Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 68: Thousand Riders Volume Hiraoka

Su Ze looked around and there were too many people.

According to the rules of entering the curtain and selecting the vanguard, Su Ze can bring a riding slave to take care of the horse and a servant hunter to assist in hunting.

The riding slave Su Da was leading two horses, and following on the other side of Su Ze was the [deaf and mute falconer].

There were more than a hundred imperial guards participating in the selection, plus the two followers each brought with them, there were three to four hundred people gathered in front of the archery field.

In addition to people, there were also horses. The entire shooting range was extremely noisy. The dust raised by the horses' hooves made it difficult to see clearly, making it very difficult to find people.

Su Ze gave up this plan, but he unexpectedly saw a lonely figure in the crowd.

Wang Hui?

Didn't he kill the evil Mahayana sect himself? Why did Wang Hui want to participate in the selection of the frontline?

Does he also want to assassinate King Qinghe?
Before Su Ze could go up to him and talk to him, Wang Hui's figure quickly disappeared into the crowd.

The undercurrent has not even started yet. Su Ze doesn't even dare to imagine what a "lively" scene it will be when the hunting is over.

At this moment, Lu Zheng, dressed in hunting clothes, rode a horse in front of Su Ze.

The riding slave on his flank was leading a horse, while the follower on the other side was leading a slender hound, which was staring at Su Ze with fierce eyes.

"Isn't this Su Lang? Where is your hunting beast?"

Seeing the followers behind Su Ze, a plain-looking riding slave and a stupid Hu slave who didn't see Su Ze's prey, Lu Zheng couldn't help but approach and provoke him:
"The hunting grounds of His Royal Highness Prince Qinghe are very large, and Su Lang doesn't even have a single prey animal. If you return empty-handed, it will be a disgrace to the Imperial Guards."

At this time, several national guards also came up and echoed Lu Zheng.

Su Ze ignored these foreign guards. After a while, Manager Lu came to the archery range in a hurry with a group of scholars in white.

When Lu Zheng saw Manager Lu, he immediately went up to greet him with his subordinates, Yu Lin, "Uncle!"

When Manager Lu saw Lu Zheng, he smiled slightly, but soon said seriously:
"By order of the great king, the archery competition will begin immediately. Warriors, please get ready!"

Manager Lu was directing his men to work in the archery field, and he had not slept well these past few days.

Ever since the last time his tent was robbed, the thief has been visiting every few days and has messed up his tent.

Manager Lu had no way of saying anything because the stolen things were all obtained through bribery. It was not easy to say these things directly, so he could only use his authority to ask the palace guards to strictly guard his tent.

However, despite the increase in patrols, his tent was still stolen every now and then, causing Manager Lu to become depressed and live in fear all day long.

Fortunately, he had not been robbed in the past few days. He buried the bribes he had received in these days under the tent. As long as he could survive today, he could pull the things back to the mansion on the cart.

Manager Lu was a little absent-minded, always worried about the treasures he had buried under the tent.

At the same time, Su Dao broke into Manager Lu's tent. He lay on the ground to check and found a piece of cut carpet. Then he dug his hand into the soil with a smile on his face.

He took out the tools in his arms and quickly dug out the treasure buried in the soil. He tied the treasure around his waist with a bundle, put on the dog skin again and slipped out.

The palace guards who were guarding Manager Lu's tent were unaware of it. They waited until Su Dao left the tent and came to a forest in the hunting ground, where they met up with a four-man team.

I only saw Su Dao pick up the stolen things and bury them in the ground of the woods. He also made a mark on the tree. The leader of the four-man team, Su Lin, said coldly:
"The master didn't tell you to steal these things, did he? Take them out quickly and complete the master's task first."

Su Dao chuckled and took out a piece of silk from his bosom. It simply depicted the terrain of the hunting grounds and drew red circles in several places. "The servants of the palace should have driven the deer to these places."

Su Lin pointed to the largest circle on the simple map and said, "Let's go and drive away the deer!"

The five-man team came to the largest circle on the map, and sure enough, there was a large herd of deer hiding in the woods.

Su Lin took the package he was carrying and handed out balls of black dung to everyone.

"This is the feces of wild animals that Su Da has collected in the southern wilderness these days. Everyone, spread it in this forest, and then follow my instructions to drive away the deer."

[Reckless Shieldman] took the feces, and as soon as Su Lin finished arranging it, he rushed forward and started spreading the feces.

Su Lin had no choice but to follow and scatter the feces on the edge of the forest. Then Su Lin took off the bow and arrow from his waist and took out an arrow with a different shape.

I saw that there was a bone whistle tied to the arrowhead, and when the arrow was shot out, it made a sharp whistle.

Then all the deer in the forest became agitated. The leading deer took the lead and rushed out of the forest, shaking the whole forest.

Watching the deer rushing out of the forest, Su Lin looked at several other locations on the map, and took his men to do the same, driving all the deer on the map out of the locations shown on the map.

In the shooting garden.

There were no surprises in the two rounds of shooting. Both on horseback and on foot, the examiner hit the target with three shots and passed the shooting test easily.

Steward Lu sealed the list of those who passed the shooting test, climbed up the mound, and soon climbed down again panting, shouting to the imperial guards who passed the shooting test:

"The king has issued an order, and the King of Chu has said, 'Hunting generals to seek talents'. Today's hunting is not hunting animals for fun, but hunting talents for the country!"

The Chinese Yulin present naturally did not understand, but after listening to it, Su Ze could not help but sigh that the results of the sinicization of the Northern Wei high-level officials were indeed effective.

The Prince of Qinghe was a prince of a clan, and his level of Confucianism had surpassed many Han noble families. The decree of the Prince of Qinghe that Manager Lu just mentioned came from "Shuo Yuan·Jun Dao·King Zhuang of Chu Likes Hunting" written by Liu Xiang of the Western Han Dynasty.

It tells the story of King Zhuang of Chu who loves hunting. His ministers advise him not to neglect state affairs because of hunting. King Zhuang of Chu says that he hunts not for fun, but to select talents through hunting.

Later, King Zhuang of Chu selected a group of talented people during hunting, and the State of Chu gained stability.

The level of Confucianism in this royal decree is no worse than that of the Jin Dynasty, both in terms of the use of allusions and the writing style.

Steward Lu shouted again, "Everyone bring back the prey you hunted here tomorrow at dawn. Let's get started!"

Following a royal order, everyone jumped on their horses and galloped off in all directions with their riding slaves and animal servants.

At the same time, on the high platform of the earthen mound, the Qinghe King Yuan Yi, wearing a jade crown and with a face as white as a crown, raised the golden cup in his hand and said:

"Let's have a feast and a good time today!"

At this time, several princes and nobles dressed in hunting clothes stood up, saluted King Qinghe, and then went down the mound with their entourage to join in the hunting.

Su Ze rode his horse and looked at the scene in front of him, and finally understood what it meant to be -

He holds the yellow on the left, holds the blue on the right, wears a brocade hat and mink fur, and rides on thousands of horses.

(End of this chapter)