Princess Promotion

Yan Yunfan found that the motives in the court were a bit big recently.

In particular, the Ministry of Rites seems to be preparing for some grand ceremony.

At noon, Yan Yunfan, carrying his lunch, casually sat down opposite Liang Xingli.

It was only after Yan Yunfan arrived that he found out that the court actually provided meals.

For this purpose, a palace was specially opened for officials to have meals.

The meals are prepared by the imperial chef himself. It can be said that what the empress can eat normally, she can also eat here.

The canteen has no time limit. When you are hungry, you can come and eat. There is also tea, cakes and pastries available for officials to help themselves.

These food benefits are dispensable for wealthy families.

But for a small official like Liang Xingli who came from a lower class background and had little assets at home.

It's just like a salary increase. As long as Liang Xingli comes early, he can have three meals a day in the palace.

Even the pastries served in the cafeteria would be packaged up by the palace servants if they were not finished on the same day.

Officials off duty can take it home and eat it if they want.

Of course, only officials like Liang Xingli who live on salaries would live so frugally.

Those who do not rely on salaries, such as Yan Yunfan, have meals prepared and delivered to them by the mansion.

Yan Yunfan took out his dishes one by one. Although the palace provided meals, the big pot meals could not compare to the exquisite stir-fries.

Yan Yunfan's face was as gloomy as water, and he said slowly, "Brother Liang, let's have a meal together. There are many things in the mansion, and I can't use them all by myself."

Liang Xingli knew at a glance that Yan Yunfan was here to gather information, but as a small official, he knew what he knew, so there was basically no need to keep it secret.

So Liang Xingli didn't hesitate, picked up his chopsticks and stretched them towards the meat on the plate, saying, "Then I will be disrespectful to refuse it!"

Yan Yunfan smiled and picked up his chopsticks to pick up a piece of food. Then he slowly said, "Brother Liang, you seem to have lost a lot of weight recently. I guess you are busy with official duties."

Liang Xingli swallowed the meat in his mouth, picked up another large piece of meat with his chopsticks, and then said, "That's right. I've been busy preparing for the sacrificial ceremony recently."

This news was within Yan Yunfan's expectations.

After all, Yao Chuguang unified the Central Plains. Even if she came to power illegitimately, she still had such great achievements.

Even the royal family members who were very particular about social ethics and etiquette had to acknowledge Yao Chuguang's legitimacy.

Yao Chuguang is holding the sacrificial ceremony now to comfort his ancestors, which is considered very restrained.

Rumor has it that the empress had not originally planned to hold this grand ceremony, but because the royal family members kept clamoring and insisting that it must be held, the empress finally agreed to it.

This was not the news Yan Yunfan wanted to find out, there was only one thing he really wanted to know.

Yan Yunfan said nonchalantly, "So, Your Majesty will set off to return to Huayang City on a chosen day?"

Liang Xingli picked up the food faster and said without looking up, "Your Majesty is not going back. Someone else will preside over the ceremony."

Yan Yunfan looked surprised, and raised his thick eyebrows slightly as he asked, "Is it one of His Majesty's three princes who will preside over the ceremony?"

Normally, if the empress could not personally attend certain important celebrations, she would usually choose a highly respected royal family member to take charge of the event on her behalf.

When Yan Yunfan was still the crown prince, he often represented King Yan at various occasions.

The empress has no children yet, which means that anyone who can take on the important task of presiding over the ceremony will definitely be favored and paid attention to by the empress.

It is no exaggeration to say that no matter which prince is fortunate enough to hold this position, he will become a highly-anticipated figure in Qi State.

Even the families behind them will benefit greatly from this.

In order to compete for this position, the princes will definitely fight to the death.

Yan Yunfan is looking forward to watching this wonderful show. Which prince will have the last laugh?

Liang Xingli ate heartily and replied, "It's not the princes, it's the old emperor who is destined to come."

Yan Yunfan was choked and speechless for a moment.

He actually forgot that Yao Chuguang's father was still alive.

At the same time, Huayang City

The Emperor of Qi, who had become the retired emperor, had a face so gloomy that it seemed as if water could drip out of it. He tightly grasped the teacup in his hand, and his knuckles turned white with anger.

