Chapter 9: The banquet

This time, it was called the Alliance. In fact, there are still many tribes who are still waiting for the arrival of the Junggars. Most of the tribes who have been with Lingyun for generations in advance have arrived, and some tribes with weak strength have also sent people to show their friendship. Kurten's tribes were the boss, and the two princes of Sotu and Sakh came together, and the Crown Prince Lingyun personally presided over the alliance, which brought endless attraction to this grand event.

However, the Junggars who agreed to the alliance were not seen for a long time, which made Feng Wuhen feel extremely uneasy. The grassland men naturally had the most generous nature, but there were also those sinister and cunning types. In previous battles, only the Junggars gave the Lingyun court the greatest lesson. These people were capricious, but the monarchs of all generations were unable to take action to defeat them all, so this problem has been left to this day. Only when the emperor succeeded to the throne, he had a beautiful victory, which almost caused the Junggar tribe to be destroyed. Unexpectedly, they have recovered their vitality and even provoked the Central Plains again.

However, Feng Wuhen’s mission this time was not a problem with Junggar, but to stabilize many tribes in Mongolian in the south of the Mohe. In the emperor’s mind, the tribes in Mongolian in the west of the Mohe often killed each other, and because of the Central Plains culture, the descendants of the Han and Mongolian intermarriages were already spread all over the grasslands, which could barely be considered their own race. Even the emperor himself also had the bloodline of the Kurten tribe of the golden tribe. Therefore, it was undoubtedly the emperor’s first priority to include these powerful tribes and the land under their jurisdiction in Lingyun’s territory.

Lai Shan had long heard of the emperor's marriage. Although he and Feng Fanke were different in terms of age, he didn't care about it. On the grassland, as long as you have the strength, it wouldn't matter if you snatch the wife of the feud, let alone Feng Fanke was just a nominal blood relationship with him. Although he was over fifty years old, Lai Shan's body was much healthier than the old man in the Central Plains. His face was flushed and he spoke like a loud bell. He was actually in the same position as his nephew Bactu. In Lai Shan's opinion, a warrior like him was naturally worthy of a noble girl like Feng Fanke, so he just glanced at the woman inside through the curtain, and he went to prepare for the evening banquet with satisfaction.

The banquet that night was particularly lively. In order to show his courtesy to distinguished guests, Lai Shan ordered people to prepare a full sheep table early, which was filled with fine wine and various dairy products. After Feng Wuhen sat down, Lai Shan personally presented horse milk wine with the highest etiquette of the tribe. This custom was taught by Yu Rongqi before Feng Wuhen left Beijing. Therefore, after he took the bowl with both hands, he dipped his ring finger in the right hand and shot it three times in the air to show his respect for the heaven, earth, gods and masters.

Lai Shan was obviously very satisfied with Feng Wuhen's actions. He immediately slapped three times and saw more than a dozen brightly dressed charming girls singing and dancing. The girl in the lead had bright eyes and white teeth, but she was a little more innocent and generous than the Central Plains girl. She held a bowl of wine and sang a beautiful toast song, and danced around Feng Wuhen. Although she was prepared for a long time, the girl's almost teasing attitude still made Feng Wuhen a little embarrassed, and her face turned slightly red.

After finally ending the song, he took the wine bowl from the girl's hand as if he was a general amnesty and drank it all in one go. The strong wine choked his throat so hot that he did not dare to show any abnormality. Mongolian men all had this custom of drinking, so how could he dare to be despised in this section? Therefore, after the toasts and singing, the other two princes and a group of nobles frequently persuaded him to drink, he almost confusedly poured more than a dozen bowls of strong wine. Fortunately, he had already tried it when he was in the capital. Although the Nine Refining Yin and Yang Gang had no other effect, the effect of quenching the wine was first-class. Therefore, no one noticed it while he went in and out, but his throat was hoarse.

At this time, Lai Shancai ordered people to place a large wooden plate on the dining table. He saw a red ribbon tied to the neck of the sheep. After Feng Wuhen watched, he asked someone to lift the sheep into the center of the crowd. A shirtless strongman held a shiny sharp knife and quickly cut it up and placed it neatly. He cut a little from each piece of meat and placed it on the sheep's head. After these steps were completed, he saw the strongman roaring, kneeling forward a few steps forward, holding the entire wooden plate high, holding the sheep's head up, and raising it towards Feng Wuhen. So Feng Wuhen took small pieces of meat from the sheep's head in turn to taste it, and looked at Lai Shan with a smile to show his respect to the owner.

After this complicated etiquette, everyone began to enjoy the whole sheep mat. Of course, according to ancient customs, the sheep's tail and calves were not eaten, and they had to be greeted to the master. However, among the people who followed Feng Wuhen, the old man Yu Rongqi, the Minister of the Lifan Academy, naturally just ate two pieces and stopped using them. Feng Wuhen was also used to being trained since childhood, so it was impossible for him to learn from those bold men to eat. Xiao Yunchao could not bear the fishy smell and could barely send them to his mouth in small pieces.

