Chapter 68#
At the outer edges of the hunting grounds, more and more officials were gathering.#
Behind the imperial hunting party stood rows of military officers from all directions, summoned from their various posts and arranged in formation. Among the princes, the eldest prince swept his gaze over his younger brothers, pausing deliberately on the third prince: “Third Brother, the hunting grounds are your home turf, aren’t they?”
There was a hint of probing in his tone.
Not far off, the third prince was not one for conversation. Hearing this, he did not respond, merely resting his hand on his lower back, looking like he was poised to strike.
Seeing him like this, the eldest prince pressed his lips slightly, then coldly looked away.
Their confrontation was quite evident. The eighth prince watched his two elder brothers from the side, more tense than usual. Many eyes were on him, and he subtly avoided their gazes, glancing in the direction of Ying Fusheng.
Just then, a guard beside him suddenly spoke: “Your Highness, you cannot afford to slack off in this hunt.”
The eighth prince withdrew his gaze. He knew the special privileges His Majesty had granted him today; he could not perform too poorly. He said in a low voice, “I know.”
The guard said, “The Grand Secretary sent me to tell you that the Xu family can only rely on you now.”
The atmosphere among the princes was heavy. In a sense, the spring hunt was also a competition. The current situation in the court needed to be reestablished; the hunt was initiated by the emperor, so whichever prince performed better would stand out differently in the emperor’s eyes.
By now, everyone in the hunting grounds had taken their positions. A horn sound suddenly pierced the sky. The emperor’s carriage led the way, banners fluttering, and then a host of horses charged into the forest!
The emperor took the lead, his long arrow piercing through the woods. Before his horse even entered the forest, he had already taken down prey.
His sharp archery awed the ministers. The military officers behind him cheered loudly, the fervent atmosphere igniting the passion of all the ministers. The Great Yuan valued martial prowess, especially when military officers gathered; the sight of arrows flying in unison was particularly exhilarating. The third prince followed closely, charging into the forest, with the eldest prince right behind. Unexpectedly, the youngest, the eighth prince, also spurred his horse and dashed out.
As the horses plunged into the forest, the princes were followed by their guards and hunting riders. Under the guidance of the hunting ground officials, they each headed to different parts of the grounds.
Ying Fusheng lagged behind, catching a glimpse of the awe-inspiring scene in the distance. Shen Yunfei, beside him, did not follow the others but accompanied Ying Fusheng on the periphery, while the other princes and their attendants had already disappeared from sight. He had no intention of venturing deep into the forest. Letting Shen Yunfei lead the way, he couldn’t help but glance at the forest’s layout. The outer edges of the hunting grounds had indeed been well arranged by the Ministry of War, with all the trail markers in proper order.
In the distance, birds startled and flew away, and the faint sound of hooves could be heard. Deep in the northern mountains, the competition had already begun.
He shot two prey, and his guards, along with Shen Yunfei, had also bagged quite a few.
“Your Highness, we should head back soon,” Shen Yunfei said.
Ying Fusheng was about to turn back when, just as he turned, his peripheral vision caught a swiftly passing horse. He immediately pulled on his reins, but by the time he looked, the figure was already gone. “Who just passed?”
Shen Yunfei had sharp eyes. “Judging by the banner, it should be one of the Eighth Prince’s attendants.”
The eighth prince was still young; logically, like Ying Fusheng, he should have stayed only on the outer edges. Going further in meant the inner hunting grounds—not a place for a prince barely twelve years old.
“Send someone back to inform Minister Shen,” Ying Fusheng said, changing the direction of his reins. “Something’s about to happen.”
Shen Yunfei was startled, immediately realizing the gravity of the situation. He quickly sent someone back to report. Just as they neared the edge of the outer hunting grounds, a guard rushed out from deep in the northern mountains, his face panicked. Upon seeing Ying Fusheng, he looked as if he had found a savior: “Your Highness, it’s terrible! The Eighth Prince’s horse bolted and charged deep into the forest!”
Shen Yunfei immediately turned to Ying Fusheng. Something had indeed gone wrong: “Your Highness, I’ll ride back immediately to summon reinforcements!”
But the guard stared intently at Ying Fusheng. “There’s no time—the horse is out of control!”
Ying Fusheng’s gaze fell on the flustered guard. Catching the evasive flicker in the other’s eyes when they made contact, his expression darkened. “A few of you, follow him in to search for the prince. Yunfei, ride back quickly and get people.”
Several guards obeyed and immediately followed the man in.
Shen Yunfei wanted to say something more but met Ying Fusheng’s gaze. So he said, “I’ll go back now. You men, escort the Sixth Prince back to camp!”
Ying Fusheng rode behind, following the remaining guards back to camp.
