Chapter 38: Arrows
In the seventh year of Qiyuan, autumn.
Huayang paddock on the outskirts of Beijing.
Banner hunting, bow and arrow dazzling. All the military generals, clans, especially the children of various families, are all dressed in angry horses, wearing strong bows and arrows, just waiting for the emperor's order, they will show their skills in this hunting ground.
This Huayang enclosure is the royal hunting ground of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
In order not to let future generations forget the brave spirit of their ancestors, since the founding of the Tai Ancestral State, every autumn, the emperor will bring all the ministers, military generals, and children of the clan to hunt here to raise the majesty of the country.
Even the frail Emperor Renzong, when he was in power, at this time, he would symbolically shoot a few arrows to show that he had not forgotten his ancestors.
However, since the death of Emperor Mingzong, this Huayang enclosure has been abandoned for seven years. Just because Emperor Yuwenrui is young, even though she knows this kind of ancestral system, she can't help but be eager to try, but Empress Dowager Duan and Jing Yan are afraid that she is young, and no matter what she misses, she will not allow it. Without the emperor's presiding, this autumn affair was naturally put on hold.
Until this year, since the first year, the little emperor Yuwen Rui turned fifteen years old and can finally govern in person. At this time, she is also an "adult"; Second, the chair on the side of the dragon chair in the Taishi Hall has been removed since then, and the days when Empress Dowager Jing listened to politics have become history, no matter what, she is no longer good at interfering with Yu Wenrui's "dignity of the emperor".
What's more, since the beginning of the year, Yu Wenrui has been grinding his sister-in-law to preside over the autumn festival every once in a while. Jing Yan was so worn that she couldn't do anything, seeing her surging taller, almost taller than herself, she sighed in her heart, "Children will always grow up one day", so she simply left her hands alone.
With the permission of the queen mother and sister-in-law, as soon as the summer begins, Yu Wenrui can't help but rejoice, looking forward to today's itching.
Now she sat on the saddle, and in front of her were the sons and daughters of the families with bright flags, and looked into the distance, the mountains were faint, the wilderness was endless, and the eyes were full of shallow grass, and there were green trees in betweenβ
What a view!
Yu Wenrui's heart was happy, his blood was stirring, and he only felt that his mind was expanding for a moment, as if everything in the world was under his control.
She wanted to let out a whistle and gallop. But when he thought of his responsibility as an emperor, he hurriedly gathered his mind, hooked the corners of his lips, and said loudly-
"Ladies and gentlemen! Today is the day of my Great Zhou Autumn Festival! It's also the first time I've been on the throne since I ascended the throne! Ladies and gentlemen, please take a look at ......"
As she spoke, she raised the golden whip in her hand and swept away into the distance.
"This Huayang paddock has been abandoned for seven years."
The crowd followed her pointers.
"It has been seven years since I inherited the throne. Seven years have passed, isn't it a flick of a finger? In the past, when I was young, I always wanted to grow up quickly, so that I could show my strength, promote my great Zhou's majesty, and comfort my ancestors in the heavenly heroic spirit! β
When everyone heard her bold words, they couldn't help but feel agitated in their hearts.
"The paddock in front of Zhongqing is where the pride of my ancestors of the Great Zhou Dynasty is displayed. I have established the country with martial arts, and I will not forget the heroic style of my ancestors, and I don't want you to forget it in the slightest! So, let me see your spirit and ability today! Brave warriors, reward! Lazy people, punished! β
Yu Wenrui said, and raised the golden bow with his probe, "The one who hunts the most, I will give this bow to you!" β
"Hooray! Banzai! β
There was a lot of excitement in the paddock.
Especially those children of the clan, most of them saw the true face of the little empress for the first time-
But I saw that she was wearing a jade crown on her head, tied up her black hair, with a bright red embroidered dragon hairband on her forehead, sword eyebrows into her sideburns, a straight nose, thin lips, a small face like jade, and then lined with silver and white dragon arrow sleeves, bright yellow cloak, and bright yellow combat boots under her feet, just like a silver doll. In addition, her crotch is a snow-white war horse, only four hooves are inky black, called "stepping ink", it is a famous horse, and it seems that the people on the horse are very heroic, which is eye-catching.
Those young sons of the family, who heard the emperor say that they shot the most prey, could be given a royal bow; Seeing the emperor's bright eyes and bright teeth, and his smiling words, he couldn't restrain the agitation in his heart, and his blood surged, and he was willing to hunt to the death. Even if you can't win the championship, it's good to be looked at by the empress a few more times.
