After watching the Kyudo Club's drills and then looking at the dormitories, Wang Jianbei wanted to continue visiting the students' archery range and horse riding farm in the Kyudo Club, so Yan Liqiang had no choice but to accompany him.
When they arrived at the training ground of the Kyudo Club, one of Wang Jianbei's followers made an excuse that he wanted to see the stables and rhinoceros horses of the Kyudo Club and asked Shi Changfeng to take him to see them. Shi Changfeng knew what was going on as soon as he heard it, so he kept calm and took Wang Jianbei's followers and Yan Liqiang and the others to the stables. At the horse farm, only Wang Jianbei and Yan Liqiang were left.
Standing at the edge of a spacious horse farm that was larger than four or five football fields put together, Wang Jianbei stopped under a tall spruce tree and looked into the distance at the Baizhang Mountain beside the horse farm and the white clouds in the sky. He asked curiously, "I just took a look and found that the training in the Kyudo Club in the past few months has been hard and boring, and the requirements are so detailed. Many places are stricter than the military camp. Even if those rules were placed in the military camp, many soldiers would complain and might not be able to stick to them. Those who train in the Kyudo Club are all young people, lively and lively by nature. Li Qiang, how do you make them listen to orders and train here with peace of mind!"
"The students who are able to stay in the Kyudo Club now are all winners who have been selected. Many of those who are not determined have long been eliminated. Among them, the vast majority of those who are left are actually from ordinary families in Pingxi County. Many of them are children from poor families and have no background or connections. When they came, I told them that if they want to stand out, they must be able to endure hardships. Only those who endure hardships can become successful people. In addition, I used a little trick, and now those who stay in the Kyudo Club will naturally no longer complain, and each of them cherishes the opportunity to study in the Kyudo Club very much!"
"Oh, I wonder what this trick is?" Wang Jianbei asked curiously.
"I have told the county magistrate today, please keep it a secret for me!"
"Hahaha, this is natural!"
"It's very simple, we just need to let the students of the Kyudo Club know that their current learning opportunity in the Kyudo Club is hard-won, and that if they stick to it, they will make money!" Yan Liqiang showed a cunning look on his face, "The first batch of students in the Kyudo Club are all from Pingxi County, but there is also a person from Imperial Capital City outside Pingxi County who came all the way to learn Kyudo from me. The students of Pingxi County can enter the Kyudo Club unconditionally, and the fee for the student who is not from Pingxi County to study in the Kyudo Club is 10,000 taels of silver a year!"
Wang Jianbei was very insightful and reacted immediately, "Did you arrange that person?"
"Hahaha, in fact, the so-called hard work or enjoyment all depends on comparison. As long as the students of the Kyudo Club know through comparison that their current learning opportunity in the Kyudo Club is equivalent to earning 10,000 taels of silver a year, they will be happy to do it no matter how hard or tiring it is, no matter how strict my requirements are. The county governor sees their hard work, while they see that the value of their one-year study in the Kyudo Club is equal to earning 10,000 taels of silver, which is a huge sum of money that more than 99% of the students' families cannot afford in their lifetime. How can they not cherish it!"
"Yes, yes. In many cases, small tricks can be very useful. You have figured out people's hearts!" The county magistrate nodded and pointed to the open horse farm in front. "Li Qiang, do you still need to practice horse riding in your archery club?"
"Well, horse riding is one of the six arts, so of course you have to learn it!" Yan Liqiang said calmly.
"It seems that the students haven't learned riding skills yet?"
"Before learning riding skills, they are now learning how to take care of horses. But it will be soon. At the end of this month, after completing three months of intensive training, all the students will start learning riding and archery!"
"Riding horses, practicing archery, and practicing drills, this is the way to fight. Liqiang, your archery club is simply a large military camp. It's really surprising!" Wang Jianbei looked at Yan Liqiang with burning eyes and asked meaningfully.
Yan Liqiang smiled faintly. He knew that with Wang Jianbei's knowledge and experience, he must have made a judgment in his heart after coming to the Archery Club today. Some things were obvious. His Archery Club was a military school with full military management, so it naturally could not escape Wang Jianbei's eyes. Thinking of this, he no longer beat around the bush with Wang Jianbei, but went straight to the point and looked at the governor of Pingxi County calmly, "Do you know why I do these things?"
"Why?"
"Because I'm scared!" Yan Liqiang suddenly let out a long sigh.
"Afraid?" Wang Jianbei looked surprised.
