Zhu Houzhao wanted to use a firearm, but Chen Xi did not dare to agree. If the emperor made any mistakes in using a firearm, it would be his sin.

Moreover, the use of muskets in hunting may not be allowed in feudal society, because this poses too great a threat to the emperor's personal safety, so it is better to let Zhu Houzhao use bows and arrows honestly.

Zhu Houzhao's disappointment was obvious because he was afraid of being embarrassed in front of Shen Xi.

Zhu Houzhao really has no talent in bow shooting. He has never made time to train. When hunting, he can only find ways to let others show off and try to make a fool of himself.

"Your Majesty, the hunting ground has been enclosed. Can you hunt?"

Xu Tai, wearing armor, entered the imperial tent and saluted respectfully.

At this time, Xu Tai changed into a silver armor and looked heroic. Although this was the first time Chen Xi saw Xu Tai, he could tell who this person was based on the information in his mind. At the same time, he understood one thing, that is, Emperor Zhengde was gradually respecting the slander ministers who had appeared in history, and these people stepped onto the stage of history step by step.

Zhu Houzhao smiled and said, "Mr. Chen, please."

As he said that, Zhu Houzhao stepped towards the camp gate.

Lu Wan and others were very embarrassed. They also understood that the emperor did not dissuade them when he was hunting, and it was not easy to explain in front of Shen Xi, the boss.

Chen Xi did not respond and followed Zhu Houzhao out of the camp. He saw a large number of people and horses outside, mostly Jinyiwei, and some soldiers drawn from the border troops of Xuanfu. Zhu Houzhao seemed to be the commander of the inspectors and soldiers to go out to the expedition. After standing still, he asked Chen Xi below: "Mr. Chen, I wonder if you can also transfer your troops to hunt together?"

Xiao Tiaozi whispered: "Your Majesty, Lord Shen's men must be guarded in the outer circle to prevent the Tartars from attacking."

Zhu Houzhao shouted angrily: "Will the Tartars come again in this situation? The Ming Dynasty is so strong that the grassland has been pacified. How dare the Tartars come to harass me? And I didn't ask Mr. Chen to transfer all the troops under his command, but just some of them."

Chen Xi saluted respectfully: "Your Majesty, let me keep my men and horses on the periphery... This time, we will be with you, and the meritorious generals who have returned from the grassland."

Zhu Houzhao thought for a while and nodded, "Okay, Mr. Chen, please put on his armor and take a good bow and arrow, let's hunt together!"

...

...

The three armies were dispatched, but this time it was not a war, but a hunting. Although Chen Xi and Zhu Houzhao both rode horses and carried bows and arrows, the bow shooting level of the two was basically at the same level.

Although Chen Xi is very good at dispatching troops, he is basically an outsider in cavalry and shooting. As the commander of the Ming Dynasty's troops and horses, he never stood on the battlefield with his courage and good combat. When he followed Zhu Houzhao to hunt, he basically did not shoot an arrow because it was too difficult for him.

Zhu Houzhao was originally afraid of making a fool of himself in front of Shen Xi, but after discovering that Chen Xi didn't know how to ride and shoot, a sense of superiority arose.

Zhu Houzhao thought to himself: "Yes, Mr. Chen has always been wise to lead the troops. How could he be proficient in these things as a civil servant? It would be a bit out of place to let him go out to hunt. After all, it is difficult to have the opportunity to perform with his skills. But I can't show myself. Even if I can ride and shoot at a little bit, I can't shoot prey, which is really annoying."

The hunting continued, and Zhu Houzhao was very interested. At this moment, he knew the importance of safety. With the experience of being attacked by tigers, he no longer rushed out of the large army rashly, and surrounded him. As for Qian Ning and Jiang Bin, they were secretly competing and followed Zhu Houzhao to prevent any wild beasts from suddenly rushing out to offend the Holy Garment.

"Your Majesty, the army is moving today, and the noise is too loud, and all the prey are scared away." Xiao Tiaozi rode behind Zhu Houzhao and said panting.

Zhu Houzhao turned around and scolded: "Little Twist, you are not tired even when you ride a horse and follow me. How could you be so tired?"

