All parts of Tianxiang State are recruiting talents for the autumn hunt.

Martial arts is different from studying. Although studying is hard, it is different from the pain of physical training. Therefore, very few wealthy families are willing to let their children suffer the pain of learning martial arts.

Besides Yuanzong, at the time of Xie Pei’s grandfather, there were very few people in the court who particularly respected military generals, and Huaizong was a typical example.

Therefore, most of the wealthiest families just joined in the fun and sent their children over to study hard.

It's just the result of years of practice. After practicing for a few months, I still can't compare to those gifted children.

Unless we start practicing now, it might be possible to send it over when His Majesty goes on the autumn hunt again.

As a result, those who can stay and are willing to continue practicing martial arts are mostly children from poor families. They were originally unable to get enough food and clothing, but after this incident, not to mention clothes, they can even eat meat to their heart's content every day.

They are not afraid of hardship. No matter how hard it is, can it be worse than being hungry?

In less than half a month, these officials found that these children from poor backgrounds were the best for training. Basically, they would not leave because the training was too tiring. Instead, they became more motivated as the training went on.

But Xie Pei and Su Wan also knew that this was only the first batch, so they could select the truly talented seedlings from the bottom.

This selection was rushed. If the rich were really given some time, it would still be the children from wealthy families who would be selected.

Because in the beginning everyone may compete on talent, and then slowly it will compete on nutrition. Practicing martial arts consumes a lot of energy, and you definitely cannot do without meat. Moreover, you have to eat more meat to strengthen your body. Who among the truly poor families can eat meat every day?

Eating meat and finding a proper chef both costs money and time.

Therefore, this time when selecting people, we are not looking for all-rounders, but specialists.

As long as you are good at one aspect, you can be selected and recommended.

For example, someone is born to run fast, to be strong, or to jump far.

There are no requirements for horse riding, archery accuracy, or literacy.

In a word, only talent is considered, not family background. No matter how much you know, Xie Pei and Su Wan have already prepared masters for these gifted young men.

In this way, the choices become much wider, and if you come across such a good candidate, even the prefect will ask a few more questions.

This brings us to the story of Song Sheng and his son, who were from a hunter family on Pingning Mountain.

Song Sheng's mother died early, so he followed his father to hunt since he was a child, and his family could still have enough food and clothing. His father was a good hunter, and he usually took him to the mountains to hunt with four greyhounds.

But his family just makes do with food and clothing, and usually the father and son are very withdrawn and don't talk much to others.

Song Sheng has been influenced by his father since he was young and has a great talent for hunting and archery. Now he is only twelve years old, but his archery accuracy is better than his father's and he is much stronger than his peers.

Originally, Song Sheng and his son were going to live their lives peacefully at the foot of Pingning Mountain. Their generations would be hunters. When Song Sheng grew up, he would marry and have children like his father and continue to be a hunter.

But they didn't expect that the autumn hunting decree of His Majesty Tianxiang Kingdom would actually affect their village.

They were planning to say that the disease had spread to nearby counties.

The county magistrates of the two nearby counties were searching everywhere for talented and capable young people.

After layers of selection, the news that Song Sheng and his son were good at hunting reached the ears of the two county magistrates. It happened that Pingning Mountain where they were located was at the junction of two counties, so a fierce battle for this person broke out between the two sides.

They all wanted to take Matsuo and his son for themselves and send them to Kyoto. With the abilities of the father and son and Matsuo's talent, they would definitely have a place.

So the two county magistrates went to Song Sheng's house every day and promised him countless things, such as buying a house in the county town, not being a hunter anymore, and practicing martial arts and archery in the county town. You can't ride a horse, right? I'll find someone to teach you.

Such enthusiasm made Xiao Xiaosongsheng extremely disgusted.

He has even less good feelings towards His Majesty and Kūsho Nobuteren who are far away in Kyoto.

He felt that his peaceful life was disrupted, so he simply refused anyone's invitation and insisted on continuing hunting in Pingning Mountain.

Although Xiao Songsheng is only twelve years old, he is a child with his own ideas. Songsheng's father is silent. Because his wife passed away, he felt guilty towards Xiao Songsheng, so he naturally listened to him. As for the talk of giving away wives and concubines, Songsheng's father said directly: "I swore in front of his mother's grave that for Songsheng, I will never marry again."

So for their family, they can hunt and pick for food and drink, and they have no desire to get married, and no one can persuade them to do so.

