That night, Xiang Xiaoqiang went to bed very early. After running around with Tang Yunsheng all day long, after listening to Old Man Tang's story about "The Most Incredible Prince Consort" in the evening, he felt sleepy after a while and went to bed before ten o'clock.
. And slept very soundly.
At some point, someone pushed him and a voice whispered in his ear:
"My lord, wake up! My lord, wake up! Nanjing phone number!"
Xiang Xiaoqiang finally opened his eyes and saw that it was Xiu Xiu. Xiu Xiu was still neatly dressed. She looked like she was still busy and was far from going to sleep.
"What...Xiuxiu?" Xiang Xiaoqiang squinted his sleepy eyes, slowly stood up and asked, "Are you on duty again tonight?"
"No, Qiu Qiu works the night shift. But Qiu Qiu is still sleeping now. Sir, what time do you think it is? It's only past eleven now."
"oh……"
Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at his pocket watch. Sure enough, he only slept for more than an hour.
"Nanjing phone number?" He frowned, "Whose? What's the emergency?"
Xiuxiu glanced at him and said:
"Brilliant."
"Crying?!"
Xiang Xiaoqiang was stunned for a few seconds, still unable to remember why Zheng Yucong called so late.
"Because it's Cong Cong who came here just looking for you," Xiu Xiu said a little sourly, "I couldn't ask her what the matter was."
Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled, took Xiuxiu into his arms, kissed her gently, and said:
"My Xiuxiu has worked hard. Later I will ask the kitchen to stew two squabs with ginseng for you to replenish your body."
As she spoke, she glanced at Xiuxiu's chest with a smile, then put on her pajamas and got out of bed. Xiuxiu's face was slightly flushed, but she also had a smile, not so sour.
Xiuxiu helped him take the phone into the bedroom, put it on the small coffee table next to the sofa, then exited obediently and closed the door.
Xiang Xiaoqiang picked up the receiver and said with a smile:
"Don't even look at what time it is... You girl, you always do it on a whim..."
A panicked girl on the other end of the phone said:
"Ah... Sir Xiang, please wait a moment, I will invite the princess for you right now..."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was startled, and his face felt a little hot. He was complaining in his heart that Zheng Yucong didn't wait for that girl to make a phone call. She had to run away just now, and she had to let the maid stay here...
After a while, Zheng Yucong's voice appeared:
"Xiaoqiang..."
Unexpectedly, Zheng Yucong's voice was as sour as Xiu Xiu's.
Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly realized: No wonder! He and Shi Shigege secretly planned to get married. Xiuxiu knew, Qiuqiu knew, Zhu Yourong knew, and only Zheng Yucong didn't know. This matter was almost done, but he hadn't told her yet.
Where's Zheng Yucong! She must have gotten this news from her cousin! She had completely forgotten about it!
Xiang Xiaoqiang felt ashamed and guilty and said:
"Hey, it's me."
Zheng Yucong snorted and just said:
"My cousin asked me to tell you that you should prepare yourself and fly to Nanjing early tomorrow morning."
"Ah? What for?"
Zheng Yucong's voice seemed a little happier and she said:
"Why not? Because I wanted to see you, so I told my cousin, and then my cousin asked you to come back."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was angry and funny. Just when he was about to scold her, the girl continued:
"By the way, my cousin also wants to discuss marrying Princess Liaoyang with you."
Xiang Xiaoqiang really had nothing to do with her mouth. Obviously the latter was the main one, but she had to turn it around just to take advantage of it. But...
"Fly back tomorrow?" Xiang Xiaoqiang was a little confused, "Didn't I just... ahem, well, didn't I just start to attack Tianjin? If I go back now, what will I do with the military affairs here?"
"Then I don't know," Zheng Yucong said as if she was a shopkeeper, "leave it to whomever you like. Isn't your Xiuxiu quite capable? Then you can leave it to Xiuxiu. Anyway, you will be here tomorrow.
It's up to you to show up in Nanjing. This is my cousin's order."
