Mu Hu's bold request shocked all parties involved in the Ming Dynasty. Although the emotions of the relevant "parties" were different under the astonishment - some were surprised, some were embarrassed, and some were secretly happy. Some were relieved - but the only similar reaction was that they were shocked.
The ones who were annoyed were the ministers headed by Shen Rongxuan, as well as the senior officials of Dongchang and the army. They had no objections to Shi Shigege, and they had no objections to Xiang Xiaoqiang. They had no objections to the matter of Shirifeng Gege marrying Xiang Xiaoqiang. They had no objection. What they had an objection to was that a peace seeker from the Northern Qing Dynasty dared to dictate who the princess of the Ming Dynasty should marry.
The ones who were secretly happy were naturally Xiang Xiaoqiang and Shi Shigege. The two instigators themselves did not expect that things would go so smoothly. They originally imagined that Mu Hu would once again express his distrust of Ming's ethnic policies. At this time, Wei Zijin borrowed The machine encouraged Zhu Yourong to grant a marriage and marry the Fourteenth Princess to Xiaoqiang. Unexpectedly, he saved this step, but Mu Hu directly asked the Fourteenth Princess to marry Xiang Xiaoqiang. In this way, the Fourteenth Princess and Xiang Xiaoqiang even Zhu Yourong can just go with the flow without having to speak in person. Is there a more perfect process than this?
The one who is relieved is Zhu Yourong. Zhu Yourong also accepts the relationship between Xiang Xiaoqiang and Shi Shigege, as well as his cousin Cong Cong, but this "triangular relationship" plus herself will become a "four corners". She She was also worried about how to save the "four corners" together, and now she had an opportunity to save the "two corners" of them relatively legitimately. She also knew that if she saved the "two corners" first, the remaining "Two angles" will be a matter of time. In this way, Zhu Yourong felt sour in his heart and felt relieved at the same time.
As for the surprise, it was all the other people who didn't know the inside story.
…
Because this involved the life-long events of a princess and an earl, as well as whether Beijing could be restored peacefully, it was a dual royal and military matter, so Zhu Yourong justifiably summoned several important military and political ministers into the palace and held a small imperial meeting together.
Of course, this does not include the two parties involved: Xiang Xiaoqiang and Shi Shigege.
"I've thought about it, this matter is not a trivial matter," Zhu Yourong sat on the sofa, looking at the ministers and generals sitting on the sofas around him, and said with a complicated expression, "The other party's conditions are also quite weird, so he is very busy. In the meantime, please invite some of your beloved ladies to come into the palace and discuss it together to see... whether you agree or not."
Wei Zijin stood in the corner, his head slightly lowered, but his eyes quickly scanned the adults on the sofa.
The civil servants all looked at each other at first, but no one spoke. Shen Rongxuan just sat on the sofa, holding a tureen with his head lowered, gently scraping the floating tea leaves, and said nothing.
On the general's side, Tang Yunsheng glanced at Zhang Zhaoxian, who closed his eyes slightly and gave a positive sign.
Tang Yunsheng spoke immediately:
"Your Majesty, I believe that the Princess of Liaoyang is the Princess of my Ming Dynasty, and the Count of Jiangxinzhou is also the Count of my Ming Dynasty. How can the life events of the Ming Dynasty princess and earl be controlled by a general who wants peace from the Qing Dynasty! Now the status of the enemy and us is placed. Here, it is the other party who wants something from us, not us who wants something from the other party. We are the ones who should put forward conditions! Now they seem to have not understood their situation and actually made such an outrageous request. If we actually agree to it , that is to send a signal to the other party: We are afraid of them, and it is we who want something from them! In this way, the positions of both parties will be reversed, and they will definitely make more undue demands! Your Majesty, I think it is absolutely inappropriate! It should be Immediately and sternly reject it!”
Zhu Yourong was a little surprised. She had thought that the military had always been more pragmatic. Now that there was a chance to peacefully regain Beijing and significantly reduce casualties, they should strongly agree. Why did they strongly oppose it?
Not only Zhu Yourong was surprised, but several ministers present also felt the same way. They exchanged glances in confusion.
Then, Foreign Minister He Ziguang spoke:
"Your Majesty, the words of Chief of General Staff of the Tang Dynasty certainly have some truth to them, but everything should not be looked at from just one side, but should be weighed comprehensively from both the pros and cons. It is true that if we agree to the other party's request, we will certainly lose something.
for example
They say, a little face, a little pride of the winner, etc., but the harvest is much more. The Manchu Qing regime that ravaged the north for nearly three hundred years can disappear overnight.
