Skill With the Bow II

“You can't be serious. You want me to teach them! You are the commander! It’s your job to lead and teach.” Jeong Ho scoffed. “As a commander it is my duty to see if my subordinates are doing a good job. You are my subordinate, didn’t I teach you well enough for you to teach others.” Zheng glared at Jeong Ho. “If your father wasn’t a court minister you would be my subordinate!” Jeong Ho's face turned red. “Idiot! Your father is also a court minister! What nonsense are you talking about.”

Dae Seong rolled his eyes while looking at the two men fighting. Chungho and the other soldiers were used to seeing their Commander and Jiangjun fight but it was still embarrassing and uncomfortable to watch. In the end they would be the one who would be doing everything anyway. For them to be fighting like little kids was unnecessary and childish. ‘Thank the gods that the participants are too far away to hear them fight like this.’ Chungho turned away, looking ashamed. A few minutes Chungho couldn’t stand it anymore. “Uhm… Sir… We can’t wait any longer. The participants still need to be registered.

The scribs are still not here. We really don't have time to waste.” Chungho's words finally got them to stop their childish argument. Jeong Ho and Zeng both looked at Chungho before looking around. “What… Where are the scribes?” Jeong Ho clearly remembered talking to the master scribe about today's examination. Dae Seong shook his head in disbelief. “Can’t believe you already forgot! You told the master scribe that you will fetch them when we begin.” He then turned to the youngest soldier. “Tong Tong. Go get the scribes. Tell them we are ready for them.” “Sir, could you please stop calling me that. My name is Jung Hoon.

How many times do I have to tell you” The last sentence was mumbled. Jung Hoon used to be 30 kilos heavier. Dae Seong was the one who gave him the nickname Tong Tong (chubby) and also the one who trained him. Two years later, the nickname had stuck much to Jung Hoon’s anger. Dae Seong laughed before waving him away. Jung Hoon wanted to make a fuss but as the youngest he didn’t want to seem childish. He bit his lip in anger before running away to get the scribes.

Before Jeong Ho and Zheng could bicker again, Chungho quickly asked another question. “Sir, how do you want us to conduct the examination? We don’t have time to train them.” Jeong Ho looked at the others for any ideas. Zheng looked away, ignoring him in anger. Dae Seong looked at Zheng with disappointment. “Gods you're so petty!” Zheng looked offended but still refused to talk or say a word. “Let’s wait with the assessment of the novices for now.

We can first assess the strength of the others. The Crown Prince said that he wants to have at least 100 men for his plans. We should split them into groups. We'll test the skilled group first. We'll only test for the gichu and gwanhyeok. We don't have time to test more. We’ll then do archery, followed by sword fighting and then horse riding. The novices will go as last. This way the novices can learn from the others.” Jeong Ho nodded. “Right, great idea… Uhm… When the Crown Prince arrives we can show him at least something.”

Chungho nodded and turned. “Ohh… What should we do with them.” He pointed at a small group of servants standing outside the fields.“ Jeong Ho scratched his head. “Let’s… S… Send them back to the gate. If their masters can pass, we’ll fetch them again and bring them to the barracks.” Chungho turned and called another soldier. “Unnie, (sister) can you take those servants back to the gate. Explain that they will be brought to the barracks IF their master passes the test.” Unnie was a tall soldier, called Bai. Bai was a sweet and caring man to his friends but a devil to his enemies. Bai had an obvious feminite side to him, making the others call him Unnie. Unlike Tong Tong, Unnie didn't complain or get angry for being called by his nickname. He just nodded and walked towards the servants. After explaining the situation to them, he led them back to the gate. He made sure everybody was comfortable before returning back to the training field.

At the field Tong Tong had returned with the scribes and servants. The servants were carrying tables and chairs. A few seconds later other group servants arrived. They had brought over a canopy. It took 20 minutes for them to erect it in front of the seating area. Only after Jeong Ho told them the situation, did they set up the chairs and tables under the canopy. Nam Mu saw that Hoa Yu was one of the scribes. He smiled when they made eye contact. Hoa Yo smiled back before beginning with the laboring task of registering the large group. Two hours later the scribes had finally registered all the participants. The senior scribe walked towards them.

"Commander, there are a total of 950 participants." Jeong Ho stood up. “Senior scribe, could you please stay? We need you to record what is going on.” The senior scribe didn’t want to stay and their master scribe had already told him to return to the throne room immediately after finishing. He looked at the 19 scribes waiting patiently next to him. “Hoa Yo, Ding Bang and Sheng Mu. You will stay here. Listening to the commander.” He turned back to Jeong Ho. “I’ll take my leave now.”

Jeong Ho pulled a face when he saw the scribe leave. “Lazy…” He didn’t finish because the senior scribe turned back around. “When they are finished, they are to report in the throne room immediately.” He didn’t wait for a reply and left. “I really don’t like him!” Zheng scoffed. “Who do you like anyway?” Jeong Ho glared at him. Dae Seong was getting impatient. “We don't have time for your bickering. Chungho can you start with the first group?” Chongho nodded and turned. He pointed at 10 soldiers. “Get the dummies ready.” He walked over, quickly counting the number in the group and stood in front of the groups. The group he addressed was the group with Nam Mu and Li Jie and consisted of just 30 people. Compared to the others this group was a small group. “We’ll start with this group first. The other can go sit over there.”