The Emperor threw the teacup to the ground with all his might, roaring, "This is simply too much!"

A crisp cracking sound was heard, and the teacup instantly turned into countless pieces, flying everywhere.

Duke Li nimbly dodged sideways and easily avoided the flying porcelain pieces.

However, Duke Li's face showed no sign of surprise or fear. He flicked the corner of his clothes and said, "Can't you see where I'm standing? If you want to throw something, throw it in a direction where there's no one."

The emperor's chest heaved violently, his eyes flashing with anger, as if he wanted to burn everything in front of him to ashes.

It would have been bad enough that his own daughter had taken away his throne, but now he was even asked to brag about the achievements of that rebellious girl in front of all the ancestors.

The Emperor glared at Duke Li and said, "Who told you to come? Get out!"

He originally wanted to hit him. If he could beat Duke Li, he would have attacked him directly.

Duke Li looked at the broken porcelain pieces scattered all over the floor, not fearing the Emperor's wrath in the slightest. Instead, he found a chair and sat down, saying, "Go ahead, smash it all you want. Your Majesty is wealthy, and even if you continue smashing things for the rest of your life, Your Majesty can still support you."

The Emperor took a deep breath, trying to calm his anger, and slowly sat back in his chair and said, "If I don't leave, what can you do to me?"

Duke Li grabbed a handful of melon seeds from the plate and ate them while saying, "His Majesty has already anticipated that you wouldn't agree, so he sent me over to tie you up. You better obey. Otherwise, of all the emperors in history books who were usurped, you're the only one being tied up to preside over a ceremony."

The retired emperor's face instantly turned darker than the bottom of a pot. If someone said this to him, he would not be afraid.

Even though he is imprisoned now, no one dares to touch him as long as Yao Chuguang doesn't give the order.

Only Duke Li really dared to take action, and he did it without any hesitation.

The retired emperor even felt that Duke Li had disliked him for a long time and had been looking for an opportunity to beat him up.

Duke Li was not at all particular. He spat out melon seed shells at the retired emperor and said with a smug look on his face, "I really don't understand you. You have such an outstanding daughter like Ah Chu. Your ancestors must be so proud of you, don't you know?"

"Look, you have been in power for more than 20 years, and Qi has been standing still. Ah Chu has unified the Central Plains in less than three years after taking office." Duke Li was stabbing the retired emperor in the heart while eating melon seeds.

The retired emperor's eyes were like knives, and he wished he could slice Duke Li's body. "That's so good! Why didn't she come back to pay her respects herself?"

Duke Li said lazily, "Achu has to go pick up Xueqing and has no time to deal with these trivial matters. Besides, you don't want your remaining sons to fight each other for this position. Achu really thinks of you when he lets you preside over the ceremony."

The Emperor was confused: "Who is Xueqing?"

Yan Yunfan was confused: "Who is Xueqing?"

Liang Xingli picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea. He burped and said, "Lady Xueqing was once His Majesty's personal maid."

Yan Yunfan's eyes were full of disbelief. The empress missed her own sacrificial ceremony just for a maid?

Liang Xingli put down his teacup and explained, "Although Lord Xueqing is of humble origin, he has rendered great service to Your Majesty."

Yan Yunfan became interested and asked, "Tell me in detail."

Liang Xingli shook his head and said, "I don't know the specific situation, but I heard that Master Xueqing has been staying with the barbarians for many years and has quietly provided Your Majesty with a lot of key intelligence."

After saying this, Liang Xingli stood up and said, "Your Highness, I have eaten my fill and have some official business to attend to, so I will take my leave now."

Seeing this, Yan Yunfan knew that he would not get any useful information if he continued to ask, so he nodded and said, "Then you should go and do your work first. We can talk next time when we have time."

After Liang Xingli left, Yan Yunfan picked up his chopsticks again and prepared to continue eating.

When I looked down, the plate was empty.

Yan Yunfan clinked his bowl of white rice and looked at the clean plate in front of him. He had no choice but to put down his bowl and chopsticks and get some cakes to fill his stomach.

The next morning, the dawn light in the sky was like fine gold dust, sprinkling over the magnificent imperial city.

Yao Chuguang stood at the city gate, wearing a royal robe woven with gold thread and an imperial crown inlaid with jade.

