Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Chapter 1288 – Inheritor of the Empire
In the blink of an eye, it was already the eve of the Chinese New Year.
At the emperor palace evening feast, Bing’er, dressed in her red palace garb, became the most eye-catching presence.
After the New Year, she would be 16 years old, truly coming of age. Last year, she had been through the ancient ceremony. Based on ancient standards, she was already an adult.
Hence, before the New Year, Bing’er, who had spent two years learning in Qiongzhou Prefecture, was moved into the Secret Document Pavilion and given the position of assistant, stepping into the Great Xia official field.
After five years of tough studying and two years of practical learning, Bing’er had gone from a teen who knew nothing to a new star in the official field.
All of a sudden, rumors spread.
Practical learning and actually joining in on politics was like heaven and earth.
Since the emperor was moving her into the Secret Document Pavilion to train, his intentions of developing her into his successor was obvious.
Under such circumstances, Bing’er, who appeared in the New Year’s Eve dinner, obviously became the center of attention. Ouyang Shuo even arranged for her to sit at his right, raising her position in the royal family.
Of course, the officials were unable to guess the true intentions of Ouyang Shuo.
Seeing that it was already the 8th year of Gaia, if nothing went wrong, they would only be three years away from arriving on Planet Hope.
Time was of the essence, and Ouyang Shuo was making plans with regards to Planet Hope.
Once the intergalactic fleet arrived on Planet Hope, Ouyang Shuo would turn his attention from the game world to the real world. When that moment came, he would not have the time to care about the Empire in the game.
After 10 years of time, the game world would have already become a system of its own; it would be a part of the real world that could not be cut out. Even when they arrived on Planet Hope, it would continue to run.
The game world would become a lasting platform to train and develop players and AIs.
Under such circumstances, Ouyang Shuo needed a person he trusted to help him take charge of the game world and maintain the running of Great Xia Empire.
Undoubtedly, Bing’er was the best choice.
Bing’er was brought up single-handedly by him and was developed by him. In the future, of the two, one would take charge of Planet Hope while the other would take charge of the game world, forming a good combination.
Ouyang Shuo was looking forward to Bing’er growing up quickly.
Hence, after she had two years of practical experience, Ouyang Shuo brought her to his side to develop her.
Ouyang Shuo only brought this matter up with Song Jia. Even Bing’er herself had no knowledge of this, much less the officials of the Imperial Court.
A certain amount of debate and discussion was normal.
…
After a night of dances and fun, the Chinese New Year arrived.
Compared to the previous years, as China was now unified, this New Year had more meaning. Along with the internal war ending, the people had more reason to think that their upcoming life would be much better.
2nd month, 10th day, Imperial Capital, Empire Great Hall.
The Empire Great Hall was a stunning Chinese-style structure that sat at the northwest corner of the emperor city. It was completed in the 10th month of last year and was the place where large-scale gatherings and events were held. The place was seen as the pearl of the imperial city.
Next to the Empire Great Hall sat the theatre where there would be traditional shows every day. During the Chinese New Year period, traditional theatre shows took turns to be on play.
Stepping onto such a stage was a huge honor in and of itself.
This year, the Imperial Court was preparing to create a sports hall and a cuju court, becoming an arts center.
The cultural and sports of the Empire was growing in prosperity.
The divine martial rule that the Empire created had exceeded that of any other generation.
At 9am, all the seats in the Empire Great Hall had already been filled up. Looking out, they were all giants of the literary world with poets such as Li Bai and Du Fu, and writers such as Su Shi and Wen Tingyun.
There were the playwrights led by Tang Wenzu, ancient literature experts like Han Yu, and writers like Cao Xueqin.
Apart from that, there were people from Nanjiang, Africa, and America, who basically represented the highest standards of the Empire’s literary world.
They were all gathered here to attend the first literary conference and artist association establishment, which had a huge meaning.
In Ouyang Shuo’s words, “A prosperous time should have the image of a prosperous time. A new era should have new works. Be it scripts or poems and songs, they should be given a new platform to shine.”
It was under such a decree that the Cabinet personally led the establishment of such an association.
Literary talents spanning over a thousand years along with their different skills and ideas would clash. They would give rise to new ideas and inspirations.
“A new age needs to give birth to great works!”
To Great Xia, the 8th year of Gaia was a new separation point. The Empire would go from a purely competition and economics construct to an economics, culture, military, and societal construct.
…
2nd month, 25th day, Hawaii Prefecture, Honolulu.
During the Chinese New Year period, all the players of Great Xia celebrated and enjoyed this rare holiday. However, some special people were unable to leave their posts because of their duty. They could not unite with their families during this period.
They were the Great Xia soldiers.
From the 5th year of the Chinese New Year, Ouyang Shuo had begun a journey to console and greet the soldiers.
The Jingji warzone, Zhongyuan warzone, North Asia warzone, West Asia warzone, Nanyang warzone, Africa warzone, and finally the America warzone. He did not miss out on any of them and went to all these places.
Luckily, there were teleportation formations; otherwise, he would not be able to do that.
Amongst these warzones, the North Asia, West Asia, and South Asia ones were his focus. They helped the Empire defend the borders and did their duties silently. They were a bunch of loveable people.
In the Africa and America warzones, Ouyang Shuo said some words to raise their morale and pump the army up. With their new image post-disarmament, they would welcome new battles.
“Life does not end; war does not stop!”
With that, he signaled the Empire’s desire to continue fighting in the 8th year.
Ouyang Shuo also visited the Pacific and Atlantic squadrons, personally going onto their respective flagships to signal his unwavering faith in the navy.
By the time he finished this journey, the Lantern Festival had come to an end.
The last stop of this journey for Ouyang Shuo was Honolulu.
This was the only region in the Empire that was still fighting during the holiday period. The 1st legion of the Tiger legion corps had gone head to head with the Darkness empire for close to a month. Despite the enemy’s efforts, Honolulu still did not fall.
The prideful Darkness empire was stunned by Great Xia.
After 100 thousand casualties, they still had not taken down Honolulu.
Through this battle, the Darkness empire higher ups were forced to wake up and think about whether they had the ability to challenge Great Xia.
At least in land battles, they were far from being able to.
That was basically all the Tiger legion corps could do. The grain in Honolulu was basically used up, so the army had no way to persist.
On the other hand, the Darkness empire army had the Mu Continent behind them and had endless amounts of resources.
It was under such circumstances that Ouyang Shuo descended onto Honolulu to personally bring the boys back home.
