Minglong

Chapter 114: Night Banquet at Qian Palace (3)

There was endless singing and dancing in the hall, and princes and celebrities toasted each other.

"Mr. Fan, I'd like to offer you a toast."

"polite……"

……

Linghu Qingmo was wearing a white dress and sitting properly beside Xie Jinhuan, holding a coal ball in her hand that was about to peck at Emperor Qian's dragon robe.

Noticing that Xie Jinhuan had a frown on his face, as if he was studying something, Linghu Qingmo approached him and asked curiously:

"What are you looking at?"

Xie Jinhuan was thinking about how to deal with Li Gongpu. Upon hearing this, he picked up his wine glass and gestured to an official sitting in the distance:
"This man isn't wearing the official robes of the Daqian Emperor. Is he an envoy from the Northern Zhou Dynasty?"

"Yes, I am Guo Ziyan, the cousin of Empress Dowager Guo of Northern Zhou. I am here to negotiate."

"What to talk about?"

Linghu Qingmo picked up his wine glass and clinked it with Xie Jinhuan's:
"The Four Towns of Northern Yunnan. After the Witch Cult Rebellion, both the North and the South suffered heavy casualties and negotiated for peace. With the mediation of various religious sects, the Northern Zhou ceded the Four Towns of Northern Yunnan to Daqian, thus establishing a truce.

"Now, after a century of recuperation, the Northern Zhou Dynasty is dissatisfied, claiming that the alliance is unfair and wants to take the four towns of Yunzhou back."

The four towns of Yunzhou are located near the Daqian Mountain and River Pass. The terrain is difficult to defend and easy to attack. It is also rich in mineral deposits and has great strategic significance. Xie Jinhuan said in surprise:

"How could the imperial court possibly give up a place like this?"

"Yes."

Linghu Qingmo covered his mouth with his sleeves and drank the wine in the cup in one gulp, his cheeks flushed a little:
"What you talk about on the table depends on how you fight on the battlefield. Talking alone won't produce results. According to Ling'er, the two dynasties have been at peace for many years, their nations are rich and their people are strong. Before they took action, they were both feeling guilty. Now it's all about verbal battles. Whoever backs down first will definitely suffer the most."

Xie Jinhuan was not very interested in the affairs of the court, so he just nodded and smiled. He wanted to touch the coal balls casually, but for some reason, his right hand picked up the chopsticks, picked up a small piece of dried meat, and put it to Mo Mo's mouth.

"Guji?"

He opened his mouth to catch the coal ball, and looked up with shock at this scene!
Linghu Qingmo was also taken aback. Looking at the appetizers placed before him, his face turned visibly red from a slight drunken look.

"You...what do you do?"

"Uh……"

Xie Jinhuan didn't know what he was doing. Chunchun was possessed by a ghost!

But this thing is obviously hard to explain, so I can only bite the bullet and be a warm man:
"You seem to be choking. Eat some food to relieve the pain."

"..."

You are a very nice person...

But even if I want to eat vegetables, can I let you feed me?
There are so many people here, what if we get seen?!

Linghu Qingmo thought Xie Jinhuan was drunk and was afraid of being noticed by others, so he wanted to suppress his arm.

But the guy next to me was quite stubborn. He didn't move his arm at all and just put it close to my mouth.

"you……"

Linghu Qingmo was afraid of being seen, so he could only quickly take the tender little meat into his mouth with lightning speed, and then carefully looked around, feeling very stealthy.

Xie Jinhuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and seeing Momo's little look, he smiled again...
-
In the magnificent hall, the aroma of wine and laughter merged.

Emperor Qian, wearing a dragon robe, sat at the top, glancing at the civil and military officials in the court and the talented people from all over the place. He was in a very good mood until he saw his stupid nephew not far away.

Zhao De was near the Crown Prince. While the adults were chatting, he quietly approached the Crown Prince:

"Brother, do you have any money? The monthly allowance from the palace is all used up..."

Crown Prince Zhao Jinghuan was the only son of Emperor Qian. He was highly regarded for his intelligence and virtue, and he was also very humble. Seeing his cousin approaching him to borrow money again, he smiled and said,

"I still have some surplus. How much do you want? I'll have someone deliver it to you tomorrow."

"Thirty thousand taels."

"three……?!"

Zhao Jinghuan was a prince, not a rich man. He took a deep breath and held it in for a long time before responding:
"I only have a little over 8,000 taels of silver left..."

"Eight thousand is fine. No need to send someone to deliver it. I'll pick it up myself later."

"?"

……

When Emperor Qian saw the behavior of his foolish nephew, he felt a mixture of joy and dislike.

The good thing is that Zhao De is in a state where he cannot possibly have the intention of usurping the throne or committing treason. Even if Zhao De wanted to, no one in the court or the public would dare to bet on him. When the prince ascends the throne in the future, he will not have to worry about his cousin's rebellion at all.

The problem was that the Dan King was his younger brother after all, and as his uncle, he felt a bit like, "Do you really deserve the surname Zhao?" when his son developed such a bad behavior.

