“Oh?” The strategist who’d offered that idea arched a brow, rather disgruntled. Even though the prince liked the girl, she was still just a girl, and a young one at that. How would she have the same masterful insights as a strategist?
“Please share what vaunted insights you may have, Miss Qin,” he said stiffly.
Qin Yining didn’t let the tone irritate her. She smiled instead. “I rather think that the marquis’ main goal was to express friendliness, and that the other two goals Sir Xu mentioned were the real afterthoughts. If it wasn’t for the grudge between the prince and my father, the marquis would’ve never chosen to attack the Great Yan convoy to reach his goals.”
This new casual relationship drew real curiosity.
“And, I think that the marquis has two other more important goals other than the three already mentioned. Sir Xu is absolutely right when he says that the marquis is skilled at schemes. This is killing five birds with one stone.”
The named strategist quite disliked a girl showing off like this, but he couldn’t say anything with Pang Xiao present. His expression a rigid mask, he asked, “What are the other two goals? We would like to hear the details.”
Chapter 311: General Acceptance
Contemplation appeared on Qin Yining’s face as she put her words in order. “Apart from wanting to put a mistake in the emperor’s hands, the marquis is also making a friendly overture to His Majesty. He’ll probably do all he can to apologize and indicate weakness after returning to the palace.
“When someone usually strong and tough suddenly submits and emphasizes his place as a subject, that will certainly cause the emperor to look at him in a new light. The prince’s personality will also make the marquis’ gesture even more valuable in comparison.
“After this mess, it also gives the emperor the opportunity to say to the prince to ‘not randomly kill innocents’. After all, he couldn’t very well forbid the prince to take revenge before. This mess actually helps His Majesty keep the surrendered Yan officials that he wants to.
“But the most important thing is that not only does the marquis cozy up to the former Northern Ji officials with all this, but he can do a great favor for the surrendered Yan officials as well.”
“Oh?” Xu Weizhi’s brow was slightly raised, but the light of comprehension exploded in his eyes a moment later. He look at Qin Yining with both surprise and delight, remarking with great sincerity, “Miss Qin is wise indeed.”
Pang Xiao also looked at his beloved, who was speaking with great assurance; admiration danced in his phoenix-shaped eyes.
Qin Yining dimpled and used a tender, pale-white fingertip to draw circles on the teacup lid. She continued softly, ‘I come from Great Yan, so I more or less understand some of what the officials are thinking. There are three batches of subjects to enter the capital. The first are the ten aristocratic houses accompanying Commandery Prince Yan. These are the creme of the crop for the Great Yan officials. They’ll be very important after arriving in Great Zhou.
“But my guess is that the military officials at court must be from His Majesty’s personal party of followers. Apart from putting some of his people in key positions for the civil subjects, the remaining positions are divvied up between the former Northern Ji officials and Great Yan. This makes for limited vacancies.
“With the numbers of people that the marquis killed off in the first batch, that means there are more opportunities of the second and third batch. These people won’t necessarily have a bad impression of the marquis.”
“That’s right. Though it was a matter of life and death, and the people who died were innocent, those who survived may feel lucky and that ‘thank goodness so-and-so died, so that I have the opportunity to take this-and-that position’.” Pang Xiao sighed when he heard this part of her analysis.
One had to know that the prince rarely joined in his followers’ discussion. It was usually the strategists deliberating a problem, then Xu Weizhi brainstorming a few plans. Everyone would analyze the pros and cons of all of them together, then have the decisive Xie Yue pick the most appropriate one from all of them.
Pang Xiao would listen from the side during all this and express his opinions at the very end, but he wouldn’t interject halfway through.
His actions today were quite rare, but to be honest, everyone present wanted to echo his sigh when they thought of just how human nature was. Their impression of Qin Yining had also changed once more.
