Castle of Black Iron

After the two immortal wind palaces returned to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for two weeks, the Forbidden City, after over half a year’s construction, was finally completed in July, the 3585th year of Emperor NvWa Calendar. Zhang Tie also moved to Forbidden City the moment it was completed.

As for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, the construction of Forbidden City was as simple as a billionaire buying a set of furniture.

Although Earth-Treasures Department lacked element crystals, it had enough crystal coins which were usually used by commoners. The entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace across Dragon Emperor Big Domain would levy tens of billions of crystal coins’ tax annually. On this occasion, Zhang Tie could easily have people build Forbidden City. In the beginning, Earth-Treasures Department even thought that Forbidden City was not large enough as it wanted to expand it. However, Zhang Tie vetoed it; because it would be meaningless for Zhang Tie to expand Forbidden City. He only wanted it to be built according to his memory.

The new Forbidden City covered less than 1 square miles. Being similar to a rectangle in shape, it faced south. It was longer than 980 m from south to north and wider than 750 m from east to west. The entire city was circled by a 10 m high wall. Additionally, there was a moat outside the city which was wider than 50 m. The entire city was divided into an external and internal courtyard. The external courtyard was centered on Dragon Emperor Palace, Qianji Palace and the Palace of Preserving Harmony while the internal courtyard was centered on Palace of Heavenly Purity, Jiaotai Palace and Palace of Earthly Tranquility.

The entire Forbidden City was pretty beautiful. After its completion, many details were out of Zhang Tie’s imagination.

After Zhang Tie moved to Forbidden City, the external courtyard of Forbidden City became the power center of the entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.

Dragon Emperor Palace replaced the role of Heavenly Safe Building in Dragon Emperor Pavilion as it became the place where Zhang Tie handled public affairs and the supreme assembly hall in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Qianji Agency being chaired by seven elders was located in Qianji Palace. The Palace of Preserving Harmony became the ceremonial site in Forbidden City.

Besides the three palaces in the external courtyard, there were more than 30 yards and buildings and over 400 imperial rooms. The five major departments of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace also moved in the external courtyard of Forbidden City, each one for one yard. They all circled around Qianji Palace and Dragon Emperor Palace.

Zhang Tie lived in the Palace of Heavenly Purity and entered secluded cultivation in Jiaotai Palace. As for the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, Zhang Tie had not decided how to use it. The original internal courtyard of Forbidden City was the imperial harem of the emperor while the original Palace of Earthly Tranquility belonged to the empress. However, Zhang Tie didn’t have any wife or concubine in Motian Realm; therefore, the Palace of Earthly Tranquility was vacant for the time being. Zhang Tie asked General Manager Leng to take care of it.

On two sides of Forbidden City, there were two military camps of Dragon’s Teeth Army. Like two wings, Zhang Tie’s Dragon’s Teeth Army extended to the east and the west of Forbidden City, protecting the entire city.

After Zhang Tie moved to Forbidden City, Qianji Agency had started to run officially.

According to the requirements that Zhang Tie formulated for Qianji Agency, only 3 of the 7 elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were handling public affairs in Qianji Palace while the other 4 were in cultivation or handling their private affairs every day.

Generally speaking, elders on duty would tackle daily problems facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace through negotiation. When they had a divergence of views, they could only accept the principle “the minority is subordinate to the majority”. When they couldn’t make a decision on major events, they would notice the other 4 elders to negotiate about it together. Only when all the 7 elders couldn’t deal with the events or had a major divergence of views would they report it to Zhang Tie. Otherwise, Qianji Agency was able to deal with all the daily affairs facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.

Previously, when there was no Qianji Agency, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had already run for over 900 years. Although the road was rugged, there weren’t any big loopholes that couldn’t be fixed. After Zhang Tie became the new Dragon Emperor, he set Qianji Agency which was above the five major departments. As a result, the elders could only give up their plans and work together in Qianji Agency. Elders were mutually restricted. The five major departments and Qianji Agency were mutually restricted. Forbidden City, Dragon’s Teeth Army and the other authorities were mutually restricted. Additionally, Zhang Tie was above all of them. On this occasion, it was almost impossible for Qianji Agency and the five major departments to conceal anything from Zhang Tie.

