Liu Bei: My younger brother is a deity.

Chapter 71 Archery Contest with the Wuhuan People

Zhang Xun was consumed by rage.

These Wuhuan dogs not only stole his sheep, but also injured his younger brother, who depended on him for survival.

He crouched down, put his hand on his younger brother's shoulder, and asked anxiously, "Ah Liao, are you alright?"

With his face bruised and swollen, Zhang Liao gritted his teeth, his eyes fixed on the Wuhuan cavalrymen not far away. Completely ignoring his injuries, he said hatefully:

"Brother, I'm alright. Those scoundrels stole our sheep!"

He was beaten and punched by the Wuhuan people just for trying to stop them from stealing the sheep.

Zhang Liao is ten years old this year. Although he is much stronger than other children his age, he is still just a young boy. How could he be a match for these adult Wuhuan cavalrymen?

Moreover, the other side swarmed him, with four or five people surrounding and beating him.

Zhang Liao was very resentful.

If it were a one-on-one situation, he might not lose!

More and more Wuhuan people gathered around.

The number gradually increased from the initial seven or eight to twenty or thirty. Each of them rode on horseback, with curved swords at their waists, and a mocking smile on their faces, looking down at these Han Chinese knights-errant.

The leader was a small Wuhuan chieftain with a fleshy face and a tuft of yellow beard on his chin. He was glancing sideways at the Zhang Xun brothers.

"So what if we steal your sheep?" the Wuhuan chieftain said in heavily accented Han Chinese. "We've come all this way to fight for you Han people, isn't it only right that we eat a few of your sheep?"

Han Chinese wandering knights from the surrounding area also gathered there.

These days, they've really had enough of the rudeness of these Wuhuan people. These scoundrels are plunderers and have come to the Han Chinese wandering knights' camp to steal things more than once.

General Xia Yu, however, relied on these Wuhuan cavalrymen to charge into battle, and thus indulged them greatly.

The wandering knights had been holding back their anger for a long time.

Seeing what had happened to the Zhang brothers, several hot-tempered men had already started to draw their knives, ready to rush forward as soon as someone took the lead.

The atmosphere was tense and ready to fight.

Just then, a troop of cavalry galloped in.

The leading general was a burly man with a stern face; he was Xia Yu's trusted general, named Zhang Kai.

"Stop!" Zhang Kai reined in his horse, his gaze sweeping over the two opposing sides. He said in a deep voice, "The expedition is imminent, the army is about to depart; infighting is unacceptable!"

Upon seeing the Han Chinese general arrive, Zhang Xun quickly stepped forward, clasped his hands in greeting, and angrily said, "General Zhang, these Wuhuan dogs stole my sheep and injured my brother! Please, General, do justice for me!"

Zhang Kai frowned, glanced at the Wuhuan chieftain, his eyes flickered, and then said:

"Who knows whose sheep this is? Look at how your camp is set up, it's all over the place, things are piled up in a mess, sheep and dogs are running around, you might get them mixed up."

He paused, as if pondering for a moment, and then said:

"How about this, according to the customs of the grasslands, we'll have an archery contest. Each side will send one person to compete in archery, and whoever wins gets the sheep. It's fair and just, so no one can complain."

Upon hearing this, all the Han Chinese wandering knights around them changed color.

Where is the fairness in this?

That sheep originally belonged to Zhang Xun's family, but now they're using it as a prize?

Winning is simply taking back what is rightfully yours, while losing means losing it all for nothing. What kind of logic is that?

The Wuhuan chieftain smiled, glanced at Zhang Kai sideways, and secretly felt smug.

During this period, a small portion of the things he had seized from the wandering knights had fallen into Zhang Kai's hands, and this Han general naturally wouldn't make things difficult for him.

Zhang Xun was furious; he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

The Han Chinese wandering knights around also looked indignant. One of them muttered, "Damn it, they're so obviously biased. Has Zhang Kai's mother been raped by the Wuhuan people?"

But what can be done now that things have come to this?

Zhang Kai is Xia Yu's confidant; going against him head-on will only result in you suffering losses.

At this moment, a wandering swordsman from the same small gang as Zhang Xun leaned over and whispered:

"Ah Xun, now that things have come to this, we can only compete with the Wuhuan people. On our side, I'm afraid only Lü Bu has the ability."

Zhang Xun's eyes lit up!

Lü Bu, courtesy name Fengxian, was from Jiuyuan in Wuyuan Commandery.

