Fortunate Young Gentleman

There is only one palace in the capital of Chu, which is the Xinwang Palace.

Unlike Chen, the emperors of Chu would appoint a crown prince early. Other princes would go to their respective fiefdoms after they came of age. Without a transfer order, they were not allowed to return to the capital or build a palace in the capital.

But Xinwang was different. As the brother of the current Majesty and the regent of a country, Xinwang was transferred back to the capital from his fiefdom when the Majesty ascended the throne, and was entrusted with important tasks, becoming the only exception in Chu for decades.

And Xinwang did not disappoint the Majesty. Over the years, he worked with the Majesty to maintain peace at home and abroad, making the national strength of Chu flourishing. Since the Majesty was ill and stayed away from the court, he managed the court inside and outside in an orderly manner, and everyone was convinced.

Because of this, Xinwang also accumulated unparalleled prestige in Chu, far exceeding that of the crown prince. Now the crown prince is incompetent, and there are voices in the court and among the people to let Xinwang "replace him".

However, in addition to helping His Majesty manage state affairs, Prince Xin did not do anything beyond the limit. Instead, he often taught the prince and delegated power to him. As a result, the people and court officials all admired Prince Xin even more, and the call for him to replace the prince became even louder...

In Prince Xin's mansion, the most powerful man in Chu put the teacup heavily on the table and said disdainfully: "The princes of Chen are more useless than each other, and they still want to marry my daughter?"

The young man standing below smiled bitterly and said: "Your Majesty, this time the envoys sent by Chen to ask for marriage are probably difficult to deal with, and Chen has already sent Princess Pingyang to marry him. Marry her here. With the diplomatic relations between the two countries, even Your Majesty cannot refuse this matter. "

Prince Xin snorted coldly and said, "Marry Princess Pingyang here and want to marry my daughter back. Zhao Zheng, this old fox, is really good at calculating. He pretends to be kind and righteous on the surface, but when he uses his own daughter as a bargaining chip, his subordinates are not merciful at all!"

He walked out of the door and asked, "Where is the princess?"

The young man said, "In the back garden."

Because the princess likes flowers and plants, the back garden of Prince Xin's mansion is very large. It is mid-March now. The flowers in the garden are in full bloom, and the air is filled with a sweet fragrance.

The woman in white held the sword in one hand, and the long sword in her hand danced like a spirit snake. After a moment, she made a beautiful sword flower, looked at the middle-aged man standing in the pavilion, and asked: "How come father has time to come here today?"

The middle-aged man said: "There is nothing to do in the court, I came to appreciate the flowers and tell you two news by the way."

Li Tianlan sheathed the long sword, looked at him, and asked: "What news?"

"The Emperor of Chen agreed to our marriage proposal and has sent people to escort Princess Pingyang. She will arrive in Kyoto in two months at the fastest and three months at the slowest."

Li Tianlan looked at him and asked: "What's the other one?"

The middle-aged man said: "The Emperor of Chen also sent an envoy to ask for marriage from Your Majesty and let you marry to Chen."

"No." Li Tianlan said simply.

"Of course not." Prince Xin shook his head and said, "My daughter has won the first place in the imperial examination and is both civil and military. Who in the whole Chen Kingdom is worthy of you?"

As if he remembered something, he said, "I heard that Chen Kingdom had a champion who won the first place in the imperial examination last year. He is a talent. You happened to be in the capital during the imperial examination. Are you familiar with that person?"

Li Tianlan's face moved slightly and said, "I am familiar with him."

"Even if he is also a champion in the imperial examination, he is not worthy of you in terms of status." He looked at Li Tianlan and said, "But Lanlan, there are men in the world who are smarter and better in martial arts than you. Are you really not going to lower your requirements?"

"Let's talk about it later." Li Tianlan waved his hand and walked out of the garden.

The middle-aged man looked behind him and asked the young man, "Who did you say was the envoy sent by Chen Kingdom to send the marriage this time?"

The young man bowed and said, "Tang Ning, the doctor of the Ministry of Rites and the bachelor of the Hanlin Academy."

...

