Chapter 110: Mourning Hall

By rights, after the envoy group entered the royal city, they should rest for a period of time.

This period of time was not really about how long the envoy group needed to rest, but about when the monarch had the intention and time to receive them.

But today, the second batch of Great Tang envoys had just entered the city, and the Nanzhao monarch had already issued a decree for officials to prepare for a reception in the royal palace.

In the palace city, the shadow of the sundial shifted by one hour.

The intimate meeting in the royal palace hall had come to an end, and the envoy group, having received a banquet, mostly returned to the post house to rest.

Among the envoy group earlier, there were a few people who did not participate in the banquet, and only then did they slowly walk into the royal palace.

"Great Tang Internal Guard Left Division Commander, Guan Changling, pays respects to the Nanzhao King."

Guan Changling was in his forties or fifties, his face was slightly round, his eyes had smile lines, and his cheeks were fleshy, but his beard was neatly trimmed.

The black gauze hat, the purple robe with auspicious beast patterns, and the gold and jade belt at his waist made him look solemn amidst his kindness.

After a bow, Guan Changling went straight to the point.

"I have already led people to check the corpses of the previous Great Tang envoys, and they are indeed all traces of Tubo people's actions."

"We are willing to believe that this is Tubo people trying to alienate the relationship between Nanzhao and Great Tang."

Yi Mouxun's face cleared, and he smiled: "This King also believes that the alliance between the two countries will not be easily shaken by this outsider's framing method."

"The King is wise."

Guan Changling still bowed, his face showing some sorrow, "Since we have already checked the corpses of the previous envoys, please ask the Nanzhao King to send people to tidy up their appearance."

"Remove the old clothes, change into new garments, set up a mourning hall in Nanzhao first, and in the future, we will bring the clothes and crowns of the old people back to Great Tang and build a cenotaph."

Nanzhao's climate was humid and hot.

Those corpses were transported to the royal city, although they had already been placed in a cellar, and a large amount of ice was put in the cellar, in order not to rot too quickly.

But wanting to transport them back to Great Tang properly in the future was still not very possible.

Since the Great Tang side had already checked the corpses, they should naturally be collected and buried as soon as possible, so that they could rest in peace.

Building a grave in Nanzhao and building a cenotaph in Tang was also a good proposal.

Yi Mouxun agreed on the spot.

"Since the matter has been explained, there is no need to hide the news too much; the mourning hall will be set up in the Nanzhao Protectorate Temple, and this King will personally issue an order that everything must be handled properly as soon as possible."

Guan Changling thanked him loudly.

Those corpses were severely damaged and died in miserable states, but with the Nanzhao monarch personally issuing an order, the encoffining masters in the city were all summoned to stitch the corpses and tidy up their appearance.

Some corpses even had to ask paper-crafting masters to use bamboo bones to replace the skeleton, boil pig skin to take glue, fill the body, and then put on robes.

Busy until the evening of that day, the remains were organized and transported one after another to the Protectorate Temple in the southwest outside the royal city.

This Nanzhao Protectorate Temple, after entering the mountain gate, had three large halls on the central axis, which were the Dharma Protector Hall, the Maitreya Hall, and the Mahavira Hall.

Between the three large halls, there were spacious squares, and in the surroundings, there were Patriarch Halls, Bell Towers, Drum Towers, Stele Forests, Arhat Halls, Incense Halls, and other halls and courtyards.

The mourning hall was mainly set up in the Maitreya Hall and the square in front of the hall.

But to show solemnity, the huge Protectorate Temple was filled with white banners.

The next day, thousands of white banners fluttered in the wind, and the monks all performed Buddhist rites.

There were those who shook bells and chanted scriptures, those who beat wooden fish, and those who held bowls of sweet dew, pinched willow branches, and sprinkled water everywhere.

Because the Nanzhao monarch personally sent people to pay respects, Zheng Hui came again, and many Tang people serving as officials in Nanzhao came to offer incense one after another.

Even Tang people serving as officials in Nanzhao went, let alone officials who were originally from Great Tang.

I don't know who asked, will Haidong Lai, who is in the royal city recently, come to pay respects?

The envoy group replied: As fellow subjects of Great Tang, as long as Commander Hai receives the news, he will definitely come to offer incense to the victims.

This day was already March 14th.

The news of the mourning hall in the Protectorate Temple spread surprisingly fast, making it hard for people not to link the setting up of the mourning hall with tomorrow's duel.

Many people thought that this was deliberately done by the envoy group.

It was to help Haidong Lai occupy a momentum of "an army with a grievance will win," and also to occupy a great righteousness.

Blood-refining military law was closely related to a person's state of mind.

In a contest between supreme experts, besides relying on one's own strength, being able to seize the momentum is also very important.

At that time, many people felt that Haidong Lai was too arrogant and made a bad move in order to duel.

