Volume 1: Entering Great Qin for the First Time Chapter 48: The Horn's Desolate Howl

  Huhai sat alone in the grand hall, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. It turned out that things were not at all what he had imagined.

  At this moment, he suddenly realized that he was like a clown when he thought of the faces of the ministers below.

  "Your Majesty, would you like some food? You haven't eaten all day."

  The delicate and tender figure of Cui Niang appeared beside Hu Hai at some unknown time.

  Huhai was indeed a bit hungry, but Zhang Cuo's words just now made him feel like he had swallowed a fly, and he no longer had any appetite, with a strong sense of fatigue and weakness.

  "I'm full, what time is it now?"

  "It's already past midnight, it's two o'clock in the morning. Your Majesty shouldn't overexert yourself, why not have some food?"

  As if hearing the fatigue in Hu Hai's tone, Cui Niang's face was full of worry.

  Chou Shi Hu Hai didn't know what time it was, but at Zi Shi he still knew. With one hour being two hours, now it's already at least 1:30 in the morning.

  "I want to sleep."

  Huhai got up and walked behind the black wooden screen, where there was a soft couch for the emperor to rest on.

  Cui Niang closely followed behind Hu Hai, she didn't know what had happened to him.

  From the moment she saw Hu Hai again in Xianyang, she found that he no longer had the tense and cautious feeling of his previous trip to the east, but was full of vigor and vitality, like a sharp sword out of its scabbard.

  But at this moment, Hu Hai's back was filled with a strong sense of desolation and exhaustion.

  Huhai lay softly on the soft couch, staring blankly at the high top of the grand hall.

  "Cui Niang, why do people have so many selfish desires? Even if they are now as powerful as princes, why are they still not satisfied?"

  Cui Niang didn't speak, standing behind Hu Hai and stretching out her hands to gently massage him. The just-right force made Hu Hai involuntarily close his eyes, quietly savoring the sensation.

  "I don't know why Your Majesty would be like this. But I do know that nothing can defeat Your Majesty."

  Hearing Cui Niang's unreserved trust and admiration, Hu Hai didn't know what to say. Ah, could it be that he was afraid of not being able to handle these old things?

  Everyone has their own axe to grind, I guess I was just too naive.

  Because they are also human! People in high positions!

  I'm still too weak. Let's wait a bit longer, just wait a bit longer.

  As he thought about it, before he knew it, Hu Hai fell fast asleep.

  ……

  From the first crowing of the rooster that broke the last darkness before dawn, the earth gradually began to be shrouded in light, and a new day began.

  "Hmm"

  A low, long and mournful horn sounded as if from the edge of the sky, covering up the scattered crowing of chickens in Xianyang City, breaking through the silence that shrouded Xianyang City.

  The majestic sound of the horn seemed to bring with it an endless atmosphere of golden armor and iron horses, rolling in continuously for a short while (about ten minutes) before gradually disappearing.

  The Xianyang Qin people who were still asleep were suddenly awakened by the sudden and unexpected sound of the horn.

  Suddenly hearing this familiar horn, the Xianyang Qin people who were used to fighting and killing seemed to have returned to the days when they followed Emperor Qin Shi Huang to conquer the six states and unify the world.

  But now it's no longer like that, what is this horn sounding for?

  Many clever and thoughtful people, upon hearing the bugle call, were initially stunned, then seemed to have thought of something, their faces changed, hastily got dressed and rushed out, only to find that there were so many people who had thought the same as themselves.

  Right after that, countless fresh and armored Imperial Guardsmen were found to have filled the streets and alleys of Xianyang City, standing silently like sculptures, as if they had always been there.

  After the long, low and mournful sound of the horn had faded away, people began to emerge from every corner of Xianyang City, including taverns, farmhouses, and mansions, flowing together like a gentle stream in one direction.

