Thousand Miles of Heaven - Chapter 12

Ch 12 “Linlang is worried about me?”

The next day, on the military drill ground of Xitai Ying.

Before dawn, all the princes and officials were here waiting for the sacred carriage. Xie Chaoyuan had always been lazy, so he came last. He brought two guards, and stood in a low-key position where he should be.

Xie Chaoqi glanced at him blankly. He didn’t say a word. Xie Chaoyuan didn’t care. Since that person died, he had always been so sullen and unpleasant to anyone. Just ignore it.

When Xie Chaorong, who was standing in front, saw Xie Chaoyuan, he came over especially and first glanced at Xie Chaoling behind him. Xie Chaoling was still in the same outfit as yesterday, pretending to be Xie Chaoyuan’s bodyguard, with a plain appearance.

The Disguise Technique was a unique technique that originated from the Bailing Kingdom. Even in the Bailing country, only a few practitioners were really good at it. Xie Chaoyuan had half of the Bailing bloodline. An average person couldn’t see through it easily, so he dared to bring Xie Chaoling to appear in front of so many people.

Xie Chaoling got Xie Chaoyuan’s advice and didn’t pay attention to anyone. Even if Xie Chaorong was very interested in him at the moment, he still looked indifferent, neither arrogant nor humble.

“Sixth Brother, this guard looks very rude. Yesterday, I saw you lent him your precious mount. When did Sixth Brother become such a polite master?” Xie Chaorong said strangely.

This person failed to win over Xie Chaoyuan several times, and now he suspected that Xie Chaoyuan had taken refuge with Xie Chaoqi, so he loved to pick on him.

Xie Chaoyuan smiled and said: “If I change bodyguards, do I have to tell the world? As for the horse, why not let him ride it? Is Second Brother interested in my horse, and wants to ask me by beating around the bush?”

The seventh prince, Xie Chaoyi, laughed when he heard this, and made a face when Xie Chaorong stared at him. Xie Chaorong gritted his teeth fiercely, but seeing Xie Chaoyuan’s stubborn attitude, he couldn’t stand him anymore, and turned around angrily.

Xie Chaoyuan didn’t care. 

Xie Chaoling didn’t listen to what they said, and was looking up at the towering military parade in front of him. There were three levels in the parade platform, several feet high. The flags on the uppermost tower were fluttering in the wind. The gongs and drums were starting. He narrowed his eyes, his thoughts drifted, and there was something fuzzy in his brain that he just couldn’t grasp.

When the red sun rose in the east, Emperor Qianming appeared and led the crowd to the parade platform.

Thousands of soldiers and horses on the military drill field were arranged in battalions of infantry, cavalry, spearmen and artillery, and the deputy commanders each led a battalion, awaiting the emperor’s instructions. The commander of the Xitai Ying was in high spirits, and loudly exclaimed to the emperor that the troops were lined up today. After listening, Emperor Qianming clapped his hands and said happily: “Very good!”

The expressions of everyone in the back were different, some secretly exchanged glances in private, and quickly suppressed the change.

The Xitai Ying was different from the Dongshan Ying. The Dongshan Ying had a number of no less than 50,000 when the country was founded. It had always been in the hands of the great family headed by the Zhaos. The power of the land was within their grasp, while Emperor Xie only had 10,000 forbidden troops in the imperial city. If it weren’t for the army in the northwest and southwest borders, this country would have already changed their surname. Until the late emperor, it took more than ten years of hard work to build the Xitai Ying, which could compete with the Dongshan Ying, and only slightly suppress the arrogance of these noble families.

Even so, these people still dared to attack the prince again and again.

Since Xie Chaoling’s accident, Emperor Qianming was worried and couldn’t sleep at night. After Zhao Changming and his son resigned, he wanted to transfer people from Xitai Ying to take over Dongshan Ying, but encountered many obstacles in the court. Neither the Ministry of War nor the Ministry of Personnel agreed. These people used the same set of rhetoric: it was difficult for outsiders to enter the camp and when the country was founded, it was stipulated that the commander of Dongshan Ying must be promoted from within. This forced Emperor Qianming to promote candidates from several deputy commanders of Dongshan Ying.

The deputy commanders of Dongshan Ying were all Zhao Changming’s confidants, and they were just a change of soup but not medicine. How can Emperor Qianming be willing to instruct Shen Shou and the others to fight according to reason? The two sides were deadlocked, and this is why there was today’s Xitai Ying review .

In the past, every three years, the big colonels selected elite troops for the several major battalions in the capital. It was not like there wasn’t such a separate review, but most of them wouldn’t have the emperor present in person. This time, Emperor Qianming not only came, but he also brought his troops and all the princes and ministers to come. The purpose was to increase the morale and prestige of Xitai Ying at the moment when Dongshan Ying failed to protect the prince and was demoted. It’s a matter of course.

With the sound of gongs and drums, each battalion stepped forward, retreated, confronted, and balanced according to the formation of the troops. The sound of stepping, the sound of horses’ hoofs, and even the sound of guns being fired were all in order. The five thousand troops and horses were the most elite division of the Xitai Ying. It was a strong army that the late emperor and Emperor Qianming spent decades training, and it was enough to shock and deter these people present.

At the beginning of the review, Xie Chaoyuan had already pulled Xie Chaoling to his side, and chose a place with a wide field of vision. Xie Chaoling stared at the mighty army in the military drills ground, trying to find similar pictures in his blank memory, but it was in vain.

Xie Chaoyuan’s voice was in his ear: “What are you thinking about?”

Xie Chaoling pursed the corners of his lips lightly: “It’s nothing.”

