Chapter 19

No matter in his previous life or this one, Shi Xun had never seriously learned how to ride a horse. Although he once said, "Anyone can ride a horse," that referred to casually riding on the horse's back, not everyone could make the horse run while staying firmly seated. When he first rode a horse from the Shi family estate, it was a small pony whose neck didn't even reach his height. Later, when he and Taishi Ci landed in Huang County, they borrowed a horse from an old man, but it turned out to be a donkey. Moreover, as they entered Huang County, the people lined the streets to welcome Taishi Ci, making it impossible for the horse to run at all.

But tomorrow wasn't just about riding a horse for a spring outing; it was said that they would also have to hunt. With his poor riding skills, the chance of him not falling off the horse and getting seriously injured was probably as low as the chance of lying in the middle of Beijing's Third Ring Road for a whole day without being run over by a car. No, he had to come up with a good plan.

When he returned to his room, he called his old servant, gesturing and drawing a simple diagram on a piece of wood with a brush, instructing the servant to have it made as soon as possible. He drew a pair of stirrups, made of wood, with the upper and lower parts joined and glued, and attached with leather straps. In a household like his, there were some simple workshops, and most daily items were made at home, such as weaving, making clothes, crafting furniture, and ramming earth to make bricks. Of course, the people who made these things were usually not professional craftsmen but skilled servants.

Because the commodity economy was extremely underdeveloped at the time, it was impossible to find a "SevenEleven" or a "Carrefour" just by turning a corner. In most cases, even in the capital or large cities, there were only three or four handicraft workshops, and small items had to be bought at the market every ten days or so, while large items required hiring workers. Therefore, a household like his was self-sufficient.

However, the Shi family had carpenters, more than one, but no blacksmiths, as it was too easy to cause a fire with a large furnace. So Shi Xun couldn't make iron stirrups and had to settle for wooden ones—理论上来说，顶多耐用性差点儿，不会彻底不能用吧？

The old servant left to carry out the order, and Shi Xun, tired of kneeling, stretched his legs out wide and yawned—this action wouldn't reveal his background, but it was a bit undignified. But he didn't believe that in this era, scholars could kneel all day without changing their posture when no one was around. Could they even walk afterward?

Ah, I'm starting to use my golden finger—Shi Xun thought, feeling both proud and anxious. There were no stirrups in the Han Dynasty, and the earliest stirrups found by archaeologists were from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, meaning that the fierce generals of the Later Han and Three Kingdoms periods all rode stirrupless horses in battle, which was terrifying. He hoped the stirrups would help him get through tomorrow's challenge... or should he pretend to be sick?

But Shi Xun ultimately didn't pretend to be sick. Early the next morning, Shi Jun brought a servant and a horse to urge Shi Xun to leave the city. As they reached the gate, they suddenly saw Shi Yu with a cold face, clenching his fists, glaring at his brother like a guardian deity, and shouting, "Not learning well again, where are you going?!"

Shi Jun was a bit afraid of his fourth brother and involuntarily shrank back, then quickly calmed himself and explained that they were going out for a spring outing and hunting. Shi Yu asked, "Going with which friends? Don't lead your seventh brother astray!" Shi Jun took a deep breath, steeled his courage, and said, "Today's companions are all good friends, including Zheng Yiren." Shi Yu's eyelids twitched, and he looked at his brother for a moment, "That's rare... the remnants of the Yellow Turbans are in Qi Commandery, are you sure it's safe to go out?"

"Fourth brother, rest assured," Shi Jun quickly swore, "The Yellow Turbans are to the south, we'll only go north, it will be fine!"

After much persuasion, Shi Yu finally allowed them to go. The three of them left the house and mounted their horses—Shi Jun initially didn't notice Shi Xun's newly installed stirrups, thinking they were just ordinary footrests for mounting. After a while, he noticed Shi Xun's feet always on the stirrups, which were hard, not soft like ropes or leather, and became curious, pointing with his whip, "Seventh brother, what is this?"

Shi Xun thought he was in trouble, as he couldn't explain such a complex issue. He made some random gestures and "ah ah" sounds—Shi Jun couldn't understand at all. It wasn't surprising, as even Shi Xun himself didn't know what he was gesturing.

The three rode side by side, Shi Xun in the middle, Shi Jun on the left, and the servant on the right. The servant also called out, "Seventh young master has a hard stirrup too." Shi Jun rode to the right and took a look, "Hey, this is interesting... Zheng Yiren always carries his writing tools, let's ask him to borrow them and have Seventh brother explain."

Near the city gate, they met Shi Jun's "friends," not many in number, but each brought at least one servant, making the total quite large. Shi Jun introduced them, "This is Wang Zichun, son of the magistrate of Gaomi; this is Shen Daochu, nephew of the magistrate of Jimo; this is Wang Ziling, brother of the supervisor of the post office..." They were all sons of officials.

