He made a pun.

Lu Qingxi readily accepted such flattery.

The two people clinked glasses like before, laughing as usual.

...

A few days later, the Deer Territory, the Royal Capital, and the Bucks City.

The decoration of the main palace hall of the royal palace is very different from that of the Black Horn City. There are a large amount of fur hanging on the walls, mostly bear skin and tiger skin, as well as a large number of fox skins and wolf skins. The number of leopard skins is relatively small. This is because the deer people have always liked the skin of white-spotted leopards, with beautiful patterns and expensive in the market. Although this beast is fierce and sometimes even harder to deal with than violent-bred bears, it cannot stop the nobles' strong love for beauty. Regardless of casualties, they have repeatedly organized hunting against white-spotted leopards.

A sumptuous banquet was held in the hall.

There were not many participants, except for the current Lu Fengguo, the national guru Wu Jiao, and the four adult princes, the rest were heads of each tribe, with a total of more than a dozen people.

Lu Fengguo did not have a good evaluation among the people, but he was a king who was extremely generous to his subordinates. Because of this, he received unanimous support from the aristocratic class and had a stable position.

This is the annual feast of patriarchs.

The fifty-eight-year-old Lu Fengguo stood up from the throne, raised his wine glass, and smiled and said loudly: "Thank you gods, this year is another bumper year."

In the audience, the clan leaders stood up one after another and agreed: "Congratulations to Your Majesty, congratulations to Your Majesty, to celebrate the coming year!"

The wine made from grain is very expensive, but it is essential in such occasions. After drinking a glass of wine, my whole body suddenly became warm. Feeling the mellow fragrance echoing in my mouth, Lu Fengguo signaled the maid to fill his empty cup. He turned his body and laughed in a low voice to Wu Jiao, a national guru sitting next to him, saying, "The food is good today, eat more."

He and Wu Jiao have been friends for many years and are close to each other.

Wu Jiao nodded happily and flattered: "Congratulations to Your Majesty, it will be like this every year from now on."

"Yes, the gods will bless our deer tribe to harvest year after year." Lu Fengguo responded casually with a smile. He glanced at the audience with a rather regretful expression: "I wish Lu Qingxi from the deer tribe was there too."

The national master Wu Jiao knew that Lu Fengguo liked the fun. He put down the chopsticks in his hand and said seriously: "Actually, he came earlier than the other clan leaders, but he didn't expect that he would get sick at this time."

The slightly drunk Lu Fengguo glanced at Wu Jiao and asked in a suspicious tone: "Is he really sick?"

Wu Jiao quickly replied: "I'm really sick. I went to the inn to see it last night. I was caught in a cold wind and shivered in my cup. My head was so hot. If I were pretending to be sick, I couldn't hide it from my eyes. I also specifically asked the people in the inn, and they all said that Lu Qingxi had become sick on the day he arrived in Bucks City. Since then, I have been taking medicine and never stopped."

"That seems to be true." Lu Fengguo was a little disappointed: "I plan to take everyone out to hunt tomorrow to make everyone happy."

Wu Jiao smiled and complimented: "We all know that Your Majesty is kind-hearted. Even if Lu Qingxi can't go tomorrow, His Majesty will give him some prey at that time, and I believe he will still be grateful."

"Hahahaha! You're right." Lu Fengguo laughed happily: "That's it."

...

In the early morning, a team of hundreds of people left Bucks City and walked along the not-so-wide dirt road towards the dense forests in the north.

Winter hunting is a traditional project of all northern barbarians. On the one hand, it is to fight against the cruel natural environment. On this vast land, the number of wild animals far exceeds that of humans. On the other hand, it is for food, especially animals that must eat a lot before winter comes. They are fat and strong, and their taste is more beautiful than other seasons.

The four sons surrounded Lu Fengguo like stars arching the moon, and he felt full of comfort.

The eldest son has good talent in governing tribes, and some of the decrees he formulated had good results after implementation. This is not an exaggeration, but a personal verification by the ministers and national teachers. Lu Fengguo even plans to observe for a few more years. If everything goes as usual, he will abdicate early and let the eldest son become the new deer king.

