King Ye basked in his glory. The most important leaders of the all the sects in the Capital were assembled on their knees in front of him. He took a perverse pleasure in having Qi Shen place the crown on his head. The man had was a symbol of his sister’s ever fading star.
The former crown prince had confined the actual ceremony to the cavernous throne room of the royal palace. The Capital at large though had also been instructed to stop all work in honour of the event.
All across the city slaves and servants had been instructed to line the riverbanks. As a second level golden core cultivator King Ye was the most powerful monarch that the Blue Crane Kingdom ever had.
Once the crown had been placed on his head the assembled sect leaders started a choreographed chant of, “Ye, Ye, YE!”
Normal at the start of his rule he would kill a few sect heads as an example. Luckily that would not be necessary this time round as his dear sister and here cabal of interior weaselling merchants would serve as a far better example.
He had heard that the Silver Waters sect had been helping her as well. His sister’s rebellion would provide the perfect excuse to wipe them out. They had stood in opposition to the royal family for too long.
King Ye rose from the throne and shouted with a qi infused voice, “my rise in cultivation and assumption of the crown marks a new period of cultivation in the kingdom. For too long we have shunned the martial traditions of the mainland and allowed consideration for the weak mortals among us to hold us back.”
He expected a cheer in response, but he would settle for the frightened silence that he received instead. He bellowed, “word has come down river that my sister has had the gall to declare herself the queen in defiance of my late father will and the long tradition of strength that we cultivators have obeyed. She has allowed her mind to be turned soft by merchants and the mulling masses and abandoned her strength to the strength of a few thousand servants. I will not allow this. I will show the kingdom what strength means by dragging her back to the Capital to answer for her treason. You all will come with me. This an opportunity to assert the rule of the strong over the weak.”
This time the was a measured cheer to punctuate his words. It was not over enthusiastic but that was fine. They would follow him because he was strong and going against him meant death. His strength would only grow as he bent the entire Kingdom’s cultivation resources to himself. Then his influence could be spread to the qi rich mainland. Eventually he would have to dissolve the separate sects., It was inefficient to have his servants all separated into their own little clusters as they were currently organised.
___
Xiulan was amazed how many people had shown up at the crowning ceremony on short notice. Thousands of people had travelled to the new central city from Spillwater and Temple Gorge. They had made no fanfare about the ceremony. XIulan had assumed that people would be getting on with their own tasks but apparently the people saw Lijuan’s crowning as an occasion worth celebrating.
Xiulan was pained by the income she was missing out on by not assuming the event would be well attended. Some industrious merchants and followed the crown with food cart and barrels of wine.
Lijuan seemed awed as she stared out at the assembled masses. Elder Xin had again taken it upon himself to officiate the ceremony. He seemed to enjoy the attention by proxy. They had not been able to use the Kingdom’s real crown obviously as that was still in the capital in the hands of Lijuan’s brother.
Fu Jinjing had made a far grander crown. The gold circlet had been styled as a wreath of delicate leaves and green gems speckled it like scattered berries. Lijuan was wearing a voluminous dress of imperial purple.
Taking a deep breath she said, “I thank you all for coming. I know that my brother has also declared himself king. He has the birth right and strength to back that claim. The one thing he does not have is the support of the people.”
There were wild cheers as Lijuan paused. To what degree people’s enthusiasm was fuelled by drink Xiulan was uncertain. Lijuan raised her hand for quiet and the people stilled. She took up her speech again, “My brother may have declared himself king but he can never be a true king for one reason. He does not care about his people. Already he is subjecting more and more people to slavery. Even the sects do not follow him out of respect but rather out of fear. Today on my crowning I declare that the practice of slavery is outlawed. My brother will probably come to kill me and those that belaive as in do that every person in the kingdom should be free to pursue their own prosperity and longevity. He will find that freedom is more difficult to destroy than he thinks it is!”
The crown went wild. Lijuan withdrew from the view of the public and shakily moved to Xiulans side. “That,” she declared, “was terrifying.” I don’t think speaking in front of crowds like that is going to be my favourite part of rule.
Xiulan shrugged, “you could have said anything and they would have loved you. Freedom and the empowerment of the common man is not something that they have ever heard spoken about by anybody with power. It is usually always about strength.”
Lijuan nodded but worried, “it won’t be long before my brother does march against us in strength. None of us are golden core cultivators yet.”
Xiulan stroked Lijuan’s hair and soothed, “we are on the edge of a breakthrough and besides we will have the advantage of numbers. I doubt he will arrive before we can prepare ourselves.”
