Great Tang Idyll

Book 2: Chapter 32

Volume 02

Wang Juan was also happy. Things were great now that her father was also granted a title. A martial rider officer was a sub seventh rank title, which meant the ranking was just a bit below Zhang Xiao'bao's father, who had a proper seventh rank. That's not bad, after all, most of the things were provided by the Zhang family, and it was not easy for the Wang family to get some benefits.

After Wang Juan heard Zhang Xiao'bao calling for her, she immediately ran towards Zhang Xiao'bao. When she was one step away from Zhang Xiao'bao, she jumped up towards him.

The children around them thought that the two children were going to fight---why else would one of them jump up and try to land on the other person?

As all kinds of thoughts ran through the other children's minds, Zhang Xiao'bao squatted slightly, interlocked his fingers together, and slid his hands under Wang Juan's feet while she was midair.

The people around them couldn't help but to exclaim aloud. Wang Juan's feet were placed on Zhang Xiao'bao's hands, and she moved her body upwards. Zhang Xiao'bao cooperated with her by learning backwards and raising his arms upward. Wang Juan used this boost to help herself mount the horse. Before she even stabilized herself on the saddle, Wang Juan grabbed the reins with one hand and offered her other hand to Zhang Xiao'bao.

Wang Juan adjusted her posture, and then squeezed the horse with her calves while yelling out "hyah" and holding the reins in her hands. The horse ran in the direction of Wang Juan's command.

"Shi'liu, don't worry about us, take your time going back. We're going to go home first." Zhang Xiao'bao's crisp childish voice was heard from the horse, which had run almost twenty zhang1 away already.

Those children, who left their tents earlier, foolishly stood there. Each of them couldn't believe that what they saw just now was true. The two children looked like they flew up onto the horse.

These children were not the only ones that were dumbfounded. The guards, the bailiffs and Li Cheng were also there, and even until now they were still trying to comprehend what just happened. It happened too fast and they didn't even have time to react before the two children rode away.

How did they move? It seemed that one person stepped on the other to jump up, and turned around to pull the other person upwards. And just like that, both of them mounted the horse.

Even a person with superb riding skills could mount a horse only a little bit faster than those two children. The person would have to hold the horse's neck, jump up and land on the saddle. This was not too different from what the two children did. When one of them was seated, the other also jumped upwards. The horse began running after they both stabilized themselves on the saddle.

After a while, a child yelled out and everyone snapped back to their senses. Song Yang hurriedly pulled another horse and jumped up onto it. He spoke to the other bailiff that came with him, "You go back first. I'm going to follow behind and protect them."

"The Young Master and Young Miss have left. Hurry, let's follow after them. Where's the carriage?" Shi'liu might have seen too many amazing things, and was the quickest to react. She went back into the tent and grabbed Zhang Xiao'bao's and Wang Juan's backpack. She signalled to the other three people, and ran towards the place where the carriages were parked at.

The three of them did not dare to stall, and ran after her. They didn't care if their two little masters would be disqualified from the training. Just based on the way they mounted the horse, who would dare disagree that their two little masters were the best? The other children were lucky that no one will compete with them to secure first place anymore.

After these people left, Li Cheng looked at the direction the horse disappeared in. He sighed, and hurried off to find the Young Prince and report to him. As he ran, he was thinking in his mind that this was too scary and that probably only children who grew up in the prairies would be able to do the same as those two.

Although, this was not necessarily true. Others didn't know how old the two children were, but he knew very well that they were under three-years-old. Could a three year old child that grew up in the prairies be able to mount a horse like that? He wondered who taught them. The person was probably the same person who taught them how to find food in the wild. Was this person hiding in the Wang family or the Zhang family? He had to figure out how to find this person.

After the bailiffs and the guards left, the children standing at the opening of the tent began to tell other people what they had just seen. Last night and last last night, they had already seen the greatness of the children from the Zhang and Wang families, however, what happened this morning heightened their evaluation of Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan.

They had to learn how to do this and then show other people that a horse can be mounted like that. They can also show off to the other kids who didn't participate in this survival training and scare them to death.

*

"What? My Imperial uncle gave the two families two official titles, 500 households fiefdom and 4,000 mu of land? Why?"

When Li Cheng told the Young Prince Li Xun about this matter, Li Xun lost his calm, and asked in surprise.

