From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

A group of people rested in the small castle until two o'clock in the afternoon. Then the Duke of Choiseul gathered everyone. As the organizer of the hunt, he expressed his joy to everyone for being invited to participate in the hunt and announced the hunt. The hunt officially begins.

Lawrence had no time to listen to Duke Choiseul's overly enthusiastic speech. He was staying in a dimly lit small room, changing clothes helplessly.

Although this hunting was not organized by Crown Prince Louis, since Lawrence was invited to join Prince Louis' hunting team, according to the rules of Versailles, he had to specially change into a set of clothes that could be called a uniform to match the royal family's hunting. This honor is given to team members.

Black and gray coat, dark red vest and breeches, the upper body shirt is trimmed with gold, the high boots also have higher heels like Prince Louis's, and there is a knife that is not sharp but the handle part is very ornately carved. hunting knife.

These were sent by the Duke of Choiseul with great care. After all, he had placed his hope of further wooing Prince Louis on Lawrence.

While Lawrence was changing his clothes, a precision marksman hurried into the castle and walked into Lawrence's room as unobtrusively as possible.

"Um?"

Lawrence, who had basically finished dressing up, was standing in front of the mirror making final adjustments. When he saw the shooter suddenly burst in, Lawrence was slightly stunned.

However, Lawrence glanced at the shooter's appearance and recognized him as one of the men who had quietly left the team with Grosso in the middle of the morning, so he also guessed that the task assigned to Grosso was probably completed.

The shooter was also panting. He had obviously been running all the way back. His clothes were also very messy, with a lot of dirt and branches and leaves stained on them. There were even traces of unnoticeable stains on the saber around his waist. Bloodstains.

Although he had tidied up a bit before entering the castle, it could still be seen that during the past six or seven hours, they probably had some vigorous activities in the woods.

Lawrence put his index finger to his mouth to signal the shooter to stop talking. Then he cautiously walked to the door and looked out for two seconds to make sure no one was paying attention. Then he closed the door and locked the door lock from the inside.

"So, you're done over there?"

After confirming the secret, Lawrence lowered his voice and asked the shooter.

This is not because Lawrence is too cautious. In fact, once this matter is exposed, it will be very detrimental to him, and the jail sentence is considered light.

The shooter also replied in a low voice:

"Yes, sir, Mr. Grosso has taken care of it, and it basically meets your requirements."

"Very good, no one discovered it?"

Lawrence nodded with satisfaction and continued to ask.

The shooter nodded and replied:

"No, the ranger there sleeps like a pig. We even took some tools from outside his hut."

"Forester?" Lawrence frowned and asked:

"He didn't notice what happened next, right?"

"No, we walked several miles into the woods before we started taking action."

"Well, that's good." Lawrence also relaxed a little, and then made arrangements:

"You go back and ask Grosso to stay where he is, and be careful not to be discovered. As for the rest, he knows what to do."

"yes."

The shooter replied and was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something and quickly handed Lawrence a package of things in his pocket and said:

"By the way, Master Grosso gave this to you. He said you can just keep it with you."

Lawrence looked at the thing. Inside was a string of beast's teeth, still stained with fresh blood. As for wrapping it, it was a small piece of beast fur that had also been peeled off.

Lawrence nodded understandingly, stuffed the set of teeth and fur into the inner pocket of his clothes, and said to himself:

"I didn't expect that this arrangement could be used on Prince Louis. It was a sudden surprise."

By the time Lawrence finished changing his clothes and walked out of the castle, more than half of the nobles had already gone into the woods with their hounds, while Crown Prince Louis and his team were waiting patiently in front of the castle.

The area of ​​​​the royal forest farm is very large. Unless there is a lot of fate, the possibility of two hunting teams colliding with each other is still very low. Therefore, Crown Prince Louis was not in a hurry to enter the hunting ground.

"Ah, Governor Bonaparte, you are here."

Prince Louis saw Lawrence from a distance and waved to him.

Lawrence also wore an apologetic smile, trotted forward and apologized to Prince Louis and other nobles in the team:

"I'm so sorry, Your Highness, this outfit really took me a long time."

"It's okay, it's okay, you blame me for this."

Prince Louis smiled and waved his hands. As a kind and generous crown prince, he didn't care about Lawrence's lateness. Instead, he said to the others in the team with a slight remorse:

"I invited Governor Bonaparte at short notice. I didn't give him much time to prepare, and it wasted everyone's time. I have to apologize for that."

"No, no, Your Highness, you have already said it."

The nobles in the team shook their heads repeatedly and said that after all, Prince Louis apologized because he was approachable, but if they really accepted the apology, they would be violating etiquette.

