A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 586 The prince asks to marry a daughter of the Wu family

"Teacher, there is something that is troubling me."

Under the verandah, Prince Chengqian sincerely asked for advice and help.

"Why are you troubled, Your Highness?"

"Martial Arts Su Family, does the teacher know about it?"

"Xueshi Su's family?"

"Well, His Majesty plans to choose Su's daughter as the Crown Princess, and Su Xuesheng's younger brother Su Dan as Secretary Cheng. He has a ten-year-old daughter..."

"The Su family is also a famous family in martial arts. Scholar Su is also the Princess of Nanchang. Su Quan is also quite talented in literature."

"I don't like Su Shi."

Cheng Qian also said bluntly in front of Wu Huaiyu, "I have met Su before. She is not good-looking. Moreover, in short, I don't like her very much. I don't want to marry Su as the crown princess."

Wu Huaiyu also didn't expect that Cheng Qian would dislike the fiancée Li Shimin and his wife chose for their son.

"Your Highness, I remember that the Su family seems to be related to the royal family."

"Well, the Su family's great-grandfather Su Wei was Yuwenhu's son-in-law, and my grandmother, Queen Taimu, was the niece of Yuwenhu's cousin, Emperor Wu of Zhou."

Su Wei was the son of Su Chuo, the minister of Duzhi in the Western Wei Dynasty, and the son-in-law of Yu Wenhu, a powerful official. He started out as a meritorious official in Jingzhao. He was granted the title of Duke of Meiyang County and married Princess Xinxing. Later, he supported Yang Jian in establishing the Sui Dynasty. He held important positions, became the prime minister, and founded the emperor. At the beginning, he was one of the four nobles in the court.

During the Daye period, despite several ups and downs, he still held the high position of prime minister and was one of the five noblemen of Daye.

The Su family has a high reputation for martial arts as a whole, and several generations of the Su family have mainly contributed to martial arts. From Su Wei's father, Su Chuo, the two brothers were both called the two Sus, to when he was the prime minister during the Kaihuang Daye period, and then to his son Su Kui was famous all over the world when he was young, and now his two grandsons, Su Xu and Su Dan, are also very famous. One was a bachelor of the Prince of Qin's palace, and the other is the current secretary-general.

Moreover, the Su family and the royal family are still relatives.

The princess's family background is quite good.Especially for Li Shimin, instead of choosing the five surnames of Shandong and the six surnames of Guanzhong, it would be more reassuring to choose the martial arts Su family. It even implies the emperor's expectations for the future of the prince, hoping that he can be a conservative king and be able to govern the country safely and steadily.

It is not a good thing for descendants to be too powerful.

Ke Chengqian didn't like Su.

"Little Madam Su is only ten years old and hasn't grown up yet. She will become a girl and she will look better in a few years." Huaiyu comforted her.

"Do you like her or not?"

Cheng Qian saw how serious he was and asked, "What kind of woman does Your Highness like?"

"Last time, Mr. Ma was unwell and went to visit his family alone. He met a young lady, which was very good."

The little lady in Ma Zhou’s family?

Wu Huaiyu was a little surprised. Ma Zhou was now the deputy minister of the Yushitai, the official secretary of the Yushitai, and the official admonishment officer. He was also the crown prince Zuo Shuzi. He also held several important positions. Because he was also the Zuo Shuzi, he had to go to the East Palace frequently to follow The prince is quite familiar.

The young ladies Ma Zhou saw at home were definitely not the two nieces brought by the eldest sister. They were about the same age, but the two nieces’ surname was Han, and their father was just an ordinary Yuan Cong forbidden soldier and died in the war long ago. Their origins were destined to It is impossible to become a crown princess.

Ma Zhou had a son with his first wife, and now he has another son with his eldest sister.

"I wonder who your Highness saw?"

"Sister Ling."

Huaiyu was even more stunned, my sister?
Huaiyu originally had only one sister, Wanniang, born to the Wang family. However, in the past three years, Lao Wu took in several concubines and several maids, and gave birth to several more children.

Wan'er has already been promised to Wei Shuyu, the second eldest child of Wei Zheng's family, and the other sisters are all one or two years old. Chengqian can't be attracted to a baby who is one or two years old, right?

"The second wife of Duke Zhou's mansion."

