Chapter 109

"drive--!"

“Gee, gee!”

Qu Dubian also followed them out. After entering the outer perimeter, he did not go back in, but just strolled outside - he was worried that his eldest and third brothers would fight too fiercely and he would be injured by mistake.

There are also prey outside, such as pheasants and rabbits.

After shooting three rabbits and two pheasants, Qu Duanbian stopped, found a crooked tree, tied his horse under it to graze, climbed up the tree on tiptoe, lay leisurely on the trunk, picked two leaves to cover his eyes, and fell into a doze.

The two guards who were in charge of following the Seventh Prince to pick up prey: "..."

have to.

They also found a place to rest.

After a while, the fourth prince passed by here and saw his seventh brother sleeping on the tree: "Little Seven has found a good place."

He ordered his guards to pile the prey together with Qu Duan's, and also climbed up the tree.

Qu Dubian uncovered a leaf: "Fourth brother is here."

The fourth prince found a place and lay down, praising: "Yes, this tree is growing really well."

He also picked two leaves and covered his eyes.

The two of them lay down peacefully.

The guards of the Fourth Prince and the Seventh Prince looked at each other and had no choice but to stay here as well.

After a while.

The second prince is here.

"Whoa." He pulled the reins.

look up:"……"

"Fourth and Seventh Brothers, you look so excited."

The fourth prince lazily asked, "Second brother is coming up too?"

The second prince smiled and said, "No need, I'll rest here for a while."

Qu Dubian glanced down and said, "Second brother, you have caught a lot of prey."

The guards carrying the prey behind the second prince had their hands full of them, including a deer, several hares and pheasants, a live wild boar, and a big bird.

"No, the guards have helped a lot," the second prince waved his hand, and the guards behind him came up. He ordered, "Give some prey to the fourth and seventh brothers, as the cost of borrowing the land to rest."

Qu Watanabe: "Second brother, just be casual, no need to be so polite."

The second prince joked, "I can't bring too much prey back, you two brothers know it. Please do me a favor." What he meant was that if he brought too much back, he might be targeted by the eldest prince and the third prince.

Qu Duanbian understood and said indifferently: "Then, second brother, please do as you please."

The second prince shared the prey, but he didn't take too much, just keeping it at a reasonable level.

After dividing the food, he sat cross-legged under the tree.

Qu Watanabe: "Big brother, third brother hasn't come back yet?"

The second prince hummed, "They are definitely going to the inner area, maybe they can hunt a big one."

-

Inner hunting ground.

"drive!"

"drive!!"

The third prince was chasing closely behind the eldest prince.

Ahead was an extremely rare dark purple fox, running away at full speed. Further ahead was the forest area, and once the fox entered the forest area, the horse would slow down, and it would be difficult to catch up.

The eldest prince looked back and saw that the third prince was sweating profusely. He sneered, "If you are weak, don't try to be brave. Otherwise, you will faint and I will have to carry you back!"

It was just a mockery, but unexpectedly it touched the sensitive spot of the Third Prince. His face suddenly darkened and he whipped the horse hard.

The horse neighed in pain, and the grass ring hanging on its neck swung back and forth. It suddenly sped up and became slightly violent.

The third prince quickly surpassed the eldest prince.

The eldest prince cursed inwardly.

The fox in front suddenly jumped into the forest, and the eldest prince reined in his horse in time: "Whoa!"

It’s hard to chase, forget it, I’d better cut the loss in time and hunt something else.

The third prince did not stop at all, still maintaining the same speed and galloping into the forest. The eldest prince glared at him: "Hey! Are you crazy!"

Although horses can pass through the forest, it is narrow. At this speed, if you are not careful, you will end up crashing into a tree, and your head will be filled with blood.

The guard beside the eldest prince asked, "Your Highness, shall we go in?"

The eldest prince: "What the hell, go in there, hunt something else, he doesn't care about his life, but I have a family to support." If Wen Xin knew that he was risking his life for a fox, she would skin him alive.

