Imperial Palace, Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Emperor Xuyang rarely wore the most formal crown dress today and sat on the dragon chair.
Mi Yusong stood on one side.
Following the announcement from a chamberlain, the Western visitor finally appeared at the door of the hall.
All four of them had disarmed their weapons. After entering Zhengyang Imperial City and even the palace, even Gust, the proudest prince of the Holy Roman Empire among the four, had to let go of his aloofness.
Because they were really shocked.
Coming all the way from the west, all I see is poverty and backwardness.
This was the first time they saw the prosperity of Zhengyang.
It can only be said that their route has huge problems.
The west of Zhengyang is already barren. They have not seen the richest south, and they have not visited several ancient capitals. No wonder they have the mentality that the Eastern Kingdom is nothing more than this.
However, their arrogance was eventually defeated by the Zhengyang heritage of Guozuo for four hundred years.
A royal palace directly made them pay attention to the Zhengyang Kingdom, and even regarded it as an existence comparable to the Holy Roman Empire.
Adolf, as deputy envoy, presented his credentials.
Of course, all communication is still done by Leslie.
The first half was very normal diplomacy between the two countries.
Leslie first introduced herself to the situation of the Holy Roman Empire.
When they heard that the country's land area was three times that of Zhengyang, and its population was nearly 20 million people, the civil and military officials in the Hall of Supreme Harmony couldn't hold back, and they immediately started whispering.
Some people don't believe it. They don't believe that there is a country bigger than Zhengyang in this world.
Zhengyang is the center of the world, the land of the Central Plains!
However, among the civil and military officials, the highest-level officials remained silent.
They also have a general understanding of the situation in this Western country.
Know that what they say is true.
And they all know that real big countries disdain to exaggerate their own country's strength.
Therefore, their hearts were heavy. There was a vast desert between the country of the West and Zhengyang.
But the other party had already crossed the boundless desert and arrived at Zhengyang.
When they go back this time, they can bring back the situation of Zhengyang at the same time.
On the other hand, Zhengyang didn't understand the Holy Roman Empire at all.
Therefore, in the second half, Emperor Zhengyang's officials began to spy on the intelligence of the Holy Roman Empire.
It's a pity that although Leslie is young and a woman, her speech is impeccable.
All the way to the end of the wrangling, several cabinet ministers could not help but praise this foreign woman in their hearts:
Women will not give way to men!
Of course, major power diplomacy cannot be that simple. Today it is just an exchange of documents between the two countries.
It is equivalent to the first greeting when two people are dating.
Subsequent communication will have to be carried out slowly.
Leslie also said that they would stay in Zhengyang for a full year.
During this period, both parties can have a good exchange.
During the whole process, Emperor Xuyang said nothing and just watched coldly.
There is also one person in the Western envoys who has always remained silent.
That was old William.
Because he found that the man next to Emperor Zhengyang was extremely terrifying!
At least he is a seventh-level warrior!
Such people are revered as saints in the Holy Roman Empire.
Even the emperor must be treated with courtesy.
But in Zhengyang, such a being stood respectfully beside the emperor.
As if he were the emperor's servant!
Ever since Old William saw Mi Yusong, his drunkenness dissipated in an instant.
Because strong men of this level have a very high status in the Holy Roman Empire, none of their envoys have such strong men.
This alone is enough for old William, who has always been extremely lazy, to become serious.
For the first time, he felt that this country was powerful.
That's right, before this, old William, who had experienced hundreds of battles, had never looked down upon this Eastern country.
He quietly gave Gust a few instructions via voice transmission, and a smile immediately appeared on Gust's face.
The teacher's words were exactly what he wanted to do.
So after the friendly exchange between the two parties, Adolf was already ready to say goodbye and leave. Unexpectedly, Gust, who had not spoken much, suddenly said loudly:
"Your Majesty, the Emperor of...!"
Emperor Xuyang looked down and saw the other prince.
With the title of an envoy, Emperor Xuyang would not even pay attention to him otherwise.
Before Emperor Xu Yang could speak, Gust had already continued:
"Dear...His Majesty the Emperor!
When I first came to this great city, what I paid most attention to was not the prosperity and majesty of this city!
But the powerful... warrior of your country!