Cheng Qian was honest and said that he had gone to Ma Zhou's house to visit his husband. It happened that that day, Mrs. Yang of Zhou State and her three daughters also came to visit Ma's house.

Yang is the aunt of Ma Zhou's wife Wu Yu'e. On the other hand, Ma Zhou's eldest son Ma Zai is engaged to the warrior Xun and Yang's eldest daughter Shun Niang.
So the two families are closer to each other.
Cheng Qian met the three sisters of the Wu family that day, and Yang took her daughter to pay homage to the prince and said some words.Cheng Qian was most impressed by Wu Erniang. Recently, the emperor wanted to choose a concubine for the prince, and he fell in love with the daughter of Su Dan, the secretary of the martial arts Su family.

Cheng Qian also specially tried to find a way to meet Su's daughter.
Then I was very disappointed, especially when compared with Wu Erniang, I felt that it was far behind.

"My second sister-in-law is only six years old this year, right?" Huaiyu was a little helpless.

You don't like the ten-year-old, but you think the six-year-old is fine?

Such a little girl can see what's good.

"The second lady is lively and smart, and she is also very generous and intelligent. When talking to her, she is generous and very decent..." Cheng Qian thinks that Wu Erniang is very good in everything, and is much better than Su.

Su is the kind of boring girl who can't even say a word and just keeps her head down, and she's not pretty.

"I feel that Lady Wu is like a nimble white fox."

Huaiyu couldn't help but shake his head, Chengqian, you're only 11 years old. No matter how young and budding you are, it's still too early. What's more, can a six-year-old girl really like you?
He looked at Cheng Qian carefully,

Found some clues.

Maybe this kid is dissatisfied with the current decline of the Su family, and is interested in the momentum of the Wu family.

The Bingzhou Wu family's theoretical background is indeed far inferior to the Su family's martial arts, but in terms of current power, it is indeed far superior to the Su family.Although Su Wei did well in the Sui Dynasty, he offended Li Shimin and his son and missed the opportunity to attach himself to the Tang Dynasty. In the end, he could only regret his death in his hometown, even though his eldest grandson Su Xu joined the Qin Palace and became a bachelor, and is even now selected by Li Yuan. The prince consort promised him the young Princess Nanchang,
But this is just the royal family using the opportunity of marriage to win over the Su family.

As for Su Tan, he was just a secretary-general. He was Qing Qing, but he was neither expensive nor wanted. If he were a member of Zhong Shu She or given a position like Shi Zhong, then he would be both Qing Qing and expensive.

The biggest problem with the Su family is that their family has been a civil servant for generations and has no influence in the military.

In contrast, the Wu clan in Bingzhou now has two families in the court. One is the Wenshui Wu clan, which is the warrior Xun brothers. Among the four brothers, one is actually crowned as the Duke of the country, and two are pretended to be the county Duke. Now the warriors Xun was the governor of Luozhou, and Samurai Yi was also the governor of Yuzhou.

The other branch is the Wu Huaiyu family. The emperor's heart is Wu Shaobao, who is very popular for a while. His brother Wu Huaiyi is also the governor of Shaozhou, and his brother-in-law Ma Zhou is still the emperor's confidant.

The most important thing is that Wu Huaiyu has many connections in the military, including his teacher Li Jing, the old Guanlong military aristocrat, his adoptive father Qin Qiong, not to mention the main representative of the military generals of the Prince of Qin, and he has a very powerful Wagang family behind him. .

Wu Huaiyu was a little doubtful of his guess. The prince was still so young and could already think about such complicated things in his mind, so he started to make such calculations?

"Teacher, can you help me mention this matter to His Majesty?"

Wu Huaiyu didn't answer.

Because he knew very well what standards Li Shimin and Empress Changsun gave to the princes in choosing spouses, especially to the princes.
Don’t choose the five surnames of Shandong, the six surnames of Guanzhong, the old Guanlong aristocratic families, or even the famous relatives of Dugu, Dou, Changsun, and Gao.
I chose a Su family of martial arts, which is very particular.

This is not Li Shimin drafting Na'mei for himself in the past few years. The emperor has added many new people to the harem in the past few years, but the main ones are the famous families with five surnames in Shandong, seven families in Guanzhong, and six surnames in Jiangnan. They choose their families. When women enter the palace, it is the emperor who personally wins them over.
But the emperor was not willing to choose women from these old gentry families for his son, at least he was not willing to let them be his first wife.
The underlying reason for this is that we still don’t want these deep-rooted old gentry to rise again quickly, especially to avoid losing control.

