In the blink of an eye, only Wu Mei and Li Zhi were left in the palace, and even the palace maids and eunuchs all retreated.
Neither of them spoke. After a while, Wu Mei said softly: "Your Majesty, Taiping is our only daughter."
"I know, but she is also a princess of the Tang Dynasty."
"The Tubo people are so ambitious that even if they marry Taiping, they will not be satisfied and will still attack us in the future."
"I also know, but what the court needs now is time. The Taiping marriage can buy us a few years. As long as Liaodong is victorious, why should our court be afraid of the Tubo people?"
"Why can't we suspend the offensive against Goryeo first and turn to deal with the Tibetans?"
Li Zhi sighed:
"Xian'er is right. The current war situation against Goryeo was planned by the imperial court for many years starting from the late emperor. Now that we have finally reached this point, we must not give up all our previous efforts."
Wu Mei gritted her teeth and said, "You can also choose a daughter from the clan to marry in place of Taiping!"
Li Zhi sighed: "I heard from Xian'er that the Tubo prince is interested in peace, but he is afraid that the other party will not agree."
Seeing that Wu Mei's face was ashen, she changed the subject and said, "Well, then you can send someone to try."
…
The next day, Wu Mei sent Xue Yuancao, the Minister of Rites, to the Tibetan Embassy in Beijing.
Chidu Chizan was very proud to see that the Tang people were finally willing to bow their heads and rejected the other party's plan to replace him with a daughter of the clan.
One day later, everyone in the government and the public knew that the imperial court was going to marry Princess Taiping to Tubo, and the news naturally spread to the princess's house.
After Li Zhiying and Cheng Caiyi learned the news, they went to the princess's mansion at the same time. After entering the lobby, they saw Princess Taiping's face was dull and there was no expression at all.
Cheng Caiyi said in a deep voice:
"Your Highness Princess, please don't blame Your Majesty and Your Highness the Queen. They made this decision because the Tibetans captured Bahuan City and King Pei instigated them."
"I know this, and I don't blame anyone." Princess Taiping said coldly.
Seeing her appearance, Li Zhiying couldn't help but step forward and hug her, gritted her teeth and said: "Taiping, if you want to cry, just cry. No matter where you go, we will always be good sisters."
Princess Taiping felt a wave of grievance welling up in her heart. She could no longer suppress her emotions and burst into tears.
She hugged Li Zhiying fiercely, buried her head in her chest, and cried:
"Cousin, my mother promised me, she clearly promised me!"
Li Zhiying patted her back gently and said with tears:
"Good sister, it's all my fault that my sister is incompetent and can't help you. Otherwise, you should flee to Liaodong and let your second cousin hide you."
Princess Taiping cried: "My second cousin will not take me in. He will definitely persuade me to marry and go to Tibet."
As he spoke, he stood up straight, wiped his tears and said, "I'd better go find the Queen Mother, she might still have a way."
After saying that, he quickly left the lobby and went straight to Daming Palace.
When they arrived at the Zichen Palace, there was no trace of Wu Mei in the palace. Shangguan Wan'er said cautiously: "Your Highness, Your Highness the Queen, please wait here quietly for a while."
Princess Taiping was stunned for a long time, then walked to a pillar and leaned against it, tears streaming down her face again.
Wu Mei doesn't want to see her, which shows that even she can't do anything. At this point, who else can help her?
…
Outside the north gate of Chang'an City, a group of cavalry came along the official road and stopped outside the city gate. The first person was wearing mirror armor and a phoenix-winged helmet. Who else could it be if it wasn't Wu Chengsi?
"This is Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty. It must be the first time for Leader Zuorong and General Huzhen to come here. How do you feel?" Wu Chengsi pointed at the city and smiled.
Behind him, in addition to a group of personal guards, there were also three groups of foreigners.
They are Zuorong, the leader of Mo Brown, Asde Huzhen, the envoy of Goryeo, and Shiku, the leader of Shiwei.
They came here this time to present letters to the Tang Dynasty on behalf of Goryeo, Mo Brown and Shi Wei.
Zuorong looked up at Chang'an City and said respectfully: "Only a capital like this can be worthy of the most powerful country."
Hu Zhen said loudly: "Leader Zuorong said it right. The biggest mistake made by the Koryo Kingdom was that it should not be an enemy of the Tang Dynasty. From now on, the enemies of the Tang Dynasty are my enemies of Koryo!"
Zhi Ku hurriedly echoed: "He is also my enemy, Shi Wei!"
