Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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“Host.” After the system calculated, it said, “The court officials from top to bottom are very afraid of Zhao Ne… Don’t you think this situation is very dangerous for us?”
“It may not be us who are in danger.” Li Yuebai smiled.
He calculated the date and waited for the arrival of the Dragon Boat Festival.
The Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month was another major event in the Duan Dynasty. On this day, according to convention, the palace would hold a willow shooting game. The so-called willow shooting was very simple. The willow branches were inserted into the ground of the palace parade ground. The contestants stood on horseback in the distance and shot arrows. If they could shoot off the willow branches, they would be praised by everyone. The archer would also be rewarded by the emperor and receive money from the emperor.
Shooting willows was originally a custom of the northern ethnic minorities. The Murong family had intermarried with the northern ethnic minorities for generations, so they naturally learned this custom deeply and held one every year.
In the original plot, “Dragon Boat Festival Shooting Willows” was a classic plot.
This classic plot had nothing to do with the main plot. It mainly involved a supporting role – General Dingwu. General Dingwu had led the Beijing Guard for many years and had accumulated a lot of merits. Recently, his power had been growing. Moreover, he was born in a noble family, which made the emperor more and more afraid. Therefore, the emperor observed General Dingwu carefully through the game of shooting willows. As a result, he found that General Dingwu was old and his hands were not as steady as when he was young. He could not shoot the willow branches at all. When the officials saw that he did not shoot, they also smiled and teased him. They did not look afraid of General Dingwu at all. General Dingwu just shook his head and sighed with a wry smile, saying that he should retire.
All these signs combined made the emperor completely dispel his doubts about General Dingwu. In the end, he let him retire and return home, and the two lived in peace.
General Dingwu was just a supporting role. His fate was not important, but this classic plot made Li Yuebai pay close attention and read and pondered it repeatedly.
The emperor attached great importance to the game of shooting willows. He was careful, observant, and suspicious. In his eyes, the willow shooting game was not only a traditional ritual, but also an occasion where he could see many things clearly.
After grasping this point, Li Yuebai made a proposal to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, asking His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to actively undertake the willow shooting event.
Murong Nan took up the task without hesitation, sent people to arrange the training ground, assigned personnel… and asked about everything seriously.
With such careful preparations, the fifth day of May soon arrived.
The spring was warm and the sky was clear. All matters related to the willow shooting had already been arranged on the training ground – a row of willow branches were planted at the northernmost end of the training ground, and lines were drawn on the ground at the southernmost end, marking the positions where the willow shooters should be. An area was marked out in the northwest corner, where more than a dozen drummers and musicians sat to beat drums to cheer up the willow shooters. To the east was a viewing platform, which was higher and was a seat for His Majesty the Emperor. The ministers of the court sat in a row of seats to the south.
Li Yuebai sat between the drummers and musicians, and in front of him was no longer a Jiaowei Qin, but a drum.
The drums sounded, and the generals who participated in the archery entered the venue with their horses and bows in hand.
Li Yuebai held the drumstick in his hand and looked from afar. He saw Murong Nan at first glance.
Murong Nan also participated in the archery game in person this time. He was dressed in black and rode a black horse. He looked elegant and capable. He even slowed down the horse politely in order to let the older General Dingwu walk in front of him. General Dingwu did not dare to do so and was very humble. Murong Nan unceremoniously forced General Dingwu’s horse to go ahead. General Dingwu had no choice but to be driven to the front.
Li Yuebai smiled and turned his eyes to Zhao Ne.
Zhao Ne rode a maroon horse and walked slowly in the center of the crowd. As the commander of the Jinyiwei, he participated in the Dragon Boat Festival archery game every year and successfully hit the target every year. Therefore, he never paid much attention to the archery game and could even be called careless.
“Host.” The system suddenly laughed and said, “Do you want to know what Zhao Ne is thinking about now?”
“Speak.”
“Of course he is thinking about how to frame the queen and others.” The system said, “Moreover, the queen’s family has not caused any obstacles to him recently, and he has some doubts in his heart.”
