As Zhao Min spoke by his ear, Song Qingshu finally understood what "breath like orchids" meant. Her breath brushed against his skin, and it felt as though someone had plucked at his heartstrings several times.
As for the Twelve Palaces and One Prefecture she mentioned, they were a special administrative system of the Liao Country. Every Liao emperor established his own Ordo, or palace, which served as a political, economic, and military institution personally controlled by the emperor, certain consorts, or imperial princes.
They had administrative offices, officials, armies, pastures, prefectures and counties, as well as palace personnel engaged in production and service. An Ordo's income was the private property of its owner. Palace personnel "guarded the residence in peacetime and attended their master when he traveled." "When called upon, the able-bodied went to war while the old and weak remained behind." After an emperor died, they were inherited by his consorts and descendants.
The Liao Country had thirteen Ordos in total: twelve belonging to nine emperors, two empresses—the Empress Dowager Shulü Yueliduo, wife of Taizu, and Xiao Chuo, wife of Emperor Jingzong—and one imperial younger brother, Yelü Longqing, the Imperial Younger Brother Xiaowen during Emperor Shengzong's reign; along with the palace of Wenzhong, who was a prince, established by Han Derang, Grand Chancellor during Emperor Shengzong's reign. Together, they were known as the Twelve Palaces and One Prefecture.
Xiao Feng's father had once served as chief instructor of the Gongfen Army. That alone showed that his martial arts were extraordinary and his status unique.
Song Qingshu pondered this in secret. He remembered that in the original work, Xiao Yuanshan had been the chief instructor of the Shushan Army. But in this world, the Liao Country had declined, and the Empress Dowager's power had dwindled to the extreme. The Shushan