The Imperial Palace Banquet.
The lamps were brightly lit. Long Yin and Feng Ling were sitting at the same table as they drank together. As they drank and chatted merrily, below their seats were ten beautiful female entertainers singing and dancing, on both sides were civil and military officials sitting in two long rows, appreciating the entertainment.
To be on an equal footing with Long Yin, this should be the kind of treatment suitable to the Emperors of the three other nations. Such arrangement from Long Yin undoubtedly gave Feng Ling sufficient honor. The two of them talked to each other joyously, discussing everything under the sun, but they refused to mention anything related to the disaster in Tian Long during those days. They were not even tempted to bring up the topic.
“Crown Prince Feng, what do you think about the singing and dancing of Tian Long’s beauties?”
Feng Ling smiled and said, “They warm the heart and delight the eye. The word “wonderful” is definitely not enough to describe it. Tian Long Nation does not only have beautiful mountains and nice waters, but also plenty of beautiful women.” When he mentioned the last statement, his eyes stared blankly for a moment as a figure appeared before his eyes which had been drifting within his mind the whole day. He then continued, “Before I left my nation I’ve heard of a young talent from the Ye Family who made a world-shaking painting and played the flute that caused thousands of people to shed their tears. I looked forward to meeting that man, but what a pity I wasn’t able to meet him this time, what regret.”
“Oh? Could it be, Crown Prince Feng, you are also interested in these subjects? Such brilliant talents of Wuchen are indeed difficult to have in a hundred years. If you really want to meet him, maybe some other day you may come and visit my Tian Long Nation again. Enjoying the sights for the whole day, what insights have you gained?” the Emperor lifted his wine cup and presented it in front of his eyes as he consciously asked.
Feng Ling lifted his cup with both hands, in slightly lower posture he lightly bumped their cups and took a small sip, then he said smiling, “Since I personally came here and took a tour around your distinguished nation, I have come to realize that your distinguished nation has beautiful mountains and rivers; the whole nation is prosperous and the people live in peace.” He put down his wine cup, restrained his smile, then faintly sighed, “I’m really reluctant to see such beautiful mountains and rivers being trampled on.”
“Oh?” Long Yin constricted his eyes, with a faint smile he said, “What do you mean by this, Crown Prince Feng? My Tian Long Nation is always peaceful and calm, internal disorder rarely occurs, and we never provoke any wars outside, how could my mountains and rivers get trampled on?”
Feng Ling shook his head, his face expressionless except for an obviously helpless gesture. He did not answer Long Yin’s question, but frustratedly said, “Today those places that I’ve visited— the Ye residence, Hua residence, Zhuge residence… Army training ground, army camp, the Imperial Institute, the weaponry warehouse, firearm warehouse, I have been through all of them. Feng Ling greatly appreciates Your Majesty’s generosity. Today, Feng Ling has personally witnessed your distinguished nation’s strong soldiers and sturdy horses, the majestic morale of your military forces, each and every one of their extraordinary might, all of your brave soldiers, each one of them could take down ten enemies, I greatly admire them. And the Hua Family of your distinguished nation has extraordinary firearms that they own exclusively, causing people to be terrified enough to intimidate people everywhere. But, I still have one statement to say that I think Your Majesty might be unwilling to hear.”
The banquet that has been arranged especially for the Crown Prince of the Gale Nation which had been going on for about a quarter of an hour. With Long Yin’s bright mind, since the beginning he had already noticed Feng Ling’s eyes moving swiftly, somewhat preoccupied, hesitating during his speech. Obviously, he was not pretending, so Long Yin knew that he had something unpleasant to say. Something that could make Feng Ling expose such kind of behavior would be something that was related to the “safety” of Tian Long Nation.
