestic from a distance.

Li Yi and his party entered from the North Fort Gate.
There are now more villagers on duty guarding the gate. Although they do not need to pay taxes or be checked, if any thieves or bandits come, they can be discovered and closed in time.

Someone recognized that it was Li Yi who had returned.

They came over to say hello,
Li Yicai realized that the people guarding the gate were also members of the Xingshengli Security Group he founded. Now the Security Group has changed its name from Xingshengli Security Group to Yusu Township Unity Camp.

Upgraded from regiment to battalion.
Even Yongzhou specially allocated a group of bows, spears, swords and shields that were discarded by the government soldiers. It was said to be a regiment before, but it was not even enough for a team.

But now, the entire township of 500 households has been included, including 20 to 30 villages, large and small, and 30 to 40 powerful landlords. Not only the children and servants of the wealthy families have joined, but the villagers have also chosen to join.

One adult male from each household is enrolled in the village unity camp. They will train for a few days during the slack season. During normal times, they will take turns. Five hundred adults are organized into ten teams, each team for ten days, and a full rotation is completed in a hundred days.

The children of wealthy families served as team leaders, cooks, and squad leaders, etc.

The Township Alliance Camp now sounds quite famous, after all, it had a great record of defending Fengjiabao last time, beheading the neighboring people, and killing twelve Qiang soldiers.
There is also Li Yi, the commander of the Tuanjie Camp, who is now very famous in the village.

Li Yi didn't know when he got the title of Tuanlianshi of Yusu Township Tuanjieying.

"Look at the flag on the fort gate, Lord Li. That's the flag of our Unity Camp, given directly by the Yongzhou government."

A large flag was hoisted on the gate of the fort.
There are big black words in the middle of the red flag: Unity.

There are no patterns of the sun, moon, stars, lions, tigers or other beasts on the flag. It is just a very simple flag.

Someone said: "Our Yusu Township Unity Camp has raised this flag, and every village has hoisted it. Every village has arranged to guard the village gate and patrol the road day and night.
The theft situation has improved a lot.”

"Last time, Feng Xiangzuo said that Wuji Fort is completed and Li Xianbo should be back soon. When you come back, gather all 500 people from our Yusu Township Unity Camp for a large-scale drill. We should also invite the superiors from Yongzhou and Wannian County to inspect and observe it!"

This Feng Liulang is quite capable of handling things.
In the snow,
Li Yi and his party finally descended the plateau slope and returned to Luojiabao.
From a distance, we could see two forts standing beside Luojiawan Bridge on the north bank of the Hehe River.
The two forts are only about a hundred meters apart.

The ten-meter-high wall, plus the outer parapet and inner parapet of the wall, and several pavilions on the piers,
It is located on the slope of the plateau.
Really majestic,

Li Yi fell in love with her at first sight.

Although one covers only ten acres and the other covers six acres, they are just two large courtyards of landlords, but the tall yellow rammed earth walls give people a sense of security.

This is the private estate in his mind.

It combines defense and housing in one.
In addition, the protective wall is four meters high. If used in the manor, even if there are three thousand rebel soldiers, it can be defended for ten days or half a month.

There is also a trench that is two zhang wide and two zhang deep.

Ji Sujun and Jin Yusu were also stunned when they saw the two Wuji Castles.

The previous Wuji Thatched Cottage is so different from this one.

"Is this really still our home?"

Two earthen forts, large and small, stand to the north of Luojiawan Bridge, like two giant beasts.

"Our two forts immediately surpass Fengjiashan."

The fort gate is 12 feet high and 11 feet wide, solid and domineering.

There is a brick and wood gatehouse on the fortress gate, and a stone-carved plaque with the words "Wuji Fort" is embedded in the center above the gate.

Li Yi looked at the two Wuji Castles, one large and one small.

I was so excited.

I am also a man who owns a castle. From today on, I am also the owner of the castle.

(End of this chapter)