My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 201 A Great Victory in the Competition
What angered and disappointed Zhou Tai was that Gao Shun gave him no chance to fight back and had firmly suppressed him.

The previous opening was deliberately revealed by Gao Shun to lure Zhou Tai into hooking his leg, so that he could take advantage of the situation to pressure Zhou Tai and push him down.

Now that their scheme has succeeded, how could they possibly let Zhou Tai retaliate?
Zhou Tai tried several times to exert his strength, but he could not shake Gao Shun's suppression. His face turned blood red, and his lips were bitten until they bled.

"General Gao, please release Youping."

Liu Feng stood up and walked towards the hall: "We lost this match."

Liu Feng walked over to Gao Shun and Zhou Tai. At this time, Gao Shun had already let go of Zhou Tai and even tried to reach out to help him up, but Zhou Tai pushed him away.

Gao Shun didn't insist, but stepped aside and watched as Liu Feng stepped forward to take Zhou Tai's arm: "Youping, victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. Victory is certainly gratifying, but defeat is also a kind of experience."

Upon hearing Liu Feng's words, the crimson on Zhou Tai's face gradually faded, but his tiger-like eyes slowly turned red. He wanted to say something, but in the end, he didn't utter a word.

A moment later, Zhou Tai tried to gently push Liu Feng away and get up on his own, but the latter stopped him: "You did very well, get up."

Zhou Tai responded and then, with Liu Feng's help, got up.

Liu Feng's actions drew Gao Shun's attention. He hadn't expected that a young man like Liu Feng could represent the people of Xuzhou in admitting defeat, and he was even more surprised that the people of Xuzhou would accept his words.

Subsequently, Liu Feng's concern for Zhou Tai made Gao Shun very envious.

So Gao Shun cupped his hands toward Liu Feng and Zhou Tai and said, "General Zhou is incredibly strong. I cannot match him by force and can only resort to trickery. Please do not take offense, General Zhou."

Zhou Tai had by then regained his composure. He was an honest and kind man, and since Gao Shun had praised him so highly, he naturally wouldn't act like a petty person. He immediately replied, "General Gao's skills are superb, and I am ashamed to admit that I am not as good as him."

After speaking, he followed Liu Feng off the field.

Gao Shun watched Liu Feng and Zhou Tai walk into the seats of the Xuzhou people before silently turning around and leaving the stage.

"You've done a good job, filial son!"

Seeing that Gao Shun had performed well in the first round, Lü Bu was overjoyed and gave Gao Shun a rare moment of kindness. However, Gao Shun simply nodded and sat back down behind Zhang Miao.

A hint of displeasure flashed across Lü Bu's face, but he quickly put it out of his mind.

"My dear brother, I have won a small victory, hahaha."

Lü Bu was quite smug, leaving Zhang Miao and Chen Gong speechless.

However, Zhang Miao and Chen Gong had different ideas.

Zhang Miao had made up his mind to part ways with Lü Bu. He understood why Lü Bu, despite having the merit of killing Dong Zhuo, still harbored deep hatred for him from the Yuan brothers, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu.

This fellow must have offended Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao quite a bit, probably even more so than he has today.

"For the second round, let's have archery. We can place the target a hundred paces away."

Liu Bei was already quite displeased at this moment, but he was so shrewd that others could not easily see it.

Hearing Lü Bu's words, he felt a surge of joy.

They had previously competed in archery here. Liu Bei wanted to find an archery and horsemanship teacher for Liu Feng, but it was also to bring Taishi Ci closer to his eldest son.

Although Liu Bei was unaware that the two men in the hall were also renowned for their archery skills in historical records, he vividly remembered their performance.

Both Mi Zhu and Taishi Ci were extremely skilled archers, especially the latter, who was the best archer Liu Bei had ever seen in his life, so he was naturally full of confidence.

However, Liu Bei was unaware that today was quite a coincidence, with three people in the hall, one more than last time.