But the warriors who accompanied me on the expedition were also the proudest warriors of my Holy Roman Empire.
Therefore, I hope that I can bring them some convenience instead of living in a cramped military camp for the next year!
Therefore... I want to have a gambling battle with His Majesty the Emperor! "
The whole place was in an uproar. Unexpectedly, a mere prince from the other side wanted to engage in a gambling fight with the emperor.
Who is he and how could he make such an unreasonable request?
Just before everyone was angry, Emperor Xuyang smiled slightly and coughed slightly, and Mi Yusong immediately understood.
"His Royal Highness Prince Gust, if you want to have a bet with our emperor, you must first put up enough bets.
In the gambling battle in which the emperor participates, the stakes cannot be enough! "
All the civil and military officials in the main hall, especially the civil servants, nodded one after another, showing signs of satisfaction.
As expected of Mi Yusong, a simple sentence left the other party speechless.
If the other party wants to wager with the emperor, he must put up enough bets.
Otherwise, why would you bet with the emperor?
But it’s not up to us to decide what kind of bets qualify!
Many ministers secretly gave Mi Yusong a thumbs up.
Gust smiled lightly, he was very excited to talk about treasures.
Compared with treasures, he is not afraid of the Eastern Kingdom at all.
His Holy Roman Empire unified the West and had no treasure.
For the development of the empire, these treasures are actually of little use.
Grass is almost growing in the imperial treasure house.
Therefore, this time they actually brought a lot of them with them. At first, each soldier carried a little bit, because after all, they had to cross the endless desert.
Later it was put in the carriage.
Coupled with the addition of a batch of treasures along the way, Gust is extremely confident in the treasures he possesses.
But before he could speak, Adolf had already spoken in advance, but he asked Leslie to translate for him.
Gust was puzzled, but he received a message from Old William to calm down.
"The Governor has his own decision to make."
After listening to Adolf's words, Leslie said without any expression on her face:
"The Lord of my empire knows that the countries in the east have many questions about my country in the west.
Therefore, when we came this time, we were specially ordered to bring many imperial books.
It records all aspects of my Holy Roman Empire.
This is also the sincerity of the Lord of my empire who wants to have good relations with the Eastern Kingdom!
However, these books are all recorded in the language of my Holy Roman Empire, and you cannot read them directly even if you come to the Eastern Kingdom.
Why not take this as a bet for His Royal Highness, the Prince of the Empire?
If the Kingdom of the East can win the bet, we will do our best to translate these books for the use of the Kingdom of the East. "
As soon as these words came out, the heads of several civil servants immediately showed fiery eyes, and some of them looked at Mi Yusong.
As smart as Mi Yusong, His Majesty the Emperor instantly understood the other person's thoughts.
What a good plan.
Those books were brought, ostensibly to show sincerity and in exchange.
But in fact, it would take at least several years for Zhengyang to decipher the writings of the Holy Roman Empire. This was counted after the spies sent by Zhengyang returned from the Holy Roman Empire.
But this envoy can use this to purchase Zhengyang's books in the imperial capital openly.
And judging by Leslie's appearance, she must be very familiar with Zhengyang's writing.
They can get a lot of information about Zhengyang directly here.
This has created an intelligence gap between the two sides that lasts for several years.
In terms of the art of war, this is already a huge backwardness and gap.
Therefore, the terms of the bet proposed by Adolf are very attractive.
Mi Yusong didn't hesitate and agreed directly.
For him, he thought it was impossible for Zhengyang to lose.
In other words, a business that is sure to make money without losing money.
Therefore, Mi Yusong responded to the matter on behalf of Emperor Xuyang, and finally decided to conduct friendly exchanges between the two parties three days later.
And three days later, the results of the Zhengyang Martial Arts Competition should come out.
Since the last rebel incident, the finals of the Zhengyang Martial Arts Competition were not held for a while.
It took until now to finally set a date.
Just one day later.
The final location of the Zhengyang Martial Arts Competition was also changed from outside the city to the Imperial City, within the Imperial City.
The main reason why the final address was placed outside the city was to give the emperor a reasonable reason for his participation.
How could the rebels take the bait if there wasn't a legitimate reason for the emperor to be out?
The next day, the final competition of the Zhengyang Martial Arts Competition kicked off.