The Qin fourth miss smiled at Pang Xiao. “We don’t need to dwell on just how much evil lurks in human nature. Everything I just spoke about should be just an afterthought for the marquis, and this also wasn’t the key point of him extending an olive branch to the Great Yan officials. The key point still has to do with Your Highness’ feud with the Qins and Great Yan.”
Pang Xiao had understood her meaning by now. “It was Grand Preceptor Qin who was devised a plot, but the one who told him to do so was the trash emperor. When I attacked Great Yan, rumors within the capital made me out to be a demon who killed without blinking, and who ate the flesh and drank the blood of my victims. Those from Great Yan must be highly wary of me, deathly afraid that I’ll take my anger out on them. Or that I’ll hold them responsible for my father’s death.”
Her forehead tightly furrowed, Qin Yining concurred. “That’s right. Even though Your Highness has conquered Great Yan, you haven’t actually taken revenge for your father’s death. Therefore, the Greta Yan citizens must be afraid that they’ll be toyed to death, now that they’re in your territory.”
She paused here.
Everyone present was highly intelligent. They hadn’t thought of all this earlier simply because they were Great Zhou citizens, which meant an inherent bias in the way they considered problems. That didn’t mean she was much better than any of them.
She didn’t spell everything out, leaving some space for them to draw their own conclusions.
And indeed, expressions of deep thought appeared on everyone’s faces.
The strategist who’d been called out by the Qin fourth miss earlier had been wholly won over.
“It’s just as you’ve said,” he sighed. “The marquis didn’t take targeted revenge, but hacked about randomly and built the impression that the prince is someone who will kill even innocents in his quest for revenge. In this way, if His Highness wants to take action in the future, he’ll be faced with overwhelming public criticism. His reputation might even be ruined if it isn’t handled well. Isn’t this a perfect way to resolve the worries of Great Yan citizens?”
He rose and offered a cupped fist salute to Qin Yining. “I am Tao Hanshan. Please forgive my earlier offenses.”
Qin Yining rose with a smile to return the gesture. “Please refrain from such courtesies, Sir Tao. The prince has provided us an environment for conversation so that we can air our thoughts and exchange ideas. What offense have you given? It’s rather I who’ve been throwing my weight around and running my mouth before all the honored experts.”
“Not at all,” Tao Hanshan refuted. “The miss is wise and sharp with a meticulous mind. I hold high admiration of you.”
The two exchanged another round of humble pleasantries before taking their seats again.
The atmosphere was now very easy and lighthearted. The hostility the crowd had shown Qin Yining before, the desire to push her away from them, had completely evaporated after the previous conversation.
By now, they all understood why the prince was deeply infatuated with her, why he’d rescued her at all costs and why he would sacrifice his reputation to ensure the Qins’ future.
Such a woman was to be treasured.
And the Qins would make for wonderful in-laws, given their ability to raise such a daughter.
Seeing his previously pompous followers now adopt respectful, cautious attitudes, Pang Xiao felt like he’d drank a cup of hot tea in the wintertime. Warm contentment spread from the very bottom of his heart.
It looked like his worries
earlier had been unfounded. His darling would never shrink back just because someone had a dismal first impression of her. She would only advance forward in the face of difficulties. She would never be out of sorts or complain.
She was a luminary, never a shrinking violet or a basket of complaints with anything she’d met since she was young. She always tried her best, her very utmost.
Blood boiled within the prince, his affection for Qin Yining reaching unspeakable new heights. He wished ardently to keep her by his side everyday, so that he was the only person she ever saw.
As the discussion continued, Huzi’s voice suddenly travelled in from outside.
Pang Xiao knew that his bodyguard must have some urgent business, so he waved a hand for silence before calling out. “Come in.”
Huzi came in with a solemn expression. “This just came in. The Marquis of Northern Stability requested to wed the Grand Princess of Anyang [1]. The emperor has already assented.” Heart-stricken, he snuck a look at Pang Xiao’s expression.
