Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 48: Hunting in the Forbidden Garden
The third day of the Lunar New Year was the day when the Tang Dynasty emperor and his ministers and foreign envoys went hunting.

This tradition began in the 21st year of Zhenguan.

Although the Turkic tribes were subservient to the Tang Dynasty at that time, they were unruly and would provoke the Tang Dynasty every year when paying tribute, testing whether the Tang Dynasty was still strong.

Li Shimin then organized a hunting event. The Tang Dynasty sent five generals to select the five strongest warriors from each vassal state, a total of ten people, to compete in hunting.

This hunting event is intended to intimidate other countries and to motivate the country's military commanders not to slack off.

Since the hunting event was held, the Tang Dynasty lost only in the first year of Yonghui, which was the first year of Li Zhi's reign.

It was this defeat that made Helu feel that there was an opportunity, and he rebelled against the Tang Dynasty and declared independence the following year.

In the following years, the situation in the Tang Dynasty gradually stabilized, the emperor and his ministers felt at ease, and the dynasty never lost again.

Li Zhi had been worried about this matter since the second night of the Lunar New Year, because the two main forces participating in the hunt were unable to participate.

The two people were Cheng Zhijie and Li Ji.

Although they are old, they are still strong and their riding and shooting skills are far superior to those of the younger generation of generals. They are the mainstay of the Tang Dynasty.

However, Cheng Zhijie went to conquer the Western Turks.

Last night, someone from the Duke of Ying's mansion came to report that Li Ji had caught a cold and was unable to participate in the hunting.

So Li Zhi could only find two replacements.

One of them is easy to find, just let Xue Rengui go into battle.

The other one was more troublesome. Among the old generals, only Yuchi Gong was famous for his bravery, but he had long since closed his door to visitors and devoted himself to refining elixirs, and did not even attend the grand court meetings.

As for the young generals, none of them were particularly famous.

Li Zhi had no choice but to send someone to ask Li Ji for advice. Li Ji sent someone back and recommended Gao Kan to him.

Li Zhi knew Gao Kan, who had once captured Chebi Khan of the Eastern Turks alive and became famous in one battle.

However, the Eastern Turks and the Western Turks are different after all, and most of the tribes are loyal to the Tang Dynasty.

As soon as Gao Kan's army entered the country, the Turkic tribes surrendered one after another. This battle was not of great significance.

Having said that, he was still a good general, and Li Zhi couldn't find any other replacement for the time being, so he had to let him take over.

In addition to the two, the other three are Zheng Rentai, Cheng Mingzhen and Qibi Heli, all of whom are fierce generals in the army who participated in the hunting last year.

Among the three, Qibi Heli is the best at archery.

Although he was a Tang person of Tiele descent, he ranked second only to Li Ji in last year's hunting, and was even better than Cheng Zhijie.

On the morning of the third day, Li Zhi issued an edict to summon all five people to Ganlu Palace for a talk.

Qibi, Heli and the other two were obviously not very satisfied with Xue Rengui and Gao Kan, and looked at them with sidelong glances.

Cheng Mingzhen coughed and said, "Your Majesty, why not have Liang Jianfang replace Lord Li and Ashina She'er replace Lord Cheng? These two generals, hey, they're a little too young."

Li Zhi had met his son Cheng Wuting, and the father and son were indeed somewhat alike, not only in appearance, but also in temperament, both of whom were too straightforward.

He said slowly, "Xue Rengui and Gao Kan are both outstanding generals of the new generation of Tang Dynasty. Let's give them a chance to gain experience."

Cheng Mingzhen was about to say something else but was stopped by Zheng Rentai.

Zheng Rentai was born into the Zheng family of Xingyang. Although he was a military general, he understood the ways of the world better.

The hunt started at 4:00 p.m. in the forest north of the Forbidden Garden. Tents had already been set up outside the forest.

It snowed on the first day of the lunar year and it hasn't melted at all yet. The wind is biting cold and it will be very difficult to hunt in this weather.

Before noon, envoys from various countries arrived one after another.

With Li Zhi's dragon tent as the center, there are two large tents on each side, one is the Tang Dynasty tent, and the other is the tents of various countries.

In the morning at the Honglu Temple, envoys from various countries used a target shooting method to select the top five participating countries, namely: Tubo, Uighur, Tuyuhun, Khitan and Dongnu Qiang.

Participants from the five countries are now all gathered in the tent.

Except for the Dongnu Kingdom, the warriors sent by each country to participate in the competition were the envoys themselves.

This is normal. For the sake of their country's reputation, each country would select the strongest warriors to pay homage to the Tang Dynasty.

In some countries, the chiefs came in person, and the chiefs themselves were one of the strongest warriors in their country, such as the Khitan chief, Li Kugo.

The Kingdom of Eastern Women is different. The king is a woman. Even if she has some martial arts skills, she cannot compare with men after all.

The Eastern Women's Kingdom sent a man in his forties, who was also the country's strongest warrior, named Liege.

Before the hunt begins, everyone has a good meal according to the rules.

There were five tables in the tent, and on each table were placed delicious lamb legs, pork chops, bear paws and other meats.

The contestants from the five countries sat at the table and ate heartily.

Murong Xin suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a bone, sneering, "A mere small country like Dongnu dares to take up a spot? Humph, it's better to give up the spot and let the East Turkic warriors take over, then you have a chance of winning."