It was the turn of the artillerymen to come forward in the military drill grounds. The five newly cast cannons were lined up in a row, with a terrifying momentum, it’s throat capable of aiming to several hundred paces away. This general artillery had a longer range and greater power than any previous artillery. After the Ministry of Industry developed it, under the signal of Emperor Qianming, before it crossed the hands of the Ministry of War, five of them were shipped to Xitai Ying. This is the first time today that it appeared in front of the officials, exactly how the emperor wanted to demonstrate his show of strength to some people with ulterior motives.

Xie Chaoyuan suddenly laughed and reminded Xie Chaoling in a low voice: “The good show has begun.”

Before Xie Chaoling could respond, he heard a loud drum beat, and the first shell was fired.

He opened his eyes slightly, and the cannonball landed two hundred paces away. There was a loud bang, a piece of dust was thrown up, but it didn’t explode, and then rolled for a while, stopped, and there was no response.

Emperor Qianming’s complexion suddenly changed, and there was an uproar on the city tower.

The artillerymen who were in charge of the first artillery were immediately panicked. The deputy commander of the artillery battalion was still calm, and immediately stopped him, and ordered in a deep voice: “Prepare the second one, go!”

The second cannon came out, still a squib.

Then the third, the fourth…

The restless sound of the Tower could no longer be suppressed. The commander of the Xitai Ying knelt down in sweat and pleaded guilty.

Xie Chaoling frowned, and the smile in Xie Chaoyuan’s voice became stronger: “So it’s like that.”

Xie Chaoling tilted his head to look at him, with suspicion in his eyes, Xie Chaoyuan shook his head.

The review was hastily ended, and soon after returning to the room, there was news. It was not difficult to find out. The Squib was caused by the dampness of the ammunition. Xitai Ying suffered disaster afterwards, no matter what the reason, in the end, Xitai Ying was indeed responsible for this oversight and negligence.

Xie Chaoling silently lowered his head and took a snack. Xie Chaoyuan reached out to help him wipe the corner of his mouth: “Why is Linlang so absent-minded?”

“No…” Xie Chaoling came back to his senses, he was really uneasy all the time, he felt that he had forgotten something very important, but he had no clue.

Looking at Xie Chaoyuan’s gaze, Xie Chaoling asked hesitantly, “Is this what Your Highness did today?”

“Linlang looks down on me too much. What kind of place is Xitai Ying? Do you think I can si easily intervene?”

“How do you know that there must be something wrong with that shell?”

Xie Chaoyuan said contemptuously: “The Zhao family is used to being arrogant. His Majesty doesn’t give them face like this, so they will definitely do something to get back at His Majesty. After today’s event, Xitai Ying has become a laughing stock, and the matter of transfer will be something His Majesty would be too ashamed to mention again. Even if we want to be held accountable, who can be held accountable? Xitai Ying or the Ministry of Industry?….. The Yang Family has always been easily swayed and Yang Shangshu was someone that was roped in with great difficulty. It’s still unclear whether the Crown Prince is still alive and dead, so at this time, if he is looking for trouble with the Ministry of Industry, is he not afraid of forcing the Yang family to defect again?”

Xie Chaoling said abruptly: “You can’t intervene with Xitai Ying, but can with Dongshan Ying? Wouldn’t it be more absurd to assassinate the crown prince in the Dongshan hunting grounds?”

Xie Chaoyuan said in a deep voice, “Linlang, I said, you overestimated me too much. Who told you that the crown prince’s assassination and disappearance was caused by me alone? I don’t have that much ability.”

Xie Chaoyuan said it so seriously, Xie Chaoling couldn’t tell the truth from the fake, but no truth came from the mouth of this little highness.

He asked angrily: “Since today’s review is so important, how did those people move their hands? Xitai Ying would not be negligent about this, did they really not check those shells beforehand?”

“Are you interested in these things?” Xie Chaoyuan suddenly asked.

Xie Chaoling was instantly dumbfounded.

He shouldn’t be interested in these things, and with his identity, there are things he shouldn’t understand at all, but if he didn’t ask clearly, he would always feel uncomfortable in his heart.

“Can’t you say it? If Your Highness refuses to say it, forget it.” Xie Chaoling turned his face away.

Xie Chaoyuan paused for a moment, took a step forward and pinched his chin, and asked him to turn back: “Angry?”

“I’m just one of His Highness’s toys. His Highness will tell me this when he wants to amuse me. If you don’t want to say it, you won’t say it.” Xie Chaoling deliberately stabbed at him.

Xie Chaoyuan shook his head: “What you want to know, they’re all just words, I’m just guessing how they did it. The Xitai Ying is not easy to make a move on, but the Ministry of Work is not an iron barrel. It is possible that the shells had gone wrong before they were handed over to the Xitai Ying. The artillerymen of the Xitai Ying may not be able to find it even if they inspect it. They only need to give them good shells during the test. This review was done in a hurry. The few general artillery and shells were transported here the day before yesterday, so in such a short time, it’s hard not to make mistakes while busy.”

Xie Chaoling pondered for a moment, then sneered lightly: “Being so arrogant, sooner or later, if you do too much injustice, you will kill yourself.”

Xie Chaoyuan stared at him, the expression that his crown prince brother had when he spoke was indeed quite different from before.

Xie Chaoling raised his eyes: “Your Highness too, be careful in everything.”

“Linlang is worried about me?”

Xie Chaoling remembered the look in the eyes of this man who said he would be good to him last night. He felt a little soft-hearted for a while, thinking that this little highness was actually not that bad, it was better to coax him.

But before he could speak, Xie Chaoyuan lowered his voice again: “Forget it.”

…what’s the matter?

Xie Chaoyuan didn’t explain, and sat aside: “Eat, don’t talk about that.”

Xie Chaoling: “…?”