One of them was naturally Taishi Ci, and the other two were Lü Bu and Gan Ning.

To be fair, Lü Bu's archery skills were probably slightly better than Taishi Ci's, while Gan Ning's were slightly worse.

The scores for the three individuals are likely as follows: Lü Bu 100 points, Taishi Ci 98 points, Gan Ning 95 points, and if Mi Zhu were to be scored, he would be between 90 and 92 points.

As for the others in the hall, although some were skilled archers, none could score more than 90 points, not even Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhang Liao.

Zhang Liao's archery skills were probably on par with Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun.

"Cao Xing, you go!"

Lu Bu directly appointed Zhang Liao as his general. Cao Xing was Hao Meng's deputy, also a cavalry general, and skilled in archery, but he was not as miraculous as depicted in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, where he blinded the hostage general in one eye with a single arrow.

However, Lü Bu had great confidence in Cao Xing, and Cao Xing himself also walked out with great confidence.

After Liu Feng and Zhou Tai returned to their seats, they comforted Zhou Tai, making him feel much better.

Upon hearing Lü Bu's challenge, Liu Feng snorted coldly and turned to look at the eager Gan Ning: "Xingba, this battle is in your hands."

Upon hearing this, Gan Ning was overjoyed and immediately jumped up, cupping his hands in a gesture of respect to Liu Feng, saying, "Rest assured, young master, I will make the other party kneel down and admit defeat!"

Gan Ning revealed a ferocious smile, then turned to Zhou Tai and comforted him, "Youping, just watch me avenge you."

Gan Ning and Zhou Tai had only just met recently while expanding their naval forces in Qu County, but they surprisingly got along very well. Zhou Tai was honest and upright, while Gan Ning, though somewhat impulsive, had a good impression of both Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin, and the two had become friends.

It can only be said that without the suppression and setbacks in Jingzhou, Gan Ning would not have become as extreme and sensitive as he did in later generations. In the original timeline, Gan Ning only had two friends in the entire Jiangdong region: Zhou Yu and Lü Meng. Zhou Yu died early, and if it weren't for his mother, Lü Meng would have almost turned against Gan Ning.

It's easy to imagine how bad Gan Ning's interpersonal relationships were.

Zhou Tai looked up, forced a smile, and nodded to Gan Ning to express his gratitude.

Gan Ning bowed to Liu Feng, then stood up and walked into the hall.

When Liu Bei saw that it was Gan Ning who was making his appearance, he went to look at Liu Feng and saw his eldest son nodding at him. He was overjoyed.

Cao Xing frowned slightly when he saw Gan Ning.

Although Gan Ning's personality has changed somewhat, his preferences remain the same: he loves beautiful clothes, crowns and necklaces, and silk, making him extremely flamboyant.

Cao Xing was a native of Bingzhou, and his life was very hard. He fought desperately to get ahead. When he saw someone like Gan Ning, he naturally thought that the other party had been raised in a pampered environment, so how could he possibly find him pleasing to the eye?

In fact, Cao Xing's idea was quite right. Gan Ning really was raised in a honey pot and never lacked money since childhood.

However, this guy, who grew up in a pampered environment, is also abnormally strong, and is not an ordinary spoiled brat.

"You barbarian from Bingzhou, tell me your archery technique. If you lose, don't say I, Gan Ning, bullied you."

Gan Ning lived up to his reputation; with just one sentence, he made all the Bingzhou people under Lü Bu's command change their expressions, and even Lü Bu's face turned red, clearly showing his great anger.

"well."

Cao Xing gritted his teeth and said, "Do you dare to have an archery contest with me? Whoever is hit by an arrow first loses, and whoever accidentally hits someone else loses!"

The archery contest Cao Xing mentioned was equivalent to a battle formation competition.

However, since it was just a friendly sparring match, not a life-or-death struggle, and there were so many people around, the arrows were all de-pointed to avoid accidentally injuring others.

