EBE Chapter 104: After a long journey, there seems to be no way out, but a new village is revealed.
Chapter 104: After a long journey, there seems to be no way out, but a new village is revealed.
"Your Majesty, the Sixth Prince is fine. He was probably just too agitated. He'll be alright after a rest."
Imperial Physician Wang glanced up slightly at Emperor Kangxi, whose face was full of worry, and thought to himself, "Since you are so worried about the Sixth Prince, why did you have to agitate the patient in the middle of the night? Look how frightened he has become."
Upon hearing this, Kangxi breathed a slight sigh of relief, waved for Physician Wang to leave, and turned to look at Yinzhuo lying on the bed with a complicated expression. Could it be that he was terrified by the tiger? What had he just said to frighten him like this?
"Since there's nothing seriously wrong, Yinzhuo, you can continue sleeping. Don't be afraid, your father is here watching over you."
Yinzhuo was a carefree person after all, and he came to terms with it by now. Since things had already happened, he had to face them bravely. Besides, just like his father said, with his father around, what did he have to be afraid of? With that tension eased, he closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep again.
Even though Kangxi was worried about Yinzhuo, he still had a lot of things to do every day, so he stayed up all morning the next day. After confirming that Yinzhuo was alright, he had to leave to attend to his work. Before leaving, fearing that Dexi might not be able to take good care of Yinzhuo by himself, he simply left Liang Jiu behind.
Having served Emperor Kangxi for many years, Liang Jiugong was far more attentive than the clumsy guards. With him by his side and Dexi helping him, Yinzhuo didn't feel much pain in his wounds when he got up and lay down several times.
Starting in the late afternoon, Yinzhuo's tent became lively again. Today, Yinzhen and the others returned from hunting and heard that Yinzhuo had been injured, so they all rushed over to visit him.
"Your luck is unbelievable. How many tigers are there in this forest? How did you manage to run into one? And this tenth brother needs to be taught a lesson. It's one thing to run away from a tiger, but he actually dared to go and fight it with a bow and arrow. He thinks he's so great. If he had turned around and run away, maybe none of this would have happened. Look at your arm. Our sixth brother has really suffered this time."
Yinzhi frowned as he looked at Yinzuo's arm, which was fixed in a splint. He wanted to raise his hand to touch it but didn't dare. In the end, he could only settle for second best and reached out to poke Yinzuo's bruised cheek.
Although Yinzhen didn't say anything, you could tell from the tightly furrowed brows he had as soon as he came in that he was worried. Compared to Yinzhi, he was much bolder. He leaned close to Yinzuo and carefully touched his shoulder.
"Didn't Physician Wang say the injury wasn't too serious? Why does your arm look so swollen? Yinzhuo, how are you feeling now? Is it still very painful?"
"Fourth Brother, don't worry. I feel much better now than yesterday. It still hurts, but it's still within my tolerance."
Yinzhen nodded after hearing Yinzuo's answer, but his tightly furrowed brows did not relax at all. He turned his head and saw Liang Jiugong waiting to the side, so he walked over and asked him about Yinzuo's day.
"Sixth Brother, don't worry. We just consulted the imperial physician. Although your injury looks serious, as long as you rest well, it won't affect your daily activities once it heals. Although it might affect your horsemanship and archery skills, it's not a big deal for us, since we don't need to go to the battlefield to charge into battle..."
What does it mean to be surrounded by mountains and rivers, seemingly with no way out? But then a new path opens up before you. This is it! Yinzhu thought that after seeing Kangxi's hesitant expression yesterday, his arm must be ruined. He had been feeling unwell for quite a while yesterday. But today, things took a turn for the better. Since it wouldn't affect his daily life, what was there to be afraid of?
"Fifth Brother, you have no idea how scared I was last night. Seeing his hesitant expression, I thought my arm was ruined. It doesn't matter if it affects my archery, since I've never been very good at it anyway. Like you said, we don't need to go to the battlefield to fight, so you made me worry for nothing."
Because Yinzhuo was injured and unable to move easily, the trip to the borderlands, which should have ended after the hunt, was postponed by Kangxi for more than a month. During this time, Yinzhuo's camp was always bustling with activity. In addition to Kangxi, who came to visit him every day without fail, his brothers also came almost every day. Yinzhuo, feeling guilty, even moved here after Liang Jiugong returned, busying himself with Dexi every day. Seeing him like that, no one could bear to blame him.
By the end of September, the imperial physicians finally relented. After more than a month of recovery, although Yinzhuo's arm still couldn't do any major movements, at least he no longer had to be bedridden. Seeing that he was recovering well, Kangxi ordered the troops to break camp and return to the capital.
On the way back, Yinzhuo was kept inside the imperial carriage by Kangxi. Fortunately, Kangxi only forbade him to run around freely, but did not restrict him from doing anything. So, apart from not being free, he had a pretty good time on the way.
After returning from beyond the Great Wall, Kangxi became very busy. Yinzhuo knew that he was preparing for the personal expedition against Galdan next year, so he rarely went to the Qianqing Palace anymore. Instead, he stayed in his own little corner of the Southern Third Palace every day, focusing on taking care of his arm.
As expected, in November, Kangxi held a grand military review ceremony in Nanyuan, establishing the system of sounding bugles and beating drums during future grand reviews. Yinzhu knew that the two-year war was about to begin.
After the Spring Festival of the thirty-fifth year of Kangxi's reign, Kangxi issued an edict in the first month of the lunar calendar to personally lead an expedition against Galdan. He spent the entire first month making preparations for this, and by the second month, everything was finally arranged. Before setting off, Kangxi was still worried about Yinzhuo, so he specially sent someone to summon him.
"Tomorrow I will be heading north with your brothers. You must stay in the capital and behave yourself. If anything happens, go to your second brother. Also..."
Indeed, Emperor Kangxi took almost all of the adult princes with him on this expedition, and if Yinzhi was injured, he would naturally be among them.
"Father, don't worry. Your arm is still in a sling. Even if I wanted to go out, my mother wouldn't allow it. She's keeping a close eye on me now. Although I know you're in charge of the central army, you should be safe, but I'm still a little worried. This is a set of clothes that I had modified based on the chainmail of the previous dynasty. You must wear it if you go to the battlefield."
Yinzhuo instructed Dexi to hand the tray to Liang Jiugong, who then inspected it and presented it to Kangxi. Kangxi naturally recognized chainmail, but when he picked up the one on the tray, he noticed it was much thicker than the usual ones.
"Your chainmail feels considerably heavier than the regular kind."
Yinzhu nodded and pointed to the armor in Kangxi's hand, indicating that he should take a closer look.
"That's right, son. This is an upgraded version with more features at the same price. Although it's heavier, it should offer better protection than regular chainmail. Wear this underneath and then put on the armor on top. At least against melee weapons, your safety level should be higher. But if you're facing cannons or muskets, I suggest you run away as soon as possible."