Brother Lie glanced at Murong Xin, and thought of the instructions Queen Bin had just given him.

"Murong Xin will deliberately provoke you later. Don't be polite, just curse back."

Liege knew that his country had secretly joined forces with Tuyuhun, and the queen gave such an order deliberately to show it to the Tubo people and confuse them.

He said coldly, "Although Dongnu is small, it has many warriors, far superior to the useless Tuyuhun." Murong Xin slammed the table and stood up, angrily saying, "Who are you calling useless?"

Du Bu's eyes flicked between the two of them, carefully observing their expressions.

The Uighur envoy frowned and said, "We need to work together later. Why are you arguing? If we lose miserably, it will be embarrassing for everyone."

Du Buhei smiled and said, "It hasn't even started yet, how do you know you're going to lose?"

The Uighur envoy said, "The Tang people are brave and valiant. Who among all nations doesn't know this? Over the years, we have only won once, during the transition of the Tang emperors."

Du Bu snorted and said nothing.

Li Kuge suddenly said, "Li Ji didn't participate this year."

The Uighur envoy said, "So what? The Tang Dynasty is full of brave generals. Even if General Li is not here, there are still other brave generals."

Li Kuoge glanced at him and said coldly, "The Tang people are not gods. Are they so invincible in your heart?"

The Uighur envoy laughed and said, "I didn't know it before, and it's hard to say in the future. At least the Tang Dynasty is truly invincible now."

Li Kuge said, "That's not necessarily true."

The Uighur envoy sneered, "Just you?"

Li Kuge walked to the bow rack without saying a word, picked up two bows and put them together.

The others all looked at him closely.

He just shouted loudly, the muscles in his arms bulged suddenly, the veins on his neck popped out, and the bowstrings of the two hard bows were pulled to their full length by him.

The expressions of the warriors from the four countries all changed.

……

"General Gao, what did you say just now?" Zheng Rentai asked.

This is the camp of the Tang army generals.

Gao Kan, Xue Rengui, Qibi Heli, Cheng Mingzhen and Zheng Rentai also sat at five tables to eat.

Zheng Rentai and Cheng Mingzhen talked about today's opponents, and both felt that the most threatening ones were Tubo and Uighur.

Gao Kan suddenly interrupted and said that the most threatening ones were not those two.

Gao Kan, upon hearing Zheng Rentai's question, said, "The Khitan leader, Li Kuge, has always been hiding his abilities and should not be underestimated."

Cheng Mingzhen glared and said, "I'm stationed in Yingzhou and have frequent dealings with the Khitans. I didn't even know that Li Kuge was hiding his abilities. How could you have known?"

Gao Kan said, "It is precisely because the old general is so famous that Brother Li Ku was on guard and tried not to reveal any flaws when he was with you. I am an unknown person, so it is easier for me to see his true colors."

After hearing this, Cheng Mingzhen was stunned and frowned in thought.

Zheng Rentai said with a smile, "Then please tell me, General Gao, why is Brother Li Ku hiding his incompetence?"

Gao Kan said: "Brother Li Ku is very similar to Helu."

Helu originally submitted to the Tang Dynasty and used the banner of the Tang Dynasty to expand his power, but after becoming strong, he betrayed the Tang Dynasty.

Gao Kan's words meant that Li Kuge, like Helu, submitted to the Tang Dynasty in order to allow the Khitan to recuperate and then plan to rebel in the future.

Qibi Heli suddenly stood up and said, "I have finished eating. I will go outside to feed the horses first." Then he strode away.

Zheng Rentai clapped his hands and said with a smile: "I'm done eating too, so I'll keep you company."

Cheng Mingzhen glanced at Gao Kan, said nothing, and left the tent silently.

The three of them never looked at Xue Rengui from beginning to end.

In their eyes, Gao Kan barely had some achievements to show for himself, so they would listen to him, but they would not take his words too seriously.

As for Xue Rengui, he was just a guard beside the emperor. He could only sit here by flattering the emperor. No one looked down on him.

Gao Kan sighed, lowered his head and ate the mutton silently.

Xue Rengui suddenly asked, "General Gao, in your opinion, will Brother Li Ku show his abilities today?"

Gao Kan glanced at him and said, "Very likely."

Xue Rengui asked: "Why?"

Gao Kan said solemnly, "The Khitan have been allied with the Tang for nearly ten years now, and their strength has almost recovered. Internal anti-Tang sentiment is growing stronger. Li Kuge, however, feels the time is not yet ripe and has been suppressing them. However, he is almost unable to do so."

Xue Rengui said, "So he needs to defeat the Tang Dynasty and improve his reputation so that he can suppress the pro-war faction in his own country?"

Gao Kan said: "That's right."

Xue Rengui nodded and said no more.

Gao Kan suddenly smiled and said, "I heard that General Xue is an expert with the halberd and once defeated General Wang Jishan. I wonder how he is with the bow?"

Xue Rengui said, "I can barely draw the bowstring."

Gao Kan naturally didn't believe it. Just as he was about to ask again, a burst of trumpet and drum sounds came from outside.

Gao Kan and Xue Rengui stood up at the same time, which was the sound of the hunt about to begin.

(End of this chapter)