However, this means they certainly can't compete in the hall.

Considering that the next competition would be archery on horseback, they decided to cancel the lunch and the group went to the drill ground in the prefectural capital.
Gan Ning and Cao Xing stood on opposite sides, about thirty paces apart. Each of them carried a quiver containing ten arrows with the arrowheads removed.

The rules are very simple: it's just a shooting contest, and whoever hits the other first wins.

If both sides run out of arrows, the score is considered a draw.

When Gan Ning picked up his bow, Cao Xing glanced at him, his eyes immediately narrowing.

Those outside watch the spectacle, while those inside observe the procession.

Cao Xing immediately recognized that the bow Gan Ning was carrying was at least three stones high, which greatly shocked him.

One stone in the Han Dynasty was about 28 kilograms, and a three-stone bow would require nearly 90 kilograms of force, which is quite astonishing.

Cao Xing himself only used a single-stone bow, and in terms of strength alone, he was already completely defeated.

However, Cao Xing quickly recovered and realized that the other party might be bluffing.

Besides, even if you do draw the bow, you still have to shoot accurately.

The two walked onto the training ground, where the surrounding martial artists cheered and encouraged their side.

"Since you've come from afar, please allow me to shoot first!"

Gan Ning was naturally a lively person, a real social butterfly; the more people there were, the more excited he became.

Cao Xing didn't stand on ceremony and, without even a word, drew his arrow and shot.

While it's not fair to call it a sneak attack, such an act during a competition is certainly dishonorable. However, Cao Xing didn't care. On the battlefield, only the victors deserve to live; the dead have no glory.

To Cao Xing's surprise, just as he released his arrow, Gan Ning drew his bow, focused his energy, and immediately fired an arrow that struck first, knocking down Cao Xing's arrow mid-air.

"color!"

"Luckily!"

Gan Ning's superb archery immediately drew cheers, and even the people from Bingzhou couldn't help but admire him.

Don't be fooled by Gan Ning's seemingly effortless skill; anyone with a discerning eye knows that Cao Xing was doomed with just that one arrow.

Liu Bei stroked his beard and smiled, nodding slowly, seemingly also praising Gan Ning's performance. Surprisingly, Lü Bu wasn't angry at all; instead, he stared wide-eyed at Gan Ning, astonished by the other's exceptional archery skills.

Although he is not as good as I am, he is not far off.

Sure enough, in the ensuing exchange of fire, Cao Xing was almost completely suppressed by Gan Ning, who even toyed with him.

Gan Ning played like a cat toying with a mouse, always striking first after being the one to attack, leaving Cao Xing bewildered.

Just when Cao Xing had completely given up, Gan Ning struck him squarely on the top of his head with an arrow, piercing through his hair bun.

Cao Xing's face turned pale and then purple, but he finally gritted his teeth, cupped his hands, and said, "General Gan is a master archer; I am ashamed to admit my inferiority."

After saying that, he turned and left the training ground.

Gan Ning strutted around the field like a victorious rooster, and after circling around for a while, he came to Liu Feng to report: "Young master, I am glad I did not disobey your orders!"

"Xingba is truly a divine archer!"

Liu Feng held Gan Ning's hand and sighed, "Even Yang Youji of ancient times and Li Guang of the Han Dynasty were probably no more than this."

Lu Bu hesitated for a moment, but ultimately chose to ask Zhang Liao to step in.

When Lü Bu shouted, "Wen Yuan, I'll have to trouble you for the next match," Liu Feng felt completely relieved. Wasn't this a sure thing?
"Teacher, I'm counting on you to handle this one."

To the surprise of the people of Bingzhou, the third contestant from Xuzhou was again chosen from behind Liu Feng, while Liu Bei remained aloof like an arbitrator, seemingly not interfering in the competition at all.

Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao mounted their warhorses and galloped into the training ground.