The second son and the third son are twins. Thanks to their mother's careful teaching, these two handsome young men are impeccable in terms of character. Five years ago, Lu Fengguo gave them a small village of 300 people. Now, the residents of both villages are more than 2,000, especially their abundance, which makes the surrounding villages envious.

The adult fourth brother is very good at fighting. He has been a piece of material for commanding troops since he was a child. Lu Fengguo simply kicked him into the army and directly controlled a thousand-man team. According to the feedback from the people below, the fourth prince is deeply loved by the soldiers. The thousand-man team he managed is among the best in the military competition and has been unanimously praised by the leaders.

Lu Fengguo knew very well that these four adult sons each had their own talents, and their achievements were inseparable from the teachings of their close friends. In fact, this kind of thing is not difficult to understand. As long as they are court officials, everyone must bets. The big bet must be on the eldest son, but as the other three sons who performed equally well, it will naturally attract the attention of court officials. However, the final decision was firmly in his own hands. Lu Fengguo did not want to see a fragmented deer tribe in many years. He wanted to die and leave the world with no regrets and tranquility.

There are sixteen daughters...their numbers are too large, four times that of the sons. Lu Fengguo was very helpless about this, but he had to keep an eye on the "gifts" from the gods. Speaking of which, when his wives and concubines gave birth to daughters one after another in the early years, Lu Fengguo was really amused and cried, and even had the suspicion of "I am destined to have only four sons". Now it seems that this speculation is not unreasonable, and he can only sigh that life is impermanent and the world is unpredictable.

The number of guards of eighty soldiers was not large, but the total number of people exceeded 200 with the four clan leaders, Bai Lu, Xuan Lu, Yan Lu, and Qing Lu. Speaking of which, Lu Feng Kingdom had some idea of ​​showing off. Horses were special trade goods of the tiger tribe, especially stallions, and were included in the list of goods that were strictly prohibited for trading. The price of horses was so expensive that even as the king of the tribe, it could not form a large-scale cavalry.

The horse under the crotch of Lu Fengguo and his four sons was extremely majestic, and the mounts of the eighty cavalry were even smooth and smooth. Looking at the horses under the crotch of the other four clan leaders and their guards, the pride and pride in Lu Fengguo's heart arise naturally... Yes, this is a naked show of flaunt, which is indispensable to the subordinates as a king, which means material differences in identity levels.

"Go! Hurry up. If you can't find prey later, you will have no food to eat when you go back to the city at night. Hahahaha..."

Lu Fengguo laughed and made a bold statement. He clamped his legs hard to the horse's belly, urging the beast under his crotch to hurt, like an arrow leaving the string, and suddenly accelerated and ran forward.

Many tribes have similar hunting rules. People waiting at home do not prepare meals. If they do not get prey, hunters with empty hands will only go hungry when they go home. It is said that this is an ancient story that has been passed down to this day and has gradually evolved into the default rule of winter hunting activities, even royal families are no exception.

The hunting ground of Beishan belongs to the deer kings of all dynasties. This is a vast forest, which stretches from the north of the distant continent to this point. The tall black needle pine has nurtured countless animals, especially the forest land close to Bucks City and six kilometers away from the city. Due to the special terrain, a section of hills crosses the middle, breaking the plains on both sides from Bucks City. In addition, the river flows from the bottom of the ridge, forming a natural barrier belt. In order to prevent wild beasts from the mountains, the previous deer king specially set up a village in the southwest of the hills. The military defense power here is much stronger than other villages of the same scale. Spears, bows, and towers kill hundreds of wild beasts every year. Over time, predators from the mountains knew that this was a forbidden area for humans, so they gradually moved away.

Whether it is bears, lions, tigers, or leopards, they all have their own wisdom. Although wild deer and deer run fast, no one cares about it. Although the pigs and sheep raised by humans are delicious, they are full of dangers in the predation process. In the eyes of beasts, lonely hunters are food, and a hunting team of just a dozen people is not difficult to deal with, but villages with walls are different. There are tight guards and many people. Even the powerful violent bears cannot withstand the impact of heavy crossbows... Although human flesh is delicious, it is not worth paying a heavy price for it.

