Facing Edward Carter's questioning, William Carter couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. As expected, this Edward Carter was truly a formidable figure—when he was angry, even the feudal lords trembled, let alone his own household officials and subordinates. Only the two old ministers, Andrew Grant and Samuel Parker, dared to risk provoking him.

William's reaction was already considered decent; his deputies, Stephen Ford and Matthew Hill, had long since dismounted and were kowtowing on the ground.

William Carter, carefully choosing his words, said, "Father, William did not have the proper orders and was unable to requisition a chariot, so I took it upon myself to come alone on horseback..."

In the face of the forceful Edward Carter, direct confrontation was not an option—lowering his stance was definitely the right move.

Seeing William Carter bow his head and admit fault, the eldest legitimate son, John Reed, seized the opportunity to interject, "Father, William is still young and inexperienced. Please do not punish him..."

Compared to David Clark and George Lane, he was indeed a gentle and kind elder brother. William Carter could only remember this in his heart, feeling secretly grateful.

But as for the position of heir that originally belonged to John Reed, he would not hesitate to seize it for himself, without yielding an inch!

Edward Carter, however, was not willing to let the matter rest. "Silence, all of you. Let him continue speaking for himself."

At this moment, William Carter was rapidly thinking of a countermeasure. Stories about Edward Carter from his previous life flashed through his mind one by one, and he felt as if he had grasped a crucial point.

This head of the Zhao clan, later honored as "Zhao Jianzi," was not a conservative old aristocrat.

On the contrary, Edward Carter was very eager to learn and truly unashamed to ask questions of those below him. He was the first high minister in Jin to promulgate written laws within his domain; he was also a reformer in China who declared that even slaves could be rewarded and granted land if they achieved military merit.

Alas, at this point, he could only take a gamble.

He organized his thoughts and explained, "Father, I acted out of order and am guilty, but William does not believe that riding alone on horseback is lowly or useless. On the contrary, I think it is more suitable for hunting and combat than chariots."

This statement caused a great stir. The nobles looked at their own magnificent and imposing war chariots, then at the three seemingly frail single horses, finding it almost unbelievable.

Edward Carter was also somewhat skeptical—not because his thinking was old-fashioned, but because it would take another three hundred years for cavalry to replace chariots.

William Carter pointed to the saddle on the horse's back and said, "Father, please look. While in the stables, William had a sudden inspiration and created this item, called a saddle. From now on, a rider can be as steady as a rock on horseback and won't easily fall off even with both hands free."

The little schemer George Lane felt more and more uneasy as he listened. With that whip from William Carter, things were starting to go beyond his expectations. He was calculating whether he should say something, but the second Zhao son, David Clark, who had been indoctrinated since childhood by his tutors with the superiority of chariots, was the first to lose patience.

David Clark, indignant, pointed at William and rebuked, "Absurd! In hunting and warfare, the proper way is to array the troops in formal formation, with the charioteer, the archer, and the right-hand man each performing their duties. This has been the tradition since ancient times. As a nobleman of the Zhao clan, you neglect your proper duties and instead study single-horse equipment—what kind of conduct is that?"

William Carter replied calmly and confidently, "You are mistaken, David. If William truly paid no attention to horses and their equipment, that would be forgetting our ancestors' roots."

"What kind of twisted logic is that?"

"David, don't forget! What did our Zhao ancestors—Bo Yi, Fei Chang, and Zao Fu—do for a living?"

David Carter was instantly silenced.

Bo Yi was an ancient ancestor of the Ying clan, promoted by Emperor Shun for his skill in raising horses and livestock, granted the surname Ying, and given land. Fei Chang was a warrior of the Shang dynasty, skilled at driving chariots, who once carried Tang and Wu to the Battle of Mingtiao that overthrew Xia Jie. Zhao Zao Fu was a high official in the Western Zhou; when King Mu journeyed west to Kunlun Mountain to meet the Queen Mother of the West, he used Zao Fu as his charioteer, and it was said they could travel twenty thousand li in three days and nights.

Clearly, the history of the Zhao clan was inseparable from horses, and even their old relatives, the people of Qin, rose to power because their ancestor Qin Feizi raised horses for King Xiao of Zhou.

For a Zhao descendant to look down on the ancestral skills was truly "forgetting one's roots."

Once again, David Carter was left speechless by William, whom he had always looked down upon, especially on the Zhao clan's own history, his supposed area of expertise.

William, however, was well aware that compared to David Clark, the real challenge today was passing Edward Carter's test. He simply mounted his horse again, took up his bow, and demonstrated several difficult maneuvers.

"Father, please look. If we could have a cavalry unit during a hunt, they could gallop over ditches, climb hills, charge through obstacles, ford rivers, and pursue prey—why not take advantage of that?"

As he spoke, William stole a glance at Edward Carter's expression and found that his fine beard was no longer trembling—his anger had dissipated, and he was now watching the saddle and William on horseback with keen interest.

In fact, at first, Edward Carter had come intending to give this disorderly illegitimate son a good lesson, even considering dragging him off his horse and tying him behind a chariot for a while.

But then, the young William spoke out with bold and resounding words. People of the Spring and Autumn period valued declarations of ambition, and when William Carter compared himself to Duke Wen of Jin and Zhao Xuanzi, Edward Carter began to see this "illegitimate son" in a new light.