Not to mention that everyone is eager to try, just talk about Yu Wenrui.
She pulled out a long arrow from the quiver, put it on the bowstring, and concentrated slightly, only to hear a long "whoosh" sound, and the arrow shot straight out, and disappeared in her eyes.
"Huh-" Everyone was shocked and secretly praised "my emperor is good".
When the children of the family saw her show this hand, they were even more admired, and a few even secretly felt affection and moved the idea of being the queen. The Great Zhou Dynasty is still martial, and the status of women is quite high, and women with strong martial arts are more respected.
How could Yu Wenrui not be able to read the inner drama of the ministers?
Hee-hee, I haven't used all my strength yet! She thought to herself with a smile.
If I had used real kung fu, wouldn't this arrow have reached the capital division?
The emperor personally shot this arrow, which is the tradition of the Great Zhou Dynasty, called "one arrow to determine the country", taken from the time when Emperor Gaozu led his troops to besiege the capital of Yang Zheng's court.
Gaozu was awe-inspiring that day, shot down the dragon flag of the Yang Zheng court at the highest point of the capital, and shook the military might, and the crowd was excited, but it captured the capital in a few days, which was for "Dingjiang Mountain".
Therefore, after Taizu gave way to Gaozu, every autumn festival must be opened with this ceremony, from Emperor Gaozu to Emperor Mingzong, consistently.
Yu Wenrui shot an astonishing arrow, and his clear voice shouted: "All the children! Let me see what you are capable of! β
The crowd was excited, chanting "Hurray" and rushing into the arena. In an instant, thousands of horses galloped, covering the sky and the sun.
How could Yu Wenrui be willing to just watch the excitement, she had already rushed out first.
Last night, Jing Yanqian told her to be cautious and not to make any mistakes, but the situation in front of her was so interesting, her blood was stirring in her brain, and she had already thrown her sister-in-law's advice to Java.
She is the emperor, who dares to grab her head?
So, under the wild run, she left everyone behind, and even the inner court guards who followed her escort were also left behind by her.
The object in front of him swept back sharply, and the horse's hooves stepped on the shallow grass, and the trampled grass exuded a faint fragrance, refreshing people's hearts.
Yu Wenrui's heart was open, she suddenly retracted the reins of the horse and stopped the wild gallop of the beloved horse.
The horse was galloping unscrupulously, and was suddenly stopped by his master, and he was still not happy, so he "stepped on the spot" and turned around a few times, "poofing" and snorting.
Yu Wenrui looked at the surroundings and saw that there was no one around, laughed, and patted the white horse's neck: "Ao Jiang is good!" You'll have a good run in a minute......"
She said, looking up at the blue sky. There were no clouds, and there was no edge in sight of the blue wawa, only a small white shadow in the distance, moving extremely fast in the sky.
Yu Wenrui put the index finger and thumb of his right hand on his lips, and his lips strained and let out a long howl.
The little white shadow in the sky seemed to feel something, and rushed straight towards Yu Wenrui with a strong wind.
As it got closer and closer, it turned out to be a majestic white eagle.
The white eagle's body was pure white, and only its claws and beak were pale yellow. It was ferocious, with its wings spread out nearly a foot wide.
Seeing that it was about to pounce on Yu Wenrui's body, Yu Wenrui was not timid, but raised his face, greeted the sun, squinted his eyes, and waited for the white eagle to fall.
Slid to the height of Yu Wenrui's head, the white eagle suddenly retracted its wings, and finally slowly landed on Yu Wenrui's shoulder.
Yu Wenrui smiled and raised his hand to brush the feathers of the white eagle: "Bai Yu, when you are full, you will fly in chaos!" Don't even care about me? β
The white eagle seems to be human, staring at a pair of black and yellow eyes, tilting his head, as if thinking. After a moment, it leaned back towards Yu Wenrui's head and rubbed Yu Wenrui's neck with the feathers on its body.
"Hahaha...... It's so itchy! Bai Yu, you are naughty again! β
Yu Wenrui hooked his lips: "You guy must be hungry again!" No way! How much meat did you just eat? Eat again? Become a big fat bird, see how you still fly? β
The white eagle continued to rub against her neck, and Yu Wenrui wrinkled his nose: "When you grow up, you have to learn to find food by yourself!" Do I want to feed you for the rest of your life? β
With that, she raised her hand, "Go!" Just go! With such a big paddock, it's up to you to see if you have the ability! β
Seeing that the flattery was ineffective, the white eagle twisted his head, looking proud.
