The King of the Hui Nation was a fat, old man. Gu Shenwei met him when he formed an alliance with the Five Kingdoms of Xiaoyao Lake. In Gu Shenwei’s mind, he was a sophisticated king who was not as mean and sarcastic as the King of the Stone Nation. Although the King of the Stone Nation was isolated, he never thought to seek support from others.
It had been over a month since the Dragon King had come to the Hui Kingdom, but the King of the Hui Nation had still not shown up. He had only sent a messenger to deliver his words to Gu Shenwei. This time, the King did not please Gu Shenwei as he had done before.
Gu Shenwei told no one his intentions before he left. After he had breakfast, he summoned the Vice Commander of Thousands, Wu Zongheng, and commanded him to round up the guard troops.
Wu Zongheng had followed the Dragon King for a while. During that time, he had learned the way his new master dealt with things. So, he carried out the order immediately, without a word.
The guard troops of the Dragon King included 300 savage archers, 300 swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain, 200 slaves from the Land of Fragrance, 100 nobles, 100 bandits and the Vice Commander of Thousands. The Vice Commander of Thousands, Wu Zongheng, was the leader of the guard troops, and he had been an officer in the An Kingdom in Xiaoyao Lake. Among these people, some of them the Dragon King trusted and some he did not.
As for the people in the Hui Kingdom, such an army was odd and scary.
Most of the soldiers of this army were in high spirits, for they had just eliminated the bandits. With a single command, they could enter into a fight soon.
It was about a two-day journey from Willow City to the capital of the Hui Kingdom, but the guard troops arrived at the capital the next morning, because they marched without resting.
At the sight of their arrival, the guards at the gate panicked. They dropped their weapons immediately before closing the door and staring at the unknown army with fear. The civilians who were entering or leaving the capital quickly dispersed.
Wu Zongheng sent a team to take over the gate. In the meantime, he commanded the rest of the soldiers to get down from their horses and rest nearby.
A minister of the Hui Kingdom ran to the gate hurriedly, having been told that the Dragon King’s army had arrived there. He was unhappy with their behavior, for he thought it would disturb the residents. But at the sight of the Dragon King, he was startled. He immediately knelt down on the ground and kowtowed to the Dragon King respectfully.
“Your presence flatters us… Why didn’t you send your man to inform us in advance, so that we could be ready to greet you?” he asked.
“Take me to your king,” Gu Shenwei said, not getting down from his horse, for he had no intention of hearing the minister’s flattery.
“What?” The minister said, not comprehending the Dragon King’s words. He then understood and replied, “I see. The Dragon King wants to meet the King. His Majesty will be…very glad. However, however, the Dragon King has promised…”
When Gu Shenwei came here to help the King, he had agreed not to take his army into the capital. He turned around and pointed at the soldiers around the gate and said, “They will not enter the capital.”
“I already have a thousand elite soldiers taking over the most important gate of the capital. It’s only a matter of time before I own it,” Gu Shenwei thought to himself.
The minister was stunned. He suddenly saw the loophole in their former agreement. In the agreement, it only forbade the Dragon Army from entering the capital, but it didn’t forbid the Dragon King to enter, not to mention which army would guard the gate.
“So does the Dragon King want to see His majesty alone?” asked the minister.
Gu Shenwei, of course, would not take this risk. He waved his hand, and dozens of soldiers behind him walked out. They all carried sharp weapons and resolute expressions. Although they were dressed in civilian’s clothes, they did not look like civilians at all.
There were fifty soldiers in total. They were personal bodyguards selected by the Dragon King. Their captain was Long Fanyun, a swordsman from the Great Snowmountain.
Long Fanyun was the chief of Canopy Peak. Although he could have been the Commander of Thousands, he had refused that title and given the post to another man in his clan. In this way, he could be the guard of the Dragon King.
He realized that his martial arts was far from being as good as the Dragon King’s. He knew Maid Lotus and the Dragon King were better partners than he and the Dragon King would have been. But when he heard that the Dragon King was selecting personal bodyguards, he signed up first.
Long Fanyun was given a saber by the Dragon King in the battlefield. He regarded it as his highest honor, and thought it was his duty to protect the Dragon King for the rest of his life.
He knew he was no match for Maid Lotus in regards to climbing, flying and assassination. In the battlefield full of knife and spears, however, he was confident that he could kill more enemies than she could. Therefore, he thought he was still useful to the Dragon King.
Gu Shenwei accepted Long Fanyun’s allegiance. As they would be in a war soon, Golden Roc Fort had attached more importance to him. Given that, he realized that he needed more guards to protect him instead of depending upon Maid Lotus alone. After all, one man’s strength was limited.
Gu Shenwei rode to the center of the capital with his personal bodyguards, leaving the stupified minister to stand there alone, wide-eyed. Capitals in the Western Region basically had the same layout, and their royal palaces were always in the center of the capital. He knew any road would lead him to the Royal Palace, so he didn’t ask the minister to lead the way.
There were no civilians in the street. All the doors along the street were closed. Even the newly opened shops had their doors shut, and the owners of the shops, along with their guests peeped outside through the cracks in the doors.
Gu Shenwei was already accustomed to civilians’ fear towards him.
All of a sudden, the Dragon Army had appeared from the mountains, most of its soldiers being from the legendary Land of Fragrance and the distant Great Snowmountain. How could civilians in Xiaoyao Lake not be startled?
To occupy Xiaoyao Lake, the Dragon King must change the civilians’ attitude towards him. But that was not his most pressing issue right now.
Halfway to the palace, another five “civilians” joined the guards and whispered in the Dragon King’s ear.
