The days when I pretended to be a cat in the Forbidden City[Comprehensive]

The cunning little king handed the pot to Cheng Bushi, who was selfless and selfless. He saw his pendants immediately untied and ran away one after another, and felt relieved. A dead fellow Daoist is not a poor daoist.

There was less than a month before departure, and the little king originally planned to go to his hot spring village in the south to soak in the hot springs and wait for letters from his brothers before leaving.So now he is going to get things ready.

Gifts for relatives are indispensable, and special products from Zhongshan country that are used to sell to elder brothers must also be brought. This kind of vassal gathering is equivalent to half an industrial and agricultural product fair in Xia Anran's view. Can open a business.

The opportunity to make money must not be missed.

I don't know if the brother in the south can make candy, if he can make it, there is no doubt that this year's MVP must be him.Xia Anran doesn't have any new products this year. Last year, his ceramics and candles were already well-known, so this year is naturally no longer new.

And Xia Anran vaguely felt that his father must be planning to make a big deal this year, as for what it is... I don't know.

The little king would not ask for trouble to speculate on the thinking of such a person with a lot of circles in his head.

When he was doing the final check with the list, he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps, and then Liu Zhi's voice came from afar—"Brother!! General Cheng Bushi promised to take us to spicy food!"

The little king's writing hand paused, and soon a big black ink spot was left on the paper attached to the pen tip, just like the little king's current mood, it was pitch black.

After a while, looking at Cheng Buzhi who followed Liu Zhi, Xia Anran's expression became serious, and he expressed his doubts with his eyes: General Cheng, why are you General Cheng like this?

Don't you think it's dangerous?Don't you want to advise me that a gentleman should not stand under a dangerous wall?

You open your mouth, as long as you open your mouth, the king immediately accepts advice.

It's a pity that General Cheng Bushi failed to connect to the little king's brainwaves. Not only did he fail to connect, he might have made a mistake, mistaking the little king's warm eyes for expectation, and immediately cupped his fists and said to the little king, "Your Highness is merciful!" , the heart of the officers and soldiers knows it, but the minister thinks it is nothing more than a tiger, so His Highness should not pay so much attention to it."

The little king was confused and didn't understand what the general meant, but the attitude of remonstrance was obvious, so the little king nodded immediately, looking very humble, waiting for Cheng Bushi to say a few more words Just nod to be taught.

Seeing his appearance, Cheng Buzhi's heart softened, thinking that his highness is already a clear stream among the many princes, Mr. Dou Xiaolang is right, His highness is working so hard, and now there is nothing major in the country. It doesn't matter if you leave earlier or later, just treat it as a detour on the way south to the hot springs to hunt for game, and by the way, eliminate harm for the people...

He pursed his lips and sighed: "Your Highness should take this action once and for all."

... Ga?

The little king's eyes widened inexplicably.

Wait, wait, why didn't you say it?General Cheng, did you miss something?

In fact, the little house boy who didn't want to go out in the winter was very sad. After Cheng Bushi said goodbye, his eyes swept over the Doudings jumping all over the ground, and then slowly turned to Dou Wan who came in with Cheng Bushi.

Afterwards, the young boy raised his right eyebrow, as if asking him what was going on.

Dou Wan didn't take it seriously, he took two steps forward, cupped his fists at Xia Anran and saluted, "Your Highness, during this trip, Wan will bring back the tiger for His Highness, so that His Highness can enjoy it."

Xia Anran was stunned, what to take?When did he say he was going to catch a big tiger to play with?Keep a tiger?Does he think he has too much money?Still enjoying... wait, enjoying?

In a flash of thought, his gaze immediately stabbed at Liu She.Unexpectedly, Liu Xiaozhu fled away with his pig's tail flicking, leaving a relatively honest Wei Qing.

No, Wei Qing is not being honest, he should just be left at the bottom of this list, because Xiao Douding is now standing at the intersection that Xia Anran must pass, and may come up to hug his thigh when necessary.

Any one left by Liu Zhi will never come back, only Wei Qing...Xia Anran is always more tolerant towards this child, this point has long been understood by the villain.

Xia Anran took a deep breath, first straightened Dou Wan, he tried his best to suppress the anger that had reached his throat, and asked softly: "Ah Wan, what did you say to me?"

Dou Wan showed a puzzled look, "The king of Jiaodong said that you want a tiger as a mount..."

Xia Anran patted the honest man who was fooled by his younger brother on the shoulder, looked left and right, picked up a feather duster inserted in a porcelain vase, and pushed Wei Qing away from a distance, without giving Xiaodouding a chance to get close. Then he rushed out the door quickly.Wei Qing's delaying tactics failed, so he immediately wanted to chase him out to protect His Highness.

