Chapter 1229 - Entering the Palace to Meet the Divine!

Upon leaving the Minister of War’s Residence, Wang Chong immediately went back to his own home.

“Chong-er, you’ve finally returned!”

The gate of the Wang Family Residence was brightly lit, and Wang Chong’s mother was waiting with several maids. When she saw Wang Chong’s slim figure, she immediately embraced him while weeping tears of joy. There was no mother in the world that didn’t love their own children, and no matter how mighty Wang Chong was on the outside world or if he was a King or Marquis, in the eyes of his mother, he would always be that willful and naughty child that required a mother’s care.

With her son back home, Madam Zhao asked nothing, only laid out a sumptuous dinner for Wang Chong and watched him eat.

The night passed peacefully, and once dinner was over, Wang Chong returned to his room. There seemed to be an invisible barrier around the Wang Family Residence that kept out all the storms and court debates. Wang Chong also had no desire to bring court politics back home.

“Just what is going on?”

Late in the night, Wang Chong sat on his bed, his eyes half-closed as he racked his mind for clues. Everything he had seen and heard about: Khorasan, Qixi, his meeting with Geshu Han, the people he had encountered at the gate and the events there, his conversations with his big uncle, the old butler, and Zhangchou Jianqiong… he reviewed all these pieces of information, repeatedly examining each detail.

Suddenly, Wang Chong once more recalled the three Confucian experts who had taken his military authority and the mysterious mark on their wrists.

Wang Chong had an idea.

“Is it them? Could it be?”

Wang Chong muttered to himself as he vaguely began to understand. However, his mind still had far too many doubts.

Hoothoot!

As he was thinking, the flapping of wings and the call of an owl could be heard outside, shaking Wang Chong from his stupor.

Wang Chong blinked once and then called out from his bed, “Come in!”

The room was quiet, the only sound the blowing of the wind. Quickly, however, just when it seemed like no one was outside, the door to Wang Chong’s room opened and a nimble figure jumped in.

“Paying respects to Lord Marquis!”

The figure stopped five or six paces from Wang Chong. This figure was tall and muscular, and there was a similarly muscular eagle on their left shoulder. They bowed with extreme respect.

“Old Eagle, have you found anything?”

Wang Chong’s words exposed this person’s identity.

This person who had entered the Wang Family Residence in the middle of the night was none other than Old Eagle, who Wang Chong had left in the capital to serve as a go-between after the war of the southwest.

Ever since Wang Chong had gone north to Wushang, he had rarely put Old Eagle to work, but this did not mean that Old Eagle was not important. On the contrary, Old Eagle had been carrying out a mission this entire time. Upon his return to the eerie and dangerous capital, Wang Chong had immediately summoned Old Eagle and his newly-trained… intelligence team!

“Lord Marquis, according to your orders, when you arrived at the city gate, we had planted many spies in the crowd who kept an eye on everything, including several unfamiliar officials. After Lord Marquis left, we sent men to follow those extremely strange and mysterious minor officials,” Old Eagle sternly said.

“Did you find out where they went? Or their background?” Wang Chong asked.

Old Eagle hesitated a moment before finally shaking his head.

“No! We followed the men, but after a little while, we lost contact with our own men, as if they had vanished in a puff of smoke. These were top-class experts that I had personally trained, and they had plenty of experience. When Lord Marquis was not present, I sent them on training missions to Beiting and Youzhou, and they succeeded in all of them. These were just some minor officials, so in normal circumstances, they shouldn’t have failed. Thus, when I learned the news, I immediately began to investigate, but it was only after the Zi Period that I discovered their bodies in the city moat!”

Buzz!

Wang Chong’s eyes widened and his brow creased.

The two minor officials who had appeared during the day, particularly the one who had blatantly challenged Wang Chong, were far too abnormal. Wang Chong had ordered Old Eagle to have them followed, but he hadn’t expected such a result from a mere probe. If they truly had been officials of the court, such a thing would have never happened.

After a few moments of silence, Wang Chong said, “Where was the last place they were spotted?”

“The eastern part of the city!” Old Eagle respectfully said.

“I understand. You are dismissed.”

Wang Chong nodded.

“Lord Marquis, be at ease; no matter what, I will think of a way to find those two minor officials!” Old Eagle solemnly said as he observed Wang Chong’s expression.

There appeared to be some enormous faction working in the shadows of the Imperial Court against Wang Chong, and they had even sent people to imitate officials and challenge and humiliate him at the city gate. All of Wang Chong’s subordinates in the capital already knew of this, and Old Eagle and the others could never permit such a thing. Anyone who dared to go against Wang Chong was their enemy.

