dognovel Chapter 1069 Shuqing Competition (Part 2)
Chapter 1069 Shuqing Competition (Part 2)
"His Majesty!"
Upon hearing that Li Che was going to personally take the stage, Xu Jiezi and the others showed expressions of worry.
Luo Yueniang rushed forward, saying urgently, "Your Majesty, you mustn't! Arrows and swords have no eyes; if anything goes wrong..."
Li Che simply waved his hand, his gaze calm.
He casually took a common standard riding bow from the shelf, tested the string tension, and then picked up a quiver of arrows.
Luo Yueniang wanted to persuade him again, but when she saw that none of the emperor's trusted generals, such as Yue Yun and Qiu Bai, spoke up to dissuade her, they just watched silently. Her heart sank and she felt a strange unease.
Do they have such confidence in His Majesty?
Seeing that his attempts to dissuade him were futile, and observing Li Che's composed demeanor as he tested the bow, Yu Daliang felt a surge of excitement within him.
He gritted his teeth; since the emperor insisted, he had no choice but to comply.
Of course, one must still give the emperor face; one can slightly outmaneuver the emperor and give him a narrow defeat.
In any case, the Shu army's goal was not to win, but to save face and demonstrate the greater value of the Shu army.
Only in this way can we secure more benefits for the Shu army.
"In that case, this subordinate will obey!" Yu Daliang was also willing to go all out and stepped forward to choose a powerful bow that he was used to.
The two donned simple leather armor and led their horses to the training ground.
The soldiers had already followed the rules, removing the arrowheads and wrapping the front of the arrow shaft tightly with thick linen, then dipping it in white ash.
The rules of the contest were simple: each side held ten 'gray arrows' and rode at opposite ends of the training ground to shoot at each other. After the arrows were all shot, the winner was determined by the number of white ash spots on their bodies.
Upon hearing the news, Shu soldiers gathered around the training ground, forming several layers of dense crowd.
The Shu generals gathered together, their expressions a mixture of tension and anticipation.
Xu Jiezi and the others frowned slightly. They had never seen Li Che take action in person, so they were naturally worried.
Qiu Bai, however, crossed his arms, a slight smile playing on his lips.
These Shu generals... we still don't know what kind of opponent they've chosen.
Yu Daliang mounted a sturdy horse from Sichuan and looked across the road.
At that moment, Li Che nimbly mounted a magnificent warhorse with a coat as black as ink.
Black Wind seemed to sense its master's fighting spirit, and snorted impatiently, its hooves lightly pawing the ground.
Yu Daliang quickly calculated in his mind: He must not win too easily, nor could he let the emperor lose too badly.
Ideally, the fight should be prolonged, with the winner emerging by a narrow margin.
Yu Daliang felt this was not difficult; he had absolute confidence in his archery skills, which he had practiced diligently for thirty years, and knew he could not possibly harm the emperor.
"start!"
The command flag was waved down.
Yu Daliang had just been pondering when he instinctively and quickly raised his bow.
It's fast, but someone is faster!
Before Yu Daliang's gaze could fully lock onto the figure on the opposite horse, he heard a short, sharp sound as if something was cutting through the air, and a black line seemed to flash before his eyes!
He didn't even see the trajectory of the arrow before he felt a slight impact on the area of his breastplate.
I subconsciously looked down and saw a striking speck of white ash imprinted right in the center of my leather armor.
Was he shot?
How...how could it be so fast?!
Yu Daliang's mind went blank for a moment, and he looked up in disbelief.
On the other side, Li Che had already drawn his bow again.
Black Wind trotted lightly between his legs. Li Che's movements were fluid; nocking the arrow, drawing the bow, and releasing the string were all done in one smooth motion, with almost no pause.
The second arrow has arrived!
This time, Yu Daliang saw it clearly: the gray shadow was aimed straight at his chest.
In his shock, he relied entirely on his years of battle experience to dodge sideways on horseback.
"Snapped!"
The next second, I felt a touch on my shoulder armor.
Although the vital point was avoided, the white spot had already landed on the shoulder.
Two arrows! In the blink of an eye, he had been hit by two arrows!
A gasp of surprise rang out around the training ground, and the Shu generals froze instantly.
They could see clearly that even though Yu Daliang had underestimated his opponent, the emperor's arrows were incredibly fast.
They secretly thought that even if any one of them were sent up, they probably wouldn't be able to dodge those two arrows.
Cold sweat instantly beaded on Yu Daliang's forehead, and he dared not hold back any longer.
He roared and spurred his horse, causing it to wince in pain and charge forward with all its might.
I can no longer be on the defensive; I must close the distance, use my speed to disrupt the opponent, and counterattack at the same time!
While maneuvering his horse to avoid the obstacle, he struggled to draw his bow on the swaying back of the horse, turning back to aim at the dark figure on horseback.
whoosh-
As the top archer in the Shu army, Yu Daliang's arrow was both fast and steady, accurately predicting all of Li Che's dodge directions and blocking most of his path.
The arrow whistled as it flew away!
Just as the arrow was about to engulf Li Che, at the critical moment—
"Xilulu!"
The black wind beneath Li Che seemed to understand his will, its neck slightly tilted and its waist twisted as it galloped, instantly changing the rhythm of its four hooves striking the ground.
By a hair's breadth, the arrow that was destined to hit grazed Li Che's arm armor and flew into empty air.
"What?!" Yu Daliang's pupils shrank suddenly.
This horse can do that?! Could it be possessed by a spirit?
In that instant of hesitation, Li Che's counterattack arrived.
While dodging, Li Che's bow was already fully drawn, and he turned around to shoot!
This arrow, though not as fast as the previous two, was incredibly accurate.
With a muffled thud, Yu Daliang felt a numbness in his right forearm. Looking down, he saw a speck of white ash imprinted on the outside of his arm guard.
If it were a real arrow, the arrowhead would have already pierced through the leather armor and torn through the flesh.
The bow in his hand must have already slipped from his grasp and fallen to the ground.
Such incredible archery skills sent a chill straight to the top of Yu Daliang's head, and his fighting spirit was instantly extinguished by more than half.
The ensuing competition almost became a one-man show by Li Che.
Under his control, the Black Wind moved swiftly and slowly, advancing and retreating like lightning, always dodging Yu Daliang's shots at the last possible moment.
But Li Che's arrows always managed to catch up with Yu Daliang's figure from the most unexpected angles.
White spots appeared again and again on my chest, ribs, back, and thighs.
As the incense burned out and the gong sounded, the two men reined in their horses and stopped.
Yu Daliang was breathing heavily, his inner shirt soaked with sweat.
He looked down and saw that his leather armor was mottled and had seven conspicuous white and gray marks.
The emperor's black soft armor was spotless, with only a few specks of battlefield dust on it.
In the exchange of ten arrows, Yu Daliang missed all of them, while Li Che hit the target seven times out of ten.
Silence reigned both inside and outside the training ground.
Yu Daliang slid off his horse, looking utterly dejected, and stood there blankly.
Just then, the generals heard Qiu Bai chuckle: "When His Majesty first conquered Goguryeo, he shot and killed the Goguryeo commander-in-chief with an arrow through his throat under the watchful eyes of the entire army."
"After that, whenever His Majesty personally went to battle, the sound of the bowstring would surely lead to the fall of an enemy chieftain."
"If we consider the ability to kill enemies on the battlefield by riding and archery, Your Majesty should rank among the top three in the Daqing Army!"
All the Shu generals were taken aback.
Was the emperor really that brave and martial?
No! Such a brilliant archer... yet he only ranks third in the Qing Army?
What kind of monsters are the generals of the Qing army?!