On August 15th, arrived in Wusu.
What has become eternal is the bright moon in the sky.
The Wusu Kingdom should also have a Mid-Autumn Festival, but yesterday's fire wiped out all the joy, and the supposedly prosperous capital was lifeless.
It is said that after His Majesty the King learned that Tenluo Temple was burned down, he spat out a mouthful of blood and immediately fell to the ground. He may not be alive for long.
Wusu is a big country, and the power is still controlled by traitors. For Song Che, who is far away from home and has no power and no one, it is absolutely right to keep a low profile;
In order to avoid danger, Song Che found a small inn in the city and planned to stay for a few days to see how the wind blew. If that doesn't work, just grease the soles of your feet and run away with the treasure.
On August 15th, the full moon shines high.
Unknowingly, it has been more than half a year since I left home. Whenever I see the bright moon, I can't help but remind Song Che of my hometown.
The lanterns in Hangzhou must be beautiful, right?
Wusu is the last country. If they can stamp their national seal on the document, the trip to the Western Regions will be considered a complete success.
Early the next morning, people were arrested everywhere.
The soldiers took the serfs with them to check passers-by on the streets. As long as they were identified as having appeared in Tianluo Temple, they would not tolerate the slightest sophistry and would be directly arrested as suspects.
A good capital city was turned into a mess.
"Master Jun, our family has believed in Buddhism for generations. We go to the temple to worship on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month. How could I, an old man of half a century, set fire to the temple?"
An old woman in her fifties was dragged hard by two soldiers because she had a string of Buddhist beads hanging around her neck.
"The Imperial Master has ordered that all those who worship and believe in Buddhism should cooperate with the investigation! Even if you are seventy or eighty years old, you still have to come with us!"
"Buddha! There is no justice! There is no justice!" The old woman looked up to the sky and wailed.
"Stop it!"
At this time, I saw a white horse galloping towards me. On the horse's back sat this richly dressed, handsome and majestic young man. He had a sword on his waist and a carver on his back. Behind him were twenty or thirty followers, all wearing swords on their backs. samurai with bow.
"See Your Highness the Prince!"
The guards quickly knelt down and worshiped.
"You are so crazy that you won't even let the old man go!" The handsome young man got off his horse and snatched the old woman from the hands of the guards.
The guard did not dare to raise his head, so he could only quibble: "Your Highness, he is the Imperial Master -"
"That's enough!" the handsome young man shouted: "From now on, if I find you arresting old, weak, women and children again, I will demote you all into slaves!"
He took two more silver coins and gave them to the old woman, and sent her home. Then he mounted the white horse and hurried out of the city.
Song Che stood by the window, staring at the young man's leaving figure. He couldn't pretend to be kind with his hands and feet raised. It just made him a little confused. The king was seriously ill and dying. As a prince, why did he still run out of the city carrying a carved bow? Is it to go hunting?
"Yue'er, Jingxiang."
"What's wrong, boss?"
"Prepare some horses and some people, and let's go with him to have a look."
…
Outside Wusu City, the soil and water are fertile and the foothills are lush. Nomadic princes and nobles like to come here to hunt.
Prince Hadir of the Wusu Kingdom, holding a treasured eagle bow, shuttled through the foothills. He frowned, looking for something with all his concentration.
Pheasants, hares, even fat wild boars passed by him without a second glance.
"Your Highness, the spotted deer has not appeared in the Beilu area for a long time, let alone the deer king." The entourage beside him tried to persuade him.
Hadir said: "Even if there is a little hope of saving my father, I will never miss it. If I cannot hunt the Deer King today, I will never return to the city!"
"Then you should take a rest at least——"
"Shh!"
Hadir hurriedly signaled to be silent and told his followers with his eyes that in the dense forest, an extremely strong stag with slender antlers was leaning over to eat grass.
Hadir suppressed the joy in his heart, took out an arrow and put it on the string. He slowly drew the bow to full capacity, took a deep breath, and listened to the sound of "bang", and the flying arrow came out of the string.
Unfortunately, the arrow still missed!
The disturbed stag hurriedly fled deep into the forest.
"damn it!"
Without even thinking, Hadir whipped up his horse and started to catch up!
"Your Highness! The danger deep in the forest is unknown. Come back quickly!" the attendant shouted while chasing, but the narrow woods could not accommodate dozens of people entering and exiting at the same time, and the prince's mount was comparable to that of their subordinates. After a while, , the prince threw his entourage away.
Hadir chased the stag, shooting as he walked, but each time he would miss a little. The more this happened, the more anxious he became, regardless of how far he chased.
Gradually, even the shouts of the followers could no longer be heard.
The stag was exhausted from the chase and accidentally got stuck in the bushes.
"Haha! You can't run away now!"
Hadir wanted to draw another arrow, but found that the quiver was empty. He could only dismount, drew the sword from his waist, and strode towards the stag.
The hard-won prey made him forget all dangers. Just when he was about to get close to the stag, his feet suddenly gave way and he fell into a pit full of dead leaves.
The pit was about two feet high, and he couldn't fall clearly.
"Damn it! Which hunter set this trap!" Hadir cursed and tried to climb several times, but the pit was dug very smooth, and there was not even a blade of grass to borrow strength from. In desperation, he I can only shout:
"Sesti, Eric...can you hear me! Get me up quickly!"
At this time, the sound of "昘昘..." came from outside the cave entrance.
Hadir was overjoyed, thinking that the attendants had heard his call for help, but when he looked up, he found two strange men wearing turbans standing outside the cave. They were carrying bows and arrows, carrying machetes, and were looking down at the people in the cave coldly.
"Who are you?" Hadir asked with a frown.
A man said coldly: "We are the hunters in this forest.",
"I am your prince, rescue me quickly, I will give you generous rewards!" Hadir shouted.
The two men were indifferent, with a hint of joking in their tone, "I know you are the noble Prince Hadir, but the target of our hunting is you!"
Hadir recalled everything he saw when he came back, including the stag, the forest, the trap, and the hunter. It turned out that everything was a conspiracy against him.
He was furious, pointed at the masked man at the entrance of the cave and cursed: "Damn slaves! Let me out quickly! Otherwise, when my guards come, you will be hanged alive!"
The masked man smiled and said: "My dear Prince Hadir, your stupid guards are still walking in circles in the forest. When they find you, you are already a corpse."
"Stop talking nonsense to him and do it quickly!" another person urged.
The masked man took off the bamboo basket on his back, pointed the mouth of the basket at the pit, and whistled softly, "Zizzizi..." A five-step snake spitting out a letter slowly poked its head out.