"Young Prince, didn't you say last time that the Zhang and Wang manors sent a lot of grain to the other place? In addition to the grain, there were also chickens, ducks and geese, which helped Prime Minister Yao a lot. The imperial court had no choice but to reward them. Originally, the Zhang family had a fiefdom with one hundred households, so this time the number of households was increased."

Li Cheng had a lot of things memorized in his mind, and he quickly connected these two events together and explained them to Li Xun.

Li Xun thought for a while, then nodded, "That's fine too. Now they won't run off to anywhere else. Do you know where their newly granted land is?"

"I know, it should be next to their manors. We bought a part of the villagers, but there are a lot of other uncultivated land. There are forests over there, so it should be that area. There is about a total of 5,000 mu of land there. Their two families will probably take all five thousand mu directly. Should we use this to threaten them?"

Li Cheng had already obtained information from the bailiffs. If there was no Li Manor, the Emperor would have given that land to them. Right now, the only land that could be given was on the other side. There were some hills that weren't too high, but it was not suitable for farming. Even if the land was given to them, they wouldn't be able to use it to grow grains.

With those hills added in, there was exactly five thousand mu of land. Regardless of who it was, they would take that extra land too. The people who will be sent to survey the land will be from the administrative office. Given their relationship with the two manors, there would be no issues if they took an additional 1000 mu of land.

Li Cheng planned to wait for the Zhang and Wang's family to occupy the extra land, and use this to threaten them and make them pay a greater price.

When Li Xun heard this idea, he thought it was feasible, but frowned, and said, "If we really do this, what if we offend the person behind the two children? You have also seen it. Yesterday, the two of them were the first to arrive. The other children were tired to death, but those two were still so relaxed. Now that's real survival skills."

"Huh? That's right, what the Young Prince has said is correct. It is indeed like this. Not just yesterday, but just earlier when they were leaving, the way they mounted their horse frightened a lot of people. Young Prince, you cannot guess how they mounted onto their horse. Without the help of any adults, they worked together and got onto the horse in the blink of an eye."

"How can a person mount a horse like that? Such talent. If they can mount a horse like that, then they must be able to climb walls. If a child this young can jump onto a horse, then wouldn't an adult be able to jump up even higher? No, you should immediately follow after them and while their families are celebrating, find an opportunity to locate that expert."

Li Xun was also stirred up when he heard what happened earlier. He thought about the scene in his mind: one child jumped up first, and as soon as the child landed on the horse's back, the child stretched out a hand to pull the other child, and the other child jumped up onto the horse too. While still in the air, the child changed his posture, and two children sat steadily on the horse. With the horse reins in their hands, the horse kicked up its front legs and ran off into the distance.

Beautiful, it was so beautiful. Thinking of this, Li Xun wished that he was one of them. If he did such an action in the palace, he would definitely be liked by his father and his Imperial uncle.

"Li Cheng, since you have seen their actions, immediately find someone like this for me. Then I will step on the person to jump onto my horse. If they can do it, why wouldn't I be able to?"

"Yes, yes, Young Prince, I'll certainly find a person like that for you. I'll go after them right now, and when I arrive there, I'll ask around to find out where that expert is located."

Li Cheng regretted saying those words just now. What if the person who cooperated with the Young Prince wasn't that good and caused the Young Prince to fall?

He heard that those two children have been together since they opened their eyes for the first time. They usually ate together, slept together, and played together. They knew what each other were thinking just by making eye contact. From where can Li Cheng find a ten year old that could cooperate with the Young Prince to the same extent as those two?

Li Xun didn't know what Li Cheng was thinking about. When he heard that he could find someone for him, he smiled with satisfaction. "Go on then. Remember to be careful. If things don't work out, then give a gift and don't provoke them. As for the matter of occupying the land, let's discuss that later."

Li Cheng assented and left. When he came outside, he quickly found two people to follow him to a carriage. He did not know how to ride a horse, so he could only chase after them on a carriage. He thought that this task was simple. The two children might be able to jump high, but that didn't mean that they were good at horse riding. They'll get tired after riding for a bit, so it shouldn't be hard for him to catch up. From here to there would usually take a day.

A carriage with four horses headed towards the Tu'qiao Village, and the remaining children had to continue to participate in the survival training.

Each of the children had already lost the enthusiasm that they had at the beginning. In particular, the children who saw Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan jump onto the horse had their level of confidence completely destroyed.

Translator's Notes

1. Twenty zhang

This is about 66 meters.