"Yes, it's because of fear!" Yan Liqiang nodded, his tone vague, his eyes looking into the distance without focus, "I had a big dream last year. I saw a lot of things in the dream. Now I still remember them clearly. I dreamed that Pingxi City was on fire, Pingxi County City was captured by the Shatu people, and the foreign cavalry was rampant in the city. The heads of my Han people were rolling. In the dream, I stood by the Xijiang River and saw that the Xijiang River had turned into a bloody river. The water of the entire Xijiang River turned red, and the blood was flowing in the Xijiang River. Secretly, floating in the Xijiang River were the heads and corpses of our Pingxi County people, men, women, young and old, just like duckweed on the river, floating in the blood, stretching for hundreds of miles..."
Even though it was broad daylight and the sun was shining brightly, Wang Jianbei's face suddenly changed when he heard what Yan Liqiang said and thought of that scene. He couldn't help but shudder in his heart. If someone else had said this in front of him, he would have slapped him in the face, and maybe even beaten that person dozens of times, saying that person was misleading the public with his lies. But the person who said this was Yan Liqiang, and Wang Jianbei's face couldn't help but become solemn.
Yan Liqiang’s dream was different from that of ordinary people. Now it was spread all over Ganzhou as something miraculous. People in Pingxi County said that the son of the Yan family could be enlightened by gods in his dreams, which gave him the ability he has today and allowed him to do incredible things. Especially after Yan Liqiang showed his ability to turn stone into gold and turned earth salt into snow salt, even Wang Jianbei was muttering in his heart, and he had some awe for Yan Liqiang’s dream. So when he heard Yan Liqiang say that he dreamed of such a scene, even Wang Jianbei, who had never believed in anything supernatural, was shocked. He was the governor of Pingxi County. If the scene in Yan Liqiang’s dream was true, then what would be the fate of him as a governor? He knew it himself...
Wang Jianbei swallowed his saliva and suddenly asked with a dry voice, "Li Qiang, the way you suggested to the governor to restrict and weaken the power of the Shatu people in Ganzhou and Pingxi County was also because of... this dream you had?"
"Yes, it is for this reason that I hope that none of that will happen. It would be best if it is just a dream of mine forever. But unfortunately, my own experience tells me that the dream may really happen in the future, so I have to plan ahead and make some preparations in advance so that the children in Pingxi County can organize themselves when they encounter a real crisis and have more self-protection power. Lord Wang may think that this is because His Majesty appointed me as the Governor of Qiyun, and the conflict between me and the seven tribes of Shatu is inevitable. In order to drive the Shatu people out of the Gulang grassland and establish meritorious services, he will try to weaken the strength of the Shatu people everywhere and exaggerate!" Yan Liqiang smiled, "To be honest, the position of Governor of Qiyun is not important in my eyes. The most fundamental reason why I asked for this job in front of His Majesty is not to make meritorious services, but to prevent everything in my dream from becoming a reality!"
Wang Jianbei hesitated for a moment, looked at Yan Liqiang with burning eyes, and suddenly asked a question, "Did you destroy the thousand soldiers of the Transportation Office?"
Yan Liqiang nodded solemnly, "Since the county governor asked, I will tell you the truth. I am only saying this here. I will not admit it if I leave here. The thousand soldiers of the Transportation Office were indeed killed by me. I took the two hundred people of the Archery Club and dozens of soldiers from the Manufacturing Bureau to kill those people and cut off the claws that Jiang Tianhua, the Northwest Transportation Envoy, had stretched out to me!"
Wang Jianbei had been somewhat numb from today's trip to the Archery Club. Hearing Yan Liqiang's words, he just took a deep breath and said, "It's just as the governor said. Only you can do this!"
"Oh, did the governor say so?" Yan Liqiang asked curiously.
"The governor said that you were born with supernatural powers. With a bow in your hand, you can shoot without getting tired. That day in the Deer Park of the Imperial Capital, you shocked His Majesty with this skill. He said that one person on the battlefield can be as good as a hundred sharpshooters. If you are given enough arrows, you can even kill a thousand people by yourself. After the news of the Transportation Office came, the governor thought it was you who did it!"
"Hahaha, I didn't expect that the Governor still understands me! Those people in the Transfer Office are officials in disguise but do thieves' things. They want to steal my things and destroy my foundation. They deserve to be killed!" Yan Liqiang said murderously.
"I came here today because someone asked me to discuss something with you, Li Qiang!"
"What's up?"
"What else could it be? Of course it's related to what you did. You killed all the 1,000 cavalrymen that the Transportation Office could send out. Jiang Tianhua is now in a dilemma and is worried. He has already given in. Didn't your Manufacturing Bureau arrest some people pretending to be from the Transportation Office? Just find an excuse and release them. From now on, the Transportation Office and the Manufacturing Bureau will not interfere with each other. What's past is past. What do you think?" Wang Jianbei finally told his purpose...
(End of this chapter)