Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After watching the formation practice and touring the living quarters, Wang Jianbei wanted to continue on another tour to the archery range and track so Yan Liqiang accompanied him.

When they arrived at the archery academy’s training track, one of Wang Jianbei’s personal attendants made an excuse to take a look at the stables and rhinodrake steeds and requested Shi Changfeng to show him around. Shi Changfeng immediately knew what was going on upon hearing his request. He calmly led Wang Jianbei’s personal attendants to the stable, leaving behind Yan Liqiang and Wang Jianbei at the training track.

Standing at the side of a spacious track field that was bigger than four to five football fields, Wang Jianbei halted his footsteps and looked into the distance. While gazing at Mount Hundred Zhang and the white clouds in the sky, Wang Jianbei curiously asked, “Based on what I’ve seen, I’ve found that the training which has been conducted here for the past few months is tough and dull, yet its requirement is meticulous and even stricter than the army’s. If those rules were implemented in the army, many soldiers might not even be able to take it. The students in the archery academy are young and lively. Just how did you manage to make them settle down and obey your commands, Liqiang?!”

“The students who were allowed to join the archery academy were selected after taking a test. Those who did not have firm willpower were eliminated earlier on. Those who remained mostly came from ordinary families in Pingxi Prefecture — they are mostly children from poor families without any backgrounds or connections. From the moment they arrived, I already told them that if they wanted to excel, they must be able to bear hardship, as it is what will hone them to be the best of the best. I also made use of a little trick so that those who remained would not complain, and all of them would cherish their opportunity to learn in the archery academy!”

“Oh, what is that little trick that you speak of?” Wang Jianbei asked curiously.

“I will tell you, but you must keep it a secret, Prefectural Governor!”

“Haha, certainly!”

“Actually, it is very simple. You only need to let the students know that being able to study in the archery academy is a rare opportunity, and emphasize the fact that persisting is the same as making money.” Yan Liqiang had a crafty look on his face.

“The first intake of students are from the younger generation of Pingxi Prefecture, but one of them came all the way from the Imperial Capital City to study in the archery academy. The residents of Pingxi Prefecture are allowed to join the archery academy unconditionally, but outsiders will need to pay ten thousand taels of silver a year to study here!”

As a bright and perceptive person, Wang Jianbei was able to immediately catch on. “You mean to say that he was arranged by you?”

“Hahaha. The measure of hardship and pleasure all come down to comparisons. As long as they understand that the opportunity to study in the archery academy is the same as earning ten thousand taels of silver a year, they will gladly endure any hardship, regardless of how difficult or harsh my requirements are. What you see is their hardship but what they see is that they are earning ten thousand taels of silver just by studying in the archery academy for a year. This is a huge sum of money that ninety-nine out of a hundred of those students’ families won’t be to come up with in their entire lives, so how can they not value such an opportunity!”

“That’s right, most of the time, small tricks can be of great use. You really understand people’s minds!” The Prefectural Governor nodded and pointed at the spacious track field ahead, “Liqiang, is the archery academy practicing horsemanship too?”

“Yes, horsemanship is one of the six skills that they are required to learn!” Yan Liqiang calmly replied.

“Apparently it seems that the students have not learned horsemanship yet?”

“They are now learning how to take care of the horses before moving on to horsemanship, but it won’t be for long. By the end of this month, they will have completed their three months of formation training. All students will then start learning horsemanship and archery skills!”

“Horse riding, bow training, and drill practice are the skills on the battlefield. Liqiang, your archery academy is simply a big army camp. It is absolutely amazing!” Wang Jianbei looked at Yan Liqiang with sparkles in his eyes and commented with profound meaning.

Yan Liqiang smiled faintly. He knew that from Wang Jianbei’s knowledge and experience, he must have made a judgment based on his visit to the archery academy today. It was no doubt that his archery academy was a military academy. This certainly could not escape Wang Jianbei’s eyes. Upon arriving at that conclusion, Yan Liqiang stopped beating around the bush and instead got straight to the point with Wang Jianbei. He calmly looked at the Pingxi Prefectural Governor, “Do you understand why I am doing all this?”

“Why?”

“Because of fear,” Yan Liqiang suddenly let out a long sigh.

“Fear?” Wang Jianbei was shocked.

