Daqin Zhentiansi

Chapter 1132 Where did you learn the carving techniques for these battle patterns?

No one speaks.

There was an added weight on the training ground.

Yan Qing stood in the left battalion's ranks, next to Yan Laoshuan.

Yan Laoshuan's leg is still a little lame.

But he stood very straight, his new spear firmly in his hand.

He picked that spear himself.

The spear shaft was made from the leg bone of an Iron-Spined Bull, and the spearhead was sharpened from the fangs of a Demon Wolf.

When he was choosing this spear, he stood in front of the weapon rack for a long time, trying them one by one, and was only satisfied with the third one.

“This one is good,” he said. “It’s long enough and hard enough that it won’t go astray when you push it out.”

Yan Qing also changed to a new spear.

He tucked his knife into his belt, held his spear in his hand, and, imitating the White Frost warriors beside him, held his spear shaft upright with the tip pointing to the sky.

Yan Laoshuan glanced at him: "Not bad, you're starting to look good."

Yan Qing smiled but did not answer.

He no longer trembles at the start of a battle.

But I still felt a little nervous when I held the new weapon.

It wasn't fear, it was a feeling I couldn't quite explain.

He held the spear as if he were holding something else.

Han Zheng's central camp is practicing new tactics.

The light cavalry of the Gale Battalion and the scouts of the Flowing Cloud Village are mixed together and practicing coordinated combat on the training ground.

Scouts would explore ahead and, upon discovering enemy activity, would light smoke signals. Light cavalry would then flank the enemy based on the location of the smoke signals.

The entire process needs to be completed within half an incense stick's time.

In the first drill, the scouts lit the beacon fires too early, before the light cavalry had even arrived.

The second time, the light cavalry overran the scouts and rushed ahead of them.

The third time, they finally coordinated, but the transitions were still not smooth enough.

Han Zheng stood at the edge of the training ground, watching without saying a word.

His left arm was still wrapped in bandages, but he had already switched the scimitar to his left hand.

He is getting used to the angle of the knife with his left hand, and he gets up before dawn every day to practice, hacking at the wooden stake one stroke at a time.

At first, the angle was wrong, and the blade always went astray.

He adjusted his grip on the knife, tried it more than ten times, and finally found a comfortable position.

Now, the speed at which he wields the knife with his left hand is no slower than that with his right.

After the light cavalrymen finished practicing one round trip, they returned to the edge of the training ground, each of them covered in sweat.

Han Zheng tucked his curved sword back into his waistband and walked up to them.

"Scouts and light cavalry are one entity. Scouts are the eyes, and light cavalry are the fists."

"If you see something but don't throw a punch, it's like you've seen nothing. If you throw a punch but don't see it, it's like you're throwing blindly."

"Tell me, which is more important, eyes or fists?"

“They’re both important,” someone replied.

“Yes. Both are important. So you need to coordinate. When you see something, you must strike. When you strike, you must look.” He glanced at the cavalrymen. “Practice some more. Practice until your coordination is like the left and right hands of one person.”

Meng Yuan's right wing is practicing shield formation.

The newly recruited hunters were not yet familiar with the shield formation; some stood too far forward, some too far back, and the gaps between the shields were too large.

Meng Yuan had a row of wooden stakes placed in front of the shield formation to mimic a monster's charge.

Each time the wooden stakes hit, one or two gaps would appear in the shield formation.

"Keep your shields taut!" Meng Yuan's voice rolled across the training ground like muffled thunder. "The gap can't be bigger than a fist's width! If you leave even a crack, a monster's claw can reach in! And if it does, it's a life!"

The hunters quickly adjusted their positions and tightened their shields.

Meng Yuan walked up to a new recruit, bent down to look at the gap between his shields, and then reached out to pry it open. He tried, but couldn't.

“This one is fine,” he said. “Next one.”

The recruit breathed a sigh of relief.

Amu's archer battalion is also training.

But the training wasn't for rapid fire; it was for shooting while moving.

The archers lined up in two rows on the training ground, running and shooting arrows at the same time.

After the front row finished shooting, they immediately squatted down to reload, and the back row shot from above their heads.

The two columns moved alternately, and the rain of arrows could not be stopped.

Amu stood at the edge of the shooting range, holding a bowl of water in his hand, drinking as he watched the archers' movements.

When someone lost their rhythm, he yelled, "You're a beat too slow! Let's start over!"

The archer quickly adjusted his pace and rejoined the ranks.

When someone missed, Amu put down his bowl, went over, and patiently taught him how to adjust the angle.

"Your wrist is too stiff. When you release the bowstring, relax your wrist and let it bounce back on its own. The harder you try, the more the arrow will go astray."

The archer tried once and hit the bullseye.

He glanced back at Amu, who had already walked away with the bowl.

In the logistics battalion's workshop, Tuoba Gu was teaching his apprentices to carve new battle patterns.

He held a bone plate of an ironback lizard in his hand, first running his fingertips along the texture of the bone plate, then picked up a carving knife and began to carve with his eyes closed.

The carving knife made a rustling sound as it cut across the bone plate.

His hands were very steady, and every line he made was straight and consistent in depth.

The apprentices gathered around, watching with bated breath.

After carving a line, Tuoba Gu stopped, touched it with his finger, nodded, and handed the bone plate to his apprentice beside him: "Carve it like this."

The apprentice took the bone plate, glanced at the patterns on it, swallowed hard, and picked up his carving knife.

Tuoba Gu listened to his apprentice's knife work and said, "Keep your wrist steady and your cuts precise. Don't be afraid of making mistakes; if you do, just start over. It won't hurt your bones."

The apprentices laughed, and the atmosphere in the workshop relaxed a bit.

Yan He walked in from outside the workshop, carrying a stack of animal hides in his hand.

He placed the animal hide on the wooden table next to Tuoba Gu and said, "This is a newly delivered iron rhinoceros hide. I had it tanned. See if you can use it to make armor."

Tuoba Gu reached out and touched the stack of animal hides, then said, "They're thick enough. Enough to make three suits of armor. But the hides aren't soft enough; they'll be uncomfortable to wear."

"As long as I can stay alive, I'll worry about comfort after the war."

Tuoba Gu nodded and told his disciples to move the animal hides over.

Yan He stood at the entrance of the workshop, watching the busy scene inside.

The furnace was burning red-hot, and the clanging sound of hammering on the anvil was incessant.

He had been a hunter for forty years and had never seen such an efficient logistics workshop.

He suddenly remembered a question.

He turned to Tuoba Gu and asked, "Where did you learn the carving technique for these battle patterns?"

Tuoba Bone didn't even raise his head: "It was taught by Senior Zhang."

Yan He fell silent.

He recalled that three days ago, when Zhang Yuan first took out those weapons engraved with battle patterns, he thought it was a craft passed down through generations of the Bai Shuang clan.

In retrospect, all those skills were brought by this one person.

Beside the drill ground, several newly arrived young people were surrounding an old soldier from the Baishuang clan, listening to him tell his story.

The veteran's name is Tuoba Shi. He is over fifty years old this year. He is not the oldest among the Bai Shuang descendants, but he has a long service record.

He has a scar on his face that runs diagonally from his forehead to his chin. Many years ago, he was hit by the tail of a steelback lizard, which almost blinded him.

He sat cross-legged on the ground, holding a whetstone in his hand, sharpening a knife as he said, "Three months ago, we were about the same as you." (End of Chapter)