C25

It was winter in the north, and it was getting dark very early. The sun seemed to be afraid of the cold. It didn't stay long above the head of the mountain before it descended.

The plaza in front of the Castellan Mansion door had a total of nine tables, which was Huo Yanrann's special request. Instead of eating in the mansion, she moved the feast to the square outside the door to celebrate with the civilians and soldiers.

In addition to the ministers of the civil and military affairs, officers of the Phoenix City Pass and the pipe belts of the inland provinces, the Third Battalion of the Red Border People, the food transportation team, the citizens of the Phoenix City Pass, and the wounded soldiers were all selected and seated in the nine seats. They were told that at today's banquet, Her Majesty would be sitting with them and eating and drinking together!

Even more people who didn't get a chance to enter the Nine Seats wouldn't regret it, either. Large chunks of meat, large bowls of vegetables, fragrant rice, and jars of intoxicating wine were sent into the barracks like flowing water. They were told that the meat and wine they had tonight was exactly the same as what the Her Majesty had eaten.

Under the cheers of the entire city, Huo Yanrann, who was dressed in a gold-red military uniform, slowly walked out of the Castellan Mansion. Right behind her were two elders. Their red robes and white hair were carrying the empire's second-in-command, Shu Wendong. The old man was already in his seventies this year, but he was still as energetic as ever, his eyes shining. The arrogant middle-aged man beside him was the second marshal of Imperial Army Headquarter, Zhan Xiongfei. Although he looked middle-aged, he was actually an old man in his sixties. Other than their duties, these two had another identity, and that was the imperial tutor. Since young, the Emperor had been learning from them, so the status of these two could be said to be irreplaceable. Behind the two of them, was the main character of the show. commander of the northern theatre of operations and Phoenix City Pass were the ones leading them, while Phoenix City Pass were the ones leading them and bringing Kong Sheng along.

Everyone walked to the top of the plaza and did not take a seat, but collectively turned to face the Castellan Mansion door, and stared at the Divine Bird Phoenix statue above the entrance. Beside them, the royal guards were serving glasses of wine one after another. Everyone raised their glasses and stood still with their hands raised.

Shu Wudong took a few steps forward and turned around to face the crowd. He cleared his throat a little, then opened a roll of silk with both hands and began to read aloud. This was the "Divine Bird Phoenix Wishing" that had been circulating for a long time. There were twelve praises, one for the harvest, one for the triumphant return, all sorts of festivals, ceremonies and ceremonies.

After Master Shu finished her speech, Huo Yanrann extended her slender finger and dipped it into her own wine cup, and then flicked it towards the Divine Bird Phoenix stone statue. The drop of wine followed the tip of her finger and drew an arc, landing right in the eye socket of the Divine Bird Phoenix. Soon after, the eyes of the statue began to glow with a bright light. The bright light split into seven colors and circulated within the eye sockets. In the northern darkness of the night, the seven-colored light was especially obvious, making the stone statue seem as if it was alive.

The crowd was silent. Only after a long while did the crowd burst into cheers like thunder. This was the "Phoenix Colour" that everyone knew but only the current Fire Phoenix Monarch was capable of doing.

It was said that this ceremony was only used when the new Emperor ascended the throne. The original goal was to announce the new Emperor's bloodline, so the blood from the fingertip was mixed into the wine. As long as the new Emperor's bloodline was pure, it would definitely be used with the Divine Bird Phoenix. Later, because the effect was too gorgeous, it slowly evolved into the opening of a blessing ceremony for the masses. But even so, he only needed to use the fingertip blood once or twice a year. It could be seen just how important the empress had been to the use of the "Phoenix Colors" in the Phoenix City Pass this time around!

After the cheers slowly subsided, Huo Yanrann raised the cup with both hands and bowed three times towards the Phoenix stone statue, then cleanly raised his head and drank the wine in it in one gulp. She quickly turned around and revealed the bottom of her glass to everyone. Seeing the young and beautiful empress so valiant and decisive, the rugged men at the border cheered once more and applauded with all their might.

Huo Yanrann drank all the wine in her cup in one gulp, making it difficult for the others to drag it out for him. The officials raised their cups at the same time and paid their respects to the Divine Bird Phoenix and Empress.

All of the soldiers and citizens outside the square also joined in. Everyone raised their wine glasses and shouted, "Long live the fire phoenix!" "Long live Your Majesty." He finished the wine in his cup in one gulp.

From the very beginning, this ceremony had been pushed to the peak of the atmosphere by Huo Yanrann's cup of wine.