Wu Chengsi smiled and said: "Let's go into the city. I'll entertain a few people in my mansion first."
The group of people walked through the streets, attracting many people's attention along the way. Some people who knew Wu Chengsi shouted excitedly: "General Wu is back! General Wu is back!"
The crowd immediately gathered around, and Wu Chengsi walked forward slowly while gesturing to everyone.
Someone asked: "General, why are you back? Is the battle in Liaodong over?"
"The fight is over! We won!" Wu Chengsi shouted loudly.
The crowd immediately cheered in unison, and someone shouted: "General Wu, you have to teach the Tubo people a lesson, they captured our Bahuan City!"
Another person said: "What's more, their bullshit prince wants to marry our Princess Taiping!"
Wu Chengsi was startled and quickly asked for details. After learning that the court planned to marry Princess Taiping, he quickly turned his horse and headed towards the palace.
Although Zuorong, Zhiku and others didn't know the reason, they hurriedly followed.
…
In the Zichen Palace, Princess Taiping leaned on the railings and silently wiped her tears. All the maids and eunuchs in the palace looked at the ground, and no one dared to look further.
Shangguan Wan'er wanted to persuade her, but she knew that her status was too low and it might be counterproductive, so she had to keep silent.
Suddenly, two figures entered the hall. Princess Taiping looked up and her face suddenly turned cold.
It was the prince and King Pei who came.
"What are you doing here?" Princess Taiping said coldly.
King Pei sighed, he actually didn't want to come over either.
But Wu Mei just passed down the decree, saying that since you two brothers want to marry your sister to a barbarian land, the responsibility of persuading her also falls on you.
The prince said: "...Taiping, it's not that we want to marry you off, it's just the situation that forces us to marry you off. Don't blame us."
Princess Taiping stared at him for a moment, bit her lip and said:
"Brother, I really don't understand. I haven't offended you before, so why did you go with Li Xian to persuade my father to marry me off?"
"Isn't it because the Tubo people are coming so fiercely? Even though our Tang Dynasty is strong, we can't deal with the Koreans and the Tubo people at the same time," the prince said in a low voice.
"I'm talking about the past! At that time, the news that the Tubo people had conquered the city had not yet come. Why did you persuade my father to marry me off?" Princess Taiping asked loudly.
The prince snorted and said, "You can't blame me for this. After I told you that incident, I told you not to tell others, but you turned around and told Wu Chengsi."
Princess Taiping was stunned, knowing that he was talking about Li Xian's identity, she gritted her teeth and said, "Is it because of this?"
The prince snorted: "Your behavior clearly shows that you don't take my brother, the emperor, seriously. If you want to blame me, I blame you for siding with Wu Chengsi."
Princess Taiping said angrily: "Second cousin, how could I ever be sorry for you? If he hadn't exposed King Langya's conspiracy at the royal banquet, would you still be standing here now?"
The prince's face suddenly turned red and he said angrily:
"Are you mentioning the royal banquet? Wu Chengsi has known about King Langya's conspiracy for a long time, but he has never exposed it. He has to wait until the palace is exposed at the royal banquet before he will come forward. He clearly has no good intentions!"
Princess Taiping became even more angry:
"You are really hopeless. You don't know who is harming you behind your back, right? I think he told you these words."
The finger points to King Pei.
The prince glanced at King Pei and hummed:
"Of course I know, but even though Lao Liu is quarreling with me, what he said is not wrong. Wu Chengsi has no good intentions for me, and I have long felt it!"
King Pei put his hands behind his hands and said loudly:
"Taiping, you don't need to waste any more words. Your father and mother have agreed to the marriage. You should also learn from Princess Wencheng and make some contributions to the country."
Seeing Princess Taiping's resentful look, Li Xian didn't care and said coldly: "Taiping, you are not a child anymore. You should understand the cost of making choices."
Princess Taiping gritted her teeth and remained silent.
When the maids and eunuchs in the main hall saw the three highnesses at war with each other, they all lowered their heads, almost parallel to their bodies.
At this moment, a palace maid entered the main hall and said cautiously: "Three Your Highnesses, the Prince of Tubo, the Prince of Tocharo and the young Turk king are outside the hall asking for an audience."
Princess Taiping said angrily: "What are they doing here?"
"I asked them to come. Taiping, you may refuse this marriage because you don't know Prince Chidu well. If you get to know each other better, maybe you won't resist. Invite the three princes to come in."
The palace maid responded and left the hall.
…
Let’s get started! The third update is at 12 noon.