Chapter 1057: Besieging the Capital

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Among the six etiquettes, the welcoming letter and the ceremony had to be personally completed on the day of the wedding. The other two books and five etiquettes were all handled by the elders of both sides.

According to the Book of Rites, the family of the groom would present betrothal gifts to the woman’s family.

Then, the marriage would be established.

After receiving the betrothal gifts, the marriage would be ready. Therefore, after the giving of betrothal gifts was completed, the marriage contract was completely established.

At this point, the marriage was more than halfway done. They just had to wait for His Highness to return so that they could arrange the marriage directly. However, everyone knew that the war in the North was tense, and His Highness was busy, so he naturally couldn’t come back to get married.

There was no proper master in the king’s residence. Usually, it was fine, but when it came to war, the operations of the king’s residence were closely related to the war. The Eldest Princess and King Yue Fei were also bestowed by the Empress Dowager. At this time, it was only logical for the Eldest Princess to step forward and manage the matters of the residence. No one outside said anything.

Now that she was using the “rules” to speak, she was estranged from the king’s residence.

Yu Youyao softened her voice. “If there’s anything important in the king’s residence, send someone to send me a message. If it’s not important, do as you did in the past.”

Butler Wen’s heart turned cold as he sent the Eldest Princess out of the residence.

As soon as she returned to the Yu Garden, Yu Youyao went to the Xie Residence.

The Old Madam held her hand and shouted with heartache, “Why do you look thinner again? Child, why don’t you know how to feel sorry for yourself? The merchant ship that went out to sea a few days ago returned with a lot of western ginseng. This western ginseng nourishes the blood and qi. It’s very beneficial to women. You have to nourish yourself well.”

She did not ask her why Yu Youyao had suddenly returned without even saying a word. She did not ask Yu Youyao how she was doing in the Yue Fei’s Residence and only cared about her wholeheartedly.

Yu Youyao felt relieved. Now that she had someone to back her up, she felt at ease.

She couldn’t help but smile and nod. Then, she changed the topic. “My Third Cousin has been out at sea with the merchant ship for a year or two. Didn’t he come back with the ship this time?”

After arriving in Liaodong, her Third Cousin Xie Jingliu completely let himself go. Most of the time, he followed the merchant ship out to sea and traveled overseas. He even wrote a lot of travelogs.

The travelogs recorded many things that he had seen and heard overseas. There were also some medical skills, incense medicine, and agricultural skills from overseas countries. Yu Youyao had learned a lot from them.

The Xie family could already make more exquisite clocks, and they were very popular in the North.

There was a very precious insect dye overseas that was used for lipstick. It was as red as rogue and bright. It was the only pigment that could compare to cinnabar.

Yu Youyao used insect dye to make exquisite lipstick.

At the mention of this grandson, Old Madam Xie felt a toothache. She was also extremely vexed. “He’s already so old, but he’s still hanging around outside all day. How can the outside world be better than his home? He asked me to arrange a marriage for him so that he can start a family as soon as possible so that he can calm down…”

Yu Youyao liked to hear her grandmother chatter. It was funny.

The family’s business was gradually handed over to her cousins. Her cousins’ marriage had yet to be settled. It wasn’t that the family wasn’t anxious. Now that the situation was chaotic, it couldn’t be rushed.

It was all because of this chaotic world.

After chatting for a while, Yu Youyao returned to the Yu Garden.

Old Madam Xie sighed softly and turned around to look for Old Master Xie.

Who in the entire Yue Fei’s Residence could anger Little Yao’er?

The only exception was Princess Liyang, who was temporarily living in the Yue Fei’s Residence and had the t.i.tle of the legitimate princess. Her status was lower than Little Yao’er’s, but her style was much more exaggerated.

On the day of Little Yao’er’s coming-of-age ceremony, Princess Liyang was almost even more impressive than Little Yao’er. To think that Little Yao’er’s gown and crown were made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

On the surface, she looked intimate, but in Little Yao’er’s eyes, there was an obscure and cold scrutiny. She was clearly not an easy person to get along with.

