Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

Hujie army barracks school grounds, a group of more than a dozen rode their horses to the open space. On a sunny day with wind, the dry dust on the muddy ground was blown into the air, making the sun in the west border look foggy.

"Second brother, third brother, I have been practicing riding and shooting when I have free time for more than a month. You should also train more." Guo Shao turned his head and said, "Generals ride horses when they go into battle, light foot combat is not enough."

Yang Biao and Luo Mengzi had no choice but to nod in response.

Near the fence on the edge of the school field, some soldiers standing guard were looking curiously at the generals in the open space. The group of people here are mainly Luo Yanhuan's generals, and there is also a big man in the left wing who commands "Qi Tuo" Qi Tingyi the most conspicuous. Qi Tuo survived more than a dozen arrows in Haozhou City, but after being carried back to Tokyo, he had been injured for a long time, and he seemed to be recovering recently. If it is the eldest brother who has more injuries than anyone else, then Qi Tuo must be the eldest brother among those present.

Qi Tuo was surprised: "General Guo still needs to practice riding and shooting?"

The generals didn't answer. Those who are familiar with Guo Shao know that he only started two years ago. He was just a young infantry general. It's normal that he can't ride and shoot. Not only he can't, even his two brothers who are in trouble can't.

Guo Shao turned his head and said casually, "Learn now."

After finishing speaking, he took the bow of one stone and two from his back. He also didn't want to show shame on the school grounds because he didn't train well, but his home didn't have a good place like Dong Zunxun's house, and the horse couldn't run in the garden; he could only go to the barracks.

"That archery target! Let's go up." Guo Shao pointed at the target at about a hundred paces away, and beckoned to the people around him. After shouting and kicking lightly, the horse rushed over first, the sound of horseshoes sounded suddenly, and a group of people rushed up on horseback briskly.

Guo Shao stared at the target, calmed down, and took arrows from the quiver on his side while galloping. The mount was rushing away from the right front of the target, he sat up straight and concentrated on feeling the distance and speed. When the intuition is right, the arm is stretched, and the arrow in the right hand is calmly lowered onto the bowstring from top to bottom, the movements are slightly exaggerated, as if performing a gesture. But it was held very firmly, without stagnation.

As soon as the arrow hit the string, he began to draw the bow, and the movements were coherent in one breath. After drawing the bow, the action paused in mid-air, aiming for a short while, and the horse that sat down was still galloping. Getting closer and closer, he rushed towards the arrow target and passed by. After more than ten steps, there was a "pop" sound, and the arrow floated over and hit the target.

Guo Shao was overjoyed when he saw this! As soon as the sound of the string fell, I saw many arrows flying past from far and near, most of them hit the target, but only two flew into the air, and it didn't matter that they were arrows from Yang Biao and Luo Mengzi.

Hitting the target with more than a dozen steps seems to be no difficulty for most generals. However, in Guo Shao's view, the distance is still not close, two steps are one step, and one step left and right is a step; the distance just now is about 20 meters by visual estimation.

"General Guo shot well." Qi Tuo seemed to have just casually fired an arrow, but it was not as exaggerated as Guo Shao. Luo Mengzi also echoed: "Brother is very good, just practice."

Guo Shao smiled, pretending to be modest and said: "It's just that I didn't miss the target. I didn't see the bull's-eye very clearly. And the distance is also close. If it is farther away, I will miss it. I have to continue to practice martial arts hard."

Qi Tuo said: "General Guo's posture is very accurate and meticulous, it seems that someone from a martial arts heir specially instructed him."

Guo Shao let the horse slow down gradually, turned his head and praised: "General Qi is an expert with a discerning eye! To be honest, I was taught by Dong Zun, the military capital of the Long Jie Army...but only beginners can be meticulous in every step, right? You can be very casual when you are proficient."

Qi Tuo nodded and said: "You can only know the tricks if you have someone to guide you. Dong Zunxun seems to be a son of a family of military generals. No wonder he is very disciplined."

After hearing this, Luo Yanhuan laughed and said, "Our Hujie army is short of cavalry generals. Doesn't it mean that the superiors need to allocate five hundred horses to each compartment? Why don't we bring over Dong Zunxun, plus my cavalry general Deng Fei, and we can have a cavalry team of six or seven hundred cavalry."

Guo Shao was noncommittal, thinking in his mind: Dong Zunxun is in Long Jiejun, so my influence can be radiated to Long Jiejun;

He ignored Luo Yanhuan, looked at the tall Qi Tuo and said, "I will ask for leave in a few days, and General Qi will bring back the horses. There are only 500 horses, and they won't be effective if they are scattered; I think they can all be transferred to the third army under Luo Yanhuan. Form a new cavalry command, add Deng Fei's 300-odd cavalry, and the second command's direct army will use Luo Yanhuan, so the horse soldiers of the third army will have some fighting strength. What does General Qi think?"

Qi Tuo didn't even think about it, and replied directly: "I will follow General Guo's order."

Guo Shaodao: "Choose a few hundred soldiers with good equestrian skills, and you can select soldiers from the six armies in the left wing. I will leave this matter to General Qi."

"The last general takes orders." Qi Tuo cupped his fists and said.

Luo Yanhuan asked: "The master's announcement is false, is he going to Hebei?"

Guo Shao smiled and said, "Exactly."

Luo Yanhuan reminded: "You have to send a general to escort the lord." Guo Shaodao: "Others have military affairs. It is not nice to use the general for my private affairs, so let the third brother bring some soldiers to follow; besides, I am also a general, and I am not far from the Daming Mansion, so there is no need to make a fuss."

Seeing that the sun was setting to the west, Guo Shao said again: "Go back to the camp and turn over the horses. I will come back tomorrow afternoon."

