Volume 11: The First Law Chapter 12: The Sword of the Nation
The audience below the ring and the swordsmen watching the fight from afar, when they heard the name of the princess, all showed expressions of surprise and confusion, and then looked at Lu Qingshan in the center of the ring with envy and even jealousy.
"He is so lucky." Someone muttered in his heart.
Lu Qingshan noticed the expressions on the faces of the people around him. After a slight pause, he couldn't help but feel a strong curiosity about this Princess of Qin.
"Hurry up and get ready, then come with me." The cavalry captain looked at Lu Qingshan and said again.
The sound was loud, but not overbearing.
Lu Qingshan glanced at his clothes, then at the BMW tied beside him, and said with a smile: "My clothes are all here, how can I prepare anything else?"
He spoke very casually, and the cavalry captain did not take it seriously. Instead, he smiled at Lu Qingshan and nodded at him, as if he was trying to curry favor with him and was extremely friendly.
Lu Qingshan jumped off the stage, mounted his horse, and followed the cavalry towards the palace.
On the spacious street, the cavalry captain walked in silence.
But it was obvious that he had no opinion about Lu Qingshan, nor was he disdainful of talking to him. It was just that he was habitually cautious and taciturn.
Lu Qingshan, on the contrary, felt this was relaxing and looked at the street scenery with great leisure.
After half a quarter of an hour, a shadow covered the street.
The shadow did not come from the dark clouds in the sky, but from the palace ahead.
The Qin royal palace had thick red walls and sword-like yellow eaves, and it looked majestic and solemn.
Perhaps influenced by the climate of the north, the overall temperament is not like that of a noble and elegant place, but more like a tough and majestic fortress with a magnificent demeanor.
Lu Qingshan looked up at the majestic royal palace, then followed the high city wall to the soldiers on the top of the city wall. His expression was calm, but he nodded secretly in his heart.
The cavalry did not enter the palace through the main gate, but instead went around the city wall for a while and then rushed in through a side door.
The driveway inside the palace was not as wide as the street outside the palace. After walking for a while, the cavalry captain took Lu Qingshan off the horse and started walking.
What puzzled Lu Qingshan was that after passing through many palaces, he finally arrived at not a princess's palace, or an elegant place like an imperial garden, but an extremely solemn hall.
The Golden Palace.
The place where the Qin State held its court meetings.
The cavalry captain turned his head and looked at Lu Qingshan expressionlessly and said, "The princess is meeting with the ministers and officials inside. I can only bring you here. Be patient. The princess will summon you later."
Lu Qingshan didn't care much about the princess's identity. He was looking at the decorations on the eaves of the Golden Palace with great interest. Suddenly, he heard the cavalry captain talking about meeting with ministers. He was startled and asked in a low voice, "Qin, is the princess in power?"
The expressionless cavalry captain's eyes flickered slightly when he heard Lu Qingshan ask this, "You don't know?"
Lu Qingshan shook his head calmly, "I really don't know. Please tell me."
After the cavalry captain's eyes wandered over Lu Qingshan, he finally introduced the situation of the Princess of Qin to Lu Qingshan in a low and brief voice.
Through the introduction of the princess's personal soldier with extremely hidden pride, Lu Qingshan finally understood why the people of Qin at that time paid special attention to the name of the princess.
Thirty years ago, the White Walkers resurrected and the Northern Alliance was established.
The war between the Northern Alliance and the White Walkers broke out without any preparation, testing or even negotiation, and there was no room for easing. The fighting began on the snowfield outside the Snow Ridge.
In order to ensure the stability of the Snow Ridge border and boost military morale, the monarchs of the nine great countries have to take turns to go to the front line.
Ten years ago, the White Walkers spent twenty years digging an underground passage on the snowy mountains, bypassing the front-line defenses and preparing to raid the Northern Coalition Forces, but they happened to run into the King of Qin and the Qin army who were heading to the front line.
It was an extremely cruel and bloody battle.
