Song Mo looked in the direction of the voice and saw Dong Qi, the son of the Marquis of Guangen.

He was tall and handsome, wearing a phoenix-wing helmet, a green silk skirt with golden clouds, and a fish-scale armor. He looked quite majestic in his full military uniform.

The prince looked at the armor on his body and asked curiously, "What is this..."

He bowed his head slightly and said respectfully, "I will also participate in the horseback archery competition in the autumn hunting this year."

Dong Qi was assigned an idle job in the Jinwu Guard.

The prince nodded.

Shen Qing looked around Dong Qi with a smile: "Your armor is nice."

Empress Shen was born in a humble family, and the Shen family was granted the title of nobility because of their relatives. The nobles in the capital did not take Shen Qing seriously, so Shen Qing rarely lived with them. But there were two exceptions. One was Song Mo - he was a little indifferent to others, and treated everyone the same, so Shen Qing had nothing to complain about. The other was Dong Qi - he was very good at dealing with people, and Shen Qing had a much better relationship with him than with ordinary people.

"I specially ordered this from Tianzhou," Dong Qi said with a smile, "If you like it, I'll order one for you tomorrow."

The armor produced in Tianzhou, Guangxi has always been supplied only to the military. It was very troublesome for Shen Qing to get one, but for Dong Qilai, whose father was the commander-in-chief of the right army in the Five Military Commandery and was in charge of the Guangxi Guard, it was a piece of cake.

Shen Qing was delighted when he heard this, and said bluntly: "Then I will respectfully obey your command!"

The prince frowned slightly.

Dong Qi, who was chatting and laughing with Shen Qing and didn't seem to notice the prince, smiled and said, "I secretly ordered this under the name of my father, so you must not let it slip when the time comes."

The prince looked much better after hearing this.

Gu Yu looked at him and curled his lips.

Song Mo glanced at Gu Yu.

Gu Yu immediately resumed his previous respectfulness.

Only Shen Qing knew nothing. He was worried because he hadn't even gotten the armor yet: "What should I say?"

Gu Yu looked up at the sky.

Dong Qi smiled narrowly and said, "Just say that it was from Song Da."

The prince, Shen Qing and Gu Yu were all stunned.

Song Mo said lightly, "Okay."

He was so serious that he made the scene look extremely solemn, without any hint of joking.

Shen Qing couldn't help but groan: "Tianci, can't you be more casual? No wonder others call you Song Da."

The prince laughed.

A group of young men in gorgeous clothes came together, passing through the ranks of soldiers who were on patrol.

They were all children of noble families, and because of the Autumn Festival, they were not as rigid as usual.

Everyone saluted the prince.

The prince greeted them in a gentle voice.

He remembered everyone's name and understood everyone's situation. The content of the conversation included "I heard that your lady broke her leg, is she feeling better now?", "Are you used to working for the Jinwu Guard?", "Have you set a date for the wedding?" ... Everyone who was asked had a happy expression.

Song Mo glanced at Gu Yu.

Gu Yuchong grinned at Song Mo.

Everyone surrounded the prince and went to his tent.

Only Song Mo, Gu Yu and Dong Qi were left in front of Song Mo's tent.

The three of them stood in a three-way tie.

Seven or eight young soldiers wearing fat jackets, chain mail and broadswords came over here. "Is this the tent of the Duke of England? We are from the left and right patrols of the Fifth Army Battalion. We were summoned to participate in the cavalry archery competition in the Autumn Hunting this year, and have come to pay a special visit to the Duke of England." The person who spoke looked around among the three people, and finally landed on Dong Qi. "I have heard that the Duke of England is a young hero. Seeing him today, I find that he is indeed worthy of his reputation..."

Dong Qi's face was red and white, and he was about to say something when someone shouted "Prince Song" loudly, drowning out Dong Qi's voice and walked over: "You seem to have grown a little taller than last year. This year, I, Yin, am not eligible to participate in the Autumn Hunting Horse Riding Competition, so I brought a few junior students to say hello to you. You'd better be careful not to lose the position of Deputy Commander of the Emperor's Jinwu Guards!"

