Chapter 20

Xun invented stirrups several decades or even a century ahead of time, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. Horse riding was still F, and adding stirrups didn't change that much... However, gradually, he realized it wasn't worth being upset about.

The young noblemen's horsemanship was just so-so, barely reaching an E at best. In that era, there weren't many horses in the Central Plains, and most of them were of poor quality. Without stirrups, the gentry preferred to travel by carriage, which was dozens of times more common than riding horses. They usually only thought of riding for hunting or short trips. Therefore, unless they were military officers who needed to ride in battle, their horsemanship was generally poor.

In contrast, the servants' horsemanship was mostly at a D or even a C. They ran back and forth, scouting, leading the way, or passing towels and water bags to their masters. Their horses truly ran. As for Xun and Jun, these young noblemen could barely maintain a speed of seven or eight miles per hour.

As noon approached, they finally found a wide grassland, with a road on two sides and sparse woods on the other two. According to the servants who had scouted the area, there were many small animals in the woods, such as rabbits, hedgehogs, quails, and pheasants. The young noblemen dismounted, sat on the ground, ate some dry rations, basked in the sun, and boasted for a while. Then they sent the servants to ride into the woods to drive the small animals out for them.

The young noblemen stood scattered, each holding a bow and arrow—none of them planned to ride and shoot. Xun felt relieved. Soon enough, a gray, emaciated wild rabbit, having just survived the winter, darted out of the woods. It was so thin that it barely had any meat. Jun let out a whistle, and everyone drew their bows and fired arrows, creating a rain of arrows around the rabbit.

The rabbit slightly tilted its head, glanced at them, and then strolled away as if it were taking a leisurely walk. Xun felt that the little creature's eyes were full of disdain...

With his archery skills, a distance of less than thirty steps, even with a small target, he could hit it with three consecutive arrows. Should he reveal his true abilities? He was a bit hesitant.

While he was hesitating and weighing the pros and cons, a quail, which was even slower than a rabbit, darted out of the woods. If he let it escape, it would be a shame! After another round of rapid shooting by the young noblemen, Xun couldn't resist anymore. He aimed and shot a powerful arrow, hitting the quail in the belly.

Everyone cheered, and Jun was about to rush over to pick up the quail when they heard a scream from the woods, which sounded like a servant.

Everyone was stunned, wondering if there were any large animals in the woods. Was it a wolf or a fox? No one dared to guess a tiger, as that was beyond their psychological tolerance.

But as they looked in the direction of the sound, they saw several figures dart out, all dressed in tattered clothes but with their heads wrapped in earth-yellow headscarves. This was a great shock. Jun shouted, "They are the Yellow Turban rebels!"

In this era, hats could generally be divided into three categories: the弁 (bìan), which was a leather cap; the冠 (guān), which was a hard hat made of bamboo or bamboo strips covered with cloth; and the帻 (zé), which was a soft hat. In theory, only scholars could wear any of these hats, while commoners did not have the right to do so (soldiers occasionally wore the帻). If commoners wanted to protect their heads from the cold, they could only wrap their heads with cloth.

The cloth used by commoners to wrap their heads was varied, made of hemp or ramie, and came in various colors. However, due to the low level of dyeing technology, black and gray fabrics were cheaper. Temporarily conscripted peasant soldiers often wrapped their heads in black cloth, which is where the term "black heads" (苍头, cāng tóu) comes from. In this era, commoners who could afford to wrap their heads in yellow cloth were few, unless... it was for a specific purpose, such as being uniformly issued.

These were the Yellow Turban rebels! The followers of Zhang Jue, the "Great Virtuous Teacher," who aimed to overthrow the Han dynasty and replace it. At the height of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, eight of the thirteen provinces of the Han dynasty were filled with yellow headscarves, involving tens of millions of people. Although the main forces of the Yellow Turbans were crushed by the government troops in less than a year, their remnants were still widespread, especially in the provinces of Qing, Xu, Yan, and Yu.

The main force of the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou had been active in Donglai and Beihai, with a peak of up to 300,000 people. Later, the court appointed Kong Rong as the governor of Beihai. After taking office, Kong Rong rebuilt the city, established schools, and comforted the displaced people. Although he was once defeated by the Yellow Turban leader Zhang Rao, he eventually worked with the governor of Donglai, Cai Feng, to drive the Yellow Turbans out of the region. The Yellow Turbans then moved east to Qi, then to Jinan and Pingyuan, and then circled back to the Tai'an region of Yanzhou, advancing to the Langya region of Xuzhou, where their power grew, and they seemed poised to make a comeback.