His Royal Highness the King of Zhongshan has escaped!But why does His Highness take a feather duster?

——He soon knew this.

One day later, Liu Zhi groaned and lay on the pony carriage. Although the final process went according to his plan, and the ending of brother taking them to see the big tiger was also very happy, but Liu Xiaozhu paid a lot during this process.

Really.

He lost the dignity of a man.

Now the little king carries a feather duster with him, which can be used to sweep dust and dust at ordinary times, and can slap his naughty brother's butt at critical times, which is very useful.

The unreasonable little king took this evil stick into the carriage, and the little king told his younger brother that the responsibility of protecting the feather duster would be handed over to his younger brother. If the feather duster disappeared, the younger brother would have to make one himself.

This made Liu Xiaoyu, who rolled his eyes and wanted to secretly throw the feather duster out, immediately drooped his tail, feeling that his first strategy in his life was obviously successful, but for some reason he couldn't be happy at all.

Just downright frustrating.

Xia Anran sat on the carriage for the final check. Now he had to bring his work to the rickety carriage. Seeing his younger brother lying down and pretending to be dead, he immediately snorted.

Liu Zhi, who was pretending to be dead, immediately sat up and looked at Xia Anran with bright eyes, "Brother, are you bored of riding in a carriage? Then let's go ride a horse?"

Liu Zhi had just been allowed to mount a horse this year, and of course all the horses prepared for him were good ones, but they were relatively short.The royal family of the Han Dynasty basically has its own horse, which has been bred since childhood. For example, Liu Sheng has a horse, but this horse has a bad temper, and Xia Anran is basically not allowed to touch it, so it is offered as an ancestor. Inside the stables.

Xia Anran herself is riding a Huns horse, which is a head taller than ordinary horses.

Liu Zhi looked at the Huns with high shoulders and long legs as if looking at a beautiful woman, his eyes were shining, and he just wanted to be able to ride such a tall horse.

But Xia Anran is not very interested in riding horses, because the stirrups of the big man have not been invented yet, and the saddle is not the boat shape that later generations are accustomed to see, which is tilted back and forth to wrap people inside. Strictly speaking, it is just a pad to prevent letting Leather products that are in direct contact with the skin of humans and horses are easy to get stuffy after sitting for a long time.

This is why he gave up riding in the first place.

It wasn't that he didn't want to improve the saddle and stirrups. In fact, the design drawings had been sent to Chang'an City long ago, but the manufacture of these two important utensils for cavalry was immediately banned by Liu Qiming.Xia Anran, who was already prepared in her heart, naturally would not make this first.

Saddles and stirrups have a great benefit to the farming people, but at the same time they also benefit the nomads. If they are taken out too early, the cavalry of the Han army has not been trained well, but they will first fulfill the Huns.

And now for the Han army, the most important thing is to raise horses first.

Leaving aside Dawan's hard-earned horses, even the Xiongnu horses are a minority in Dahan.

Xiongnu horses have been growing in plateaus for a long time, where oxygen is thin. Horses grown in that environment have long been accustomed to doing anaerobic exercise. Their red blood cells and hemoglobin will be more active than horses growing in plains. Naturally, It is capable of delivering large amounts of oxygen to its host.

Therefore, once the horses on the plateau run on the plains, they are like broken bamboos. Whether it is endurance or adaptability, they will be stronger than plain horses.

Moreover, they are not only good at long-distance raids, but also very good at short-distance raids. In contrast, the horses of the big man...

As a Mongolian horse breed born in the plains, they have strong endurance but insufficient speed.Of course, the lack of speed is partly due to insufficient training, but also due to short legs.

It is also an adult horse, the little king's Xiongnu horse is half a head taller than Dou Wan's horse, and if it is a BMW from West Asia, it is even taller.

He has long legs, one step equals your one and a half steps, so he can run fast naturally.

With such innate conditions, even retraining has no choice but to introduce good blood.

Fortunately, although the Huns and the Great Han were bounded by the Great Wall on the surface, in fact the Huns would not approach the Great Wall most of the time.This area is nominally the territory of the Huns, but in fact they are independent of each other.

The reason for this result is that the soldiers of the Han Dynasty would go to the grassland to set fire from time to time, and burn the grass in the area along the Han-Hungarian border.

For the nomads, it’s okay if people don’t have enough to eat, but it’s okay if the horses don’t have enough to eat. Burning a large area of ​​pastures can effectively prevent the Huns from approaching.Of course, this method also has a certain degree of danger. After all, it is actually someone else’s territory. If you secretly ran to set fire to it, if you were caught, it would definitely be a war.

