The fourth year of Tianqi, early April.
The first round of spring hunting competition has entered its last day.
Just the night before, Zhang Huaishen, the governor of Guiyi, secretly visited Wang Jian, the governor of Xichuan.
Meng Xiaohun, a general under the command of Fengxiang Jiedushi Li Maozhen, killed two generals from Xichuan in the hunting ground, causing Wang Jian to completely hate Li Maozhen.
Zhang Huaishen visited Wang Jian naturally to find an ally.
The two of them, one of whom had a new grudge against Li Maozhen and the other an old grudge against the other, could be said to have hit it off immediately. The two of them immediately agreed to send a letter back together, ordering their generals to attack Fengxiang.
Xichuan was to the south of Li Maozhen's forces; and the Guiyi Army's territory was just to the north. The two of them joined forces to attack Fengxiang, immediately forming a pincer attack from the south and the north.
If their conspiracy succeeds, Li Maozhen, who is caught off guard, will suffer heavy losses even if he is not defeated by them.
However, what Zhang Huaishen and Wang Jian did not know was that Guo Qizuo, the top think tank in Heshuo who had long anticipated the general trend, had already made plans for Longxi. The fact that generals such as Gao Su quietly stationed troops in Shuofang was the best proof of this.
Unless the Guiyi Army does not move, as soon as the Guiyi Army moves, tens of thousands of Heshuo Tiger Guards stationed in Shuofang will immediately ride their horses westward and completely capture the Guiyi Army's territory.
The Guiyi Army is no longer what it used to be. Rather than letting it continue to be in chaos in Zhang Huaishen's hands, it would be better to give it a new owner.
At least now Zhu Li is absolutely capable of pacifying the Rong and Di tribes in Longxi and allowing the Han people in Longxi to live a peaceful and harmonious life.
If Zhang Huaishen, Wang Jian and Li Maozhen were defeated, Gao Su, the commander of the Heshuo Army, would not mind and would take Fengxiang at the same time.
Once Gao Su captured Fengxiang, the two major vassal states, Wang Chongying and Zhu Mei, would be surrounded on three sides.
Facing Heshuo, surrounded on three sides geographically, the day is not far away when the entire Guannei Road and the area within the "J" shape of the Yellow River will all belong to Heshuo.
Of course, this is the most ideal result; as long as the Guiyi Army moves, Gao Su can follow Guo Qizuo's strategy and at the very least, capture the entire Longxi area.
As long as Longxi is taken, there will be no more constraints and obstacles on the western front on the road to the south of Heshuo. At that time, Gao Su will join forces with Meng Juehai, Cao Shixiong and others, and it will not be difficult to attack Zhu Mei and Wang Chongying.
On the bank of Kunming Lake, in the camp where all the vassal states gathered.
On the temporary high platform and behind the wolf head case, the governors, general managers, town commanders and others from all parties gathered together again.
Because this afternoon, all the hunting teams that went out for hunting will return; of course, no one will pay attention to the unlucky guys like the Hangzhou hunting team, the Xichuan hunting team, and the Jiangzuo hunting team, who can be wiped out by shooting at prey continuously.
This is an obvious truth. In any era and any period, those who can attract the attention of most people are always those who can stand to the end.
The hunting team returns, and the opportunity to count the prey and identify the winners is something that the various vassal states will never let go easily; this is an opportunity to show off, and also a moment to determine their future political inclinations, so how can they be absent
The returning hunting teams, bringing their prey, all gathered outside the central military camp. There were special eunuchs in charge of counting the prey. After the counting, they would report the results loudly.
"The Chengde hunting team shot three prey: a hare, a musk deer, and a golden pheasant." The officials of the vassal states only sat for a short while when they heard a voice like a drake coming with the wind.
Hearing this voice, all the senior officials immediately turned their heads involuntarily and looked at a young man present; this young man, with a handsome face and an elegant demeanor, was none other than Wang Rong, the governor of Chengde Army.
Wang Rong inherited his father's job at the age of nine.
Standing tall in the chaotic forest of the late Tang Dynasty where tigers and wolves were everywhere, he was able to maintain the control of several states under the jurisdiction of Chengde Jiedu. It can be seen that this young man is by no means as simple as he seems.
And during this hunting competition, his general Mo Junhe slaughtered all the subordinates of Yisheng Liu Hanhong, which was really a shame.
Don’t underestimate this appearance. To put it in a broader sense, it’s prestige.
In the era of cold weapons, the prestige of a local lord determined how difficult it would be for him to recruit talents; Wang Rong's appearance in the hunting ground was no different from Yang Wei's dominance over the world, and should not be underestimated.
Also, don’t underestimate Chen De’s hunting team just because they only have three prey.
Some people might think that it is unacceptable that a governor of a region sent out a team of elite soldiers led by experienced generals, but only obtained three preys in three days.
However, all of you, the governors, are not fools. You will know how difficult it is just by thinking about it.
While in the hunting ground, surrounded by enemies and besieged by the imperial guards outside, the little-known Chengde Army was not only able to protect itself but also gain something. This was not achieved by luck alone, but required real skills.
However, facing the slightly admiring looks from other vassal states, the young Wang Rong remained calm and nodded in greeting without any arrogance or impatience, which was truly extraordinary.
"The Yiwu hunting team shot and killed a golden pheasant." The voice of the eunuch in charge of ceremonies sounded again, reporting the hunting results of Wang Chucun's subordinates.
"The Weizhou hunting team shot and killed five prey, including two hares, one elk, one wild boar and one musk deer." This was the result of the hunting team under the Weizhou Jiedushi, Le Yanzhen.
... ...
"The Jiangyou hunting team shot and killed two prey, a Siberian tiger and a wolf." A powerful vassal finally appeared.
