Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 49: Archery God Xue Rengui

A wooden platform had already been built at the entrance of the Forbidden Garden. Li Zhi sat at the head seat, with ministers and envoys from various countries sitting on his left and right.

Ten feet in front of the wooden platform, Xue Rengui and his five men and Du Bu's five men were riding in a row, leading their horses. There were five quivers hanging from their saddlebags, with twenty arrows in each quiver.

The tail feathers of each person's arrow are of different colors, which makes it easier to count who shot the prey.

After each of the ten men bowed to Li Zhi, they put on their quivers and mounted their horses.

Li Zhi put on a bright yellow armor today, looking more heroic than usual.

With a wave of his hand, the drummer beat the drum and the trumpeter blew the trumpet. Amid the loud sound of drums and trumpets, the sound of horse hooves stirred up a cloud of dust. Ten people had already galloped into the forest on horseback.

The Khitan leader Li Kuge took the lead.

Behind each person, there was another cavalry squad of ten people.

Five of them were responsible for collecting and counting the prey shot by each person, while the other five were responsible for reporting the hunting progress to the emperor and other ministers and foreign guests.

For example, if the number of animals hunted exceeds ten, twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty, someone will come out to report it.

After a while, the ten men, each with their team, disappeared behind the shade of the trees.

Li Zhi ordered people to bring wine and meat, and drank with his ministers and envoys while waiting for the results of the hunt.

The hunt starts at 5:00 PM and ends at 7:00 PM, lasting two hours.

In less than half an hour, a cavalryman in blue clothes rushed out.

When the Tang Dynasty emperor and his ministers saw his clothes, they knew that he was Qibi Heli's follower, and they were secretly happy.

Then the rider shouted, "Report! General Qibi Heli has hunted ten prey."

Before the man could finish his words, another cavalryman galloped out. This time, the cavalryman was wearing black clothes. The ministers felt nervous because the black clothes represented Li Kuuge's cavalry.

Then the man shouted, "Report! Commander Li Kuge has hunted ten prey."

Not long after, other people also came to report.

The third one to reach ten was Cheng Mingzhen, the fourth was Du Bu, and then came: Gao Kan, Zheng Rentai, the Uighur envoy, Murong Xin, and Lie Ge.

What is strange is that Xue Rengui never sent anyone to deliver the news.

The ministers and foreign guests began to whisper.

Not only Li Ji didn't come today, but Changsun Wuji didn't come either. Han Ai and Lai Ji sat in the front seats.

The two men smiled at each other, both gloating, thinking that the emperor only knew how to use his confidants, and now he has learned a lesson.

Liu Rengui and Shangguan Yi were also talking in low voices, with worried expressions on their faces.

In the past few days, they have met privately with other Qingliu officials several times, and they all feel that the emperor uses them in order to rectify the administration of officials.

In order not to disappoint the emperor's expectations, they were ready to clear out those officials who were just sitting there doing nothing.

Throughout the dynasties, it has never been easy to rectify the administration of officials, as it would inevitably offend existing interest groups and lead to strong resistance from them.

In order to succeed, they must have a powerful king supporting them. The higher the prestige and the stronger the king's power, the more confident they will be.

Now Xue Rengui is the general chosen by the emperor. If the hunting trip is lost because of him, not only will the Tang Dynasty lose face, but the emperor's dignity will also be seriously damaged.

Queen Bin was as worried as they were.

She was afraid that if the Tang Dynasty lost the hunting competition, its prestige would be undermined, and its plan to win over other small Qiang tribes would be ruined.

Before the hunt began, she had never thought that Datang would lose. Now she regretted it and thought, "Oh, I should have let Brother Lie hold back."

Nearing the time of Shen, Qibi Heli was the first to hunt twenty preys. Li Kuge was still holding on very tightly, and the two were only separated by a cup of tea.

An hour later, the others also had more than twenty prey.

The third place is still Cheng Mingzhen.

Gao Kan surpassed Dubu and rose to fourth place. The following ones were: Dubu, Zheng Rentai, Uighur envoy, Murong Xin, and Lie Ge.

There was still no news about Xue Rengui, not even a report of more than ten.

At this time, even Li Zhi was a little unsure.

He had seen Xue Rengui's martial arts and archery skills with his own eyes, and he didn't believe that he would be so poor. He was just worried that he had diarrhea and that was why he didn't perform well.

Because of Xue Rengui and Li Kuge, the outcome of this game gradually became confusing, and Han Ai and Lai Ji could no longer laugh.

At this moment, another rider rushed out from the forest. Judging from the time, it couldn't be the other nine people, but must be Xue Rengui's entourage.

Li Zhi stood up slowly, and his expression changed slightly as the cavalry approached.

The color of the cavalry was blue, not Xue Rengui's red.

The cavalryman's face was filled with anxiety as he shouted, "Your Majesty, this is bad! General Qibi Heli has fallen off his horse."

Li Zhi's face turned pale and he asked, "How could this be?"

The cavalryman said, "When General Qibi Heli was hunting, a leopard jumped out from the bushes and knocked him down."