The man who was speaking was eight feet tall, with a lot of flesh all over his body. He trembled as he walked, and was as strong as a bear. He laughed loudly like a bell, and behind him were five or six young people who were in high spirits because of their ambition.

This man was called Ma Youming, the son of Ma Yichao, the general of Xuantong, and served in the Shenshuying. Four years ago, he won the first place in the autumn competition, but the nine-year-old Song Mo became the focus of everyone's attention, and he, the first place, was left alone. The next year, he lost to Song Mo by one arrow and was ignored again; the third year, he still came in second.

He was promoted to deputy general of the Divine Shu Camp this year. How could he still have the nerve to compete for ranking with these young people who have no real positions?

Seeing Gu Yu, Ma Youming chuckled and said, "Little girl, you followed the prince to watch the fun again!"

Gu Yu was so angry that his face twisted. He jumped up and started swearing, using foul language that stunned the men in the barracks who were used to fighting.

Ma Youming pretended not to hear anything, and went straight forward to salute Song Mo, then pulled out a boy of about seventeen or eighteen from behind him and said, "My Lord, this boy is called Jiang Yi, the son of the commander of the Dengzhou Guards. He has a profound family background in martial arts, and we in the Divine Shuying are counting on him to fight you!"

Ma Youming's men came forward and saluted Song Mo.

Song Mo returned the greeting and nodded at Jiang Yi with a smile.

The person who had spoken to Dong Qi earlier was stunned for a moment, and after a moment he opened his eyes wide and looked at Song Mo: "You, you are the prince of the Duke of Ying's Mansion?"

Song Mo nodded.

Ma Youming had already put his arm around Song Mo's shoulders and said, "It's rare for us to meet each other. Let's go to your tent and have a drink." He then walked past Dong Qi without hesitation.

The people in the Fifth Army Battalion were immediately furious.

"How can you be so young?"

"Really? Look at him, he's so delicate and thin, I'm afraid he's never done any heavy work before, how could he get first place?"

"Heroes have always emerged from youth!"

Dong Qi's face was as gloomy as if it was about to rain, and he quietly left Song Mo's tent.

※※※※※

For the next two days of hunting, Song Mo just watched from the sidelines. It was not until the third day when the archery competition began that he changed into military uniform and appeared on the training ground.

Song Mo's mount Feidu was a thousand-mile horse, which gave him an innate advantage. He won the first place in the equestrian event without any objection or suspense, with a score that was three lengths ahead of the second place.

The archery competition began, and he, as last year's first place winner, was in the last round.

Unexpectedly, the person standing at the other end was Dong Qi.

He smiled and nodded calmly at Song Mo, but his eyes were cold and frosty.

Song Mo smiled and focused his attention on archery.

Soon, the eunuch blew the horn.

The game begins.

At first, Song Mo was very steady, and every arrow hit the target. But later on, he made more and more mistakes, and one arrow just barely hit the target, but if he lost his concentration for a moment, it would have missed the target.

Everyone in the stands couldn't help but exclaimed "Eh!", sat up straight, and stared at the parade ground nervously, including the Emperor, the Duke of England, and Earl Guangen.

Song Mo may have also felt that his condition was not good, so he did not continue to shoot. Instead, he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths before starting to draw the bow.

The next few arrows were all shot well.

Despite this, when the two scores were added together, Song Mo only ranked second.

Ranked first is Dong Qi.

He was the second noble son to win first place in the horse riding and archery competition in the Autumn Round after Song Mo in all these years.

Ranked third is Jiang Yi.

Jiang Yi looked at Song Mo and felt sorry for him - Song Mo only lost to Dong Qi with one arrow.