So this area is also tasteless to the Huns.

The Han people had nothing to do to cause some damage. When they sent people to clean up the site, they looked up and saw pairs of red rabbit eyes on the city wall. If there were more people coming, it is estimated that the beacon fire would be ignited.If there are fewer people coming, it becomes a giveaway.

But if you don't come, maybe the next time you go south, you will see pits everywhere in the land.

In short, this area is extremely tasteless

But occasionally, a herd of unsuspecting wild horses would run over happily, and none of these horses would be let go.

After these wild horses are captured, they will be taken care of by a professional domestication department and bred by the way.

Every spring the burden on these colts is heavy.

But it is precisely because of this time and time again that the big man's horses have grown from the predicament of not having the same suits in the early Han Dynasty to the level where Liu Xiaozhu can pick and choose today.

Xia Anran snorted and signaled the little piggy to continue lying down. He has not calmed down yet, this matter will not end so easily.

Seeing that he couldn't get a bargain, Liu Zhi returned to the original place angrily. He picked up a bamboo scroll and flipped through it angrily.

The corners of Xia Anran's lips raised slightly, and the carriage became silent for a moment, and the atmosphere was just right. …Unexpectedly, it was only a few breaths, and suddenly everyone heard a low roar, Liu Zhi was startled, and immediately wanted to get to the window, Xia Anran quickly hugged him in his arms, and the two of them moved away from the window together Xia Anran took out the position where he was, and drew the dagger out of its sheath.

He gently covered his younger brother's mouth, and listened out of the window for a while, when there was an obvious sound of weapons thumping outside.However, the movement is not chaotic, and the situation should not be critical.

At this time, some soldiers have come to report.

Seeing the little king with a calm face and a dagger in his hand, the soldiers were also taken aback for a moment, then got off the horse and clasped their fists and said, "Your Highness, there are two big worms fighting ahead."

It was said to be a fight, but in fact, judging from the current situation, it was more like a quarrel.

Xia Anran and Liu Zhi got off the carriage under the guard, and they heard the deep roaring in the forest clearly.

There are obviously two ends, one with a more leisurely and deeper voice, and the other with a slightly anxious voice and a higher volume.As time passed, the voice of the latter tiger became more urgent, obviously losing patience.

The only tiger species that will appear in Zhongshan is the Siberian tiger, the largest cat in the world.

When the well-deserved king in the forest roared angrily, the four horses harnessed by the carriage and the Xiongnu horse belonging to Xia Anran led by the cavalry boy all began to stir.

The four horses in the harness have been trained to be less frightened, but this kind of training can't erase their biological nature, but fortunately, the coachman's reaction is fast, his lips flick, and he makes a series of short rhythms. It also appeases them to a certain extent.

But the Huns...

It paced frequently on all fours, flicked its mane, and even had a tendency to stand on its feet. It seemed that it wanted to break free from the shackles on its body and run wildly. The rider had to spend a lot of effort to hold it.

In the end, the soldiers on the side also stepped forward to help suppress the horse, and it was considered that the horse was barely suppressed. The Hun horse, which was firmly pressed to the ground, could only stand still, feeling extremely uneasy.

Xia Anran watched all this quietly, and then looked at the situation of the entire caravan that accompanied her, somewhat guessing in her mind.

He tilted his head slightly and asked the soldier who sent the message: "Are there tigers on the grassland?"

Brother Bing was stumped by this question, he patted his head and thought about it carefully for a long time, "There shouldn't be any..."

Xia Anran pondered for a moment, then raised his hand to call for his attendants. He asked people to find the officials who had gone to Daijun to do business with the Xiongnu before, and then asked the little official who came in a hurry a question that he hadn't expected—"But Have you ever seen a tiger skin in the exchange market?"

"No, no." The little official thought about it carefully for a long time, and then replied with certainty, "Your Highness, there should be no tigers on the grassland. Earlier, a caravan traded a tiger skin for dozens of horses. The Huns saw that Wearing the tiger skin, I couldn't believe that there was such a big beast at first. I was amazed again and again."

"Since that's the case..." Xia Anran looked from a distance at the forest where the quarrel was still going on, and the fight should not be far away, "Then why are the Huns who have never seen a tiger afraid?"

His question stunned everyone present, as no one had considered this question.After a while, a young man replied: "Maybe it's because I haven't heard this voice before."

Dou Wan walked quickly to the side of the little king: "Your Highness."

Xia Anran nodded at him, seeing that he was not riding a horse, she knew that Dou Wan's horse was also affected.Dou Wan's horse was given to his concubine by Dou Ying.

