darknovel Chapter 432 He favors her
Chapter 432 He favors her
This is a good idea!
Ling Menghui originally planned to use living people to move the stones away first, and then find a way to retake Tianfei Pass. As for the fact that he could only live for three years, what could he do?
The soldiers at Xiling were being misled into believing that a giant stone guarded the border, preventing the Great Zhou from invading. Yet, those soldiers guarding the pass were spending their days and nights with the giant stone.
"However, the Emperor has issued an edict that the hot air balloon incident must not be exposed, especially to Xiling."
The fear is that the other side will use this method to retake Tianfei Pass.
The Crown Prince said, "Send men to follow it. Once it's a certain distance from the Great Zhou, shoot the hot air balloon with a rocket, causing it to burn up in the air without leaving a trace."
The rockets here are not the rockets that went into space in later times, but arrows carrying burning grease.
"This is a brilliant plan."
The Crown Prince said, "As for retaking Tianfei Pass, I would appreciate it if my senior uncle could give me a chance to make a contribution."
Tianfei Pass is not easy to capture. If we were to use hot air balloons again as we did last time, it would be too much trouble. Using hot air balloons too often would inevitably reveal our location, and it is even more impossible to sacrifice lives.
Since he was here, he didn't want to sacrifice the lives of his soldiers.
My mother always said that every human life is precious, and only by cherishing human life can we live a long life.
"However, please keep this a secret for me, Senior Uncle."
Ling Menghui then realized that the Emperor and Empress must have given the Crown Prince a life-saving weapon when he came here.
Once the matter was resolved and the tent was quiet, the Crown Prince took out the letter his mother had written and carefully read it, intending to savor it word by word. However, including the salutation, it contained only four sentences:
"Sons, your mother is planning to choose brides for you. What kind of girl do you like, or would you like to choose yourself?"
The prince turned the letter over and over, and indeed it contained only a few sentences.
He couldn't believe it. Was it really that concise? Or was ink in the palace in short supply this year?
The crown prince struggled to his feet and, supporting himself, wrote a reply to his mother. This is where the advantage of "conciseness" became apparent; he wrote it down in just a few sentences without much trouble.
"Mother, Father, your son is doing well and pays his respects! I think General Ling's eldest daughter is very nice. She has taken good care of me since I came here. I am interested in her, and I ask that you grant my wish."
Ling Menghui married much later than Li Yuanke. He and his wife were very much in love. His wife had a difficult childbirth when she gave birth to Ling Xinian and almost lost her life. She was unable to have children for many years afterward and only had Ling Xinian as her only daughter.
Shen Shixi was quite happy to receive her son's letter. She had no intention of choosing a concubine for her son and couldn't accept an arranged marriage. So she said to Fuguang and Wangshu,
"If you two are capable in the future, you can choose a suitable marriage yourselves. If you are not capable, then let your father arrange a marriage for you. I don't want to choose any concubines for you."
Originally, she had no choice but to participate in the imperial concubine selection because of the Crown Prince. In any case, the marriage of the heir apparent could not be delayed. However, the Crown Prince proved himself and found someone he was compatible with, so she became too lazy to bother with anything else.
The main problem is that Wang Shu, although young, is very close to the young lady from Nie Yun Shen's family. That young lady follows him around like a little tail every day. She even tries to choose a concubine for Wang Shu. Isn't that a slap in the face to the Nie family?
Fu Guang then said, "Mother, I don't want to get married. Girls are all so pretentious, I can't stand them. Please don't worry about me choosing a concubine, I don't want to."
"Oh, good, that's great."
Since her own son wasn't involved, Shen Shixi simply handed over the selection of concubines to Consort Xian and Consort Shu, whose sons, as well as the sons of Consort Guo and Consort Yuan, were also needed.
Consort Xu was also in high spirits, because the Ninth Prince was getting on in years and it was time for him to get married.
I heard that the palace is selecting concubines, and the starting age is fourteen. It is obviously being prepared for Fu Guang and Wang Shu. Nie Huaiying, the little girl of the Nie family, cried uncontrollably and threw herself into her mother's arms, heartbroken.
