Chapter 303: The situation reverses

The state banquet of the Shi Kingdom was held in the square in front of the Mohedu Palace when the sun was about to set. The huge fire was lit, and the smoke rushed into the sky obliquely. The whole sheep were roasted in the fire, and the air was filled with an attractive fragrance.

The two kings of the Shi Kingdom and the envoys from the Tang Dynasty and the Dashi Food were sitting next to them, Princess Xi Schroland and Prince Che Duoduo, and downward were nearly a hundred nobles of the Shi Kingdom sat around the campfire. Each of them had a table full of fruits and wine. The attendants were busy, dividing the roasted lamb. Teams of girls danced lightly in front of the flames, drums and melodious huqin.

Although the atmosphere on the court was warm, most of the nobles sitting there were restless and seemed to have no appetite for fine wine and food. This is no wonder that the nine kingdoms of Zhaowu were in harmony, and the Kang Kingdom and Shi Kingdom to the west were all destroyed. How could these nobles not have the pain of cold lips and teeth?

Like other nine Zhaowu countries, the Shi Kingdom was originally descended from the Yuezhi people. He lived in Zhaowu City, north of Qilian Mountains. Later, he was defeated by the Huns and moved to Central Asia. Each branch independent of the country was independent of the country. This was the later nine Zhaowu Kingdoms. They were conquered by the Turks during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. After the Western Turks were destroyed, they surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. However, small countries have few people and are always the targets of bullying by powerful neighbors. After the middle Tang Dynasty, the nine Zhaowu Kingdoms were successively invaded by the Turkish cavalry and the great cannibals. Until today, they will face a more terrifying fate, that is, the extinction of their culture by the black-clothed food.

The nobles looked up at Li Qing from time to time. His arrival was originally a positive signal, but now he was sitting side by side with the envoy of the Great Food. As the special envoy of the Kingdom of Heaven, this was simply incredible. Could it be that the envoy of this envoy was too young and did not know the severity? Everyone began to discuss it, and they were full of doubts about it.

Indeed, the Tang Empire always paid more attention to form than reality. What the Tang Dynasty wanted to submit to these Western countries was not to collect taxes or interfere in internal affairs. On the contrary, if the weak asked for help, it would also give generously. This was understandable when the country was prosperous, and it was even a kind of demeanor of a great power.

However, it is a bit out of place to maintain this transcendent identity when peeping at a strong neighbor. If you follow the mentality of an ordinary messenger, you will never be able to sit with the messenger of the Great Food at this state banquet. This is equivalent to recognizing the status of the Great Food in the Shi Kingdom. This is to not tolerate it. The general practice is to refuse to participate. However, in this way, although you will be comforted psychologically, "I protected the face of the Tang Dynasty," but in fact, you will lose more things.

Li Qing is a pragmatic person. Dashi's control over Shiguo has actually exceeded that of Datang. If he does not come to this banquet for the sake of face, it will be like giving up all the opportunities to Dashi. Maybe when he wakes up the next day, Shiguo will be beyond recognition, so he comes. He admits the facts, but tonight he wants to seize the opportunity and get all the disadvantages back.

The banquet began. King Shiguozheng first toasted Li Qing, thanking His Majesty Tian Khan for his concern for Shiguo. Before the rise of the Black-clothed Food Festival, he also paid tribute to the Tang Dynasty every year and respected Li Longji as his father, but in the face of the barbaric killing of Black-clothed Food Festival, he surrendered.

"Everyone is quiet!" Che Bishi stood up, holding a wine glass with one hand and pointing at Li Qing with the other hand, and suggesting to everyone: "Mr. Li was the head of the imperial court's Ministry of Revenue, currently the deputy guru of Anxi, and is the pacifier of Anxi and Beiting towns. He came thousands of miles away. I suggest everyone raise their glasses and wash the dust of Mr. Li."

Everyone raised the wine glasses high and respected Li Qing. Li Qing smiled, picked up the wine glass and stood up, and nodded very politely to Budu, indicating that he wanted to give thanks. This is a diplomatic procedure that Guanyou said, and what he said was generally beautiful diplomatic rhetoric.

Budu smiled and made a call. At this time, the skin drum and huqin stopped playing, and the dancing girl also lowered her head and stood aside.

Li Qing looked around at the nobles of Shi Kingdom. His voice was slow and low, and he clearly passed every word into everyone's ears along the wind.