Li Zhi frowned.

Qibi Heli was a fierce general of the Tang Dynasty. How could he be knocked down by a leopard? Was he really old?
Wang Jishan suddenly asked, "From which direction did the leopard pounce on General Qibi Heli?" The cavalryman replied, "From a clump of grass on the left. We were too far away at the time to warn him."

Wang Jishan bowed to Li Zhi and said, "Your Majesty, General Qibi Heli is missing his left ear, making it difficult for him to hear movements to the left, which is why he was pounced on by the leopard."

Li Zhi suddenly understood.

When Qibi Heli returned to visit his relatives, he was abducted by his subordinates and brought before the Xueyantuo Khan, who forced him to rebel against the Tang Dynasty. He cut off his left ear and preferred death to rebel, a story that has become a legend.

Li Zhi asked the accompanying rider, "How is General Qibi Heli's injury?"

The attendant said, "It's nothing serious. The old general was tackled and strangled the leopard to death. He only injured his leg bone and I'm afraid he can't hunt anymore."

Han Ai hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, since General Qibi Heli has been accidentally injured, I propose to cancel the competition and reschedule it for another day."

He was worried that the Tang Dynasty would lose.

Liu Rengui: "Unexpected events are inevitable in competitions. There's no need to cancel it."

Li Zhi glanced at Liu Rengui and understood what he meant.

It would be embarrassing for Datang to lose, but it would be even more embarrassing if they canceled the game and acted as if they couldn't afford to lose.

He glanced at the envoys from various countries again and saw that they were all staring at him.

Li Zhi said slowly: "The hunt continues."

Amid the sound of trumpets and drums, the red sun gradually set in the west and the temperature became colder and colder.

In the middle of the afternoon, Li Kuge's riders came again to report that the Khitans had hunted thirty prey.

After a long time, the number of Tang army generals finally exceeded thirty. The second one was Gao Kan, who had surpassed Cheng Mingzhen.

At this time, another blue-clothed cavalryman under Qibi Heli rushed out.

It turned out that Qibi Heli refused to withdraw from the competition. He ordered people to tie himself to the horse with a rope and insisted on continuing to compete.

The riders were afraid that his injuries would get worse, so they tried their best to stop him and sent someone to report.

Li Zhi said loudly, "Tell the old general that I will need him to defend the four directions in the future. Tell him to take care of his health and not to hunt anymore."

As soon as the blue-clad rider left, a green-clad rider came running out. The hearts of the Tang emperor and his ministers sank, because green clothes were the attire of the Tibetans.

Du Bu actually surpassed Cheng Mingzhen and jumped to third place.

Not long after, Cheng Mingzhen's cavalry finally came to report, followed by the Uighur envoy, who surpassed Zheng Rentai.

Soon, Zheng Rentai, Murong Xin and Lie Ge also caught more than thirty arrows. The results were very close, which further proved that these people were all masters of archery.

Only Xue Rengui's entourage had not returned any news.

Just as the hour of You was approaching, two riders came running, one in front and one behind.

The rider in front was wearing black clothes, and he was Li Kugo's follower. Li Kugo actually had more than forty followers.

The rider behind was wearing a red robe. It was Xue Rengui's follower. He finally came to report the news.

"Report! Your Majesty, General Xue's bowstring has been broken!" the cavalryman shouted.

Li Zhi's expression changed slightly, and he asked, "Why didn't you report it earlier?"

The cavalryman said, "Your Majesty, the bowstring just broke."

Li Zhi was stunned for a moment and asked, "How many prey did General Xue hunt?"

The cavalryman replied, "Your Majesty, we have hunted sixty-nine!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the faces of all the ministers changed, and the foreign guests stood up and looked at the rider in disbelief.

Li Zhi laughed out loud and said, "Since we've already exceeded fifty, why not report it earlier?"

The attendant said, "It was General Xue's order."

Li Zhi thought Xue Rengui wanted to give him a surprise, so he said with a smile, "I understand. Please leave."

He did not ask anyone to replace Xue Rengui's bow because he had guessed that Xue Rengui had deliberately broken the bowstring.

Since Li Shimin established this hunting season, there have been two people who have hunted the largest number of animals: Qin Qiong and Xue Wanche, both of whom caught sixty-nine.

Although Li Jing and Li Ji were excellent at using troops, their archery skills were not as good as these two. Yuchi Gong and Cheng Zhijie were better at charging into battle.

Li Shimin was also an expert in archery, but due to his status, he could not participate. So he tried it secretly and shot seventy prey, surpassing Xue and Qin.

Although Li Shimin ordered not to make it public, his ministers soon found out.

Since then, no one dared to surpass Li Shimin's hunting volume, and of course, no one could surpass it until Xue Rengui appeared.

There is still a quarter of an hour left until the end.

Xue Rengui deliberately broke the bowstring to show his respect to Emperor Taizong.

After a while, the hour of You arrived, the drums sounded suddenly, and the hunting was over.

Not long after, all the people who participated in the hunting, including Qibi Heli, came out of the forest.

(End of this chapter)