A historic city with more than 800 years of history is free of charge
After the disaster, countless treasures of Chinese culture and the heritage of human civilization can be well preserved... Your Majesty, you should understand that the peaceful recovery of Beijing is not only a victory for us, but also an immortal achievement. For many generations
After people
, when tourists and scholars from all over the world flock to Beijing and look at the intact ancient monuments, they will sigh and say: Alas, neither Rome nor Paris has such exquisite and intact ancient buildings! Your Majesty, just think about how future generations will praise you.
Today’s decision!”
After the Foreign Minister finished stirring up emotion, Zhu Yourong's cheeks were flushed with emotion, and he nodded gently. He almost made a decision immediately, but he still held it back. After all, this is a royal meeting, and everyone must be allowed to speak fully, not just listen.
After two sentences, he made a quick decision.
However, every word of He Ziguang's words reached her heart.
The scene was quiet for a while. He Ziguang's face was expressionless, and he calmly picked up the tureen and took two sips of tea. However, his eyes quickly glanced around the crowd, revealing a look of pride that could not be concealed.
Zhu Yourong couldn't understand at all why the reaction from both the civil and military sides was completely opposite to what she expected.
But what she didn't know was that what He Ziguang said was also a common thought among the civil servants in the cabinet. On the one hand, these civil servants all valued "cultural heritage", and on the other hand, they had already seen clearly the "that" relationship between Xiang Xiaoqiang and His Majesty.
"Something interesting." I am afraid that one day Xiang Xiaoqiang will really marry His Majesty, which will lead to excessive power that is difficult to check and balance. If a dictatorship is established again, the cabinet will become a decoration, and the Ming Dynasty will step by step become like the Northern Qing Dynasty.
And now, a "Princess of Liaoyang" suddenly appeared on the way, which really made the ministers' eyes light up. The relationship between Xiang Xiaoqiang and His Majesty is an open secret, but there are still very few people who know about the relationship between him and Shi Shigege.
.In the eyes of ordinary people, the relationship between Xiang Xiaoqiang and Princess Liaoyang is that of superior and subordinate. They feel that Xiang Xiaoqiang does his best
It's good to be able to catch up with His Majesty, and we won't have such unrealistic daydreams of "the Queen and the Princess hugging each other". The ministers all felt that if Xiang Xiaoqiang was given a princess at this moment, His Majesty would naturally "get out of trouble"
", it will no longer belong to Xiang Xiaoqiang. The "combining of the powers of Xiang Xiaoqiang and His Majesty" that everyone is worried about will not happen.
The military's calculations are exactly the opposite. Especially Zhang Zhaoxian and Tang Yunsheng, they have always taken special care of Xiang Xiaoqiang, treating Xiang Xiaoqiang as their student and one of their own, except that Xiang Xiaoqiang is really talented and very successful.
In addition, a very important point is that
There is Her Majesty the Queen behind Xiang Xiaoqiang. The closer relationship with Xiang Xiaoqiang also brings the relationship closer to His Majesty to a certain extent. As for whether Xiang Xiaoqiang actually marries His Majesty one day, will it be difficult to control his power and lead to dictatorship?
There are different opinions among the top brass of the military.
Of course, the Ming Dynasty moved towards the Beiqing model, which is an outcome that the army does not want to see. But that is the future after all, and there are still many variables. These soldiers seem to be very far away. And now someone is trying to give Xiang Xiaoqiang a princess.
, that directly threatens Xiang Xiaoqiang and
His Majesty's relationship. Especially now that cabinet ministers are also adding fuel to the fire, the military is even more vigilant. If the "special relationship" between Xiang Xiaoqiang and His Majesty is really cut off because of this princess, then they have done so much to Xiang Xiaoqiang.
The "capital" is wasted.
…
At this time, Zhang Zhao spoke first:
"Your Majesty, I feel that the reason Mu Hu made such an unreasonable request is simply because he was worried that Ming Dynasty's future ethnic policy would be unfavorable to the banner people. So since we keep saying that the future policy is 'national reconciliation', Mu Hu is asking Ming Dynasty for this
Bian first came to have a 'Man-Han marriage' and 'reconciliation' first. His request was simply to test whether the Ming Dynasty's 'national reconciliation' policy was true or false.