Following that, the soldiers once again filled the glasses of everyone. Huo Yanrann raised her glass again to the people, one for the well-being of the citizens, one for the courage of the soldiers. After the three toasts, they led the officials to their seats. The other tables were also seated, and the soldiers began serving the dishes like flowing water.

Looking at the somewhat clumsy soldiers of the palace guard, everyone wanted to laugh, but they were both moved. They laughed at their clumsy looks, moved by the thousand miles of help from the Her Majesty, apart from the eight female riders, they did not bring a single maid with them. They could only let this group of noble children, the elites of the empire, do whatever it took to serve wine and food.

It had to be known that out of the nine tables, other than three of them being officials and one table being the captains of the Red Camp, the rest were all whiteboards without titles. However, the servants of these tables were the future barons and viscounts from Imperial Military Academy.

Not only that, there were even some people who deliberately observed carefully. Not only were the dishes on the nine tables the exact same, even the dishes sent into the camp and living quarters were the same. In other words, in tonight's grand feast, from the Her Majesty to the commoners, everyone's food, drinks, were completely the same! The so-called "eating and drinking together" was definitely not an empty phrase!

After three rounds, with Huo Yanrann's hidden approval, she stood up, stretched her hand out to press down on the ground, and said loudly: "Everyone, everyone ~ ~ I have another piece of good news ~ ~"

After a few breaths, the plaza regained its calm. Everyone quietly looked at the person who was actually in charge of the military affairs of the Empire, the current Her Majesty. Although the Imperial Army Headquarter Marshal was the current Her Majesty, in reality, the military affairs were all handled by the Vice Commander-in-Chief.

Master Zhan did not take the scroll, but instead called out the names of the four people first, "Master Shi Keren, Lord Kong Kong Sheng, Master Zhao, Master Ling Zilu Ling, who are the four of you?"

The four people who were called stood up and bowed to Zhan Xiongfei, "Reporting to the Vice Marshal, this lowly general is here!"

Zhan Xiongfei smiled and nodded, he then took out a scroll and gently opened it, and clearly read out loud.

"..." The appointment was as follows: Shi Keren was removed from the post of Principal of the Imperial Military Academy, Shi Keren was appointed as the highest military officer of the north of the empire Battlefield, was given the rank of Commander, and was promoted to a first class marquis without permission.

Exempting from his post in Phoenix City Pass, Kong Sheng was appointed as the deputy general of the north of the empire Battle Zone, becoming a commander of the Phoenix City Pass at the same time, and was granted the rank of deputy commander, being promoted to a third tier Count.

Exempt from the post of commander in charge of the second battalion of Zhao Handong's Border Army, and appoint Zhao Handong as the deputy commander of Phoenix City Pass, giving him the rank of Red Feather Battalion Commander, to be promoted to a first tier Baron.

Exempt from the position of captain in Ling Zilu's Red Camp, appoint Ling Zilu as the leader, bestow him the rank of White Feather Battalion Commander, and raise him to the rank of Viscount.

"…"

Scrolls were unfurled and appointments were made one after another. The other three were acceptable, the matter of the Commander Elder Shi leading the Grand Commander in the north of the empire Battlefield was already set in stone, it was just a matter of time. old commander had served the nation for his entire life, and half of the generals in the army could be considered his students.

Zhao Handong and Ling Zilu both levelled up because of their accumulated battle achievements. It just so happened that Zhao Handong finally broke through and jumped straight to be a first class Baron. Although it was a little sudden, his Phoenix City Pass alone carried a few hundred thousand soldiers, so this kind of reward was still acceptable.

The most shocking thing was Kong Sheng's appointment. He had jumped from White Feather Battalion Commander to a first grade Baron, becoming a second rank commander. This kind of reward was unprecedented, and it was hard to say whether or not someone else would come. Furthermore, he was only in his early thirties. If he were to continue like this, it was likely that before even reaching the age of fifty, the Lord Kong would become the empire's youngest general and marquis. A "Marquis" who was in his forties was something no one dared to think of before.

Phoenix City Pass and the management band of the inland province were dumbfounded. However, the civil and military officials who accompanied them were all calm and composed, obviously knowing about this already. Seeing this, some people could not help but think of the intimate words the Emperor said to the Lord Kong when he entered the city. Could it be that this reward was meant as a reward to the Lord Kong, but in reality, it was the Emperor paving the way for his own future? When the time comes, Commander is already old, he won't be able to stay in the commander of the northern theatre of operations for more than a few years. When that time comes, Lord Kong will supplement the time and become a commander of the northern theatre of operations. At that time, the two words "Marquis" were already underestimated. It would be more accurate to call him "Prince" instead. After all, this was the first man to marry the emperor.

