MTL - Denghuaxiao

Chapter 171 Assassination

In the long shed at the entrance of the paddock, Lu Zhen looked at Qi Yutai in the cavalry, his expression became cold.

 Qi Yutai is also here.

He is riding on a tall red horse, wearing a gold and blue riding uniform. He is gentle and calm. He is smiling and joking with an acquaintance of a young master from another family. He looks very romantic.

 Lu Zhen sneered in his heart.

 Qi Yutai is at risk of epileptic seizures. He should avoid overly stimulating behaviors on weekdays. He should stay away from places like the hunting ground, but he takes the initiative to come.

It’s really desperate.

 She gripped the strap of the medical kit tightly.

: With a place like this where there's dense trees and rocks, it's normal for something to happen unexpectedly. Before she came out, she packed a lot of poison cans in the medical kit. If she could kill him here...

Her thoughts moved slightly, and she couldn't help but frown when her eyes fell forward.

 No, there are too many people.

Qi Yutai was accompanied by several guards in red, protecting him closely. If one person is okay, with so many people, it should be difficult to distract them.

 You can only give up.

Lin Danqing curled his lips next to him: "Why did you bring that mad dog again?"

　　 Lu Huan: “Mad dog?”

 “Nuo.” Lin Danqing pursed his lips, “Look.”

 Lu Zhen looked at it intently.

As expected, behind Qi Yutai's horse, a gray hound followed. The hound is tall, much larger than the domestic dogs that usually guard homes on the street. Its fur is shiny and its eyes are red. If it weren't for the gold collar on its neck, it would look like a ferocious hungry wolf. Looking at it, It makes people jump into shock.

“That’s Qi Yutai’s pet dog.” Lin Danqing said, “I brought it to help with hunting.”

 Lu Zong is clear.

 In the paddocks, there are often disciples of noble families bringing falcons and hounds to assist in hunting.

“Qi Yutai is a precious dog. I heard that he needs to eat fresh beef tenderloin every day, a large bowl of fresh milk, fresh fruits, and bird’s nest snacks. I heard that even the shack he lives in is inlaid with gems and has a dedicated person to serve him..."

Lin Danqing said in an angry tone, "Look at the gold collar around its neck. I have never worn one of such fine quality. In this world, people are really inferior to dogs."

Lu Zhen asked: "Why do you say it's a mad dog?"

“That dog bites people everywhere, what is it if it’s not a mad dog?”

Lin Danqing hummed: "The Qi family sometimes takes the dog out. The mad dog is too strong, and sometimes the servants can't hold it, and it will inevitably hurt people. Previously, a little girl had half her face eaten by this dog, and her mother cried and begged to no avail. I wrote a note of grievance and sewed it on my back, held my child in my arms and went to the house to cry—"

Lu Zhen was stunned when he heard this: "What happened in the end?"

"In the end?" Lin Danqing smiled sarcastically, "I just cried for a day. It was said that the Taishi Mansion paid a large sum of money to the little girl and was responsible for her till she got married. There were also rumors that the Taishi Mansion was kind. That family Thank you very much, but you don’t know how you can survive to get married with such injuries?”

After finishing speaking, both of them fell silent.

After another while, Lin Danqing spoke in a gentler tone: "Don't worry, that dog is being held by someone, and it's a hunting ground, so there's no need to be afraid of biting someone. I think Mr. Qi is also afraid that he will hunt around and come back empty-handed, so he can't find a dog." The dog just came here to show off."

Lu Zhuo looked up and saw that the gray dog ​​followed Qi Yutai's horse forward, but was blocked by the dragon guard at the back and gradually lost sight of it.

 She looked away and said "hmm" softly.

 Long Wuwei and the hunting princes are already in place, and the hunting will begin soon.

Standing in the tent of the Medical Officer's Hospital, Lu Zhuo watched the ceremonial officer standing on the high platform of the hunting ground and blowing the horn.

The mountains and forests are empty, and the long sound of the horn echoes in the past, frightening countless birds to fly away.

Prince Yuan Zhen drove his horse to the front of the hunting ground, and personally presented a gold-inlaid bow and arrow to the officer. Yuan Zhen took the arrow and bent the bow, aiming at the red silk in front of the hunting ground and shooting suddenly -

 The hunt begins!

The prince went first, followed by the guards behind him, and ran towards the mountains and forests. Then came the second prince, the third prince, and the fourth prince, then Prince Ning, the princes, and officials of the third rank and above...

The first road leading to the mountain forest is not wide, and one team after another is walking in this way. However, there are two teams in front that seem to collide with each other, not giving way to each other, and it is almost like meeting on a narrow road.

Lu Zong looked at the person who stopped at the forest road entrance at the same time as Pei Yunying, and asked Lin Danqing: "Who is that person?"

