After Immortal Wind Palace returned to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for 2 weeks, in July of the 3584th year of Emperor NvWa's Calendar, the Forbidden City which had been under construction for over half a year was finally completed. Zhang Tie also moved to Forbidden City from Dragon Emperor Pavilion the moment the Forbidden City was completed.
As for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, the construction of Forbidden City was as simple as a billionaire buying a piece of furniture.
Although Earth-Treasures Department of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was short of element crystals, they were very rich in common properties; especially crystal coins used by commoners. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace which monopolized the entire Dragon Emperor Big Domain could collect tens of billions of crystal coins as tax each year. On this occasion, Zhang Tie could easily build Forbidden City. In the beginning, Earth-Treasures Department even thought that Forbidden City was not large enough and wanted to build it a bit larger; however, it was rejected by Zhang Tie. As for Zhang Tie, if Forbidden City was too large, it would be boring. As long as it was built according to his memory, it would be enough.
The newly built Forbidden City covered less than 1 square mile. It was slightly rectangular. Facing south, it was longer than 980 m from north to south and wider than 750 m from east to west. The Forbidden City was surrounded by 10 m high walls. There was a new moat with a width of over 50 m outside the city. The entire Forbidden City was divided into outer court and internal court. The center of the outer court was Dragon Emperor Palace, Qianji Palace and Baohe Palace; the center of the internal court was Palace of Heavenly Purity, Jiaotai Palace and Palace of Earthly Tranquility.
The entire Forbidden City was splendid. After its construction, many details were completely out of Zhang Tie's imagination.
After moving to Forbidden City, the outer court of Forbidden City became the center of power of the entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.
Dragon Emperor Palace replaced the role of Heavenly Safe Building in Dragon Emperor Pavilion and became the highest place for Zhang Tie to deal with official affairs and internal affairs of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Qianji Agency which was presided by the seven elders was located in Qianji Palace. Baohe Palace became the place for holding ceremonies in Forbidden City.
Besides the three palaces, there were over 30 courtyards and over 400 houses and palaces in the outer court of Forbidden City. The five major departments of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace also moved into the outer court of Forbidden City. Each of them occupied a courtyard and surrounded Qianji Palace and Dragon Emperor Palace.
In the inner court, Palace of Heavenly Purity was where Zhang Tie slept. Jiaotai Palace became where Zhang Tie entered secluded cultivation. As for Palace of Earthly Tranquility, Zhang Tie had not thought about what to do with it for the time being. After all, the original inner court of Forbidden City was the harem of the emperor and where the concubines of the empress lived. Palace of Earthly Tranquility was the territory of the empress. As Zhang Tie didn't have any women or harem in Motian Realm, of course, Palace of Earthly Tranquility was vacant for the time being.
On two sides of the Forbidden City, there were two new camps of Dragon's Teeth Army. Zhang Tie's new Dragon's Teeth Army unfolded in the east and west of the Forbidden City like two wings, protecting the Forbidden City.
After Zhang Tie moved to the Forbidden City, Qianji Agency started to run officially.
According to the operation requirements of Qianji Agency, only three of the seven elders were on duty and dealing with the internal affairs of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, while the other four were cultivating or doing their own affairs. The seven elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace took turns to be on duty in Qianji Palace.
Generally, the elders on duty would solve the daily problems facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. In case of divergence or disagreement, they would deal with it by the principle of the minority obeying the majority. Only when the three elders on duty couldn't make a decision would they inform the other seven elders to negotiate with them. Only when the seven elders couldn't deal with it or had a major divergence would they report it to Zhang Tie. Otherwise, Qianji Agency would be able to deal with all the daily affairs facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.
When there were only five major departments, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had been running continuously for over 900 years. Although there were some stumbles, they didn't make any irreparable mistakes. Now that Zhang Tie was back, there was one more Qianji Agency which could rule the five major departments. As a result, the elders could only work hard in Qianji Agency. There were checks and balances among elders, the five major departments and Qianji Agency, the Forbidden City and Dragon's Teeth Army, these authorities and Zhang Tie who held the highest power. On this occasion, it was almost impossible for Qianji Agency and the five major departments to hide anything from Zhang Tie.