He was skilled in archery and horsemanship, and unparalleled in riding and shooting.

He was extremely famous among the wandering knights of Bingzhou.

If we're talking about archery skills, who else could it be but him?

Before Zhang Xun could send someone to search, someone nearby said with a bitter face, "Lu Fengxian went hunting early this morning, and we don't know when he will return."

Zhang Xun's heart sank.

At this moment, a rider from the Wuhuan tribe galloped out.

This Wuhuan rider was thin, but had long arms, and his eyes were always slightly squinted.

A bow was slung across his back, and his saddle was full of quivers.

The man rode his horse around the center of the field, clearing the crowd and creating a 50-meter square area.

Then he spurred the horse's belly and accelerated.

At the same time, another Wuhuan man ran into the arena carrying a long bamboo spear.

A straw hat was hung from the end of a bamboo spear as a target. The person ran back and forth in the field, and the bamboo spear and straw target kept swaying.

The Wuhuan archer drew his bow and nocked an arrow on horseback, his body swaying slightly with the rise and fall of the horse.

His eyes narrowed to slits as he stared at the straw target bobbing up and down.

"Whoosh!"

The arrow pierced the air and struck the center of the swaying straw target fifty paces away!

A suppressed gasp of surprise rippled through the Han Chinese wandering knights.

That mounted archery skill is truly remarkable.

The horse was running, the target was moving, and at a distance of fifty paces, the arrow hit the target with a single shot.

The Wuhuan archer reined in his horse triumphantly, raised his chin, looked around, and wore a contemptuous smile.

The Han Chinese wandering knights looked at each other, and no one responded for a long time.

Several people who considered themselves good archers, after some consideration, also felt that they might not be entirely confident.

If we fail, we will lose more than just a few sheep; we will lose face for the Han people.

Zhang Xun was extremely anxious, his eyes darting around constantly, thinking, "Why hasn't Fengxian arrived yet?"

Just then, a clear voice rang out from behind the crowd.

"I'll give it a try."

The crowd looked in the direction of the sound and saw a young man riding out from the crowd.

The boy was only fifteen or sixteen years old, with a handsome face and a tall, upright posture.

He held a bronze bow in his hand, a faint smile playing on his lips.

What a handsome young man!

The wandering knights from Youzhou recognized the person and breathed a sigh of relief.

"With Young Master Yu in charge, there's no way we can lose."

"I was fortunate enough to witness Liu Erlang's archery skills; they were truly divine archery."

The Wuhuan man wielding the bamboo spear couldn't help but sneer when he saw that the Han people had sent out a young boy. He felt contempt for him.

He deliberately sprinted away, shaking the bamboo pole as he ran, making the grass target sway up, down, left, and right, instantly increasing the difficulty.

Upon seeing this, the Han Chinese wandering knights immediately erupted in uproar, shouting curses everywhere:

"How shameless!"

"This is clearly deliberately making things difficult!"

"A Wuhuan dog is a Wuhuan dog, how shameless!"

Liu Quan merely sneered, gently urging his warhorse to trot at a leisurely pace.

Once he gained speed, he slightly turned his body to the side on horseback, an arrow was already nocked on the bowstring, and his eyes suddenly sharpened.

"Whoosh~"

The arrow pierced the air, hitting the thin hemp rope connecting the grass target and the bamboo pole perfectly.

The hemp rope snapped, and the straw target detached from the bamboo pole, beginning to fall towards the ground.

A gasp of surprise erupted from the Han Chinese wandering knights.

Before anyone could react, Liu Quan's second arrow had already left the bowstring.

The arrow actually caught up with the falling straw target in mid-air.

With a "thud," the straw target was pinned to the still-shaking bamboo spear shaft!

The surroundings were deathly silent, then burst into deafening cheers!

The Wuhuan man holding the bamboo spear was stunned and stood there blankly, forgetting to move his spear.

Liu Quan, however, did not stop.

He calmly drew a third arrow from his quiver, drew his bow to its fullest extent, and aimed at the top of the Wuhuan man's head.

"Whoosh~"

The arrow grazed the Wuhuan man's scalp, knocking his leather hat to the ground and revealing his bald head.

The Wuhuan man cried out in alarm and crouched down, covering his head.

The surrounding Han Chinese knights-errant were in an uproar, cheering, whistling, and clapping, their voices echoing across the surrounding area.