Chapter 638

The sun shined brightly and there were no clouds in the sky. On the eastern field, the flags fluttered.

This was the first day of the West Chu and East Qin competition.

There were two stands built on the large eastern field, one on the left and one on the right. There was a canopy on the stands that blocked the sun and there were several dozen chairs placed on each side.

The official competition time was set at noon, but when it was just past noon, the West Chu ministers had already arrived on the left stands. Each one of them had a worried look on their faces as they whispered to each other.

There were two seats in the middle with a dragon and phoenix engraved on them. These two seats were prepared for Empress Dowager Zhou and the emperor.

Not long after, under the escort of the imperial army, Mo Chuan rode his horse in front and Empress Dowager Zhou's carriage in the back, appearing in front of the ministers.

The ministers all stood up.

Mo Chuan dismounted his horse and personally helped Empress Dowager Zhou off the sedan. Then he helped Empress Dowager Zhou step by step onto the high platform.

"Greetings to the emperor, Empress Dowager." The ministers all shouted out.

"Everyone, no need to be so polite."

Mo Chuan helped Empress Dowager Zhou into the phoenix chair. He looked over at the stands on the other side and saw that it was completely empty, without a single person. His heart was a bit surprised.

"The East Qin envoys haven't arrived yet?" His brows slightly knit as he looked at the hourglass on the side.

There was less than an hour left until noon. Could these East Qin people really have confidence in winning and they didn't need to prepare ahead of time?

"Reporting to the emperor, the news this servant has heard is that the East Qin envoys left the guest post early in the morning and left the city. They haven't returned yet and they haven't said a single word, so we don't know what happened." Xiao Si bowed as he replied.

"Left the city?" When Mo Chuan heard this, he felt this was unbelievable.

When the ministers heard this, they all began to make guesses.

Time slowly passed and it was getting closer and closer to noon, but not a single person from the East Qin envoys had appeared.

The West Chu ministers all stood up and looked at the gate of the field, their hearts almost jumping out of their throats.

In the large eastern field, other than the ministers, there were also several thousand royal guards, but everyone was holding their breath. The field was completely silent, even a pin drop could be heard.

This was because according to the agreement, as long as one side didn't arrive at the time of the competition, it would be considered the winner.

After a while, seeing that the sun was about to rise to the middle of the sky, some of the ministers could no longer contain their excitement and began to discuss spiritedly.

"Ha, ha, it seems like East Qin is afraid of our West Chu Country, so they didn't fight."

"That's right, how could they not say a single word and leave?"

"In my opinion, their East Qin clearly knows they can't win against our King Jing An, so they ran back to their country with their tails between their legs!"

"Ha, makes sense, makes sense!"

At this moment, a loud "dong" was heard, followed by the sound of a huge cannon salute.

This was the first cannon shot. As long as the East Qin envoys did not appear after the third cannon shot, it would be equivalent to them forfeiting.

Hundreds of pairs of eyes looked at the gate of the East Drill Ground, but there was no one there.

The ministers' laughter.

Even Empress Dowager Zhou's brows couldn't help slightly twitching. Her tense face also softened.

She had been on tenterhooks for the past few days and was most worried about this moment.