He pointed at Nam Mu and Li Jie’s group first before pointing to the side lines. “Get on your horses and bows ready. We’ll start with the gichu and gwanhyeok!” The soldier had already set up five straw dummies with a lance and shield. The dummy had a large red circle painted on their ‘chest’. “I want you to split into five groups with six people each. You’ll take turns charging towards the dummy you can only pass if you hit the red circle. You’ll get four tries, if you fail to hit the target three times, you’ll be eliminated.”

Chungho’s words shocked the group. The circle was largely covered by the shield making it a hard target. None of them had expected things to be this hard. They each started to get extremely nervous. Chungho waited until everybody had gotten ready. “Alright! First group get ready!... 1, 2, 3, 4… Go!” The first five sturred their horses towards the dummies. Only one of them managed to hit the target. “Second group. Go!” This group was a little better, three people managed to hit the target. Saja could feel Nam Mu's unusual feelings. For him and the other horses, this was just another day so they didn't understand why their masters were acting differently.

‘Asi... What is going on? Why are you shaking?' 'It's nothing. I'm just worried.' 'But we've done this many times before. This is not even hard!' Saja neighed excitingly. Nam Mu didn't feel the same. He had too many thoughts running through his head. 'This is the first time I'm going to use this bow! I don't know if I can make it!' 'Asi what are you talking about? We've done harder practices than this. We just need to do it like we've been doing all these days.' Saja's words didn't make Nam Mu feel any better. 'Asi...' 'I've heard you.' While waiting for his turn, Nam Mu had been repeatedly drawing and releasing the string over and over.

He wanted to become comfortable with the bow but he also needed to do something with his nerves. When it was finally his turn, he felt like he was about to throw up. When Chungho yelled go, Saja leaped into action. Nam Mu was dazed for a second resulting in him missing the target. When he returned back in line, he felt angry at himself. 'Asi, you missed!!' 'Shut up.' He looked up to see that Li Jie had also missed his target. When Li Jie returned, he had a big smile on his face. "Even though this is an examination, it's still trilling, don't you think?" Nam Mu gave him a dumbfounded look. "No. How is this fun? We have to do our best or we'll fail!"

Li Jie nodded. "But I know we can do this. We've been doing more difficult tasks for weeks." Li Jie's words were nearly the same as Saja's but Nam Mu gave him a dirty look instead. "Why did you miss them?" Li Jie laughed out loud, making the others look at him like he was about to go crazy. "I don't want to seem perfect! Don’t you worry about me. I'm planning on hitting the rest." Nam Mu just shook his head. "Nam Mu? Why are you worried!"

"I don't want to disappoint Dad and the others." Li Jie rolled his eyes. "You're lucky you weren't raised in my household. Uncle and Master Jin will never be disappointed in you. If you pass or fail, they will still think you're amazing. Remember Uncle telling you to have fun?!" Nam Mu finally remembered Nam Gil's words. He finally felt the fear and angst disperse. "You're right! I..." 'Asi, it's our turn again.' 'You and Li Jie are right. This is not difficult at all.' 'That's the spirit! Let’s show them what we got.' With those words Saja took off. This time Nam Mu wasn't worried or even thinking about anything. He looked at the dummy and quickly shot an arrow.

At the last second he shot another. Both arrows landed neatly in the red circle. While riding back he could hear the murmur of the other participants. “What a demon! Did you see that!” When they reached the group everyone was looking at him with their mouths open. 'Showoff.’ Li Jie mouth before taking off. He also managed to land his two arrows in the red circle. “Who’s showing off?” Nam Mu teased Li Jie when he came back.

Dae Seong, Zheng and Jeong Ho were shocked. When Nam Mu had landed his second arrow, the three had jumped from their chairs. This was the second time in their lives that they had seen someone do something like this. They nearly passed out when they saw Li Jie do the same. Before Jeong Ho knew it he was already walking towards the group. “What are your names!” Nam Mu and Li Jie startled when they saw him standing near them. “My name is Li Jie, this is Nam Mu.” Jeong Ho looked at them with greedy eyes. “Why did you shoot two arrows?” Li Jie looked at Nam Mu. He had done it because Nam Mu had done it but saying those words would seem arrogant.

“I… B… Because I missed the first time.” Nobody knew what to do with such a weird explanation. “Ah... “ Jeong Ho didn’t know what to say after that. “Can you do that again?” Nam Mu nodded. “That’s nothing to him! He can do it a million times.” Li Jie wanted to show Nam Mu off. “What about you?” Li Jie scratched his head, giving Jeong Ho a silly smile. “Maybe 20 or 30 times. I’m not as good.” “If you both can land two arrows, the next three tries, I’ll pass you both.” Jeong Ho didn’t say anything else. He turned to Chongho. “Continue.”