Dou Ying has a lot of money, so the horses he sent are naturally good horses.And now the situation undoubtedly proves his words.

It's not impossible to feel fear because you haven't heard this voice before.

As herbivores and ungulates, horses are actually very timid creatures, so untrained horses are very easily frightened, which is determined by their physique.

The horse's visual area is very large, and the visual area of ​​the two eyes is very wide. Almost only the buttocks are its blind spot, but at the same time, its eyes are difficult to focus, so any sudden thing is full of threats to the horse.

And what their eyes see is processing information separately, meaning it might be startled by seeing the same thing twice.

This is the information Xia Anran knew when watching the animal world.

On the other hand, horses have excellent hearing, and the howling of tigers they hear may be like thunder in the ears of horses.

By the way, most of the horses in this team should have never seen a tiger. They are basically raised in racecourses, and they also respond to the roar of tigers.

Is this herbivorous herd animals, instinctive panic for the roar of carnivorous animals?

Xia Anran stroked her chin and thought for a while. At this moment, the entire team had come to a complete standstill. The soldiers did not need to command, they had already picked up their weapons and stood ready.

When the two tigers became more angry because they couldn't agree, the disturbance of the horses in this team became more obvious.

Cheng Bushi hurriedly dismounted the cavalry, comforted and restrained the horses, and at the same time he hurried forward to persuade Xia Anran and Liu Zhi to go a little further.

With a solemn face, he adjusted the army's formation. The situation of challenging two angry tigers at once exceeded his previous imagination. It is inconvenient to play, and the cavalry can't play either.

He gritted his teeth and decided to abandon his previous training plan, "Archers line up."

Just as he was thinking about how to force the two tigers out, suddenly a hand stretched out in front of him, Xia Anran stopped his formation and said, "Lieutenant, wait a moment. This king wants to Do an experiment."

The little king had someone fetch the horn.

The horn was carved out last year when the Zhongshan Kingdom held a talent test. At that time, it was to intimidate the aristocratic families of the Zhongshan Kingdom, and it was also to add solemnity to the ceremony.

The little king didn't like to show his authority. He usually didn't even bother to wear his robes, and he rarely even used the king's carriage. This thing was put on the shelf later, and this time he brought it because there might be a need.

The horn that has been taken out now has been reprocessed, and the sound is even deeper.

A few strong men who were specially selected were confused holding the horn, and His Royal Highness King Zhongshan asked him to blow the horn slowly from slow to loud.

What is from slow to loud?

"Stupid, just blow softly at the beginning!" The soldier brother who had been friends with him gave him a fist, and then he held the horn in his hand to help his friend share some physical strength.

Everyone was puzzled as to why the little king acted like this, but they all followed the order to pull the horses farther away.Several soldiers holding horns were left in place.

"Brother?" Liu Zhi, who was dragged aside, was a little puzzled, "Aren't we chasing tigers on the mountain?"

"Let brother do an experiment first." Xia Anran squinted her eyes, "Hey, brother wants to ask you a question."

"Ok?"

"The Huns who have never heard the roar of a tiger will instinctively feel afraid, so will the tigers who have never heard the sound of the horn be afraid of the sound of the horn?"

"Ah?" Liu She tilted his head, looked at the horn that was held by the soldiers less than half an arm, and hesitated, "I guess not, I'm not afraid."

"Hmm..." Xia Anran patted his little brother on the head, "That's because I'm so brave, let's try first. Brother thinks they should be afraid... Is he going to bet with brother? If I don't If you win brother, I will take you to ride a horse; if brother wins, you will put on a show for me."

Liu Zhi's eyes rolled. On the one hand, he instinctively felt that the big tiger would not be afraid of something made of a cow's horn, but on the other hand, he felt that brother's smile was particularly malicious, and the memory of being bullied by his brother was still in his mind. It took several laps, but in the end curiosity overcame vigilance.

Cough, if you win, you can ride a big horse, if you lose, it's just a small show, just sing a song for brother.Liu Xiaozhu began to convince himself in his heart.

All the big man's princes are good at singing and dancing... Uh, his ninth brother doesn't seem to be able to... Cough, in short, there is no loss!

"It's a bet!"

Cheng Bushi had ordered soft cloths to be stuffed into the horse's earholes when the two young kings were betting, and then ordered the soldiers to hold the horses in order to prevent chaos.

His Majesty's move seemed to be random, but to be honest, he was also a little curious.And most importantly, he is also interested in what the little highness wants to know - will the tiger respond to the horn?

If the tiger is afraid of the sound of the horn, what about the horse of the Hun?

If it can be proved that horses are afraid of such strange sounds, can they scare the horses of the Huns with loud noises when the opponent is charging?