Xiao Tiaozi thought to himself: "Not that? The horse does not run fast, so naturally I won't be tired, but I don't ride a horse often. In order to ride a horse, I use a lot of force on both legs!"

He complained deeply in his stomach, but on the surface, he responded respectfully: "Your Majesty, I am useless. I haven't ridden a horse for a long time. I am not as easy to control as Your Majesty."

Zhu Houzhao smiled and turned to look at Chen Xi: "Mr. Chen, you can see you move forward and back freely. I guess you are not bad at shooting your bow? Why don't we compare who will hit the prey first?"

Chen Xi smiled and said, "I have been rushing on the road in the past few months and can't stay on the carriage all the time. I usually use horses to travel with them. At first, I'm a little uncomfortable and can control them freely over time. I'm used to it. As for riding and shooting, I'm not good at this kind of thing, but if Your Majesty wants to compare, I can still give it a try."

Zhu Houzhao nodded: "Yes, let a person ride a horse on the grassland for thousands of miles. Even if he is not proficient in riding, he will slowly train... This is also why the Tartars are good at riding and shooting. They were born on the grassland and grew up on the back of horses since they were young. Over time, they will know everything."

Zhu Houzhao suddenly thought of military affairs. Although he was talking about some superficial truths, it still made Chen Xi feel impressed. At least this kid was not addicted to Yile and completely ignored the affairs of the court, and knew how to think about problems by drawing inferences.

Zhu Houzhao said again: "Mr. Chen, I haven't practiced riding and shooting for a long time, so you are roughly the same level as me. Then let's compare to who can hunt prey and then barbecue and eat together after night. How about it?"

"Abide by Your Majesty's imperial orders." Chen Xi bowed his hand and bowed.

Zhu Houzhao said to the people next to him: "You follow me to hunt, mark your arrows. In the end, whoever catches the most prey, I will be rewarded with a lot... Today I will treat it as a chance to show myself. I also want to see who among you has the highest ability, the best, and get my final reward!"

After hearing this, the guards and generals couldn't help but feel energetic, especially Hu Songyue and others who followed Chen Xi. They had no chance to show themselves in front of the emperor before. In their opinion, if they caught the most prey this time, it would be like taking the most solid step to increase the title.

These generals were thinking in their hearts: "What do we do is to make a living by fighting and make great achievements on the grassland with Lord Shen. Can we still lose to you, the group of pampered masters and soldiers? This small victory is considered a loss!"

Hu Songyue and others obviously underestimated the strength of the Jinyiwei and the Border Army.

In terms of bow shooting, the people around Zhu Houzhao are considered elites, while Hu Songyue and others have not used bows and arrows for a long time and have been fighting with muskets. They suddenly hunt with bows and arrows, and naturally suffered a great loss.

There was also a bet between Chen Xi and Zhu Houzhao here, but Chen Xi didn't put it in appreciation at all. Even if he could win by taking some opportunistic methods and was unwilling to use it, it was because he wanted to keep his face for the emperor. This time, the hunting was purely to coax Zhu Houzhao to come out and play, and it was not within his plan.

Zhu Houzhao seemed extremely excited. At first, she was staying with Chen Xi, but later, perhaps because she felt that her prey was disturbed by the large army and had no harvest for a long time, she found an excuse to take people away.

Chen Xi found that there seemed to be many wild animals that did not belong to the local area in the hunting ground, such as yellow sheep, wild donkeys, buffaloes, etc. He could only guess that in order to prepare for the emperor's hunting, someone arranged behind the scenes and temporarily found some livestock to charge.

Chen Xi had a question in his heart: "Is it a coincidence that a tiger attacked His Majesty before, or is it that someone deliberately put a tiger around? Although there are tigers these days, they are rare. How could he be encountered by His Majesty so by chance?"

"Mr. Shen, Your Majesty has caught his prey! It's a sika deer!" A guard from afar came over to pass the message.

After Zhu Houzhao caught his prey, he couldn't wait to come over to inform Chen Xi of "good news", and at the same time he also urged Chen Xi to go hunting as soon as possible.

