Chapter 916

Right in front of these high court officials, what does it mean to invoke the late Khan's posthumous title?

Is it that you do not recognize me as the newly appointed Great Khan?

For a moment, Wokuotai's thoughts raced, his face shifting from fair to overcast, growing uglier by the second.

Yelu Chu and Mu Huali were frantic with worry, racking their brains for how to shield General Chilaowen.

They could not let Wokuotai drive away this member of the Thirteen Wings who had only just returned!

At this moment, the quickest to react was, unexpectedly, General Zhebie.

He was seen first to freeze for a beat, then say at once,

"Great Khan! General Chilaowen spoke nonsense before Your Majesty, I beg you to pardon him."

Naturally, this single line could not change the look on Wokuotai's face.

But General Zhebie's next words made everyone change color,

"However, General Chilaowen has returned this time with a piece of vital intelligence to report."

"Oh? What intelligence?"

Wokuotai's face was as dark as water, yet he still asked casually.

"General Chilaowen, report to the Great Khan at once."

General Zhebie, too, grew impatient with General Chilaowen's foolishness, and gave him a light kick.

At this point General Chilaowen had perhaps cried himself out, and finally calmed down a little.

Prostrate on the ground, not even lifting his head, he said,

"After this guilty minister fled the Great Yuan, I prepared to wander the ends of the earth and find Zhamuhe.

Unexpectedly, upon reaching Great Ming, I saw the Great Ming Emperor order every major sect within the Great Ming Realm to report to the capital.

Though this guilty minister is a deserter, his heart still belongs to the Great Yuan.

Though this Great Ming is far inferior to the Great Yuan, it does after all share a border with the Great Yuan.

This guilty minister feared that this young Emperor was gathering men with hostile intent toward the Great Yuan.

So I waylaid and killed a sect elder along the road, disguised myself, and then made for the Great Ming capital."

At this point General Chilaowen paused, and licked his lips.

Though he kept his head low, only now did the crowd notice his hair was disheveled and his lips cracked.

Though Wokuotai was displeased that General Chilaowen had come back only to weep and pray to the late Khan, feeling somewhat looked down upon as the new Great Khan,

he was after all already the Great Khan, and knew when it was time to do what needed doing.

Hearing too that this intelligence might truly be of some importance, he said at once,

"Someone, bring this Khan's Ma Naijiu at once, for General Chilaowen to drink.

Even while abroad, General Chilaowen still keeps the Great Yuan in his heart; this Khan is deeply comforted."

As he spoke, a Xiaohuang Sect attendant brought the wine at once, and bent down to help General Chilaowen up.

General Chilaowen had been traveling back to the Great Yuan for so long that he was already half-dead with exhaustion.

Seeing now the imperial-bestowed Ma Naijiu from home, though he had been holding back, he could not hide the look on his face of wanting to drink it.

Yelu Chu and the others could not help but ease their hearts a little.

Though the new Great Khan had come to his throne by clever means, he did after all possess the magnanimity of a true ruler.

Seeing General Chilaowen hesitate, Yelu Chu said,

"General Chilaowen, it is the Great Khan's imperial gift, you cannot refuse; offer your Xie En and drink!"

Only then did General Chilaowen take the bowl, drain it in one gulp, and cry out how bracing it was.

Then he kowtowed once more, and said,

"This guilty minister thanks the Great Khan for his great grace."

"No matter, no matter, you have come from afar and toiled; one bowl is not enough, you may drink several more."

Having already chosen to play the benefactor, Wokuotai simply went all the way with it.

The Xiaohuang Sect attendant responded at once, and poured out more of the imperial-bestowed Ma Naijiu.

General Chilaowen drained bowl after bowl, drinking ten cups in a row, until at last he was sated and refreshed, his face slightly flushed; he set the imperial bowl gently down on the tray, and once more offered his Xie En,

"This guilty minister has wandered long; only today does he know the warmth of home."

