An imperial edict?
How could there possibly be an imperial edict?
At this moment, Xiao Yunting was casually chatting with today’s Imperial Lecturer, Lord Han, about the proposed marriage alliance involving Princess Baorong.
Lord Han was the epitome of a principled Confucian scholar, one who valued integrity and scholarly virtue above all.
He frowned with distaste and said, “Since the founding of Great Zhou, there has never been a precedent for a marriage alliance! This time, it’s only because their Huailiang Qin Wang offered the ten-year mining rights to the silver mines in his territory. Otherwise, how could His Majesty have agreed to marry off the princess?!”
In truth, this matter had indeed caused quite a stir throughout the entire court for some time.
Civil and military officials alike had continuously submitted memorials in opposition, arguing that allowing the princess to be married off in such a manner would bring disgrace to the face of Great Zhou.
But then, the envoy requesting marriage presented a personally handwritten state letter from Huailiang Qin Wang, in which he pledged to offer up the mining rights for ten years in order to wed the princess and receive an official imperial title from the Great Zhou Emperor. Only then did the voices of dissent gradually subside.
Everyone was an old fox in politics—who didn’t understand what Huailiang Qin Wang’s move meant?
He wanted to use the power and status of Great Zhou to marry the princess and claim the title of “legitimate ruler,” then leverage that backing to go back and sweep through the other feudal lords, unifying the eastern islands under his rule.
Xiao Yunting let out a chuckle and then stood up, smiling as he said, “Yes, back when Director Luo was lecturing me about the eastern islands, he once mentioned an old event. Huailiang Qin Wang of the eastern isles had once sent a delegation of over five hundred people to the capital, but their words were filled with disrespect!”
Then, in a low voice, he continued, “A nation greater than the Central Plains, people more ancient than ancient men. Clothing and crown in Tang style, rites and music patterned after Han. Weren’t these the very words spoken by their envoys?”
The moment he brought this up, Lord Han turned red in the face and thick in the neck with fury.
He couldn’t hold back and spluttered, “Utter nonsense! Absolutely absurd! A bunch of short, stubby men who only came to be after Xu Fu’s expedition across the seas dare to look down on our Celestial Empire! Frogs at the bottom of a well! Frogs at the bottom of a well!”
Xiao Yunting smiled faintly. “That wasn’t the end of it. Later, when the eastern islands again attacked our coastal regions, the Emperor’s grandfather sent Qiao Lian, the Director of the Ministry of Rites, to deliver a harshly worded state letter to them.”
Lord Han’s face grew even darker.
Of course, he remembered that incident!
The state letter included lines such as: “If you insist on acting as thieves and bandits, I shall dispatch the navy, sail across the islands, capture your followers, and march directly to your land to bind your king.” When Huailiang Qin Wang saw those words, he executed five of the envoys in response.
Even Qiao Lian, the official envoy, was imprisoned for five months before being released.
Lord Han was furious just thinking about it.
Seeing that emotions were thoroughly stoked, Xiao Yunting finally said, “Now this current Huailiang Qin Wang is said to be the grandson of the previous one. But if his grandfather dared be so disrespectful to our great empire, how good could the grandson possibly be? He’s marrying the princess and even wants a noble lady as part of the dowry. And in the future? Will he then boldly demand that Great Zhou provide him with firearms from the Firearm Division?”
At those words, Lord Han could no longer sit still.
He immediately went to find his teacher, Censor Tie.
He got straight to the point: “Why marry off the princess?! These stunted islanders—back then we didn’t go to war with them only because the late emperor passed away suddenly. Otherwise, just for killing our envoys, we should have marched on them!”
He looked at Censor Tie and said, “Teacher, the Imperial Grandson asked me—now that they’re getting bolder, asking for noblewomen in the dowry—if we agree to that, then one day, if they ask for weapons, for military arms, do we give it to them?!”