Long Yin waved his hand, all the musical instruments below him had simultaneously stopped, the female entertainers who were dancing lightly and gracefully had stopped their dance steps, orderly and respectfully stood together to one side. Standing side by side, just like they had been trained effectively. The lively banquet suddenly went silent, the civil and military officials who were talking cheerfully and wittily all went silent, looking at Long Yin.
Long Yin laughed and said, “Crown Prince Feng, it may be assumed that the next thing that you will say must be certainly out of the ordinary. I will not allow these noises to make it unclear. Now, Crown Prince Feng, you may say all you want, there’s no harm in saying what you think.”
All eyes were focused on Feng Ling, all the people below knitted their brows together, with rapt attention they pricked up all their ears for the fear that they might miss out any words. Facing the obvious pressure from Long Yin, Feng Ling still remained calm. He looked around, then calmly said, “What Feng Ling would like to say is, although your distinguished nation has strong soldiers and sturdy horses with extraordinary grandeur, but compared to my Gale Nation, it is still rather inferior.”
The whole place went silent and the atmosphere became more constrained. The Crown Prince of the Gale Nation, with the refined and courteous manner, had finally said something that was against Tian Long Nation, furthermore he was obviously hinting at something. The following situation would certainly start arguments that were aimed to oppose each other with equal harshness.
“This may not be the case.” Below, Ye Wei spoke out. Speaking of understanding the Gale Nation, in Tian Long Nation, no one was more qualified than him. With a blank face, he said, “Although your Gale Nation’s military forces are bold and powerful, our Tian Long’s military troops faces enemies without the fear of death. Whoever desires to destroy our homeland, even if our soldiers were to die they will use their body and blood to obstruct their steps, and throttle their wild schemes. The battle in the frontier fortress during those days, when my Tian Long’s thirty thousand army defeated your Gale Nation’s seventy thousand troops, I’m afraid you were still a young child crying piteously for food. It will be better for you not to speak such huge words that make yourself out to be a joke.”
Being the tour guide for the Crown Prince of the Gale Nation the whole day, Ye Wei who was extremely hateful towards those of the Gale Nation already had a belly full of anger. This time, his comments were extremely rude as the final few statements did not have the slightest bit of respect towards the Crown Prince of the Gale Nation. All the civil and military officials were especially at ease having heard the statements and Long Yin was also the same. His face was solemn, as he reproached him, “General Ye don’t be rude, “ then he raised his cup and said, “Come, Crown Prince Feng, the banquet today was arranged specially to welcome you. Let’s just not discuss these things to ruin our mood, why not have another drink with me?”
Yet Feng Ling did not appreciate the kindness. He looked at Ye Wei and said, “Although my experience is shallow, I know of all the wars during those days. I never doubt the bravery and power of the generals of the Ye Family. My father has always mentioned it so it can clearly be seen that my father fears the generals of the Ye Family as he experienced unwillingness and regret towards his defeat during those days. But, forgive Feng Ling for talking bluntly…”
He suddenly sat upright in his seat, using his high glance to look over the Emperor and all the civil and military officials to show his domineering self-confidence, he firmly said, “My father has never forgotten his aim to unite the whole world. The officers and soldiers of the Gale Nation have never forgotten their expedition to the whole world, and they never forget the humiliation they suffered from the defeat twenty years ago. Although my nation’s name is Gale, the one that the people fear most is the gale wind. In the western area of my Gale Nation, once the strong wind rises, sandstorms will be everywhere. The more westward the area is, the more the earth becomes barren and the people are more distressed. The more westward the area is, the disasters and illnesses occur more in people and their lives are shorter. They wish to station their homes in the Tian Long Nation to enjoy living in peace and work happily, without any disasters nor desolation… Because they have this aim, they voluntarily enlisted themselves in the military. Twenty years of failure has encouraged them to strive hard and sacrifice themselves for these twenty years…”
“What are you trying to say?” Long Yin stood up, his face serious and his voice gloomy, “Are you trying to tell me that your Gale Nation’s fox-like intentions have never changed and you still want to invade my Tian Long, and torment my people!?”
