Long Hui raised his head and surveyed the magnificent city before him.
Every visit to the Central Plains left Long Hui profoundly awestruck.
Especially this time: the Central Plains had changed rather too much. The level roads, tidy cities, and unbroken stretches of cultivated land left even Long Hui astonished.
An official from the Ministry of Rites had come to welcome Long Hui.
Pei Xiu had not come in person, merely sending a gentleman of the court.
"Your Highness."
The gentleman smiled and saluted him.
Until he formally received the emperor's investiture, Long Hui was only an heir apparent and could not be called king.
Although Long Hui rather disliked that form of address, he dared not show it.
This was not Sha Province.
Still, Long Hui was not worried that he would be unable to inherit the throne.
He and his father had a fairly good relationship with the emperor. His father frequently exchanged letters with the emperor and was close to him, which meant Long Hui also received gifts bestowed by the emperor from time to time.
In this civil war, he could also be said to have had a just cause for taking up arms.
Long Hui followed the gentleman into the city, where the man lodged him in a courtyard belonging to the Ministry of Rites, reserved specifically for distinguished visitors from elsewhere.
Even this courtyard for receiving guests was far more lavish than the Royal Palace of the Kingdom of Karasahr.
Among the many royal palaces in Sha Province, the Royal Palace of the Kingdom of Karasahr was considered relatively small. Never mind the Kingdom of Kucha-it could not even compare with the Shanshan Kingdom.
Long Hui surveyed his surroundings, marveling again and again.
The gentleman's surname was Liu, and he was not particularly old.