In less than two days, Princess Liyang moved out of the Yue Fei’s Residence and into a separate courtyard in Xiangping City.

Right on the heels of that, there was another piece of news. King Yue Fei had pursued a portion of the main forces of the Northern Barbarians to the Wolf Residence Mountain. He had imitated the Marquis of Guanjun and became the fifth person in history to have offered a sacrifice on the Wolf Residence Mountain.”

King Yue Fei had returned with his army after a great victory. When he suddenly heard the bad news in the capital, he did not even take a deep breath. He followed the Liaoxi corridor and went straight to the north of China, leading his army to besiege the capital.

Yu Youyao’s lips curved. This was what Princess Liyang had meant.

King Yue Fei had other important matters to attend to, but because of the seriousness of the matter, it was not convenient for him to tell the Eldest Princess. It seemed that it would not be long before the Eldest Princess would understand everything.

Thief Liang had fought his way into the capital from Henan and fought with King Duan and the Marquis of Zhen. At this time, they had suffered heavy casualties and were exhausted. They urgently needed to gather the remaining troops of the capital, replenish the army, and reorganize their strength. Then, they would quickly occupy the natural defense of Jingzhao and Jin County, blocking all the crusading troops outside the capital.

Jingzhao and Jin County had a natural defensive advantage. These areas had been easy to defend and difficult to attack since ancient times.

As long as the Liang bandits controlled the defense line in the capital and bought enough supplies and time for the Liang army to rest, the capital would be unbreakable, and the Liang bandits’ plan to rebel would be mostly successful.

However, Yin Huaixi had taken Thief Liang by surprise. Taking advantage of the fact that Thief Liang had just entered the capital and had yet to control the defense line in the capital, he cooperated with Empress Ning, causing Thief Liang to completely become a turtle in a jar.

The timing was perfect.

As soon as the news of King Yue Fei besieging the capital spread, the King of Dongning, who had one foot in the defense line, retreated to Shandong in a panic, but he still had no intention of returning to the va.s.sal lands.

He even had the intention of reaping the benefits.

Under the banner of “going north to save the king”, the King of Zhenxi simply stepped away and shouted at King Yue Fei, “King Yue Fei is the orthodox of the royal family. Thief Liang kept saying that he would usurp the throne and steal the country. Why didn’t he say whose throne he would usurp and whose country he would steal?! I’m willing to mobilize a portion of my troops and let the generals of the west army lead the army north. They will listen to King Yue Fei’s orders to help King Yue Fei kill Thief Liang and stabilize the country.”

In other words, he wouldn’t go to the capital, but his troops would go to the capital and listen to King Yue Fei’s orders.

Indirectly, he handed over his military power and even flattered King Yue Fei.

He changed sides quickly and completely, making everyone dumbfounded.

The aide covered his face. “Your Highness, aren’t you surrendering too quickly…”

The King of Zhenxi smiled and said, “He led his troops to besiege the capital, so he’s naturally unwilling to be inferior to others. He’s originally the orthodox descendant of the royal family, and his fiancée, Eldest Princess Shaoyi, is famous in the world. It’s simply too logical to fight for the throne.”

If he and Yin Huaixi fought for the throne, wouldn’t there be something seriously wrong?

As a va.s.sal lord, how could he compare to King Yue Fei?

King Yue Fei returned too quickly.

He sighed slightly. “You only saw me surrender quickly, but you didn’t see the blood flowing like a river on the gra.s.sland. You didn’t see Yin Huaixi offering a sacrifice on the Wolf Residence Mountain. The You army washed the gra.s.sland and killed until their eyes turned red. Look at what happened to the Di people. Do you think Yin Huaixi can tolerate va.s.sal lords leading his troops?”

The aide was speechless, but he couldn’t refute.

His lord was shocked by King Yue Fei’s ferocious actions of slaughtering the enemies in the gra.s.sland.