But just as he was about to leave the outer edge of the grounds, sudden arrows shot out from the forest! These arrows immediately alarmed the guards around Ying Fusheng. They were all imperial guards, each highly skilled. Seeing the arrows flying in, they instantly sensed something wrong. “Ambush in the woods! Escort the prince away immediately!”
The guards blocked the arrows, and the next moment, several fierce beasts burst out of the forest!
In the northern mountains hunt, such beasts only appeared deep in the mountains. Here, on the outskirts, they should have been almost impossible to encounter!
The guards immediately changed direction to escort Ying Fusheng away. However, one of the men hidden among the guards suddenly slapped Ying Fusheng’s horse on the rump. With a sudden neigh, a horse bolted in the crowd, and Ying Fusheng’s own mount, startled, charged toward the forest.
“Not good! The Sixth Prince’s horse has bolted!”
…
The clamor faded into a corner of the forest. As if hearing something, the third prince looked back into the depths and saw a pure white fox dashing past. He raised his arrow to shoot but then paused, sensing something. “What’s that noise in the woods?”
“Your Highness, it seems to be from the south,” a guard replied.
The south—that was already somewhat off the hunting range. The third prince frowned. “Send a few men to check it out. Don’t let anyone cross the hunting boundary…”
“Bad news, Third Prince! Word from the outer grounds—two princes have gone missing after their horses bolted! They’re said to have headed south!”
The third prince’s face changed drastically. “How is that possible!?”
To the south of the mountain, there were miasmic fogs that thickened toward evening. Fearing that sudden mountain mist would affect the hunt, the area south of the grounds had been cordoned off to prevent accidental entry.
Silently, several horses in the forest lost their direction. The eighth prince crashed into the woods, his face pale. His bolting horse had already disappeared into the forest without a trace. Fortunately, he was skilled in riding and archery, so he wasn’t seriously injured, but he had lost contact with his guards and was now lost in the woods.
He fumbled for the signal flare at his waist—a device to mark his location for rescuers if lost. But when he tried to ignite it, the flare wouldn’t fire. His face turned completely panicked. What was going on? Why couldn’t the signal flare launch?
At that moment, a stray arrow shot toward him, nearly scaring the color from his face!
He rolled into the brush to dodge the arrow. The sky was growing dark, and deeper in, it was pitch black. To avoid the arrows, he could only run desperately inward until the sound behind him stopped. But by then, he was utterly lost in the forest.
Then, a beast lunged at him from a distance!
The eighth prince hurriedly reached for his arrows, only to realize he had very few left—not enough to hold out! Suddenly, a cluster of arrows shot out from the side, wounding the charging beast. The injured beast howled and fled. The eighth prince scrambled to run outward, but someone suddenly grabbed him and pulled him back into cover!
He turned and found it was Ying Fusheng.
Ying Fusheng’s hand was sore from drawing the bow. He looked at the battered eighth prince. “If you run any further in, not even a god could save you.”
Since the day the eighth prince had left, Ying Fusheng had sent two of his men to keep watch.
After using the spooked horse to shake off the hidden agents, he followed the clues left by those two men and found them dead. Fortunately, they had managed to leave a mark on the eighth prince, so he could barely track the direction.
Good thing he had gotten something from Chen Xunqiu before the spring hunt. Ying Fusheng sprinkled the powder on both of them. “Beast-repelling powder. Don’t act rashly. Wait for people to come.”
The eighth prince looked blank. Wait for who?
In the forest, Ying Fusheng pulled the eighth prince back to hide.
Just as they stumbled to avoid a beast, an arrow suddenly flew through the air from behind, striking the charging beast squarely. A figure in black landed behind them, grabbed Ying Fusheng by the collar, pulled him backward, and shot another beast with a backhanded arrow.
Several figures appeared in the forest, seemingly having followed the two princes for some time.
Seeing someone appear beside the princes, they didn’t hesitate to shoot arrows!
The man in black supported Ying Fusheng in his arms and glanced at the eighth prince beside him. He directly swung the eighth prince onto a horse. Another man in black nearby caught him, and Ye Xuanjiu, already on horseback, saw his superior tossing him a prince and felt a headache coming on.
Qi Hanzhou’s eyes paused briefly, then he turned to shield Ying Fusheng behind him. At that moment, the long-hidden Imperial Bodyguards made their move, subduing the assassins. Realizing the situation had turned against them, the assassins committed suicide as the Imperial Bodyguards approached.
The corpses of the dead assassins decayed, just like those seen in the thatched hut.
The Imperial Bodyguards didn’t handle the bodies. They simply came over to report: “Sir, they’re dead.”
