Chapter Ninety-Three: The Dawn Audience

When Zhang Desen and Li Longfang launched the ship and began their return to Earth, Zhao Chengming and the others also set out by water, crossing Lake Erhai to the east of Dali City. Long before the prehistoric reptilian people seized Dali City, they had already departed, and by then they had reached the borders of the Shu Kingdom.

Although Zhao Chengming had led the others away from Dali City, Zhou Jintang, the Dali manager of the Liu family trading house, and the rest had not withdrawn from the Southern Dian Kingdom. It was not that they had lacked time to retreat, but that retreat was no longer necessary. Instead, they had followed the Southern Dian forces to the kingdom’s new capital, Yachi, in the eastern reaches of Southern Dian, where they continued to keep Liu family commerce operating.

The whole affair was rather dramatic. The ancient creatures, driven mad by preying on one another, had fled in all directions and, in their panic, rushed into Dali City, threatening the safety of the prehistoric reptilian people who then occupied it. The reptilian inhabitants of the city fought back as well.

Yet the vanguard of those prehistoric reptilians still raced onward at top speed to Yachi, once again threatening the new capital of Southern Dian. At this critical moment, Emperor Zhong Yongcheng of Southern Dian at last displayed the bearing of a true ruler, personally leading the entire army up onto the walls to defend the city.

Under Zhong Yongcheng’s calm and unruffled leadership, all the soldiers defending the city were greatly inspired. United in one will, they stood firm and resolved to hold the city at all costs; not a single man fled in fear. Though the line at one point nearly collapsed under the sheer number of those primitive reptilians, at the moment of greatest peril the space destroyer Yuri of the ancient super-civilization Orme suddenly appeared over Yachi.

Even the prehistoric reptilians grew afraid upon sensing the high-tech warship of their own kind. Unexpectedly, their dread of their technologically advanced kin ran so deep that they all immediately fled toward the mountains in a desperate scramble for survival. Those who were too slow to escape were cut down by the soldiers of Southern Dian.

However, the Orme reptilian destroyer Yuri had not come to save Yachi. As mentioned before, Zhang Desen had used the data-gathering device installed on the reptilian satellite to upload an anonymous message to the reptilian network, claiming that survivors from the mountain base were under siege by ancient creatures, which was why the Yuri had been dispatched to investigate.

The Yuri had also detected many signals from its own kind around Yachi and hoped to trace those signals to find the survivors, so it first arrived near the city. And as the prehistoric members of its race fled, the Yuri pursued the denser clusters of signals, trying to locate the survivors.

Of course, the Yuri soon discovered that it had come to the wrong place. It had meant to go to the site of their original mountain base, but a previous solar flare had caused it to lose precise positioning.

Once it realized the mistake, the Yuri immediately changed course and flew toward the correct destination.

Yet one unexpected thing was this: the reptilian Yuri space destroyer was unlike the other Orme Imperial spacecraft that had often come to harass Southern Dian in the past.

Those earlier harassing ships were mostly disc-shaped, so the monarch and people of Southern Dian had come to believe that demons were disc-shaped beings, and the sight of them inspired fear, hatred, and dread.

But the reptilian Yuri destroyer this time was not disc-shaped. It looked somewhat like a seaborne destroyer from human modern society, though still different, after all being a spaceship of war.

Precisely because its shape was different, it accidentally relieved Southern Dian of its crisis once again. Thus, all the soldiers and civilians of Southern Dian actually believed that this time divine emissaries had come to save the kingdom, and they all fell to their knees in worship.

Emperor Zhong Yongcheng, though he sensed something was amiss, could hardly say anything when he saw everyone behaving like this.

And Zhou Jintang and the others, who knew the truth, could only laugh and cry at the same time. None of them had expected events to become so absurdly dramatic. He had originally intended, in accordance with Zhang Desen’s instructions, to save as many people as possible should evacuation from Yachi become unavoidable, but now it seemed unnecessary.

...

Meanwhile, Yuri Gotne ordered Kaba Duer once again to seek out the Minister of Finance, Qian, and have him help curb the excessive expansion of those primitive reptilian forces.

After hearing the matter, Minister Qian felt there was profit to be made and agreed at once. In his view, this course had several great advantages:

1. There would be a reward. The reptilians of the Orme Empire had already promised that as long as one worked for them, there would definitely be payment, and the reward of the reptilians would surely be substantial.

2. Flatter the reptilians and take a massive share. In Qian’s opinion, the target of this campaign was the reptilians’ traitors; by helping the Orme Empire suppress rebellion, the military expenditures along the way would certainly be enormous, and he could take advantage of the chaos to line his own pockets.

3. In this campaign, the reptilians of the Orme Empire had promised to cooperate with all their might from the shadows. With the Orme Empire’s miraculous weapons, the chance of victory would surely be high. If he could send someone of his own, preferably his son Qian Gao, also known as Young Master Qian, on the expedition and have him return with a victory, then his position at court would be even more secure in the future.

Of course, the third reason was also because Minister Qian wanted to expand his influence into the military. After all, Prime Minister Zhang Chengwei was the head of the civil officials. Though Qian also had his own power, Zhang Chengwei’s faction was much stronger, leaving him at a disadvantage.