No one was interested in the series of appointments and rewards that followed. Commander Elder Shi's appointment wasn't as strong as hers, what about the others? Thus, everyone raised their cups and toasted once again. They wished the luck of the empire was long, wished their majesty luck and happiness, and wished good fortune to the officials of the Lord Kong.

Kong Sheng could no longer drink, so the order surprised him as well. The moment he heard the order, he subconsciously looked towards Huo Yanrann. But Her Majesty did not look at him, he just sat there and listened to the Second Marshal's order with a solemn face. When Kong Sheng and the other three came over and knelt in front of her to express their gratitude, she still carried that faint smile on her face. She personally poured, toasted, and drank for the four without saying a single word of encouragement.

Kong Sheng thought for a long time by himself, about the Huo Yanrann who abandoned the civil and military officials just to give up on him, and who charged into the Phoenix City Pass with a few dozens of horses, and called him Big Brother Kong in front of everyone, the Huo Yanrann who shed tears for wounded soldiers but then changed his face, the Huo Yanrann who spoke to Shi Keren with a cold face of "I won't kill you or let you go", the Huo Yanrann who could withstand the pressure and raise his cultivation, the Huo Yanrann who leisurely raised her cup and drank with others, and the Huo Yanrann who she recognized initially … Countless scenes flashed through his mind, and several faces overlapped, separated, merged, and separated again and again. In the end, he had to admit that the current Her Majesty was no longer the same Yanran girl that followed him back then.

On the day after the feast, under the guidance of the Vice Marshal Zhan, the Imperial Army Headquarter s, the provincial authorities, and the Phoenix City Pass s started a series of meetings. We focused on a few issues:

First, why did Mo Qiu suddenly attack? And it was such a big attack. Everything had its reasons, but there had to be a reason!

Second, what happened to Scorching Sun and Lan Yue? Where did the missing civilians and soldiers go? Who did it?

Thirdly, what happened to the organized Demonic Beast army? Could it be that someone controlled the Demonic Beast and then teamed up with Mo Qiu? This was the greatest danger, and also the most serious one. If this guess was true, then the Wulian Mountain Range that was rampaging through the Demonic Beast could no longer become a natural barrier between the empire and Black Hill Empire. Instead, it would become a route filled with enemies.

There were many questions and the atmosphere was low, but there were no leads to discuss. All the discussions, assumptions and conclusions are based on a dark foundation. After participating in the two day meeting, Kong Sheng's heart had a wave of exhaustion and sorrow. Was the current situation unrelated to the empire's long history of overbearing and overbearing? Other than the children of Venerable families, how many commoners would send their children to join the army? After studying hard at home, he would be admitted to the academy. If it was that piece of material, he could still enter the Imperial Academy. After graduation, you could directly enter the civil and official system of the empire. You could live a peaceful and safe life, no matter what, shouldn't it be better than becoming a soldier?

And there were only two ways to become a soldier. Imperial Military Academy was something that ordinary people did not dare think of, and what ordinary people could come into contact with were Border Army and people's militia. The people's militia, the word 'citizen' in front, was the word 'citizen' when farming was busy, and the word 'farmer' was the word military. It also meant that the various provinces of the empire had Red Camp stationed there. Otherwise, even robbers and bandits might not dare to believe in their strength. There was even less of a need to talk about Border Army. To defend the borders and to fight Demonic Beast, other than the salary being higher than the people's militia, there was nothing else.

Come to think of it, if Border Army was easy to recruit, why make these military personnel with Phoenix City Pass possible?

If the military affairs of the empire were like this, there was no need to mention the intelligence system. About 80% of the information on the Moqiu State came from merchant groups like the Chamber of Commerce of Ming Family.

Now that his Moqiu Army had been heavily slapped in the face, the reason for his slapping, motive, etc., was something that he hoped these people in front of him would definitely not be able to discuss. Only by establishing a complete information system for the empire would it be possible to slowly improve on it. However, was it that easy to establish an information system? Which department should it be under which jurisdiction? How was the information divided? How? Even Kong Sheng, who thought of building an information system, was confused, let alone others.

Kong Sheng felt that this was more tiring than fighting a battle that had lasted for five consecutive days. Seeing that there was nothing to be said, he announced that the meeting was over. The various masters turned back and carefully thought about it; everyone had to submit no less than ten thousand words worth of memorials within a month.

