noffsinger Chapter 350: Bloody Love Begins with a Random Match
Chapter 350: Bloody Love Begins with a Random Match
Gu Jianchu nodded, but couldn't help but look at Xie Qingrou who was not far away.
After being reminded by Xie Ci'an, she had some impression of Xie Qingrou.
Xie Qingrou is the daughter of Concubine Qian. Because her mother is favored by the late emperor, Xie Qingrou has a high status in the palace and is second only to the legitimate daughter Xie Qingzhi. However, because their mothers do not get along, Xie Qingzhi and Xie Qingrou are two enemies in the palace. Whenever they meet, they always quarrel. No matter what the other gets, they will also try to grab it. Over time, the rumors that the two do not get along have become a hot topic.
Although Gu Jianchu had never seen the two quarrel, he had heard about it from the young ladies in Beijing.
She still remembered that the Dongli Kingdom was eyeing the border covetously, but the late emperor did not want to go to war and sent people to the border to negotiate. The Dongli Kingdom's peace terms were to marry a princess to the border and reduce their annual tribute.
At that time, my father went home and told my mother and eldest brother that the national treasury was short of funds and it was not suitable to go to war. Agreeing to these conditions of Dongli Kingdom was their best option at the time. If they went to war with Dongli Kingdom, it would be a waste of money and manpower, and they might not be able to win when the national treasury was extremely short of military rations.
Since the Dongli State proposed a marriage alliance, it proved that they did not intend to go to war at that time. They just wanted to use the marriage alliance to reduce the annual tribute and establish relations with the Jin State, so as to obtain a hundred years of peace.
The late emperor had the same idea.
Marriage can protect the people on the border from the chaos of war.
Although the late emperor had many children, his only daughters were his legitimate daughter, born to the empress, and Xie Qingrou, born to Concubine Qian. Neither the empress nor Concubine Qian wanted their daughters to marry off to a foreign prince. After all, they both knew what marriage meant.
Princesses who were married off to foreign countries had few human rights and were only bullied.
The two people who had been fighting openly and secretly for half their lives were now competing secretly again in order to keep their daughters. Even the late emperor was very conflicted, after all, both of them were his most beloved daughters.
At this moment, Xie Qingrou took the initiative to stand up and said that she was willing to go to Dongli Kingdom to marry. She even said that she was born in the royal family and since she enjoyed the respect of the people, she must fulfill her obligations as a princess. Letting those people who were already unfortunate continue to live in the war was the only contribution she could make to the people. However, if she went to Dongli Kingdom, she hoped that the late emperor would treat the concubine well.
At that time, not only the emperor and his ministers, but even the common people were moved by the princess's righteousness. These words even circulated among their young sisters for a long time.
In order to reassure Xie Qingrou, the late emperor appointed Concubine Qian as Imperial Noble Concubine, a position second only to the empress. He also left a special imperial decree for his daughter, allowing her to return to the palace at any time. He also assigned ten of his secret guards to Xie Qingrou, who could protect her safety in Dongli Kingdom. Whatever Xie Qingrou wanted to do, it would be convenient with these people's help.
In order to let Xie Qingrou live a better life in Dongli Kingdom, the late emperor emptied his own treasury as a dowry for Xie Qingrou. On the day of Xie Qingrou's marriage, the people came to see her off all the way from the capital to Dongli Kingdom. Those people came in an endless stream to spontaneously see the princess off.
They even gave all the food they had saved to Xie Qingrou to buy her dowry, just to thank her for her willingness to marry into the imperial family and save them from the suffering of war. For a time, Xie Qingrou became a hero respected by everyone.
Even though Xie Qingrou was not in the capital, the late emperor still used his own money to build a princess mansion for Xie Qingrou so that Xie Qingrou could return to the country in the future or have a place to stay when she came back.
[Xie Qingrou has been married to Dongli Country for five or six years. Why did she suddenly return home now?]
Gu Jianchu looked at Xie Ci'an beside him and asked in a low voice, "Did the emperor order Xie Qingrou to come back?"
Even if Xie Ci'an issued the decree, there had to be a reason. Now was neither the New Year nor the New Year's banquet between her and the emperor, so there was really no excuse for her to come back.
"No." Xie Ci'an held Gu Jianchu's hand and shook his head.
Not only did he not issue an order to summon Xie Qingrou back, he didn't even know when Xie Qingrou would return to the capital. He only found out that she had returned after she had already arrived at the palace gate.
Xie Qingrou married into the Dongli Kingdom for the sake of the people. She was a hero after all.
She sacrificed her life for justice back then and would never desert. Now that she's suddenly returned, I'm afraid something must have happened in Dongli Country.
Hearing this, Xie Ci'an couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
【Something really happened in Dongli Kingdom.】
Xie Ci'an's frown deepened.
But he did not receive any news of changes in the Dongli Kingdom.
Since Xie Ci'an ascended the throne, he has been ambushing secret guards in various small countries. If there is any movement, he will be able to grasp it in time, just as they will also ambush spies in Jin State and the capital.
There are two possibilities for why the secret guard did not pass on the news. One is that the royal family of Dongli Kingdom deliberately suppressed the news. Apart from their royal family, even the ministers in the court probably didn't know anything about it. The other is that all the spies he planted were pulled out and silenced by them. However, this possibility is not high. If they were pulled out, the news would have come out.
The development of Dongli State has been much worse than before in recent years, but Jin State is now developing steadily. There is no possibility for Dongli State to fight with Jin State. Their smart choice now is to depend on Jin State.
Xie Qingrou didn't return to the palace for help; she simply wanted to escape Dongli Kingdom, which is why she chose to return to the capital. The Dongli Kingdom's royal family had been in turmoil for half a year, but even the ministers of Dongli Kingdom were unaware of this, let alone the spies the Emperor had planted there.
[What kind of melodramatic love story is this? The Dongli Kingdom's royal family's complicated and tangled relationships are enough to write a storybook.]
Dongli State has two princes, the eldest and second. Before Xie Qingrou went to marry the princess, the eldest prince had been secretly dating the prime minister's daughter, but the King of Dongli was unaware of this. For the eldest prince's sake, he absolutely allowed him to marry Xie Qingrou, the princess of the marriage alliance. This way, the eldest prince would have the support of Xie Qingrou and the entire state of Jin. Originally, the King of Dongli had not considered allowing the eldest prince to marry Xie Qingrou, but Xie Qingrou was willing to take the initiative, and along the way, the common people kept sending her off. The dowry they gave Xie Qingrou was enough to feed the people of Dongli State for several years.
After much deliberation, Prince Dongli finally decided to have the eldest prince marry Xie Qingrou and the second prince marry the Prime Minister's daughter. This decision was truly a complete mess, a mess that couldn't be messier.
[The bloody love story of Dongli Kingdom also started from this random matchmaking.]
The eldest prince naturally did not want to accept this arrangement, so he went to King Dongli to explain it clearly. However, before he could even open his mouth, King Dongli directly rejected his proposal and threatened him with the throne. Naturally, the eldest prince compromised for the sake of the throne.