Chapter 1136

Selection

Qian Li felt very bad, he did not expect that his questioning of Xuan Tianhua actually ended with such a result. With what Xuan Tianhua said about the possibility of death and survival, he did not understand it very well, but he believed in everything His Highness the Seventh Prince said, always having the feeling that for a person like this, anything he said had a meaning, all of them had a trick to it. His Highness the Seventh Prince said it was a situation of death, then it must be so. But……

But for a situation of death, His Highness the Seventh Prince would need to put himself in danger as well? Even though he was a soldier under His Highness the Ninth Prince, after hearing such words, he felt bad as well!

Qian Li’s mood was a little dejected, he told Xuan Tianhua: “Your Highness the Seventh Prince, actually in the hearts of us brothers, you are of the same value as His Highness the Ninth Prince, we do not wish for anything to happen to His Highness the Ninth Prince, and we do not wish for anything to happen to you as well. If this battle is truly fraught with danger, Your Highness the Seventh Prince, please leave the risky matters to us, you must not encounter any mishaps.”

Xuan Tianhua could not help but laugh, “What are you saying? Two armies fighting and the lead General retreats to the back?” He shook his head, “Since This Prince has come, there are no plans to back up at all. This Prince is single, and your His Highness the Ninth Prince is different. Qian Li, you are Assistant General, your responsibilities are not much lighter than This Prince, whether we can return alive or not, it will depend on our good fortune. This Prince asks you now, are you afraid?”

“I am not afraid!” Qian Li shook his head immediately, “For a real man, since I have already chosen to enter the army, this life has already been handed to the military camp. As long as there is a need for battle, even if a cavity must be filled in with our lives, we will not even blink!”

As the two of them spoke, behind them, He Gan, who was part of the soldiers and horses from the divine army which specially rushed back from the southern border caught up to them by spurring on this horse with the reins in one hand and a gun in the other hand. He passed that gun to Xuan Tianhua, “Your Highness the Seventh Prince, this is a gun assigned to the divine army , the brothers have managed to spare one for you.”

For this thing known as a gun, Xuan TIanhua had seen Feng Yuheng use it, during the period of time in the southern border, the lethal power of this thing and the Heavenly Thunder had his heart in awe even now. He did not hold back, taking the gun from the hands of He Gan, and He Gan immediately instructed him on how to use it.

It had to be said that the sons of the Xuan family were geniuses, this gun was only in Xuan Tianhua’s hands for a while, but when he raised the gun again to shoot it, he could already hit the allocated target, such that He Gan only had admiration for him.

“Guns can be used.” Xuan Tianhua told He Gan after shooting a test shot, “After all, this gun resembles hidden weapons very much, used to attack specifically one target and the involved range is not huge. But the Heavenly Thunder in your hands, they should be used cautiously after arriving in Zong Sui. Remember not to take them out without This Prince’s instructions. Zong Sui has a dense population, with the lethal power of the Heavenly Thunder, once it is thrown out, there will definitely be a huge number of citizens who will be killed or injured, that is not the result we want. Da Shun is going to reclaim Zong Sui, but we are not going there to cause a massacre, understand?”

He Gan nodded, “Do not worry, Your Highness the Seventh Prince, the County Princess has already instructed, even though the divine army acts only under her instructions, if she is not around, whether it is His Highness the Ninth Prince or His Highness the Seventh Prince, you are all people that we must listen to.”

He mentioned Feng Yuheng, Xuan Tianhua was a little stunned, thinking about what Qian Li had also said earlier, Xuan Tianming had already told the troops under his command, if he was not around, these soldiers would listen to Xuan Tianhua and Feng Yuheng. Now He Gan also said similar words, he could not help but laugh, then he told Qian Li: “Listen to this, This Prince taking this journey in Ming-er’s place, it is not a loss.”

Qian Li knew the meaning of Xuan Tianhua’s words, these three people, they treated each other as the most trusted person in their life, the Ninth Prince passed over the troops under his command to the Seventh Prince without holding anything back, Princess Yu could also have her own divine troops fully listen to the commands from the Seventh Prince. And the Seventh Prince could use his own life to guarantee the safety of the Ninth Prince, such that the Ninth Prince and Princess Yu could live a good life. For this kind of brotherly bond to form in the imperial family, it was something which was considered rare.

Amongst the four subordinate nations of Da Shun, Zong Sui was the one with the largest area, the best weather, the largest population and the strongest national power. It could be said that on this continent, excluding Da Shun, Zong Sui deserved the title of ruler. In fact, while in the past, before Da Shun created steel, the refined steel weapons of Zong Sui were a hidden threat to Da Shun.

However, the previous Emperor of Zong Sui was not battle hungry, rather than a war, rather than expanding territory, he would rather protect the small land they already had and manage it well, making the citizens more prosperous, building up the national treasury. Therefore, for so many years, Zong Sui obediently sent tributes to Da Shun, sending many good things to Da Shun, never having any thoughts of rebelling.

Of course, this was only one of the reasons, there was another important point, which would be the techniques of Zong Sui’s refined iron had been coveted by too many countries. Many spies from various countries had been planted into Zong Sui’s imperial palace. As the Emperor, to protect the secret and discover and get rid of spies, as well as living on well had already become the most important points in their lives, they did not have any energy to think about other things. This also formed the reason why Zong Sui was so calm for so many years even if they had the ability to fight against Da Shun. Because Da Shun was around, once the Zong Sui Emperor was killed and the technique of refined iron was stolen, the forces of Da Shun would suppress that faction. In the end, they were restricting each other.