“Yes, because of fear!” Yan Liqiang nodded. He continued to speak in an indistinct tone as he gazed into the distance. “Last year I dreamt about something big. I saw a lot of things in my dream. When I think about it now, it is still fresh in my memory. I dreamt that Pingxi City was engulfed in a huge fire. The city was seized by the Shatu people who rode on their armored horses. Many of our people lost their lives. In the dream, I stood beside the river bank watching Xi River dyed red by blood. Heads and corpses of Pingxi residents floated for a hundred li on the bloody Xi River like duckweeds…”

Even if it was broad daylight with the sun shining brightly in the sky, Wang Jianbei couldn’t help but shiver when he visualized the scene based on Yan Liqiang’s words. If it was someone else who told him the same thing, he would have given him a slap across the face or even flogged that person as a punishment for deluding people with lies. However, Wang Jianbei’s expression couldn’t help but turn grim because it was Yan Liqiang who said such things.

Yan Liqiang’s dream was different from ordinary people’s dreams. It was now a famous rumor among the commoners in Gan Province that Lord Yan was enlightened by deities in his dream and was thus capable of performing all the outrageous things akin to turning rock into gold. After seeing how Yan Liqiang managed to turn earth salt into snow salt, even Wang Jianbei wavered and started to revere Yan Liqiang’s dreams. When Wang Jianbei heard about Yan Liqiang’s dream, he was shocked, even if he never believed in supernatural powers. If Yan Liqiang’s dream was real, then it didn’t take a genius to figure out what end he would meet as the Pingxi Prefectural Governor…

Wang Jianbei gulped and asked with a sudden hoarse voice, “Liqiang, you previously made a suggestion to the Provincial Governor on putting a restriction to weaken the power of the Shatu People in Gan Province and Pingxi City. Was that…because of this dream of yours?”

“Yes, it is due to this. Of course, I hope that all this will remain just a dream of mine. Unfortunately, my personal experience told me that there is a possibility that the dream may become a reality in future. I have no choice but to plan ahead and start doing some early preparations so that when the real crisis hits, the younger generation of Pingxi Prefecture can form an organization and we would have more self-defense power. Lord Wang might have felt that because the Emperor appointed me to be the Qiyun Protectorate General, the conflicts between me and the Shatu Seven Tribes were unavoidable. You might also think that the reason why I had been thinking of ways to weaken the power of the Shatu people and made exaggerations was to drive away Shatu people from the Gulang Plains to achieve goals and recognition!” Yan Liqiang smiled, “To be honest, the official position of Qiyun Protectorate General is of no importance to me. The reason why I demanded this job from His Majesty is not to achieve goals or recognition. It is simply the fact that I do not want my dream to turn into reality!”

Wang Jianbei pondered for a moment before looking at Yan Liqiang with keen eyes and raised a sudden question, “Was it you who exterminated the one-thousand-men cavalry from the Transportation Office?”

Yan Liqiang nodded gravely, “Since the Prefectural Governor asked, I will tell you the truth. What is said here stays here. I was indeed the one who exterminated the one-thousand-men cavalry from the Transportation Office. I brought along two hundred people from the archery academy and dozens of soldiers from the manufacturing bureau to wipe them out. I chopped off the claws of Northwestern Transport Commissioner Jiang Tianhua!”

After today’s visit to the archery academy, Wang Jianbei was a little desensitized from being shocked. He just drew in a deep breath after hearing Yan Liqiang’s words, “It was just as what Provincial Governor had said, only you would be able to do such a thing!”

“Oh, Provincial Governor said that?” Yan Liqiang asked curiously.

“Provincial Governor said that you were born with divine strength. You can draw a bow without ever feeling exhausted. On that day at Deer Villa in the Imperial Capital City, you shocked His Majesty with a demonstration of that very skill. He also said that you could fight over hundred of master archers all by yourself. As long as there is a sufficient amount of arrows, you can even possibly kill over a thousand people. So when news about the Transportation Office came, the Provincial Governor already had a hunch that it was your doing!”

“Haha, I didn’t expect the Provincial Governor to understand me so well! Those people from the Transportation Office did deceitful things in the name of the officialdom. They deserved to be killed for wanting to rob my belongings and destroying my base!” Yan Liqiang said murderously.

“I am here today under the request from someone to discuss something with you!”

“Regarding?”

“What else could it be? Of course it was about what you had done. You exterminated the Transportation Office’s cavalry. Jiang Tianhua is now stuck in the middle, very scared and on the edge. He has already started to give in. The manufacturing bureau caught some imposters from the Transportation Office right? Find an excuse and release those people. From there onward, the Transportation Office and the manufacturing bureau will mind their own businesses. Let bygones be bygones. What do you think about this?” Wang Jianbei finally revealed his purpose in coming.