“That’s natural.” Li Yuebai sighed, “If he hadn’t been thinking about these things over and over again every day, he wouldn’t have successfully framed the queen in the original plot.”
Three drums sounded, and the archery competition officially began.
In order to prevent dazzling, the archery competition was carried out in order, one by one.
General Dingwu, who was ranked first, first bowed to everyone, then drew his bow and shot an arrow. With a sound of the string, the arrow flew out… Unfortunately, the willow branch did not move.
The attendant in charge of watching the willow branch quickly stepped forward to check and then reported loudly: “It didn’t hit the target!”
The ministers laughed and said, “What a pity, General Dingwu accidentally missed this time.”
“After all, he is old, even Lian Po can’t do it…”
General Dingwu put away his bow and arrow, bowed to everyone and smiled, “Excuse me, excuse me.”
The emperor’s face was cold and calm. He first carefully looked at General Dingwu’s expression, then looked at the seats of the ministers to see their reactions – it must be said that the emperor’s position was really good, high above, where all the scenes were in sight.
The second one was the turn of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
Murong Nan smiled, bent his bow and put on the arrow, looking very relaxed.
An arrow flew out, and the willow branch broke with a sound.
The attendant stepped forward to check and then reported loudly: “It hit the target!”
The ministers said, “Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince is a great hero, and it is a great blessing for the country.”
The emperor did not comment.
….
Soon, it was Zhao Ne’s turn to appear.
Li Yuebai stared at Zhao Ne’s movements, feeling nervous, and even beads of sweat appeared in the palm of his hand holding the drumstick.
The carefully arranged trap… must not be messed up.
Zhao Ne rode his horse to the appropriate position, pulled the reins, stopped, looked at the willow branches stuck in the ground in the distance, raised his longbow, put an arrow on it, and aimed.
Li Yuebai took a deep breath and said, “System, pay attention.”
At the moment when Zhao Ne was about to release the arrow, the drumstick in Li Yuebai’s hand hit the drum accurately, making a very penetrating sound.
The sound was not loud, but it could be transmitted very far.
The system said that he adjusted the frequency of this sound to increase its appeal.
The red horse under Zhao Ne’s seat was startled by the sound and jumped up with its two front hooves.
Zhao Ne frowned, steadied himself, and did not fall off the horse – this level of bump was nothing to him.
However, the arrow lost its aim due to the bump, flew out at an angle, and did not hit the willow branch.
Did not hit!
Li Yuebai breathed a sigh of relief and said, “It succeeded.”
“It succeeded just like that?” The system was puzzled.
“You will understand if you read on.” Li Yuebai smiled.
The attendant who was responsible for reporting the results had already started to tremble. The attendant was timid and afraid of things, and he was most afraid of the Jinyiwei. Now he looked at the motionless willow branch and then at Zhao Ne and was so scared that he almost wet his pants.
Lord Zhao always hit the target. He could easily offend him if he said that he didn’t hit the target, and he would be courting death.
No matter how scared he was, he had to do the job.
In fact, as early as when he selected this attendant, Li Yuebai quietly gave him some psychological hints through music and the system.
Under the cover of fear, the effect of psychological hints became more obvious.
The attendant ran to the willow branch, pulled out the branch, quietly broke it in his hand, and then announced loudly: “He hit it!”
The ministers fell into deathly silence.
Those with better eyesight had seen that Zhao Ne did not hit the willow branch.
But the attendant had already announced that he had hit it, so why not make the best of a bad situation and give Zhao Ne face? If they insisted on investigating it, they would probably offend Zhao Ne and bring disaster.
So, some of the ministers remained silent, some lowered their heads, and some who liked to flatter immediately cupped their hands and applauded, “Sir Zhao is indeed a hundred percent accurate!”
“Yes, Sir Zhao has sharp eyesight and superb archery skills. He is truly a pillar of the country!”
For a while, praises were endless.
A few people with upright personalities wanted to speak up to object, but the people around them pulled their sleeves and persuaded them a few words, so they finally did not speak.
The emperor saw all the performance of the ministers, and although his face did not change, he was already furious in his heart.
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