Chapter 305 A Hard Battle
The Elder Princess closed her eyes tightly, seeming to be in a coma, while the assassin in black frowned tightly and looked very nervous. Sure enough, after a while, Leng Changxi came over from the entrance of the hall. After four to five minutes, Yuanyang and Leng Shuang arrived one after another, looking alert.
Jing Donghua stood up suddenly, “What are you doing?” The assassin in black and Shi Rongyao were obviously in the same group.
Since things had come to such a pass, Shi Rongyao didn’t intend to say any claptrap then. He directly ordered someone to help the Elder Princess to stand up and said to Jing Donghua, “Thank you for finding our Elder Princess who has been missing for so many years for Qi. Since fallen leaves always return to the roots, it is reasonable for us to bring our Elder Princess home.”
“Qinghe is my first wife. I won’t allow you to take her away casually.” Jing Donghua ordered on the hall, and then the soldiers in black armor guarding behind a few golden pillars came out. They unsheathed the machetes and long swords in their hands, ready to fight for West Xia at any time.
What Jing Donghua said seemed unreasonable, but it was true. He and Qinghe did worship Heaven and Earth as part of a wedding ceremony in Yueya Mountain at the time, and their marriage was consummated. She was really his first wife, and even the empress later couldn’t compete against her.
But after all, only two people knew about it, and Princess Qinghe was to marry the former emperor of West Xia that time for peace. What Jing Donghua did was against justice, filial and kindheartedness, but Jing Donghua didn’t care about it at this time.
Shi Rongyao smiled slightly, “Your Majesty, you seem to have mistaken your memory. The empress of your country is the daughter of the Tuoba clan, not the princess of Qi. And our princess was going to marry your biological father that time. But something happened then, so it fell through. Princess Qinghe is still the daughter of our Qi, not the daughter-in-law of your West Xia. So we should bring her back naturally.”
If Shi Rongyao really brought the Elder Princess back, it would be tantamount to sending Sima Ray a hostage. How could Leng Changxi let him succeed? But Shi Rongyao seemed confident, and he even dared to take twenty men into the Royal Palace. It seemed that he had come prepared.
“It’s ridiculous.” Leng Changxi paced forward, saying, and lifted the mask on his face calmly. Leng Changxi had never lifted the silver mask on his face since he came to West Xia. No one knew what he looked like. Even in Qi, only Qin Yunuan and a few servants who served him closely had seen his face.
At this moment, the mask fell to the ground, and a pale face that had not been exposed in the sun for a long time was exposed to the scorching eyes of the people present then. Although he might not be the most handsome man in the world, his tall nose and sharp and deep eye sockets seemed to have been carefully polished by the creator for countless times. The seemingly thin corner of his lips showed a gentle and merciless smile. He was the first person who could blend gentleness and coldness so perfectly.
Not only the maids but also the eunuchs and the old courtiers of West Xia present, and even the members of the delegation of Qi were shocked. At this moment, Qin Yunuan came over from outside the palace. She saw Leng Changxi at once who was surrounded by the crowd. His handsome and exquisite face was exposed completely, so Qin Yunuan came to hold his hand quickly.
“Changxi.”
Leng Changxi pinched Qin Yunuan’s fingertips gently, meaning that she didn’t have to worry. Then he stepped forward and took out the black dark steel token in his arms, “It’s the token of the first Great General of Qi. Who of you dare to take the Elder Princess back to Qi?”
“The first Great General of Qi?” Shi Rongyao seemed to have known the identity of Leng Changxi for a long time, and he raised his head slightly. “Now you are the most wanted criminal of Prince Ray. How dare you take out your identity token so blatantly? You’re really bold.”
“This is not Qi but West Xia. I never collaborated with the enemy or committed treason, nor did I violate military orders. Why does Sima Ray want me?”
“Have you forgotten that you burned all the food and fodder in the mountain? The military orders of Qi clearly stipulate that anyone who burns the food and fodder should be put to death.”
Food and fodder should go ahead of troops and horses. The ancestors of Qi formulated this military order just to ensure the safety of food and fodder. But at this time, this order had become a joke.
“I burned the food and fodder? I burned the food and fodder that Sima Ray would use to revolt. Is that wrong? Are the people in Qi all bewitched by Sima Ray now?” Leng Changxi stared at Shi Rongyao.
While Shi Rongyao cupped one hand in the other before his chest in the direction of Qi haughtily, and said in a proud tone, “Prince Ray is good at ruling the country. As the superintendent of the country, he governs Qi effectively. This is the blessing of Qi. And I am the envoy of Qi. According to the law of Qi, the envoys are of the highest rank when going abroad. General Leng. I will still call you General Leng. I advise you not to be nosy. And you’d better come back with us.”
