"Hibiscus Tent" 90

After walking and walking, we arrived at the hunting ground of Tianlan Mountain at midnight on the sixth day.

Tianlan Mountain has always been the mountain with the richest prey in the Li Kingdom, and when it comes to Mengdong, the mountains are full of rhododendrons, as bright as the morning glow, making it a scenic spot for viewing.

There was a palace built on Tianlan Mountain. For the emperor to travel, the security inside and outside the palace was more than doubled. Emperor Xuanwu dismissed everyone and took the queen to the main hall to rest. After five days of hard work, the accompanying ministers and family members also

Returned to the house where I was temporarily staying.

The female relatives live in the Sijin Garden in the West Hall.

Although the Li Kingdom's control over women is not as strict as that of the previous dynasty, no matter how hard the ladies of Kyoto go, they can only hold a few Cuju banquets in the square yard to see the heroic appearance of the Li Kingdom's men.

, this once-a-year winter hunt is a good opportunity to feast their eyes on it, and they will not miss it, so every autumn and winter hunt, there are only a lot more female relatives accompanying them.

At noon, the queen entertained the female family members and enjoyed the flowers and gardens; Emperor Xuanwu and the courtiers ate together in Renhe Hall to boost morale. After all this process, at the last moment, Emperor Xuanwu mounted his horse in military uniform, holding the reins tightly with his right hand and holding the horse with his left hand.

With the bow and crossbow in hand, there was a sound of "drive", the sound of horse hooves sounded, and the horses behind them galloped out——

Listening to the noise outside the garden, the girls all poked their heads out to look out. The hunt had begun. How could their minds be on the flowers and plants?

Empress Li was heartbroken and waved her hand: "You guys can go too."

After the cluster of delicate flowers dispersed, the gentleness on the queen's face disappeared.

As soon as she raised her hand, Xiangyue spontaneously handed it over to the back of her hand.

"Is the prey ready?"

Xiangyue nodded, "Don't worry, Madam, the Duke's side has been prepared for His Highness the Fourth Highness."

Speaking of this, Empress Li sighed heavily. This fourth child just lacked some skills, otherwise he wouldn't be able to overpower Lu Jiuxiao everywhere...

"It's so easy for the Holy One to become alienated from Lu Jiuxiao. Now is his chance to perform well in front of the Holy One."

"Mother, please be at ease, the Duke of the country is here to help you."

Outside the palace, the girls went into the woods in twos and threes, and each boy was holding a quiver. But in fact, most of the girls in their sixteenth or seventeenth year of age were unable to draw their bows.

On the other hand, those women in their thirties and forties can not only ride horses, but also hunt.

Speaking of this current situation, it is inseparable from Emperor Xuanwu. During the late emperor's time, the Li Kingdom emphasized martial arts, and even women enjoyed riding horses and dancing swords. However, sixteen years after Emperor Xuanwu ascended the throne, the number of wars in the Li Kingdom decreased, and the borders

There was relative peace and less troops were recruited, so the culture of advocating martial arts in the Li Kingdom also weakened day by day. Until now, most girls are not good at swordsmanship.

Just listen to the girls around you whispering:

"Is that the captain of the Fourth Guard Camp? I remember the sword that he never leaves his hand. It is said that it was a gift from the late emperor."

"The one riding the white horse in front is probably the fifth prince. The fifth prince is good at Cuju and his riding skills are also superb."

"Whose master is that? Alas, I haven't been to the banquet for a long time, so I can't even recognize him clearly."

"Well, General Xu has returned to Beijing. He has made great achievements this time."

"Hey, isn't that the Governor He that you miss so much?"

"What nonsense are you talking about! Besides, I, I..."

Shen Shitiao pricked up his ears to listen to the chatter of the young girls, and followed their words to look at He Lin, who was wearing black clothes and a black horse, and he was riding past.

Such a cold posture seems to be integrated with Mengdong's Tianlan Mountain, which is really heartwarming.

But Lu Jiuxiao behind him was just the opposite. He was dressed in crimson and couldn't hide his arrogance. He twisted an arrow with his back hand, pulled the bow and crossbow, and with a "shoo" sound, he shot the fourth prince's arrow. Biased prey.

Zhao Huaimin turned back with a blue face, "Lu Jiuxiao!"

Lu Jiuxiao raised her eyebrows at him.

Zhao Huaimin glanced around and saw so many noble ladies looking at him, so he had to swallow his breath.

Everyone was whispering about Lu Shizi's superb riding and shooting skills. At this moment, the person being discussed glanced sideways and met the little girl's unprepared eyes. He suddenly raised the corners of his lips and went deep into the jungle. go.

Shen Shitiao's heartbeat stopped and she quickly turned her eyes away.

She then moved forward and heard the girl behind her ask: "Hey, who was Prince Lu looking at just now?"

Someone else replied: "Hmm? Is there any?"

----------

Half an hour later, the sun was getting brighter and the prey began to move around one after another.

Lu Jiuxiao and Zhao Huaimin met at a fork in the forest. They saw Zhao Huaimin's horse dragging an elk, two wild geese, and three wild hogs behind him. Looking at Lu Jiuxiao, there were only two goats behind him. There were not many prey, but there was one. A basket of fruits, Zhao Huaimin sneered inwardly, and couldn't help but raise his chin with pride.

The corner of Lu Jiuxiao's mouth twitched slightly. Sometimes when he thought about it carefully, there were still people in the world who were more shameless and shameless than him...

