After the ministers and Su Qi'an left, Showa Incheon, who was standing below, resigned with a rather sensible look on his face and returned to his private room.
Su Xuanyong nodded and said nothing to Su Zhe and Su Tai beside him.
"I don't need to say how important this competition in the ring is. You all know that I'm a little tired and have to go down to rest. I'll leave the rest to you. Don't let me down."
"My dear father, I send you off." Su Zhe and Su Tai were very respectful and watched Su Xuanyong get up and leave.
It is a great honor to allow the Emperor of Great Liang to watch the competition in the ring, even if it only stays for a while.
As for watching the whole process, I can only say that it is delusional. This will lose your identity. Su Zhe and Su Tai are in charge of hosting, which is already a very high level. Su Xuanyong only needs to know the final result.
And what seemed to be a gentle warning just now was actually somewhat meaningful.
This made Su Zhe and Su Tai look a little solemn. Of course they knew the importance of the competition in the ring, but as for how the outcome would develop, I'm afraid only the two of them would know.
Soon after Su Xuanyong left, Su Tai looked at the upcoming competition in the ring below with a smile and said softly.
"Second brother, my father is very serious this time. Do you think it's worth it for us to do this?"
Su Zhe also had a smile on his face and looked forward, looking indifferent.
"What, fourth child, it's already here, do you want to regret it?"
"Humph? Regret, it's impossible, I'm just worried about my second brother." Su Tai whispered.
"Haha, you say you are worried about me, but in fact you are afraid that the boat will capsize and I, the second brother, will be implicated." Su Zhe said calmly.
Su Tai did not speak and remained silent. Naturally, Su Tai disliked his second brother. They were both competitors, and they would fight each other overtly or covertly. They just didn't like each other.
This alliance was a last resort. In addition to dealing with Su Qi'an, he also wanted to calm down the unstable factors outside Great Liang and temporarily clear the way for him to compete for imperial power in the future.
They know very well what kind of ambition the Fusang people have. If they lose this martial arts competition, the morale of the people of Da Liang will definitely fall into a low state. However, in exchange for this low state, there will indeed be a short-term peace. Banditry on the southeastern coast of Da Liang will at least be eliminated. More than years of stability.
This kind of stability is enough for the two of them to determine who is the heir to the throne of Daliang. By then, whoever among the two takes power can backhand solve the hidden dangers of the Fusang people.
This is the important reason why the two of them must adhere to Su Xuanyong's opposite ideas and promote peace even if they spare no effort.
If they want to promote peace, they must lose in this arena competition. Even if they have to bear the penalty of failure, it is better than Daliang being caught in the dilemma of Darong and Fusang when the two start fighting for the throne.
As long as they can determine who is the next heir to the throne, any sacrifice is worth it, even if it means sacrificing their most beloved Ninth Sister.
This is her destiny. Born in the emperor's family, she has to make contributions. The previous third princess was an example, and now it is their turn as the ninth sister.
On this point, the two reached a consensus.
Su Tai remained silent, while Su Zhe smiled lightly and said softly in a calm tone.
"Don't worry, the loss in this arena competition will be absolutely flawless. Even if someone finds out, the second brother will still have a back-up plan. I don't know who will take responsibility then."
Su Tai's eyes flashed, as if he wanted something. He looked at the nine people who were preparing to compete, and said thoughtfully.
"It turns out that the second brother had this idea in mind when he put them on the nine-man list. The fourth brother admires them."
"Then I'll wait and see, fourth brother."
…
While the two were talking, the long-awaited competition in the ring finally began.
The first battle was with the guards from Su Zhe's mansion. They had no names, only a codename of Wuming. They fought against the Fuso samurai Inojiro.
This guard named Wuming was not familiar to everyone. After all, they had no idea how many masters there were in the prince's palace, but what was certain was that if he could be chosen by the prince, his strength was absolutely undoubted.
Amidst the bursts of shouts, Ino Jiro, who came on stage, first bowed respectfully and said softly, "I'm sorry."
Then the long knife in his hand was unsheathed, and his eyes immediately showed murderous intent at this moment.
The next moment, Inojiro rushed towards Wuming at such a speed that people could only see the afterimage.
Wuming stood there, wearing a bamboo hat, his head lowered, arms folded across his chest, holding a long sword in his hand, just standing quietly, as if he couldn't see.
"Die!"
Inojiro shouted loudly, and slashed down Wuming with the long knife in his hand. Everyone watching this scene, some of whom were timid, couldn't help but close their eyes.
In their opinion, no matter how powerful the master named Wuming was, he still had a chance to escape if he was bullied by the other party.
Everyone felt secretly sorry in their hearts, but as the long knife fell, the imagined scene of Wuming being killed did not appear.
