C25 (2/2)
No one was interested in the series of appointments and rewards that followed. Commander Elder Shi's appointment wasn't as strong as hers, what about the others? Thus, everyone raised their cups and toasted once again. They wished the luck of the empire was long, wished their majesty luck and happiness, and wished good fortune to the officials of the Lord Kong.
Kong Sheng could no longer drink, so the order surprised him as well. The moment he heard the order, he subconsciously looked towards Huo Yanrann. But Her Majesty did not look at him, he just sat there and listened to the Second Marshal's order with a solemn face. When Kong Sheng and the other three came over and knelt in front of her to express their gratitude, she still carried that faint smile on her face. She personally poured, toasted, and drank for the four without saying a single word of encouragement.
Kong Sheng thought for a long time by himself, about the Huo Yanrann who abandoned the civil and military officials just to give up on him, and who charged into the Phoenix City Pass with a few dozens of horses, and called him Big Brother Kong in front of everyone, the Huo Yanrann who shed tears for wounded soldiers but then changed his face, the Huo Yanrann who spoke to Shi Keren with a cold face of ”I won't kill you or let you go”, the Huo Yanrann who could withstand the pressure and raise his cultivation, the Huo Yanrann who leisurely raised her cup and drank with others, and the Huo Yanrann who she recognized initially … Countless scenes flashed through his mind, and several faces overlapped, separated, merged, and separated again and again. In the end, he had to admit that the current Her Majesty was no longer the same Yanran girl that followed him back then.
On the day after the feast, under the guidance of the Vice Marshal Zhan, the Imperial Army Headquarter s, the provincial authorities, and the Phoenix City Pass s started a series of meetings. We focused on a few issues:
First, why did Mo Qiu suddenly attack? And it was such a big attack. Everything had its reasons, but there had to be a reason!
Second, what happened to Scorching Sun and Lan Yue? Where did the missing civilians and soldiers go? Who did it?
Thirdly, what happened to the organized Demonic Beast army? Could it be that someone controlled the Demonic Beast and then teamed up with Mo Qiu? This was the greatest danger, and also the most serious one. If this guess was true, then the Wulian Mountain Range that was rampaging through the Demonic Beast could no longer become a natural barrier between the empire and Black Hill Empire. Instead, it would become a route filled with enemies.
There were many questions and the atmosphere was low, but there were no leads to discuss. All the discussions, assumptions and conclusions are based on a dark foundation. After participating in the two day meeting, Kong Sheng's heart had a wave of exhaustion and sorrow. Was the current situation unrelated to the empire's long history of overbearing and overbearing? Other than the children of Venerable families, how many commoners would send their children to join the army? After studying hard at home, he would be admitted to the academy. If it was that piece of material, he could still enter the Imperial Academy. After graduation, you could directly enter the civil and official system of the empire. You could live a peaceful and safe life, no matter what, shouldn't it be better than becoming a soldier?
And there were only two ways to become a soldier. Imperial Military Academy was something that ordinary people did not dare think of, and what ordinary people could come into contact with were Border Army and people's militia. The people's militia, the word 'citizen' in front, was the word 'citizen' when farming was busy, and the word 'farmer' was the word military. It also meant that the various provinces of the empire had Red Camp stationed there. Otherwise, even robbers and bandits might not dare to believe in their strength. There was even less of a need to talk about Border Army. To defend the borders and to fight Demonic Beast, other than the salary being higher than the people's militia, there was nothing else.
Come to think of it, if Border Army was easy to recruit, why make these military personnel with Phoenix City Pass possible?
If the military affairs of the empire were like this, there was no need to mention the intelligence system. About 80% of the information on the Moqiu State came from merchant groups like the Chamber of Commerce of Ming Family.
Now that his Moqiu Army had been heavily slapped in the face, the reason for his slapping, motive, etc., was something that he hoped these people in front of him would definitely not be able to discuss. Only by establishing a complete information system for the empire would it be possible to slowly improve on it. However, was it that easy to establish an information system? Which department should it be under which jurisdiction? How was the information divided? How? Even Kong Sheng, who thought of building an information system, was confused, let alone others.
Kong Sheng felt that this was more tiring than fighting a battle that had lasted for five consecutive days. Seeing that there was nothing to be said, he announced that the meeting was over. The various masters turned back and carefully thought about it; everyone had to submit no less than ten thousand words worth of memorials within a month.