* * *
1. Grand Princess: The eldest or most favored princess.
Chapter 312: The Grand Princess
Qin Yining looked at the prince with confusion when she saw Huzi’s strange expression and how the strategists seemed to be biting their tongues.
Pang Xiao was forthright. “I hadn’t expected that Ji Lan would ask to wed the princess. Their interest in each other wasn’t apparent before.”
But the interest between you and the Grand Princess was apparent! Huzi thought wildly. Are you sure you want to talk of this in front of the fourth miss?
Xie Yue and Xu Weizhi knew of the inside information, so their expressions were a bit awkward as well.
Qin Yining turned over the prince’s words and smiled. “There wasn’t mutual interest between the princess and the marquis, but there was… with you?”
Dead silence reigned inside the study.
Huzi silently backed up a few steps, like he wanted to escape the eye of a storm.
The strategists also looked at each other, not sure if they should prudently take their leave.
“After we overthrew the tyrant of Northern Ji, I was often by His Majesty’s side. After we swore brotherhood, I grew close with the Jis. We often visited each other, and the family elders would often joke about me and the princess.”
“I see.” Qin Yining nodded understandingly. “How old is the grand princess? Since she’s the sister of the emperor, she must be at a more advanced age?”
Pang Xiao smiled. “The empress dowager welcomed the grand princess at an advanced age. The princess is a full eighteen years younger than His Majesty. She’s about the same age as the emperor’s children. Therefore, he has only this younger sister. The princess showed high intelligence when young, which naturally drew His Majesty’s affection. I once thought that he wanted to bestow the princess onto me as a way to depend our bonds of brotherhood.
Here, he paused and declared seriously, “But I feel nothing for her in this regard.”
Qin Yining nodded slightly and turned to Huzi. “You just said that the Marquis of Northern Stability was the one who sought out the emperor. He brought up the topic of marrying the princess?”
“Yes, that’s what everyone’s saying outside.” A perplexed expression crossed his face as Huzi didn’t understand what Qin Yining was making a point of.
Pang Xiao immediately caught her drift. “Do you think that Ji Lan didn’t ask for this marriage of his own, free will?”
“A bit, but was there any hint before that something like this would happen?”
Pang Xiao carefully reflected on their shared history and shook his head. “Not at all. Ji Lan doesn’t like the princess. Anyang [1] kept her distance when young, but maybe Ji Lan suddenly changed his mind and likes her now.”
“That’s possible, but I’m thinking of another possibility. If the princess often heard family elders joke about the two of you when growing up, the hero worship and admiration from a little girl, and the hints and promises of the elders, would enable uncommon feelings to develop for you.”
Pang Xiao urgently wanted to explain when he heard this. “I don’t have anything going on with Anyang…”
“Your Highness, I’m not questioning you, I’m just objectively analyzing this matter. Just think about it. Does the princess like you? You’d be the clearest judge of this.”
It was so quiet inside the study that a pin drop could be heard. Pang Xiao sank into deep thought, as opposed to answering straight away.
“If there were ambiguous feelings between the two of you before, wouldn’t the marquis know? If he knew of it and still asked to marry the princess, then it would be at odds with him making a friendly gesture to you in the Great Yan convoy attack.”
The crowd was silent again.
Their conclusions earlier had been that Ji Zeyu had primarily done all that to extend an olive branch to Pang Xiao. Everything else had been afterthoughts or byproducts.
Thus, Ji Zeyu still wanted to be on good terms with Pang Xiao.
But if he knew of any relationship between the prince and the princess, and still asked for her hand in marriage, wouldn’t that be throwing their brotherhood away?
Therefore, Qin Yining’s idea was that despite how things seemed, the emperor had been the one to bestow marriage in this case, and Ji Zeyu had no choice but to follow imperial orders.
If explained this way, then all would be resolved.
The emperor had decreed the message, making it so that Ji Zeyu couldn’t decline. The imperial majesty had then told the outside world that it’d been Ji Zeyu making the request, thereby creating some bad blood between Ji Zeyu and Pang Xiao—the former candidate for a prince consort.