Instead, a sword scabbard was raised high, blocking the slashed sword.
At some point, Wuming's hand holding the sword was raised slightly, and he used the scabbard to block Ino Jiro's attack.
Inojiro was startled and seemed to realize something. He was about to retreat and look for an opportunity to attack, but the next moment, a blurry figure suddenly flashed in front of his eyes.
Before he could react, his body froze, the nameless figure in front of him disappeared, and the nameless figure silently appeared behind him. The only difference from before was that the sword in his hand was unsheathed.
The speed was so fast that even Inojiro didn't react. When he lowered his head subconsciously, a sword wound was clearly visible in his lower abdomen, and a little blood slowly seeped out.
Immediately afterwards, there was a pain in his lower abdomen. Ino Jiro opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but nothing came out. Then his body softened and he collapsed directly to the ground.
Everyone present looked at this scene with their mouths wide open, as if they had seen a ghost. The fight between the two sides seemed to be very long, but in fact it was only a few breaths.
In just a few breaths, they didn't even see Wuming draw his sword clearly, and the winner was decided in the first battle.
When he came back to his senses, there were overwhelming cheers from all around the arena.
Although they couldn't clearly see the fight between the two sides just now, the result of the first game was obvious, they won.
This first victory brought not only victory, but also a good start.
Countless people were caught up in the excitement, but a few people had quite a bit of shock in their eyes.
These people are all martial arts masters, and they can't see the nameless swordsman clearly, but in their eyes, Inojiro, who fought in Fuso, is a master, not to say the best, but at least he has the strength of a first-class master.
But such a master cannot make a single move in the hands of this mysterious swordsman. Those with such strength must have entered the top ranks.
These practitioners looked at Wuming on the stage and felt a little more wary. At the same time, they sighed, "Sure enough, the masters in the prince's palace are really crouching tigers, hidden dragons."
The clean ending of the first competition also caused exclamations of exclamation in each private room.
Even Su Qi'an and Xie Cang had a dignified look in their eyes.
After a moment of silence, Su Qi'an sighed, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, the background of the two princes is indeed extraordinary. I am afraid that this competition will not only be a good start, but also a shock to the ministers and us."
Although Su Qi'an was not a Lianjiazi, he had many masters around him, but the man in front of him was so strong that Su Qi'an could still tell that among the masters in his hands, only Wang Yan could fight against him.
Even the mansions of Su Zhe and Su Tai cannot be like cabbages for such top masters.
If the masters of the two mansions were of this level, there would be no need to be afraid of Su Qi'an. They would have sent people to kill Su Qi'an countless times.
This time, the purpose of letting the top players compete was obvious. In addition to getting off to a good start, the most important thing was to show off their muscles, let the ministers choose their sides, and give Su Qi'an some warnings to stop him from being too presumptuous.
Su Qi'an casually glanced at the list of players on the table for the nine games.
The first battle is over, and the second battle involves the guards in Sutai's mansion.
According to Su Qian's estimation, Su Zhe had already flexed his muscles, and it was Su Tai's turn next.
After all, the peaceful coexistence between the two, even if it is temporary, is also accompanied by competition.
If nothing else happens, this second battle will probably be a quick win.
With Su Qi'an thinking like this, the second arena competition also began.
Compared with Wu Ming's low profile, Su Tai's guard appears to be quite arrogant, named Ba Dao.
He is a swordsman. As soon as he comes on stage, he shows his arrogance. He is holding a ghost head sword. Before the battle begins, he is sarcastic and dismissive of the Fuso samurai who is fighting him.
The Fuso warrior wanted to pretend, but after hearing all the insults from Ba Dao, he couldn't bear it anymore. His face was ashen, and he rushed towards Ba Dao with two daggers in hand.
This big man who was master of swords had a cold look in his eyes. He held the swords in both hands and used force.
The ghost-headed sword in his hand struck the Fuso warrior on the shoulder with great force.
The Fuso Samurai crossed his swords to resist, but the force exerted by the Ghost Head Sword was too heavy.
The Fuso Warrior's expression changed, and he was about to resist. The next moment, an even more powerful force followed the momentum of the Ghost Head Sword and pressed down hard.
The Fuso Warrior's cheeks were red, and the crossed daggers shattered directly under this terrifying force. The Ghost Head Sword struck the Fuso Warrior's shoulder hard.
A painful wail sounded.
"Trash, go to hell."
Ba Dao sneered, and with a sharp stroke of Ghost Head Dao, followed by a kick, Samurai Fuso's body was like a deflated ball, flying out of the ring in a parabola.
The whole audience watched this scene, and after a brief silence, more lively cheers followed.
In less than a quarter of an hour, their Great Liang side had easily won two consecutive victories. In this arena competition, they would probably win easily with their overwhelming power.