The two county magistrates didn't expect that neither of them would benefit from it.

Finally, it was the teacher from the village at the foot of Pingning Mountain who persuaded Xiao Songsheng, saying that the world outside was vast and he might as well go and take a look, as the autumn hunting would not delay him for too long anyway.

There is not only one Pingning Mountain in the world, there are many famous mountains, rivers and ferocious prey. It would be a pity if you don’t go and see them.

There is also His Majesty who is far away in the sky. You can go and take a look. When he comes back, you will know whether he is a good person or not.

The teacher's persuasion actually made Xiao Songsheng somewhat moved. Finally, with the teacher's mediation, the two county magistrates jointly recommended Songsheng and his son to go to Beijing.

Because their place was remote and it would take a long time to travel by carriage, and it was the height of summer, so they couldn't travel every day, so they decided to set off immediately.

The two men did not bring the good bows and arrows given by the county magistrate, and only took the bows they were used to using.

The county magistrate knew that they were stubborn, so he agreed to everything.

Some people go to take a look just for a meal, but who would have thought that they would discover a gifted person.

Anyway, there are a lot of stories like this.

It’s just past June and people from all over the country who want to take part in the autumn hunting have already set out.

Although there were mostly men among them, there were also a few women from escort families who seemed to have extraordinary martial arts skills, and a few who were very strong. The women who had been laughed at before simply packed up and went to Kyoto.

In the past, people laughed at women’s strength, which was really ridiculous. Now, people around them can only envy them.

It’s a pity that I don’t have that much strength, otherwise I would have been sent to Kyoto by the local officials.

People from all directions set out from their hometowns, full of energy and eager to try their luck.

They all have one thing in common, that is, they are in good health, so they can walk fast, and many of them arrive in Kyoto shorter than expected.

As soon as the post stations in various places saw them, they knew what they were going to do. These people who came to the capital to participate in the autumn hunt did not have to pay for tea no matter which post station they went to, which was considered a preferential treatment.

Song Sheng and his son did not expect that His Majesty would attach so much importance to them?

Wait until everyone arrived in Kyoto one after another.

Everything in Kyoto was displayed in front of the people of Tianxiang Kingdom, which was really unbelievable.

The clean and tidy road surface, the crowds of people and carriages coming one after another, and the snacks and cold drinks being sold at any time are all dazzling.

Is this Kyoto?

It seems to be different from their hometown.

Tianxiang Kingdom is the best place, how can it be bad?

However, I heard from the people of Kyoto that it was only this year that the roads became so clean and tidy. Before that, several canals were full of mud, which smelled terrible in the summer, and the roads were full of potholes.

But this year, Your Majesty ascended the throne and repaired what needed to be repaired and remedied what needed to be remedied, so Kyoto is now exceptionally clean and tidy.

Not only that, but with more soldiers on patrol, public security has improved.

So even though His Majesty is not in Kyoto, everyone is thinking of his kindness, and Kong Zhang Sheren and others are all thinking about the people.

As for the desserts and iced drinks all over the streets, it was a policy given by the palace. If children or the elderly go to the government-run sweet shop, they can ask for a bowl of sweet mung bean water. Although the free mung bean water is deliberately made very thin, it is also to avoid snatching the business of normal mung bean water.

But it’s even better to be able to drink free mung bean water in the hot summer.

As for desserts, they are a unique specialty of Kyoto. Once you come here, there is no one who doesn't like the various exquisite desserts here.

Matsuo also tried Kyoto's egg tarts. Few children would refuse the taste of egg tarts, and Matsuo is no exception.

He certainly could not afford it before, but all the expenses of this trip to Beijing were reimbursed by the two county magistrates, who also sent two people to follow him and pay the bills at any time.

That’s why you can eat all the Kyoto desserts in front of you.

According to Kyoto people, if you can eat ten different kinds of Kyoto snacks a day, you won’t eat the same ones twice even if you stay in Kyoto for a month.

It sounds exaggerated, but it's true.

Song Sheng finally understood why others were so happy to hear that he and his son could go to Beijing.

I feel much less resentment towards Your Majesty.

The person sent by the county magistrate knew the strength of the father and son, so he was naturally generous with his money and let them settle down in Kyoto, while he went to the government to submit the list.

When I got there, the line at the place where the rosters were submitted was half a mile long. It was obvious that people had come from all over the country to register.

With these martial artists coming to Kyoto, the security in Kyoto is naturally stricter. Anyone who causes trouble in Kyoto will be expelled and never employed again.