It just so happened that Master Shu had also said that the imperial city could not afford to be left without a ruler for a day. Now that the war had been resolved, the Her Majesty had to return to the imperial city as soon as possible. The Her Majesty followed the flow of kindness and decided to depart in three days.

On the eighth day, everyone lined up to send off the Her Majesty. This time, the entire city's military and citizens swarmed out, surrounding the main road that led from the Castellan Mansion to the south gate so that not even a drop of water could leak out. Putting aside all the work at hand, what a joke. In their entire lives, they would only be able to see the emperor with their own eyes, and he was such a devastatingly beautiful female emperor. Who wouldn't want to take another look?

On this trip back to the imperial city, the officials who were traveling with him were gathered together. With Senior Shu overseeing the trip back, all sorts of courtesies were naturally complete, and the citizens of the Phoenix City Pass had the good fortune to see what the imperial style was like. Teams of ceremonies and rows of soldiers were gathered in front of them, as well as the imperial carriage of the emperor and the valiant female eight riders. This made these bumpkins in the eyes of the people in the capital happy for their eyes.

Kong Sheng still had a headache. He was not afraid of these complicated etiquette, but rather, he was afraid of Huo Yanrann. He was afraid that the Her Majesty would guard the entire city and the civilians would say "Brother Kong", that would truly be asking for his life, and that no matter how much he jumped into the river, he would not be able to clean himself.

But what was there to be afraid of? Before Her Majesty got on the imperial carriage, she had still casually walked over to Kong Sheng, but this time she did not call him big brother Kong. Instead, she asked softly, "Why are you not seeing me here?"

Kong Sheng's heart warmed. She must have remembered that the Xiu'er did not participate in the ceremony to enter the city, so he was afraid that she might miss out on such a grand occasion. He quickly waved behind him, and a small soldier wearing Border Army clothes ran over timidly. When the soldier took off his helmet, Huo Yanrann almost laughed out loud. How was this a Border Army Soldier, it was clearly a Lady Xiu’er wearing Border Army clothes.

So it turned out that Xiu'er had long since come to find Kong Sheng, and wanted to take a closer look at Big Sister Yanran. Kong Sheng could not bear to refuse, he found a set of Border Army clothes for her and impersonated one of his followers to the scene. He never thought that Huo Yanrann would still remember this girl, and it could be considered as him fulfilling Xiu'er's wish.

Huo Yanrann reached out and gently held Xiu'er's hand, and asked gently, "Xiu'er, living in seclusion is very hard, do you want to return to the imperial capital with elder sister?"

Xiu'er was startled for a moment, then shook her head and replied timidly: "Elder sister ~ Oh, no, your majesty ~ Xiu'er is just a country bumpkin, they have never been to any big places, even more so in the capital."

"Then what are your plans?" Huo Yanrann asked again.

The Xiu'er replied softly, "The Xiu'er was lucky enough to arrive at the Phoenix City Pass and was able to stay after the battle. As for the future, Xiu'er has not thought of it yet.

The smile on Huo Yanrann's face did not change, "Hmm ~ You're really not going to the Capital?"

Xiu'er was stunned for a moment before replying, "Thank you for your love, Your Majesty. I really won't go."

"Going or not, it's not up to you to decide now!" Huo Yanrann's tone changed as she forcefully pulled Xiu'er and dragged her out of the crowd. Before Xiu'er could react, the six female riders had already raised their blades and lances at the same time, the four long blades on her neck shined brightly, the two spears pointed at her front and back, the other two female riders arrived at the same time, in the blink of an eye, they had shackled Xiu'er's body.

This chain of movements was as quick as lightning. Kong Sheng was still in a daze, but the eight female riders had already locked the Xiu'er tightly. No matter how strong she was, she was unable to escape. The people on the outside didn't even know what was happening.

Kong Sheng wanted to go over and save them, but the royal guards were already prepared. Four sturdy soldiers squeezed Kong Sheng right in the middle, making him unable to move.

Huo Yanrann watched as the female riders stuffed the tightly bundled Xiu'er s into the secret compartment of the imperial carriage, then coldly looked at Kong Sheng and turned to board the carriage.

The imperial carriage drove out of the Castellan Mansion, and slowly drove out of the Phoenix City Pass under the cheers of the masses. No one noticed the loss of a Lady Xiu’er, and no one even noticed the four soldiers by the newly appointed Phoenix City Pass Commander's side, or the blank look on his face.