The most important thing was, the princess probably liked Pang Xiao. If she married the marquis with this kind of feeling, how would that not bother Ji Zeyu? Conflicts and complications would definitely crop up then.
All of these thoughts ran through Qin Yining’s mind, but nothing flickered through her expression. She didn’t plan on saying it out loud either. After all, it dealt with matters of the heart and she respected Pang Xiao’s privacy. She wouldn’t pursue this to the bitter end.
The strategists weren’t fools. Everyone was turning this over in their minds.
Pang Xiao thought for a moment and then smiled expansively. He stood with his hands behind his back and self-deprecated. “Isn’t this prince besieged on all sides with my current situation?”
He brandished his sleeves with a dashing flourish and a smile. “Think about it. The former Northern Ji officials hate me. The surrendered Great Yan officials are terrified of me. The brothers in the army are suspicious of me because of what happened with their pay before. The emperor’s stripped me of my command, and if even Ji Lan turns against me, then I really will be all alone.”
What Pang Xiao listed out was true, but not a hint of emotion accompanied it. In fact, he actually sounded like he was in a good mood.
However, even his strategists could feel the urgent stress of impending danger bearing down on him.
……
Li Qitian looked at the prim and proper girl kneeling in front of him. He rubbed his forehead with resignation and sighed. “Helan, how much longer do you plan on kneeling there?”
Grand Princess of Anyang, Li Helan, looked up at the emperor and choked back a sob. “Royal brother, you didn’t keep your word. You told me when I was a little girl that I’d be able to marry Pang Zhixi when I grew up. Now that you’re the most noble and respected man in the whole world, how would you not know what Lan’er wants? But you bestowed Lan’er onto Ji Lan! You know that we don’t get along! How am I supposed to live my life in the future?”
Li Helan’s features were daintily pretty, and she appeared even more pitiful when tears clung to her lashes.
Li Qitian had doted on this younger sister from the very beginning, and Li Helan was a very smart girl who knew when to press her advantage and when to retreat. Br
other and sister had always had a good relationship, so Li Qitian felt pained too when Li Helan cried over this.
“You should rise. We’ve already made the decision, so it can’t be changed. Besides, what’s bad about Ji Lan? He’s stunningly handsome and knowledge in both civil and martial subjects. Isn’t he perfect to be your prince consort?"
“But Lan’er doesn’t like him. Royal brother, can’t you dote on me this one time and don’t marry me off to Ji Lan?”
Li Qitian rubbed his forehead again when a thought suddenly occurred to him. He replied with a heavy and awkward expression. “Helan, We won’t keep this from you anymore. Pang Zhixi has long had someone he likes and the girl is in his manor now. We know that you like Pang Zhixi, but you won’t be able to win over that girl. Pang Zhixi would never agree to it as well. You should just listen to what I’ve arranged for you. Would I ever lie to you?”
* * *
1. Here he’s using her title as her name, which further denotes how the two aren’t close.
Chapter 313: To Probe
Li Helan might not have been born a princess, but her family had always highly treasured her and doted on her immensely.
Especially once Li Qitian conquered the world and possessed the economic support of all main Northern Ji aristocracy, as well as the wealth he’d plundered from war, life for Li Helan had been pretty much the same as being a princess.
Since her youth, to want was to receive. Not to mention that from her point of view, Pang Xiao was hers to begin with!
Her parents and brother had said a million times that she would marry Pang Xiao when she grew up. Li Helan had long since nurtured an admiration for Pang Xiao. She liked his arrogant dominance and relished his acumen in both strategy and valor.
Now that she was sixteen years old, she’d been waiting eight years to marry him.
Starting from her first glimpse of Pang Xiao at age eight, she’d treated as gospel her mother’s compliments of the prince, and the notion of being promised to him. Since then, marrying Pang Xiao had become the cherished dream of half a lifetime.
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