“I see.”

Wang Chong waved his hand.

“See the families of the killed scouts and give them compensation. If their families run into any trouble, do everything you can to resolve it. As for anything else, it’s best if you don’t alert the enemy yet. I have my own plans on how to proceed,” Wang Chong sternly said.

“Yes!”

Old Eagle quickly left the room, just as quietly as he had come.

A night quickly passed, and come day, the sounds of music filled the air. Wang Chong was still thinking in his room when one of his mother’s maids rushed inside, her face red.

“Young Master, the Imperial Court has sent someone! The Madam says that you have to immediately see them!”

At the entrance to the Wang Family Residence, Wang Chong met with the emissary sent by the Imperial Court.

“Lord Marquis, please! Today is a day of great celebration for you! Please get washed and change clothes, and then you can come with us to see His Divine Majesty! The Bureau of Rites has already prepared the documents, so once Lord Marquis has finished meeting with His Divine Majesty, we can announce the matter to the world and formally proclaim you as King of Foreign Lands!”

At the gate was a rather elderly silver-robed eunuch with unrestrained joy on his face. Behind him were the Golden Guards, the Imperial Army, the City Guard, officials from the Bureau of Rites, and officials from the Chamberlain of Dependencies. All of them were standing on ceremony, and all of them had come to welcome Wang Chong.

When receiving a noble title, at the level of a King, the investiture ceremony required announcing the matter to the world. Only when Wang Chong had met the Sage Emperor, received his approval, and had his new title announced by the Bureau of Rites would Wang Chong truly be considered the King of Foreign Lands. This was the basic investiture ceremony for Kings of the Great Tang.

“Sir Eunuchs, thank you for the trouble!”

Wang Chong got washed and changed into the large red robe he had worn to the ceremony in which he had been made a Marquis. He quickly got onto the palace sedan chair and set off for the Imperial Palace.

It was still early in the morning, with only some faint light to the east, but the streets were packed with people. All the common people who had heard the news were cheering on the sides of the road. The people of the capital had been waiting for such a long time that they knew the ceremony for the investiture of a King like the back of their hands.

“Look over there! The Young Marquis! The Young Marquis is about to see His Divine Majesty and gain his new title!”

“Still saying ‘Young Marquis’? He’s already the King of Foreign Lands! The first titled King of a different surname in my Great Tang!”

“Hahaha, only a hero like this deserves a title like King of Foreign Lands! A great hero! A true great hero of our Central Plains! Everyone, hurry and look!”

The crowds packed the sides of the streets, overflowing with joy and enthusiasm, the atmosphere growing livelier by the minute. The incident at the city gate yesterday had spread like the wind through the capital, and Wang Chong’s reputation could rise no higher.

“He’s coming! He’s coming!”

As Wang Chong’s sedan chair advanced, the crowds up ahead broke into excited cheers.

Before Wang Chong could react, he heard a massive boom, and then, amidst roaring cheers, a firework soared several dozen meters into the sky and exploded into a dazzling light show. Boom! A second firework followed, and then a third… Just a few moments later, the sky over the capital was a sea of fireworks that entranced the crowd.

Amidst these explosions of fireworks, one could hear the popping of firecrackers, not just in one or two places, but throughout the entire capital.

“The King of Foreign Lands!”

“The King of Foreign Lands!”

Within the sedan chair, Wang Chong’s ears were filled with the deafening cheers of the crowd.

“In these last one hundred years, only the Young Marquis has been so beloved by the common people!”

The leading silver-robed eunuch, seeing the common people thronging the streets to cheer for Wang Chong, turned around to look at Wang Chong’s sedan chair in admiration.

The Golden Guards escorting the sedan chair also had faces full of respect. A man of character should have grand ambitions and far-reaching aspirations, and Wang Chong’s achievements in the west were exactly what every man and soldier had dreamed about. All of them instantly began to straighten up their postures.

Wang Chong remained motionless in the sedan chair, taking in every detail. As he listened to the cheers, he couldn’t help but mentally sigh.

The common people of the capital knew nothing at all about the danger about to descend upon them, but this was precisely what made them so lovable.

Was this not what Wang Chong had sought, what all the other generals before him had sacrificed their lives for?

As the convoy proceeded forward through the cheering streets, Wang Chong’s sedan chair finally entered the Imperial Palace. Rumble! The massive golden gates thundered shut, blocking out all other noise. It was like he had left one world and entered another.

All was quiet around him, and inside the sedan chair, Wang Chong’s mind was whirring with countless thoughts. Thump! After some time, the sedan chair slightly trembled as it came to a stop.