Chen Xi did not answer because the other party was just ordered to notify him. He could have done nothing, but suddenly he remembered that if he really did nothing, the emperor might not be happy when he turned back. If this is the case, it would be better to find the prey and put a few arrows casually, which means.

He was a little puzzled: "Zhu Houzhao, this kid, really shot the agile deer with his own ability? Could it be that someone helped him?"

As time goes by, the sun gradually slanted westward and sets down the mountains, and the hunting activity is approaching its end.

On the way to Chenxi, he found signs of wild beasts moving. It looked like a goat, and immediately bent his bow and arrows. However, his level was indeed limited. In addition, he was just doing it and didn't know where the arrows were shot out, which made the Jinyiwei around him feel shocked, because in the eyes of the military, Chenxi should be omnipotent.

Chen Xi would not force himself to show himself. He shook his head and waved his hand, and said with a wry smile: "This hunting is a skill. If you don't have any basic skills in shooting, it's hard to hit your prey!"

A kind laughter came from the surrounding area, and soon the Jinyiwei shot archery and hit the goat. When the prey was brought over, Chenxi was basically sure that someone was indeed laying animals in the hunting ground. The goat was black-haired, usually only growing in the south of the Yangtze River. It is a meat goat. It is difficult to survive in an environment of tens of degrees below zero in winter in the north.

When he met Zhu Houzhao again, the little emperor had already brought his harvest today. A deer and a rabbit came over. Zhu Houzhao looked very happy, especially when he knew that although Chen Xi was hunting hard, he had no harvest.

Zhu Houzhao smiled and said, "Haha, it seems that I am better than Mr. Chen when I shoot the bow... It's not too early, so we should go back to the camp. I also want to know who hunts the most and gets the final reward."

Zhu Houzhao was very interested. At this moment, he didn't care about how much hunting and whether he was attentive. As long as he won, he would be happy.

The group went to the camp. At this time, the large troops from Zhangjiakou Fort had arrived. The camps were erected one by one, with the imperial tent as the center, three layers outside and three layers. When Zhu Houzhao returned to the camp, the officers and soldiers burst into deafening cheers... For ordinary soldiers in the army, it was a great honor to see the emperor.

However, some of the soldiers were also cheering for the arrival of Chenxi. They could see the legendary invincible military god who appeared at the same time as the supreme emperor. It seemed that there was no regret in this life.

...

...

A bonfire was set up in the camp, and the people who went out to hunt rushed back one after another within the prescribed time.

It was basically clear how many prey each person caught when he came back. Hu Songyue, Liu Xu and others thought they could stand out, but after they came back, they found that Zhu Houzhao was also a group of capable people. There were hundreds of preys that were hunted back by the Imperial Guard generals, but it was unknown whether there was anything wrong with it.

After Zhu Houzhao came back, she went to the tent to change into a regular dress. After coming out, she greeted Chen Xi: "Mr. Chen, the banquet is ready and we can take the seat."

Chen Xi nodded and accompanied Zhu Houzhao to the fire in front of the imperial tent. Just like the previous bonfire party after the Khans meeting, Chen Xi couldn't help but remind Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty, the Tatars' New Khan and Hatun are still waiting for you to summon him."

Zhu Houzhao said: "It's so boring to summon the Tartars at this time... After the capital, let the people from the Ministry of Rites deal with it. Today I just want to get drunk with Mr. Chen before I can stop."

When dealing with the matter of the grassland tribe, Zhu Houzhao showed great impatience. She walked to the imperial throne prepared for him and sat down. She took off her boots and waved her hands and said, "My boots are a bit dissatisfied, please change to another pair."

An eunuch was busy changing his shoes for Zhu Houzhao. Chen Xi stood beside him and looked for a while. At this time, another group of hunters came back in the distance. Qian Ning and Jiang Bin were both among them. They each brought their own people to deliver the captured prey to the camp. Not long after, Xiao Tiaozi came over to Zhu Houzhao and said, "Your Majesty, it has been counted out. Commander Qian killed nineteen preys and took the lead."

Zhu Houzhao was neither happy nor angry, obviously not very concerned about Qian Ning's victory, and asked casually: "How much did Jiang Bin beat?"

