C23 (2/2)

Finally, as everyone waited anxiously, a group of people slowly approached from afar. The one in the lead was a group of sixteen Fire Phoenix Knight s in red armor and white robes, all of them carrying spears in their right and left hands. Kong Sheng knew that no matter how he measured it, the distance between each horse, their front and rear stallion would be the same. To control a horse was the most basic requirement of Fire Phoenix Army. If one could not control a horse to this degree, then one would not be able to change the battle formation at the fastest speed on the battlefield in the future. This was not only related to one's own life and death, it was also related to the life and death of the fellow brothers around them.

When the sixteen cavalrymen were over a hundred meters away from Kong Sheng and the others, they simultaneously stopped their warhorses, and then separated themselves into groups of left and right, joining together in an array that was formed by the members of the royal guards who had arrived earlier. After their war horses stabilized, the two horses slowly appeared before everyone's eyes.

The one riding on top of the fiery red stallion was the Her Majesty of the current Fire Phoenix Empire! She wore a fiery red armor, a fiery red helmet, and a fiery red cloak. But unlike the others, her armor and helmet were adorned with exquisite gold stripes, and her red cape was bordered with a wide gold border. The patterns cast by the pure gold of the Earth Dao shone in the sunlight, giving the young lady on horseback an incomparably solemn look. The old general behind her who had a white beard and was dressed in red armor was the former principal of the Imperial Military Academy, Shi Keren, who was currently the highest ranking military officer in the north of the empire Battlefield.

Although the Her Majesty deliberately showed respect by standing on the same level as the Commander Elder Shi, the Lord still appropriately gave the Emperor a horse's head of distance to manifest his identity as the Her Majesty. About three meters behind the two of them were eight knights. These eight female horsemen who looked energetic and dignified were the personal bodyguards of the Her Majesty, and the only eight female horsemen of the Fire Phoenix Army.

When these two had just appeared, Kong Sheng and the rest had already knelt down. Behind them, over a thousand soldiers kneeling down at the same time as if they were pushing a mountain of gold was incomparably shocking.

When the Her Majesty and the Commander Elder Shi were about three meters away from them, Kong Sheng took the lead and shouted loudly, ”This official is the general of Phoenix City Pass, the wartime surrogate commander, and the empire's viscount, Kong Sheng.

Following his voice, everyone simultaneously shouted out, ”Long live the Her Majesty!” Then, just like Kong Sheng, everyone lowered their heads and touched their foreheads to the ground. No one dared to raise their heads to look at the emperor.

The new Fire Phoenix Emperor, who had ascended the throne only a little over a year ago, displayed her grace as the ruler of a nation. ”The warriors have done meritorious service to the earth, thank you all for your hard work!”

”Thank you, Her Majesty!” Everyone began to cry out again. Only then did they dare to end their kneeling and slowly rise to their feet. Although everyone stood up, they still kept their heads down, not daring to look at the emperor. Even so, there were still a few people in the crowd who let out an ”oh”. Kong Sheng lowered his head and laughed bitterly, unless he was a god, everyone's first reaction to the Empress was probably the same. There was no other reason but that Her Majesty was simply too beautiful.

Perhaps it was as the Empire's ancient texts had said, the Fire Phoenix Imperial Family was the heaven's chosen one. Within this clan, the males were tall and sturdy, and the females were graceful. All of them had outstanding appearances, and they were definitely dragons and phoenixes among men. Especially this new Emperor of the Fire Phoenix Empire in front of them, Huo Yanrann. Even Kong Sheng, who had a deep affection for Ye Qing, had to admit that, in terms of looks, the difference between her wife and the Her Majesty was actually based on an order of magnitude.

Huo Yanrann seemed to have already gotten used to others' reactions when they saw her appearance. She nimbly dismounted and handed her helmet to the female rider beside her. She slowly walked over to Kong Sheng and the others and smiled, ”Generals, please rise.”

She was originally beautiful beyond compare. In addition to this faint smile, it was as if a peony flower had suddenly bloomed in this winter. The onlookers watching nearly became infatuated with her. Only Kong Sheng replied humbly: ”Thank you, Your Majesty.” Then she kept her head bowed, not looking at the empress.

His attitude and tone, in addition to his slanted and wrinkled formal attire, made everyone in Phoenix City Pass frown. All the Knights in the royal guard pursed their lips, while the eight female knights had already frowned. If not for the fact that His Majesty was right in front of them, there might have been someone who came over to give this surrogate commander a smelly beating.

Unexpectedly, not only did Her Majesty not blame him, he revealed a smile and said softly, ”Brother Kong, are you angry at me?”

The moment he said this, everyone present was shocked!

Zhao Handong's mind was in a mess, who was talking to who? Among the two people in front of him, the one who spoke was the Queen of Her Majesty, the strongest country on the continent. With a frown, tens of thousands of soldiers risked their lives for her. In the future, her sons and grandchildren would continue to rule the country. She and her family would be the rulers of this land, even the godlike existences.

But who was the other one? It was a surrogate commander who had just passed thirty years of age.

According to the general ”development route”, wartime appointments would be reduced to one or two levels after the end of the war. In other words, Kong Sheng would receive the title of Vice Commander or Red Feather Battalion Commander. If he did not die in battle in the future, he would have stayed in the Phoenix City Pass for another ten years. At the age of forty, he would have been given the title of Red Feather Battalion Commander and would have been sent back to the second tier. After that, he would stay in the army for another ten years. Look at Xu Tiankong, he is Kong Sheng's future model.

If Kong Sheng was lucky enough to become the vice commander, he would have the chance to return to the imperial city and find a position in the Military Intelligence Department or the Empire's General Staff Department. He would then play with a group of old fellows who were also unwilling to retire to the front lines and would have a few rounds of ”tactical deduction” which would allow him to argue and drink with those similarly bored civil officials until he was in his sixties. Then, he would be able to find a proper house in the imperial city or the countryside and comfortably support himself for the next few years.

No matter how you looked at it, Kong Sheng was not the type of person who could sit together with the empress, but the empress just called him ”brother Kong”, her tone was bashful, her demeanor mischievous, and even a hint of apology in her words. The most terrifying thing was that there were over ten thousand people in public!

Zhao Handong was not the only one who had such thoughts. The way everyone present looked at Kong Sheng had completely changed. No one knew what happened between him and the Empress in front of them, but there was no doubt that the relationship between the two of them was definitely not simple! Furthermore, Her Majesty was still not married yet. That would be an exaggeration to say that this Lord Kong in front of her would probably be the first Prince Regent since the founding of the Empire!

Forget about the bloodline, this Lord Kong had already broken the palace's rules and became an inner palace guard with a blank body. It was hard to say if he would break the royal bloodline inheritance rule again in the future.

Kong Sheng who was standing in the middle of the whirlpool did not care about the feelings of others at all, he laughed bitterly and replied, ”Your majesty must be joking, how could I dare to remember all these things.” After saying that, he stretched out his arm towards the Phoenix City Pass and made a ”please” gesture. ”Please enter the city, your majesty.”

Huo Yanrann smiled and said softly, ”Just like before, call me Yanran.”

This time, the voice was still not loud, but the way the person who heard this, looked at Kong Sheng, had completely changed.