Lawrence also took the opportunity to glance at Prince Louis's hunting team. Apart from the crown prince himself and three guides and entourage, there were only four nobles dressed like Lawrence in the team. They had received Prince Louis' invitation long in advance.

These nobles are all very young, and most of them seem to be the legitimate sons or heirs of some powerful families. Although they do not have much status now, it is estimated that more than half of them will inherit the title of duke in the future.

Although they were a little dissatisfied with Lawrence's sudden entry and lateness, they couldn't get angry in front of Prince Louis, so they could only look at Lawrence expressionlessly.

Lawrence did not pay attention to the attention of these noble young men, but silently counted the number of people in this team. After counting that there were only nine people in this team, Lawrence felt relieved a lot.

After all, the smaller the number of people in this team, the more conducive it is to Lawrence's arrangement.

And what made Lawrence feel very fortunate was that Crown Prince Louis did not choose to go on a field hunt today, but only went on an ordinary hunt with a small number of entourage.

Field hunting was loved and often carried out by the great nobles and kings. After all, only they could afford it financially.

During field hunting, the king would bring hundreds or even hundreds of followers. These followers would surround and drive the prey in a huge hunting ground, driving the prey from all directions to the king's location.

The king almost only needs to stand in place, keep drawing the bow and shoot arrows. Sometimes, if the king misses the shot, there will be an experienced hunter beside him who will immediately add another arrow. After the prey is shot to death, everyone will still shoot. Pretending tacitly that it was the king who shot it.

In fact, what Louis XVI was obsessed with after he succeeded to the throne was this kind of field hunting. Otherwise, with his fat body, he would have wanted to kill as many people in a month as a real hunter in ordinary hunting, as his diary said. Killing 1,500 prey is a complete fantasy.

As for the small nobles and wealthy and leisure landowners, if they wanted to hunt, they had to bring or hire a small number of hunters as followers, and they would go on a hunt that lasted for several days, just like traveling around the mountains and rivers.

The Russian writer Turgenev liked this kind of hunting very much. He wrote a book "Hunter's Notes" to record what he saw during the hunting trip.

"Then let's set off."

Prince Louis also became excited after seeing the team gathered together. He personally took the longbow and put it on his body, then patted his guide and said.

Everyone also nodded, cheered up, and began to follow the guide toward the depths of the forest.

The forest farms in Versailles are all owned by the Royal Family Forest Farm, and Louis XV often organized grand hunts here. Judging from the harvest he returned with a full load every time, there were quite a lot of prey here.

Especially the stags in Versailles, which are legally only eligible for hunting by members of the royal family and their close relatives. As members of the same hunting team as Prince Louis, these nobles also receive such privileges today.

Even for people with a distinguished status like them, if they can hunt a majestic stag back, it is a considerable honor, so everyone, including Crown Prince Louis, is full of expectations for this hunt. .

Lawrence was not interested in this. Although hunting a stag and presenting it to Prince Louis was a good way to build a relationship between the two, Lawrence also had a good understanding of his hunting skills and wisely gave up. Such an unrealistic approach.

Of course, this is also because Lawrence has a more effective way to get involved with Prince Louis.

The crowd walked through the woods under the leadership of the guide. Two of Prince Louis' followers also held broad-bladed swords similar to machetes to help the dandies behind them split the weeds and thorns on the road to avoid soiling their clothes. .

Maybe it was bad luck, or maybe these novice hunters didn't pay attention to hiding their aura and movements. They walked through the woods for a long time but didn't even see the shadow of a stag.

On the other hand, two of Prince Louis's entourages looked experienced. They caught several fat hares with quick eyesight and quick hands. They cut the arteries with broad-bladed swords and presented them to Prince Louis and other nobles, so that everyone would not return empty-handed.

"Oh, that's too bad."

Crown Prince Louis gradually felt a little tired after another round of marching. Although he was only sixteen years old now, his figure was already a little out of shape after being fed daily delicacies. It was inevitable that he would be slightly out of breath after this exercise.

A nobleman glanced at the tired face of Crown Prince Louis and said very carefully:

"I think it's getting late. Your Highness, how about we go back?"

Prince Louis exhaled a long breath, looked at the gradually darkening sky, and then glanced at the prey that could only be regarded as comfort: several hares that were almost drained of blood.

Although he was a little reluctant, Crown Prince Louis still frowned and said:

"Okay, if you go back too late, you won't be able to find the way. At least we still gained something today, right?"

Several people nearby immediately flattered and said:

"Of course, I bet a lot of people are going back empty-handed."

"And you see, these hares are so fat, they are definitely worth half a stag."

