The cannon fodder just wants to survive until the end

The first girl to show her talent was the second daughter of the Prime Minister's Mansion. She was known as the most talented woman in Kyoto and was said to be proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting.

Ming Huaixi looked at the second young lady of the Prime Minister's family, who was holding a zither in her hand and seemed to be going to perform her musical skills.

The display of talent at the palace banquet does not mean to belittle these ladies, but to select a princess as the emperor, one must have the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, live up to the aura of the princess, and have enough courage.

Only when she possesses all of these qualifications can she become the prince's consort, and her character can also be seen through the talents displayed by these people.

For people like Ming Huaixi who join in the fun, they may just be watching the fun, but in the eyes of the emperor, the empress, and those concubines, these are all assessment items. They want to see who is suitable to be the prince's consort and which prince's consort she is suitable to be. The emperor has to see this from them.

The second young lady of the Prime Minister's family is indeed worthy of being the most talented woman in Kyoto. Her piano playing is very lively and her skills are very sophisticated, but it feels that the emotions are not very rich, which is a bit regrettable.

Ming Huaixi looked at the second young lady of the Prime Minister's Mansion, who was wearing a blue dress and sitting in the middle of the hall, plucking the strings of a zither with her hands. Her face looked very casual, as if she was not performing in front of everyone but practicing her piano skills.

When the song ended, the second young lady of the Prime Minister's family stood up, bowed, and went downstairs with the zither in her arms.

"Miss Zhang Er's music is very good. Look for the reward." Emperor Zhaoming gave reward to Miss Zhang Er as she left.

The young lady was about to step down from the stage, and this sudden reward made her feel a little unwise, but she still turned around and thanked Emperor Zhaoming for the reward.

The reward means that she will be the future prince's consort, but no one knows which prince Miss Zhang will be betrothed to.

Next was the daughter of the Minister of Rites, the eldest lady of the Shu family. Miss Shu demonstrated her on-the-spot poetry writing. She was given a topic by Emperor Zhaoming and had to compose a poem within the time it takes to burn an incense stick.

This talent is very surprising. It really tests a person's abilities and is a very bold challenge.

The topic given by Emperor Zhaoming was about flowers. Miss Shu thought about it for a moment before she began to speak the first sentence, then wrote it down on paper. After a pause, she thought about it again and spoke the second sentence.

Miss Shu had a very flexible mind, and she finished the poem in just a short while. Some people in the audience nodded, while others frowned, seeming to be dissatisfied. But no matter what, being able to come up with a pretty good poem in such a short time was already better than most people.

After writing the poems, Emperor Zhaoming also had people give rewards. Then several girls showed their talents. Some girls were rewarded, and some were not.

In addition to the first two girls, the one who impressed Ming Huaixi the most was a girl who was performing sword dancing. She was the legitimate daughter of Cheng Yuanhou. Cheng Yuanhou had been fighting on the battlefield all year round. It was rumored that Cheng Yuanhou's wife was a confused person who often wronged her own daughter and favored her niece. After being caught by Cheng Yuanhou once, he took both his son and daughter to the border to raise them personally.

Now that the daughter has grown up, she is allowed to come back and get married. This little legitimate daughter grew up at the border and learned good martial arts, but she is not familiar with household affairs, which made many families who were interested in marrying her hesitate. As a result of this hesitation, she encountered the prince's selection of concubines.

Marquis Chengyuan's surname is Li, and his daughter is called Li Moran, a very scholarly name and she looks quite scholarly as well. However, her whole demeanor is very capable and she is not at all sloppy. Her sword dance attracted the attention of most people at the palace banquet, it was so beautiful.

Miss Li was also admired.

There were no more amazing performances after that. By the time the ladies finished showing their talents, it was already late. Emperor Zhaoming then said a few more words and let the show go.

On the second day, Emperor Zhaoming revealed the several couples he was going to marry to the mothers of the princes, asking them to test the princes' attitudes and decide whether to grant the marriages in the end.

The Third Prince had no mother, so his affairs were handed over to the Empress.

For these princes, marrying any of the people chosen by Emperor Zhaoming yesterday would bring them benefits, and they don't dislike them, so they can marry any of them.

Since the princes had no objections, Emperor Zhaoming directly granted the marriage.

The second daughter of the Prime Minister's Mansion was married to the third prince, the eldest daughter of the Minister of Rites was married to the sixth prince, the second daughter of the Minister of Revenue was married to the fourth prince, and the daughter of Marquis Chengyuan was married to the fifth prince.

Their wedding date was very close to Yang Xiuyuan's. The prince's marriage could not be too simple, so it would take a lot of time. In the end, the third prince and the fourth prince were scheduled to marry on the same day.

The fifth and sixth princes were scheduled to be born on the same day as the seventh prince, one month later than the third and fourth princes.

These princes did not withdraw from the fight for the throne, so they were not made kings. They just had their own prince's palaces outside the palace and attended court meetings every day as princes. Emperor Zhaoming had not assigned them other powerful tasks yet. It was estimated that after they got married, Emperor Zhaoming would assign all of them except Yang Xiuyuan to the six ministries for training.

The tradition of Zhao State was very strange. Every prince who intended to compete for the throne had to go through training in the six ministries. Only when he was competent in each department could he be considered to have a ticket to compete for the throne.

If no prince can pass the test, then the only one who has the strongest ability will be chosen.

The prince who withdraws from the fight for the throne will be made a king, and will spend his whole life assisting a wise monarch. He can choose a department he likes and stay there forever. The prince cannot become an official or collect taxes from the people, so although the prince has the power of the six ministries, he does not have the name of the six ministries.

This Zhao prince really withdrew from the fight for the throne, and as long as he announced his withdrawal, no ministers would support him. This is really magical, and no one knows how he did it.

If it were another country, if the prince said he would withdraw, he must have been growing stronger in secret. But the State of Zhao directly cut off the source of the problem. Everything was transparent, and the princes' fights were openly exposed. What a magical country it was.

Soon it was time for the third prince and the fourth prince to get married. When the two princes got married, the entire capital of Zhao was filled with red.

The children on the street followed the wedding procession, bending down from time to time to grab the candies and coins thrown by the procession. This was a rare happy day for the children.

The third prince and the fourth prince rode their horses in the front, heading towards their brides' homes respectively, with smiles on their faces, looking very happy.

The third prince dismounted when he arrived at the Prime Minister's Mansion. Two young masters were already standing in front of the door.

The eldest son of the Prime Minister's Mansion took a step forward and said, "If you want to marry the daughter of the Prime Minister's Mansion, you have to pass the test of the two of us first. I may have offended you today. I hope the Third Prince will forgive me."