Dingjiangshan

This royal hunting ground is older than Ning Yan and Ning Huaijin's family. There are almost no seedlings in the forest farm. If you look around, almost all of them are tall trees that are more than three feet tall.

The dozens of people that Ning Yan brought seemed to be quite a lot, but when they were scattered in the forest, they scattered like water drops into the sea, and they scattered in a few breaths, and no one else could be seen.

The snow-frozen pine and fir branches on the ground were crushed by horseshoes, and fine ice flowers were thrown up.

The trees in the forest are towering, and most of the sunlight is blocked from the forest land. Only a few sneak in from the branches of the trees, reflecting the sparkling ice flowers on the ground.

The ones who came this time were either the children of the noble families of the important ministers, or the clan and the royal family, no matter which one could not be bumped.

Hunting was inherently risky, so the forbidden army entered the forest in groups of three or four on the first day, and did it together with protection and inspection.

Ning Yan had a clear goal, he didn't stay in the outermost circle of the hunting ground at all, but rode his horse into the depths of the forest with all his heart.

"Your Majesty wants to hunt something big." Jing Zhan beside him said with a smile, "It doesn't stop outside, in case there are deer looking for food."

During the winter hunting today, Ning Yan didn't bring any guards with him, so when the hunting started just now, Xie Jue consciously followed up, protecting Ning Yan with Jing Zhan on the left and right.

After hearing this, before Ning Yan said anything, Xie Jue smiled and said, "Look at what you said, it's the first time our Majesty has such a big event, so why don't you allow His Majesty to come back for extra meals?"

"What's so good about hunting hares outside the hunting ground?" Ning Yan held the rein in one hand, leaned on the horse to keep his balance, and when he heard this, he glanced sideways at the two of them, and said with a smile, "Walk inside and see if you can I can't find a few pieces of white fox fur to make a brightly colored cloak for the emperor."

Jing Zhan: "..."

He has recently discovered that Ning Yan mentioned Ning Huaijin more and more often, almost becoming inseparable.

Obviously, His Majesty was not so clingy when he was young, but now he has grown back.

"Your Majesty." Jing Zhan asked sincerely, "Can you go out without mentioning the prince for a day?"

"Uncle Huang devoted himself to the government and is loyal to me." Ning Yan spoke confidently: "Is there anything wrong with me taking him to heart?"

"...That's right." Jing Zhan said dumbly: "That's right."

Xie Jue was amused by the teasing of these two teenagers, but he didn't dare to laugh too much, and it was extremely hard to hold back.

His Majesty once again won a big victory in this verbal battle with the national teacher, looked away contentedly, and began to search for prey in earnest.

The mounts of the three of them were all top-quality horses, and within half a stick of incense, they had already entered the depths of the forest, and the sunlight that fell from the gaps between the branches became thinner.

Ning Yan reined in his horse and slowed down.

This forest has not been hunted for many years, and there are a lot of prey in it. Just now when I came all the way, I saw several pheasants and hares.But Ning Yan was not interested in these gadgets. He randomly found a straight redwood to make a mark, then dismounted to check the surrounding land conditions, chose a direction, and rode the horse to the other end.

In less than half a cup of tea, the three of them walked out of the small forest and came to an open field, where they saw a small stream in the distance.

The stream flowed down from the mountain behind the forest farm, and because it was running water, it was not frozen, only a thin layer of ice crust formed on the surface of the water near the shore.

On the opposite bank of the stream, there was a deer standing by the stream and drinking water.

It was a male stag, which looked to be in the prime of life, more than half the height of a person, with hard and straight antlers, and there was a little blood on the tip of the top branch, as if it had just fought with something.

Ning Yan narrowed his eyes, and took out an arrow from the arrow basket.

The iron shaft grazed the arrow basket, making a slight scratching sound, and the stag by the stream moved its ears and raised its head sharply.

This is a small open space, with forest farms in front of him and behind him, and the distance between Ning Yan and the stag is only a few dozen steps.The stream in the middle is so narrow that adults can cross it in one step.

The moment the deer saw Ning Yan, it arched its body, pawed the ground with its hooves, and exposed the antlers on its head threateningly.

It was not the first time for Xie Jue to hunt. He knew that although this kind of stag was not a carnivorous beast, it was also very ferocious. The sharp antlers could easily cut open the soft belly of a horse.

He was about to persuade Ning Yan to retreat, when he saw the deer suddenly get angry, jumped over the brook, and rushed towards Ning Yan.

The horse under Ning Yan was afraid of the deer, and subconsciously took two steps back.

Xie Jue's sword had already been drawn, and in a blink of an eye, Ning Yan put on the bow quickly, and let go of his hand without aiming at it. The feathered arrow flew away with the sound of breaking wind, and sank deeply into the stag's throat , There was a muffled sound of blood and flesh being torn apart.

The stag still maintained its forward-charging posture. The sharp arrow pierced through its throat, and was pulled out half of the body by the inertia. Hot blood flowed down the arrow, and the stag shook. Shaking, fell to the ground on the spot, just a few steps away in front of Ning Yan.

The white horse under him was startled, neighed and took two steps back, and was pulled by Ning Yan again by the rein.

The waiter at the hunting ground finally caught up with him, happened to see Ning Yan's subordinate's jackpot, and praised him quickly, then took out a long and thin tube from his bosom, pulled the lead wire and released it. God.

