Chapter 5

There were four states on this continent, namely, the Ning Kingdom in the east, the Nan Kingdom in the south, the Rong Kingdom in the west and the Wen Kingdom in the north. By virtue of its geographical advantage, the Ning Kingdom managed to maintain the stability of its regime on one side of the Yu River and had rarely been disturbed by war. The other three kingdoms were evenly matched, so except for the occasional skirmishes along the border, they mostly lived in peace, which formed a balance of three forces for decades. As the four states got along well with each other and exchanged frequently, the intermarriage between the royal families was common. However, when it came to that of the Wen and Nan, it was a different story that would go back to the civil unrest of the Wen Kingdom.

Half a year ago, when the emperor of the Wen Kingdom was on an official tour, the crown prince, who was left in the imperial palace, was wrongly accused of plotting a rebellion. For fear that his father would fall for slanders, the crown prince killed the calumniator and was about to explain to the emperor after he came back. However, the calumniator’s companion, who had narrowly escaped, got in the way and convinced the emperor of his lies. Out of rage, the emperor decided to execute his son. Left with no choice, the crown prince gathered a troop of tens of thousands of military men to fight against the imperial army and arrested dozens of nobles from the Nan Kingdom who had been living in the capital of the Wen Kingdom or left as hostages there, which put the two sides in a stalemate. Everyone knew that the consequences could be serious if a country suffered from internal strife and external enemies at the same time.

Sure enough, the news about the Nan people being arrested in the Wen Kingdom reached the Nan Kingdom in three days, which created quite a stir among the officials. Burning with anger, the heroic general, Xue Ding, offered to bring an army of 800 thousand to the border and demand the emperor of the Wen Kingdom to release those hostages. He even threatened that he would lead his troop straight to Lin Yang, the capital city of the Wen Kingdom, to save the Nan people otherwise.

However, when the war was on the verge of breaking out, a piece of shocking news suddenly came—the tenth emperor of the Wen Kingdom, Yuwen Jieren, died a violent death in his temporary dwelling palace the night before!

After hearing the terrible news, everyone in the Wen Kingdom was in mourning and the crown prince almost cried his heart out, so the civil strife was put aside for the time being. Three days later, the crown prince, Yuwen Weixia, officially ascended the throne! The funeral ceremony lasted for 49 days from performing funeral rituals, burial and mourning to offering the nameplate of the former emperor into the royal temple. After that, the new emperor executed all the calumniators, saying that the alleged “rebellion” was merely a false accusation. He also apologized for arresting the hostages from the Nan Kingdom and said to prevent the friendly relations between the two countries from being affected, he was willing to offer the latter 100 excellent horses, 1000 gold bars and made a proposal of intermarriage between the royalty. Would the emperor of the Nan Kingdom agree to his proposal? He did, unsurprisingly, while complicating the process.

When the envoy of the Wen Kingdom arrived in Luan City, the troop of the Nan Kingdom was still stationed on the border. After receiving the letter written by Yuwen Weixia in person, Nangong Ao started discussing with his subordinates about how they should react to the Wen Kingdom’s offensive behavior. Xue Ding was the first one to step out of the crowd and excoriated Yuwen Weixia for kidnapping the hostages in contempt of the Nan Kingdom and he strongly opposed the idea of cementing the two countries’ relationship through marriage. Following his suit, a few more officials accused the new emperor of the Wen Kingdom and expressed their disapproval of intermarriage between the royalty from two countries. Soon the opinions of the officials appeared to be “one-sided”. At this moment, the Prime Minister, Lou Yuankui, who had been quiet, suddenly raised his voice. “Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, the intermarriage might be a valid solution.”

Everyone was stunned. “Prime Minister Lou, just tell me whatever is on your mind,” Nangong Ao said, his eyes glittering.

“Your Majesty, the fact that the crown prince of the Wen Kingdom arrested our people does make it look like he didn’t take us seriously, so it’s no wonder that our ministers are angry enough to object the intermarriage. However, as etiquette and peace have been valued by us since ancient times, and now Yuwen Weixia has offered to apologize after he became the new emperor, if we turn him down, the others would think we’re too hypocritical and narrow-minded.”

“The Wen Kingdom started it! How dare they shift the blame?” someone shouted disapprovingly. After a short pause, Lou Yuankui continued, “We have sent 800 thousand soldiers to the border as a warning already. Now that they have released the aristocratic hostages from our kingdom and offered to apologize, we have no reason to send our troops across the border!”

“Premier Lou, I beg to differ. Our army hasn’t yet set foot on the land of the Wen Kingdom!” Someone retorted. “But if we turn down Yuwen Weixia’s offer, everyone will think that we’re planning on go to war with them. Your Majesty, please look before you leap.”

Nangong Ao was clear what was at stake. When it wasn’t ready, he wouldn’t break years of peace recklessly. But unfortunately, Yuwen Jieren’s sudden death messed up all his plans and put him in a dilemma. After thinking for a bit, he asked, “But Prime Minister Lou, what’s in this intermarriage for us?”

“If we put the past behind us and get back on good terms with the Wen Kingdom, people of the two countries don’t have to suffer from war. So, Your Majesty, everyone would appreciate you for your kindness and generosity, as well as your concern for ordinary people…”

Nangong Ao enjoyed his flattering very much, so without any hesitation, he decided to adopt the intermarriage plan. “I’ll leave this matter to Prime Minister Lou. Is there a problem with that?” he asked.

The officials knew well that Nangong Ao was a man of his word. As he had made up his mind, further objections were no longer raised, despite the fact that some of the official still held different perspectives. So, without further ado, Nangong Ao began the discussion regarding candidates for the intermarriage. To show his sincerity, the new emperor of the Wen Kingdom, Yuwen Weixia, was willing to marry his younger sister off to the Nan Kingdom, so Nangong Ao had to choose someone who could match this princess as her husband.

After a heated discussion, the pro-war group led by Xue Ding recommended the emperor’s third son, Nangong Wuchen, while the pro-peace group with Lou Yuankui as their head put forward the emperor’s brother, Prince Mu, Nangong Du as the candidates.