Acting ruthlessly, but leaving enough time for the main party, would only let the Yi Prince grow a more fierce momentum after grief and indignation.

Now it seems that the Great Tang envoy group wanted to help Haidong Lai make up for the disadvantage in this regard.

But this was the outsider's thought.

Outsiders didn't know that there was a treacherous person in the high-level internal guards.

For the few people who knew the truth, the envoy group's approach of clearly wanting Haidong Lai to go to the mourning hall to pay respects was very suspicious.

"In the envoy group, there is Internal Guard Left Division Commander Guan Changling."

At dusk, Zheng Hui said in the Sophora Tree Courtyard, "Now it seems that the conspirator among the high-level internal guards is very likely Guan Changling."

The structure of the internal guard organization was huge and complicated; even if outsiders knew there was a problem with the internal guards, there were too many suspects.

But in the heart of an internal guard commander like Haidong Lai, there were only two people left worth suspecting.

Either the Left Division Commander, or the Commander-in-Chief.

Left Division Commander Guan Changling joined the internal guards as a swordsman, made many contributions, and was promoted repeatedly.

The Commander-in-Chief was regarded by the emperor as a true confidant, and was concurrently held by a General of the Imperial Guard.

These two should only have one traitor; if both were, I'm afraid there would have been a big problem with the internal guards before today.

Haidong Lai originally suspected Guan Changling more.

Looking at it now, the answer was self-evident.

"Heh!"

Seeing Chu Tianshu was supporting the ground with his left index finger today, and after a smile, he detached from the practice state and landed cross-legged.

"I can probably guess what they are thinking."

"If Commander Hai goes, what awaits you is mostly the siege of Zhong Jinqiu and his allies."

"They will make you unable to attend the appointment tomorrow, Zhong Jinqiu will win without a fight, even if you can escape and still dare to attend the appointment, your state at that time will not be Zhong Jinqiu's opponent."

Zheng Hui nodded: "They might only think Commander Hai is superb in martial arts, and underestimated Commander Hai's wisdom."

"Since the fact that Guan Changling has a problem has been seen through, Commander Hai will naturally not go."

Haidong Lai held his red cloud black umbrella, standing by the wall, his expression cold.

Originally, he was reciting the word 'Kill' for Seeing Chu Tianshu.

When Zheng Hui came, he and Cheng Xiazi stopped.

But after Cheng Xiazi stopped, he dug out small wine from the food box and drank it to moisten his throat.

After Haidong Lai stopped, he remained silent, but his killing aura was getting heavier and heavier.

The soldier spirit felt his killing aura, making the red spot on the black umbrella like a cloud group that refused to give up.

Boiling expansion, reduction, and thinning.

Repeating like this, the red meaning became deeper.

"Using the mourning hall of our Great Tang envoys to set a trap... Guan Changling, ah, Guan Changling!"

Haidong Lai spoke suddenly, saying, "If I don't go, are those goods full of conspiracies going to stay peacefully next to the mourning hall that commemorates the dead souls for a whole night?"

Zheng Hui was startled: "This..."

"Old Zheng, think about it, with their style, if the siege fails today, they will definitely cause trouble tomorrow during the duel."

"We cannot count on everything going according to plan after luring out the conspirator, first deciding the battle at Emerald Cliff, breaking the reputation, and then having you slowly mobilize troops to deal with them one by one."

Seeing Chu Tianshu stood up, "They are willing to ambush in the mourning hall."

"Then tonight, we will spill the blood of these people in the mourning hall to sacrifice to the heroic souls!"

Seeing Chu Tianshu remembered that battlefield again.

The place where the entire Great Tang envoy group died.

Regardless of whether they held civil or military positions, those who came to contact Nanzhao to recover lost territory all died fighting.

For such a group of people, just using a mourning hall to commemorate them was not enough.

Using the blood of conspirators to sacrifice to them was the most appropriate!

"It's been a long time since I used blood in wine to sacrifice to comrades-in-arms."

Cheng Xiazi shook his wine bottle, "Those envoys deserve this respect, count me in."

Zheng Hui was also decisive: "Good, I will mobilize guards to go together."

Seeing Chu Tianshu showed hesitation, *ummed* and said: "Your guards... I'm afraid it will only increase casualties."

"Then this old man, at least is still a bit useful."

Zheng Hui looked at the sophora tree, withdrew his gaze, and said decisively, "If this matter fails, this old man won't be able to escape Zhong Jinqiu and the others' liquidation in the future; rather than waiting for death with white hair, it's better to fight on the battlefield."

Cheng Xiazi asked: "When are we moving?"

"Things have come to this, of course it is..."

Seeing Chu Tianshu tilted his neck, crossed his fingers, supported his palms forward, his expression pondering.

"Let's have dinner first."

"Old Zheng is more familiar with the Protectorate Temple and went there during the day, so let's talk about the specific layout of the Protectorate Temple."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 111 =====