Chapter 10 Archery Range Training

In less than fifteen minutes, Yongqi and Xiaoyanzi had arrived at the archery range.

Qing'er knew they also had activities in the afternoon, so she naturally followed along out of curiosity to see what was going on.

The Empress Dowager was worried, so she came along too.

Yongzhang, Yongcheng, Yongqi, Yongrong, Xiaoyanzi and Qing'er, along with Fuerkang and Fuertai, and other family members, waited together at the archery range for their archery instructor to appear!

"Your subject Yunxi pays respects to Your Majesty the Empress Dowager! Long live Your Majesty!"

The Empress Dowager glanced down at Yunxi and sighed, "Rise, no need for formalities!"

Yunxi asked with some curiosity, "Your Majesty, what wind blew you here today?"

The old lady sighed helplessly, "Qing'er has to attend classes and train with Yongqi and the others. I was worried about her, so I came to check on her!"

Yunxi then turned his gaze to the princes and the only two women in the family. He had met Qing'er before, so he naturally recognized her.

But he had never seen the little girl standing between Qing'er and Yongqi before. Only when he remembered the news that everyone was talking about yesterday did he realize, "This must be Xiao Yanzi, right?"

Yongqi nodded and introduced Xiaoyanzi, "Xiaoyanzi, this is Prince Shen, Father Emperor's uncle..."

"Little Swallow greets Prince Shen. May Prince Shen be blessed!"

The other princes followed suit and bowed to Yunxi, saying, "Greetings, Prince Shen!"

"Alright, no need for formalities. Now that two young ladies have joined us, the plans we made before will probably need to be revised. We need to take into account the health of the two young ladies and see how things go!"

Yongzhang frowned and looked at Qing'er and Xiao Yanzi, saying, "In my opinion, it's most important to improve their physical strength first. Without enough strength, they won't be able to draw their bows and arrows!"

"My lords, please review what I covered last time. I'll check your work later!"

Yunxi called Xiaoyanzi and Qing'er aside, "Xiaoyanzi, Qing'er, come with me!"

The Empress Dowager found a place to sit down and quietly watched their training, as well as Yunxi talking to Xiaoyanzi and Qing'er.

"I have a question for you two: why did you come to learn horseback riding and archery?"

Xiao Yanzi glanced at Yongqi subconsciously before turning to Yunxi. "Yongqi said, 'It's always good to have more skills. The more I know, the more choices I'll have in the future, and the more say I'll have!'"

"Besides, I also like horseback riding and archery, as well as other weapons. I think if I knew martial arts, I could not only protect myself in the future, but I might even be able to protect Yongqi and Qing'er!"

Seeing that Xiao Yanzi could call Yongqi by his name without any fear, Yunxi became more and more interested in her.

He smiled and nodded, "Good ambition! If you stick to this idea, I believe that when you grow up, your martial arts skills might even catch up with the Fifth Prince!"

Yunxi then looked at Qing'er, "And what about you, Qing'er?"

Qing'er glanced worriedly at the Empress Dowager in the distance, then looked at Xiao Yanzi beside her, and slowly said, "I'm thinking that I never want to see the people I care about leave again, so I want to learn. Once I learn, I can protect them!"

"It seems you all want to learn horseback riding and archery because of love!"

"Good, very good. Today, you can observe how the princes train. After I go back and make the necessary arrangements, I will tell you what your training will be like. If you have any questions, I will make the necessary adjustments. How does that sound?"

"In that case, Qing'er thanks Prince Shen in advance!"

"Little Swallow also thanks Prince Shen!"

"Alright, you two stay over there and watch how they train!" After saying that, Yunxi walked towards Yongqi and the others.

Qing'er and Xiao Yanzi sat to one side, watching them train attentively.

"I taught you how to shoot three arrows at once before. Today I want to see how it works. Third Prince, you're the eldest, you go first..."

"Huh?" Yongzhang indicated that he didn't really want to be number one!

However, he couldn't disobey Yunxi's orders, so he could only sigh and grit his teeth to go shoot arrows.

Unfortunately, one arrow hit the bullseye, one was just on the side, and one missed the target!

"Next, Fourth Prince." Yunxi didn't say much, but simply wrote something in the booklet.

Little Swallow guessed that perhaps it was to record their archery scores.

After taking a deep breath, Yongcheng also picked up his bow and arrow to shoot. He was in a better position than Yongzhang. All three arrows hit the target, two of them hitting the bullseye and one hitting the side!

"Fifth Prince, it's your turn."

Yongqi picked up his bow and arrow, aimed at the bullseye, and before shooting, he glanced at Xiaoyanzi. Suddenly, Xiaoyanzi stood up and shouted at him, "Go Yongqi! You're the best!"

Encouraged by Xiao Yanzi, Yongqi became even more energetic, and all three arrows hit the bullseye!

Little Swallow exclaimed, "Wow, Yongqi is amazing!"

Qing'er quickly added, "Yes, all three arrows hit the target! That's incredible!"

First the princes shot arrows, then the other young men shot arrows. After they finished shooting, Yunxi expressed his views.

Afterwards, Yunxi had them shoot at moving targets while riding horses.

Xiao Yanzi and Qing'er both frowned. "Qing'er, they're riding horses and shooting at moving targets. How can they possibly hit them?"

"I think it's possible, but the chances are too low."

"These moving targets have slowed down, but the real enemy on the battlefield is faster than these targets. If they can't even hit these targets, what will happen if they encounter a real enemy..."

Both of them were a little worried, but Yongqi was full of confidence. He seized the opportunity and hit several moving targets in a row. "You guys better keep it up, don't let those two girls look down on us!"

Most of them are people who care a lot about their image. They were already frustrated enough by missing the target before, and if they fail to hit it again, they will really lose face!

Their training session ended after an hour at the archery range!

Yunxi stood at the front, looking at the two or three rows of young heroes in front of her, and said, "Alright, that's all for today's training."

"As for which of your actions were not done properly today, which led to the mistakes, go back and think about them carefully. I hope you can improve in the future, so that I can report back to your Emperor. Now you may all leave."

After Yunxi finished speaking, she looked at Yongqi and said, "Fifth Prince, you must remember to send Qing'er back to Cining Palace!"

Yongqi replied, "Yes, I understand!"

Afterwards, he watched Yunxi leave, then ran over to where Xiaoyanzi and Qing'er were, asking, "How was it? Were you scared watching our training today?"

Both of them shook their heads. Qing'er slowly said, "If we're afraid of this, what if we encounter something really serious? Wouldn't it be even worse? My father is a hero, and as his daughter, I naturally have to learn from him!"

"Well said! No wonder you're a princess of our Great Qing Dynasty!" Yongqi agreed with Qing'er's words, then looked at Xiao Yanzi and asked, "Xiao Yanzi, what about you?"

Little Swallow seemed to snap out of her daze and said happily, "Yongqi, I think you're really amazing! You've done things that they couldn't!"