"I am a guest of Shi Kingdom today. It is the first time I set foot on the land of Shi Kingdom. This is also the first time that officials of the Tang Dynasty set foot on the land of Shi Kingdom. There was no such thing in the past. That is because the Tang Dynasty never interfered with Shi Kingdom, never levyed a penny of taxes from Shi Kingdom. It will not overturn your status in Shi Kingdom, nor will it deprive your property and faith, it will not steal your wives, it will not kill your children, nor will it regard you as slaves. A hundred years have proved that the Tang Dynasty will not do this, but they will have a great food!"

Li Qing turned around and pointed suddenly at Budu, "Dashi will kill you first, then steal your property and women, sell your children to the West, and be slaves forever!"

Speaking of this, there was an uproar around him, and the nobles were whispering, and they were deeply shocked by Li Qing's rebuke. Che Bishi's face was pale and sat there without saying a word.

"Slander! It's definitely slander!" Buduho stood up, his face turned pale. At first, he saw that Li Qing was quite friendly, so he thought he would say some glamorous words, such as "It's hard to refuse the kindness, and I feel very honored." So he didn't stop him and listened attentively, but he never expected that he would say such words, which almost made him furious.

He no longer cared about etiquette, waved his arms and roared in Turkic words: "If it is true that this envoy of Tang Kingdom said, then why should I come? Our caliphs just don't want to be miserable. They just cherish the people of the Shi Kingdom, so I sent me to persuade you for the envoy. I swear that as long as you surrender, the Great Eat will never deprive your property, let alone kill you."

"You fart!" A crisp shout interrupted Budu's promise. Everyone followed the sound and saw the beautiful Princess Luo Lan standing up. Her eyes were cold, as if the snow mountain had been frozen for thousands of years.

"What you said is better than singing, but how did you do it? Who knows the cruelty of Abbas, why the king of Kang was killed, the king of Shi Kingdom surrendered to you, and still killed, how many men can survive, how many women are humiliated by you, how many children are sold to you as slaves, forcing us to convert to Islam and destroy our culture, which is more terrible than killing our people."

"Princess Luo Lan, don't ruin the Caliph's favorability for you!" Budu's words squeezed out from his teeth, and his knife-like eyes stared at her in a very long time. He secretly swears in his heart that if he catches her, he must send her into the military camp.

‘Bah!’ Princess Luo Lan took a step forward and looked at Budu disdainfully. Her face was red with flames, and her eyes were as bright as stars. She looked back at Li Qing who was smiling, and resolutely turned around and said to the nobles of Shi Kingdom in pure Chinese: “We, the nine countries of Zhaowu, are of the same lineage, and we are both brothers and sisters. We should unite and resist the invasion of the Great Food, and die, and die on the battlefield! I am just a woman, but I also know that after the nest is destroyed, there will be no more eggs. If we go to war, I am willing to join the army as the vanguard of Shi Kingdom!”

‘Pa!’ A slap sounded, ‘Pa! Pa!’ Applause continued, gradually, and the applause became more and more intense. The nobles stood up and applauded, with admiration and determination flashing in their eyes. Even the musicians, dancers and attendants couldn't help but applause, gradually forming a rhythm, and the applause was full of power.

"Okay! You wait." Budu stared at her viciously, kicked the table over and left angrily.

"Enter Budu, listen to me!" Che Bishi was anxious and afraid, and did not care about the contemptuous gazes of the nobles, and rushed over in panic.

At this time, Mohet stood up, raised his glass and laughed loudly, "Come on, let us cheer for the foundation left by our ancestors!"

"Cheer to the foundation of our ancestors!" The nobles were happy and then slapped the glass and drank it all. Princess Luo Lan's face turned red with excitement. She glanced at Li Qing secretly, but saw him looking at him with a smile and giving her a thumbs up. Princess Luo Lan's eyes were panicked, and she quickly turned her face to the other side, and her heart was "bang! bang!" jumped. After a while, she looked secretly again, but saw Li Qing talking to her father and no longer paying attention to her. A strong sense of loss suddenly filled Princess Luo Lan's heart...

.........

"Bang!" With a sound of "Bang!" Budu's eyes were red with blood. He howled softly, then he pulled off the satin tablecloth on the table and tore it in half. The dishes on the table fell to the ground and fell into countless pieces. The maids were so scared that they hugged in the corner when they saw his fierce appearance, and they were trembling all over.