As he spoke, General Chilaowen began weeping once again.

No one knew whether he wept for his own strange misfortunes, or for something else entirely.

The others no longer tried to comfort him; after a long wait, General Chilaowen finally gradually stemmed his tears, and said,

"Losing composure before Your Majesty, I have made the Great Khan, and everyone, laugh at me."

Wokuotai and the others, having waited so long, naturally said nothing more.

Then General Chilaowen shifted the topic, and said,

"Then this minister shall speak further of what he saw this time in Great Ming."

715 Happiness came so suddenly!

It turned out that after General Chilaowen disguised himself as a Great Ming sect elder, he entered the Great Ming capital.

At first, nothing in particular required attention.

The sect elder he had disguised himself as happened to belong to a solitary Men Sect.

He very rarely moved about the jianghu.

So much so that when he entered the Great Ming capital and was arranged to lodge in the Jixianyuan, and saw the whole courtyard bustling with sect people,

not a single person could tell that he was not originally a man of Great Ming.

Thus he settled down at ease within the Jixianyuan.

During the day, he would either watch the martial artists of Great Ming in the Academy of Scholarly Worthies discuss and spar with one another.

Or he would go outside to take in the world of splendor that was Great Ming's capital.

All expenses were borne by the Great Ming authorities.

Although General Chilaowen was a coarse and vulgar general, he knew that for Great Ming to mobilize so many men, what they sought must be no small matter.

So he settled his mind and stayed on, merely wandering about each day.

And so, in this manner, seven or eight days passed.

One morning, when he was once again preparing to go out and find some place to drink, intending to spend the day in comfort.

He had no sooner reached the gate of the Academy of Scholarly Worthies than he saw a great number of Great Ming martial artists crowding around several people as they walked in.

Those few people not only looked exceedingly young, but were also surrounded by a host of martial artists.

General Chilaowen found it strange and casually asked someone about it.

The answer he got was that these seven men were precisely the Wu Dangqixia of Great Ming's Wu Dangpai.

Hearing that it was indeed these seven, General Chilaowen could not help stealing a few more glances.

He had also heard that during the great battle of Tang Yuan, the Wu Dangqixia had fought fiercely against Long Xiang Seng within the Yuan army's main camp.

Although Long Xiang Seng had Gu Ji on his mind, and the Seven Heroes met him with a peculiar formation, that battle did not truly defeat Long Xiang Seng.

But after this affair, the fame of the Wu Dangqixia had long since spread across the nine provinces of the land.

General Chilaowen had naturally heard of their deeds as well.

Seeing that even the Wu Dangqixia had been invited by the Great Ming court to this capital, General Chilaowen grew all the more curious.

If he did not wish to reveal himself, he would have wanted to discuss martial arts with the Wu Dangqixia on the spot.

Watching the host of Great Ming martial artists clustering around the Wu Dangqixia as they gradually departed.

General Chilaowen once again prepared to leave the Academy of Scholarly Worthies and wander about the Great Ming capital for a while.

"Old sir, our apologies, but now that everyone who was meant to come has arrived, His Majesty has decreed that the Academy of Scholarly Worthies be sealed off.

All personnel, unless necessary, are not permitted to leave the Academy of Scholarly Worthies."

Just as he reached the gate, however, the Embroidered Uniform Guard had surrounded the place so tightly not a drop of water could leak through, and addressed General Chilaowen in these words.

General Chilaowen could only shake his head and, without asking further, returned to the Academy of Scholarly Worthies.

Although the sudden lockdown had occurred, activities within the Academy of Scholarly Worthies had not been prohibited.

The host of martial artists still went on discussing martial arts and drinking, as merry as could be.

Only for General Chilaowen, apart from a handful of people such as the Wu Dangqixia, none of these martial artists were worth his notice.

So he merely drank in silence and watched the others show off, never stepping into the spotlight himself.

Several more days passed in this manner, and then one day the salute guns suddenly roared.