Dong Qi stood there with a proud and high-spirited look on his face. His father's words rang in his ears again: "...I didn't let you participate in the archery competition in the autumn because you were not sure you could defeat Song Mo. Instead of adding icing on the cake for Song Mo, it's better to keep a low profile and wait for the right time. Something happened to the Jiang family this time, and Song Mo will definitely be affected. Can you win the championship? Can you defeat Song Mo in one fell swoop? It all depends on you!"

Now, he finally stood in front of Song Mo.

From the stands, the emperor roared in anger: "Bring that little bastard Song Mo here for me. How did he compete? I can shoot better than him with my eyes closed..."

Song Mo was called in.

"What have you been doing at home these days, little brat?" The emperor's voice reverberated deafeningly in the parade grounds, "Do you know that you lost my position as deputy commander of the Jinwu Guard?" He added, "I heard that you also learned to gamble? The Autumn Hunt is coming soon, why don't you stay at home and prepare yourself, but go out to hang out with a bunch of messy boys? If you don't take this seriously, I will break your legs and throw you to the Flag Bearer Guard to lead my horse, no, throw you to the Fengtai camp..."

There was silence inside and outside the training ground.

The emperor would scold the crown prince, Prince Liao, Wang Yuan, and even the empress, but he never scolded the ministers, dukes, and officials of the inner court. But this time, he scolded Song Mo.

Everyone's eyes fell on Song Mo with envy.

Dong Qi's mind was in a mess and he no longer knew what he was feeling.

Since Song Mo made a mistake and the emperor really wanted to punish him, why didn't he send him to the Northwest Camp?

There were countless noble children who tried their best but still couldn't get in at Fengtai Camp.

Is this a punishment or a favor?

What’s the point of getting first place?

At this time, the emperor was still concerned about Song Mo, as were the princes and ministers.

※※※※※

On the way back, Song Yichun and his son rode in the same carriage.

"Such a big thing, why didn't you discuss it with me first?" He was anxious and angry, his face flushed, "If the emperor thought that I instigated you to test the emperor, would my father and I be able to walk out of this today? You are thirteen years old this year, why are you still like a three-year-old child, not sensible at all!"

I don’t even understand my own son. Is he the kind of person who gets upset when someone says a few words to him?

Song Mo could only smile apologetically at his father.

He thinks of himself as an adult, but who knows that in the eyes of the emperor he is just a child.

Song Yichun sighed and said, "We can never do this again, understand? If something happens to your uncles, we should help them, but we can't get our family involved. Everything should be done in moderation. Fortunately, the emperor is not angry. If there is really an imperial decree, we can go to Fengtai Camp to find a real vacancy, which can be considered a blessing in disguise..." He kept talking all the way back to the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion.

As soon as I stepped into the upper room, I heard Jiang's suppressed crying.

Jiang has always been tough in dealing with things.

Song Yichun and Song Mo both looked nervous and quickly went into the upper room.

Jiang lay on the imperial concubine's couch, crying until her breath was almost gone. Her maid and daughter-in-law who served her closely also cried heartbrokenly.

Hearing the noise, she raised her head and cried even faster: "Third brother, he, he passed away!"

It was like a bolt from the blue, making Song Mo's ears buzzing, and it took him a long time to hear the sounds around him clearly.

The third uncle, who was known as a think tank, passed away. There was no one to carry on the torch, leaving behind the fifth uncle who only knew how to eat, drink and have fun. What should the Chiang family do? What about the young people who were exiled to the Iron Ridge Guard with the third uncle?

In a trance, he heard his father's voice with a hint of hesitation: "What do you think? Should we let Tianci go to Liaodong? He can go to meet the Liao King under the pretext of attending a funeral and ask him to take good care of my fifth brother?"

All male members of the Jiang family who were over five years old were exiled to Tielingwei, and the rest followed Mrs. Mei back to her hometown. I wonder if anyone went to pay their respects...

Jiang looked at her husband gratefully and nodded heavily.