The day the Donghu delegation entered Beijing was the time when the Lay's Grand Ceremony was held.

Kyoto's main street is lined with high platforms of singing and dancing from the south gate of the city, crowded with people on both sides of the road, surrounded by attendants, and performers singing and dancing on the high platforms that slowly move forward. The songs and dances of the Sukhothai people always open the way like a herd, and on the back of the elephant stands a wonderful woman, accompanied by drums. The Hu people danced like a jade gold plate, the people of northern Xinjiang wore fangs and masks and beckoned to dance, the flute was short, and the sound of the fifty-string East China Sea musical instrument splashed like the tide of the sea.

It's bustling and bustling.

The Baoyue Palace is magnificent, the lanterns are colorful, and the empress feasts the leader of Donghu and his henchmen to enjoy the singing and dancing in the Baoyue Palace.

After the chief Zhou Guan Zhao wore the emperor's costume and received the knock of the leader of Donghu and his subordinates with a smile, he said something concerned about the scene and sent the reward down.

Song Chuanbai, as Yang Hehou, was customary, the seat was originally on the side of the empress, but he seemed to be deliberately alienated in the past two years, so his position was changed to after the prime minister, and Chen Tongsheng followed him to sit below.

The empress vacated such a small position for no reason, let others sit, and the status was not enough. The leader of Donghu noticed this, and actually had a little bit of confusion in his heart.

According to the practice of the previous dynasty, the emperor sat next to either the queen of the mother world, or the crown prince who had been canonized. It is also very common for a favored minister to be next to him, but it is rare for the emperor to be close to him, and the seat that symbolizes the grace of one person is vacant.

The leader of Donghu couldn't help but ask his henchmen in a low voice: "Didn't you say that the Zuo Prime Minister of the Great Zhou, that person named Wu Hanchi is very favored?" Why did he also sit in the same seat as the right prime minister? ”

"Morman," replied his subordinate Elton, "the news that has come back is so, but the relationship between the courtiers of the great powers and the emperor has always been very complicated, and it is different from ours, just like the case of the Imperial Doctor a few days ago. They are the Great Zhou people, who pay attention to joy and informability, and their anger is silent. Maybe there was a contradiction. ”

"Hmph," Moman bowed his head and drank: "Don't speculate without evidence, mess with your own heart, isn't the fate of my father and brother enough for you to learn a lesson?" ”

"Yes." Ulton hurriedly retreated.

The distance between Chen Tongsheng and Donghu Envoy is not close, but it is not too far, and with her eyesight, she can clearly see the other party's facial expression.

Donghu has always been good at martial arts, and the envoys who came to the court were all tall and fierce. The reason why Zhou Guanzhao attached so much importance to this visit to the DPRK was that in addition to the fact that the previous leader of Donghu had just died at the hands of the enemy country in the northwest, and the internal turmoil of Donghu tended to be, more importantly, it was the new leader of the Donghu tribe who led the Donghu envoy group to meet this time.

This new leader, named Morman, is a little more special. In the recent Northwest Campaign, the leader of Donghu took the lead because he saw the victory of the Western Xiang Kingdom, and as a small tribe in the battle between the two countries, the Eastern Hu hurriedly showed his loyalty to the Western Xiang State and surrendered to the past for a while. Unexpectedly, the speed of the Great Zhou to regain the lost territory was much faster than they imagined, so the Morman brothers wanted to abandon their father who was far away in the West Xiang, and led Donghu's own subordinates to turn to the Great Zhou again. But unfortunately, the news of this operation was leaked, so that when the generals of Northern Xinjiang learned of the incident, they did not have time to express their response, and the brother should have been slaughtered on the way to the camp.

Donghu fell into the leaderless land of dragons for a while, and this Moman is still a very courageous person, he is from a humble background, and the original prince dispute does not talk about him at all. And he resolutely stepped forward at this moment, and quickly and clearly recognized the situation, led his subordinates to resist the military oppression from Xixiang, and held out until Xixiang was defeated, and immediately submitted a request to Da Zhou.

In order to show his sincerity, this Moman, who did not even sit firmly in his seat, faced with the inextricable quarrel within the Donghu tribe over the inheritance, took people to come to Kyoto in the Great Zhou Dynasty with thousands of miles.

This person, whether it is courage or scheming, is far above his father and brother, and subduing such a person can at least ensure the stability of the territory bordering Donghu for decades.

And it is precisely because of this that Moman needs to be recognized by the Great Zhou Emperor to fight against the opposition in the tribe, otherwise it will be difficult for him to sit in this position. As long as Donghu is stable, then the people of the border Dazhou will have a more peaceful guarantee, so why not do it?

Chen Tongsheng looked at the Donghu people at the banquet in turn, and said in his heart that this big man, this powerful arm, this steady pace, this perennial hand holding a knife and drawing a bow, and Moman's eyes as bright as an eagle. She hadn't seen the number of ways the Donghu people fought, had she really fought?

"It's okay if you can't beat it." Song Chuanbai could see what she was thinking at the moment, and said lightly: "I didn't want you to win." ”

Chen Tongsheng disguised his head and took a fruit to eat, and did not speak with a weak heart.

In fact...... She wanted to win.

She wanted to get the skull of Jiang Liyan's mouth, she was eager to speed up her so-called awakening, since Jiang Liyan said that, Chen Tongsheng was simply scratching his ears and cheeks. It was as if this had become a matter within reach, and she might have to walk many roads and go through many ups and downs to understand a limited point. And now it's about to be at your fingertips. In the past, just the fragments of antiquities left over from the Northern Dynasty for so many years could make her think of so many things and surge so many emotions, if the skull of the reputation was in her hands, she didn't know how much information she would get from the dream.

