871 The Iron Mountain (2/2)
Luo Ningcha entered the tent before the maidservant. Unprecedentedly confident, she smiled and said, ”And the tents, too. It's winter, and there are no walls here. Can you Central Plainsmen get used to living in tents?”
Prince Xiao was very familiar with Luo Ningcha's personality. He burst into laughter. ”Common Central Plainsmen live in houses, but soldiers still have to live in tents. They get used to it even if they can't. You see, I've been in the army for quite some time now, and I actually like tents.”
Luo Ningcha nodded gravely, as if he had just explained something very important. After glancing at the Dragon King, she said to Prince Xiao, ”Everybody says that winter is not the right season for fighting battles. If so, then why don't we hold the kung fu competition ahead of schedule? Besides, there's nobody in charge of Jade City, and it needs a lord right now. What're we waiting for?”
Prince Xiao also glanced at the Dragon King and saw that he was indifferent to the four words ”there's nobody in charge,” so he explained patiently to the beauty, ”We can't rush into this. I'm still waiting for the emperor of the Central Plains to make a decision. The kung fu competition can only be held when I have His Majesty's backing.”
”Then hurry up. Aren't you the emperor's uncle? Does he dare disobey you?”
Prince Xiao smiled happily. This was the Western Regions, and Luo Ningcha was the kind of woman whose beauty went hand-in-hand with her stupidity. Thus, he didn't have to worry that these slightly disrespectful words would spread to the royal palace. ”Of course the emperor will listen to me. However, we still can't skip these necessary formalities. Let's wait for another two or three months. During the spring of next year, the Dragon King will fulfill his wish and become the Lord of Jade City.”
Luo Ningcha took a deep gaze at the Dragon King, indicating that the title ”Unique King” should be saved for her son. ”Two or three months? Do we have to wait that long?”
”It's quick enough, beauty. There are numerous mountains and rivers between Jade City and the capital of the Central Plains. A round trip between the two cities will take at least two month to travel, even with a fast horse.”
Luo Ningcha frowned. She had been to the Royal Court before, and she felt disgusted at the thought of a weary journey. ”Fine. What were you talking about previously? Maybe I can offer some advice.”
Smiling without saying anything, Prince Xiao turned to look at the Dragon King.
Gu Shenwei simply said, ”The army of Iron Mountain has arrived at Jade City.”
”Um. They arrived yesterday. I just came back from the camp. All of them miss my father very much, and they showed great respect to me. I promise that they'll become a powerful army after a little training. I'll recruit more soldiers and buy more horses. The troop number of my army should at least be the same as that of the Second Consort's army and reach 10,000. Prince Xiao, my soldiers lack uniform armors and weapons. You can solve this issue for me, right? I've bragged to them, and I'm counting on you.”
”Sure. No problem.” Prince Xiao threw out his chest in a generous manner. ”My beauty shall have as many as she wants. If there isn't enough armor here, then I'll have them deliver more from the rear.”
Luo Ningcha smiled like a blooming flower. Suddenly, she realized that the Dragon King was in the tent. ”This is what you came here for? The Iron Mountain is mine. It has nothing to do with you.”
”Of course. I just wanted to remind Madam Luo that more than half of the over 2,000 Iron Mountain soldiers are from an unknown background. And many of them are killers of the Golden Roc Castle. For safety concerns, I hope that Madam Luo won't go to the Iron Mountain camp again, and that you also won't let Iron Mountain soldiers enter the Central Plains army camp.”
Luo Ningcha was stunned. The Iron Mountain Army used to be under the command of Golden Roc Castle. How could the troops of this army still be as loyal as they used to be? After thinking for a while, she turned around and left directly without saying another word.
Prince Xiao's face was full of amazement. After the beauty left the tent, he shook his head, smiling. ”The Western Regions is so different from the Central Plains. We could never find such a looker in the Central Plains. What do you think, Dragon King?”
There was a tacit expression on Prince Xiao's face. He had always been hoping that Luo Ningcha would become a ”little secret” between himself and the Dragon King. He had made many insinuations towards the Dragon King many times, but the Dragon King had never responded, and this time was no exception.
”The news of electing a lord through a kung fu competition has been disclosed.” The main reason why Gu Shenwei had found an excuse to send Luo Ningcha away was not to chat with Prince Xiao.
Prince Xiao had no choice but to give up yet another attempt. ”There's nothing we can do. More and more people are finding out about this. It's impossible to keep it a secret. But I heard that the residents of Jade City are still unaware of it. Everybody says that the four armies outside the city are going to have a final showdown. Ha-ha.”
”That's not true.” Gu Shenwei shook his head. ”The Unique King knew about it even before Prince Xiao proposed it to me.”
”How is that possible?” Prince Xiao was astounded. ”At that time, the plan solely existed inside my mind, and I hadn't told anybody yet. Do you have any proof, Dragon King?”
”About a year ago, Golden Roc Castle started downsizing its killers and sending them to the Heavenly Mountain Sect. Originally, the Heavenly Mountain Sect didn't have much contact with Golden Roc Castle, but now, it's under the complete control of Golden Roc Castle.”
”I know about this. Back then, the Unique King made solicitations towards the Central Plains and hoped that the Central Plains would acknowledge his title. However, the royal court felt that killers were too dangerous and not easy to control, so they demanded the Unique King to dismiss all of his killers…”
”At first I thought that that was the reason as well. However, one of my subordinates was bribed by the Unique King, and she told me that the Unique King had asked her to rebuild a sect that had been eradicated many years ago. Additionally, the Unique King also said that this sect would soon be of great use. I'd like to ask you this, Prince Xiao – did the plan that you submitted to the emperor specify that only sects are allowed to participate the kung fu competition?”
Prince Xiao was transfixed with shock. After quite a while, he said, ”Yes. Actually… Actually my suggestion was that only 'forces in the Western Regions' should be allowed, including those sects. But how could the Unique King learn of it? That was a secret memorial, and the emperor is the only one who could have read it.”
”The Unique King's in contact with someone close to the emperor.”
Gu Shenwei was positive that it was someone from the Central Plains who had hired the killers of Golden Roc Castle to kill the Gu family.Memorials were the official communication method of the Emperor of China