Chapter 337 Half of a Treasure Map

After hearing this, Li Xuan's eyes widened, and he carefully observed the red lines on the painting.

But no matter how he looked at it, he couldn't tell that these red lines were treasure maps.

Li Xuan could vaguely see the painting, and these red lines seemed to indicate a certain location, but the problem was that there was no mark at all where it was.

There are probably at least 80,000 mountains in the world that look similar to the one in this painting.

If you just take this painting and look for a mountain with a similar terrain to the one on it, you may not find it in your lifetime.

Li Xuan raised his head and looked at the two stewards with some confusion.

Since they were sure that this was a treasure map, they must have seen something.

Although the two stewards in front of him were old and frail, and seemed to be eunuchs who had lived in the palace all their lives, Li Xuan knew very well that they also had the identity of secret agents in the palace, and their experience in such things must be much richer than his.

As expected, seeing that Li Xuan could not observe the key, Zhao Feng pointed out: "Ah Xuan, this map can only be regarded as half of the treasure map at the moment. You need to collect the other half to deduce the real treasure location." As he said, Zhao Feng tapped on the painting several times and pointed out some key points. Li Xuan was slightly prompted and immediately saw the key information on the painting. The original painting in the middle did not move, and the red lines baked out of the blank areas on both sides were folded in the middle, which immediately became a detailed route in the mountains. However, as Zhao Feng said, this map only has half of the information, including only the most subtle route in the mountains. As for how to find the mountain in this painting, there is indeed no hint on it. It can be seen from this that there is a high probability that there is another painting that is used to indicate the specific location of this mountain. But there are so many paintings in the world, and it is probably not easy to find the other half of the treasure map from them. Just as Li Xuan was thinking this, Zhao Feng on the side seemed to have seen through his thoughts, and then said faintly:

"Ah Xuan, the other half of the treasure map may not be far from us."

This time, even Li Xuan couldn't help but look at Zhao Feng with surprise.

"Could it be that the flower-clothed eunuchs have found clues?"

"Those masked men!"

Li Xuan immediately thought of the group of masked men who had intercepted and killed them on their way back last time.

These masked men have a thousand connections with the robbery of Ping An Commercial Bank. I'm afraid that the other half of the treasure map is in the hands of the masked men's instigators.

But Li Xuan didn't expect that the flower-clothed eunuchs were so efficient and had already found this far.

"Don't be mysterious."

Shang Zongguan on the side suddenly taught Zhao Feng a lesson.

Seeing that his godfather had exposed him, Zhao Feng just smiled embarrassedly.

Li Xuan blinked, a little confused about the current situation.

"Ah Xuan, we don't actually have as many clues as you think."

"After torture, we only got some insignificant intelligence from the people we caught last time."

"They don't know much, they just know the orders they received."

"But we deduced from the orders they received that their goal was to find the goods from Ping An Commercial Bank."

"Then we carefully investigated the goods you brought back, and found this interesting painting among them."

Shang pointed to the landscape painting on the table.

At this time, the red lines on it baked by the fire were slowly disappearing, and soon they returned to their original appearance.

"These red lines will only appear after being baked by fire, and as the temperature slowly drops, the red lines will disappear."

Shang explained.

"As for saying that this is a treasure map, it is just our random guess. If we want to verify it, we must find the other half."

"But whether the other half still exists in the world is actually another matter."

"Perhaps, the other goods that followed Ping An Commercial Bank have been burned to ashes."

"Of course, we naturally hope that the other half of the treasure map is in the hands of the other party."

After hearing this, Li Xuan also nodded.

Li Xuan was also very curious about what treasure was buried in this complete treasure map.

"I will send someone to continue investigating this matter, and I will notify you when there is a result."

"I asked you to see this half of the treasure map today, and I also want to tell you that your previous action of rescuing the goods has helped us a lot."

"With this half of the treasure map, it may not be a difficult task to lure the other party out."

Shang Zongguan smiled slightly, with a gleam in his eyes.

Li Xuan shook his head and had to mourn for the other party.

It is difficult for these people to have a good end if they are remembered by Shang Zongguan.

Li Xuan had not expected that his casual action at that time could actually help preserve such a clue.

"So I have made a great contribution, right?"