"You don't have to follow me, anyway, I don't have any prey to count, so you can find someone else to serve you." Ning Yan put the bow on his back again, and said, "I'm just playing casually today, and I won't fight with them." First name, drag this deer back, give it to the dining room to be cleaned, and I will divide it with my own hands at night."

The servant quickly responded, and beckoned to the people around him to drag and drag the deer onto the wooden frame, tied it to the horse he was riding, and bid farewell to Ning Yan.

Xie Jue put his sword back into its sheath, and said with a smile, "Your Majesty's first winter hunt, don't you want to win the prize yourself?"

"What kind of prize do I want to compete with them?" Anyway, there was no one around, and Ning Yan didn't think too much about what he said: "When I was learning riding and archery, I used six or seven bows instead of ten, and there was only one "Imperial Gift" ' The name is worthy of a lottery."

"You can't say that." Jing Zhan said: "Those who want to win the lottery don't want to take this bow back to use. They have to set up an incense case to confess when they take it home."

They chatted and laughed a few words, and then went into the woods without delay.

Ning Yan was still thinking about the white fox fur he was looking for, and he was extremely careful along the way, but unfortunately he was unlucky today, except for a few badgers, he didn't even see a fox fur along the way.

Xie Jue was the one with the highest official rank in the Winter Hunt this time, and he was too old to show his face in front of Ning Yan, so he was not in a hurry, and walked leisurely with Ning Yan in the forest, only wanting to hit him a few times on the way. The hare said that he wanted to go back and make a sleeve.

When it was approaching noon, Ning Yan didn't want to go further into the forest.

It was snowy some time ago, and the terrain in the mountains is unknown, which may be dangerous.He came out today without a guard, if he went into the mountain rashly, it would not be worthwhile if he fell off his horse.

So he simply rode his horse back and walked all the way to the stream where he hunted deer in the morning before dismounting for a little rest.

The harvest in the morning was not bad. Except for Jing Zhan who was empty-handed and didn't fight anything, Ning Yan and Xie Jue both had their own gains.

——except for the white fox fur, which is still missing.

"It's amazing." Ning Yan said: "This morning the fox obviously hunted two, but there was no white fur."

"White foxes are rare, and you can't find them." Xie Jue comforted: "If your majesty really wants it, you might as well use it as a lottery when you go back. It will be easier to find more people."

"Not at all, I just thought of it on the spur of the moment. If this is a prize, the big cloak that I made will not be taken by the emperor." Ning Yan said, then changed the subject, and said to Jing Zhan: "Ah Zhan this morning I just went for a stroll, and it wouldn’t look good to go back empty-handed... Before I go back, I’ll carry a badger from my horse to your horse.”

"I don't want it." Jing Zhan tugged on his clothes, a little disgusted: "So as not to stain the horse's back with blood."

"You have a lot of things to do." Ning Yan bent down, took a handful of water from the stream, wiped his hands, and said, "Put that at Zhaoming, go back and let the servant who counted points be yours—"

Before he finished speaking, two birdsongs suddenly came from the forest. The birdsongs were long and long, and they sounded like some kind of raptors.

Neither Xie Jue nor Jing Zhan paid attention to it, but Pian Ningyan noticed it. He listened intently for a while, then turned around and wiped the cold water drops on his hands with a soft cloth hung on the horse's back, and suddenly said: "Come out!" Talk back, don't shy away."

Following his order, Qin Liu, who had disappeared for most of the day, reappeared out of nowhere.Today, he didn't even wear the light armor of the imperial army, nor did he ride a horse. He only put on a pure black cloth, and he came out of the forest like a ghost, looking very inconspicuous.

At that time, Xie Jue was nodding his arrow to shoot a pheasant on the other side of the stream, but he was startled by his sudden appearance, and almost missed the aim of the arrow.

"Your Majesty." Qin Liu knelt in front of Ning Yan's horse, bowed his head and said, "A letter from Beijing."

With outsiders around, Qin Liu refused to say a word, and Ning Yan didn't ask any more questions, but just opened his hands to him.

Qin Liu took out a paper tube from his arms and handed it to Ning Yan, kowtowed again, turned around and jumped into the forest, and disappeared as quietly as when he came.

Xie Jue: "..."

The shadow guard really didn't know how to cultivate his concealment kung fu, Xie Jue thought, this lightness kung fu is really perfect, and he has practiced it well.

On the other end, Ning Yan had already broken the wax seal on the paper tube, and took out the paper roll inside.

A few lines of words were densely written on the three-finger-wide paper roll. Ning Yan glanced at the ten lines quickly, then rolled up the paper and threw it into the creek in front of him.

Once the thin paper was hit by water, it gradually became transparent, and the ink stains on it melted along the water flow, and within a moment, it was broken into paper scraps, which were washed away by the running water.

Ning Yan patted the horse beside him, pulled the saddle hard, and jumped onto the horse's back again.

He pulled the rein and turned the horse's head around, then smiled at Xie Jue and Jing Zhan, and said, "Good thing."

"Third brother's concubine was found to be pregnant, and it has been more than a month." Ning Yan said with a smile: "The Anqing Mansion rushed back to Beijing to announce the good news. The Queen Mother was also happy to hear that, and is now urging for a reward."