Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The news of the Dragon King’s early arrival had been widely spread throughout the Royal Court. Ever since, people began guessing the reason that he had arrived ahead of time. Some even claimed that they had seen the Dragon King riding a giant roc in the sky.
King Kuari was willing to boastfully show that he had the Dragon King in his grip. So, he held a grand welcoming banquet the next night. He invited all the nobles of Norland.
Gu Shenwei felt like a rare and valuable animal from some exotic place. He received lots of attention and compliments, but no respect.
For the people in Norland, “the Dragon King” was just a nickname. Like “the Machete King”, “the King of the Spear” and “the Mighty King”, this nickname meant nothing to them. It was not until attending the banquet that he realized entirely that what Fang Wenshi had warned was true.
King Shengri, the second rightful heir, was said to be indifferent to gaining the throne. When he saw the Dragon King, he took his arm warmly and asked, “Where is your giant roc? Show it to me.”
Gu Shenwei replied, “The giant red-crowned roc left me a while ago.” When King Shengri heard this, he let go of the Dragon King’s arm with a disappointed look, and walked away.
Gu Shenwei received similar treatment from other guests. Some of them greeted him warmly, and others treated him coldly. In a word, no one treated him as a real king.
Compared to Gu Shenwei, King Kuari was treated very differently. He was not only the host, but also the focus of the whole banquet. The crowd, regardless of age or ranking, was eager to flatter King Kuari, the Khan’s favorite grandson. Even his uncle, King Shengri, tried to get his attention. He moved his stout body, and pushed away the crowd around King Kuari. He drunkenly shouted to King Kuari, “King Kuari, you have displeased me. Why have you refused to marry my daughter? Do you think she is not pretty enough to be your wife?”
It was common for the Royal Family to wed their cousins in Norland. So, no one was surprised at King Shengri’s words.
King Kuari always pretended to be an easygoing, amiable person in front of outsiders. He downed a bowl of liquor and replied, “My dear uncle, whomever marries your daughter will be lucky. But as you know, I have asked the Khan to choose a wife for me. Without his permission, I dare not even touch a female slave. My stones have even started to hurt because I have not used them for so long.”
That was a joke that the people of Norland loved. His words set the crowd in a roar inside the tent. Gu Shenwei thought that he would lose his hearing from their deafening laughter.
King Shengri was touched by his words. He raised his bowl and hollered, “The Khan is a wise, insightful man who knows everything. Therefore, he must have realized that King Kuari is the hope of Norland. Those who are fighting for the throne should stop now and support King Kuari for the sake of Norland.”
His words were meant mostly to openly tell King Dari to give up the throne.
King Dari did not attend this banquet, but some of his supporters were in the tent. Few responded to his words. Many kept drinking with the others, and some walked up to the Dragon King with some questions, acting as though they had not heard King Shengri’s words.
Gu Shenwei was a patient observer. He was not in a hurry to establish his authority in a new environment, for he thought it was both unnecessary and vain.
He compared King Kuari’s men with his own subordinates. Soon he found that his original opinion was right: when two forces fight against each other, most people chose to try to make peace between the two forces.
Gu Shenwei had previously made those who were on the fence trust him and make up their mind with a victory. Besides, he had not punished those who had conspired with the Golden Roc Fort. He never expected loyalty from others. Whether his subordinates served him faithfully or not made no difference to him and his plan.
King Kuari did not think the same way as the Dragon King did. When he noticed few responded to King Shengri, he stayed calm, but glanced at some people. Some of them had ignored King Shengri’s words, some had shown their contempt, and some had not expressed their agreement.
Those people were put on King Kuari’s blacklist.
King Kuari was born into a royal family. He had witnessed people’s complete loyalty to the Khan since he was a boy. So, he took people’s loyalty to the Khan for granted. Once they showed any disloyalty to the Khan, King Kuari was on alert and angry.
Although he did not sit on the throne, he began to test the loyalty of his supporters.
In Gu Shenwei’s eyes, King Kuari’s approach was unwise. King Huari might scare away some of his potential supporters, who might then turn to follow his enemies.
But even so, King Kuari still had an advantage in fighting for the throne. King Dari had gradually exposed his incapability and weakness. Perhaps King Dari, himself, had noticed that he had already lost the battle with King Kuari.
Gu Shenwei had his own defect: he did not drink.
He did not drink at the banquet in Norland, which was an insult to the host. King Kuari overlooked this, but others could not forgive it so easily. When they raised their bowls and saw that the Dragon King did not move, they showed surprised expressions, and then walked off angrily.
Gu Shenwei lost some potential allies over it.
Hunting game and war were what the people in Norland always talked about after drinking. Men in Norland were more interested in hunting and war than in good wine and women. Soon everyone started to talk about the upcoming war between Norland and the Central Plain.
King Kuari was right that there would be a war between Norland and the Central Plain one day. At least, the nobles in Norland were ready for the war. They had already sent their soldiers to the rendezvous point and commanded them to wait for orders. Everyone in Norland thought that this was going to be the most large-scale war in decades.
But not all the nobles in Norland had the same thought as King Kuari. Most of them longed to graze their horses in the Central Plain. “Eat all of their crops and steal their women and livestock. All the locusts in the Central Plain would die out within ten years. In the end, the land would become fields for us to graze our horses,” was what most of the nobles wished.