But why didn't Song Chuanbai let her win?

Wouldn't it be a good thing for her to show off the majesty of the dynasty? As long as you control the strength and don't make the opponent lose ugly, what's not to do?

While thinking about it, I saw a movement outside the hall, and in a blink of an eye, a platform was quickly erected.

It is already the habit of Donghu to recommend warriors to come out to compete, and the process of setting up a platform and selecting warriors is already very familiar to the palace people.

Mo Man came prepared, and as soon as everyone turned the feast to the open space outside the palace, he had already ordered a few people from his entourage, and raised his glass to the empress: "After the previous battle, Xiao Wang personally saw the strength of the soldiers of the Great Zhou, presumably the men under His Majesty are all like the soldiers tempered in the cold winter of the frontier, and they are as brave as wolves. Although our national strength is very small, and we cannot expect to have a fierce general under His Majesty's command, the men in my account are also brave and admire the warriors very much. The warriors of our clan have been looking forward to today's competition for a long time. ”

The last sentence is probably the truth, how good is this Donghu people? People who come to Kyoto from Donghu to play, don't go to Hualou to enjoy the warm fragrance and jade softness, go to the martial arts hall, and take a soak for several days, either he subdues others, or the martial arts hall subdues him, and will think about other things.

Immediately, a minister stood up at the table and humbly recommended a few disciples of the family.

Zuo Cheng Wu Hanchi pushed up his own faction of military generals, and he was very skilled, but his family was not a particularly prominent young man, and Youcheng also recommended two young people when he saw this, and he also pointed one of his grandsons to the stage very solidly.

As soon as Song Chuanbai heard the right prime minister Meng Zhengqing read out his grandson's name, he suddenly smiled and said to Chen Tongsheng, who didn't know why: "Do you know why Meng Lao wants to give his little grandson a spot?" ”

Chen Tongsheng shook his head, only to hear Song Chuanbai's tone and say very easily: "His grandson is spoiled, and a group of people surround him every day, and he can't endure hardships, and he feels that he is the first in martial arts in Kyoto, and he can't wait to join the army to make contributions." In fact, even the fierce horse can't stand it, and if you don't take a hard beating, you don't know how to collect the wind. ”

Chen Tongsheng said: "When the foreign envoy comes to the court, he won't give it, it's too heavy, right?" ”

"Generally, no." Song Chuanbai took a sip of wine, pinched the rim of the cup with two fingers, squinted his eyes lazily and said, "But Moman is different this time, the warriors under him can't lose." ”

Chen Tongsheng was originally a little worried and stared at Song Chuanbai's slender fingers, but he was suddenly stunned when he heard this.

"Do you know Donghu?"

"No, I don't know."

Song Chuan let out a clear "um", and continued: "The Donghu tribe is very xenophobic. This can be seen in the fact that they have been weak for a long time and have not submitted to either side. Although the Donghu people were brave, they did not know how to be flexible, and it was easy for a leader to surrender in exchange for peace for the development of the tribe, and he also surrendered to the wrong person. was criticized internally as a traitorous lord, not to mention, and directly gave his life. And after the death of the old chieftain, they were dissatisfied with the management of Moman, the son of a slave woman, and went to support the little prince of pure blood. But the reason why they didn't dare to act rashly was because they were afraid of the twelve warriors under Moman. ”

He took another shallow sip, and the purple-red liquid in the cup was as bright as a gem, and Song Chuanbai continued: "When the Western Xiang Kingdom suppressed the Eastern Hu by force, it is said that Moman temporarily selected twelve people from his hands and led them to break off the retreating tribes. The twelve warriors who fought for the tribe, plus thirteen of them, were blessed by the gods of the steppe, so that they not only escaped from the war of thousands of men and horses on the enemy's side, but also took the enemy's head and joined the people safely...... Do you believe that? ”

"Thirteen, thousands of enemies." Chen Tongsheng laughed as he spoke.

But at that time, the Donghu people believed, they believed that the Twelve Warriors led by Moman could confront the enemy, and then the Western Xiang Kingdom suffered setbacks in the battle against the Great Zhou, and had no intention of cleaning up the Donghu again, which just gave Moman a chance, he took the opportunity to trumpet the courage of the Twelve Warriors, and praised them as the martial gods of the gods, which frightened the Western Xiang and did not dare to attack again, which made the Donghu people very awe-inspiring for a while. But as the crisis passed, the Donghu people also began to doubt the true strength of the twelve warriors, after all, they had never seen these twelve warriors receive divine power, especially those who surrounded the little prince, and they never believed Moman's nonsense of inciting the people's worship psychology from the beginning. So, Moman is actually here to prove his twelve warriors. ”

Chen Tongsheng couldn't help asking: "Then why is he not in Donghu, so that the warriors are compared with those who are not convinced?" ”

"What do you think?" Song Chuanbai said with a smile: "In Donghu, a competition often feels the fate between two small tribes, and the competition between warriors is life and death. Morman would not take such a risk with his carefully cultivated warriors. I had to use roundabout tactics to compare a few games in my big week. ”

Chen Tongsheng shook his head and said, "That's still, the strength is not enough." ”

"No matter how great the strength is, it can't compete with the black hands of others, especially in Donghu, where the loser has almost no way to live," Song Chuanbai said: "The competition in Da Zhou is much better, we won't be ruthless, and he will definitely return with the news of victory satisfied." ”