Chapter 21: Low-key is the King's Way

  Liu Xiu followed the principles pointed out by Wu Jun to re-experience those martial skills. This time, he no longer pursued speed, but instead slowed down his movements, carefully experiencing the subtle feeling of power flowing between each change in posture. Soon, he entered a brand new realm, as if a beggar had discovered a treasure trove, or a mischievous child had found the most interesting toy, and was overjoyed, reluctant to let go.

  When he returned to the dormitory, Mao Zong and others had finished their meal and were chatting idly. As soon as they saw him enter, Liu Bei hurriedly stood up, took a plate of food from beside him, and said with a smile: "Big brother, you've been practicing too hard, haven't you? Come and eat quickly, we have meat today."

  "Is it really that good?" Liu Xiu looked at the happy and rubbed his hands together, winking at Mao Zong. He had been practicing boxing for a while now, and he was starving, so being able to eat meat was truly a joy. In his past life, people were always on diets, and seeing meat was like seeing poison, he wasn't that extreme, but he did try to control his meat intake. It wasn't until he came to this era that he realized having meat to eat was actually a blessing. With the relatively comfortable living standard of his "family", they only had meat once every three months, and it was mostly fatty meat. As for Liu Bei's family, their economic situation was such that they could only occasionally have meat during collective activities like village festivals or company gatherings.

  The Mao family was able to provide meat for these students, and they were really willing to spend money. Generally, temples would require you to bring your own rice, and the teacher's family wouldn't care about meals.

  "Of course, tomorrow we have to participate in the training of the guards, how can we have energy if we don't eat well." Mao Zong chuckled and said: "I represent the Mao family to invite all classmates to participate in the competition. After the competition is over, let's participate in the big feast together, at that time we can eat to our heart's content, it's a way to entertain everyone."

  Liu Xiu smiled and took the towel from Liu Bei to wipe his sweat, then picked up his chopsticks and started eating. As he ate, he said, "Alright, I'll join you guys for a good meal too. Let's have a competition, but I won't participate, I'm not good at anything, no need to go up there and lose face, just let me help the three of you instead."

  "That's right, actually no need to compare with me, tomorrow Cao Pi will definitely be the first." Liu Bei smiled and said: "Except for Wu Junhou, a brave warrior who has experienced the battlefield, I'm afraid there is no one who can match Cao Pi."

  Gongsun Zan smiled slightly: "Xuande, you can't say that. The Mao family is a big clan in Zhuo County, and Xima is the most powerful of the four Maos. There are many masters, how could I possibly win? Let's just talk about it here, after all, Chengming is not an outsider, he won't laugh at me. But don't let others hear, or I'll be humiliated."

  Mao Zong burst out laughing: "Nothing, I also think so. Actually, Wu Jun Hou said the same thing."

  Gongsun Zan's eyes lit up, and he smiled without saying a word. Although he had never seen the guards of the Mao family before, he still had confidence in his own martial skills. During his time as the governor of Liaoxi, he had not been inferior to those border troops in terms of combat skills. More importantly, this competition was definitely not just about comparing hand-to-hand combat or knife techniques, but also about archery and horsemanship, and on this point, he even had confidence to compete with Wuma Jun again.

  He believed in his own riding skills and that magnificent black stallion.

  The four of them chatted and laughed, filled with anticipation for tomorrow's competition. Although Liu Xiu knew his martial skills were not enough to compete on stage, he was now extremely interested in martial arts and also hoped to see more real battles to increase his experience.

  After dinner, Gong Sun and his friends made an appointment to go out for practice, naturally one call and a hundred responses. Mao Zong dragged on until the end, waiting for Gong Sun and Liu Bei to leave the door, he took out a piece of paper, lowered his voice and said: "De Ran, help me again?"

  "What else do you want me to copy? I thought I told you this wouldn't happen again?" Liu Xiu deliberately lowered his face.

  "Heh heh, I'm not asking you to copy, just help me figure out this problem." Mao Zong said with a smile.