And more troubling still, after Zhang Desen defeated the first warrior of the Liao Kingdom, Xiao Liba, Zhang Desen himself had become a hero celebrated throughout the realm. This not only greatly increased Prime Minister Zhang Chengwei’s prestige, but also caused the army of the Great Prosperity Kingdom to immediately regard Zhang Desen as an object of admiration, indirectly giving Prime Minister Zhang Chengwei enormous influence within the military.

Even the Great Prosperity Kingdom’s foremost military figure, General Feng Yucai, had immediately drawn closer to Zhang Chengwei’s camp. Thus Minister Qian felt it was imperative that his own side achieve military merit as soon as possible, in order to reverse the situation, which had already become extremely unfavorable to him.

What worried Minister Qian most was that once the people of the Great Prosperity Kingdom learned that the “Hero in Strange Clothes” they revered was related to Prime Minister Zhang, Zhang Chengwei’s standing among the common folk rose even further. This left Qian deeply vexed, and made him all the more convinced of the importance of strengthening his own authority.

So after agreeing to the matter, Minister Qian spent the entire night without sleep, continually thinking about how he should present the issue at court the next day.

For Qian, his faction at court would certainly support this campaign. Moreover, since he was cooperating with the reptilians of the Orme Empire, he absolutely could not allow his rival faction to profit from it.

His greatest concern, however, was the threat posed by Prime Minister Zhang Chengwei. Qian knew that Zhang Chengwei had always been at odds with him. The two of them were practically destined enemies, and whenever the opportunity arose, they would constantly scheme against each other, even secretly sending assassins after one another.

Therefore, this campaign not only had to go forward, but his own men absolutely had to seize the glory and suppress Zhang Chengwei’s faction.

But how should he do it? Qian Minister pondered bitterly.

Little did he know that his opponent, Prime Minister Zhang Chengwei, had already received Zhang Desen’s intelligence and was instead racking his brains over how to cooperate with it without producing a result harmful to himself.

For in the broader view, the Great Prosperity Kingdom and the Shu Kingdom were surely as closely bound as lips and teeth: if Shu fell, Great Prosperity would be next. Therefore, no matter what, an expedition had to be sent.

And as each of them brooded over his own concerns, the hour gradually arrived for the morning court audience, and they had to prepare to attend.

At the same time, Zhao Chengming was leading his flotilla steadily toward the Great Prosperity Kingdom, preparing to follow the Yangtze downstream back to the Western Capital.

...

Before long, the morning audience finally began, and the ministers of the Great Prosperity Kingdom stood in two ranks.

“His Majesty enters!”

With the eunuch’s loud cry, Emperor Zhao Xinglong of the Great Prosperity Kingdom arrived.

The ministers all bowed at once and shouted in unison:

“Long live the Emperor! Long live! Long, long, long live!”

Emperor Zhao Xinglong said, “Rise!”

“Thank you, Your Majesty!”

Then the eunuch dutifully recited the same old formula:

“If there are memorials, present them. If not, the court is dismissed!”

At this, Minister Qian immediately stepped forward to report:

“I have a matter to present!”

Zhao Xinglong said, “If my esteemed minister has a matter, speak.”

Minister Qian said, “Recently, this minister received word that the Shu Kingdom to our west has suffered an attack by a mysterious barbarian nation of monsters. It has fallen into a crisis of national destruction. In such circumstances, Great Prosperity and Shu are as intimately connected as lips and teeth; when the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold. Therefore, I suggest we immediately dispatch troops from across the realm to rescue Shu Kingdom and protect the barrier guarding our western frontier.”

Zhao Xinglong was stunned upon hearing this and said, “Is such a thing truly happening? What do the rest of you ministers think?”

Once Zhao Xinglong posed the question, the faction loyal to Minister Qian all followed Qian’s lead. It did not matter what the issue was; if Qian said it, they would not oppose it and would support it with all their strength.

Of course, some of the upright ministers argued that they had not yet received the news, so they did not know whether it was true and should verify it before making a decision. They even questioned whether Minister Qian was spreading false information in order to seize military authority by exploiting the situation.

But Qian’s supporters insisted that troops must be sent to rescue Shu no matter what; Qian had no selfish motives, and if the rescue were delayed, it would surely bring ruin upon the state.

After a period of heated argument, no conclusion had been reached.

Prime Minister Zhang Chengwei, however, said nothing at all, because he was also waiting for the proper moment to speak.

At the same time, Great Prosperity’s foremost military man, General Feng Yucai, did have something he wanted to say. Yet when he saw that Prime Minister Zhang Chengwei remained silent, he found it odd, for under normal circumstances Zhang would not simply allow Minister Qian to dominate the discussion.

But today Zhang Chengwei had not spoken a word, which struck him as strange and made him suspect there was some hidden reason he did not know.

Since General Feng Yucai knew that the “Hero in Strange Clothes” was Zhang Desen, he had developed a sense of trust toward Prime Minister Zhang Chengwei, and at this moment he was even more willing to fully align himself with Zhang’s position.

At last, Zhao Xinglong said, “Zhang Chengwei, why have I not heard a single word from you today?”

Zhang Chengwei stepped forward and said, “Your Majesty, it is not that this minister did not wish to speak. I was merely considering how best to handle the matter.”

After a brief pause, Zhao Xinglong asked, “Oh? Then what wise counsel does Minister Zhang have now?”