If the princess was sent off in marriage, that meant acknowledging formal relations between the two nations—or at least between Great Zhou and Huailiang Qin Wang’s faction—making Huailiang Qin Wang Great Zhou’s imperial son-in-law. Would those islanders then care about face?
When that time came and they made outrageous demands, would Great Zhou be expected to give them everything?
That very night, Censor Tie and Lord Han worked tirelessly to draft a memorial and submitted it directly to the Emperor the next morning.
They didn’t even follow the usual procedure of submitting it to the Grand Secretariat first.
They delivered it in full court, directly handing it to Emperor Yongchang at the imperial audience.
Emperor Yongchang ordered the Shilang of the Ministry of Rites to read the decree aloud.
When it came to the part quoting Huailiang Qin Wang, the faces of the civil and military officials all changed.
Emperor Yongchang’s own expression also darkened at once.
Earlier, when Princess Baorong had wept pitifully before him, he had only thought that her request to have two companions in her dowry wasn’t excessive.
But who said anything about noble daughters being part of the dowry?
He turned his head and asked the Shilang of the Ministry of Rites, Cuizheng, “I told you to discuss the candidates—when did you finalize them? How is it that I know nothing about this?”
At that moment, the long-absent Old Marquis Qi suddenly stepped out from the ranks, dropped to his knees, and declared in a thunderous voice, “Your Majesty! Have you not heard the saying: ‘Send this concubine to ensure the safety of the state—why speak of needing generals?’ If the Ministry of Rites plans to send my granddaughter as a dowry in this marriage alliance, then you might as well let this old minister don his armor and fight the Wokou head-on!”
Censor Tie was so furious, he was nearly spitting in Emperor Yongchang’s face.
The Emperor tapped the table and pointed directly at Cuizheng. “You explain. When did I appoint these candidates?!”
Cuizheng—he was so livid, his face was red and his neck was bulging.
The entire court was now looking at him like he was a traitor.
From now on, the censors were likely to write him into the record as a treacherous official!
A most grievous injustice!
With a heavy thud, he dropped to his knees and cried out, “Your Majesty! This minister hasn’t finalized any names at all! It’s just that Her Highness the Princess once submitted a draft list of dowry companions on her own—it included the eldest daughter of the Yongping Marquis’s family and a young lady from the Wang family…”
But this matter was so serious—how could he have dared decide on his own?
He hadn’t even reported it to his superior or the Grand Secretariat yet—how had this list gotten out?
How had the list gotten out?!
Meanwhile, the Imperial Grandson—lead investigator in the White Lotus case—was at the Qi family’s Peach Blossom Courtyard.
Qi Yuan pursed her lips and looked at him, truly unsure how to describe the complicated feelings in her heart at that moment.
She had already been preparing to find a way to eliminate the entire envoy, including Princess Baorong, on the way to the Eastern Isles.
Who could’ve expected Xiao Yunting to come up with such a plan instead?
She couldn’t help but sigh. “Your Highness really didn’t have to go to such lengths for me. I have my own way of handling it.”
But Xiao Yunting remained unmoved. “I only wanted to show you—killing doesn’t always require a blade. You don’t have to throw your life away to kill. There are other ways… to kill invisibly.”
With this move of his, not only had the dowry plans fallen through—
Even the entire marriage between Princess Baorong and Huailiang Qin Wang now seemed uncertain.
Qi Yuan felt like she should say something.
Xiao Yunting had gone to such lengths, scheming so carefully on her behalf.
But all she could do was look at him in mild confusion and ask, “Why are you telling me all this?”
“When someone does something for the person they like—no matter how willingly, no matter how sweet the suffering—deep down, they always carry a sliver of hope. The hope that one day, the other person will understand.”
“I’m no exception.”
Xiao Yunting looked at her seriously. Seeing her lower her head and hide her expression, he simply laid everything bare: “Qi Yuan, I’m fond of you. My feelings for you are unlike what I feel for anyone else. If you don’t like me, that’s your business. As for me—my business is to try everything I can to make you fall for me.”
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