Zhang Liao bowed respectfully to Taishi Ci from afar, saying, "I am Zhang Liao from Yanmen, courtesy name Wenyuan. May I ask your esteemed name, brother?"

Zhang Liao was quite low-key. It should be noted that at this time he was the governor of Beidi in name only, and he had already been promoted to general when Dong Zhuo was killed.

The current rank of Lieutenant General is far from being a common commodity that everyone will have in the future; it is still quite valuable, especially for military men.

It should be noted that Cao Ren, the most capable general under Cao Cao and a member of the imperial clan, had only recently been promoted to the rank of Colonel, while Yu Jin, who was not a member of the imperial clan, was only a Commandant, and Yue Jin was even less of a military officer.

Zhang He, who served under Yuan Shao, is now only a colonel, not even a lieutenant general, which shows how valuable this official position is.

Taishi Ci was a newcomer to Liu Bei. Although he was treated with great respect by Liu Bei and his son, he had only just been promoted to the rank of Colonel and did not yet have the title of Prefect of a local prefecture.

Zhang Liao only gave his name and did not mention his official title, clearly indicating that he did not intend to deceive others.

If it were Gan Ning, Pan Zhang, or someone else, they would probably have been throwing such flirtatious glances at a blind person.

Fortunately, it was Taishi Ci who took the stage this time. He was a clever man and immediately noticed Zhang Liao's friendliness. So he returned the favor by saying, "I am Taishi Ci from Donglai, courtesy name Ziyi. It is an honor to meet you."

Taishi Ci was naturally very confident in his archery skills, but he didn't dare to be careless. He tentatively asked, "Brother Wenyuan, how would you like to have a contest?"

Zhang Liao pondered for a moment and replied, "How about a thirty-step quick-flying move? Best two out of three."

The game of "Flying Attack" involves setting a distance, throwing an object from a distance, and then competing to see who can hit the object in mid-air first. If no one hits the object before it lands, both players lose. If both hit the object, the first to hit it wins.

"good!"

Taishi Ci readily agreed.

"I'll throw the object!"

Gan Ning volunteered, while Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao rode on opposite sides, each standing on one side.

"rise!"

Gan Ning roared and swung the sheepskin high into the air. The contest would begin when the sheepskin reached its highest point and began to fall.

Zhang Liao drew his bow, nocked an arrow, took a quick aim, and fired the arrow straight at his target.

Unexpectedly, Taishi Ci struck first, hitting the sheepskin before anyone else could react.

The people of Bingzhou were all ready to cheer for their victory, but they were stunned by the unexpected turn of events.

Lu Bu's face darkened, and he said to his personal guards, "Send my precious bow to Wen Yuan."

Lu Bu himself was an expert archer, so his understanding was naturally much deeper than that of others.

He could tell at a glance that Taishi Ci's bow was much better than Zhang Liao's, with greater bow strength, which gave Taishi Ci the confidence to strike first after being caught off guard.

If Zhang Liao had used his own horse bow from the start, even if Taishi Ci had that level of accuracy, he wouldn't have been able to catch up with the first arrow fired.

Fortunately, a best-of-three match was agreed upon, so the Bingzhou army still had a chance.

Lu Bu's precious bow was quickly delivered to Zhang Liao, who then warmed up his hands after receiving the new bow.

He had known Lü Bu for many years, and he often used Lü Bu's bow, so there was no problem of him being unfamiliar with it.

Soon, Zhang Liao nodded to Gan Ning.

Gan Ning shouted, "Rise!"

At the same time, the sheepskin was tossed high into the air.

Zhang Liao had already drawn his bow to its fullest extent. The moment the sheepskin reached its apex and began to fall, he released the bowstring. The arrow, like a shooting star, arrived under the sheepskin almost instantly, and was about to pierce through it the next instant.

Just then, a sharp arrow arrived and struck Zhang Liao's arrow from below, knocking it away and piercing through the sheepskin.

Taishi Ci actually blocked the arrow with his own arrow, and at the same time hit the bullseye.

