CH 50.1

Chapter 50.1 – Full of Overbearing Confidence (1)

The palace banquet early; after all, there was no need for the banquet to last long as it was just for formality.

The pair who had finally met were reluctant to part with each other at the end of the banquet. Fortunately, Rong State’s envoy proposed a competition, so Qi Yang would still be able to pester the Crown Prince to meet Lu Qipei again at that time.

Qi Yang saw Lu Qipei off outside Xuande Hall where the banquet was held, and watched her back as the former walked away. Then, she picked up the hem of her skirt and chased after the Crown Prince who had gone ahead. The latter seemed to have expected that she would catch up to him and didn’t walk too fast either, and Qi Yang soon caught up with him.

The Crown Prince turned around when he heard the hurried footsteps and looked at Qi Yang, “Just slow down and follow me, what are you running for?”

Qi Yang released her skirt and straightened her clothes, then regained her composure and smiled sheepishly at the Crown Prince. “I was just afraid of making Royal Brother wait for long.”

The Crown Prince gave her a sidelong glance when he heard it and snorted in displeasure, “If you had followed me right away after the banquet, would I have had to wait?”

Qi Yang blinked and could not find an easy way to answer this. For some reason, her father and brother had become more hostile to Lu Qipei in this life. But clearly her father appreciated Lu Qipei the most in their previous life, and her brother loved young talents even more!

Right now, it didn’t cross Qi Yang’s mind that the change in their attitude was because of her. If she hadn’t been so overt with her public displays of affection and be so clingy with Lu Qipei in front of the Crown Prince, the two of them wouldn’t have been so critical of Lu Qipei.

But anyways, this wasn’t the time to talk about this matter. Qi Yang obediently followed the Crown Prince for a while before saying, “Royal Brother, the envoys of Rong State were so arrogant at the banquet today, and their letter of credence is also very insincere. Are we really going to let them lead us by the nose?”

She looked at the Crown Prince’s expression after saying that, and seeing that he still looked calm, she added, “Rong State has just been established right now and still needs to recuperate, shouldn’t they be even more afraid of going to war…”

Unexpectedly, the Crown Prince waved his hand and said, “Rong State is different from other places. The grasslands are now united, but this country was originally composed of many tribes. Even if their Emperor suppressed everyone with force, those tribes would still remain intact. When many small forces that have friction and contradiction among them are forced together, there would eventually come a time when they can no longer be suppressed.”

Qi Yang listened to this and pondered deeply, but she reacted pretty quick, “What Royal Brother mean is that they’re deliberately trying to use an external threat to shift their internal dissents.” After a slight pause, she added, “For example, by starting a big war.”

The war between the barbarians in the northern lands had lasted more than a hundred years, even longer than Liang State’s existence. But in the past, most of the tribes were acting independently. They lacked money, food and even people, so they went to the south to plunder.

The border was disturbed and there was a fight every now and then, but it never reached the level of a real war between nations. The big war Qi Yang mentioned was obviously bigger than that.

War is good for the current Rong State, or to be exact, it was good for the Emperor of Rong.

Before even mentioning the wealth that could be plundered from Liang, the new Emperor of Rong still needed to consolidate his power, so he could not allow the tribes under him to be too strong. By turning the people’s attention to the war with Liang, he could exhaust the strength of some big tribes to avoid constraints in the future. The heads of those tribe leaders were swelling due to the establishment of the country, so they would not hesitate to fight.

The Crown Prince walked at a leisurely pace and nodded after listening to her, “That’s right. Why would we throw away the lives of our troops to soothe someone else’s internal problems? If the terms in the letter of credence aren’t too outrageous, Royal Father would not hesitate to agree.”

Qi Yang turned silent for a while after hearing that, still a little puzzled. “If they wanted to fight, then why did they send envoys?”

This time, the Crown Prince shook his head and said, “I don’t know. Maybe the opinions are also divided in their country. For example, some people might prefer peace and do not want to go to war, or they might feel that they’re not prepared enough right now and want to buy some time by pretending to hold peace talks, so they can catch us by surprise.”

This was a very possible guess; even the Emperor had secretly ordered the border to strengthen their guard.

Qi Yang did not say anything after hearing this. After a long time, she finally said, “This peace talk is so meaningless.”

The Crown Prince smiled, “Didn’t you watch the palace banquet; how Royal Father couldn’t even be bothered to pay attention to them?”

Qi Yang thought about the Emperor’s attitude today, how he was so indifferent he didn’t even bother trying. She found it amusing and relaxed a little. Then, she thought about the competition that fell on Lu Qipei’s head. She pulled the Crown Prince’s sleeves and asked, “But since both sides are insincere, why did Royal Father agree to the competition? Regardless of winning or losing, does he really want to sign the letter of credence?”

As soon as the Crown Prince heard this, he knew that she was asking this because of Lu Qipei. He really liked Lu Qipei before today, but when he saw that foreigner youth in his opposite direction today and saw the two’s similar appearance, he couldn’t help but feel a little worried.

His footsteps suddenly stopped, and he looked at Qi Yang seriously and asked, “Does Royal Sister really have no doubt about what today’s matter?”

Xie Hongyi’s attitude was too obvious; the Crown Prince did not believe that he targeted Lu Qipei just because of her looks. The two probably had some relationship, but because Qi Yang was involved, he believed that his sister could make her own judgment and didn’t want to reveal the worst-case situation.

Unexpectedly, Qi Yang only smiled when she heard this, as if she didn’t understand the danger she was getting into. She just said, “What is there to doubt? As long as you hold them firmly in your palm, there’s no need to doubt anything.”

She was filled with overbearing confidence when she said this, and the Crown Prince could not help but look sideways. After a moment, he shook his head and smiled, “Suit yourself then.”