March 3rd, Paper Kite Festival.
This day is another noisy festival after the Lantern Festival.
Outside the city of Tokyo, the scenery is picturesque and full of greenery. Countless tourists and various vendors gathered in the direction of the major city gates. Even the big and small Guanpu shops under the Shuqiao bridge came to join in the fun, setting up wooden tables to gamble and win. lose.
There is a competition every year at the Paper Kite Festival, hosted by the Tokyo Paper Kite Society, and the rewards are all awarded by the Paper Kite Society. The Paper Kite Society is a voluntary organization in the private market, just like the Yuan Society and Qiyun Society of Cuju, and is not an official establishment. .
The Zhiyuan Society cannot be compared with organizations like the Yuan Society and the Qiyun Society in terms of scale and membership. It is widely circulated in Tokyo that, in terms of romance, it is not as good as the Yuan Society. It is also widely circulated that everyone talks about the Qiyun Society. , the three brocades compete for the first place.
The Paper Kite Society naturally does not have such a reputation. After all, almost everyone, children, women, and even old men and women, can participate in the game of Paper Kite. There is no threshold at all.
The members of Zhiyuan Society are generally ordinary people. The president and vice-presidents are just wealthy businessmen. As for Yuan Society, even Gao Qiu is just an ordinary member. The presidents above are even more They are relatives of the emperor.
Early that morning, Zhao Tong ordered people to prepare carriages and horses, planning to go outside the city to watch. He also sent Lei San to buy a lot of paper kites from an outside shop, and distributed them to some servants in the house, asking them to sign up. Participate in the Kite Contest.
Two carriages, with about a hundred people in them, rolled out of the palace gate after breakfast.
Zhao Tong rode on horseback, followed by Su Shi and his guards. Su Shi's arm, which was broken by Fang La during the Shangyuan Festival, had almost recovered, and he could wield the sword without any serious problems.
There are many pedestrians on the street at this moment, all going out of the city. Old and young, accompanied by men and women, are noisy. They carry various paper kites on their backs, carry fruit baskets and food boxes of various sizes, and their faces are filled with happy smiles.
When we left the city, the competition hadn't officially started yet, but there were already many scattered kites floating in the sky, colorful and really beautiful.
Zhao Tan got off the horse, and the guards set up chairs and tables. The young lady got off the carriage, with a nervous look on her face. But seeing the lively atmosphere in front of her, she felt a little happy in her heart. Jin'er even took a paper kite from Chunyan. Stop fiddling.
The Imperial Guards who were maintaining order rushed over to say hello. After Zhao Tong said a few words, they all bowed and left.
Until noon on this day, the atmosphere inside and outside Tokyo was immersed in joy, but at noon, it was suddenly broken.
Zhao Tong went to the south gate and sat not far outside the Dragon River, right in the middle of the sun. When spring was at its warmest, on the official road not far away, a fast horse galloped through the smoke. Come.
The horse did not give way to pedestrians at all, and even a lazy person who was wandering on the official road was directly scratched by the horse and was taken aside and suffered minor injuries.
Zhao Tong couldn't help but frown slightly when he saw this scene, but he didn't send anyone to stop him.
He had excellent eyesight and had already seen that the man on the horse was actually the messenger of the Imperial Army.
The color of the soft armor of this order soldier has long been invisible, but his identity can be identified by the helmet and the order flag on his back.
Zhao Tong couldn't help but frown slightly, and saw that the messenger did not slow down when he reached the city gate, shouting: "Urgent report from Wanxi, urgent report from Wanxi, make way quickly!"
He wanted to rush into the city gate, but unexpectedly, the horse under his crotch lost its strength due to running for too long or was tripped by something. It lost its front hoof directly in front of the city gate, fell to its knees and fell to the ground. The soldiers were immediately thrown out.
When Zhao Tong saw this, he stood up and walked over quickly. At this time, many people who were placing paper kites stayed away from each other. No one came to watch the fun. The knowledgeable people knew that this must be an urgent military intelligence report, and even the uninformed people would guess. Something big happened somewhere.
When Zhao Tong went over, the city gate guards were surrounding the man and didn't know what to do. When he saw Zhao Tong, he hurriedly moved out of the way.
Zhao Tong saw that the messenger had fallen hard and had blood foaming from his mouth, but he was still muttering: "Urgent report, urgent report..."
Zhao Tong leaned down and said, "I am the King of Qi. What is the urgent report?"
When the messenger heard the word "King Qi", he suddenly sat up and took out a scroll of paper from his arms: "Your Majesty, urgent report, urgent report from Wanxi..."
After Zhao Tong took the paper scroll, he saw the man fell to the ground again with a "pop". He didn't know if he had regained his consciousness just now, whether he had fainted or died now.
Zhao Tong grabbed the scroll and called to Su Shi: "Send this urgent report to the Privy Council, and ask this person to be carried over by the Imperial Army!"
Su Shi took the order and led the people away. Zhao Tong returned to his seat, but this time his mood was no longer so relaxed, and his expression was a little solemn. Looking at the urgency of the messenger, the war situation in Western Anhui was definitely not optimistic.
Just over half an hour later, at the most critical moment of the Kite Competition, another horse came galloping up the official road. This horse was as fast as the previous one. It actually shouted all the way: "The military situation is urgent." Report, everyone else, get out of the way!"
"Get out of the way, get out of the way!"
The tourists had learned the lesson from before, no one came forward, and this horse galloped into the city.
Zhao Tong held the tea cup and narrowed his eyes. In such a short period of time, there were two urgent military reports. This is not just a simple war that is not optimistic. This... it should be a big defeat!
According to the temperament of Tongzhi Privy Councilor Wang Xiang, even if he is defeated, he will report the good news but not the bad news. Unless it is a big defeat, he dare not hide it and cannot hide it, so he will send the military information back in such a hurry.
Just as Zhao Tong was thinking about it, another cavalry of messengers came galloping over the official road. This one was actually covered in blood. He didn't know whether he had encountered a thief or had fallen off his horse before. His face was all covered with blood. There were black blood scabs, and he ran and shouted: "It's urgent, it's urgent, let's get out of the way!"
At this time, the tourists, including the contestants who were participating in the paper kite flying competition, were not calm. The president of the paper kite club was a silk merchant in Tokyo. Although he did not have an official position, his business was huge, so he certainly had The winking person's expression turned ugly at this moment, and he was secretly wondering if he should end the Kite Competition as soon as possible.
Zhao Tong squinted his eyes slightly, expressionless, and gently turned the tea bowl in his hand. The girl next to him looked at him and wanted to say something, but hesitated.
After another long while, two eunuchs came from the city on horseback in a hurry. The leader was Zheng Fu. He jumped off his horse before he got close, staggered over and trotted over, saying in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the official Prince Xuan will come in soon." palace."
Zhao Tong stood up and glanced at his mother. She looked at him with a reserved expression. Zhao Tong looked at Lei San next to him. Lei San immediately said: "Your Majesty, do you want to go back to your house immediately?"
Zhao Tong nodded: "This is the king's order, all the people in the mansion who participated in the Kite Competition will go back, and another one will be transferred to accompany them."
Lei San said it was time to leave. Zhao Tong walked up to Qing Feng, turned over and ran towards the city...
(End of chapter)