He snorted with a hint of unwillingness, turned his horse around, and prepared to go somewhere else.

In the woods.

The third prince stared at the fox's tail. After entering the woods, he slowed down a little. Then he narrowed his eyes and shot an arrow!

whoosh!

Shot the fox in the leg.

The fox screamed and the smell of blood immediately spread.

The third prince: "Okay! Come, take the fox away! Take it back and present it to father." Such special fox fur will surely win the favor of father.

He reined in the horse, but the horse did not obey his command and continued to gallop through the woods.

The third prince's heart skipped a beat and he was momentarily confused.

“Stop! Stop!”

The whip hit the horse, making it even more violent. It lost control of the direction that it had originally been able to control and started running around in the woods.

The guards following behind couldn't catch up, and were almost scared to death: "Third Prince! Your Highness!"

"You can't go any further! We've already left the hunting grounds! Your Highness, there's an isolation pit ahead, get off your horse!"

The hunting ground must be cleaned in advance, and some ferocious wild animals will be driven away in advance. Occasionally some will be missed. Whoever catches it will be the first in the hunt. If no one catches it, the prize will be calculated according to the rarity and quantity of the prey.

In order to prevent other large prey from entering the hunting ground, the people who manage the hunting ground will dig a deep and wide pit between the hunting ground and the expulsion area as a partition.

The isolation zone is just ahead.

The third prince's face had turned pale, and his hands and feet seemed a little weak.

He gritted his teeth to keep himself calm, tasted the smell of blood in his mouth, then pulled the reins hard. The horse stiffened and the third prince let go and threw himself to the ground, protecting his head.

After cushioning his fall on the ground, he did not fall directly into the deep pit, but rolled along a gentle slope before falling in.

Click.

The third prince fell heavily to the ground and could clearly hear the sound of his arm being dislocated.

His eyes went dark for several seconds and he felt pain all over his body from the fall.

The horse crossed the isolation belt and neighed as it went deeper into the water.

The Third Prince coughed a few times and shouted hoarsely, "Someone come..."

"Someone come quickly..."

He vaguely heard the guards shouting and rushing over, and just as he breathed a sigh of relief, his expression suddenly froze.

In the dim isolation pit, he saw a huge shadow slowly walking towards him. A black bear kept twitching its nose, and its sharp fangs emitted a fishy smell.

The third prince began to tremble.

Waves of numbness surged over him, and he almost forgot how to breathe.

When the guards arrived, they only heard a shrill scream:

"ah--!"

The smell of blood filled the bottom of the pit.

The eldest prince who came to inquire looked down at the bottom of the pit and his pupils shrank suddenly: "Third brother!"

The third prince's right arm was torn off.

The eldest prince shouted angrily: "What are you standing there for! Save them!!"

The guards worked together to rescue people and drove away the black bear. The eldest prince jumped directly into the isolation pit, picked up the almost half-conscious third prince, tied them together with a rope, and asked someone to pull them up.

The eldest prince was covered in blood. He used a strip of cloth to tightly wrap the third prince's broken arm and rode his horse quickly towards the camp. He cursed several times in a row: "I am not talking about brotherhood. Don't sleep, otherwise I will be suspected!"

Before the Third Prince fell into coma, he took one last look at him with a complicated expression, his lips trembled a few times, and then he closed his eyes.

-

Qu Dubian dismounted hastily.

When he came back, the atmosphere in the main base had become depressing.

Ye Xiaoyuan lowered his voice and said, "Your Highness, you are back."

Qu Dubian frowned and said, "I came here just after receiving the news. What happened? How is my third brother now?" He untied the anti-friction bandage on his hand while walking towards the third prince's tent.

Ye Xiaoyuan: "One of my arms was torn off by a wild beast. I lost blood and fell unconscious. Two bones in my body were also broken. I am still in danger."