Even if the prime ministers, relatives and nobles are all vying for marriage with the five surnames and seven families, the emperor cannot do this.

The Wu family is not as well established as the Five Surnames and Seven Families, nor is it as high-status as the Six Surnames in Guanzhong, but after all, it is also a relatively fast upstart. The prince wants to marry the daughter of the warrior Yu, or the younger sister or daughter of Wu Huaiyu. , is inconsistent with the emperor’s original intention and positioning.

Even this kind of thing, for Huaiyu, has the risk of crossing the line.

His own son was a princess, and he promised a daughter to a concubine prince. This was already the limit.

If you still want to marry the prince,
That's dangerous.

Wu Huaiyu is more keen in this regard.

The prince may have valued Wu Huaiyu very much. Whether he valued his reputation, talent, power, potential, etc., Wu Huaiyu could not accept this matter.

Because the emperor will not allow this to happen,

In the end, he had no choice but to sigh to Cheng Qian, "Your Highness, as far as I know, the second lady seems to have already made a promise to someone else,"

"Ah? I've asked around, but it seems there isn't one, right?"

"I heard my uncle say it once before, but I don't know the details."

"Your Highness, I actually think that when it comes to marriage, you should listen to your parents' arrangements. If you have different opinions, you can speak out to your parents, but in the end it is still decided by your parents. Marry a virtuous wife, take a concubine and have sex with a princess. It’s a serious matter, so be cautious.”

This is a polite refusal.

Cheng Qian was stunned there, as if he couldn't believe the result.

"What the teacher said is true, but Gu Zhen doesn't like Mrs. Su and feels that Mrs. Su is not suitable as a wife,"

"If the second lady is already engaged, then the third lady should not be engaged yet. It would be nice to meet the third lady that day."

Huaiyu became more and more certain that Li Chengqian, a young boy, seemed to have read a lot of books in the past two years and gained some insight.

I really want to further my relationship with the Wu family.

It's a pity that this kind of thing is not in line with the emperor's wishes, and may even touch the emperor's red line. Although Warrior Xun has been recognized by Li Shimin in the past two years, after all, he is the origin of Yuancong, the confidant of the Supreme Emperor.

Wu Huaiyu was young and powerful, and it was true that he won the emperor's trust, but if he wanted to be the prince's father-in-law, or become the prince's brother-in-law, such a thing was obviously not possible.

If Wu Huaiyu couldn't figure this out and really wanted to propose marriage to the emperor on behalf of the prince, Li Shimin would definitely be suspicious of his ambition and his excessive pursuit of power.

"When it comes to marriage matters, you should still listen more to your parents' orders and the matchmaker's words." Huaiyu said.

Cheng Qian was very disappointed when he saw Huaiyu's refusal, and said helplessly, "My great-aunt and Princess An also mentioned to Your Majesty that the daughter of the Wang family in Taiyuan is her grandniece. She is very beautiful and a lady, but Your Majesty does not want to choose a girl with the fifth surname as the Crown Princess, and His Majesty does not even want to choose a girl with the sixth surname in Guanzhong."

"His Royal Highness is only eleven years old and has not yet reached the age of crowning. It is still early for marriage. There is no rush. Let His Majesty and the Queen choose slowly."

"But His Majesty and the Queen have already chosen Su's daughter."

"Then your Highness can find an opportunity to talk to His Majesty and Queen in private. Or maybe His Highness just had a misunderstanding about Su Xiaoniang before!"

Cheng Qian seemed a little impatient and asked directly, "Why is the teacher unwilling to marry Gu?"

"Your Highness has misunderstood. If there is an opportunity, both the minister and the Wu family would be honored. Ten thousand people are willing, but this matter requires His Majesty's consent."

Cheng Qian stared at Huai Yu, "If Your Majesty insists that I marry the Su family as the crown prince, then can I ask the Wu family to accept a daughter as Liangdi?"

"As long as His Highness likes it and His Majesty agrees, I will naturally be willing to do anything."

"That's for sure."

Under the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty, the prince's concubines include Liangdi, Liangyuan, Chenghui, Zhaoxun, Fengyi, etc. Among them, there are two Liangdi, who are of higher rank and are regarded as the third rank.

(End of this chapter)