Unable to bear watching, Emperor Qian turned his gaze to Princess Changning who was not far away:

"Ling'er, I heard that you brought Xie Jinhuan here too?"

Princess Changning must be more dignified in front of the emperor and empress, nodding gracefully:

"Yes, my father thought this boy was teachable, so he asked me to bring him here to see the world."

Emperor Qian followed the instructions and saw a distinguished young man in white sitting in a corner of the hall, talking to someone. He nodded slightly.

"I've recently heard about this boy's talent and virtue, and I didn't expect he also has a handsome appearance. It's a waste of talent to only be assigned to a halberd-bearing position."

Emperor Qian's words obviously meant that he wanted to give an official title to Xie Jinhuan for his outstanding performance recently.

Princess Changning was about to respond, but Li Gongpu, who was sitting not far away, quickly interrupted with a smile:
"Xie Jinhuan's recent achievements are indeed impressive, but the government is still investigating the mummy case. As for me, it won't be too late to reward him after the case is concluded."

The white-haired He Guozhang, who was too old and looked a little confused, nodded when he heard the voice:

"Gong Pu's words make sense. With this boy's talent, it won't take more than a few days to solve the case. If we offer a reward now, it won't be easy to reward him if the case is solved; and it will be even worse if it's not solved."

Emperor Qian thought about it and agreed, so he didn't say much and continued chatting with He Guozhang about trivial matters.

After a brief negotiation, the royal relatives and nobles who came to Beijing to celebrate the birthday began to take turns presenting gifts and congratulating him.

Princess Changning also took out a phoenix crown made by the Danyang Academy. The exquisite craftsmanship made countless court officials marvel. When Empress He saw it, she smiled and narrowed her eyes.

However, in this noisy atmosphere, Guo Ziyan, the foreign envoy of Northern Zhou, suddenly said:

"Your country is vast, its people are prosperous, and its products are plentiful. Yet, the ministers offered the Queen birthday congratulations with vulgar gifts of gold and silver. In the eyes of foreign officials, this is a loss of dignity for your country." "..."

The whole hall fell silent.

Even Xie Jinhuan, who was teasing Mo Mo, raised his eyes.

There are actually quite a lot of them outside the field, but the Western Regions, Xirong, Nanman and other places are all small countries, and they dare not speak at all unless necessary.

The Northern Zhou Dynasty was no weaker than the Daqian Dynasty in size, and it had strong national strength to support it, so Guo Ziyan's words were naturally a bit sarcastic.

Emperor Qian's smile faded a little, but at this time, there was obviously no need for him to speak in person.

Zhang Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites immediately responded:
"The Empress is frugal and dislikes extravagance. It's said that Empress Dowager Guo built a hundred-foot-long pagoda in Yanjing for her birthday, costing tens of millions of silver. To transport the stone, no fewer than a thousand houses and bridges were demolished. My Daqian truly can't match such grandeur."

Guo Ziyan remained calm and raised his hand to signal Buyuntai in the palace:

"Emperor Qian built the nine-story Buyuntai for viewing the night view, which cost as much as the Baizhang Pagoda in Yanjing. But now that he's in front of the Empress, he starts to be frugal. Sigh..."

As soon as these words were spoken, all the ministers were furious, but speechless, so they turned their attention to Li Gongpu who had instigated the emperor to build the wonder!
Li Gongpu was indeed greedy and also planned to build Buyuntai, but the reason was that the emperor wanted it and he acted according to his wishes, not because he was instigated by the emperor.

However, even if Li Gongpu was tortured to death, he would not dare to push the responsibility onto Emperor Qian. He interrupted:

"On such an auspicious day, verbal disputes will only spoil the guests' enjoyment. Minister Guo feels that the ministers' gifts are vulgar. How about you come up with something more elegant to open Li's eyes?"

Guo Ziyan was a diplomat, and he said so much just to show off, thereby demonstrating the power of the Northern Zhou Dynasty and ridiculing these local rich men in the south.

After Li Gongpu finished speaking, Guo Ziyan looked around at the ministers of the Southern Dynasty:

"Since it's a birthday celebration, it naturally has to reflect the word 'zhu'. May I ask, Mr. Fan, what does 'zhu' mean?"

Fan Li stroked his beard while watching the show. When Bei Zhou called his name, he responded:

"It generally means to wish for something, and can also be interpreted as 'praying to the gods and Buddhas for blessings.' Could it be that Minister Guo is planning to perform a ritual in court to pray for the Empress?"

Guo Ziyan smiled and said, "Witches are the ancestors of all religions, but after the rise of the three religions, the Southern Dynasty threw away all the things left by these ancestors.

"According to historical records, in ancient times, the Emperor of Man was on a tour in the south and met the ancestor of witches, Zhuman. It happened to be his birthday, so Zhuman performed Nuo music to celebrate his birthday.

"A thousand years have passed, and you must have long forgotten how your ancestors performed sacrifices to the gods. Fortunately, my Great Zhou still remembers.

"Today happens to be the Empress' birthday, so I will present a song to let His Majesty the Emperor and His Majesty the Empress appreciate the elegance of His Majesty during his southern tour."