"Drive!" The crowd yelled and rushed to the barracks beside the school grounds.

Just like in the past, Guo Shao wandered around the government offices and military camps for a day regularly, and returned home on time. Recently, I have been thinking about Fu Ermei in my heart... I don’t have the worries like morning clouds and evening rains, but I am concerned about specific matters such as buying dowry gifts and arranging itineraries.

When he returned to the living room, he took out a wooden box from the bedside cabinet, which contained some small things he had collected. Opening the box, a delicate silk handkerchief came into view. Guo Shao picked it up and smelled it, and there was a sour smell... The main reason is that it has never been washed, and it should be sweat on his body before.

Guo Shao couldn't help sighing that the thought-provoking fragrance turned out to be this smell. Yulian must know about the existence of this silk scarf, because she handles all of Guo Shao's things at home, and there is no desire at all; but Yulian didn't touch his things, and never mentioned it.

Guo Shao took out the silk scarf, and when he walked out, he saw Dong Sanmei who was doing housework, so he handed her the silk scarf in his hand and said, "Dong Sanmei, wash and dry for me."

"Yes, Alang." She accepted it obediently and obediently.

Unexpectedly, Yulian also came over at this time, she glanced at the things in Dong Sanmei's hand, and came up to say hello. Guo Shao asked her to come into the house to help remove the armor. The armor he usually wears is chain mail pad leather, which is not heavy.

While busy, Yulian said: "You are going to Hebei to give the dowry, and there are still hundreds of miles to cross the Yellow River. Next time, you have to pick her up again? It would be too much trouble to run twice. Why don't you tell Mrs. Gao to talk to Wei Wang's family, and the better days will come sooner; this way, when you go to give the dowry, you can wait in Daming Mansion, and you can bring her back in one trip."

She took off the leather armor and put it on the stool first, and said: "When the time comes, Mr. Lang will send someone to bring a letter back. Yue'e and I will arrange the house at home, write invitations, and then invite the cook to set up a stove in the yard and buy ingredients and drinks."

Guo Shao heard her talking, his heart warmed, and he said with a little guilt in his tone: "It's really hard for you."

Yulian said softly: "We have long been members of Mr. Lang's family, and we rely on this family to live a good life, but the second lady of the Fu family is still in King Wei's house, and she is a lady of a wealthy family. If you treat her badly, how can you marry her back?"

Guo Shao pondered for a moment, then said: "Don't worry, I have met Fu Ermei. She is not young, but she may not be as sensible as you. She is a kind and simple person, not a mean person."

He thought for a while, and finally couldn't help asking: "Why is Yulian so prejudiced against the queen?"

"How dare I!" Yulian murmured softly.

Guo Shao coaxed her softly again, but she didn't say anything.

... At night, a lantern was hung under the eaves outside the back door of the living room. Guo Shao habitually sat outside the door after taking a bath to watch the scenery by the lake. Yulian sat beside him and chatted together.

Only then did she slowly talk about the past, "A few years ago when Li Shouzhen's family was ruined, I saw you outside the gatehouse of the inner courtyard that day, the last time I met you in Hezhong Mansion. You may not have noticed me, but only cared about the back of the talisman."

Guo Shao really didn't have any memory, it really wasn't his business, he couldn't help if there was no image of Tian Yulian in his memory. Guo Shao remained silent, thinking that asking where she was now seems a bit hurtful.

Yulian said quietly: "At that time, the rebels had already rushed into the mansion. Standing in front of the gate, did you see two people fleeing into the inner house? You must still remember that one of those two people is Empress Fu. You wanted to die for her there, how could you forget?"

Guo Shaoming thought hard for a while, and replied: "There are indeed two people, and the other should be the current queen's servant."

"The valet is me." Yulian said softly.

Guo Shao: "..."

Yulian said: "At that time, even Empress Fu's maid who married from Hebei to Hezhong Mansion disappeared, but I was in Li Shouzhen's Mansion from the beginning, and I can't be regarded as her confidant. I didn't run away, not because I was loyal, but because I had nowhere to go; thinking that Empress Fu is from a rich family, as long as I follow her, if she has a way, I can follow her to avoid disaster."

She sighed quietly: "I have been with Empress Fu from the beginning to the end, and I am also a member of Li Shouzhen's house. In the end, she was rescued by Taizu (Guo Wei), but I was taken away by Taizu's subordinates... Taizu was on good terms with King Wei and appreciated Empress Fu, so of course he treated her with courtesy; if she said a word for me at this time, my fate would be completely different. "

After hearing this, Guo Shao sighed a little, pondered for a moment and said: "Maybe it's not the case. As far as I know, the queen is very kind to others. If she had no sympathy, why did she persuade King Wei to save me, a completely irrelevant person in Hebei? Even if you treat irrelevant people with compassion, let alone you are with her?"

Yulian said: "I knew Lang Jun would speak for her."

Guo Shaodao: "I'm not saying this for her. I really haven't figured it out yet. And my guess is well-founded. It is rumored that Taizu (Guo Wei) turned against the Han. Apart from revenge, he was mainly coerced by his subordinates. He might not be able to restrain his subordinates at first... After Taizu ascended the throne, he was almost threatened by the privy envoy. After Yulian was taken away by his subordinates, if Taizu came forward, he could not completely restrain his subordinates, so he might not be willing to cause unhappiness for a maid and his subordinates."

"Is that so?" Yulian looked at his face.

Guo Shaodao: "When the opportunity is right, I will ask for you. No matter what, it is a thing of the past, and there is no turning back. Aren't we good now? I will treat you well."

After hearing this, Yulian covered his hand and said softly, "I really never dreamed that this life would be like this."