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The next day, when Fei Qian arrived at the Huang family's Hidden Courtyard, he was surprised to find the middle-aged warrior he had met during his first visit with Pang Tong now testing arrows under the guidance of Huang Chengyan.
Huang Chengyan noticed Fei Qian's arrival and introduced the two men: "This is Huang Zhong, styled Hansheng—a master archer and formidable warrior... And this is my son-in-law, Fei Qian, styled Ziyuan..."
So it really was Huang Zhong! A middle-aged version of the legendary general!
Fei Qian hurried forward to greet him.
Huang Zhong set down his bow and returned the courtesy with a respectful clasped-hand salute.
As it turned out, Huang Zhong had come to the Huang family's Hidden Courtyard to commission a set of custom arrows tailored to his needs. Only the finest craftsmen could produce personalized gear of this caliber.
Standard military arrows were slightly too light for Huang Zhong—usable, but not ideal. As for the crude hunting arrows sold by blacksmiths, their quality was even worse.
Another key reason for approaching Huang Chengyan was cost. The artisans in Xiangyang charged exorbitant prices, far beyond what Huang Zhong could afford. His family wasn't wealthy, and every bit of savings counted.
In ancient times, martial training demanded rigorous physical conditioning—stamina wasn't built on thin air but on ample food. Huang Zhong had devoted himself to martial arts since childhood, and the expenses had drained his family's resources over time. Without a steady income, their finances had grown tight.
Fortunately, Huang Zhong's archery talent allowed him to hunt game in the mountains. Beyond meeting his own meat needs, he could sell the surplus for extra income—though it was barely enough. Significant investments in archery equipment remained a stretch.
Huang Chengyan, aware of Huang Zhong's struggles and admiring his skill, charged him only the bare minimum. He understood that outright charity would insult a proud man like Huang Zhong.
The arrows Huang Zhong had commissioned were three-edged, about a dozen in total. The arrowheads were roughly a finger's length, with three sharpened blades. The shafts, smooth and slender, were coated in black lacquer. At the nocking point, Huang Chengyan had wrapped fish skin for grip and durability, while white goose feathers served as fletching. The craftsmanship was exquisite—clearly no ordinary arrows.
When Fei Qian arrived, Huang Zhong was in the middle of testing them. But after examining the arrows, Fei Qian noticed something odd—there was no target.
No target?
His eyes scanned the area until he spotted the white fletching embedded in a distant tree—the unfortunate "bullseye."
Estimating the distance from the courtyard to the tree, Fei Qian guessed it was around 200 meters. Of course, the Han Dynasty didn't use meters; they measured in "bu" (steps).
An ancient "bu" differed from a modern step. As the saying went, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single half-step (kui)." A "kui" was one foot forward, while a "bu" was a full stride—about 1.1 to 1.6 meters.
By that measure, Huang Zhong was shooting from 150 "bu" away.
Fei Qian walked to the tree and saw that the arrows had pierced clean through the trunk, their tips protruding from the other side. Retrieving them required pushing the arrows further out rather than pulling them back.
Picking up a nearby stone, Fei Qian tapped the shafts until the arrows came loose. Inspecting the three-edged blades, he found them largely undamaged—only the tips slightly blunted. The materials Huang Chengyan had used were clearly top-tier.
If this tree represented an unarmored target, then at this range, Huang Zhong's shots would inflict guaranteed penetrating damage. Against a tightly packed formation, a single arrow might even pierce two men.
But what about armored opponents?
How much protection did typical armor actually offer against arrows?
Curious, Fei Qian ran back and asked Huang Zhong to help test this.
To his surprise, Huang Zhong hesitated, glancing at his precious arrows with reluctance.
Fei Qian guessed he was worried about damaging his newly crafted arrows. Even high-quality ones weren't indestructible, and losing even one would be costly.
So he suggested using standard arrows for the test. Huang Zhong immediately agreed with a smile.
Fortunately, the Huang family had no shortage of equipment. Soon, they had not only strapped lamellar armor to the target tree but also set up two additional wooden posts beside it—one draped in leather armor and the other in scale armor.
Huang Zhong nocked an arrow, drew his bow, and—without even aiming carefully—loosed five arrows at each target in turn.
When he shot at the scale armor, one arrow ricocheted off.
He calmly fired a second shot.
Fei Qian glanced at Huang Zhong and Huang Chengyan. Neither seemed the least bit embarrassed by the deflection—suggesting that high-quality armor did have a chance to repel arrows, making the reaction perfectly normal.
Standard arrows had flat, triangular heads, about two-thirds the length of a finger.
Inspecting the results:
- Leather armor was nearly useless. Every arrow penetrated fully, lethal to an unarmored foe.
- Lamellar armor fared slightly better. Arrows hitting the gaps between plates pierced as deeply as with leather, but those striking the metal plates lodged only shallowly—non-fatal wounds on a human.
- Scale armor performed best. The flat arrowheads could indeed glance off if the angle was unfavorable.
Of course, these were standard arrows. Huang Zhong's custom three-edged arrows, with their superior penetration, would likely punch through even scale armor at the same range.
The conclusion?
In the Eastern Han era, only high-end scale armor provided reliable protection. Lamellar and leather armors were mediocre at best. Even excluding Huang Zhong's exceptional skill, arrows remained deadly within 100 meters.
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A/N: At close range (under 50 meters), arrows in the hands of a master are as lethal as bullets. So, don't provoke skilled archers!
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