Chapter 91

Xiaobai was taken aback by Lu Zheng's actions and, in a daze, vaguely understood his intentions. He then raised his head and let out a neigh, rubbing his neck against Lu Zheng's face in delight, no longer looking dejected. The black horse, seeing this, let out a low whinny and remained silent.

Li Yi reached out and patted the black horse's back, saying meaningfully, "Without a saddle, though no one controls you, you are free, yet you cannot distinguish directions, and you don't know where your path lies." After speaking, he waved his sleeve, and a strange object appeared in the training ground.

This object had two large wooden wheels with a wooden trough in the middle, from which a long, curved wooden pole extended. At the top of the pole was a crossbar with two bends, resembling horns, and on the crossbar were two sets of horse harnesses.

Li Yi had the two horses driven over. Although Xiaobai and the black horse were both horse kings, they dared not disobey Li Yi's orders and obediently stood side by side. Li Yi then directed Lu Zheng to place the curved crossbar on the backs of the two horses and secure the harnesses.

It turned out to be a two-horse carriage!

Li Yi said, "Lu Zheng, get in the carriage and hold the reins tightly!"

Lu Zheng followed his teacher's instructions, climbed into the carriage, and stood in the wooden trough, grabbing the reins of the two horses. He heard his teacher say, "The second lesson in the art of driving is about driving a carriage." This was the second lesson, and his teacher hadn't even given him a heads-up!

After speaking, Li Yi took out a whip from somewhere and lashed it in the air, producing two sharp cracks. Xiaobai and the black horse immediately started running, and the carriage sped away. Lu Zheng, caught off guard, leaned back and almost fell off, quickly gripping the reins tightly.

The two horses were incredibly fast, and the carriage, trailing behind, swayed like a leaf in a storm, bouncing up and down. There was nothing to hold onto in the wooden trough, so Lu Zheng crouched down, grabbing the wooden boards with both hands and pressing his feet firmly against the trough. Even so, his body was often jolted up, his heart pounding as if it would leap out of his chest.

The black horse and Xiaobai were already at odds, and after running for a while, they started competing. Xiaobai obediently moved forward, but the black horse would veer left or right, causing chaos! Xiaobai tried to pull the carriage back on track, but with the two horses locked together, the carriage shook even more, almost falling apart.

With a cry, Lu Zheng was thrown out of the carriage and rolled several times before stopping!

What a close call! Fortunately, the training ground had been modified by his teacher, so falling didn't hurt. Lu Zheng got up and watched the carriage, now being pulled by Xiaobai and the black horse, swaying and speeding away. He shivered and said angrily, "This damned black horse, so disobedient!"

Seeing Lu Zheng thrown out, Li Yi walked over and said, "The requirement for the second lesson is simple: drive the carriage smoothly forward. You've already been in the carriage and fell out. Do you have any ideas now?"

Lu Zheng, with a pained expression, said, "Teacher, can I tame the black horse first before driving it?"

Li Yi replied bluntly, "Of course not!"

Lu Zheng understood that his teacher had deliberately chosen a black horse that didn't get along with Xiaobai, making the second lesson more challenging. He said, "Then I still don't have a solution."

Li Yi said, "One wants to go east, the other wants to go west, and you want to go forward. Figure it out yourself." He then handed Lu Zheng something and walked away.

Lu Zheng looked at what he had been given—a white, soft whip! Did his teacher want him to use this whip to discipline the black horse?

In the days that followed, Lu Zheng spent all his time with the carriage. For the first few days, as expected, he would always hear a scream, and then Lu Zheng would be thrown out of the carriage. After falling so many times, he occasionally complained, wondering why his teacher made him learn archery, then horseback riding, and now driving, without letting him tame the black horse first. He couldn't figure out what his teacher was up to.

Xiaobai and the black horse, as their names and colors suggested, didn't get along, especially the black horse. To Lu Zheng, the black horse, named Xiahei, was particularly malicious, always opposing Xiaobai. For example, when turning, if Xiaobai went left, Xiahei went right; when accelerating, if Xiaobai sped up, Xiahei slowed down. This made Lu Zheng suffer, and Xiahei received many lashes from Lu Zheng.

At first, Lu Zheng thought he could quickly tame Xiahei with the soft whip, but the biggest problem was standing steadily on the carriage.

On the bumpy carriage, even without Xiahei's mischief, it wasn't easy to stand. Unlike standing on the ground, the constantly shaking wooden boards easily threw off one's balance. With the carriage swaying and nothing to hold onto, he would inevitably fall off.

Later, Lu Zheng realized that to stand steadily on the bumpy carriage, he needed to relax his body and move with the carriage's vibrations, not resist them. If he resisted, he would lose his balance.