When they had first arrived at the Hui Kingdom, Gu Shenwei had sent several spies to the capital to collect intelligence. After all, good intelligence was important to him, especially when he arrived in a new kingdom.
Gu Shenwei had risked sneaking into the enemy’s stronghold before. At that time, only a few knew his real identity, but things had changed since then.
Shangguan Fei was one of the spies.
He was willing to stay with the Dragon King. As long as he was safe, he did not mind being an idle man who was not trusted by the Dragon King. However, the Dragon King never kept useless men, so he, the former Ninth Young Master of Golden Roc Fort, had to carry out common killer’s tasks.
Shangguan Fei was not a communicative man, but he had a good sense for detecting conspiracies. In this way, he could offset other spies’ weaknesses.
Gu Shenwei gave Shangguan Fei some small tasks, for he knew that the smart master would not lie to him over trivial matters.
Each spy would report their intelligence to the Dragon King alone. When it was Shangguan Fei’s turn, he provided some important information: “Everything is going well, except one thing.” He told the Dragon King, “Recently the King has promoted several new faces to serve as important ministers. The people have all said that those who have been promoted have close relationships with the Queen’s childhood family. But I don’t know if this is true.”
After finishing his report, Shangguan Fei started to complain, “I have taken great pains to collect intelligence these past few days. Dragon King, you will never know how rough my clothes are. I’m uncomfortable all day…”
He was not a qualified spy, but he had a knack for discovering useful information. That the King had promoted several new faces had not received much attention from the other spies, so they not taken it seriously.
In his eyes, it was a common court conspiracy.
“Now, the King’s Crown Prince is being held hostage in the Stone Kingdom. His current Queen got her title only a few years ago. The Queen seems to be trying to increase the influence of her childhood family in the Crown Prince’s absence,”thought Shangguan Fei.
“But it can’t be the reason for stopping the Dragon Army from entering the capital in a panic,” Shangguan Fei continued to muse.
As Gu Shenwei was arriving at the Royal Palace, the Prime Minister of the Hui Kingdom appeared to greet him. The minister who had greeted the Dragon King at the gate followed behind. “He must have taken a shortcut or he couldn’t have gotten to the palace ahead of us. It is the early winter but sweat streams down his face. He must be tired after running all the way,” Gu Shenwei thought.
Shangguan Fei winked at the Dragon King, suggesting that this minister was newly promoted.
The Prime Minister was an elderly man who was close to death. Having trotted all the way, he was so tired that he almost bumped into the Dragon King’s horse. He stopped immediately, panting. It seemed that he had exhausted himself on his way to greet the Dragon King.
“Dragon King, please, please stop now,” the Prime Minister said.
Long Fanyun walked over and dragged the old, bold Prime Minister away. He pointed at the ground, and said, “Stay here.”
The old Prime Minister was surprised and confused. Suddenly, he remembered that the Dragon King never allowed people to approach him within five steps. He realized that he had almost gotten himself killed. He became scared at that thought. Then, he said in a clearer voice, “I beg your pardon, Dragon King. His Majesty is too sick to meet any visitors. Please…”
He had not heard of any sickness of the King from his spies. Gu Shenwei patted his horse and said, “I happen to know how to treat illnesses.”
He carried lots of the pills that Maid Lotus had left. “Although these pills wouldn’t cure his disease, they can maintain his life. Besides, I don’t believe that the king is really sick,” he mused.
Long Fanyun held the old Prime Minister’s arms, and then dragged him away from the middle of the street to make way for the Dragon King.
The other minister walked to the old Prime Minister hurriedly. The two looked at each other anxiously.
The guards in the Palace outnumbered the Dragon King’s personal bodyguards. Even so, they made way for the Dragon King, for they had no intention to show their strength at this moment. The Dragon King and his guards moved forward with no one stopping them.
The layout of this palace was similar to the palace of the Stone Kingdom. After they entered the door, they saw the Council Chamber where the Prime Minister usually worked. Inside was the main hall. Bypassing the main hall, the Emperor’s harem could be seen.
A group of people stood in front of the Council Chamber, awaiting the Dragon King’s arrival. Perhaps they already knew that the old Prime Minister could not stop the Dragon King.
Among those people, a woman dressed in gorgeous clothes stood out. She was tall and slim. Facing the Dragon King, she was the only one who stood tall while the rest stooped low.
It was the Queen, herself.
Gu Shenwei could hardly imagine the stout King with the gorgeous woman in front of him.
The Dragon King did not get off of his horse. He came here to announce his rights, not to negotiate.
Noticing that Gu Shenwei didn’t get down from his horse, a bit of anger flashed across the Queen’s face. She had an impressive face. Her high cheekbones increased her majesty, but did not affect her beauty.
“The Dragon King comes without an invitation. Are you attempting to steal the throne?” the Queen questioned, staring at the Dragon King.
Gu Shenwei did not respond. Shangguan Fei knew what he had to do now, so he began, “What a rude woman! Give your identity. The Dragon King never talks to insignificant people.”
Now, the Queen’s anger froze in her face.
A minister said immediately, “She is our Queen. His Majesty is sick in bed, so he has sent the Queen to greet the Dragon King.”
Gu Shenwei glanced over the crowd, and then fixed his eyes on the Queen. He said, “Today, I must see the king, no matter how sick he is, dead or alive. As it’s wartime now, some rules need to be broken.”
“Perhaps the Queen is a smart woman but she is not good at hiding her emotions,” Gu Shenwei thought, noticing that the Queen’s expression had changed when he said “dead or alive”.