However, when Xun and his group set out, they had heard that the main force of the Yellow Turbans was still in the central part of Langya, in the areas of Dongguan and Juxian, about 300 miles from Yingling. How did they suddenly appear north of Yingling?

Shocked, they looked at the Yellow Turban rebels who had darted out of the woods. There were only five of them, all pale and emaciated. Two of them held crude wooden spears, two had rusty ring knives, and one had a bow, but his quiver only had three arrows. If they all gathered, they would have over twenty people. Facing such a small group, it didn't seem as dangerous as they had feared.

Wang Zhong and Wang Zichun, the sons of Wang Xiu, the magistrate of Gaomi County, were eighteen years old and the best riders and archers among the young noblemen. He was the first to regain his composure. He called out to the servants still in the woods to come out, then instructed everyone, "Get on your horses first." The idea was that even if they couldn't fight, they could still run away. He didn't believe that these Yellow Turbans could catch them on foot.

Everyone quickly mounted their horses. Xun had stirrups, and Jun and the others mostly had rope stirrups attached to their saddles for easy mounting. Only Wang Sheng and Wang Ziling, the brothers of a county inspector, thought it was more stylish to mount their horses by stepping on their servants' shoulders. Without servants around, Wang Sheng struggled to get on his horse, and it took Xun's help to finally get him on. When he reached for the reins, he grabbed the horse's rear instead, having mounted backward.

Just as they were getting settled, the five Yellow Turbans let out a cry and charged straight at them. Before anyone could react, the Yellow Turban with the bow drew and fired an arrow while running, and it hit one of the young noblemen, who fell off his horse, dead or alive.

Everyone panicked, and several spurred their horses to flee. Xun and the others who didn't flee raised their bows, and arrows rained down. Only Xun managed to hit the Yellow Turban's shoulder, but the arrow's force was weak, and the Yellow Turban only trembled slightly before pulling out the arrow and charging again.

Xun estimated that the distance was nearly forty steps. With his bow's power, hitting the target was already a miracle, let alone causing any harm.

As he was thinking, the Yellow Turban who had been hit by his arrow drew the same arrow and aimed it at Xun. Xun was terrified and kicked his horse's sides, causing it to bolt forward. The arrow whizzed past his ear, making him break out in a cold sweat.

He was scared, but his hands didn't stop. He turned and fired another arrow, but he hadn't mastered the technique of shooting from horseback, and the arrow drifted aimlessly, disappearing into the distance.

In an instant, the four Yellow Turbans with melee weapons were upon them. One of the young noblemen was stabbed through the heart. The rest didn't dare to fight and fled in all directions.

Among the second group of fleeing noblemen, Xun's horse was the first to run. He gathered his courage, used his thighs to grip the horse's sides, and stood up, temporarily straightening his back. This position, though not sustainable for long, allowed him to turn and fire another arrow. The arrow hit a Yellow Turban's thigh, causing him to kneel on one knee.

As he turned, Xun saw a yellow blur dart past, and a spear struck one of the fleeing noblemen, causing him to fall off his horse. Another "thud" sounded as someone else fell, but they were not injured, just scared off the horse.

Xun spurred his horse to run as fast as he could. However, his horsemanship was poor. He was afraid of being thrown off if the horse ran too fast, and he didn't know how to spur it to go faster. After running less than half a mile, he heard the sound of hooves approaching and gradually getting closer.

Xun took a deep breath and stood up again, turning to fire another arrow. This time, he saw a yellow horse with a rider in a yellow shirt and a yellow headscarf, holding a genuine cavalry spear. The arrow flew, and the rider, using his left hand, deftly caught it.

"Damn, the bandit caught my arrow!" Xun was terrified and turned to ride away. As he was running, he felt a gust of wind coming from behind. He shouted, "I'm done for!" and dismounted, rolling off the horse. Fortunately, the horse wasn't running too fast, and he had protected his head, so he wasn't seriously injured, and his "handsome face was preserved."

When he looked up, he saw a bright, cold spearhead in front of him, followed by the spear shaft and the yellow-clad rider. The rider let out a long whistle and called to his companions, "Leave a few alive, bind them, and take them back for my father to question!"

"Hey, that voice is so high-pitched. Could it be a..."

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