Chapter 73 Banquet.

After the formalities, the banquet officially began.

Under the eunuch's loud voice and the sound of stringed instruments, the Northern Qi envoy came out first, bowed to Emperor Qing, and began to sing praises. Then Yun Zhilan from Dongyi City came out, said a few cold words about the two countries being friends, and then returned to the table and sat down.

This scene made the royal family on the stage secretly happy, and they lamented that Yun Zhilan's arrogance was as cold as a sword. The Qing court officials below the stage were discussing the rudeness of the Dongyi City envoy, and that he had no sincerity in coming to apologize.

"If Yun Zhilan, who is armed with a sword, were to assassinate with the sword, who could stop him?" The queen at the top asked the palace maid beside her softly with a worried look on her face.

The maid replied softly, "Eunuch Hong is waiting outside the palace."

After hearing this, the Queen put aside her worries and started chatting and laughing with the Prince.

Outside the hall, Hong Sixiang, wearing a black robe and with a sinister yet domineering face, sat quietly. He did not even look at the side dishes and drinks brought by the guards, and listened carefully to the movements in the hall.

The guard asked quietly, "Eunuch, don't you want to eat something?"

Hong Sixiang shook his head and said, "If it were any other time it would be fine, but there's a great master sitting in the inner room right now, how can he drink? You guys should be smart." After saying that, he ignored the guard.

Inside the palace, the palace maids and eunuchs began to serve dishes, and the smell of various wines spread, but the court officials ate in silence, tasting only a little. This atmosphere made Li An feel uncomfortable.

"If I had known this, I should have eaten dinner before coming here. This is my first time and I'm still inexperienced."

Listening to Li An's words, Shisan Wang chuckled: "This kind of banquet is not really for people to come and eat."

Li An nodded, thinking that it was just a formality, and said softly: "Open your eyes, something interesting will happen later."

"Oh?" Wang Shisanlang was puzzled, but still fully believed in Li Ang's reputation of "foresight".

Unlike everyone else who was eating cautiously, Fan Xian was wolfing down his meat and drinking, and occasionally greeting officials he knew, including Guo Baokun, with whom he had clashed before. This enthusiasm was only met with a look of disdain from Guo Baokun.

Even Lord Xin, the chief envoy of the negotiation team, reminded him, "Lord Fan, don't drink too much and behave inappropriately in front of the palace."

Fan Xian's heart moved slightly, and he chuckled, "Seeing such a big scene makes me a little nervous. Let me drink some wine to relax. Don't worry, but thank you very much for your concern, Lord Xin." After saying that, he used his true Qi, not to eliminate the effect of the alcohol, but to reverse the meridians and let the alcohol spread throughout his body. His cheeks immediately turned red.

Emperor Qing saw the whole scene with a puzzled look on his face and snorted coldly, but most of his attention was focused on Li An standing beside him.

Hearing Emperor Qing's cold snort, everyone put down their chopsticks and looked at Emperor Qing.

"Fan Xielü Lang." A heavy voice came, and Emperor Qing spoke.

At the reminder of Lord Xin, Fan Xian quickly stood up and walked to the center, bowed and said, "Your Majesty."

Emperor Qing said calmly: "You have done a good job this time. I will not say much praise. How about having a drink with me?" After that, he raised the golden cup in his hand, asked the eunuch beside him to fill it, and raised the cup to Fan Xian.

At this time, Fan Xian hurriedly took the wine glass handed to him by Lord Xin and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty!" and then drank the wine in one gulp.

The atmosphere in the room began to improve, and everyone raised their glasses and drank a glass of wine.

Now that the two countries have exchanged letters, they can no longer regret it. However, the people of Northern Qi were still unhappy. They raised their glasses and walked into the room, saying loudly: "Your Majesty, now that the negotiations have concluded and the two countries have reconciled, Lord Fan has made great contributions. Can the foreign ministers offer a toast to Lord Fan?"

Emperor Qing laughed, thinking it was interesting, and agreed immediately. Afterwards, more than a dozen people from the Northern Qi delegation poured wine for Fan Xian to relieve their hatred.