Li Xuan immediately raised his eyes to the two stewards, blinking his eyes quickly, and the hint was very obvious.

"Haha, Xuan, don't be anxious."

"How about this?"

"When the treasure in the treasure map is dug out, we have to count you in, right?"

"When the time comes, I will report to His Majesty and I will definitely take credit for you."

"Even if the treasure map contains something not very good, I will definitely let His Majesty reward you well."

"Is there no problem with this?"

Li Xuan couldn't help curling his lips. Although Shang Zongguan's words seemed like a blank check, he had no choice but to do so for now.

After all, the value of the treasure map could not be determined now, and it was difficult to determine Li Xuan's contribution.

After the box was opened and the value of the treasure was determined, it would not be too late to reward him at that time.

Seeing that Li Xuan agreed to his proposal, Shang Zongguan also smiled happily.

"By the way, Ah Xuan."

"The Imperial Garden competition is coming soon. Have you prepared recently?"

"How is His Highness's health now?"

Li Xuan's heart tightened. This was the second time that Shang Zongguan mentioned this month's Imperial Garden competition to him.

"It seems that this month's competition is unusual."

Li Xuan thought to himself.

He immediately came to the side of Shang Zongguan, and then wrote on the back of his hand with his tail:

"After the treatment of Doctor Xue, Ankang's body is much better than before, and he can walk on the ground."

"But for this month's competition, Shang Zongguan, how do you think we should prepare?"

Li Xuan looked at Shang Zongguan with a thieving look, trying to steal some questions from him.

But Shang Zongguan was not so easy to fool.

"Oh, your highness can actually walk on the ground, it's really a happy event."

"Congratulations, congratulations."

Shang Zongguan nodded repeatedly, muttering:

"Such a big happy event, you have to eat something good and celebrate it well."

Shang Zongguan, who first brought up the topic, suddenly avoided talking about the Imperial Garden Competition.

Besides, the three children in Jingyang Palace now eat imperial meals every day, how good can it be?

"Hey, wait."

"Eat something good..."

Li Xuan was thoughtful.

Zhao Feng, who used to talk the most, now tightly shut his mouth and studied the landscape painting on the table carefully, as if he could see the other half of the treasure map by looking at it this way.

Li Xuan asked several times, but Shang, the chief steward, kept repeating the same words, congratulating Princess Ankang endlessly.

"It's not the New Year yet!"

Li Xuan left the Ministry of Internal Affairs indignantly under the gaze of the two chief stewards.

...

After a few days, it was the day of the Imperial Garden party.

This month, Zhao Feng did not mention going to Qianxing Pavilion, and it seemed that he planned to arrange it after the Imperial Garden competition.

As usual, almost all the nobles in the harem gathered in the huge Imperial Garden.

Li Xuan looked around and saw that the fifth prince and the seventh princess, who rarely appeared on weekdays, were also here.

It seemed that the last time they went out of the palace, they all tasted the sweetness.

The fifth prince was still as self-admiring as before, standing alone outside the crowd and ignoring everyone.

However, Li Xuan found that his eyes would occasionally turn to Princess Ankang, and his eyes were always full of complex colors, and he didn't know what it meant.

As for the seventh princess, she appeared in a unique way as before, still lying on her stretcher. At this time, she didn't care how lively the imperial garden was, and she was sleeping soundly. It was as eye-catching as it could be.

"This Li Simian really has insomnia. Did she go to see the stars again last night?"

Li Xuan couldn't understand what kind of charm the stars in the sky had that made the seventh princess unable to see enough.

The more he understood these princes and princesses, the more he found that there were not so many people who were very obsessed with the throne.

This imperial garden competition probably couldn't achieve the effect that Emperor Yongyuan expected.

But Li Xuan thought again, even if Emperor Yongyuan didn't care about his children, he should know about their affairs.

Maybe Emperor Yongyuan didn't take the imperial garden competition seriously from the beginning.

Everyone was bored waiting for Zhao Feng to announce the rules of today's competition.

Today, Zhao Feng arrived at the Imperial Garden at the last minute with the eunuchs in flowery clothes.

He walked straight to the stage and announced the competition items for this month.

"Your Highnesses, this month's competition items are..."

Zhao Feng paused slightly as usual, attracting everyone's attention.

"Autumn Hunting!"

