After achieving a great victory, everyone in Tokiwabi was excited. That night, they celebrated in the camp. Although Yu Qiuping banned drinking in the army, and Ogawa Yutong and others protested for a long time, they did not
The Ashigaru who influenced Tokiwabi were bragging about their military exploits while eating around the campfire. But Fukushima Yasunari, as usual, was leaning under a big tree not far away, happily watching his brothers bragging.
.
After Yoshioka Katsumasa devoured a few mouthfuls of food, he raised his chopsticks high, cleared his throat and was about to speak. Omaezaki Nakahide saw this opportunity and suddenly shouted: "Listen up, everyone! Listen up!
That brainless guy is going to brag about how awesome he is again!"
"Fuck you!" Yoshioka Shengmasa immediately scolded angrily, "I'm different from an actor like you. I know what I know! Although I worked very hard today, the first achievement must be our iron artillery team and our scenery.
Brothers!"
"That's right. The Jing family is indeed worthy of the honor of meritorious service." Shui Yuanjing also supported him.
"That volley at the beginning! It blinded the opponent directly!" Yoshioka Katsumasa said, and began to wave his arms excitedly: "I immediately seized the opportunity and hit hard!"
"And that time later," Nobuyuki Anayama also added: "That volley directly killed the horse commander on the opposite side! The sound of the volley also shocked the horses on the opposite side! It caused their formation to be in chaos, so they were fired.
We have such a good hedging opportunity!”
"The meritorious work this time must be yours!" Ogawa Yutō sat next to Kitahata Kageya. As he spoke, he patted Kitahata Kageya's shoulder heavily, "You're going to treat everyone to a drink when you get home!"
"Definitely! Definitely!" Kitahata Kageya responded repeatedly, waving his hands in embarrassment and saying: "Everyone is really flattering! If we iron gunners don't perform well, we are also sorry for the so much money His Highness spent on us!"
"No prizes! The iron artillery team was really awesome today!" Nakahide Omaezaki laughed loudly, "With you, I will never panic in shooting again!"
"Well, if I say it, our Highness is far-sighted this time." Maeda Keiji, who was sitting at the far end, saw that everyone was almost finished discussing, so he slowly took a puff of cigarette and said slowly: "Before, if it weren't for
Our Highness, against all opinions, spent a lot of money to buy iron cannons and spared no expense in training. How can we have the effect today? Have you forgotten how fiercely you opposed it? And our foreign brothers, don’t they all quarrel with His Highness?
Woke up?"
"Yes, hahahaha..." Nobuyuki Anesama smiled sheepishly. He looked around and suddenly asked strangely: "By the way, where is our foreign guy?"
·
At this time, Charlie was standing alone in a temporary warehouse in the military camp. He was carrying the long bow and a quiver that had accompanied him through many years of ups and downs on his back, but his eyes were always hazy.
Under the moonlight, he stared at the 20 iron cannons placed on the table in the warehouse.
He saw with his own eyes the role played by these iron cannons on today's battlefield. It can be said that they almost completely surpassed the performance of bows and arrows. He is an extremely self-respecting person and has an almost obsessive love for bows and arrows. When he
When I began to realize that my beloved bow and arrow were being surpassed by the power of this "utilitarian and ingenious" thing, my inner pain was indescribable.
I have worked hard to practice bow and arrow for more than ten years, and I have never missed a day since I can remember. In the end, I can't compete with the musketeer who mastered it in dozens of days on the battlefield.
"Why can't I practice archery even if I practice it so hard?" Charlie muttered to himself subconsciously. As soon as the words came out of his mouth, this familiar sentence suddenly penetrated into his heart, evoking a period of time that he didn't want to think of.
memory.
At that time, he also asked this sentence: "Why can't I practice archery even though I practice so hard?" Although the context and situation are completely irrelevant to the present, that memory still came out disobediently.
·
That was almost 7 years ago, when he was still a teenager. He was born into the Charles family, which belongs to the Royal Longbow Corps of Britain, and has served in the army for generations. And every member of the family
People are also proud to be able to hold a long bow and fight for the king.
Charlie's father, Clay Charlie, is a well-known longbowman in London. Although his archery power is not that strong, he is unusually accurate. He can hit the red heart with an arrow 300 meters away from the target -
—Few people in the whole of Britain can do this. Charlie has been aiming for his father since he was a child, hoping to one day surpass his father and become the number one longbowman in Britain-this is his dream.
He also wanted to hang on his future armor the ribbon given by the king like his father - it was the symbol of the most powerful longbowman.
It is precisely because of this obsession that from the time he can remember, apart from eating, sleeping and studying the art of war, he spends all his time practicing archery. When other children are sleeping in, he is practicing archery;
When the children were chasing and fighting, he was practicing archery; when other children were playing games of pretending to be generals, he was still practicing archery. When other children were accompanying their parents and brothers and sisters were enjoying family happiness, he was still practicing archery.
He practiced until he was sweating, practiced until his hands could no longer pull the bow string, and practiced until he could not see the target clearly. He only practiced archery in his life, and he probably never spoke more than 3,000 words to his family and friends in the past year, so that
His English is a bit rusty.
It is precisely because of this diligence and hard work that Charlie's archery skills far exceed those of all his peers, and even make many of his uncles feel inferior. Everyone lamented that old Charlie was a bastard, and thought that Charlie would definitely be able to do it in the future.