Then, the girl hung up the phone.
"Holy shit."
Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at the phone receiver and said.
…
Fortunately, Xuzhou is not far from Nanjing, only an hour's flight. Including the round-trip drive from both sides, it does not take more than two hours. It is faster than working in Beijing and Shanghai in later generations.
The next morning, the 25th, Xiang Xiaoqiang, Hu Jiong and Wu Yanbin flew back to Nanjing on a Junkers-52. At 9:30 in the morning, they were already at the Nanjing Palace.
"Come on," Zhu Yourong frowned and looked at the calendar and said, "We don't have much time. If we want to grant a marriage, we must do it before launching the Beijing offensive. If it is too late, this valid reason will not be used.
"
Xiang Xiaoqiang felt warm in his heart. Although Zhu Yourong must have felt sour in his heart, it was obvious from every word that she was on the same side as him. He glanced at the fourteenth princess across from him and looked at her.
.
Ever since the Fourteenth Princess entered the palace and expressed her stance, she was retained by Zhu Yourong to entertain her until she was "married out". Because of the tradition of the Ming Dynasty, princesses did not have their own princess mansion before getting married, and lived with their elders in the palace.
In the middle or in the palace. After getting married, he and his consort went out to live in a mansion. Liaoyang
The princess is an "outside household" and has no place to live without opening a palace, so she is an exception. Now she is getting married, so according to tradition, she lives in the palace as the eldest princess before marriage, and is regarded as Zhu Yourong's "sister" in name. Now
Fourteen Princess still works in the People's Guard during the day and lives in the palace at night.
Now in this small hall, there are only Zhu Yourong, Xiang Xiaoqiang, Shi Shi Ge Ge, and Wei Zijin. Xiang Xiaoqiang's followers Hu Jiong and Wu Yanbin, and Shi Shi Ge Ge's followers Xiao Wu, are all waiting outside. Wei Zijin
His eyes were lowered, but he was obviously distracted. Maybe it was because he knew that his sweetheart, whom he had not seen for many days, was outside the door.
Xiang Xiaoqiang thought about it and said:
"It should take less than a few days to capture Tianjin. It could be three or four days at the earliest, or a week at the earliest. After that, the troops will definitely need to be reorganized, and at the same time they will start to persuade the Qing army in Beijing to surrender. Anyway, as long as Tianjin is captured, Beijing will be surrounded on three sides.
Then whether and when to fight is up to us."
Zhu Yourong nodded and said:
"Zi Jin."
Wei Zijin immediately said:
"Sir Xiang, there are two options now. One is to not hold a wedding first, but to get engaged first, and then officially hold the wedding after the war is won. This method is more leisurely, because the engagement ceremony does not need to be too complicated and can be done immediately.
However, after all, this is just an engagement, not a formal marriage. Your Majesty is worried whether this will be harmful to the Qing army and to the Qing army.
The influence on the coup organization is limited...The second option is to not get engaged and just get married. Then it is more urgent and must be completed within the next ten days. It may also be easier to do.
.But the advantage is that this is an excellent signal to the Qing army and Beijing. Well, and..."
Wei Zijin stopped and said no more.
Zhu Yourong looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang, then at Fourteen Gege, and said with a smile:
"Besides, my sister and Tingzhi will be able to get married as soon as possible. Haha."
Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at Zhu Yourong, looking at her demure and calm smile, and felt very uncomfortable in his heart. He looked at Fourteenth Gege again, and Fourteenth Gege looked a little uneasy.
"Uh, this..." Xiang Xiaoqiang lowered his head, pinched his chin, and pretended to think, "I... um... actually... how did I think about it..."
Fourteen Gege suddenly seemed very hesitant and said:
"Your Majesty, Liaoyang has some concerns..."
"Sister, what are your concerns? Oh, sister, please tell me."
