荔枝影院

Edited by: Michyrr

All the foreign dignitaries were calling out in rough Tang language, and their faces were flushed with intoxication.

“Everyone is too polite. This prince is merely a temporary regent. Without Imperial Father’s approval, this prince cannot be considered the heir apparent yet!”

The First Prince placed one hand behind his back while the other raised a cup to the royalty and emissaries down below.

“For the First Prince to inherit the throne is only right and proper!”

“If anyone dares to oppose the First Prince, I, Wanyan Meiyue, will be the first to challenge them!”

“Our Arabia is willing to be the first to support the First Prince!”

“As long as the First Prince is here, the Western Turks will never go to war with the Great Tang!”

The riotous crowd, their faces red, called out their praises for the First Prince, to which the First Prince slightly raised his head and smiled. Spoken words could not be trusted, and despite what these foreign dignitaries said, there was no telling what they were really thinking.

But sincere or not, this praise was enough for Li Ying.

Flap flap!

A golden eagle suddenly flew in through the skylight in the ceiling. An armored Golden Guard with a stern expression glanced at the bird, paled, and quickly strode over to the First Prince.

“Your Highness, there’s a problem!” the Golden Guard softly whispered.

The First Prince also seemed to grimace for a moment as he looked at the Golden Guard, but a moment later, he had regained his confident composure. It was so fast that one would feel like it had all been an illusion.

“Guests, please enjoy yourselves! I still have matters to attend to and must leave first!”

The First Prince waved his hand and then cast a glance at a silver-haired eunuch at his side. The eunuch immediately understood and began to confidently walk forward.

......

Once he was out of the Pavilion of Petal and Sepal, the First Prince’s face turned dark.

“What’s going on?”

The mood in this room was completely different from the mood in the pavilion.

The King of Foreign Lands who had been missing for more than a month had suddenly reappeared and returned to the capital, exactly when the First Prince wanted to see him the least.

“We don’t know the exact details, but it’s confirmed that the King of Foreign Lands has returned. Moreover, after his return, the gates of the Wang Family Residence have been under heavy guard, and not even the old grannies who go out to buy food have come out. Our men haven’t been able to gather very much information.”

The Golden Guard lowered his head, his expression extremely respectful.

“Nothing but trash!”

The First Prince stared at the Golden Guard, his expression cold and sinister, but the Golden Guard did not dare to retort, only pressing his head lower.

There was no need to explain what sort of person the King of Foreign Lands was!

The capital with him present and the capital without him were two completely different places. This man was a core member of the army. One could see his influence merely from how his absence of a little more than a month had allowed the First Prince and Li Junxian to take over the court and push out the pro-war faction.

But if Wang Chong were to appear at this time and issue a rallying cry, quite a few people would answer the call.

All this would create a massive headache for the First Prince.

In this matter, the guard had definitely failed at his duty.

The First Prince ignored the man, and while he tried his best to keep a calm expression on his face, a hint of annoyance flashed in his eyes. That man’s ability, intelligence, and military strategies were one in a million, and if there had been a possibility, the First Prince would have recruited him for his own side.

Alas, that man was determined to be his foe. It was one thing to not help him, but he had also chosen to aid the Fifth Prince, Li Heng, and become his direct foe!

There was nothing left to talk about between them!

The First Prince rubbed his forehead and suddenly asked, “Have you investigated his whereabouts?”

“No, the Wang Clan still hasn’t made an announcement. And the King of Foreign Lands... given his strength, if he wanted to hide himself, we would probably find it very hard to keep track of him,” the Golden Guard hesitantly said.

After a few moments of silence, the First Prince coldly snorted and then broke into a smile.

“Relax. The capital is only so large. He’ll have to come out at some point. And now that he’s appeared, we’re not the ones who need to worry about him... Has there been any movement from Li Junxian?”

“They should already know of this matter,” the Golden Guard sternly said.

Wang Chong and Li Junxian were the representatives of their respective sides in the militarist-Confucian conflict, one the Advisor-in-Waiting and the other the Secretariat Advisor, one pro-war and the other pro-peace. And while Wang Chong was gone, the Confucian Sect had passed the proposal the King of Foreign Lands had so vehemently rejected, disbanding the prefectural armies. Even this Golden Guard had to admit that the Confucian Sect had every reason to be worried.

“Heh, keep watch on the Wang Family at all times. In addition, Li Junxian... is he still not willing to cooperate?” the First Prince suddenly asked.