Qu Dubian felt heavy-hearted.

There was no such thing as blood transfusion in ancient times. If the third brother had lost too much blood and gone into shock, he would probably be in great danger.

Seize the throne...

Ye Xiaoyuan followed closely behind him: "Your Highness, do you think this is not a coincidence?"

Qu Watanabe: "It's just an inevitable result. Let's go and see."

at this time.

The Third Prince's tent was already surrounded by two circles of people from the Eastern Depot and the Imperial Guards.

The imperial doctors were diagnosing the patient in the tent. A faint smell of blood spread out and basins of blood were brought out.

Emperor Chongzhao, his concubines, and a number of related personnel were all outside the tent.

Emperor Chongzhao sat on a chair with his elbows on the armrests and his head supported by his palms. He was covered with a thick layer of cold anger and depression.

Qu Watanabe covered his mouth and nose with a thick face scarf and stood quietly beside the Fourth Prince.

The fourth prince whispered, "Father has sent someone to look for that mad horse."

Qu Dubian nodded and looked at the eldest prince who was kneeling in the middle.

The eldest prince hadn't had time to change his clothes, which were deeply stained with blood. "Father, this is all I know. When I rushed over, my third brother was already like this."

Emperor Chongzhao: "Who else among you has seen the third prince? Who has talked to him and what? Have you noticed anything unusual?" He glanced at the second prince.

The second prince walked to the middle, bowed and said, "After hunting some prey, I was lazy and met my fourth and seventh brothers who were also lazy. I rested with them and did not see my third brother."

Qu Dubian frowned slightly.

Emperor Chongzhao: "Old Four, Little Seven?"

The fourth prince nodded: "Indeed, the second brother also gave us some prey."

Concubine Wen came out of the tent, looking dazed, with tears in her eyes and face. She stared at the eldest prince who was kneeling in the middle, "It's you! It must be you!"

She rushed out and knelt down, saying in a panic, "Your Majesty! The quarrel between the First Prince and the Third Prince is something everyone knows. Now that the Third Prince is in trouble, and the First Prince happened to be there, who would believe him if he said it had nothing to do with him?"

She pointed at the eldest prince: "You——"

The eldest prince's mother, Concubine De, rushed out with a cold face and slapped Concubine Wen's fingers away, "Get lost, who do you think you are, pointing at my son."

"This matter has not yet been concluded, and you are already accusing the prince? Concubine Wen, you are so bold."

"How dare I?" Concubine Wen's usually calm and quiet face was completely torn apart by grief. Her voice was almost sharp and her eyes were red. "Sister, if it was your child lying in there now, would you be calmer than me? I just want justice for my child!"

Concubine De: "You don't need to ask for it. If it was really the boss who did it, I don't need you to tell me. I will hand over the knife and let Your Majesty kill him!"

The eldest prince: “…”

It really wasn't him!

Concubine Wen choked and was stunned for a moment. She recalled the bloody and tragic scene in the tent again and burst into tears.

Emperor Chongzhao said in a tired voice: "Okay, everyone shut up."

Concubine Wen's sobbing finally subsided.

As the sky gradually darkened, the guards finally found the horse that the third prince was riding in the forest.

The horse is dead.

Emperor Chongzhao's eyes were gloomy and he waved his hand.

The accompanying imperial doctors immediately stepped forward to examine.

About a quarter of an hour later, they took the grass ring on the horse's neck and began to study it. The grass ring was taken apart, and the grass strands were sorted and arranged one by one, and they were picked up and sniffed from time to time.

After a while, the doctor came out and said, "Your Majesty, there is 'horse grass' mixed in the grass ring. When horses come into contact with this grass, they will feel pain and itchiness all over their bodies and gradually go crazy."

Everyone knows who hung the grass wreath today.

Concubine Wen suddenly turned her head: "Sixth Prince! Concubine Lan!!"

The Sixth Prince's face turned pale.