Finally, he introduced, "This is Zheng Yiren..." He winked at Shi Xun, "Seventh brother, can you guess who Zheng's father is?" Shi Xun shook his head, thinking he only knew the Shi family in Beihai and had no idea about other scholars, spending his days at home listening to servants' gossip, which wouldn't include this—how could he know who his father was?

Zheng Yiren, with a modest face, bowed, "Not at all, my father's name is Xuan."

Zheng Xuan, that was... Holy Zheng Kangcheng! Shi Xun's eyes widened. Zheng Xuan, with the courtesy name Kangcheng, was the last great Confucian scholar of the Han Dynasty. In his presence, figures like He Xiu and Lu Zhi were secondary. To put it simply, if the dominant ideology in later generations was Han Confucianism rather than Song Neo-Confucianism, Zheng Xuan would be in the position of Zhu Xi... no, even stronger, almost on par with Mencius as a sage.

Even with the stirrups, Shi Xun swayed on the horse, almost falling off.

Finally, Shi Jun introduced Shi Xun to everyone, saying, "This is our seventh brother from the clan, who has been living in Lelang and returned to Beihai at the end of last year. He lost his voice from crying over his father's death and cannot speak. Please bear with him."

Shi Xun made a bow, thinking that although he thought Shi Jun was quite mischievous, he spoke quite well. Perhaps he should look at him differently; being friends with Zheng Xuan's son was no small feat (in reality, he was a year younger than Shi Jun).

Zheng Yiren bowed in return and praised, "The conduct of a filial son is admirable." Shi Jun rode over and extended his hand, "Give me your writing tools, I want to ask Seventh brother some questions."

Shi Xun had no choice but to take the brush, ink, and bamboo slips—how could he explain the stirrups in the simplest way? After some thought, he simply wrote, "Made by Goguryeo for easier riding." If you want to verify, go to Goguryeo, go on!

He originally wanted to write about Japan, but that would be a one-way trip. Then he thought, no, this invention shouldn't really go to the Japanese. Goguryeo, an ancient kingdom within the Chinese territory, was a better choice, even though later claims by a certain country that Goguryeo and most of Jilin Province were theirs were not recognized here—yes, let's say Goguryeo invented it, no shame.

Shi Jun saw it and sighed, "Seventh brother, you really are sparing with your ink. Never mind, make a pair for me next time, let me try."

Everyone laughed and rode out of the city to the north. Along the way, Shi Xun tried to get closer to Zheng Yiren—making friends with Zheng Xuan's son might give him a chance to hear Zheng Xuan's lectures! He didn't need to learn much, just to boast about "my teacher, Zheng Kangcheng"... he would be unstoppable among scholars. Unfortunately, he couldn't speak and couldn't make friends, which was frustrating.

Fortunately, he still had the writing tools, so he wrote on the bamboo slip, "Where is your father?" After writing, he thought it looked a bit messy, but decided that since no one wrote while riding, everyone would understand. He handed the slip to Zheng Yiren, who glanced at it and smiled, "Last year, the Yellow Turbans invaded Gaomi, and my father fled to Xuzhou. Kong Beihai invited him to return, but he hasn't agreed yet."

What? Zheng Xuan isn't in Qingzhou... this shameless heaven, indeed, is not worth hoping for. I've been dreaming, but it's all in vain.

Not far from the city, the terrain gradually opened up, and the group loosened their reins and let their horses run faster.

Then Shi Xun realized he had miscalculated. The stirrups didn't really help much with riding—when galloping, if you stepped on the stirrups, your buttocks would easily get bruised, and to protect your buttocks, you had to tightly grip the horse's sides, which made the stirrups almost useless. At this moment, he felt the stirrups were only useful for occasionally stepping on to adjust his posture.

Actually, he was wrong. To put it in a not entirely accurate analogy, riding a horse is like driving a car, and stirrups are like seat belts, ensuring you don't fly out in an emergency—of course, seat belts are a passive safety feature, while stirrups are an active one. A mediocre rider doesn't instantly become a knight with stirrups, just as a mediocre driver doesn't become an F1 racer by wearing a seat belt.

So the main function of stirrups is to allow riders to stay on the horse for long periods. When the horse runs, the rider must grip the horse's sides, but when the horse walks, the rider can rely on the stirrups to stay in place without constantly rubbing their inner thighs. The nomads who lived on horseback could ride for days without dismounting, which was impossible for ordinary people in Central China without stirrups.

The second function of stirrups is to stabilize the rider during combat, making it easier to shoot arrows and strike from the horse—Shi Xun would soon realize the value of this second function...