"So, what Mu Hu hopes to see is a marriage between a Han nobleman and a bannerman nobleman, and it does not necessarily have to be Princess Liaoyang and Commander Xiang. Your Majesty, Princess Liaoyang is a princess with a noble status, and Commander Xiang
Just as counts, there is a huge gap in status between the two. Moreover, Commander Xiang is only in his mid-twenties, while Princess Liaoyang is nearly twenty-seven years old. Princess Liaoyang is nearly two years older than Commander Xiang... She also seems to be quite different in age.
inappropriate……
"Your Majesty, I boldly suggest that if your Majesty considers Lord He's opinion, you might as well choose another young man with a status and age similar to Princess Liaoyang from among the relatives of the Ming Emperor... In this way, you can better serve the people of Liaoyang.
The people of the northern banner have made it clear that we, the Ming Dynasty, are determined to 'national reconciliation'. Wouldn't it be more convincing for us, the Zhu Ming royal family, to use our own children to marry women from the Aixinjueluo family than to use Commander Xiang, a person with a foreign surname?"
When he said this, he indeed blocked the mouths of many ministers. But many ministers thought with disdain: You said so nicely, just because you don't want Princess Liaoyang and His Majesty to fight for Xiaoqiang. Find it from the Zhu family or the Zheng family
A young man married a princess of Liaoyang, and the ambiguous love between Xiang Xiaoqiang and His Majesty still persists.
Intact. This is a good abacus! But now that you are saying that there is a huge difference in status between Xiang Xiaoqiang and Princess Liaoyang, then one day when you encourage His Majesty to marry Xiang Xiaoqiang, I will tell you what to say about your status. Then we can also
Let’s take “disparity in status” as an example. Isn’t the status disparity even greater?
Both sides focused their attention on Zhu Yourong again.
Zhu Yourong avoided everyone's gaze, fiddled with the tureen in his hand, and murmured softly:
"Well... what Zhang Aiqing said makes some sense... it's just... right now, among the clan and relatives, there doesn't seem to be any children of the same age as Princess Liaoyang... This doesn't seem appropriate..."
Um?
Her words and reaction caused many ministers and generals to see it and began to murmur in their hearts.
Your Majesty, this is obviously telling lies. No matter which family Zhu Zheng is, there is now more than one young man whose age and title are worthy of Princess Liaoyang. Your Majesty, this is obviously an excuse.
Could it be...could it be that His Majesty himself does not reject Princess Liaoyang?
He Ziguang spoke almost immediately:
"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince of Yanping, the Marquis of Changping Zheng Yutang, are the same age as Princess Liaoyang, and they are the heirs to the throne of King Yanping of the Ming Dynasty. Regardless of their age or status, there is no problem in marrying Princess Liaoyang. Why did your Majesty forget?"
Zhu Yourong was startled:
"Ah?...Oh...yes, yes, why did I forget...Oh, no. Zheng Yutang just got married last year, and he has two wives. Wouldn't it be too unfair for the princess to marry again?"
As soon as she finished her feeble retort, several ministers immediately started shouting:
"Your Majesty, it doesn't matter!"
"Xiang Xiaoqiang is also a wife of two families!"
"That's right, Your Majesty. After the Constitutional Restoration of the Ming Dynasty, I have never heard of anyone from the princess to the princes and ladies being able to monopolize a husband like before!"
"Yes, the more distinguished a woman is, the more she must set a good example for Ming women all over the world! Your Majesty, don't worry!"
…
After hearing this, Zhu Yourong was dumbfounded and had nothing to say.
At this time, Zhang Zhaoxian spoke again:
"Your Majesty, gentlemen, why have we all forgotten? What we are discussing now is not only military affairs, but first of all the spouse selection of two citizens of the Ming Dynasty! Our Ming Dynasty is a civilized country with modern civilization, and everyone has the choice of his or her spouse.
rights, that is, and
The final decision on who to marry or not to marry can only be made by the parties involved themselves, and no outside force can interfere for any reason. Your Majesty, since what is involved is Commander Xiang and Princess Liaoyang, why don’t we invite the two of them here and let them
How about telling me your wishes in person?"
The scene was silent again.
After more than ten seconds, Zhu Yourong's face turned red and he forced himself to say:
"What Zhang Aiqing said is absolutely true. They should still listen to their own wishes in this matter. Zijin, send someone to invite Princess Liaoyang and Xiang Qing."