“Clean up the bodies. If these men don’t report back, someone will know something’s wrong,” Qi Hanzhou said. “Leave no trace.”
As the Imperial Bodyguards dealt with the scene, the eighth prince was taken away by Ye Xuanjiu for protection.
“You arrived a bit late,” Ying Fusheng said, steadying himself against a tree.
High above, a hawk circled—it was Qi Hanzhou’s messenger hawk.
From the moment he and Shen Yunfei separated, this hawk had been following them.
Qi Hanzhou’s gaze lifted briefly, scanning the circling hawk above, then dropped to Ying Fusheng’s hand—the wound from drawing the bow.
He tore a clean strip from his clothes and bandaged the wound on Ying Fusheng’s hand. “The Sixth Prince’s archery isn’t bad.”
“The hunting grounds are fine. It’s the people that are the problem,” Ying Fusheng said.
Qi Hanzhou replied, “Three days before the spring hunt started, during routine patrols, the Imperial Bodyguards found a horse keeper missing from the grounds.”
“By then, the Imperial Bodyguards had already stepped in.”
This spring hunt was no small matter. The hunting grounds that Hu Buyu had inspected were problem-free. If there was any issue, it had to be with the people entering the grounds.
The princes’ personal guards, the ministers’ escorts—disguised as these, one could enter the hunting grounds openly. Ying Fusheng’s own guards were fine. The problem was with the guide on the hunting grounds—the one who had taken advantage of the chaos to strike his horse, causing two princes’ horses to bolt in succession. This was aimed at both of them.
“You deliberately came this way,” Qi Hanzhou said. He had been following Ying Fusheng and naturally knew he had been searching for the eighth prince all along.
Ying Fusheng said, “The only ones who could be targeted in the hunting grounds, and the easiest to strike, are him and me.”
With the crown prince deposed, there were still remnant factions in the court. The Xu family could either try to reinstate the deposed crown prince or switch their allegiance to another prince. The eighth prince was given an independent encampment and favored by the emperor—this was the emperor’s clear intention, undoubtedly to elevate the eighth prince. And the eighth prince was inseparable from the Xu family. Those civil officials in the court, seeing the emperor’s attitude, knew that reinstating the crown prince was hopeless and that they couldn’t switch to another camp—only the eighth prince was an option.
The eighth prince was a conspicuous target.
“He’s a target. And you?” Qi Hanzhou asked.
If the eighth prince was a target, then what about the Sixth Prince? With merely the appearance of the emperor’s favor and at most Shen Changcun as an open ally in court, why would he become a target? Ying Fusheng’s gaze faltered. Qi Hanzhou’s words were direct and clear. He didn’t elaborate, instead saying, “Let’s go see how his injuries are.”
Ye Xuanjiu had already finished checking. “Young General, the Eighth Prince has many wounds. He was smart enough to avoid some, but judging by the wounds, the attackers were ruthless. A few were nearly fatal.”
Ying Fusheng’s expression shifted slightly. Fatal wounds!?
No—why would they be fatal?
Qi Hanzhou noticed the change in Ying Fusheng’s expression. “You think the wounds are wrong?”
“He’s a target… but shouldn’t be meant to die,” Ying Fusheng frowned. To the mastermind behind this, the eighth prince was too valuable a pawn to suffer fatal injuries.
Just then, a hawk landed from above. Qi Hanzhou scanned the urgent message it carried.
After reading it, his expression flickered, and he looked up at Ying Fusheng.
“Something’s happened at the foot of the mountain.”
…
At the camp at the foot of the mountain, news of the two princes’ disappearance spread quickly—
“Bad news! Both the Eighth Prince and the Sixth Prince haven’t returned!”
The report reached the emperor’s tent. His gaze darkened. “What happened?”
“Your Majesty, I received an urgent message from Minister Shen that the Eighth Prince’s horse bolted in the forest and he sought help from the Sixth Prince,” said the official in charge of the hunting grounds. “But when our men went there, they found neither the Sixth nor the Eighth Prince. However, on the southern edge of the grounds, they discovered a dead horse with this arrowhead.”
The dead horse bore the banner of the Eighth Prince’s encampment. The horse was found, but no trace of the prince, and the fatal wound came from an arrow. The arrowhead was of imperial make, but the mark on the fletching indicated it belonged to the eldest prince.
Arrows allocated to each camp were fixed, especially during a hunt; arrows from the princes’ camps were of utmost importance. Unlike ordinary arrows, only the prince himself could possess them. In other words, the only one who could produce such an arrowhead was the eldest prince or someone very close to him.
Among the crowd, the eldest prince’s face changed dramatically!
“Impossible! I never encountered Sixth Brother or Eighth Brother!”