Although the Jiangyou hunting team only shot two prey, they were a tiger and a wolf. Judging from the quality of the prey, they were obviously superior to other hunting teams.
What Zhu Li could never have expected was that out of a total of ten people in the Jiangyou hunting team, eight of them, including Shen Guang, were killed; only Li Fazhu and Li Cunxiao were left, and they were both seriously injured. It was truly rare that they could still achieve such a result.
"Yangzhou Hunting Team shot and killed a giant python." Upon hearing the results of the Yangzhou Hunting Team again, Zhu Li frowned slightly.
You know, there was only Tian Yu left in the Yangzhou hunting team, and this guy actually shot and killed a ferocious beast. From this, it seems that Li Fazhu and others, after suffering a great defeat, set their sights on the quality of the prey.
"Fengxiang hunting team, capture a wild buffalo alive." The eunuch's voice sounded again. Upon hearing this, Zhu Li became more certain of Master Li's intention.
Does quality lead to quantity
I'm afraid not. Zhu Li doesn't believe it. Yue Pengju would not have thought of this.
"The Hedong hunting team shot and killed six prey, two Siberian tigers, three fierce wolves, and one wild buffalo."
... ...
Zhu Li knew exactly what happened in the hunting ground.
The four-party alliance of Jiangyou, Hedong, Yangzhou and Fengxiang confronted the four hunting teams led by Heshuo. Although they suffered a great defeat, judging from the types of prey they shot, the other side obviously had no intention of admitting defeat.
Now it depends on whether Yue Pengju and his companions can live up to their expectations and whether they have thought about the quality. If they are careless and neglect this point just because of a small victory, then Yue Pengju, as a national hero in later generations, would be too cheap.
Just as Zhu Li was slightly worried, the eunuch's voice came again: "The Youzhou hunting team shot and killed nine wild rabbits."
“Poof…”
... ...
When this voice came, not only Zhu Li and Yuchi Jin's faces darkened, but even other senior officials couldn't help but laugh.
Some even laughed out loud.
Not only Zhu Li knew about the conflict that broke out in the hunting ground, but other senior officials were also very clear about it. No one had expected that when they had the upper hand, the Youzhou hunting team would actually specifically target rabbits and shoot them. Did they have a grudge against rabbits
This is no wonder. The Youzhou general Yu Juluo was seriously injured, and the brothers Xie Tian and Xie Di were also in the stage of recuperation. The task of hunting naturally fell on Wen Lan and Yang Guang who went to support him.
I don't know why, but these two little girls have become obsessed with rabbit meat recently, and they especially like eating rabbit legs, so naturally they keep chasing rabbits.
All the wild rabbits within a ten-mile radius of the entire hunting ground were in dire straits. Most of them were killed by them in just one morning.
You know, these two girls are now Tianxuan masters. Chasing and killing rabbits is a piece of cake for them, right
They killed a lot of rabbits, but because they couldn't carry them all, they finally picked out eight fat and big ones to bring back; of course, after completing the task, they thought it would be a good time to grill or fry them.
When a foodie does anything, he has only one purpose: to eat.
Although Yuchi Jin's face looked very ugly, she was somewhat relieved when she saw that all the generals she had sent out had returned, and she immediately no longer had any grudges in her heart.
But Zhu Li was different. He knew that Wenlan and Yangguang had already been promoted to the natural realm. The two masters of the Tianxuan realm actually killed a lot of rabbits and brought them back. He really wanted to hang these two girls up and beat them up.
However, only these two girls stood out. The eunuch's voice continued to be heard: "The Henan hunting team shot and killed seven prey, three Siberian tigers, three fierce wolves, and a wild donkey."
"The Yaozhou hunting team shot and killed eleven prey, including five explosive bears, one Siberian tiger, two ferocious wolves, one wild donkey, and two bison." Although the Yaozhou leader Zhe Silun suffered heavy losses, Li Tianfu maintained full combat power from beginning to end. With the help of the witch, it was inevitable that they captured so many prey in one morning.
"The Xuzhou hunting team shot and killed fourteen prey, including three explosive bears, two Siberian tigers, five fierce wolves, one wild donkey, one wild bull, and two musk deer."
"The Heshuo hunting team shot and killed thirty-five prey, including nine explosive bears, five Siberian tigers, eleven ferocious wolves, four wild donkeys, four bison, and two giant pythons." Upon hearing this number, the eyes of the other vassal states narrowed instantly.
This number is simply too terrifying. My dear officials, everyone knows that all these prey were shot on the last day, which was this morning, because no one took any action in the previous two days.
To shoot so many prey in one morning, first of all, the hunting team must have a general with great martial arts skills; secondly, they must have accurate intelligence.
In a limited time, they obtained so many preys. The Heshuo hunting team was definitely the best among all the vassal states in terms of the number of experts and scout capabilities.
After the prey was counted, the result was very clear; Prince Shou, supported by Zhu Li and Yuchi Jin, won the first round of hunting competition.
In this hunting competition, Heshuo was the dominant force, suppressing all other vassal states in the world, which further solidified Zhu Li's Heshuo's reputation as the number one vassal state in the world.
Reputation is a good thing, but in this world, many things have two sides. Heshuo's name is known throughout the world. It has attracted many talented and brave generals, but it is also feared by the Li Tang royal family.
Prince Shou came out on top, and not only did Yang Sixu, who was in charge of the spring search, frown, but even Yang Fugong, who was in charge of maintaining order, looked gloomy, and seemed very unhappy.
He was certainly not unhappy that Prince Shou won the first place, but he was unhappy that during the process, the Heshuo hunting team did not lose a single warrior, which was beyond his expectations.