King Ye basked in his glory. The most important leaders of the all the sects in the Capital were assembled on their knees in front of him. He took a perverse pleasure in having Qi Shen place the crown on his head. The man had was a symbol of his sister’s ever fading star.
The former crown prince had confined the actual ceremony to the cavernous throne room of the royal palace. The Capital at large though had also been instructed to stop all work in honour of the event.
All across the city slaves and servants had been instructed to line the riverbanks. As a second level golden core cultivator King Ye was the most powerful monarch that the Blue Crane Kingdom ever had.
Once the crown had been placed on his head the assembled sect leaders started a choreographed chant of, “Ye, Ye, YE!”
Normal at the start of his rule he would kill a few sect heads as an example. Luckily that would not be necessary this time round as his dear sister and here cabal of interior weaselling merchants would serve as a far better example.
He had heard that the Silver Waters sect had been helping her as well. His sister’s rebellion would provide the perfect excuse to wipe them out. They had stood in opposition to the royal family for too long.
King Ye rose from the throne and shouted with a qi infused voice, “my rise in cultivation and assumption of the crown marks a new period of cultivation in the kingdom. For too long we have shunned the martial traditions of the mainland and allowed consideration for the weak mortals among us to hold us back.”
He expected a cheer in response, but he would settle for the frightened silence that he received instead. He bellowed, “word has come down river that my sister has had the gall to declare herself the queen in defiance of my late father will and the long tradition of strength that we cultivators have obeyed. She has allowed her mind to be turned soft by merchants and the mulling masses and abandoned her strength to the strength of a few thousand servants. I will not allow this. I will show the kingdom what strength means by dragging her back to the Capital to answer for her treason. You all will come with me. This an opportunity to assert the rule of the strong over the weak.”
This time the was a measured cheer to punctuate his words. It was not over enthusiastic but that was fine. They would follow him because he was strong and going against him meant death. His strength would only grow as he bent the entire Kingdom’s cultivation resources to himself. Then his influence could be spread to the qi rich mainland. Eventually he would have to dissolve the separate sects., It was inefficient to have his servants all separated into their own little clusters as they were currently organised.
___
Xiulan was amazed how many people had shown up at the crowning ceremony on short notice. Thousands of people had travelled to the new central city from Spillwater and Temple Gorge. They had made no fanfare about the ceremony. XIulan had assumed that people would be getting on with their own tasks but apparently the people saw Lijuan’s crowning as an occasion worth celebrating.
Xiulan was pained by the income she was missing out on by not assuming the event would be well attended. Some industrious merchants and followed the crown with food cart and barrels of wine.
Lijuan seemed awed as she stared out at the assembled masses. Elder Xin had again taken it upon himself to officiate the ceremony. He seemed to enjoy the attention by proxy. They had not been able to use the Kingdom’s real crown obviously as that was still in the capital in the hands of Lijuan’s brother.
Fu Jinjing had made a far grander crown. The gold circlet had been styled as a wreath of delicate leaves and green gems speckled it like scattered berries. Lijuan was wearing a voluminous dress of imperial purple.
Taking a deep breath she said, “I thank you all for coming. I know that my brother has also declared himself king. He has the birth right and strength to back that claim. The one thing he does not have is the support of the people.”
There were wild cheers as Lijuan paused. To what degree people’s enthusiasm was fuelled by drink Xiulan was uncertain. Lijuan raised her hand for quiet and the people stilled. She took up her speech again, “My brother may have declared himself king but he can never be a true king for one reason. He does not care about his people. Already he is subjecting more and more people to slavery. Even the sects do not follow him out of respect but rather out of fear. Today on my crowning I declare that the practice of slavery is outlawed. My brother will probably come to kill me and those that belaive as in do that every person in the kingdom should be free to pursue their own prosperity and longevity. He will find that freedom is more difficult to destroy than he thinks it is!”
The crown went wild. Lijuan withdrew from the view of the public and shakily moved to Xiulans side. “That,” she declared, “was terrifying.” I don’t think speaking in front of crowds like that is going to be my favourite part of rule.
Xiulan shrugged, “you could have said anything and they would have loved you. Freedom and the empowerment of the common man is not something that they have ever heard spoken about by anybody with power. It is usually always about strength.”
Lijuan nodded but worried, “it won’t be long before my brother does march against us in strength. None of us are golden core cultivators yet.”
Xiulan stroked Lijuan’s hair and soothed, “we are on the edge of a breakthrough and besides we will have the advantage of numbers. I doubt he will arrive before we can prepare ourselves.”