Nie Yunshen got married very late. When he was young, he was deeply in love with Shen Shixi. It wasn't until Shen Shixi gave birth to their second child that he slowly began to shed his illusions about her and get his feelings back on track.
Constantly keeping her thoughts on Shen Shixi isn't a good thing for her either.
The woman he rescued was from a humble background, but she was gentle, well-educated, and very capable. The year after their marriage, they had a daughter, Nie Huaiying.
Lady Ji was speechless. "How old are you? I won't say anything about you living in the palace all day and not coming home, but what's with this tantrum? What does it have to do with you whether the Twelfth Prince chooses a consort or not?"
"Why can only those fourteen years and older run for election? I'm a bit too young. What's wrong with me running? What if he chooses someone else? Mother, why didn't you meet Father sooner and give birth to me sooner?"
Madam Ji slapped her daughter twice hard. "If you keep acting up, I'll send you to the border."
Then, a servant came up to report that the twelfth prince had arrived with several men and wanted to go horseback riding in the suburbs. He asked if the young lady wanted to go.
Nie Huaiying busied herself, "Go, go, go! Quick, someone come here to help me with my makeup, don't keep everyone waiting!"
The little girl is only eleven years old, but she has a love-struck mind. Fortunately, she is straightforward, smart and good at handling things, which Shen Shixi likes very much. The key point is that Wang Shu also likes to play with her.
Shen Shixi laughed at him, saying, "How old are you? What do you know about love and romance?"
Wang Shu said, "Instead of finding someone who needs to be pampered, why not find someone who is willing to pamper you for a lifetime?"
That makes a lot of sense.
Wang Shu immediately noticed the little girl's red eyes and asked, "Are you crying? Who bullied you?"
The little girl gave him a reproachful look, looking aggrieved, but dared not say anything, muttering, "It's nothing."
Fu Diandian then asked, "Wangshu, will your aunt be choosing concubines for you and Fuguang this time?"
The little girl quickly looked over, extremely nervous.
Wang Shu found it amusing and pretended not to see it. "I was supposed to choose, but I didn't agree."
Why?
Wang Shu said, "The girls who like me haven't grown up yet. Who should I choose?"
She nodded and said, "Good lad, how old are you, and you already have girls who like you? That's impressive!"
Wang Shu sighed and said, "Alas, what can I do? I'm just too charming! My father also likes me the most!"
Everyone laughed, but Nie Huaiying muttered a curse at him under her breath, "Shameless!"
But I still felt relieved and sweet inside.
Wang Shu smiled as he watched her retreating figure, unaware of why she was secretly crying.
A young girl shouldn't make her feelings too obvious.
However, Wang Shu didn't take it too seriously. The two of them were still too young. If the girl changed her mind and fell in love with someone else in the future, he wouldn't care. Having someone to grow up with, so that he wouldn't be lonely, was a happy thing.
The following spring, in February, when the first southeast wind blew, Ling Menghui personally led a group of people, under the guidance of the Crown Prince, to transport the large rock away in a hot air balloon at night.
Naturally, these people were well protected; the prince was covered in armor from head to toe, with only his eyes showing.
The Crown Prince used the deadly weapon on his wrist to clear the way, and Tianfei Pass was recaptured. No one knew exactly what happened; they only saw a burst of flames soar into the sky, and Xiling was razed to the ground, with the guards reduced to ashes.
The Great Zhou army attacked, and the sharpshooters followed the hot air balloons. In the dead of night, the flames on the balloons burned like guiding lights.
Once the balloon had flown far enough and the grease had almost burned off, it slowly descended. Only then did the sharpshooter fire the rocket, destroying the balloon. The large rock crashed down and fell into an inland lake in Xiling.
The Crown Prince returned to the capital before the Emperor's birthday, accompanied by the Ninth Prince, Cen Fang, and Ling Xinian.
(That's all for today's update. The main story will conclude tomorrow.)