The Farm Girl’s Charismatic Fortune
Chapter 235 - 231 Xuanbao Is Right

Chapter 235: Chapter 231 Xuanbao Is Right

In the largest tent of the entire military camp, Ruo Hai entered and first paid his respects to Yan Heng.

Seeing her great-uncle walk in, Ruo Xuan finally felt at ease, "Great-uncle, why so late? I’m really hungry."

Yan Heng asked with concern, "Did something happen during the registration?"

Ruo Hai smiled and said, "No, just a longer queue."

There were minor issues that Ruo Hai did not intend to mention.

Without asking further, Yan Heng cheerfully invited everyone to start the meal.

The military camp’s food obviously wasn’t as good as outside, but these were special days with new recruits reporting in, so the camp meals had improved, now featuring meat at every meal.

As the commanding officer and the Governor of both Guang provinces, Yan Heng could enjoy some privileges, and although he usually ate the same food as his soldiers, he knew Xuanbao loved lamb. So he spent his own silver to buy a whole lamb, and the roasted lamb was exactly why Xuanbao couldn’t sit still.

But once the lamb was placed in front of her, Xuanbao took a bite and then put the chop on Xuanyuan Que’s bowl, "Brother Xuanyuan, help me trim off the fat and the burnt parts."

Xuanyuan Que picked up his dagger and helped the increasingly fussy Ruo Xuan trim off the burnt and overly fatty parts of the lamb, then placed the most tender and fragrant pieces into her bowl, perfectly sized for one bite each.

Ruo Xuan enjoyed her meal bite by bite; without the burnt meat and excessive fat, it tasted so much better!

While eating, she asked Yan Heng, "Uncle Yan, are we going to practice archery later?"

Yan Jiaojiao immediately said, "Dad, you said we’ve practiced mounted archery for some time now. This time we’re in the camp, let us have a contest in archery and horse racing to see who has improved the most!"

Yan Heng said in exasperation, "Got it, after we finish eating and resting a bit, I’ll take you all there."

Today he had also brought other officers’ children who practiced martial arts to the camp for a competition. Tomorrow he planned to have the children train with the soldiers, to observe how the soldiers in the camp trained rigorously.

The children of military officers would mostly end up in the military camps, so getting an early exposure was not a mistake.

Defending the country was not an overnight task, nor was it the duty of one person for a lifetime. It was a constant, generational responsibility.

To cultivate excellent soldiers, one should start from childhood; even in times of peace, one must not be complacent. Who knows when the enemy might act maliciously?

Yan Heng always believed that as military officers and soldiers, one should always be ready for combat, striving to be stronger than the day before, and never letting down their guard for a moment.

Because if the enemy is strong and we are weak, that is when the nation falls and families are destroyed, landscapes shattered!

You absolutely, absolutely, absolutely cannot be weak; for every bit you lack, the enemy is three times stronger.

The children sped up their eating when they heard this.

Daily practice of mounted archery at the estate was limited by terrain, but nothing compared to the thrill of the military camp!

Yan Huan said to Xuanbao, "Xuanbao, you’ve been slacking on your martial arts lessons, skipping more than you attend. You surely haven’t learned to ride a horse yet! I’ll take you later; we can ride together. I’m really good at it!"

Xuanbao declined outright, "No need, I want to ride on my own. I ride very well!"

Zhang Lian said, "Xuanbao, you’ve only attended one archery class. You still can’t draw a bow, can you? I’ll teach you later!"

At last, something he was better at than Xuanbao!

Ruo Xuan waved him off, "No need to teach, I can do it! We’ll have a contest later to see who shoots better!"

Though Ruo Xuan didn’t take martial arts classes, once she understood something, she would mentally rehearse it during her practice, resulting in natural improvement.

She was incredibly diligent with her daily training, basking in the sun and even practicing in her dreams at night. In her dreams, she would rehearse the martial arts lessons countless times, so please call her a martial arts master!

"Alright, Xuanbao is so clever that I’m sure her archery must be good, even without lessons." While saying this, Zhang Lian thought to himself that Xuanbao rarely listened to a full martial arts lesson, being too busy planting flowers and medicinal herbs every day. Archery skills, however, are honed through practice, and without practice, he wondered if she could even hit the targets later. He would soon show Xuanbao what a true sharpshooter was!

His archery skills were only slightly inferior to Yan Huan’s, hitting the target ninety times out of a hundred, with one of those hitting the bullseye.

He would soon let Xuanbao see his prowess, finally having something he was better at than her!

Yan Huan: "Then let’s eat quickly. I’m telling you, the shooting range at the military camp is huge!"

Yan Jiaojiao nodded in agreement: "My second brother is right; it’s so much fun! Let’s eat up fast!"

Having meals was indeed a waste of time, as visiting the military camp wasn’t easy.

Thus, the children sped up their eating. Ruo Xuan didn’t mind some of the mutton being too fatty or too charred and, not waiting for Divine Lord Xuanyuan to finish dealing with the lamb chops in his bowl, she snatched the half-eaten chops from Xuanyuan Que’s hands and began gnawing on them.

Xuanyuan Que silently set down his dagger, picked up a warm cotton towel from the table to clean his hands, and watched Ruo Xuan enjoying the lamb chops, thinking to himself: So this flower is not picky after all, she just likes to find things to do herself!

See, even the charred and fatty pieces taste pretty good, don’t they?

Soon, the children had finished their lunch and were clamoring to go to the military camp’s horse track and shooting range to test their skills.

Yan Heng asked Yan Shan to take Ruo Hai back to the new recruits, while he led the other children to the horse track.

The camp’s horse track was large, and there were two of them, specifically for the cavalry to practice horseback archery.

Because of the recent recruitment and enrollment of new soldiers, many soldiers were needed for assistance. Training usually began before dawn, hence the archery range was largely vacant by afternoon.

There were already more than ten children riding horses on the track, all offspring of other military officers in the camp.

Each child was accompanied by a soldier.

Yan Heng first led the children to choose horses.

The camp also had some juvenile horses, a new batch purchased for potential new recruits.

Zhang Lian curiously asked, "Why does the military camp have so many young horses? Wouldn’t these young horses panic on the battlefield?"

He also wanted to join the camp in the future and knew that a strong army required robust horses.

Upon hearing this, Ruo Xuan commented, "It’s easier to start training a horse from a young age and develop a rapport with the owner."

"Xuanbao is right," praised Yan Heng.

Yan Heng hadn’t expected Xuanbao, so young, to understand this concept. When he first proposed purchasing a large number of young horses, he faced opposition from many of his subordinates.

Yan Heng trained the cavalry by letting each soldier pick a young horse to care for and raise, building an emotional bond from a young age, leading to better rapport and unity on the battlefield.

The Feiyan Army under Yan Heng’s command was renowned for its formidable mounted archers, achieving perfect unity between horse and rider, capable of taking on a hundred enemies as one!

Yan Heng’s own mount, which he had delivered and raised himself, formed an incredibly harmonious bond, becoming an unstoppable force on the battlefield.