"Elevens, ranked second among all." Xiao Tiaozi said.

Zhu Houzhao fell into deep thought.

Chen Xi understood that the little emperor was not completely confused, why did Qian Ning catch so many preys? It is very likely that he summed up the preys he caught and counted them all as his. Jiang Bin was alone and alone. When the emperor could not know the specific situation, Qian Ning was likely to cheat.

Zhu Houzhao did not delve into it, and looked at Chen Xi with a smile and said, "Mr. Chen, the meritorious generals you brought seem to be a little lacking in bow shooting... Well, I remembered it. It is very likely that they were used to using firearms and seemed unfamiliar with bow shooting! It seems that my Imperial Guard will also change to another person who can use firearms in the future."

When Zhu Houzhao seemed to say this unintentionally, Chen Xi understood that the little emperor did not make a decision temporarily, but should have been inspired by certain things, such as the huge role of firearms in the victory of foreign wars, and Zhu Houzhao was disappointed with the Jinyiwei around him, etc.

Chen Xi smiled and said, "It seems that I want to help His Majesty build such a army."

“Yes, that’s it.”

Zhu Houzhao smiled and said, "The person who knows the best in the world is that there are no one else except Mr. Chen. This person should indeed be formed by Mr. Shen. I need a person who is completely loyal to me. He can not only protect the capital, but also protect the palace and the leopard room. He can protect my comprehensiveness at any time. When this force is formed, no one can threaten the country of the Ming Dynasty!"

At this time, Zhu Houzhao was very proud, and seemed to have found a good way to deal with the rebellion of court officials or invasion of foreign barbarians.

...

...

The bonfire party begins.

Zhu Houzhao had a big banquet for the ministers, but it was not much different from the bonfire party on the grassland. It was a barbecue party, but it added some fresh vegetables and fruits compared to Guanshan.

There were two rows of tables, Zhu Houzhao sat in the first place, while Chen Xi sat in the guest head, and even the seats opposite Chen Xi were empty, showing that no one among the ministers and military generals present could be alongside Chen Xi.

As for Lu Wan, Wang Chang, Wang Shouren and others, they sat in the back seat, and among the military generals, Xu Tai, deputy general of Xuanfu, sat in front, which also reflected Zhu Houzhao's respect for Xu Tai.

Qian Ning, Jiang Bin and others stood behind Zhu Houzhao and were not qualified to join the seat, while Hu Songyue and others sat in a further back seat.

It is better to say that it is a banquet for the ministers in Zhu Houzhao's minds to be close and distant. Even if Hu Songyue and others made great achievements on the battlefield, they are still not as good as the slander ministers Zhu Houzhao trusts in the ranking.

"I respect all the generals today and help me pacify the grassland and complete the achievements of all generations. I sincerely regard you as my loyal ministers. I will also rely on you to help me protect the country and the country in the future!"

Zhu Houzhao picked up the wine glass and toasted himself. This was a very generous gift for those present. If the banquet was given in the palace, it would be considered a honor for the emperor to drink with the ministers. Now the emperor took the initiative to stand up and toast, which is no longer the usual ceremony of giving banquets.

Everyone present stood up and drank together.

For generals such as Hu Songyue, they didn’t care about the issue of the level of seats. They only knew that the emperor had to come back with fun on the banquet that day. This was a feast they could remember for their whole life.

After Zhu Houzhao toasted, everyone started to feast on their food, and there were special eunuchs responsible for grilling prey.

Most of these eunuchs were from the imperial kitchen in the palace. They were of high level. The baked deliciousness for most people present can be considered supreme delicacies and mouth-watering. However, for Hu Songyue and other generals who followed Chenxi back from the grassland, no matter how exquisite the meat is, they are not a delicious thing. In the past few months, they have been using beef and mutton to satisfy their hunger, and now they are more willing to eat vegetables, fruits and melons.

So at the beginning of the banquet, Hu Songyue and others took special action on fruits and vegetables, and kept asking the eunuchs who were waiting for them to add them. These things were more of decorations to others, but in their eyes they were delicacies.
To be continued...