Lin Danqing glanced at him and said, "Master Yan Xuyan, Commander of the Privy Council."

 Yan Xu?

 Lu Zhen's heart moved slightly.

Isn’t that Pei Yunying’s mortal enemy?

Under the shade trees, the young man reined in his horse and looked at the man blocking his way.

"Sir Yan," he smiled, "the road is narrow, be careful of slippery roads."

 The man on the horse is about forty years old, wearing a dark gray riding uniform and has a thin build. His appearance was very mediocre, except for his pair of shrewd and wise eyes, which were staring at him with a gloomy expression.

 This is Yan Xu, the commander of the Privy Council.

It is well known in the court that the Privy Council and the Palace Chief are not dealing with each other, and Yan Xu and Pei Yunying have old grudges for many years, and they regard each other as a thorn in their side and a thorn in their bones. Whenever they appear on the same scene, there will always be two sentences that stumble.

Today is no exception.

Yan Xu glanced at him and said meaningfully: "Master Pei followed His Highness very closely, just like the Qi family's hunting hound."

The Privy Council Cavalry who was following him burst out laughing when he heard this.

When hunting in the mountains, the guards of the imperial army are different from the noble children and need to accompany the princes to protect them. He did not follow the prince, but the third prince.

 And Yan Xu is now very close to the prince.

Pei Yun smiled, as if he didn't hear the sarcasm in the other person's words: "Before going up the mountain, His Majesty specially asked to protect the safety of His Highness the Third Highness, just as Lord Yan protects His Highness the Crown Prince in safety. The two of them are brothers who love and be friends, and brothers who respect and obey. You and I are all for Your Majesty. When it comes to sharing worries, Master Yan will not hesitate to give in too much."

 Hold back unceremoniously.

Yan Xu stared at him and sneered: "The commander-in-chief is young. I wonder if he has heard of an old song."

Pei Yunying looked at him calmly.

 The man lowered his voice: "A foot of cloth can be sewed; a bushel of grain can be pounded. Two brothers cannot get along."

 The young man’s eyes moved slightly.

 The next line of this song is: Even though the world is so vast, it is incompatible...

Yan Xu took one look at his face, smiled with satisfaction, urged his horse, and led the Privy Council riders into the mountains and forests.

Lu Zhuo was watching the storm on the other side of the forest road. Although he didn't know what happened, judging from the faces of the commanders and knights in front of the palace, it seemed that Yan Xu said something unpleasant to Pei Yunying.

It wasn't until Pei Yunying also ran into the mountains and forests with the cavalry guards and his shadow was no longer seen that Lu Zhuo looked back.

 She thought of the rumor.

Before entering the hospital, Miao Liangfang told Lu Zhuo all the twists and turns he knew about the officialdom in Shengjing, including Yan Xu.

This Privy Council envoy, Master Yan, was in charge of the Liang Dynasty's military and state affairs and border military and military affairs, and was extremely powerful. However, the reason why he became the center of everyone's gossip was not because of his power or indifference, but because of his past with Mrs. Xian Zhaoning.

It is said that many years ago, Yan Xu proposed marriage to the wife of Duke Zhaoning, who was waiting for marriage, but was rejected. However, at that time, Yan Xu was not in the official position he currently has, but Duke Zhaoning had been promoted steadily after getting married. , some people said that Yan Xu was out of anger and wanted to make Mrs. Zhaoning regret.

Later, Duke Zhaoning's wife was held hostage by the rebels, and Pei Di decided to capture the rebels regardless of his wife's life. It is even more ironic that a beautiful lady of a generation has passed away like this. I don’t know whether Mrs. Zhaoning regretted it before she died, but it was clear that Yan Xu, the dean of the Privy Council, hated the Pei family from then on.

I heard from Lin Danqing that the relationship between the Palace Secretary and the Privy Council was not good to check and balance each other. After Pei Yunying went to the Palace Division, the conflict became more intense, and the two sides often fought to the death.

She originally thought that this statement might be a rumor, but now it seems that it is not completely fabricated. There was indeed a lot of discord between Pei Yunying and Yan Xu, otherwise they wouldn't have gotten into a tit-for-tat confrontation in front of so many people at the hunting ground.

Just as he was thinking about it, Chang Jin's voice came from ahead, calling the medical officers to return to the medical officers' camp and wait.

Medical officers are all waiting in the tent. If someone is injured, they will go to the forest for emergency treatment, or wait in the tent for bandaging. Generally speaking, people only go into the forest in critical situations, and most of the time they wait in tents.

Lu Zhen raised his eyes and glanced at Lin Dao again.

Nearly all the people who went into the forest to hunt had entered the mountains, only a few scattered guards were left behind, and there was no sign of Qi Yutai.