Under the high-speed charge, as long as there is a little accident, it may cause chaos in the opponent's formation.

The Xiongnu mainly relied on cavalry, and in addition to their huge lethality, their attacks were destined to be highly dependent on horses.Therefore, if you can contextualize the opponent's horses, the success rate of repelling them will be much higher.

"how?"

"It's done."

After being confirmed by Dou Wan, the little king waved his hand.

The four soldiers were ordered to blow their horns in unison, and the sound changed from light to heavy, like a beast waking up from a deep sleep and giving out an unhappy roar.

With just one breath, they were stopped.Everyone paid attention to the place where the roar of the tiger was heard just now, it was already quiet, and there was no movement in the lush jungle as far as the line of sight was concerned. For a moment, it seemed that even the wind had stopped.

Of course the wind didn't stop.

Xia Anran took two steps forward. He has excellent hearing and can capture the slightest movement in the jungle for him.

That was the sound of crushed snow being gently trampled on by meat pads.

Cats have a strong ability to seek good fortune and avoid harm, but at the same time their status in the ecological chain gives them the qualification to have strong curiosity.

Moreover, felines are not easy to be conquered. They are willing to challenge the strong, and they will also want to challenge after seeing animals they don’t know. This is not only out of curiosity, but also because they need to use these actions To determine their position in the ecological chain.

So even if it was the sound of "beast crowing" that made the horses with plugged ears startled, the king of beasts still had a desire to find out.

The little king raised his hand, and this time the horn sounded suddenly.

The continuous sound of beasts is like a warning to the two tigers on the mountain, and the sound is long and loud.Here is another small valley under the mountain. Although the terrain is not steep, it has the effect of gathering sound and amplifying it.

At first glance, it sounded extremely powerful, but this time, the soldiers had to exert great efforts to control the horses. Obviously, the rags could no longer block the incoming sound waves.

Beasts can tell whether the opponent is strong or not through the sound, and the lung capacity and volume can show that the size of this unknown opponent must be extremely large.

To the cats it sounded like a big beast resenting their daring to move on after being warned.

After some judgment, the two tigers determined that this creature was something they couldn't hunt, and there was still an unstable factor around them, so they decided to give up one after another.

Xia Anran could hear a series of hasty footsteps in the mountains gradually going away, he waved his hand to signal the soldiers to stop blowing the horn, looked down at Liu Zhi with a slight cunning expression, "Huh, but I want to be a brother What show is on?"

Liu Zhi turned his head slowly, with a shocked expression on his face, "Brother, is there really a beast that can scream like this?"

The child's eyes were wide open, and his eyes were full of excitement and desire to conquer.

Xia Anran was ordering to reorganize the team at this moment, and was about to bring his younger brother back into the carriage, upon hearing this question, he replied indifferently: "Yes, that's what Xiangming is like."

"Elephant...? I know this beast. The south side once presented a decoration made of giant teeth to my father." Xiao Douding followed Xia Anran's strength to get on the carriage, and said to his brother seriously, "That tooth is one foot long. Long, it is said to be extremely rare."

"But I haven't seen it before." Liu Xiaozhu kicked off his little shoes, got into the soft bed and sat upright, his big black grape-like eyes were full of longing, "So that's what Xiangming is like, so good." mighty."

Xiao Douding kept chattering, Xia Anran just listened to Xiao Douding's one-man show and ignored it.He stuffed his younger brother into the quilt with a snog, and then fiddled with the charcoal basin in the compartment to raise the temperature in the room.

Unexpectedly, Liu Zhi suddenly asked a question: "Brother, how big is an elephant? Is it bigger than a tiger?"

This is indeed a bit difficult to answer, Xia Anran pondered for a while, and said: "I have never seen this brother, but I have heard that there are elephants that cannot be weighed, because there is no weight to set it up."

Liu Zhi's eyes widened, "Isn't Zhongshan's large scale also good?"

The child refers to the large scale that Zhongshan used to store grain before. This scale can weigh about four stones at a time. It can only be said to be an ordinary level in modern times, but it already has a considerable load capacity at this time, because now The weighing method still uses the principle of leverage, which requires very high firmness of the pole.

Now the one in Zhongshan State uses a piece of iron wood with about two handles. As a scale, it is already a very precious raw material.

Xia Anran smiled and shook her head, "No."

Liu She immediately took a deep breath, "It's so heavy! It's many, many times heavier than your son's!"

Xia Anran rolled his eyes, and instead of continuing to read, he kicked off his shoes and sat next to his younger brother, "Hey, do you know how to weigh such a heavy elephant?"