“Paying respects to His Majesty the King.”
Under Suo Luns lead the nine students who had received the noble warrior medals knelt down neatly with heads bowed.
Then two feet wearing boots stepped in walked to the front of the nine and stopped.
After quite a while King Zhilian seemed to come back to his senses and said oh rise.
Then the nine stood up heads bowed eyes fixed on the ground not daring to look up at the king.
“All of you raise your heads and let me see.” King Zhilian said. His voice was somewhat hoarse yet it carried a metallic sharpness that left a deep impression.
This was the first time Suo Lun had seen the kings face. It was rather thin not particularly handsome with deep set eyes and a high steep nose.
Unlike other kings Zhilian had short hair and a very stiff beard half of which was already grey.
His face gave a very resolute impression yet also carried a cold feeling especially those deep eyes which inspired awe.
But his gaze was usually very scattered as if he was constantly thinking about something so it was hard for him to focus on what was before him giving instead a sense of casualness.
Resolute and casual these two contradictory qualities appeared together on the kings face.
The entire Furious Wave Kingdom evaluated King Zhilian as unsmiling even harsh and sparing with favours.
When he was still a child the previous king had evaluated Zhilian saying this child is capricious with ever changing thoughts.
At the time when several princes competed for the position of heir no one had favoured Zhilian because his popularity was poor. All the nobles supported Prince Zhilan because he was benevolent brave wise and the perfect model of a king.
Yet Zhilian had seized the final throne and in a pool of blood placed the crown on his head.
After ascending the throne his relationship with the kingdom nobles had once been very cold even tense. But he immediately began to support the civilian elite class to counterbalance the nobles. The nobles fearing loss of power then came running to curry favour.
In the nearly twenty years since King Zhilian ascended the throne he had in military matters brought the Furious Wave Kingdoms southward expansion strategy to its peak directly striking to the Ten Thousand Mountains and completely driving the barbarian tribes out of the Central Plains.
In politics he had vigorously supported the civilian elite class to replace the increasingly corrupt noble class. This had given the once somewhat degenerate ruling class a brand new appearance and allowed the entire Furious Wave Kingdom to maintain its powerful upward momentum.
Therefore even those most hostile to King Zhilian had to admit he was one of the most outstanding kings in the history of the Furious Wave Kingdom.
…
The king walked to Suo Luns front. That casual gaze finally focused a little as he looked at Suo Luns face and said you are Suo Lun.
“Yes Your Majesty.” Suo Lun said.
King Zhilian looked at him once more but said nothing. A trace of contemplation flashed quickly through his eyes then his gaze left Suo Luns face.
“Then let us begin.” King Zhilian waved his hand and said to the grand eunuch beside him.
After that nine eunuchs entered each carrying a tray with a noble warrior medal placed on it.
Originally the conferring ceremony for the noble warrior medals had been very grand. The king would personally visit the Royal City Academy on the great square with all students present high officials of the cabinet and military commanders all in position.
Then under the gaze of the masses the king would confer the noble warrior medals on the nine.
However King Zhilian disliked extravagance and disliked such ostentatious grand scenes. He was even unwilling to appear before many people.
Therefore this noble warrior medal conferring ceremony had become so simple.
Next the king conferred the medals on each student in turn.
“Loyal to the king loyal to the royal family.” Each conferred student knelt on one knee.
Suo Lun was first so he was the last to receive the medal.
“Loyal to the king loyal to the royal family.” After the king placed the medal on him Suo Lun knelt on one knee.
After the conferring was complete the king looked at the nine noble warriors. His gaze finally focused a bit more. After pondering for a while he said some of you will inherit titles while some will not. But no matter what in future whatever you do besides your own and your familys interests also consider the kingdoms interests.
King Zhilian never spoke empty words or grand sounding phrases. He always spoke only the truth.
But Suo Lun was still somewhat surprised. As a king to not say a single polite word was truly… unique.
“Mm that is all. You may go.” The king waved his hand.
The nine noble warriors knelt on one knee then retreated and left.
“Suo Lun prepare yourself to attend tomorrows court session.” King Zhilian said after the court session I will confer your title and position.
Suo Lun was startled. I am about to leave and only now do you tell me such an important matter?
“By your command. I kowtow in thanks to Your Majesty.” Suo Lun had to kneel on one knee once more to pay respects.
…
After returning to the earls mansion Suo Lun told this news to his sister Suo Ningbing.
Suo Ningbings peerless face revealed unprecedented joy and glowed as she said we can finally go home we can finally return to Tianshui City I am so happy.