At this time, Emperor Xuanwu's procession came from the opposite path. They both dismounted their horses and saluted.

Zhao Huaimin has been very attentive to government affairs recently, and he is also very smart. Xuanwu is indeed the closest to his son recently. When he saw the prey he had captured, he praised him again, which made Zhao Huaimin keep glancing at him from the corner of his eye. Lu Jiuxiao.

After praising Zhao Huaimin, Emperor Xuanwu looked at Lu Jiuxiao.

"Jiuxiao, please accompany me to the forest to the east."

Lu Jiuxiao raised his eyes half way and nodded in response.

The uniformed escort maintained the most appropriate distance from the emperor, with Gonggong neatly following behind him, and Lu Jiuxiao, half a step behind Emperor Xuanwu, accompanying him.

He saw the arrow in Emperor Xuanwu's hand pointed at a lush tree. As soon as he loosened his finger, almost at the same time, the wild goose hidden in the leaves fell down with a "whoosh". Emperor Xuanwu continued to get the second arrow. .

While he was shooting, he said: "There is a great victory in northern Hebei. Your father will return to Beijing soon to report on military affairs. By then he will know that I have kidnapped you into the court. I don't know what will happen."

Lu Jiuxiao curled his lips coldly and said: "What else can he do? He has never been interested in me, and he is probably afraid that I will cause trouble for the Holy Emperor."

Emperor Xuanwu deliberately kept a straight face and said, "What do you think about it? He is your father. In the future, the whole of Northern Hebei will have to be handed over to you, right?"

Speaking of this, the emperor seemed to be joking and said: "I wonder if you, a wolf cub, are used to living in Kyoto and can't go back to a place full of flying sand."

Hearing this, Lu Jiuxiao had an unknown smile in his eyes and said, "Of course I can't go back. Northern Hebei is not as good as Kyoto. If your Majesty wants to reward me, I will have to go back and forth for more than half a month."

"You kid," Emperor Xuanwu laughed, "you only care about my little private treasury."

As soon as he finished speaking, the conversation seemed to have been opened. This man liked to reminisce about the past when he was older. Lu Jiuxiao picked up some stories about being close to Emperor Xuanwu when he was a child, which made Emperor Xuanwu feel very good. The idea of ​​testing him soon disappeared. Being left behind.

He smiled heartily and said: "I still remember that when others first saw me, they were all trembling with fear. Only you dared to look directly into my eyes with such a little shit, and dared to use my hundred-mile bow."

Lu Jiuxiao smiled.

"You, I just like your energy, it's just like when I was young -"

"Ahem -" Eunuch Peng held the horse, covered his lips and coughed: "Look at the wind in Meng Dong, Your Majesty should return to the palace as soon as possible."

Emperor Xuanwu came to his senses and nodded.

Watching Emperor Xuanwu leave, Yin Zhong looked at his master's solemn expression and said cautiously: "Master, I see that His Majesty's attitude has changed. Do you want to do it again tomorrow?"

"Follow the plan."

"But if the Holy One's heart is already biased towards the Master, why should he still suffer that sin?"

Lu Jiuxiao sneered, "As for the Holy Spirit, believe it or not, if someone whispers a few words in his ear, he will make a lot of fuss when he sees me tomorrow."

The former emperor was a military general, and he usurped the throne to seize power before establishing the Li Kingdom. And Emperor Xuanwu used his military power to overthrow a number of princes and secure the throne. The more he relied on military power, the more he feared it.

As long as he has more thoughts, he may not be able to face the same situation as Qiannan or even Ydu one day.

He didn't want to travel thousands of miles to collect someone's corpse. Lu Jiuxiao pursed her lips and thought.

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In the evening, the temperature drops sharply, and the sky is filled with red clouds, which are printed with azaleas all over the mountain, creating a unique artistic conception.

Lu Jiuxiao went to Sijin Garden carrying a basket of fragrant pears.

Passing by a row of pine trees, I heard a familiar voice coming from behind the tree. The man hesitated and frowned.

It's Chu Jiuan and Shen Shiting.

As for why the two of them were here, it was actually Chu Jiu'an who stopped Shen Shiting halfway. After sending the letter back to him to no avail, the third son of Chu waited under the pavilion for half a day without waiting for the girl he admired, so he

Devastated, he spent several days in grief in his house, and finally regained his strength.

In fact, if you count carefully, he has been rejected by Shen Shiting twice.

The first time was when he presented flowers, Miss He San clearly and tactfully rejected his intention. The second time was this letter.

Chu Sanyuan also planned to give up, but today Dong Shou saw her from a distance...

So he came again.

Third Young Master Chu said with hope: "Miss He didn't come to the appointment that day, but something happened temporarily and she was delayed?"

Shen Shiting was stunned for a moment, "What... appointment?"

Chu Jiu'an was also stunned, "Didn't Miss He receive the letter from Mr. Chu? That shouldn't be the case. I asked Prince Lu to——"

While he was talking, a shadow fell behind the pine tree.

Shen Shitai raised her head and saw Lu Jiuxiao walking towards him with a gloomy face. She was suddenly startled and subconsciously took two steps towards him.

Although she had nothing to do with Chu Jiu'an, she somehow felt guilty and whispered: "Why is the prince here?"

Chu Jiu'an frowned, "Prince Lu arrived just in time. On August 23rd, Mr. Chu clearly handed the letter to the Crown Prince. Didn't the Crown Prince pass it to Miss He?"
To be continued...