She withdrew her gaze and walked towards the camp.

The mountain road is steep and steep.

Towering ancient trees cover the sky and block out the sun, keeping the hot sunlight out of the gaps between the branches. There is the sound of waterfalls and gurgling water flowing by the stream. The summer in Huangmaogang is quiet and cool.

Qi Yutai was riding on a horse, closely followed by the Qi family guards behind him.

 He did not take the busiest forest road, but chose a direction with fewer people. Not because of anything else, but because he was afraid of being seen by others for his poor riding and shooting skills.

The Qi family has only one son, and he is not the sick Xia Miao from the palace of Taifu Temple. All the sons of princes and powerful ministers have to participate. If he is the only one who does not come, it will inevitably cause criticism behind his back.

However, his father didn't like him doing too strenuous activities since he was a child. He only learned horse riding and archery hastily and was not proficient in it. During the hunt every year, the young masters all look forward to this opportunity to show off their majesty and compete for prey. He cannot let others see that his prey is hunted by guards and hounds, so he can only avoid people.

 Fortunately, Huangmaogang is very big, so it is easy to avoid people if you want to.

Qin Hu lowered himself down and sniffed the soil under the forest carefully. The guard beside him whispered: "Master, the medical woman is in the camp at the foot of the mountain. Do you want to lure her here now?"

Qi Yutai’s eyes flashed.

"No."

 He stared at the gray dog: "It's still early, let's let the tiger sharpen its teeth first."

As soon as he finished speaking, the hound in front of him suddenly rushed out and plunged into the bushes not far away. In the blink of an eye, he picked up a rabbit in one mouthful.

 “Okay!” Qi Yutai was immediately overjoyed.

The hound barked wildly and threw the white rabbit in front of Qi Yutai's horse. The white rabbit's neck was bitten off by the sharp teeth of the hound. The blood stained its fur red. After a few weak kicks with its legs, its chest gradually became silent.

Qi Yutai took out a piece of fresh dried meat from his leather bag and threw it to the hound. The hound swallowed it up and ran into the forest ahead.

 Qi Yutai felt happy.

Oddly enough, whenever he saw a tiger hunting an animal or a poultry, he always felt extremely happy, as if it was not the hound that broke the rabbit's neck with his teeth, but himself.

He was very happy to see such a weak prey struggling helplessly in front of a stronger one. The excitement of hunting made him excited. That kind of excitement was different from the excitement of taking cold food powder, but it also made him happy.

 Happiness from the heart.

It's a pity that his father disciplines him very strictly. He always has to take into account the status and reputation of the Qi family when doing things outside. At home... he also has to abide by the rules set by his father. He can only taste the sharpness of catching tigers here, in the mountains and forests. The joy of bloodthirsty and violent moments.

The tiger was alert, its ears perked up, as if it had discovered something again, and it rushed into the woods. Not long after, the sound of a wild beast struggling and screaming came, like a dying struggle.

Qi Yutai's eyes became more satisfied and he shouted: "Okay, okay!"

 The more prey killed, the more ferocious the hound will be. After catching the tiger and biting it for a few more rounds, the blood energy will be fully stimulated. At that time, Lu Zhuo will be introduced here...

That fragile body will be torn into pieces in an instant.

That is the most wonderful prey.

Thinking of this, Qi Yutai's eyes turned red with excitement, and he felt the blood all over his body was surging, and he actually shivered in anticipation!

 “Let’s go!”

He couldn't help laughing.

 …

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　——'

Feather arrows shot out from the forest, piercing the beating body fiercely. With a "bang" sound, a wild deer fell down, and blood splashed everywhere.

“Wow—” the young man exclaimed with joy, got off his horse, dragged the wild deer over, tied it up, carried it on his own horse, patted the deer’s body, and exclaimed: “This deer is so fat!”

Wild deer fat is fat and heavy, and can be taken back to make venison balls, venison cubes, venison dumplings, venison rolls...it can also nourish qi, yang, nourish blood and expel wind. The boy licked his lips.

On the black horse, the young man drew back his bow and arrow, looked at him, and asked: "Is that enough?"

 “Enough is enough.”

Duan Xiaoyan smiled and said: "It's neither eye-catching nor ugly. It's just the right time to receive a decent reward, and it doesn't steal the limelight from several princes. I can describe it in two words - perfect."

He looked like a flatterer. Pei Yun glanced at him, raised his whip and drove his horse forward.

At the beginning of the hunt, the children of each family competed with each other to test their bows and knives, call the hawks and insert arrows. They wanted to pile their horses with prey and be the best when they came back to reward them.

Pei Yunying was always in low spirits.