Not only Suo Ningbing but everyone in the earls mansion whether maids or family warriors was extremely excited.
Because in the royal city they were merely a noble family facing the royal familys suppression. Every day they had to tread carefully as if walking on thin ice.
But once they returned to Tianshui City they would become the masters of that land.
Suo Ningbing was right. No matter how large the Tianshui Earls Mansion was it was not home. Tianshui City was home.
Immediately the excited Suo Ningbing could no longer hold back. She directed the maids and servants in the house to begin packing luggage and belongings impatiently preparing to return to Tianshui City to their own home.
Suo Luns eyes flashed with a trace of gloom. He wanted to speak but stopped in the end without saying anything.
Taking advantage of others not paying attention Ye Jingyu asked Suo Lun in a low voice master what are you worried about?
“You you had better just call me by name.” Suo Lun said.
“Young master what are you worried about?” Ye Jingyu said the king has spoken with his golden mouth. Tomorrow you will be Earl of Tianshui a feudal lord of the kingdom and City Lord of Tianshui.
“What I am worried about is not the past side.” Suo Lun said but… the Suo Hanyi side?
“Lord Suo Hanyi?” Ye Jingyu said has he not already defeated the rebels?
Suo Lun said precisely because of that he may no longer welcome us. In fact at this moment Tianshui City may already be Suo Hanyis Tianshui City and not ours.
Ye Jingyu was startled then said firmly that will not happen. Although Lord Suo Hanyi is a bit arrogant his loyalty to the Suo clan is beyond question. Young master you are overthinking.
“I hope so. I hope I am thinking too much.” Suo Lun said.
Because he had been an orphan since childhood and had endured many disdainful looks Suo Lun had always tended to speculate about others with the darkest thoughts. All along he had held a pessimistic attitude towards human nature.
…
Early the next morning Suo Lun dressed in full formal attire took a carriage and once again headed to the royal palace.
Today was perhaps the most important moment for him.
After today he would become a feudal lord of the kingdom Earl of Tianshui and City Lord of Tianshui.
All the past struggles and fights had been for this day.
Because he was not yet City Lord of Tianshui he did not yet qualify to attend the court session. Thus he could only wait in a side hall room for the court session to end.
The Furious Wave Kingdoms court sessions were held once every three days with high civil and military officials from the royal city all in attendance.
Todays court session topic was closely related to Suo Lun. They were discussing the kingdoms new southward expansion strategy that is whether to use Tianshui City as the military stronghold for the kingdoms attack on the Southern Barbarian Continent.
Because this was the plan proposed by Zhili both the military and civil sides agreed.
Their current disagreement was whether to keep Suo Lun in the royal city and have the cabinet and command headquarters temporarily take over Tianshui City.
As compensation they would promote Suo Luns title to marquis of the kingdom and directly grant him a high official position with generous treatment.
Both the cabinet and the command headquarters had prepared a position for Suo Lun a very high position.
One was senior cabinet counsellor directly responsible to the prime minister. The other was deputy commander of the royal Dragon Guard army.
Of course these two positions shared one common feature.
Their status was very high and extremely prominent but they held almost no real power.
For example the former position was in plain terms the prime ministers assistant secretary. It was the necessary path to becoming a high cabinet official. Every prime minister had served as a senior cabinet counsellor when young.
The latter position sounded impressive but the commander of the royal Dragon Guard army was Prince Zhili.
Therefore these two positions were completely coveted by all the young nobles of the Furious Wave Kingdom.
Yet what was honey to them was poison to him.
Just as the high officials of the kingdoms military and civil sides were arguing heatedly over Suo Luns position King Zhilian said you are fighting so fiercely over this. Why not let the person concerned give his opinion? Let Suo Lun in.
A moment later a eunuch brought Suo Lun into the discussion hall.
This was also the first time he had seen the true ruling core of the Furious Wave Kingdom. Almost all the high civil and military officials of the entire kingdom were here.
King Zhilian said Suo Lun we are about to confer your title on you. They are arguing fiercely over where you should go. You have three choices. The first is to enter the cabinet and help the prime minister with affairs. The second is to enter the royal Dragon Guard army as deputy commander. The third is to return to your Tianshui City.
Suo Luns breathing sank. He had not expected that at the moment of title conferral another difficult question would be thrown at him. Of course for Suo Lun this question was not difficult at all.
His goal had always been clear to reclaim the Suo clans century old foundation. As for those prominent positions it was still the same saying what is honey to you is poison to me.
Suo Lun bowed and said your subject chooses the third option to return to Tianshui City and govern the century old foundation left by our ancestors.