It just so happened that Master Shu had also said that the imperial city could not afford to be left without a ruler for a day. Now that the war had been resolved, the Her Majesty had to return to the imperial city as soon as possible. The Her Majesty followed the flow of kindness and decided to depart in three days.
On the eighth day, everyone lined up to send off the Her Majesty. This time, the entire city's military and citizens swarmed out, surrounding the main road that led from the Castellan Mansion to the south gate so that not even a drop of water could leak out. Putting aside all the work at hand, what a joke. In their entire lives, they would only be able to see the emperor with their own eyes, and he was such a devastatingly beautiful female emperor. Who wouldn't want to take another look?
On this trip back to the imperial city, the officials who were traveling with him were gathered together. With Senior Shu overseeing the trip back, all sorts of courtesies were naturally complete, and the citizens of the Phoenix City Pass had the good fortune to see what the imperial style was like. Teams of ceremonies and rows of soldiers were gathered in front of them, as well as the imperial carriage of the emperor and the valiant female eight riders. This made these bumpkins in the eyes of the people in the capital happy for their eyes.
Kong Sheng still had a headache. He was not afraid of these complicated etiquette, but rather, he was afraid of Huo Yanrann. He was afraid that the Her Majesty would guard the entire city and the civilians would say ”Brother Kong”, that would truly be asking for his life, and that no matter how much he jumped into the river, he would not be able to clean himself.
But what was there to be afraid of? Before Her Majesty got on the imperial carriage, she had still casually walked over to Kong Sheng, but this time she did not call him big brother Kong. Instead, she asked softly, ”Why are you not seeing me here?”
Kong Sheng's heart warmed. She must have remembered that the Xiu'er did not participate in the ceremony to enter the city, so he was afraid that she might miss out on such a grand occasion. He quickly waved behind him, and a small soldier wearing Border Army clothes ran over timidly. When the soldier took off his helmet, Huo Yanrann almost laughed out loud. How was this a Border Army Soldier, it was clearly a Lady Xiu’er wearing Border Army clothes.
So it turned out that Xiu'er had long since come to find Kong Sheng, and wanted to take a closer look at Big Sister Yanran. Kong Sheng could not bear to refuse, he found a set of Border Army clothes for her and impersonated one of his followers to the scene. He never thought that Huo Yanrann would still remember this girl, and it could be considered as him fulfilling Xiu'er's wish.
Huo Yanrann reached out and gently held Xiu'er's hand, and asked gently, ”Xiu'er, living in seclusion is very hard, do you want to return to the imperial capital with elder sister?”
Xiu'er was startled for a moment, then shook her head and replied timidly: ”Elder sister ~ Oh, no, your majesty ~ Xiu'er is just a country bumpkin, they have never been to any big places, even more so in the capital.”
”Then what are your plans?” Huo Yanrann asked again.
The Xiu'er replied softly, ”The Xiu'er was lucky enough to arrive at the Phoenix City Pass and was able to stay after the battle. As for the future, Xiu'er has not thought of it yet.
The smile on Huo Yanrann's face did not change, ”Hmm ~ You're really not going to the Capital?”
Xiu'er was stunned for a moment before replying, ”Thank you for your love, Your Majesty. I really won't go.”
”Going or not, it's not up to you to decide now!” Huo Yanrann's tone changed as she forcefully pulled Xiu'er and dragged her out of the crowd. Before Xiu'er could react, the six female riders had already raised their blades and lances at the same time, the four long blades on her neck shined brightly, the two spears pointed at her front and back, the other two female riders arrived at the same time, in the blink of an eye, they had shackled Xiu'er's body.
This chain of movements was as quick as lightning. Kong Sheng was still in a daze, but the eight female riders had already locked the Xiu'er tightly. No matter how strong she was, she was unable to escape. The people on the outside didn't even know what was happening.
Kong Sheng wanted to go over and save them, but the royal guards were already prepared. Four sturdy soldiers squeezed Kong Sheng right in the middle, making him unable to move.
Huo Yanrann watched as the female riders stuffed the tightly bundled Xiu'er s into the secret compartment of the imperial carriage, then coldly looked at Kong Sheng and turned to board the carriage.
The imperial carriage drove out of the Castellan Mansion, and slowly drove out of the Phoenix City Pass under the cheers of the masses. No one noticed the loss of a Lady Xiu’er, and no one even noticed the four soldiers by the newly appointed Phoenix City Pass Commander's side, or the blank look on his face.