Budu picked up his chair legs and walked towards the corner of the house. There was a large vase that landed on the ground, which was a national gift given to Shiguo by Li Longji.

"Are you crazy? Stop it!"

A woman rushed up, grabbed his arm, and stopped him from madness. Budu slowly turned around, staring at the weak woman in front of him with blood red eyes, "Queen of the Stone Kingdom". He grinned, and a torture desire burned in his body.

The woman seemed to feel something, and was so scared that she let go of her hand and turned to escape. But it was too late. Budu swung the chair and smashed it at the porcelain bottle. Then he grabbed her hair with his backhand and dragged it to the inner room like a sheep.

I don’t know how long it took, and the sound of running in a hurry came from outside the room, and Che Bishi and his son rushed into the room one after another, but stopped suddenly. The scene in front of them shocked them. The ground was covered with fragments of chairs, and there was no complete thing.

Che Bishi felt heartbroken. He bought these from Chang'an for a lot of money. He usually couldn't bear to use them. In order to show sincerity, he specially gave them to Budu. Now it's all ruined. He suddenly saw a large porcelain bottle at the corner of the house. His heart suddenly broke. He walked over quickly, picked up two pieces of fragments and wiped the corners of his eyes from time to time.

At this time, Budu slowly walked out of the room. His eyes were cold and there was no expression on his face. He stood there looking coldly at Che Bitshi.

"My mother!"

Che Duodu, who was standing at the door, suddenly found the queen lying on the ground in the room. He screamed and rushed in. Suddenly, a howl came from the room. Che Duodu rushed out like crazy and rushed straight towards Budu, but he was not a rival who had been through many battles. Budu kicked him to the corner of the door with one kick. Che Duodu curled into a ball, pointing at Budu, but couldn't even speak.

"What happened?" Che Bishi strode over. He was about to look into the room, but Budu took a quick step and pulled the door closed, saying coldly: "The queen saw that I had smashed so many things, and she couldn't figure it out for a moment and committed suicide."

"Suicide!" Che Bishi was so scared that he took a step back, but he immediately understood and lowered his head and said tremblingly: "If you die, die! Just bury her well."

"You are very good! I will let the Caliph spare your life. You can choose one of your new queens from the eight kingdoms of Zhaowu."

Budu patted his shoulder lightly and smiled coldly, "From now on, you will send someone to monitor the envoys of Tang State, as well as Moheduo and his daughter. I will not let them escape until dawn."

As he said that, he picked up his sword and walked out strode. When he reached the door, he stopped, looked at Che Duodu coldly, and snorted softly, "Learn hard with your father, so that you can have a life."

Che Duoduo looked pale, lowered his head and said nothing. He could only hear Budu shouting outside the door: "Prepare the horse! Go back to the military camp."

Budu left, the room was silent. Che Bishi tried to enter the inner room several times, but he held back. Finally, he sighed, shook his head, helped his son up and said, "The person is under the eaves, I have to bow his head, let's go!"

Che Duoduo had a gloomy face. He pulled his arm and struggled out of his father's hand, and said coldly: "Go and clean up my mother's body! I want to be alone and calm down." After that, he ignored his father and walked out of the house with big strides.

Che Bishi looked at his son's back blankly, and suddenly slammed his head hard, squatted down and howled.

The night was getting deeper and deeper, and the sky was full of stars. The entire Shi Kingdom fell asleep. It was almost four o'clock at this time. The bonfire in front of the Mohedu Palace had already been extinguished. Several surveillance people gathered in front of the unburned ashes to keep warm. Although it was already May, it was still cold at night. From time to time, a gust of wind blew, and a ball of ashes rolled forward. They ran to a person's feet but stopped. Che Duodu raised his foot and gently kicked the ball of ashes to pieces, but looked up at the palace. Budu's cruel voice sounded in his mind again: "From now on, you can send someone to monitor the envoys of the Tang Kingdom, and Mohedu's father and daughter. I will not let them escape until I come back at dawn."

He seemed to see Princess Luo Lan being dragged out of the palace by a wolf-like giant food army, and remembered the miserable appearance of his mother when she died. He gritted his teeth and strode up the steps of the palace, knocking on the door with a 'bang!'

"Who!" The side door creaked open with a slit, revealing a sleepy face.

"It's me! Prince Che Duoduo." Che Duoduo's tone was extremely calm, "Take me to find Princess Luo Lan immediately. I have something big to tell her, life and death are at stake!"
Chapter completed!