This archery skill is truly superb.

Zhang Liao was stunned for a moment, then realized that Taishi Ci's horsemanship was far superior to his own. He accepted his defeat and clasped his hands in a fist salute to Taishi Ci, saying, "Brother Ziyi, your archery is superb. I am ashamed to admit that I am no match for you!"

Although Zhang Liao refused to admit defeat, Taishi Ci had already won by winning two out of three rounds.

Zhang Liao's surrender undoubtedly showed his magnanimity, making Taishi Ci's victory even more dazzling.

Lu Bu's expression calmed down, his eyes flashing.

I never expected that Xuzhou would be full of hidden talents. I originally thought that only Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were worth paying attention to by Liu Bei's side.

These people—Taishi Ci, Gan Ning, Zhou Tai, and Pan Zhang—were all figures I'd never heard of before, but now they seem to be people not to be underestimated.

Zhou Tai was able to hold his own against Xiao Fu without being at a disadvantage. If it weren't for his lack of experience and eagerness to win, Xiao Fu would have had to go through a lot of trouble to defeat him.

Gan Ning's archery skills were superb, while Taishi Ci's archery skills on horseback were even more divine. Even if he himself were to participate, he probably wouldn't be entirely confident of defeating him.

Isn't that amazing enough?
Actually, Lü Bu wasn't truly beyond redemption.

He was just too confident, convinced that he was right, and at the same time, he had extremely low emotional intelligence.

Historically, whether he went to Yuan Shu or Yuan Shao, he was initially treated with great hospitality and relied upon as an important general.

But this person's biggest problem is that he is prone to arrogance.

He had not accomplished anything for Yuan Shu, yet he demanded that Yuan Shu replenish his troops and supplies, and he was extremely arrogant, often acting like Yuan Shu's benefactor and throwing his weight around.

Yuan Shu himself was petty and narrow-minded; how could he possibly tolerate someone like Lü Bu?
Naturally, they immediately fell out.

After going to Hebei to join Yuan Shao, he made progress and learned that he should first make contributions.

Helping Yuan Shao defeat the Black Mountain Army pleased Yuan Shao greatly.

Before Yuan Shao could even praise him, he was completely bewildered by Lü Bu's subsequent actions.

Lu Bu actually allowed his troops to plunder the people, while demanding an expansion of his army and asking Yuan Shao to provide him with money, food, people, and weapons.

This was too much for Yuan Shao to bear. He thought, "I already have enough of a headache with Ju Yi. Are you planning to double that?"
Yuan Shao was far more ruthless than Yuan Shu; he directly planned to kill Lü Bu.

As a result, Lü Bu also realized something was wrong and devised a plan to escape, thus saving his life.

After retreating from Yanzhou, Lü Bu still had three or four thousand men, more than a thousand of whom were cavalry. In fact, his strength was not weak, but he was short of food and supplies.

Therefore, Lü Bu's original intention was to demonstrate his strength to Liu Bei, hoping to impress Liu Bei. Even if he couldn't impress Liu Bei, he hoped to make Liu Bei understand his value.

Despite the seemingly foolish actions and words of Lü Bu, he genuinely meant no harm at that moment.

He even brought Cheng Lian, Song Xian, and Hou Cheng into the city, which shows how much he trusted Liu Bei. Otherwise, Liu Bei could have wiped him out in one fell swoop, leaving the army outside the city leaderless and nothing more than lambs to the slaughter.

But now it seems that Lü Bu's plan has failed.

Liu Bei didn't even have to take action himself; it was just that the generals behind his son Liu Feng who drove all of his men back.

Lu Bu was truly at a loss for what to do.

Fortunately, Liu Bei came out and announced the results, then invited everyone back to the main hall to continue the banquet.

Perhaps because of the outcome of the duel, Lü Bu became much more low-key in the latter half, which reassured Zhang Miao and Chen Gong somewhat.

(End of this chapter)