Tang Dynasty Hidden Guards

The horse ranch is located west of Mingde Palace. It is a high-quality grassland covering thousands of acres. The land is flat, without rocks, caves or shrubs, and covered with soft grass, which is very suitable for warhorses to run.

When Emperor Taizong of Tang lived in Mingde Palace, he practiced riding and archery here every day.

For noblemen and young masters in the Tang Dynasty, archery was a basic skill that everyone knew; the difference lay in the level of archery skill, with many being exceptionally skilled archers.

Xue Wei was one of them, but he was more skilled at night archery. No one could match his ability to shoot incense sticks at night, which is why he was known as the Three Masters.

At this moment, dozens of skilled archers were vying for a golden crown. The crown was placed there by Prince Li Dan, and hung from a willow tree with a thin hemp rope. With thousands of willow branches hanging down, the challenge was to first find the rope among the dense branches, and then shoot it with an arrow from a hundred paces away. Moreover, only the rope could be shot; the crown itself was strictly forbidden. Whoever shot down the crown would own it.

When Xue Wei arrived, the competition for the golden crown on the horse track had already begun. Warhorses galloped and arrows were constantly being shot. On the willow tree a hundred paces away, the golden crown gleamed brightly in the sunlight, exceptionally clear.

Xue Wei hesitated, as he had never tried riding and archery before. Yuan Min stepped forward to encourage him, "Old Xue, you can definitely do it! Go give it a try!"

A lover's encouragement is the most effective. Xue Wei walked to the table and asked, "What are the rules?"

"Oh! The Three Masters have arrived."

The steward recognized him and said with a smile, "Each person will have two arrows, one for practice and one for practice. Shoot the rope holding the golden crown from a hundred paces away, but do not shoot the golden crown itself. Whoever shoots the golden crown down first gets it. Please note that you only have one chance to shoot the golden crown. The other arrow is for your practice."

"What about the horses and bows and arrows?"

"Bows and arrows are here, choose one!"

The steward pointed to the bow rack beside him and said with a smile, "As for the horses, go wait over there. Whoever finishes shooting will get their horse."

Xue Wei picked out a hard bow with a weight of one and a half stones and took two arrows. He quickly walked to the entrance of the horse farm, where there was a long queue of people, all eager to try their luck and wait for their horses.

Although there were many people, the process was quick, and each person only had one chance.

At this moment, several palace guards led over dozens of horses, and everyone rushed forward.

"Brother Xue, this horse is for you!"

Dugu Yi was quick-witted and managed to snatch two horses, while Xue Wei was lucky enough to get a white horse as soon as he arrived.

The two mounted their horses, and Xue Wei urged them to gallop slowly. He drew his bow on horseback, trying to get a feel for archery. Many other knights were also running, drawing their bows, and shooting arrows, trying to get a feel for it.

But Xue Wei knew that if he didn't shoot a few arrows, he would never get the hang of it. According to the rules, he could only shoot one arrow when shooting the Golden Crown. The other arrow was for practice. He could practice as much as he wanted, but he only had one chance to shoot the Golden Crown.

The riders were all eager to go on stage, fearing that the golden crown would be shot away. However, Xue Wei was in no hurry. He practiced archery repeatedly in the waiting area with his bow and arrow, adjusting himself to his best condition.

The sides were filled with spectators watching the horseback archery, and groups of young women shouted in their voices, creating a lively atmosphere.

...........

Standing on a nearby viewing platform were Crown Prince Li Xian, Prince Xiang Li Dan, and Princess Taiping Li Lingyue, the three siblings reuniting for the first time in four years.

Behind them stood more than a dozen imperial grandsons and granddaughters, as well as several of Li Lingyue's children.

"Little sister, why haven't I seen Chongyin?" Crown Prince Li Xian asked.

Li Xian was a gentle man, a kind-hearted person, and also a notorious henpecked husband, completely controlled by his wife, the Crown Princess Wei.

Historically, although Li Xian was the emperor, a portion of his imperial power was divided among three women: Empress Wei, Crown Princess Li Guo'er, and Princess Taiping Li Lingyue.

Li Xian had been fond of Xue Wei since childhood, and he wanted to marry his daughter Li Guo'er to Xue Wei, but his mother Wu Zetian disagreed.

Wu Zetian used a clever trick to marry Yuan Min, the granddaughter of the Yuan family, to Xue Wei, successfully securing her position. This left Li Xian helpless, Li Guo'er angry, and Xue Wei dissatisfied. As a result, on their wedding night, Xue Wei refused to enter the bridal chamber and went to comfort Li Guo'er instead.

Li Lingyue smiled and said, "His fiancée, Yuan Min, is in the second-class district, so he went there. These young people nowadays! They don't want to be separated from their loved ones for even a moment. There's nothing you can say about them."

Li Dan, standing nearby, paused slightly. He stood up and walked to his eldest son, Li Chengqi, coldly asking, "Did you transfer Yuan Min to the second-class area?"

Li Chengqi was so frightened that he quickly shook his head, "How could I do such a thing? It was definitely not me."

Li Dan knew his eldest son was a steady person and wouldn't make any changes behind his back. He frowned, "Could it be Chengyi?"