Yu Wenrui also said to himself: "However, even if you hunt and eat, it is only enough to fill your stomach, and you can't destroy the heavens." Mr. Pei said, 'Dry up the river and fish and burn the forest and hunt' This is called destroying the ecological balance! β
At this moment, there was a crisp sound from far and near, and a red horse galloped.
Bai Yu ignored Yu Wenrui anymore, spread his wings, flew straight towards the comer, landed on the other party's shoulder, and rubbed affectionately.
"Bai Yu is good!" The person who came was a delicate girl in red clothes, red boots and red cloak, with the red horse, like a ball of fire.
The girl flicked the feathers of the white feathers, raised her eyebrows and stared at Yu Wenrui: "Sister Rui, you ran so fast that I almost couldn't catch you." β
Yu Wenrui also looked at her with a light smile, and couldn't help but joke: "Yue'er, you also know that you can't catch me, right?" β
When Jing Jiayue heard this, her willow eyebrows raised, "Who said that?" See that you are the emperor, just save face for you! β
Yu Wenrui sneered disdainfully: "Strong words!" You have never been able to beat me in horse racing, you can't beat me with your fists and feet, you have been beaten by me since you were seven years old, and you can't study as well as me......"
Before she finished speaking, Jing Jiayue's apricot eyes were about to crack: "Who said I was inferior to you?!" β
Yu Wenrui grinned: "You are not as good as me." β
"Dare to compare!" Jing Jiayue shook her shoulders, and Bai Yu Huo Ran was startled, landing on a low branch nearby, staring at the two of them worriedly.
Do you want to compare? Isn't the result the same? It's all the same.
Bai Yu shook his wings helplessly, and with a scream of "babbling-", he flew away high, looking for food.
Yu Wenrui looked up at Bai Yu gradually disappearing into a white dot figure, "Look, even Bai Yu can't stand it, you can't help it." β
"Hun said!" Jing Jia Yuejiao snorted, "Come on, come on!" Sister Rui, let the horse come! β
"Come on!" Yu Wenrui pursed the corners of his mouth nonchalantly, "Let's say it first, don't cry if you lose, it's like ...... back then."
"Don't say anything!" Jing Jiayue drank her. Every time I talk about the past, are you annoyed?
The two men turned their horses on the same horizontal line, and at the same time raised their whips and whipped them on the horses' hips.
The two horses were not running happily before, but now they got the master's order, and they all galloped away with "Herod".
After all, Yu Wenrui's horse is one of the most famous horses in a million, even if she doesn't put a lot of effort into it, Ao Jiang is always half a horse ahead of Jing Jiayue's jujube red horse.
Jing Jiayue became more and more anxious, leaned on the horse's back, and shouted angrily: "Arrow! If you don't run faster, Miss Ben will kill you and eat meat when she goes back! β
Yu Wenrui's face darkened when he heard this, "Yue'er, didn't you change your name?" Why is it still called this name? β
Jing Jiayue snorted dissatisfiedly: "Isn't this name good? I think it's good! β
The corner of Yu Wenrui's mouth twitched: What a fart! Isn't it fun to give the emperor's nickname to your mount?
Jing Jiayue's voice was louder at the moment: "Arrow! Didn't you hear? Don't run faster and go back to stewing your meat! β
As he spoke, he reached to his waist, took off the long whip wrapped around his waist, and slammed it on the horse's buttocks with a "snap".
The whip was already mixed with gold wire, not ordinary, so how could the horse stand it so ruthlessly? A long streak of blood was drawn from Dengshi. The horse screamed in pain, and shot out in a desperate manner.
Jing Jiayue didn't want to be like this, so she stumbled on the horse's back, almost fell, and suddenly lost her face.
The horse galloped wildly, crossed the Ao Jiang, and ran away when he saw it.
Yu Wenrui was stunned, his heart said "not good", and he was busy clamping the horse's belly.
Ao Jiang got the master's order, and he also rushed away.
After running for a while, I saw a cloud of red in the distance, it was Jing Jiayue and her jujube red horse. Yuwen Rui felt a little relieved, but he still didn't dare to relax, and followed.
But I didn't want to, there was a "rumbling" sound in my ears, and in the blink of an eye, Jing Jiayue and her horse disappeared.