The blue-gray sky hung heavily over Lianyu City.
At the city's central palace, a Bronze Elixir Furnace over a zhang tall stood silently. Its mouth was deep and shadowy, no flame visible, yet it faintly gave off a dark red glow that made hearts tremble.
Beside the furnace stood several figures in broad dark-purple robes, each holding a pale bell that was neither metal nor jade, white as though carved from bone.
"Ding... ring... ring..."
The bells suddenly sounded. They were not piercing, yet they clung like gangrene to the bone, carrying a kind of penetrating—Good heavens, Senior Sister had misunderstood badly. He Peiyuan hurriedly explained that she had never followed Yang Jingxing around on wild excursions, not even once. Besides, Yang Jingxing himself did not particularly enjoy business trips. Though he received many invitations, he could not even finish handling everything on his plate at home.
Although Wang Jing's rank seemed lower than Nakamura Kotaro's, the weight carried by an Imperial Major General was clearly not something a general from a vassal state could compare with. Before Major General Wang Jing, General Nakamura Kotaro behaved like a bootlicking lackey, nodding and bowing with extreme respect.
Han Gang had been exceedingly busy these past few days, his mind focused entirely on academic matters. Aside from keeping an eye on the affairs of the Firearms Bureau and the Mint Bureau, only the Compilation Bureau could distract him.
"Zhang Dun gathered the allied armies of every division outside Shenglong Prefecture in the first place to attack the city. Now, with the rain not yet stopped, forcing an assault is simply courting defeat. After two or three setbacks, they will no longer have much morale left to attack the city." Li Changjie understood this deeply; it was his own firsthand experience, bought in