  Liu Xi hesitated for a moment, last time he solved the problem too quickly, which was seriously inconsistent with his current "fool" image, and he regretted it. This time, he didn't dare to be so casual again. He took over the paper and carefully looked at the question, which was an arithmetic problem about transportation:

  One person can transport 5 shi of grain, traveling 40 li per day. A person eats 6 sheng of food per day. If you want to transport 400 shi of grain for 1000 li, how many people will be needed? If there are 1000 people transporting grain, what is the maximum distance they can travel?

  For such a question, Liu Xiu didn't think much of it, but after thinking about it for a moment, he also found it astonishing and vaguely understood why war was a big deal in ancient times. A person walks 40 miles a day and needs to eat six sheng of grain, but can only transport five dan of grain; if transported to a thousand miles away, it would take 25 days, and back and forth would be 50 days, he himself would have eaten three dan, that is to say, only two dan could actually be transported to the destination. What about two thousand miles? Probably not even enough for him to eat.

  Liu Xi was shocked by this fact, and after thinking deeply for a long time, he shook his head and said to Mao Zong, who was full of expectation: "It won't work!"

  "Can't?" Mao Zong was taken aback for a moment, somewhat disappointed, and then smiled again, saying nonchalantly: "It doesn't matter if we can't, someone else will take care of it later. We just need to focus on fighting."

  Liu Xiu smiled slightly and thought to himself, "If you can't even get this right, what's the point of fighting?" However, he didn't say anything and just nodded in agreement. Then, he pulled Mao Zong along with him to watch Gong Sun Zan and his men practice horseback riding and archery. Although he didn't want to participate in the competition, he also wanted to get used to riding horses as soon as possible. After all, horses were still the fastest means of transportation in this era.

  The audience erupted in cheers and applause, Gong Sun Zan smiled broadly as he held his bow in one hand and the reins of his horse in the other, acknowledging his classmates. He had just shot ten arrows in a row, eight of which hit the target, the best score ever recorded, once again igniting the admiration of his peers. Liu Xiu squeezed through the crowd, watching Gong Sun Zan with pride, and Liu Bei who was eagerly leading his horse forward, secretly smiled to himself, but kept a straight face as he joined in the thunderous applause.

  Gongsun Zan saw Liu Xiu also cheering, and he felt extremely happy. Although he didn't want to be a famous scholar, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy towards Liu Xiu for having the opportunity to get close to their teacher Lu Zhi because of his excellent calligraphy skills. He had an unspoken desire to compete with Liu Xiu, and now that Liu Xiu was cheering him on, he felt a lot more at ease.

  "Come on, then!" Gong Sun Zan beckoned to Liu Xiu with a wave of his hand, dismounted and pushed through the crowd, striding up to Liu Xiu and pulling him into the arena without so much as a by-your-leave. "Go on, try shooting two arrows," he urged.

  Liu Xiuyi smiled awkwardly: "Bo Gui, don't tease me, it's already not bad that I can ride a horse without falling off, how can I shoot arrows while riding? Besides, you haven't even taught me archery yet."

  "What's difficult about it? I'll teach you right now, archery isn't hard." Gong Sun Zan said with a big laugh, turning to face the surrounding classmates and saying: "You all say, as sons of the Northern Border, how could we not know how to ride and shoot? The Sage also said that shooting is one of the six arts."

  Liu Xiulian shook her head repeatedly: "Don't, spare me, I'm not afraid of falling off, but I'm afraid the arrow won't hit the target. If it doesn't hit the target, that's fine, but if it accidentally hits one of you, that would be a big trouble."

  Everyone burst into laughter, with some stomping their feet, others clapping their hands, and whistling. Liu Bei laughed so hard he was almost crying. Although Gong Sun didn't join in as wildly, he too found Liu's words amusing. He didn't press him to mount the horse again, but instead handed him a bow, saying loudly: "Alright, let's not get on the horse for now. Let's try shooting on foot first. Are you afraid of accidentally hitting your classmates? I'll have them all move behind you - surely that won't be a problem, will it? Can you really shoot an arrow backwards?"

  After hearing Gong Sun's words, the crowd burst out laughing again, and the loud laughter shook off the peach blossoms. Those who were afraid that the world would not be chaotic immediately took action, hiding behind Liu Xiu, and some even opened their eyes wide, putting their hands in their mouths, pretending to be terrified.