Realizing this, he slapped his forehead, cursing himself for being slow. Mr. Yue had once reminded him during archery lessons that, like playing the zither, one must understand the characteristics of the object they are dealing with. How could he have forgotten this on the carriage?

With constant effort, after about seven days, Lu Zheng gradually became more stable on the carriage. By the end of two weeks, he could stand as steadily as on solid ground, no matter how bumpy the ride.

Once he could stand steadily, Lu Zheng could slowly use the reins and the whip to guide Xiaobai and Xiahei, making the carriage move or turn as he wished.

Before this, Lu Zheng spent two days practicing with the whip on the ground. The first time he tried, he aimed to hit the mischievous Xiahei, but the soft whip, made of some unknown material, didn't have much force. Using brute strength, he couldn't control it, often hitting innocent Xiaobai instead.

So, Lu Zheng stopped practicing with the carriage and focused on the whip. After a while, he realized he was using too much force. Using the whip was like playing the zither, requiring wrist strength and a balance of hardness and softness to control it precisely.

Although he learned to use the whip, at first, he hesitated to hit either Xiaobai or Xiahei. When Xiahei started causing trouble, he would give a light lash, which was like tickling Xiahei, who ignored it and continued to misbehave. Xiahei seemed even more temperamental than Xiaobai!

Gradually, Lu Zheng became more determined. Whenever Xiahei started causing trouble, he would lash out with the whip, leaving a painful mark on Xiahei's body. Xiahei, in pain, slowly stopped misbehaving and obediently changed direction. Each time, Lu Zheng would mutter, "You really need a good beating to behave!"

Lu Zheng was naturally reluctant to hit Xiaobai, who was very obedient. However, sometimes Xiahei would provoke Xiaobai, bumping into him or kicking him. Xiaobai, initially tolerant, would eventually get angry and stop pulling the carriage to fight Xiahei. In such cases, Lu Zheng had to give Xiaobai a lash too.

With Lu Zheng's persistent use of the whip, Xiahei eventually became more obedient, initially only when he saw the whip, but eventually, he stopped misbehaving altogether. The carriage, under Lu Zheng's command, became increasingly stable, moving smoothly and at his will.

Lu Zheng even took Xin'er for a few rides. Although Xiahei didn't cause trouble, Lu Zheng still looked very impressive, skillfully wielding the whip, earning praise from Xin'er, which made him feel very pleased.

However, the challenge wasn't over. Just as Lu Zheng had mastered the carriage, Li Yi brought in two yellow horses and a brown horse. These three were not horse kings but ordinary horses, including a mare and a weak old horse.

Li Yi replaced the carriage with a larger one, changing from a single shaft to a double shaft, and harnessed all four horses, removing Xiaobai.

Initially, Lu Zheng was happy to have Xiaobai removed from the carriage. However, when he got in, he realized the problem. Although Xiahei was mischievous, at least Xiaobai listened to him, and he could use Xiaobai as a reference to control Xiahei's direction.

But now, with the three new horses, the four horses refused to cooperate. Sometimes two went left, one went right, and sometimes one went left, two went right. Most of the time, each horse went in a different direction. They were used to freedom and wouldn't follow Lu Zheng's commands.

To make matters worse, Xiahei, not fully recognizing Lu Zheng as its master, only temporarily submitted to the whip. With the other horses causing chaos, Xiahei started misbehaving again. Like Xiaobai, Xiahei was a horse king and looked down on the other horses, bullying them, especially the mare.

Lu Zheng, holding the whip, had to control each horse's direction and speed, constantly lashing Xiahei to stop him from biting the old horse, and the two yellow horses to keep them from getting too close, while also taking care of the old horse, whose speed was clearly insufficient. In short, each horse had its own issues, and putting them together created new problems. Coordinating them to pull the carriage smoothly was a major challenge.

However, despite the horses' issues, the final outcome depended on Lu Zheng's whip. He was exhausted every day but gradually found some solutions.

He realized that to control the four horses, he had to remain calm and not favor any one horse, as this would cause problems with the others. He also couldn't set a uniform standard, as Xiahei's speed would exhaust the old horse.

Another month passed, and Lu Zheng finally mastered the four horses, driving the carriage smoothly. At this point, his teacher brought in another horse, and with Xiaobai, there were now six horses pulling the carriage, arranged in two rows of three. The carriage was even larger.

Although the number of horses increased, Lu Zheng was not worried. He confidently got into the carriage, knowing that no matter how many horses there were, the approach was the same: understand each horse's characteristics, prevent them from affecting each other, and use the whip to guide them.

As Lu Zheng drove the six-horse carriage at high speed around the training ground, Li Yi and Yue Zhongping watched from a distance. Yue Zhongping said, "The timing is perfect. He has completed his driving lessons, and I have gathered all the herbs I need. When do you plan to treat Lu Zheng for the Six Senses Yin Poison?"

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