There were two main battlefields: one in the east and one in the west. Even the westernmost battlefield was still thousands of miles away from the Western Region.
For the two large kingdoms, the Western Region was just a small obstacle. The Western Region could be a helpful force for them, but losing its assistance would not pose a fatal impact on winning the war.
Gu Shenwei suddenly understood why he had been despised. He started to reconsider his plan and found that he needed to make some adjustments to it.
Halfway through the banquet, King Rizhu arrived with a squad of his most trusted soldiers.
Although he had ridden his fastest horse, his arrival was still 48 hours later than Gu Shenwei’s. If Gu Shenwei had not waited for Maid Lotus and Chu Nanping, he could have been here even earlier.
Flame Foal was a good horse, indeed. Under its leadership, the other two horses ran even faster than usual. King Rizhu’s furious look to Gu Shenwei showed this.
King Rizhu held his horsewhip and walked into the tent, sweat trickling down his forehead. He took a bowl from someone beside him, and raised his head to drink the liquor. When he swallowed it, he threw the bowl away. He ignored greetings from other guests, instead seeking his target.
Soon he found him.
“Where is my horse?” King Rizhu asked in a low voice as he walked up to the Dragon King. He looked angry.
“Perhaps it is chained up outside,” Gu Shenwei replied, standing up. He pretended as if he had no idea that King Rizhu’s horse had been stolen.
“Come on. If you do not hand over Flame Foal, one of us will die today,” said King Rizhu.
As soon as King Rizhu entered the tent with an angry look, many people watched him closely. When he raised his voice to question the Dragon King, all eyes fixated upon the two of them.
As the host, King Kuari thought it was his obligation to break the deadlock between his guests. He came forward and said delightedly, “Old Cha, did not you go hunting? Why did you come back so early? You must not have met the Dragon King yet. Let me introduce him to you.”
It was no secret that King Rizhu had left the Royal Court to meet the Dragon King and the other Royal Families of Norland. King Kuari pretended to be ignorant of this, because he did not want to ruin his relationship with King Rizhu.
King Rizhu obviously only cared about his horse. He glanced at King Kuari, and then stared at the Dragon King furiously. He said, “Fourth King, you must forgive my rudeness. This guy stole my Flame Foal, and you know it is my favorite horse. If I do not take revenge on him, I will be a laughingstock in Norland.”
King Kuari was taken aback, but he did not show it. He would have never expected that the composed Dragon King would have acted so rashly as to offend a Norland King.
Everyone was startled when they heard the King’s accusation. King Rizhu liked showing off his Flame Foal. Everyone knew that Old Cha loved Flame Foal more than he loved his sons.
King Shengri had drank too much. He told the Dragon King as he stumbled up to them, “Dragon King, you must not know that Flame Foal is King Rizhu’s favorite horse. As long as you hand over Flame Foal, I promise that King Rizhu will not give you a hard time.”
King Rizhu wanted to kick this old drunk’s ass. “I will never spare the Dragon King unless the sun rises in the west,” he thought. However, he only wanted to get his Flame Foal back. Therefore, he resisted his anger and waited silently for the Dragon King’s reply.
Gu Shenwei opened his arms and replied, “I came here by the Khan’s invitation. I thought people in Norland would keep their promise. Now, it seems that the Khan will break his promise.”
“Do not try to frighten me with…” King Rizhu shut up immediately before he said anything offensive about the Khan. If he showed any disrespect to the Khan in front of the nobles in the tent, the Khan would soon find out. In Norland, offending the Khan was a great crime.
King Kuari said seriously, “The Khan’s words are the imperial decree, and no one in the grassland will break his will. Dragon King, please do not say such words again.” Then, he turned to look at King Rizhu and said, “I hope that the Tenth King can be a role model in front of our guest.”
King Rizhu almost lost his temper. He had a violent temper, but he was not stupid. He would never offend the Khan openly. Instead, he asked in a low voice, “Will you swear that you did not steal my horse?”
“I did not steal your horse,” Gu Shenwei replied flatly.
King Rizhu was stunned. He could tell that the Dragon King was not lying from his expression. King Kuari stood aside and thought with a snigger, “The Dragon King only said that he, himself ,did not steal the horse. He did not mention his subordinates.”
King Shengri burped in the Dragon King’s face, and the smell of alcohol permeated the air around him. He asked, “If you did not steal Flame Foal, how did you arrive at the Royal Court so fast?”
King Rizhu nodded, “How do you explain this?”
Gu Shenwei raised his head, and he said as he looked at the nobles, “I ran here.”
King Shengri blinked his eyes, and suddenly burst out laughing. The rest of the nobles burst into laughter, too, as if the Dragon King had told the funniest joke at the banquet.
“How can you prove it?” King Rizhu asked with a grim expression.
“I can prove it,” Gu Shenwei said calmly. He was neither frightened by King Rizhu, nor did he feel embarrassed by the nobles’ laughter.
King Kuari finally realized that he had underestimated this pale-looking Dragon King.
Gu Shenwei was thinking about something else. After meeting several Lords of Norland, he had selected his allies.