Fourteen Gege hesitated and said:
"Right now, the soldiers are still fighting bloody battles on the front line, and Mr. Xiang is their hero... If they suddenly heard that Mr. Xiang had married Princess Liaoyang, would it have an impact on their morale? Would the soldiers feel:
We are fighting bloody battles at the front, but Mr. Xiang has long ago married a Manchu Princess home... So, will they... will they feel betrayed?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly raised his head, and felt a thump in his heart. For a moment, he felt that this was really the case. But this Fourteen was real. Now all he was thinking about was how to marry her into the family, but she was there and refused to open any pot.
…
Unexpectedly, Zhu Yourong smiled calmly and said:
"Sister, don't worry. I have already discussed this with Mr. Shen Ge and the others. Zi Jin."
Wei Zijin said again:
"Your Highness, Princess Xiang, has decided to do this now. At the same time as the engagement or marriage, a batch of leaflets will be printed, with photos of Your Highness Xiang and Your Highness Princess at the ceremony, and then write the words "Great Ming Dynasty War" in both Manchu and Chinese characters.
The latter policy of national reconciliation, coupled with some words of persuasion to surrender, roughly means: Brothers of the Eight Banners Division, don’t have any worries, put down your arms.
After the war, you are all citizens of the Ming Dynasty and are treated equally. You see, although Commander Xiang has always been a hardliner against the Qing Dynasty and a pioneer in destroying the Qing Dynasty, didn't he also marry a bannerman princess? Wait for these words.
Part of these leaflets were dropped on the Qing army by plane, and the other part was distributed to our soldiers, so that they could distribute these leaflets against the enemy when they had the opportunity."
Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly realized:
"Oh, I understand. In fact, this is written for our soldiers. They will understand after reading it that this is actually a 'political marriage'. I married Princess Liaoyang not for myself, but for
Better to persuade the Qing army to surrender, in order to save the soldiers from bleeding at the front. In this way, the soldiers will not only have no resentment, but will support our marriage... Haha, you are indeed Mr. Shen Ge."
Zhu Yourong nodded and smiled:
"Yes, that's exactly it. In this way, sister's concerns will naturally be dispelled."
Xiang Xiaoqiang and Shi Shigege exchanged quick glances with each other, and then Xiang Xiaoqiang said:
"Well, I've decided. Let's simply get engaged first. The wedding will be held after the war. Now that the war situation is tense, I am not allowed to spare a lot of time to stay in Nanjing to hold the wedding."
Zhu Yourong nodded, looked at each other again with Wei Zijin, and then with Shi Shigege, and both of them smiled. After a while, Zhu Yourong smiled and said:
"In that case, we are all ready. Let's do it today."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was not mentally prepared at all and was shocked:
"What? Do it today?"
"Yes," Zhu Yourong said with a smile, "I have checked the almanac and today is a good day. Moreover, it is also the Lantern Festival. It will be difficult to find such a good day in the next few days. It just so happens that you don't have to fly back and forth again.
Zi Jin."
Wei Zijin immediately stood up, bowed and smiled at Xiaoqiang and Shi Shigege:
"Your Highness the Princess, sir, please come with your servant."
Xiang Xiaoqiang and Shi Shigege both stood up. Xiang Xiaoqiang hesitated and said:
"This is where to go..."
Zhu Yourong also stood up and said with a smile:
"Go and choose the clothes, see the venue, and get familiar with the process. The chief of ceremonies and people from the Royal Press Office are there, and I need to have some communication with you first. Because the ceremony will be held in the afternoon, followed by the dinner. It will be officially announced in the evening.
There will be many reporters... Hehe, I know it's sudden, but there's nothing we can do about it, we're pressed for time... Hehehe... Sister, go this way..."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was dumbfounded and followed Zhu Yourong, Fourteenth Gege, and Wei Zijin out of the small hall. Fourteenth Gege lowered his head, and his ears were red when viewed from behind. As for Zhu Yourong, his ears were also red.
This girl is so impatient, I wonder if she can't wait any longer, so she wants to finish the things in the 14th grid as quickly as possible so that it can be her turn?