  No noise, no idle talk, all the people of Xianyang who gathered together were either solemn or complex in expression. As they moved forward in an orderly manner, no one felt intimidated by the appearance of the Imperial Guards at various places in Xianyang City, because they knew why these Imperial Guards had appeared.

  Innumerable small streams gradually converged into several long rivers flowing towards the oldest palace of the Great Qin Empire, Xianyang Palace.

  "Knock knock" "Knock knock" "Knock knock"

  Three short and urgent drumbeats suddenly rang out after a long, drawn-out bugle call had gradually faded away in the time it takes to sip a cup of tea.

  After the three drumbeats, the grand mansions on Beishan opened their main gates one after another. The high-ranking officials of the imperial court, nobles and aristocrats with titles, either rode in carriages or on horseback, and proceeded to the vast square in front of the main hall of Xianyang Palace.

  ……

  Hu Hai was startled awake by the prolonged sound of the horn that lasted for a long time.

  He slept very soundly and didn't even know what time he fell asleep last night.

  Hu Hai had just opened his eyes when he heard Cui Niang's voice beside him.

  "Your Majesty, have you woken up?"

  Huhai looked around and found Cui Niang with a pale face, clearly having not slept all night.

  "You're guarding me for another night? I told you earlier, I'm not a child who needs someone to watch over me while I sleep. Besides, we are in the palace now, not on the eastern tour. From now on, remember to go to sleep and don't guard me. Do you understand?"

  Huhai gently stroked Cuiniang's hair with a look of pity and instructed.

  "Yes, milord." Cuiniang smiled shyly.

  "Go and get someone to bring me the clothes I wear for morning court. You can go take a nap after you're done playing."

  "Your Majesty, Chen Gonggong has already sent over your jade crown and dragon robe with sword. Just now, he saw that Your Majesty was still asleep, so he retreated again. Is this the signal for Your Majesty to attend court? I have come to serve you in washing and dressing."

  Cui Niang didn't know that the horn was not usually sounded, only when the emperor made sacrifices to heaven and the ancestral temple would it be used. Today, the horn sounded naturally because the Second Emperor of Great Qin was going to be flogged. However, Cui Niang also didn't know this last night in the palace.

  "You go and rest, where's Green Pearl? Didn't this girl come back last night? I'll wash myself, just have her help me change clothes." Hu Hai didn't want to tell Cui Niang the reason for the horn.

  "Your Majesty, Green Pearl was kept by Consort Li in her palace for a chat last night and didn't return until very late. I let her go to rest."

  Just then, three urgent drumbeats sounded.

  Hu Hai didn't know what the drumming meant, but Zhang Han told him yesterday that when the horn sounded early this morning, he would get up, so did the drumming mean that time was running out?

  "Your Majesty, Chancellor Zhang Han requests an audience." A palace maid came in and said.

  It's indeed so. Hu Hai thought to himself.

  "Let Zhang Ai and others wait for me, I will change my clothes now." Hu Hai ordered, "Come, Cui Niang, come and help me change my clothes quickly."

  ……

  After a cup of tea, Hu Hai, who was wearing the imperial robe for the first time, appeared at the gate of the Xianyang Palace under the leadership of Zhang Han. A shrill and high-pitched voice echoed throughout the entire palace square: "The Emperor has arrived!"

  "Long live Your Majesty, long live, long live, forever and ever!"

  The officials standing under the White Jade Steps, led by Li Si, all knelt down and knocked their heads on the ground. As soon as the voices of these high-ranking courtiers fell, they were followed by a thunderous and uniform sound wave that shook the sky.

  "Long live Your Majesty, long live, long live, forever and ever!"

  On the square of the Daming Palace, countless people, including the Imperial Guards, all knelt down on the ground and shouted loudly.

  Heaven and earth are shaken!

  The entire white jade paved vast square and the surrounding densely packed people, no one stood up. Only Hu Hai and twelve dark golden giants stood in this world!

  Huhai suddenly became distracted for a moment at this point.