 First of all, as the commander in chief of the palace, he cannot steal the limelight from the princes. This is a rule. Secondly, he was originally not interested in this kind of competition and just wanted to go through the motions.

Even with his galloping skills, it is easy to come out on top.

With him all the way, it was just a fox and rabbit that Duan Xiaoyan had taken a fancy to and hunted for him, and the black dog Gardenia followed behind him - it was a rare opportunity to have a business trip, and he didn't take advantage of it.

The third prince Yuan Yao went ahead. He didn't like Pei Yunying following him. As soon as he went up the mountain, he signaled to Pei Yunying not to get too close.

Duan Xiaoyan looked like "I understand again": "Think about it, brother, you are so handsome and handsome, no one will feel ashamed walking in front of you. If I were the Third Highness, I would not be happy for you to follow me. You have robbed me of all the glory around me, it’s really unbearable.”

"Oh?" Pei Yunying raised an eyebrow: "So what is the purpose of the one following you?"

 “Of course it’s to set off!”

The two of them looked at the people busy around the third prince and fell silent in unison.

Accompanying Yuan Yao was the youngest son of Zhongshu’s minister.

　　This young master was born weak and sweet, just like his father. I heard that his father was just a sixth-grade official with mediocre qualifications at the beginning. At that time, his immediate boss, his old mother, accidentally slipped and broke her leg, so he got up before dawn every day to attend to the sick and take care of the **** himself. I peed for a whole year and became even more considerate to mother and child. Later...

 Later, he rose through the ranks and became the current minister of Zhongshu.

The young master not only inherited his father's appearance, but also seemed to have inherited his father's popularity in the officialdom. Within half a day, he had already made the third prince happy. It is true that his short and frail figure walking beside the third prince made the third prince even more handsome and taller.

Of course, the third prince, Tianhuang Guizhou, should not care about these details, let alone deliberately letting him set off.

There was a flying spring pouring down the cliff in front. The young master pointed to the lush pine forest behind the spring: "Here! Last year in Xia Miao, Mr. Wang from the Bingma Division saw a white wolf here, but unfortunately he missed it. Tell it to run away, I remember it clearly, it’s this pine forest!”

White wolves are rare to see. Yuan Yao's eyes lit up and he wanted to take people in.

Pei Yunying drove his horse to Yuan Yao's side and stopped him: "The pine forest is dense and the cliffs are steep. Your Highness might as well allow your officials to go into the forest to search..."

“Master Pei,” Yuan Yao interrupted impatiently, “when you go in first, the wolf king will be scared away, so what’s there to hunt for?”

Pei Yun paused.

Hearing this, the young master of the chamberlain also smiled and said: "That's right. The intention of hunting is to be flexible and casual. This move of the palace commander will definitely spoil the fun. There is no need to be too nervous."

As soon as he finished speaking, before Pei Yunying could speak, Yuan Yao raised his whip and rushed into the pine forest first.

Pei Yunying frowned, and Xiao Zhufeng, who was following him, shook his head helplessly. The two of them said no more, and followed closely into the pine forest with the squad guards.

 Huangmaogang is densely covered with pine trees, with layers of forest covering the foothills, like a thick green cloud covering people's heads. When the horse rides across the grass, it scares the insects and beasts away.

 After running half a circle, the white wolf disappeared for the time being, but he found a small wild boar.

The half-big wild boar ran very fast. Yuan Yao excitedly chased the wild boar with his arrows and bow. The arrow came off the string and hit the wild boar's **** like a gust of wind and lightning. The beast howled and ran away faster. Yuan Yao laughed loudly and drew another long arrow from the long bow. As soon as he let go, the arrow flew straight towards the wild boar!

The young master behind him could not help but praise: "Good! Your Highness is good at archery!"

Pei Yunying smiled and caught up with him on horseback. He was about to give a few perfunctory compliments when he suddenly felt something was wrong.

The sharp sounds of arrows piercing the air came one after another, but they didn’t just come from Yuan Yao’s hands.

Pei Yunying was shocked, and without caring about the horse beneath him, he drew his sword and rushed forward: "Your Highness, be careful!"

 “There is an ambush in the woods—”

 “Swish swish—”

Deep in the pine forest, dozens of feather arrows shot through the sky like a heavy rain. Yuan Yao was chasing the fleeing wild boar when something unexpected happened. He was so frightened that he forgot to dodge. He saw a hail of arrows about to hit him with his hood down -

At the critical moment, someone suddenly pulled him to the side. The silver sword was shining brightly, and hit the rain of arrows with a bang, cutting the flying arrows into two pieces!

Yuan Yao breathed a sigh of relief, raised his head, and widened his eyes in fear.

The young man was guarding him. Behind him, a silver feather arrow flew into the air and stabbed him in the back!