Chapter 164: The Imperial Palace Banquet (1/2)
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…”