Because of Liu Xin's absence, the court decided to make a replacement.
The choice is of course between Huangfu Rongjiang and Dugu Xuanqing.
Since the latter had already left the imperial capital, the final candidate to replace him was Huangfu Rongjiang.
Although Liu Xin's incident was not widely publicized in the city.
There was nothing unusual in the Liu Mansion.
His position as Jinyiwei was also retained.
But family members in high positions like Huangfu Rongjiang all know what happened to Liu Xin.
Everyone lamented that Liu Xin dared to kill the prince.
What's more important is that after killing the prince, nothing happened to him.
Of course everyone knew what the second prince had done.
Even the prince would not be able to escape death for such a crime as collaborating with the enemy and treason.
Therefore, the matter of Liu Xin killing the prince became much smaller.
But after all, he is still a prince.
The emperor might have the second prince executed because of national law.
But that doesn't mean anyone can kill the prince for him.
But the engine involved involves deeper secrets.
The news that Huangfu Rongjiang and others learned was that Qin Guogong paid a huge price for Liu Xin's life.
Liu Xin was also expelled from the country and was prohibited from entering the imperial capital again forever.
However, due to Liu Xin's status, a group of big shots didn't think this was a big deal.
Anyway, he was originally a disciple of the martial arts sect, but now he just went back.
The younger generation like Huangfu Rongjiang are not qualified to know this situation.
In any case, Huangfu Rongjiang came on as a substitute and became the top four in Zhengyang Wubi.
But in the drawing of the last round of written examinations, Huangfu Rongjiang unfortunately chose Huang Linxian.
Although Huangfu Rongjiang exploded with all his strength in the decisive battle, his strength was even more refined than before.
But Huang Linxian is really too strong.
This is because Huangfu Rongjiang is one level higher than his opponent in terms of realm. If he is at the same level, he may not be able to sustain a few moves before losing.
In the other game, Guande won by luck. His strength was only slightly higher than that of his opponent, and he finally won by relying on his superiority in weapons.
There was no surprise for the final leader, Huang Linxian won the victory at a faster speed.
In other words, if Huangfu Rongjiang can be drawn to compete with Guande, Huangfu Rongjiang's chances of winning are actually relatively large.
But for Huangfu Rongjiang, there is actually no difference whether he is second, third or fourth.
Finally, all the top four teams in this year's Zhengyang Wuji Competition were released.
Huang Linxian, who was ranked first, received praise from the emperor. Unfortunately, he refused all the emperor's rewards.
However, the emperor was surprisingly calm, as if he had already known the result.
So the reward for the first place fell equally to the three people behind.
The latest among them is Guande.
He was appointed under unusual circumstances and became a member of the Imperial Guard Qianhu.
For him, who was originally just an ordinary martial artist, this was already a huge improvement.
He was born from grassroots and gained a lot of fame.
His situation is everywhere in the streets and alleys of the imperial capital.
Two days later, Guande will take action for Zhengyang against a challenger from the west.
Regarding this matter, Guande was full of fighting spirit and full of confidence.
Huangfu Rongjiang had already received a reminder from his father that this envoy from the west had killed countless bandits and defeated many horse thieves on its way from the west to the east.
But they didn't lose even a single person.
Father's reminder is that the country in the west will never be weaker than Zhengyang, and may even surpass it.
After all, the country's territory is more than three times wider than Zhengyang.
This has actually been confirmed.
Zhengyang has sent spies across the desert to investigate that country.
The simplest and most preliminary information is that the national border of this Western country is extremely long.
This also proves from the side that their land is indeed much wider than Zhengyang.
The vast land has a larger population, and they will definitely have many masters.
Therefore, we must have a sense of awe and not despise it.
So Huangfu Rongjiang spent the next two days practicing hard in seclusion at home.
Guan De is tired of dealing with all kinds of entertainment.
He is now considered half of the civil servant faction, but there are also some generals or nobles who recruited him in advance.
If he joins the army in the future, he will eventually return to the general group.
The news from the Imperial Capital finally reached Liu Xin after two days.
At this time, Liu Xin, Xiao Qi and others had already taken two carriages to Taiyuan, Shanxi Province.