So when they see the burly men and nimble young men on the streets, they dare not cause trouble and are even well-liked.

At the beginning of July, the Matsuo father and son and others, who had lived in Kyoto for more than ten days, started the first round of competition at the martial arts field on the outskirts of the city under the leadership of the Minister of War.

There were several thousand people from the entire Tianxiang Kingdom, so naturally they could not all go to Laixi Mountain to participate in the hunt.

There are only three hundred actual places available.

So you have to go through a competition.

Song Sheng and his son, as well as everyone around them, were eager to try.

They can come here from all over the country, and there are few people who would take advantage of the situation. Those who have been selected in batches are all elite soldiers and will become good soldiers in the army with a little training.

So when there were only two thousand people left, all the city defense departments, military affairs departments, and city gate departments in Kyoto came over.

Obviously want to select good seedlings.

They definitely can’t pick the ones who are selected, so they are just waiting to pick the ones who are not selected.

Those good guys who originally thought that they had come all the way here only to return home disappointed suddenly saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Why not join them?

But good iron doesn't need to be used to make nails, and good men don't need to be soldiers. These are all old sayings. Did they really join the army?

Just looking at the looks of the commanders and soldiers, it seems that being a soldier in Kyoto is not a bad thing? If you are strong enough, you can even be a guard?

All these things were done with Xie Pei's tacit consent. Su Wan was right. Whether in the army or among the guards, only the children of aristocrats would sooner or later become arrogant and dissolute and lose their ambition to make progress.

It is better for the people who come out from the bottom of society and want to fight for fame and fortune to be more motivated.

As for those who only know how to shoot arrows but can't ride horses, or don't know this or that, it's all simple, just train them uniformly.

Led by General Xu from the Armoury Bureau, any unsuccessful candidates can sign up with General Xu for unified training and then decide where to go in the future.

The commanders who came to select people were dumbfounded.

We are still choosing, how come they all belong to you?

Do you know how powerful these people are? If these people were to be integrated into an army, how powerful they would be, don’t you know?

By the time everyone realized what was going on, they knew that was why they made the choice.

Even though they didn't make it into the top 300, their strength is still among the best in the country.

With a little training, they can become elite soldiers and strong generals.

Your Majesty, is this the autumn hunt?

Is this a consolidation of a powerful army following the Autumn Hunt?

Or is it led by the experienced General Xu? Although this general is in his forties or fifties, many people here were not even born when he fought on the battlefield.

As for the unified training, where are they going? General Xu is sending them people. This is clearly keeping the most capable ones and sending the average ones to them?

Although this is ordinary, it is not too ordinary.

These good men who came from all over the country did not expect such a result, but seeing the generals and commanders' eager eyes for talents, they felt that they were highly valued.

Even in the competition where 300 people were selected from 500, people from Kyoto came to watch.

General Xu said that as long as it doesn't disturb the competition, everyone can watch.

The country man shot the arrow right in the middle, and there was a cheer from the people.

The young man shot a flying bird casually, and there was deafening cheers again.

People who came from the lower classes of various places in Tianxiang Country had never experienced such a glorious life.

Many people have secretly made up their minds that even if they don't make it into the top 300, they will go to General Xu for systematic training, and they will be fine with whatever they do in the future.

It's better than being at home anyway.

When Su Wan heard the hustle and bustle in Kyoto, she knew that the hustle and bustle here was not far away.

She has already prepared the hunting ground north of Laixi Mountain and will start this year's Mid-Autumn Festival banquet at the hunting ground on August 15th.

There were also singing and dancing performances, but the dance music was more sonorous.

Xie Pei even looked through several of the more prominent candidates again and again, and showed the list of women to Su Wan.

Most of these women have two choices. As long as they are capable enough, they can go to the battlefield. If they don’t want to go to the battlefield, they can stay with Su Wan for protection.

One Wenqin is still too few. More people will pay attention to Su Wan in the future. He still has twelve guards around him, so Su Wan cannot be left behind either.

Su Wan said: "It is not easy for a woman to come here. If you want to make achievements, it is better to make achievements."

In the past, Xie Pei would not have thought so much, but after meeting Su Wan, according to her thoughts, he didn't mind giving these people more chances.

The atmosphere in Kyoto naturally affected Yuhua Palace. Most of the people here were civil servants. Even the Minister of War went back to arrange the selection of candidates for the Autumn Hunt, so naturally a larger proportion of them were civil servants.