In ancient times, some emperors usually broke the former power and personnel framework by moving capitals. By founding the new power and personnel framework, they could consolidate their dominant positions. Zhang Tie’s move to Forbidden City was similar to that.

It was a wholly new situation for the new Dragon Emperor to move to Forbidden City. However, as for Zhang Tie, his move to Forbidden City meant that he had almost adjusted the authorities and personnel within Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in an all-round manner and stabilized his position as the new Dragon Emperor. From then on, Zhang Tie didn’t need to worry about the internal affairs facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace anymore. From now on, Zhang Tie could spend most of his time in cultivation.

On the evening of July 14, Zhang Tie became free completely as he invited Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin to the Palace of Heavenly Purity in Forbidden City for a drink and enjoyed the moonscape.

Now, almost everyone in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace knew that Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were Zhang Tie’s soul mates and trusted subordinates. Although the two women didn’t have great battle strength, as they were familiar with Dragon Emperor, they had pretty high positions in Earth-Treasures Department. Together with Leng Manxue, the three females were in their heyday in Dragon Emperor City. Some gossipers were guessing which of the 3 females could rule the Palace of Heavenly Tranquility in the future.

…

It was a pretty good day. In the evening, the moon was as bright and round as a wheel while the moonlight covered the sky. Within a garden of the Palace of Heavenly Purity, there were verdant trees. Golden fish were playing with water. Some crickets were rubbing their feet among the grasses. The garden was full of open peony blossoms, which smelt pretty fragrant. In a parterre, some red lanterns were hung over there where Zhang Tie was raising his cup together with the two girls.

“I appreciate your hard work…” Zhang Tie sighed as he raised his cup towards the moon, saying, “It’s been more than half a year. Last time, we drank in the Apricot Blossom Courtyard. I’ve not imagined that we could have a drink in Forbidden City. I propose a toast to you for your hard work!”

After clinking their cups, the three people bottomed up at the same time…

“Your Majesty, glad you know that we worked hard…” Ji Yuelan threw a gloomy glance at Zhang Tie after putting down her cup as she said, “Over the past half a year, Your Majesty, you just dispatched a job to us and left us alone as if we’re your tools. We even thought that you’ve forgotten about us!”

“Your Majesty, you are unrivaled now. We’re just your trivial subordinates. If Your Majesty let us keep an eye on Earth-Treasures Department, we will keep an eye on it. How dare we complain about our hard work!” Jiang Ruoxin let out a sigh too as if she was full of remorse. Since she had an unforgettable kiss with Zhang Tie in Apricot Blossom Courtyard, Jiang Ruoxin had felt special about Zhang Tie as her mentality started to change slightly. Especially after Zhang Tie became Dragon Emperor, perhaps Jiang Ruoxin had not realized that she had been more and more like a woman given her look, movements and tone in front of Zhang Tie.

Although the two girls were complaining to him, Zhang Tie knew that they were happy inside given their grand costumes which were like open peonies and their delicate make-up. On many occasions, women’s mood could be reflected in their costumes and make-up.

“When you’re with me, don’t call me Your Majesty. Just call me as same as before. In order to stabilize the position of Dragon Emperor, I’ve been too tired over the past half a year. How could I have time to have a drink or chat with you? Look, as long as I’m free, I think about you. You’re always in my heart!” Zhang Tie said with a smile. After that, he took out a palm-sized delicate box and pushed it to the front of Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin. “Look, I’ve even prepared a delicate gift for you. I’m sure you like it…”

As was imagined by Zhang Tie, the moment the two girls heard that Zhang Tie had prepared a gift for them, their eyes instantly shone as they gazed at that box at the same time.

“You only prepare one gift for two of us? Do you have any sincerity?” Ji Yuelan asked like a spoiled girl, “How do we share it…”

“You will know that after opening it.” Zhang Tie said with a smile.

After exchanging a glance with Ji Yuelan, Jiang Ruoxin stretched out her hand and opened the box.

It was a vivid cute jade tortoise stretching out its head inside the box. On its shell, there were natural mysterious grains which faintly formed a seal character “Yang”.

At the sight of the object in the box, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan became intense all over in a split second as their smiles disappeared…