"I didn't expect that in the end, Guande won the second place in the Zhengyang Martial Arts Competition and got the most benefits!"
Liu Xin looked at the information passed from the imperial capital and sighed.
Xiao Qi came over to take a look. Based on his understanding of his senior brother, he could say that this person named Guan De must have offended him.
Regarding Xiaoqi, Liu Xin did not hide anything, and directly dragged out everything that happened in Zhengyang Wubi.
"Don't let me see this person, otherwise I will definitely shoot him!"
Only then did Xiao Qi realize that this man had almost buried his senior brother alive.
If he was still near the imperial capital, he wouldn't mind running up and stabbing this man to death.
He now has an exquisite weapon given to him by his senior brother, plus Liu Xinfei wants to teach him the marksmanship.
Today's Xiao Qi is no longer the Xiao Qi who is proud of his speed.
With his rapidity, the marksmanship he used was simply beyond his level.
Fang Zihang tried to fight Xiao Qi, but in the end he couldn't even touch Xiao Qi's shadow.
Although Fang Zihang can turn into a shady person and hide his aura.
But Xiaoqi is not close to the shady scene at all.
The scope of Fang Zihang's shady incarnation was not particularly large, so the battle between the two could only be said to be a draw in the end.
Of course this is not a life and death battle.
If it were a life and death battle, Xiao Qi would not have no chance of winning.
With his extreme speed, the power of the marksmanship he uses is greatly increased.
Two days later, Liu Xin, Xiao Qi and others finally arrived at the Shanxi governor's territory.
This place is less than a hundred miles away from Taiyuan City.
After getting on the official road, Liu Xin discovered that there were many warriors on their way on the official road.
And their direction is the same as Liu Xin and others.
Xiao Qi is a lively person, so he got off the carriage and went to inquire about the situation.
Came back soon.
It turns out that these warriors have the same goal as Liu Xin and others, Taiyuan City.
"Senior brother, these people are all going to participate in the son-in-law competition at Luoshen Villa."
"Um?
Didn’t you say it would be held during the Lantern Festival? "
Liu Xin said in surprise.
"What, senior brother, you actually know?"
Xiao Qi immediately ran up with a curious look on his face and asked Liu Xin what he knew.
So Liu Xin told Xiao Qi about his agreement with Dugu Xuanqing.
"Okay, okay, I like this kind of bride-stealing plot the best!
I never thought that one day I, Xiao Qi, would be able to personally participate in it. "
"What does this have to do with you?"
Liu Xin said angrily.
"The boy who doesn't have all his hair!"
Xiao Qi immediately became unhappy when he heard this.
He pulled Master Scar from another carriage.
"Master Scar, please judge for me. Am I young? Isn't it time to get married yet?"
Mr. Scar's originally dazed eyes widened as soon as he heard the clarification.
When he knew the whole story, he immediately warned Xiao Qi earnestly:
"Master Qi, I also think you are not suitable for participating in this contest to recruit a bride.
Think about it, why are these good sons and daughters in the world worried about getting married?
And he is also a direct descendant of Luoshen Villa.
I think there must be some flaw in her that makes her compete in martial arts to find a bride.
Qiye, your future is limitless, so don’t fall into such a deep pit. "
Xiao Qi also felt that Master Scar's explanation made sense.
"Okay, then I will first see how the little princess of Luoshen Villa looks like and whether she has any flaws. I am considering whether I should steal the bride!"
"Well, listen to me, I think it's better not to..."
"No, no, no, Master Scar, I suddenly feel that what Xiao Qi said makes sense."
Liu Xin looked at Mr. Scar with wary eyes.
He heard that marrying a wife and having children is not allowed in Taoism.
This old Taoist priest wouldn't want to kidnap his Xiaoqi and go up the mountain to become a Taoist priest, right?
Only then did Liu Xin realize why he hadn't thought of it earlier.
Before, he thought it might be a chance for Xiao Qi to meet such an old Taoist priest with profound cultivation.
Only now did I suddenly understand.
What an opportunity this is.
This is the chance to cut off the family and grandchildren!
He would not let Xiao Qi fall into the opponent's clutches.
Master Scar suddenly felt that Liu Xin was more wary of him.
He was a little confused. How could he be seen through by the other party?