Therefore, the people who ate the most enjoyable food on the table were Lu Yuanchang, Zhang Yunfeng and their confidant generals. Although they were not qualified to attend, they were respectful to the Lingyun Soldier and Lai Shan had a good impression of both generals, so they invited them together. Feng Wuhen was also happy that they acted as guards, and Lai Shan agreed immediately as soon as he asked.

After several rounds of toasts, the girls changed their clothes and came to sing and dance. Although these grassland women were not as good as those of the Central Plains, they lacked the smell of powder and had a bit of spiritual beauty nourished by the soil and water. They were all filled with a bright style. Xiao Yunchao had already put down the wine bowl in his hand, and he drank a lot, his eyes were full of desire caused by the beauties of strong wine. Even old men like Yu Rongqi were unable to control them. After all, such passionate and unrestrained dances were definitely not appreciated in the capital, but he still tried his best to restrain himself and kept stroking his beard with his hands.

Lai Shan smiled and looked at the uncontrollable appearance of the powerful and powerful in the court, and was extremely proud. What kind of hypocritical and sitting upright, and when he met a beauty, he realized his true colors? The tribe has a large population, so how many girls with such attractive appearances are, and he is afraid that these people will not take the bait? When he saw Feng Wuhen on the opposite side, he still turned his head with a smile and admired the singing and dancing, and couldn't help but frown. This time, his preparation was for the prince. If he could not attract him, nothing would be in vain. Thinking of this, he quietly made a gesture to the girl leading the dance.

The girl nodded with understanding. Sure enough, the tune suddenly became more rapid and unrestrained, and the postures of the group of dance girls suddenly became even more seductive. Even though Feng Wuhen had to suppress his mind at first, he had a bit of aura in his breathing at this time. Lu Yuanchang and Zhang Yunfeng were completely stunned. Although they had enjoyed all the gentleness the last time, they still couldn't control themselves when watching this kind of erotic dance again. On the contrary, the men of all ethnic groups who had always seen this kind of hot dance just cheered loudly and poured wine into their stomachs. Everyone knows that Prince Kurten Lai Shan is generous. There will definitely be beautiful women to sleep with them later, so why should they compete with the powerful people in the court?

When the song ended and the people dispersed, the table was already in a mess, and the whole roasted lamb was left with only the skeletons left, and the guests were also quite in a skeleton. Lai Shan took advantage of the situation and stood up in a deep voice, "Everyone is a distinguished guest of my Kurten tribe. Today the journey is exhausted, I have prepared a tent for you to rest. Come, guide you to the guests."

Feng Wuhen, Xiao Yunchao and others remained unmoved. Lai Shan sent someone to give orders early to tell them to stay for a while, so even if they were a little dizzy when they drank, they had to hold on for a while. After Lai Shan treated the guests from other tribes, he walked to Feng Wuhen with a smile, pointed to the girls who had not yet retreated and said, "Your Highness, Lord Xiao, Lord Yu, what about it, my Kurten tribe's hospitality method is quite comprehensive, right?"

This sentence was very ambiguous, and Feng Wuhen was stunned. Xiao Yunchao said first: "Your kindness is great, we will naturally pay our respects. The grassland style is very different from that of the Central Plains, and this time I really appreciate it." Yu Rongqi glanced at the uncle dissatisfiedly, obviously dissatisfied with his interruption before Feng Wuhen. However, this time, even he was shaking his eyes and completely lost his previous Taoism posture, so he couldn't say anything.

Feng Wuhen suddenly came to his senses. Seeing Lai Shan's smug look, he couldn't help but praise: "The singing and dancing in the Central Plains are so beautiful, but they are not like this grassland girl. She can even bring killing and killing in singing and dancing. She is worthy of being the Kurten tribe who is good at riding and shooting. I guess she has exhausted the prince today, and I have been very eye-opening."

Lai Shan is a rough man. Although he also learned words to admire the culture of the Central Plains, he was not very familiar with such hidden words and phrases. Therefore, he just laughed for a while and covered them up, but he was really confused in his heart. He waved to the girl who was leading the dance, "Yana, come here to see Your Highness!" The girl walked quickly and bowed her knees and saluted, "Yana pays homage to Your Highness the Prince!"

Seeing Feng Wuhen’s face was puzzled, Lai Shan smiled and explained, “Your Highness, Yana is Xiao Wang’s beloved daughter who has been separated for many years. After her mother passed away a while ago, she found this place with a token, so she has not given her the identity of the princess.” He looked at his daughter lovingly and continued, “This time she shouldn’t have come out to perform a dance, but she said she admired the heavens and wanted to join in the fun, so Xiao Wang couldn’t resist and had to go with her.”

Feng Wuhen was surprised when he saw the girl's dark eyes always glance at him. He didn't expect that this girl was the result of Lai Shan's romantic relationship outside. Prince Kurten was so unrestrained. If it were other officials of the court, she wouldn't even have the chance to recognize each other.

"It is a great blessing to meet the prince and his daughter again. However, has the prince never looked for them and their mother and daughter?" Although he knew that this was a bit inappropriate, Feng Wuhen still asked. After all, Princess Yana came to him at this time, which inevitably attracted people's doubts.
Chapter completed!