Becoming a great longbowman - but Charlie was not satisfied. He wanted to catch up with his father, but he never could.
When he was 13 years old, the talented Charlie began to challenge the archery target 300 meters away. After practicing for a month, he was soon able to shoot the third or even the second ring outside the red circle.
However, his progress stopped here. In the next four years, no matter how hard he trained, he still never hit the red circle once - but his father could hit the red circle with every arrow.
.
The distance of 300 meters is too far for the naked eye. You can't see the position of the red circle at all. You can only rely on large arrow targets to estimate it. Such a long distance can only be obtained by throwing, so the angle of the parabola
And grasping the wind speed requires 100% accuracy. And even if you can do this, the strength of the bow and arrow is still very difficult to control. Charlie didn't understand why his father could be so accurate. So, on his 17th birthday, he found
He met his father and asked his question:
"Why is it that even though I practice archery so hard, it still doesn't work?"
Old Charlie glanced at his unsociable and taciturn son, but there was a slight smile on his lips.
"Thompson, because there is no emotion in your arrows." Old Charlie said with a smile, "This cannot be achieved by training alone. If you want to become a qualified longbowman, you must pour yourself into every arrow you shoot.
Feelings."
"I don't understand what you said." Charlie shook his head indifferently.
"Okay, but this can't be done in a hurry. The day you understand it, you will hit the red heart." Old Charlie smiled lovingly, "Today is your birthday, and your two brothers have never
Manchester has come back to celebrate you, and your mother has also cooked turkey. Let’s have a meal together tonight?”
"No need, Father." Charlie shook his head decisively. Since he was 10 years old, his dinner has always been a sandwich he brought with him, and he has never had a meal with his family. Because to have a hearty dinner, you need to
Too much time, and he had no chance to practice archery for a while before sunset.
Old Charlie was stunned, and his lips moved slightly.
"Let's have a meal together." He asked in a very soft voice, so soft that Charlie felt a little surprised, "The whole family is waiting for you."
"No, father." Charlie still shook his head, "I didn't practice enough today."
After that, he turned around and walked towards the shooting range. Since his father was unwilling to tell him the secret, he had to practice by himself.
·
To this day, when thinking about that day, Charlie still doesn't know whether he should feel lucky or regretful that he didn't go home for dinner.
That night, the king's guards broke into Charlie's home and executed all of Charlie's relatives on the grounds of being "heretics." Several of old Charlie's men and friends hurried to the shooting range, carrying no clue what they were doing.
Charlie ran away. They took advantage of the dark moonlight and ran all the way to the port, and sent Charlie to a merchant ship about to go to sea, allowing him to escape danger.
"Your father was a great and good man, Thompson." His father's lifelong friend, Uncle Stephen, gave the tearful Charlie the last instruction before leaving: "You must become a longbowman like your father."
·
"Father, he is an idiot." The scene from that year reappeared in front of his eyes, and Charlie still couldn't stop the tears in his eyes. He didn't know how many times he secretly sobbed.
The British ruler at that time was Queen Mary. As a devout Catholic, she rejected the persecution of Puritan people. Old Charles was also a Puritan, and there were many soldiers like him who did not believe in Catholicism. Although Mary was crazy, she was not yet
As for attacking his own soldiers, he turned a blind eye to them. Most of the soldiers also knew in their hearts that they could only watch in silence as the Puritans were tortured in various ways.
But old Charlie couldn't stand it.
He has always been a good man, enthusiastic and helpful. On the battlefield, he will always fight in the most dangerous places and will never abandon the life of any of his companions. In life, he is a gentleman who loves and protects the people in his territory.
Charlie felt that his father's love for his subordinates, companions and people was no less than his love for his family. Therefore, he also had a good reputation among the soldiers and people.
It was this good reputation that hurt him.
A dozen Puritans in his territory were wanted by Mary and rushed to their kindest lord for help. Old Charles had long been extremely dissatisfied with such religious persecution and immediately declared asylum for them. When the Queen's guards arrived
When he took the people, he rebuked them righteously and drove them back, protecting the dozen Puritans - but also risking the lives of his entire family. After learning that her authority had been offended, Queen Mary
He immediately decided to kill the chicken as a warning to the monkeys and sent out his guards to kill this outstanding longbowman and his family on the spot - because he let a dozen innocent people go.
"Why be a good person? Why do you have to meddle in other people's business?" Thinking of this, Charlie's Adam's apple squirmed violently, and hot tears kept sliding down his face, "Grandma, mother, brothers, younger brothers and sisters... no one has
Already."
Since then, Charlie decided not to have any emotions anymore. An indescribable feeling in his heart drove him to practice archery harder and harder. He didn't interact with other people, and only had his archery skills in his heart. He seemed to want to show off his skills to others.
His father proved that even if he is not a good person, even if there is no emotion in the arrows, he can catch up with his father's archery skills by training day after day! In this way, he can pay tribute to the man who gave the whole family because of his kindness.
My father’s protest brought fatal consequences!
Until he met another fool. A young man who was willing to spend all his wealth to buy chickens for the poor slave family he met for the first time; a young man who rushed into the enemy army alone in order to send home letters to these slaves; a young man who was willing to use his own
To be continued...