Hearing these two words, many of the princes and princesses suddenly had bright eyes and their faces were full of confidence.

"After a few months, there is finally a serious competition!"

This is the most real thought in their hearts at this moment.

"Five days later, the Autumn Hunting will be held in the Forbidden Garden. Each prince can bring a close attendant and a hunting animal."

"Close attendants are not allowed to participate in hunting. They can only assist in logistics and organize and carry prey."

"The hunting animals must pass the inspection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They must be well-trained and disciplined, and there must be no risk of losing control and injuring people."

"If there is any violation, the qualification for the competition will be disqualified."

"The following are the rules of this competition..."

Then, Zhao Feng read out the rules of this Autumn Hunting competition one by one.

If you violate even one of the rules, you will be disqualified from the competition. And there are quite a few rules, a total of twenty.

After Zhao Feng finished reading all the rules, a eunuch in flowery clothes immediately handed each prince and princess a list of competition rules and preparations.

The competition rules were the same as those Zhao Feng had read before.

As for the preparations, they were a bit troublesome.

Horses, hunting bows, hunting clothes, and some equipment for outdoor camping are very complicated.

Of course, these are just recommendations from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, not mandatory requirements for participating in the competition.

If someone walks into the Imperial Garden empty-handed to participate in this hunting competition, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will not stop them, but they just don't recommend it.

Because, according to Zhao Feng's introduction, the Royal Forbidden Garden covers a very vast area, just to the north of the Imperial City. In addition to various rare animals, there are also a large number of ordinary prey that reproduce naturally.

If you want to walk around in it with just two legs, you probably won't be able to catch up with the Imperial Garden competition next month.

This can't help but give the three little ones a headache, because there are many things on the preparation list that they don't have at all.

Horses, hunting bows and hunting clothes, none of these.

As for the things for camping, they can get together with the supplies in the Jingyang Palace and still be able to cope with it.

After conveying the rules and content of this competition, Zhao Feng bowed and left the Imperial Garden, as if he had something else to do.

At this time, the Imperial Garden also became noisy.

Some people who like hunting on weekdays are full of confidence in this competition and are determined to win.

Some people who have never hunted before seem worried and listless.

"Ah Xuan, what should we do?"

"We don't have horses to ride, and when we enter the forbidden garden..."

Princess Ankang sat in a wheelchair, stroking Li Xuan's fur, with a pitiful tone.

"Ah Xuan, can I ride you when the time comes?"

"Meow!"

Li Xuan wanted to give this naughty girl a meow punch, and she even wanted to be a meow knight.

Li Xuan had the strength to carry Princess Ankang, but with his small body, if Princess Ankang rode on him, she would not run half a mile before Princess Ankang's skirt would be worn out.

Today, Li Xuan wanted her to walk to the Imperial Garden instead of sitting in a wheelchair.

Princess Ankang was already uncomfortable sitting in the wheelchair, but now she had the opportunity to walk in front of everyone, which made her hesitate. Before leaving, she asked Yu'er to push the wheelchair out.

Li Xuan could understand Princess Ankang's feelings.

She should be a little afraid of other people's eyes.

When Princess Ankang can stand up and walk, what will the reaction of these people present be? Even Li Xuan can't imagine it.

But this is a necessary step for them.

Princess Ankang must overcome these difficulties.

But Li Xuan will not force Princess Ankang. He would rather choose to wait for Princess Ankang to take that step herself.

At this time, the eighth prince came over from a distance.

"Ankang, you haven't hunted yet, right?"

"Can you prepare all the things on it? Do you need me to lend it to you?"

"I have several good horses there."

The eighth prince came over and brought good news.

This guy has always liked flying eagles and running dogs, and he is also very keen on hunting.

He was not short of money, so all the equipment needed for hunting was the best.

Among the princes who practiced martial arts, hunting was a more mainstream entertainment.

Even the eldest prince had a lot of well-trained hunting dogs, which were very famous in the palace.

The three little ones were having a headache about this matter, and they were really sleepy when someone handed them a pillow.

Princess Ankang was about to thank the eighth prince, when suddenly a rough voice sounded in their ears:

"She has no horse, do you have a horse to lend her?"

Thank you all the book friends for your monthly ticket support.

I was in a bad mood and failed to get 10,000 a day.

Sleep!