In ancient times, some emperors and wise monarchs always broke the old framework of authority and personnel by moving their capitals so as to establish a new framework of authority and personnel so as to establish their ruling positions. Zhang Tie moved to the Forbidden City in the same way.
After the new Dragon Emperor moved to the Forbidden City, it was a brand-new atmosphere for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. As for Zhang Tie, it meant that he had basically adjusted the internal authority and personnel of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, which meant that Zhang Tie had stabilized the position of Dragon Emperor. From then on, Zhang Tie didn't need to worry about and waste his time on the internal affairs of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace anymore. From then on, Zhang Tie could devote all his energy to cultivation.
On the evening of July 14th, Zhang Tie who became completely free invited Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin to the Palace of Heavenly Purity in the Forbidden City to drink and enjoy the moons with him.
Now, almost all the people across Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace knew that Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were Zhang Tie's confidantes and confidantes. Although the two women didn't have great battle strength, as they were acquainted with the Dragon Emperor, they had high positions in Earth-Treasures Department. Plus Leng Manxue, the three women were very popular in Dragon Emperor City. Some busybodies were guessing which one of them could enter the Kunning Palace in the Forbidden City in the future.
…
It was a fine day today. In the evening, the moonlight over Dragon Emperor City was as bright as a wheel. In a garden of the Palace of Heavenly Purity, there were green trees and golden scales playing in the water. Some crickets were rubbing their palms in the grass. The peonies in the courtyard were in full bloom, giving off a fragrance. In a flower court, some red lamps were lit. Zhang Tie and the two women then toasted each other again.
"It's not easy …" Zhang Tie sighed with emotions as he raised his glass towards the moon, "It's already been over half a year. When we toasted each other last time, it was in the Apricot Blossom Courtyard. I've not imagined that we're in the Forbidden City again. You've worked hard over the past half a year. Take this toast to you!"
After toasting each other, the three people had a toast …
"Your Majesty knows that we've worked hard …" Ji Yuelan said as she put down her glass and threw a glance at Zhang Tie with a hidden bitterness, "Over the past half a year, Your Majesty assigned us a task before sending us aside. You didn't care about us at all. We're like Your Majesty's tools. I thought that Your Majesty had forgotten about us!"
"Your Majesty is high and mighty. We're just a small soldier in Your Majesty's hand. As Your Majesty wants us to keep an eye on Earth-Treasures Department, we have to do that. How dare we say that we've worked hard?" Jiang Ruoxin also let out a sigh with self-pity. Since she kissed Zhang Tie in the Apricot Blossom Courtyard last time, Jiang Ruoxin felt special about Zhang Tie. Her mentality had also changed slightly; especially since Zhang Tie became Dragon Emperor, perhaps Jiang Ruoxin didn't realize that each time she faced Zhang Tie, she would become more and more feminine in terms of look, action and tone.
Although the two girls complained, Zhang Tie could see that they were very happy today. Given their splendid costumes which were as beautiful as peonies and their meticulous make-up, Zhang Tie knew that they were very happy today. In many cases, women's moods were determined by their clothes and make-up.
"As the three of us are together, don't call me Your Majesty anymore. Just call me as before. In order to stabilize the position of Dragon Emperor, I've been as tired as a dog over the past half a year. How could I have time to chat and drink with you? As long as I'm free, I would immediately think of you. Who said that I've forgotten you?" Zhang Tie said with a smile. Closely after that, he took out a palm-sized delicate box and pushed it to the front of Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin. "Here, this is the gift that I've specially prepared for you. I'm sure that you would like it …"
As was imagined, the moment they heard that Zhang Tie had prepared gifts for them, the two women became spirited at once as they gazed at that box with gleaming eyes.
"You've only prepared one gift for the two of us. That's too insincere!" Ji Yuelan said in a spoiled manner, "How do we share it …"
"Open it and you will know it." Zhang Tie replied with a smile.
After exchanging a glance with each other, Jiang Ruoxin stretched out her hand and opened the box.
Inside the box was a lifelike jade turtle with its head stretched out. The turtle shell on the turtle's back was engraved with a natural and mysterious pattern. At first glance, the pattern looked like the character 'Yang' in seal script.
At the sight of this item in the box, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan instantly became tense all over as their smiles disappeared at once …
(To be continued.)
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