They looked at each other, trying to figure out what His Majesty was thinking.

Could it be that the Tianxiang Kingdom really has a martial spirit?

The knights use force to break the law. If there are more people who know martial arts, won’t the country of Tianxiang be in chaos?

Su Wan thought Xie Pei would explain, but unexpectedly he just threw all the memorials back.

Say whatever you want, who cares?

If they continued to make trouble, Xie Pei was about to go back, but Su Wan immediately responded, "If you continue to make trouble, I won't give them the lychees from Lingnan."

That's too childish.

But Su Wan said seriously: "Why bother with them? It's not the first day that civil and military officials have been fighting. Just give them a small punishment and a big warning."

The Grand Secretary of the Dongke nodded beside him. He was afraid that His Majesty's attitude was too tough and would hurt the feelings of the civil officials.

The fact that Your Majesty did not hold a special examination this time and instead emphasized the autumn hunt had already caused many complaints from the Hanlin Academy, who felt that Your Majesty valued military affairs over literature.

If the punishment is more severe, there will definitely be dissatisfaction among the people. Although Your Majesty is not afraid of these dissatisfactions, it is better to be gentle.

With Su Wan's persuasion, Xie Pei finally nodded: "Then I'll leave it all to you to divide. These are the memorials they sent. Wait for you to take a look at them first."

In front of the Grand Secretary of Dongge, Xie Pei naturally let Su Wan read his memorial. Xie Pei was very gentle when speaking to Su Wan. When he raised his eyes again, he obviously warned the Grand Secretary of Dongge with a cold and fierce look.

The meaning is clear. We know you are from the civil service group. If you do it again, we will not forgive you even if it is you.

The Grand Secretary of the Dongge felt cold sweats running down his face. Then he thought about how smart Su Wan was and that he probably guessed that the civil officials were dissatisfied and complaining, and he agreed with that.

That's why it appears here.

But Miss Su Wan echoed the emperor's words, half warning and half comforting.

Forget about Your Majesty, he is from the royal family and the Ding family.

Why is Su Wan so powerful?

The two of them didn't discuss anything at all, and didn't even exchange glances. They just cooperated with the whole play very naturally.

After the Dongge Grand Secretary left, Su Wan put down the memorial and said with a smile: "Why are you angry? Shouldn't you know these things?"

Xie Pei sneered: "Nothing has been accomplished, and these initial heroes are actually starting to take credit for themselves."

The Grand Secretary of the Dongge came to submit a memorial, just to suppress the enemy by claiming to be the first to achieve merit.

But unexpectedly, Su Wan and Xie Pei reacted immediately, and directly exposed the matter. In the end, they secretly punished them by not giving them the title of Lingnan fruit.

Actually, it’s just some fruit, no big deal.

But Lingnan fruits are precious, and it is a reward from His Majesty, so some people are proud of it, while others are secretly worried.

The matter is small, but the meaning is great.

Xie Pei looked up and wrote another memorial. Since Xie Pei ascended the throne, the Grand Secretary of Dongge had a feeling that he had surpassed the Grand Secretary of Zhongji Hall and became the head of the Grand Secretaries.

But if that's the case, that wouldn't be good.

Xie Pei said: "The Zhongyuan Festival is still a few days away. Please ask the Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace to offer sacrifices with me, and let the Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace write the sacrificial text."

Su Wan got the list of Lingnan fruits for this year, and then drew up a list of who to give to and who not to give to, and who to give more and who to give less, but it was a bit of a headache to read.

Su Wan didn't sit up straight until the person in charge of delivering Lingnan fruits came over.

To Xie Pei, Su Wan's comings and goings and her identity are no secret.

The Ding family members who came from Lingnan knew vaguely about her. Before they came, they just thought she was an ordinary pretty girl with some skills and some cleverness.

But looking at the beautiful woman in the room with her lively eyes, when she looks at you, one can't help but soften his voice.

But he is quite magnanimous when handling things, focusing on the big things and letting go of the small things, and his questions are very to the point.

It seems to be more powerful than imagined?

Seeing the man in front of her let down his guard, Su Wan smiled and said, "I've heard His Majesty talk about Lingnan Manor before. He only regrets that he couldn't go and see it in person."

The Zhuangzi in Lingnan is different from those in Kyoto.

Many things in Kyoto belong to the royal family, while the various manors and mountains in Lingnan were left to Xie Pei by the Ding family and are his own.