Qin Yunuan suddenly smiled and said to Shi Rongyao, “Your Excellency, since you talk about the law, I want to talk about the law of Qi as well. First, the law of Qi states that the appointment, dismissal, and conviction of the first-rank ministers and generals can only be based on the edict written by the emperor himself. Now the emperor of Qi is dying of illness and unconscious, so Prince Ray’s words cannot convict Changxi. Changxi is still the first General of Qi now.”
“Second, it’s true that the envoys are of the highest rank when going abroad, but the law of Qi also stipulates that if something important happened, it should be discussed by the above-five-rank officials present, and you should have a vote on the decision then. Your Excellency, since you want to take the Elder Princess back, shouldn’t you discuss with the officials of Qi present?”
Shi Rongyao looked at the twenty people behind him subconsciously. He got more people on his side even if they made a discussion.
“Your Excellency, you don’t need to look at the inferior officials behind you.” Qin Yunuan had expected Shi Rongyao’s thoughts already. “I have already glanced at them. Most of them are the seventh-rank clerks and martial officers. No one of them has the right to vote.”
“Then what do you want?” Shi Rongyao said impatiently, “Now there are only two officers, General Leng and me. It’s not going anywhere.”
“Who said that?” Suddenly, a deep male voice came from behind a round golden pillar. Leng Wu who was tall strode over, “I can vote as well.”
“Yeah.” Qin Yunuan smiled slightly at Shi Rongyao, “Your Excellency, have you forgot that Master Leng is a fourth-rank imperial bodyguard the emperor granted to General Leng as a personal bodyguard?”
Leng Wu was on the side of Leng Changxi and Qin Yunnuan naturally, so the result was self-evident.
Just at this time, Jing Donghua, who had been watching for a long time, said, “I don’t know, and I don’t care about the law of your Qi. I just want to tell you that I won’t allow you to take Qinghe away, let alone use the army of our West Xia to attack North Di for you Qi.”
Shi Rongyao’s eyes turned sharp suddenly, and his hand behind his back made a gesture towards his personal attendant, who then immediately performed light skills and ran outside the hall.
“Stop him. He is going to send news.” When Leng Changxi ordered, the attendant had already passed through the large hall quickly which was full of people.
With a noise, a red flare dashed into the air from the hand of the attendant, and a huge red flower blossomed in the air then.
Immediately afterwards, the attendant was caught by two soldiers in black armor, while the signal flare in his hand was empty.
“You have accomplices in the Royal Palace?” Jing Donghua paced down the golden lacquered steps, looking at Shi Rongyao with a majestic expression, “How dare you Qi people and your uppity Prince Ray arrange people in the Royal Palace of West Xia?”
Now that the matter had reached such a stage, Shi Rongyao didn’t need to conceal it anymore. He even said with a trace of disdain and gratification, “Your Majesty, you can’t blame us for the accomplice. You have to know that it is West Xia that welcomed her back to the Palace with a wedding procession.”
“It’s Dou Meishuang!” Qin Yunuan reacted at once. Since she returned to the Royal City, she hadn’t heard of Dou Meishuang anymore. Bai Shishi only said that when a rebellion occurred in the Yellow Flag Army camp, the Mansion of Jing Yuanchu was very quiet and there was no movement at all. But no movement at that point was just the biggest movement.
No wonder that the assassins of Qi in the Yellow Flag Army camp could find Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan so quickly. No wonder Jing Yuanchu had no fear of attacks from behind in the Yellow Flag Army camp. Jing Yuanxiao arranged Bai Shishi in the Royal City to stabilize the situation, but he didn’t expect that Jing Yuanchu arranged Dou Meishuang in the Royal City as well.
However, it seemed that it was not Jing Yuanchu who arranged that at this time. The person who controlled everything from the beginning to the end was not anyone else, but Sima Ray, an opponent who was far away but had been ambitiously trying to kill Leng Changxi.
After a while, there was a loud noise outside. Black-clothed assassins from everywhere surrounded the entire hall in an instant, and the envoys also started to take actions. They poured the tea that Jing Donghua wanted them to drink into the throats of the West Xia ministers. They all looked good at martial arts. It seemed that this delegation came here not for a diplomatic mission, but for threatening at critical times.
Jing Donghua was not surprised, Leng Changxi took out the dagger in his hand, and Leng Shuang handed Qin Yunuan the sister sword of his crape myrtle soft sword.
“This is the Royal Palace of West Xia. How dare you Qi people make trouble here?”
“We have to do this.” Shi Rongyao said viciously. His ruthless appearance was extremely similar to the appearance of Sima Ray who deliberately burned Shang Xianhua in front of Leng Changxi at the time. Leng Changxi held the dagger handle tightly which turned wet out of the sweat on his palm. This time, he would not let history repeat itself.