According to the mud template in the Deer Royal Database, Beishan Hunting Ground has not had a large-scale carnivorous beast for more than 70 years. The "scale" mentioned here refers specifically to groups of more than 50 animals. The beasts have their own special means of information transmission and communication, and they may have the same genetic memory as humans. In short, Beishan Hunting Ground has always been the habitat of wild deer and wild boars. Occasionally, a few wild-bred bears or black-howling wolves with no eyes broke in, but they are very disciplined. As long as they get prey, they will turn around and leave with their harvest and rarely live here for a long time.

This is because the deer kings of all dynasties organized royal members to go out to hunt every winter. These wild beasts who thought they were lucky would never survive until the spring of the next year. Regardless of personnel or equipment, royal members and their guards were by no means comparable to ordinary village hunters. In front of sharp long swords and bows, even the fierce and fierce bears could only escape in panic. If they ran slowly, the thick bear's paws would be placed on the dining table and became a mouth-watering delicacy.

The weather is good today, the dark clouds rarely disperse, and the sun reveals its long-lost face. The horses also seemed to be infected by people's high emotions and ran faster than usual. Nearly noon, Lu Fengguo shot a few arrows and got a half-sized deer and a few hares.

He held the hunting bow with his left hand and stepped on the stirrups with both feet. He looked at the soldier who was packing his prey with great dissatisfaction, frowned: "There are so few, that's just that..."

At this time last year, the hunting results were brilliant, with more than 30 large deer, more than a dozen fanged pigs, and even two white-spotted leopards with beautiful furs.

The eldest son, who knew his intentions, quickly stepped forward, approached Lu Fengguo, and smiled comfortably, "Dad, don't worry, it's still early, let's walk forward, the deer should be in the forest."

In informal occasions, the daughters are called "Daddy" instead of "Father". He also likes it very much and thinks that doing so is more affectionate. : :

"Okay, listen to you, walk forward and look." Lu Fengguo nodded with a smile, pulled the reins, and urged the running horse to move forward.

The same royal hunting is different from the whites in the south. Barbarians do not send cavalry outposts to search and drive out beasts nearby for nobles to shoot and kill. Whether nobles or civilians, barbarians value personal abilities, and only the prey they find and kill can be considered a harvest.

The ground was covered with a layer of not thick snow, and the depth was just below the horse's hooves. This obstacle was nothing to the horse. The cavalry team followed the high-interested deer king and continued to move forward, heading towards the depths of the forest.

Even the black pine tree that is used to the cold must obey the laws of nature. Their branches and leaves are sparse than usual in this season. Because there are too many, the alternating branches block the sunlight. Golden light spots sprinkle on the ground through the gaps between the branches and leaves, illuminating halos in the dark gray forest and snow.

The snow here is deeper than outside, and it quickly surpasses the horse's calves and approaches the horse's knees.

The temperature inside the dense forest is low, unlike outside the forest, and the snow surface melts. The snow layer here is soft and inconvenient to walk. After walking for hundreds of meters, the horses can no longer run, so they can only walk slowly with difficulty.

Lu Fengguo frowned again.

He felt something was wrong.

As the deer king, he is very familiar with the Beishan hunting ground. He comes to this woodland every year and gets a lot of harvest every time. It must be admitted that sometimes it is necessary to go deep into the dense forest to find groups of prey, but it has never been like now, going deep into the woodland for four or five kilometers, and even a hare cannot be seen.

He looked at the horse that was constantly spitting white mist under his crotch. He sighed, turned over and jumped down, and his heavy body immediately pressed down on the snow, not reaching Lu Fengguo's knees.

The horse can no longer walk, let alone carry people on its back. If this continues, it will only make the poor animal exhausted. In this environment, the speed of walking and riding is not much different. You don’t come down to walk and move your body.

Even King Deer was like this, behind him, the patriarch and soldiers dismounted one after another.

The eldest prince walked up to the deep snow. He hesitated and asked tentatively: "Dad, why don't we go back first. I'll ask the people below to continue searching nearby and see what the situation is. Let's come again another day?"

He said it in a very obscure way, without mentioning the word "prey".

Lu Fengguo felt warm in his heart, and he subconsciously wanted to agree, but his dignity as the King of Deer made him hesitate a little. He nodded slowly, but did not immediately agree with his son's proposal: "...well... walk forward for a while, maybe..."
Chapter completed!