After he finished speaking, Guo Ziyan waved his hand, and an old man sitting behind him stood up, bowed, and went out to prepare.

The princes and nobles present all frowned when they heard this.

Xie Jinhuan, who was sitting in the corner, also realized the intention of the Northern Zhou envoy.

If we compare history, no sect can compare with the Witch Cult. After all, human beings have had wizards since the period of scattered tribes, and at that time there was not even writing, let alone Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

During the previous dynasty, there were many competing religions in Daqian, but at least there was still some branch of witchcraft.

After the Witch Cult Rebellion, the entire Witch Cult was exiled, and there was indeed no one to pass on these ancient cultures.

The Northern Zhou Dynasty was different. It had always been the base camp of the Wujiao Zhuji lineage. The leader of the Beiming Sect was the leader of the Zhuji faction and also the high priest of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.

Guo Ziyan's move seemed to be a birthday celebration, but in fact it was a declaration that our Great Zhou was the orthodox successor of the ten thousand years of humanity.

Daqian wanted to take advantage of this, and it was useless to ask Lu Wuzhen to open the altar and perform the ritual. He had to bring out the "Human Emperor Cauldron" that no one knew whether it was still there.

The positioning of the Human Emperor Cauldron is similar to the imperial seal. Whoever holds it is the legitimate Human Emperor.

stomping on...

Everyone waited for only a moment before footsteps were heard outside the hall.

Xie Jinhuan looked up and saw that the old man who went out first had changed into colorful clothes, decorated with colorful feathers, and had a phoenix mask on his face.

At the back, there were wizard apprentices dressed in similar clothes, carrying leather drums, silver gongs and other sacrificial instruments, and came to the center of the hall.

Linghu Qingmo took a quick look and helped explain:
"In the Zhuji lineage, when they put on the mask they are gods, and when they take it off they are human. This mask should represent the ancestor of witchcraft, Zhu Man. He is also the fire god of witchcraft. The Taoists call him the 'Star Lord of Fire Virtue', also known as the Vermillion Bird..."

Xie Jinhuan knew all this, but he still nodded as if he understood something, so as not to embarrass Mo Mo.

As the group took their positions, the hall fell silent.

The priest wearing the phoenix-head mask, after a moment of preparation, raised his hands and looked up to the sky:
“Wuwuah~~…”

Then the shouts rang out in the hall, trembling.

Although there were no words, everyone present could feel the desolate vastness that came from ancient times, and the difficulty of human beings traveling across mountains and rivers, and enduring billions of years of hard work, to finally find a peaceful place.

clang--

rustling...

The apprentices in the back struck the gong and shook the sand bells, and the empty and melodious music echoed in the hall.

Everyone present felt an inexplicable peace. Even the Crown Prince Zhao De stopped watching the fun and turned to observing the ceremony seriously.

Xie Jinhuan could clearly sense the annoyance in his heart, and was soothed by the music, even having some thoughts of relief, such as:

I've tried my best, now that things have come to this, I'll just take things as they come...

Even if the ghost wife is a demon that can reach the sky, the result of blowing up the grave is just to move the stool from the corner of the hall to the top of the hall. There is nothing unacceptable...

These thoughts were not caused by spells, but came naturally after the mind was at peace. Xie Jinhuan couldn't figure it out and was inevitably surprised.

Ye Hongshang was also listening in secret and commented:
"The Zhuji lineage does have some real skills. This should be a 'soul-calming spell', using the melodies of musical instruments to stir emotions and soothe the soul. If it were replaced with bells, drums, gongs and cymbals, it could also inspire people's blood and fighting spirit.

"It's easy for people who practice demon cultivation to lose control of their emotions. You can try this method to see if you can expose the Dark God Cult's hidden agents."

Xie Jinhuan understood what Apia meant - Bei Zhou played some light music to soothe the mood, and he played some 'industrial metal, Khorne's battle song' to blast the scene and get the hidden demon Taoist excited!

This method obviously works.

The word "encouragement" originally originated from beating drums and dancing to cheer. The sacrificial tradition has special methods that can greatly stimulate people's emotions, make soldiers fall into a state of fanaticism, bellicosity, fearlessness, etc., and enhance the combat effectiveness of the army.

The demons do not care about restraining their desires, and actively pursue desires such as "fanaticism, bloodthirstiness, bellicosity, and greed". If they are forcibly encouraged and enhanced in this way, they may not be able to hold back and reveal clues.

However, to control this kind of inspiring magical power, one also needs the support of the methods of the blessing and sacrifice lineage. For a warrior like him, beating the war drum may be of some use, but it will not produce such an immediate effect.

But fortunately, the ghost daughter-in-law provided "one-stop service". She immediately started to collect materials on the spot and rewrite the manuscript. According to the secrets of the Phoenix Head Sacrifice, she compiled a method of "Uneasy Divine Spell" for him.

Xie Jinhuan listened attentively for a moment, and when he felt that there was something to be said, he beckoned and called Duoduo, who was waiting for the princess to summon him at the side of the palace...

(End of this chapter)