Strong and Healthy

In the blink of an eye, another six years passed.

By this time, Zhou Ming was already 12 years old, but his intentionally trained physique and rapidly increasing height made him look even stronger than an 18-year-old adult.

The land he rented from Baron Connor had increased from 10 acres six years ago to 20 acres.

Six acres were still used for growing barley, while the other 14 acres were used for growing peas and pasture grass.

As his farming techniques became more proficient and the effects of the Strongest Manure continued to show, the average total yield of the 6 acres of barley Zhou Ming planted increased from 70 Taren six years ago to 100 Taren.

Although other farmers' barley fields also learned to apply manure and saw some increase in production, the yield only increased slightly, far from the exaggerated yield of Zhou Ming's barley field.

The farmers in the town discussed it amongst themselves and asked him for his secret, but after observing, they still felt that Zhou Ming's farming method was too complicated and impractical to apply to hundreds of acres. Thus, they gave him another nickname – "Lucky Little Ryan."

As for the other 14 acres of pasture, Zhou Ming exchanged 20 Taren of grain for four lambs from the ranch steward Leodo and adopted a heifer for an annual rent of 2 Taren of grain.

With this one cow and four sheep, Zhou Ming had his sister Alice learn how to free-range them. In less than three years, these cattle and sheep grew remarkably well, giving birth and producing milk. In less than four years, their numbers doubled, bringing a large amount of meat and dairy products to the young siblings.

Furthermore, the hundreds of chicks Zhou Ming raised to prevent pests and diseases in the barley fields and pastures laid dozens of eggs every day, which not only improved the living conditions of the young siblings but also made their development much faster than their peers.

In addition, Zhou Ming was still young, not yet 16 years old, and had not reached the age of mandatory labor for the lord. The work in the barley field was not heavy, and his sister Alice could also help with herding the chicks, cattle, and sheep. Zhou Ming had a lot of time every day to train his body.

And during his training, he was learning from his subject – the Knight.

Knights were the ultimate representation of military power in this era, the solid foundation upon which the ruling class maintained its rule. Becoming a noble and powerful Knight was the dream of almost all commoners in this era.

Zhou Ming naturally also looked into how these human tanks, the Knights, were trained.

Taking advantage of a few opportunities to deliver gifts to Madam Madeline, Zhou Ming entered the castle and secretly observed the Knights training in the training ground, seeing what was different about them.

Horizontal slash, vertical chop, straight thrust, shield bash, mounted charge, archery, axe throwing, javelin throwing... just these moves.

Zhou Ming felt that the combat skills of these Knights were basically not much different from the fighting style in a game he used to play called Mount & Blade.

It was nothing more than faster attack speed, more accurate archery, greater impact force... just practice makes perfect.

However, watching those Knights cleave a log as thick as a bowl with a single sword, shatter a thick wooden board the size of a door with a shield bash, and wearing a heavy suit of armor, riding on horseback at high speed, slicing off the heads of scarecrows by the roadside like cutting melons and vegetables, he secretly gasped. With such terrifying military power, in a battlefield in the wilderness, killing a hundred farmers armed with wooden sticks would probably take less than an hour, right?

"I absolutely cannot confront these Knights with invincible defense and strong attack head-on, unless I use bows and crossbows or longbows with strong armor-piercing capabilities, and have a hundred people focus fire to defeat such a Knight, or, enter the era of firearms and blast them to death with matchlock guns and cannons..."

Many plans flashed through Zhou Ming's mind in an instant.

But... for him, these plans were currently not very realistic. Black powder goes without saying; saltpeter and sulfur, these two raw materials, are resources that are very difficult to collect in large quantities. The complex spring mechanisms inside crossbows also require highly skilled craftsmen to make.

As for longbows, they require a height of over 1.8 meters, a bowstring with a pull of nearly forty kilograms to draw, and accuracy at 100-200 meters...

"I should start with the most basic training. With a strong body, even if I can't defeat these Knights, self-preservation should be more than enough."

So, starting from the age of eight, every morning after drinking a cup of cow and sheep milk, finishing a few eggs, and gnawing on a large piece of barley bread smeared with butter, Zhou Ming would start doing 500 push-ups, 100 frog jumps, and a 2000-meter long run. In the evening, he would tie a few sandbags to his body and in the backyard, holding a sharpened birch pole, he would aim at the mouth, eyes, neck, chest, and heart of a humanoid wooden target, charge forward three steps, and then thrust down fiercely, repeating this cycle 1500 times.

"Brother, why are you doing these things? Can't you come and play with me for a while?" On this day, his sister Alice, who was bored sitting at the courtyard entrance, pouted and said to Zhou Ming, who was training.

Brother just knows how to do these boring things all day, and doesn't even play with me for a while.

Hearing the sound, Zhou Ming finished his last set of spear thrust training, put the birch pole aside, wiped his face with a linen cloth, and then sat down next to Alice, looking at her gently for a while.

His only sister, although only 10 years old, had already grown into a beautiful young girl. Perhaps it was good genes inherited from their parents, or perhaps it was the improved nutrition over the past few years. Her crystal-clear milky white skin, long golden wavy hair, and delicate little nose like a jade shoot, with a slightly naive cherry mouth and a pair of charming big eyes, as well as the beginnings of a figure on her chest... Zhou Ming admitted that his sister would definitely grow up to be a graceful and beautiful woman, famous far and wide.

Even now, when she walked on the road, she could already attract the attention of some farmers and Knights.

"Ryan, I heard your sister Alice is very beautiful. Bring Alice to the castle tomorrow, I want her to be my little lover." One day, when Zhou Ming went to the castle to greet Madam Madeline, the lord's youngest son, Donny, said this to him.

Since ancient times, beautiful women have caused trouble. His sister is so beautiful, and she's already being targeted at the age of ten. He doesn't know what to do when she grows up.

"Alice, it's not that big brother doesn't want to play with you, it's that big brother must become strong quickly and develop skills! Only then can big brother protect you well, protect you from being harmed by those bad people." Kissing Alice on the forehead, Zhou Ming hugged her and said.

"Okay, I understand, big brother, you are so good to me." Alice nodded sensibly. She was raised by her big brother, and in this world, no one is better to her than her big brother.

"Alice is so good. How about this, big brother will tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a farmer's daughter, her name was Cinderella..."

He told seven or eight stories in a row until Alice rested her head on his arm, a smile on her lips, and fell into a sweet sleep. Only then did Zhou Ming carry her to the bed and gently cover her with a blanket.

"Alice, even if big brother has nothing in the future, I will not let you suffer the slightest harm!"

Looking at his sleeping sister, Zhou Ming secretly vowed.

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