“We’ve already tried three times, but Li Junxian has found a reason to refuse us at every instance. The Confucian Sect has obtained what it wanted and doesn’t seem like it will be very cooperative now. But that man said that if Your Highness ascends the throne, Li Junxian and the Confucian Sect will offer their full support.”

The First Prince was initially taken aback, but then he sneered.

“If I ascend the throne, will I still need their Confucian Sect?” the First Prince spat out, anger in his eyes.

If Wang Chong were here, he would undoubtedly be stunned. He had only been gone from the capital for a little more than a month, but many things had happened. While the First Prince and Confucian Sect had completely seized the Imperial Court, it seemed like not everything was going according to plan.

At the very least, the First Prince and Li Junxian seemed to have had a falling out.

“Hmph, since that’s the case, send a message to the Secretariat Advisor telling him that Wang Chong has returned,” the First Prince coldly ordered. “I’d like to see how he deals with it!”

Whoosh!

A few moments later, a carrier pigeon took off from the palace and flew toward the Secretariat Advisor Residence.

Meanwhile, within the Secretariat Advisor Residence located in the northwestern part of the capital, Li Junxian was seated cross-legged within a hall, wearing a white Confucian robe and a white band tied around his hair.

He was surrounded by a circle of bronze lanterns. To the front and left side was a small mountain of bamboo tubes containing ancient texts. To the right were numerous books and documents of the Imperial Court.

Li Junxian had his back straight and a thin brush in his hand as he wrote out a document for the Imperial Court on the desk in front of him.

His confident writing style exuded a sense of exquisite beauty.

Taptaptap!

Suddenly, a flurry of footsteps shattered the silence.

Li Junxian lightly creased his brow. Raising his head, he saw a Confucian Sect disciple rapidly approaching, a worried look on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Li Junxian asked. After a single glance, he turned his head back down to his work.

“Young Master, it’s bad! The Advisor-in-Waiting suddenly returned to the capital last night! This information is one hundred percent confirmed!”

Buzz!

Li Junxian’s brush froze in the air.

“I see.”

Li Junxian quickly returned to his writing.

The Confucian Sect disciple was struck dumb by Li Junxian’s abnormal calm.

“Young Master, this is bad news! That man represents the militarists in the court, and we disbanded the prefectural armies while he was gone. Now that he’s back, he won’t just let the matter drop.” The voice of Elder Song came from behind Li Junxian and resounded through the hall.

“That’s right! Given that man’s temper, he’ll incessantly attempt to ruin the plans of Young Master and the Confucian Sect,” the white-clothed girl standing next to Elder Song agreed.

The mention of Wang Chong’s name had caused the expressions of Elder Song and the white-clothed girl to darken and fear to appear in their eyes.

As members of the Confucian Sect, an organization that had persisted for more than a thousand years, they had little respect for the generals of the court, but Wang Chong was an exception.

His ‘Might Makes Right’ had left the Confucian Sect badly battered, and they had even been forced to use the influence of Master Zhu to finally suppress the matter. This had been the only time where the entire force of the Confucian Sect had to be mobilized against one person, and every person in the Confucian Sect knew his name.

This was why that Confucian Sect disciple had been so worried and anxious upon receiving the news.

Tap!

Li Junxian finished off his last word and finally raised his head, placing the brush on its rack.

“Elder Song, Junior Sister, there’s an appropriate measure for every situation. Moreover, the matter is settled. Even though he’s returned to the capital, he won’t be able to stir many waves.”

Li Junxian’s eyes were calm and his expression composed.

“Moreover, that incident has now passed and ‘Might Makes Right’ has been banned throughout the empire.”

Even if Wang Chong was the most brilliant general in the three-hundred-year history of the Great Tang, he was still just one man. And in that crucial one month, they had finished everything they needed to do. Not even the King of Foreign Lands could do anything now.

Everyone nodded in agreement. But just when they thought that their young master was not concerned about Wang Chong, Li Junxian spoke again.

“However, those subordinates of the King of Foreign Lands have been anticipating his return all this time, as have many people within the court. It’s fine if he’s learned his lesson from last time, but if he makes any strange move, we no longer need to be polite with the Wang Clan.

“Li Qing, pass on my order. Keep a strict watch on the Wang Clan’s every move, particularly the King of Foreign Lands. Inform me the moment he makes any movement,” Li Junxian firmly ordered the Confucian Sect disciple.

Everyone was slightly surprised by Li Junxian’s order. Although their young master seemed calm, he clearly was not as indifferent about the incident from before as he appeared.