So Su Wan speaks a little differently.

The head immediately smiled and said, "We are very grateful that the young master has such a thoughtful attitude."

"I thought it would be like this for the rest of my life, but I didn't expect that the Ding family would not die."

Su Wan smiled: "Of course he misses me."

As he spoke, he arranged for the Ding family members from Lingnan to live in a palace not far from Xie Pei.

They are not worried about what will happen to Xie Pei, because their interests are closely linked. It can even be said that they are Xie Pei's personal force, not the force of His Majesty the Tianxiang Kingdom.

We still need to distinguish clearly between close and distant relatives.

As expected, this arrangement made the people from Lingnan very grateful to Su Wan, and it also made them feel that His Majesty, even as the emperor, was still concerned about the Ding family.

These cartloads of fruit were distributed to various palaces in the name of His Majesty and the Ding family, so Xie Pei must have left enough.

Next came the Tai Jieyushi, the princess and others.

The next six grand secretaries were first given to the grand secretary of Zhongji Hall, then sent to the grand secretary of Dongge Hall, then the grand secretary of Wenyuan Pavilion, and so on.

The six ministers and others were sent at the same time. Although the Minister of War was in Kyoto, he still sent what needed to be sent.

They even sent two extra trucks to provide cooling relief to the selected pillars, and those who were not selected were also comforted with local fruits.

The remaining officials were all different, except for a few Hanlin scholars who always shouted that Your Majesty should not value military affairs over literature.

It’s not that we don’t give them food. If they want to eat, they can go to the government office and eat the public food. They can forget about eating at home.

Not to mention anything else, it's just a matter of face.

Then His Majesty rewarded them with fresh iced drinks like running water, but skipped them and was very kind to other civil officials.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see what’s going on, and those who should shut up will naturally shut up.

If there are really complaints, some people will say, it's just a glass of ice drink, is it necessary to make such a fuss?

That would make people laugh at me, and I would just be filled with anger.

But His Majesty is not a person who holds grudges. If they try to surrender, His Majesty will look cold and then let bygones be bygones.

After a while, many ministers had no idea what His Majesty was thinking. His Majesty was extremely strict with his subordinates. If they did something wrong, they would be scolded severely. His efficiency was very high.

To surrender is just to look at you slightly, as if to say in the next second that it makes no difference whether you are in the court or not, so get out of here now.

But the care for the four seasons cannot deceive anyone.

Even if a child at home had a minor illness or disaster, the imperial physician would be sent to diagnose.

To sum up, who can figure out what your majesty is thinking?

I can only sigh that it is hard to predict your mind, so just do your job well.

Just when everyone was trying not to mention His Majesty's partiality in front of others and still felt that His Majesty valued military power over culture, a letter from the Shiyi clan made everyone's face change drastically.

The content of the letter was simple.

The leader of the Shiyi clan said that they heard that the Tianxiang Kingdom was going to have an autumn hunt. Their Tianxiang Kingdom has always been good at horse riding and archery, so they wanted to ask for mercy and allow the good men of their Shiyi clan to compete and see who is better.

Compete for supremacy?

Is this a competition? It's clearly a provocation.

The lively atmosphere in Kyoto and Yuhua Palace suddenly stopped.

It seemed like everyone realized something.

Su Wan looked at the arrogant tone of Shi Yizu and pondered for a moment.

It's here again.

How could the enemy give you so much time to prepare? They would naturally take advantage of your weakness and attack you. Could they really allow Tianxiang Kingdom to be fully prepared before starting the fight?

Su Wan looked at the fresh lamb ribs in her hands.

She specially roasted these ribs for her superior and aunt.

But where did such a good little lamb come from?

Naturally, it is the vast grassland in the northwest. Only with fertile grassland can there be grazing. Only then can the herdsmen of Tianxiang Kingdom have a place to graze their sheep and a home where they can live a peaceful and prosperous life.

As a result, people from all over Tianxiang Kingdom can enjoy fresh, delicious, plump and reasonably priced mutton.

If these people really force their way in, will they just rob them of their land? Not only that! They are clearly trying to rob Tianxiang of their sheep and their lives.

Putting these issues aside for now, the current difficulty is whether to allow them to participate in the autumn hunt?

Let them participate, what if Xiangguo loses that day?

If we don't allow them to participate, wouldn't it seem like we're afraid of them?

The Ujiyoshi clan is provoking and testing us.