Prince's Mansion

There was singing and dancing in the palace. A young man was lying on a soft couch, and a woman in light clothes beside him put pieces of cut fruits and vegetables into his mouth.

A figure hurried in from outside the palace and said, "Your Highness, there is an urgent report."

The young man on the couch waved his hand, and a woman came up with a wine glass. He took the wine glass and rinsed his mouth before saying, "Speak."

The person said, "Your Highness, Chen State agreed to the marriage, and Princess Pingyang has set off. She should arrive before June."

"I know." The young man looked at the beautiful dancing of several women in the palace, and his expression could not tell whether he was happy or angry.

The man said again: "Your Highness, there is one more thing, you will be happy to hear it."

The young man looked at him and asked: "Oh, what is it?"

The man smiled and said: "Your Highness, the Chen Kingdom delegation is not only here to send the bride, they also want to marry Princess Changning."

The young man immediately became excited and asked: "Is there such a thing?"

"It is true." The man nodded and said: "In order to strengthen the diplomatic relations between the two countries, the Emperor Chen wants Princess Changning to marry a prince of Chen Kingdom, and has sent a marriage envoy here."

The young man smiled. He had been dissatisfied with his cousin for a long time.

The girl did not learn needlework and embroidery, but went to the imperial examination. Everyone in the capital knew that Princess Changning was a first-class woman in the world with literary talent and military strategy. No man in Chu could match her. In addition, there was actually another sentence at the end, although Princess Changning was a girl, she was much better than that useless prince.

And he was that useless prince.

It would be fine if those people said he was not as good as Prince Xin, but they actually said he was not as good as a woman. Did they consider the feelings of the prince?

A man behind the young man stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, Princess Changning is the only daughter of Prince Xin. I'm afraid Prince Xin will not agree."

"Disagree?" The young man shook his head and said, "Uncle Prince Xin is so sensible, how could he not agree? It is a matter concerning the diplomatic relations between the two countries and the people of the two countries. How could he not agree?"

He sneered and said, "If he really disagrees, that would be great."

...

Chen State, a state in the north, on the official road.

Dozens of carriages moved slowly forward. It had been a month since they left the capital. Everyone was covered in dust, but the atmosphere was not dull.

Along the way, they were not in a hurry to travel. They traveled for six hours every day. When they encountered a city, they would rest for a day or half a day. Most people were in high spirits.

According to the current speed of travel, they would arrive at Fengzhou in about half a month. Fengzhou is the northernmost city of Chen State. After leaving Fengzhou, they would reach the border of Chu State.

Tang Ning sat in a luxurious carriage. Under the curtain, a slender little hand secretly stretched out. Tang Ning took the candied fruit she handed over and put it in his mouth.

After riding a horse for three days outside the capital, his butt was so painful that he couldn't stand it, so he sat outside Zhao Man's carriage.

She originally wanted Tang Ning to go in and rest, but outside the capital, this carriage was the princess's boudoir, and he, an outsider, naturally couldn't go in.

Honglu Temple Secretary He Rui was staring at him in the carriage behind, hoping that something would happen to him. It was not comfortable to be stared at like this all day. Tang Ning wanted to find an opportunity to arrange him, but He Duan was cautious and usually didn't come out to see him, so he couldn't find an opportunity to attack for a while.

Along the way, Lu Teng was loyal to his duties and did a good job of defense, but if you think about it carefully, there was actually nothing to defend. There were nearly a thousand people in the team, and 800 of them were fully armed imperial guards. Not to mention small thieves, no matter which mountain bandit force saw them, they would have to stay away.

There were 800 guards in the territory of Chen State, so there was no need to worry about any security issues. However, He Duan and the envoys arranged by Prince Duan would appear in front of him from time to time, which made him feel annoyed.

A figure came from the front, bowed to him, and said, "Lord Tang."

In addition to the servants and guards, there were also two imperial doctors in the team this time. Tang Ning looked at him and asked casually, "Doctor Wang, what are you doing?"

Doctor Wang said, "Lord Cui is not feeling well, I'm going to see him."

Tang Ning thought for a while and said, "Lord Cui is sick... If it's serious, let him recover here. It doesn't matter if one person is missing. Health is important..."