"When friends come from afar, as the deputy envoy, I must accompany them well! Come, drink to victory, drink to victory!" Fan Xian laughed, which was exactly what he wanted to say. He immediately raised the wine pot and drank with the people from Northern Qi.

Emperor Qing looked at Li An and said in a sarcastic tone, "Mr. Li is a master, why is he sitting so far away?" He raised his voice slowly to make sure Li An could hear him, then turned to the eunuch Hou beside him and said, "Who arranged the seating arrangement today? Drag him away and have him beaten to death!"

After hearing the Emperor's slightly annoyed voice, the crowd in the audience immediately quieted down. The entire hall was as if the mute button had been pressed. Except for Fan Xian who was still shouting for drinks, everyone else lamented the moodiness of the most powerful man in Qing Kingdom.

The Northern Qi envoys and Dongyi City officials standing by just smiled indifferently and watched coldly.

After Eunuch Hou heard what Emperor Qing said, he waved his hand and the guards came out and pulled the eunuch out of the hall. The eunuch also lowered his head and dared not utter a word.

Oh, who are you showing off to by behaving like this?
Li An sneered and bowed to Emperor Qing.

"Rearrange the seating for Mr. Li. Let him sit next to Mr. Zhuang!" Emperor Qing said softly.

Li An turned around and laughed angrily: "No need, I'm here, it's fine."

As expected, Emperor Qing did not force it, but just nodded and said to the crowd: "On this happy occasion, and at a time when the two countries are reunited, who can write a poem to commemorate this great event?"

The eldest princess on the stage winked at some ministers below the stage, and immediately some ministers responded, praising His Majesty as wise.

The Second Prince came up, knelt down and saluted before Emperor Qing, saying, "Your Majesty, I have heard that Fan Xian is not only extremely brave and eloquent, but also has a great talent for poetry. The poem "Climbing the High Tower" written a few days ago was written by him. After hearing about it, I was amazed at his poetic talent. On this occasion, why not let him compose a poem."

The ministers all knew that His Majesty wanted to use the opportunity of today's banquet for foreign envoys to let Fan Xian stand out and help him become famous. They all agreed and asked Master Fan to sing a song.

Zhuang Mohan, who was chatting happily with the Queen, asked softly, "Is this young man Fan Xian?"

Before the Queen could speak, Emperor Qing answered him: "Mr. Zhuang, as a great literary figure in Northern Qi and even in the world, you should give more support to this young scholar."

"I don't deserve your support." Zhuang Mohan sighed, "I have read his poems."

"Your Majesty!" Fan Xian shook his head and smiled bitterly, "How dare I embarrass myself in front of Mr. Zhuang?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the hall looked at Zhuang Mohan, even the two princes and Emperor Qing looked over. Yes, although Qing's military strength is the best in the world, its literature is really far behind Northern Qi. Emperor Qing's move was also to prove to the world through Fan Xian that Qing's literary world is not weak either, and Northern Qi should not underestimate it.

Zhuang Mohan sighed and said, "I often hear people say that Mr. Fan is very talented, but he is still young after all."

The princess stood up and saluted Emperor Qing, then turned to Zhuang Mohan and said, "Mr. Zhuang is a man of great learning, and I have always admired him. But what you said seems to be belittling Fan Xian. Although Fan Xian is young, his talent is evident from his poem "Climbing the High Tower." The princess smiled slightly, paused for a moment, and then revealed her true meaning, "Mr. Zhuang, you are bullying Fan Xian because he is young. Are you worried that he will surpass you and become more famous than you?"

Zhuang Mohan asked softly, "But which seven-character quatrain?"

"Not bad." The princess moved slowly and looked directly into Zhuang Mohan's eyes: "Sir, do you have any poem that can surpass this one?"

“Yun Rui!” Emperor Qing narrowed his eyes, and was slightly annoyed. He raised his voice and said, “Don’t be rude!”

Li An, who was standing by, laughed.

The tea is full of tea flavor, so I try my best to stir up the fire. Li Yunrui, I would like to call you the strongest!
(End of this chapter)