“That’s right.” Feng Ling did not even avoid the topic. He replied directly and spoke plainly.He took out a red paper from his bosom and left it in front of Long Yin, “Originally, Feng Ling planned to state clearly to Your Majesty two days after I leave, but now, Feng Ling will just directly say it. This time, I visited your distinguished nation, firstly to roughly understand Tian Long. Secondly, to roughly estimate the military power of your good nation. Thirdly…” His eyes flickered, with every word in heavy tones as he said, “On behalf of my father… I especially came to deliver the written letter of war to your nation!!”
“What!?”
The last statement was like thunderclap. The civil and military officials down below could not calm down anymore, one by one they stood up. The officials were all shocked and angered, some had anxious faces, their backs dripping with cold sweat. The Gale Nation’s Emperor Feng Lie’s succession to the throne made them realized that Feng Lie’s ambition had never diminished. He would certainly make his move towards Tian Long Nation but they never expected it to happen so fast. An emperor who had just ascended the throne was provoking war. What was Feng Lie thinking!?”
Long Yin picked up the red letter and his eyes swept through it, then he coldly snorted and threw it back to the table. He finally realized why Feng Lie had Feng Chaoyang protect him. Because otherwise he would indeed have had Feng Ling arrested and taken hostage. He really did not expect that Feng Lie would wage a war against them at this time. When the previous Emperor of Gale Nation died of illness was exactly the most lax time in Tian Long Nation, they certainly had inadequate time to prepare for war.
“How great Feng Lie is. Humph! Because of his wild ambition. he doesn’t even consider himself an emperor that has newly ascended to the throne who has yet to stabilize his military, political and social powers, as he would ignite war between two nations. Isn’t he afraid that his throne will not last long?!“
The atmosphere of this banquet had completely changed. The laughters and music had completely disappeared, now replaced by a thick and heavy air of murder. At this moment, if it was not for Feng Chaoyang’s presence, there might already be a lot of people rushing forth to trample on Feng Ling regardless of everything.
“Your Majesty there are some discrepancies in your remarks.” Feng Ling ignored the glares that were like a tiger watching its prey. With those incomparably indignant glares, he still plainly said, “Five years ago, my grandfather already knew that he did not have much time left. Although he still held the throne, all sorts of things in the palace had already been handled by my father. My father’s prestige and control over the politics has already exceeded my grandfather. My grandfather and father had both already decided that when my grandfather dies, that will the time for our troops to march against the Tian Long Nation!”
“Originally my Gale Nation could attack your good nation while you are unprepared, but my father really refused to see fresh blood spilled across the beautiful rivers and mountains, so… If your Tian Long Nation agrees to surrender without entering the fight, that will be the best. With no war, you and I, and all the people will live in peace, Tian Long will belong to my Gale Nation. With war, there will be rivers of blood in the Tian Long Nation, the final outcome will still be my Gale Nation’s win. Your Majesty, the Gale Nation’s strong military troops certainly exceeds what you’ve imagined, please do consider.” Feng Ling slightly sighed. Another purpose in his coming here was to try to convince them to surrender. Even though he and Feng Lie believed that the possibility for surrender without war was almost equal to nothing.
Indeed, before Long Yin could start to speak, the hundred officials below were excoriating continuously.
“Hahahaha, surrender without going to war? You’re dreaming! My Tian Long Nation will never be afraid of your Gale Nation’s wolf-like ambition.”
“That the nation that had suffered defeat would make such delirious words, it’s utterly ridiculous!”
“Humph! Arrogant. My Tian Long Nation was founded a thousand years ago, it will not be easily shaken up by a very small Gale Nation. Even if we were to fight until the last person dies, we wouldn’t do anything that will put our ancestors to shame.”
Translated by:
Fatty_Uncle
Edited by:
seriouspotato patrick_father_of_dragons
Comments