"You guys?" Crown Prince Louis smiled, shook his head, and said to the guide:

"Now that we are starting to return, please lead the way."

The guide nodded respectfully and was about to start turning back, but suddenly his brows furrowed, he subconsciously bowed his waist, looked around cautiously and listened to something.

Everyone present looked at the guide strangely, wondering what his reaction was. Only Lawrence, who was on the edge of the crowd, brightened up and knew that Grosso was taking action.

"Huh? What are you doing?" Crown Prince Louis asked with some displeasure.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but"

As a skilled hunter, the guide said very nervously at this moment:

"There was a movement in the woods just now. It should have been a group of animals passing through the bushes."

"Oh? A group of animals? It can't be a herd of deer, right?"

After hearing this, Prince Louis immediately started gearing up and asked excitedly.

The guide said with a pale face:

"No, no, no, Your Highness, the deer will not come close to us. From the looks of it, it must be some kind of wild beast."

"Beast?" Prince Louis was stunned for a moment. He had never heard of any wild beast in this area. Even a weasel would be hunted and killed by the royal rangers here.

The guide had no time to explain. The sound was getting closer and closer. Soon, he pointed his hunting knife to the left in horror and waved his hand to signal everyone to move back.

There was a sound in the bushes he was pointing to, and then under the nervous gaze of everyone, three wild wolves with gray fur emerged from it, staring at everyone with their fluorescent green eyes.

"Huh? Why are there only three? But damn, these are definitely three hungry wolves."

The guide was stunned for a moment, a little surprised by the sparse number of wolves, but he did not relax because of this, because judging from the empty bellies of the three wolves, they had definitely been hungry all day.

Under normal circumstances, the three wild wolves would not dare to attack when facing such a large number of humans, but if these beasts were hungry, they would be desperate.

The guide swallowed and turned to look at everyone. The nobles, including Crown Prince Louis, were stunned in place.

In their understanding, hunting means shooting animals with bows and arrows that won't fight back at all. As for wild beasts, they have at most seen the heads hanging in showrooms.

Seeing that these noble disciples were completely unable to help, the guide could only wave to the other two stunned followers and shout:

"Let's hold these beasts back and tell the adults to leave quickly!"

The two attendants woke up immediately, and they also understood that the three of them still had a good chance of subduing these wild wolves together. Although they would pay the price of injury, if anything happened to these nobles, especially the crown prince, then they would be Even ten heads were not enough for the executioner to chop off.

Seeing the three men taking the initiative to confront the three wild wolves with their swords, Lawrence, who had expected this, calmly walked to Prince Louis, grabbed his arm and said:

"Let's leave quickly, Your Highness, they don't know how long they can delay."

Prince Louis also woke up from a dream, and said repeatedly with a pale face:

"Yes, yes, let's go quickly."

After Prince Louis said this, his legs became weak and he almost walked towards the back with the support of Lawrence.

A group of nobles also quickly followed the footsteps of Crown Prince Louis, walking and running towards the back.

Everyone ran a few hundred yards away in panic. Just when they thought they could breathe a little easier, they heard another rustling sound coming from the woods beside them.

Another she-wolf came out of the forest with her tail swaying, her bloody mouth always open, transparent and sticky saliva dripping from it, and you can even smell the stench of rotten flesh in her mouth. taste.

"God, this is."

Prince Louis looked at the tongue and sharp teeth of the wild wolf and couldn't help crying out.

The rest of the nobles turned pale and took a few steps back, although they knew that if the six people present worked together, they would be able to subdue this beast.

But these nobles knew in their hearts that they were different from the three lowly followers. They were all duke heirs. Even if they escaped, they would not be too implicated. There was no need to risk their lives to resist here to the end. And who knows How many wild wolves are there in the woods?

Crown Prince Louis trembled and glanced at the people who had begun to retreat. Although he was extremely frightened, he did not lose his mind. Crown Prince Louis could completely guess what these nobles were thinking.

And if everyone fled, the obese Crown Prince Louis would undoubtedly be the one left behind.

"Your Highness."

Lawrence gently let go of the hand supporting Prince Louis and said to him in a deep voice.

"You, Governor Bonaparte, you too?"

Prince Louis's pupils shrank and he spoke incoherently, thinking that Lawrence was preparing to run away like other nobles when he let him go.

However, under everyone's shocked gaze, Lawrence slowly walked to the front of everyone, standing like a wall between the wolf and the nobles.

Then, Lawrence forcefully pulled out the hunting knife from his waist, pointed it directly at the forehead of the she-wolf, turned to Prince Louis and said in a deep voice:

"Please go first, Your Highness."