"That's probably impossible. The list has always been in the child's hands; he hasn't had the opportunity to modify it."

"Then find out exactly what happened. How was Yuan Min transferred, and who did it?"

"I understand, I'll go investigate right away!"

Li Chengqi left in a hurry, and Li Dan came back and whispered to Li Lingyue, "I apologize for this. Yuanmin's seat was originally in the first-class section, which was specially approved by the Emperor. I don't know why, but it was moved to the second-class section."

Li Lingyue was taken aback, then said with dissatisfaction, "Fourth Brother, what you've done is wrong. Since it was a special approval from the Emperor, she's now being removed. How are you going to explain this to the Emperor?"

Li Dan smiled wryly and said, "I know it's very inappropriate. I've already asked Chengqi to investigate."

Li Lingyue fell silent, secretly on guard. She sensed that this wasn't directed at Yuan Min, but at her eldest son, Xue Wei, and perhaps even at herself.

She knew that her eldest son had been promoted to the rank of Fifth-Rank Imperial Carriage Commandant, which had caused many ministers to be secretly dissatisfied. The fifth rank was a very difficult hurdle to overcome, and her eldest son was neither from a formal academic background nor had any outstanding political achievements, yet he had easily broken through to the fifth rank. Moreover, his reputation was not good, and the court believed that he had risen to the position by virtue of his own power. Therefore, a lot of dissatisfaction had been accumulating in secret, and they had manipulated the ranking today.

Is this really the case?

...........

Xue Wei test-fired a few arrows near the waiting area and was starting to get the hang of it. By then, there were only a few people left in the waiting area.

In fact, the strongest muscle memory left to him by his predecessor Xue Wei was horseback archery, not even polo. In the past, Xue Wei practiced horseback archery every day to avenge his father, transforming himself from a gentle and refined young scholar into a master of horseback archery, developing calluses on his inner thighs.

"Cousin, why aren't you up yet?"

When Xue Wei turned around, he saw Li Longji behind him, also holding a bow and arrow and riding a horse.

"I haven't practiced archery for over a year, so my skills are a bit rusty. I need to practice a bit. Saburo, you go first!"

Li Longji smiled and nodded, "Then I'll accept the offer without hesitation!"

At this point, only Xue Wei and Li Longji remained in the waiting area.

Li Longji spurred his horse and galloped out, shouts thundering from both sides. He drew an arrow, nocked it, and shot it towards the willow grove, striking the thin rope squarely. His golden crown swayed violently; the arrow had hit its mark.

Cheers erupted all around, but then fell silent again. The golden crown did not fall to the ground; the arrow had hit its mark, but the rope had not broken.

Li Longji slapped his forehead hard, his face full of regret. He had overlooked the most crucial problem: the rope was too soft.

At this moment, Xue Wei, the last one, was dispatched.

He spurred his horse and galloped along the hundred-step line with the force of thunder. Although Xue Wei was not as handsome as his brother Xue Chongjian, nor as fair-skinned, he was far less dashing in playing polo than Xue Chongjian.

However, in archery and horsemanship, his imposing presence and ferocity far surpassed Xue Chongjian's. When he rode a horse with a bow in hand, he exuded a murderous aura that overshadowed all the knights around him.

Yuan Min's gaze towards her lover changed, as if she had returned to that bright spring morning four years ago, when she saw the agile Xue Wei at the East City Archery Range. His sharp eyes, as he turned and drew his bow, completely captivated her budding heart.

"Keep it up, Lao Xue!"

Yuan Min covered her mouth with her hands and shouted, completely returning to her thirteen-year-old teenage years.

Xue Wei was the last to go on stage. By this time, more than a hundred people had shot, but none of them had managed to shoot down the golden crown. Li Longji had just shot the rope, but the rope did not break, which caused a great deal of regret. With only one person left, most people thought it was hopeless and many were preparing to leave.

Xue Wei has arrived. He has adjusted to his best condition. He not only has the strong muscle memory of Xue Wei from the Tang Dynasty, but also the calm wisdom from Xue Wei in his previous life.

It was as if the combination of high-performance hardware and meticulously crafted software made his archery skills at this time surpass those of Xue Wei of the Tang Dynasty.

Xue Wei took the wolf-tooth arrow out of his mouth, his eyes flashing like lightning as he stared at the thin rope in the willow branch. He then followed the rope upwards and found the thin rope tied to the branch.

His wisdom was evident at this moment; he would not shoot at the rope in the air, as it was too soft and difficult to break. Instead, he would shoot at the thin rope on the tree branch.

Xue Wei drew his bow to its fullest extent, and as his warhorse galloped, he turned and fired an arrow.

An arrow shot out, and everyone held their breath. Yuan Min clenched her fists tightly in front of her chest with tension.

"Snap!" An arrow struck the tree trunk. The branch did not break, but the rope was severed, and the golden crown in mid-air suddenly fell to the ground.

Cheers erupted all around, and Yuan Min was so excited that she hugged Dugu Jiao and jumped up.

"Ah Jiao, he hit the target! He won!"

Li Longji was astonished and full of admiration. Xue Wei's archery skills might be similar to his own, but he was smarter.