In short, the human race finally won the encounter and re-sealed the underground passage.
As a price, the King of Qin died in that battle.
Unfortunately, the King of Qin had only been on the throne for three years at that time. He was a new monarch in his prime, full of ambitions, and not interested in women, so apart from a twelve-year-old daughter, he had no other children!
Having no successor is a very dangerous thing for a country.
Everyone speculated that the Qin State might be in a precarious situation.
But no one expected that the twelve-year-old daughter of the King of Qin, who was given the title of Princess Zhenguo, would actually take charge of the Qin State with the support of Qin's general, General Pingnan.
After Her Royal Highness the Princess came to power, it was not solely due to the support of General Pingnan.
With her ability in governing a country, she managed to stabilize the national strength of Qin during the Age of the White Walkers when the national strength of all nations was declining.
Therefore, his position became more stable and unshakable, and he was loved and respected by the people.
Lu Qingshan listened with great interest until the cavalry captain stopped narrating. He paused and asked lightly, "May I know the princess' maiden name?"
The cavalry captain's expression changed slightly, and he stared at Lu Qingshan, not knowing what he was thinking. But in the end, he shook his head firmly, "How can we call you by your maiden name?"
Seeing that the cavalry captain refused to say anything, Lu Qingshan did not ask any further questions.
The two people outside the hall fell into silence again.
At this moment, there was a fierce noise coming from the hall not far away.
The cavalry captain frowned, looking worried, as if he knew what the quarrel was about.
"Did Her Royal Highness the Princess have an argument with the ministers?" Lu Qingshan asked.
"Yes." replied the cavalry captain.
"Isn't it said that Her Royal Highness the Princess's position in the Qin State is as stable as a rock thanks to her own talents and the support of General Pingnan? How could anyone dare to have such a fierce dispute ?" Lu Qingshan asked again.
"No one dares," the cavalry captain nodded and slowly squeezed out the number from his mouth, "but what if the person who had a dispute with Your Highness was General Pingnan?"
…
At this moment, in the hall.
The court was filled with talented people, both civil and military officials, and most of them wore purple robes that were only worn by officials of the third rank. Some elderly people even had official patches embroidered with pythons.
But what really attracted the attention of all the civil and military officials in the court was the thin man with the official Qilin patch embroidered on his chest.
He closed his eyes and concentrated, standing in the front row of military officers.
This palace, and even the military officials of the entire Qin State, respect him as the most respected.
He was General Pingnan of the Qin State.
A coughing voice was heard in the hall, and someone from the line of military officials behind General Pingnan stepped out of the line, knelt down slowly and said:
"Your Highness, I believe that the current situation in Xueling is becoming increasingly serious. General Pingnan, as a general of the Qin State, should hold the sword of defense to strengthen the morale of the army."
"I beg Your Highness to grant me the sword, General!"
The next moment, the Minister of War came out, knelt down and said in a deep voice: "I think it's time to bestow the sword on General Pingnan. In such a big country like Qin, who else is qualified to hold the sword besides General Pingnan?"
Behind General Pingnan, military officials walked out one after another, knelt down, and spoke in a deep voice.
The whole court was in uproar.
This is already equivalent to forcing the emperor to abdicate.
No one expected the situation to develop to this point.
After all, it was with the support of General Pingnan that Her Royal Highness the Princess was able to take charge of the State of Qin.
In fact, they had previously had a heated argument over whether General Pingnan was qualified to wield the sword.
It was an inevitable trend for General Pingnan to hold the sword, but Her Royal Highness the Princess insisted that the sword of state had a more suitable owner and had always disagreed to bestow the sword on General Pingnan.
Because of the issue of the gifted sword, the conflict between Her Royal Highness the Princess and her most loyal supporter, General Pingnan, has become increasingly prominent recently, and the relationship between the monarch and his subjects is no longer as harmonious as before.
No one could figure out what Her Royal Highness the Princess was insisting on.