Until in the future in Da Shun, Feng Yuheng crafted steel, the refined iron techniques of Zong Sui turned into something of little value and interest, the pressure from the various sides reduced a little, causing the princes to have thoughts of usurping the throne.

Da Shun did not care about the internal strife of the imperial family in the subordinate nation, they were one family in the end. To Da Shun, who came into power did not make any difference. But in the end, this time was abnormal, not only did the new Emperor go against Da Shun after obtaining the throne, they actually turned against Da Shun after Da Shun attacked Gu Shu with great power, making it hard for others to understand this.

Logically, after Da Shun used the Heavenly Thunder in the battle against Gu Shu, Zong Sui should not have come to touch this towering Da Shun no matter how brave they were, but it actually turned against Da Shun! This caused many people to feel confused.

A spy reported the situation in Zong Sui to the Sixth Prince Xuan Tianfeng who was attending to the capital, the spy said: “The new Zong Sui Emperor is showing the intentions of holding a selection, the imperial family is not showing a very active attitude towards this battle on the surface, but they are taking actions in the shadows. Large numbers of soldiers are being gathered in the north, there is already a huge army numbering tens of thousands stationed in the first city Bin City connected to Da Shun. And amongst them, part of Duanmu Anguo’s soldiers are included.”

Xuan Tianfeng’s brows were furrowed deeply, unable to guess the intentions of Zong Sui in the end. He had met Li Kun who was recuperating from his injuries in the capital, the other party only said that the new Emperor was relying on Duanmu Anguo, causing him to gain a lot of nerve, feeling very confident in leaving the control of Da Shun. But what was the source of this confidence? Xuan Tianfeng thought, it was definitely not as simple as because he had additional soldiers from Duanmu Anguo.

Zong Sui, capital.

This was a place which was very similar to Da Shun’s capital, it was just that the area was much smaller compared to Da Shun, only half the size of Da Shun’s capital.

Amongst the four subordinate nations, Zong Sui was the one which was the most similar to Da Shun, not only was their topology similar, even the design of their provincial offices was similar. It was said that 200 years ago, Zong Sui was not like this yet, until an Emperor came out and after going to Da Shun once, he was very satisfied with everything in Da Shun, so after he returned, he did everything he could think of to change his country, to the point that Zong Sui practically became a small Da Shun. At that time, it caused a huge commotion and there were even ministers who killed themselves with a collision impact in court to express their dissatisfaction.

But as time passed, the people realised that this was not bad, after making changes based on Da Shun’s laws, Zong Sui’s laws were much more complete and reasonable, after reorganising based on Da Shun’s government offices, Zong Sui’s offices became easier to manage. It was to the point that the imperial family’s harem also learned from Da Shun, reappointing the three palaces and six courtyards, completely copying the policy on concubines and noble ladies. With this, a lot of positions were emptied out, such that in order to fill up the three palaces and six courtyards, Zong Sui copied Da Shun again where within the boundaries of their land, they would carry out small selection every three years and a large selection every five years for beautiful women to enter the imperial harem.

But when it came to Emperor Tianwu’s generation, things changed, in these more than 20 years, Emperor Tianwu only focused on one person, the concubines and noble ladies in the imperial palace became just like widows, so there was no need to even talk about selections. If Da Shun did not choose, Zong Sui’s previous Emperor also chose not to hold a selection as well, if they wanted to learn, they would learn to the last detail. Therefore, there were many years were new people did not enter the Zong Sui imperial harem, causing a period of time where everything was quiet.

Until when the new Emperor ascended the throne, the ministers could not tolerate it anymore, someone brought up the topic in court for the new Emperor to fill up the imperial harem to reproduce more children for Zong Sui. Because the new Emperor only had one Empress and four imperial concubines, most of the palace courtyards in the imperial harem were empty. The number of imperial concubines were even less than the princes’ wives and concubines, what was this? In addition, whether it was the Empress or the imperial concubines, they had given birth to any children, how could the ministers not feel anxious.

The new Emperor did cooperate on this point, making a decision immediately, hold a selection!

With regard to Zong Sui’s selection this time, most of the ministers were happy. After all, a new Emperor had ascended the throne, there were too many empty spaces in the imperial harem, so the probability of their daughters making the selection would increase. Those women who originally had ordinary looks, maybe because the imperial harem required too many people to fill it up, they might obtain a chance which should not have belonged to them.

As for the lives of their daughters after they returned to the imperial palace, this was not within the range of consideration of these people. After all, they were only daughters! Daughters were meant to be abandoned and sacrificed any time for the benefit of the family, whether she could become accomplished after entering the imperial palace, whether she could obtain a position next to the Emperor’s pillow, that would depend on her own ability.

Of course, the family would not completely not care about it, but this care had to wait until she climbed to a certain level of position, the family would then act when they see some hope, cooperating from outside the imperial palace for her needs to climb up. And all of this was because of the benefits to the family.

These were the thoughts of many Zong Sui ministers, but to General Chunyu’s manor, the selection of concubines this time was not a good thing. Because General Chunyu’s third daughter was the mistress of the main palace, was the Empress of Zong Sui, was the legally married wife of the Emperor. From the viewpoint of the Empress, all the concubines and noble ladies were all concubines. The selection was only for the Emperor to brazenly take in concubines. It was alright if the concubines listened to the main mother. If they did not listen and fought for favour with the main mother, then a horrible fight would occur……