The civil servants all looked at the Prime Minister who was standing in front of them.
The weathered old man, who was the head of the Qin State's civil servants, stepped out slowly and snorted coldly, "The sword that guards the country is the sword of the royal family. Who should be in charge of it is a matter of the royal family, not the affairs of the world. It should be decided by His Highness. When will it be your turn as a bunch of rude people to have the final say?"
The old man's eyes swept across the faces of the military officials, finally landing on the face of General Pingnan.
General Pingnan opened his eyes, looked at the old man expressionlessly, and responded in a resounding voice: "Your Highness has always said that there is someone more suitable to hold the sword than me, and I will naturally not disobey Your Highness. But since this person has not appeared yet, and the situation on the border is serious now, I beg the princess to lend me the sword temporarily, why not?"
The old man was speechless for a moment .
This is exactly where he cannot understand Her Royal Highness the Princess.
He himself couldn't understand it, so how could he speak for Her Royal Highness the Princess?
After General Pingnan finished speaking, all the civil and military officials began to think about their own things. They looked at Her Royal Highness the Princess sitting on the throne, wanting to see how she would deal with the current situation.
Should he obey the trend and "borrow the sword" from General Pingnan, or should he continue to insist on his own opinion despite the public outcry?
Finally, the young princess, who was only 22 years old this year, faced these gazes, and to everyone's surprise, she looked down at the crowd and said, "The person holding the sword has not appeared yet, so it is not impossible to borrow the sword from General Pingnan temporarily..."
Her Royal Highness, who was once so persistent, has given in just like that?
Although they knew that this was the most appropriate arrangement to avoid division under the current circumstances, the civil and military officials still could not accept His Highness's sudden change of heart.
Then the whole hall became extremely quiet.
The next moment, the princess's gentle voice sounded again.
“But he has already appeared.”
"Now, he is waiting outside the palace."
It was not known whether it was an illusion, but the ministers seemed to hear a hint of playfulness in the two sentences spoken by Her Royal Highness the Princess.
However, when they looked up and saw the cold expression on Her Royal Highness the Princess' face, they all gave up the idea.
——Her Royal Highness the Princess’s iron-blooded character has been witnessed by all of them over the years.
No one would treat her as a woman anymore.
If that's the case, how could such an emotion as playfulness appear in their princess?
Here, Her Royal Highness the Princess made a gesture, and before everyone could come to their senses.
"Call the Dragon Crossing the River, Lu Qingshan, to enter the palace."
The eunuch's long voice sounded.
There was deathly silence in the hall.
Calm and regular footsteps came from far away.
All the gentlemen, civil and military officials in the hall, almost subconsciously, looked towards the palace door with mixed feelings, including General Pingnan, who squinted his eyes as he looked at the palace door.
They saw a very young and handsome man slowly walking in from outside the palace gate.
The six ministers, vice ministers, royal family members, nobles... all eyes fell on , examining him.
Crossing the river to the green mountains ?
who is he?
Lu Qingshan met the gazes of the ministers, pretending to ignore them, walking slowly, and looking boldly and directly ahead.
In front of him was the imperial chair.
Sitting on the imperial chair is Her Royal Highness the Princess of Qin.
When Lu Qingshan saw the familiar and pretty face of Her Royal Highness the Princess sitting on the imperial chair, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, and a hint of smile and surprise finally appeared in his calm expression.
"Long time no see, Yitian." He whispered in his heart.
The joy was naturally because of meeting Qin Yitian.
The reason for his surprise was that although Lu Qingshan had guessed when he came here that this so-called Princess Qin should be the sword spirit girl he had been thinking about.
However, speculation and confirmation are two different things after all. When he saw Qin Yitian sitting quietly on the imperial chair with his own eyes, Lu Qingshan was still a little shocked.
Is this Princess Qin, who has a stern demeanor and exudes unquestionable domineering and majestic temperament, really the well-behaved and lovely Qin Yitian?