On both sides of his back were the imperial guards and ministers lined up in neat rows. They lowered their heads, stood quietly and waited.

Yan Yunfan stood in the team, looking at Yao Chuguang who was standing in the front with complicated eyes.

When his father came to meet the empress in person, he did not even leave the city to welcome her, but now he is making such a big fuss over a maid.

Yan Yunfan has collected a lot of information about Xue Qing in the past few days, but the results he obtained were no exception.

Xueqing's life can be summarized in just a few sentences.

She was sold into the palace at the age of six, and at the age of eight she was favored by Yao Chuguang, who was the eldest princess at the time, and was kept by her side to serve her.

In the battle of Yicheng, he risked his life to deliver a message to the empress, but when the reinforcements arrived, they were nowhere to be found.

Everyone thought she was dead, but unexpectedly she mixed in with the barbarians, made great military achievements, and returned triumphantly.

Although we haven't found out what Xue Qing did specifically, as long as we sort out the timeline a little bit and combine it with the empress's strategy against the barbarians, we can roughly guess what Xue Qing did in this.

The opportunity for Yao Chuguang to become the empress was that Duke Li took advantage of the death of the old leader of the barbarian tribe, which caused chaos among the tribes as they competed for the position of new leader, and took the opportunity to lead his troops to severely damage the barbarians.

As a result, when Duke Li led a large army back to Huayang City, the barbarians were unable to organize troops to counterattack in time.

This allowed Duke Li to take advantage of the opportunity to quell the civil strife and support Yao Chuguang to take the throne.

Because of the events that followed, one thing led to another, Yao Chuguang had just come to power when he was taken advantage of by the Western Zhou Dynasty.

So no one had time to stop and think about how Duke Li learned that the old leader of the barbarian tribe was dying, and the various tribes were fighting for the position of leader.

You have to know that the barbarians are very xenophobic and have no fixed place to live, unlike the Central Plains, even though Yan and Qi were separated by the Western Zhou Dynasty.

They can send spies to the other party’s territory to collect intelligence.

Therefore, the barbarians have been harassing the Central Plains for so many years, but we have never been able to do anything about them. One of the reasons is that we have been unable to plant spies among the barbarians.

I can't find anyone to counterattack, so I just fight like this.

Moreover, every step forward of the army puts enormous pressure on the rear supply.

It is simply impossible to send troops to clean up.

They didn't even know when the Manchus would come back to attack, so they could only passively defend themselves, and the annual military expenditure was astronomical.

Now that I think about it carefully, and considering the time when Xueqing disappeared, I look back.

Ever since the battle of Yao Chuguang in Yicheng, it seems that they have been invincible against the barbarians. Xue Qing should have played a big role in this!

Yan Yunfan remembered that the barbarians had received support from the Yan family of Youzhou, and the Yan family of Youzhou took the lead in preparing to unite with the Western Border Army to fight against Yao Chuguang.

If they were allowed to successfully unite, coupled with the instigation of the Yan State, Yao Chuguang would find it difficult to unify the Central Plains, let alone maintain the status quo.

However, Yao Chuguang got the first chance to learn about the collusion between the Yan family in Youzhou and the barbarians, and he immediately took action to eliminate the Yan family in Youzhou.

Then, Yao Chuguang used himself as bait to lure the Western Border Army into abandoning cooperation with the barbarians due to the benefits, and instead attempted to use the barbarians to annex Qi.

In the end, the Western Border, the Barbarians, and the State of Yan were all defeated one by one.

Yao Chuguang became the biggest winner.

Although Xueqing never appeared in front of the world from beginning to end, her shadow could be seen at every important turning point.

It can even be said that Xueqing was the beginning of all this.

Yao Chuguang's gaze penetrated the morning mist and fell on the team slowly approaching from a distance.

A group of people and horses slowly approached, with cavalry leading the way. They were wearing silver armor that reflected a dazzling light in the sunlight.

In the middle was a luxurious carriage, pulled by four pure white horses. The horses' manes fluttered in the morning breeze, making them look particularly majestic.

Behind them followed the cavalry, the long spears in their hands flashing coldly in the sun, showing their majesty and momentum.

The emperor personally welcomed the guests, and the generals led the way. This was the highest level of welcome throughout history.

As the team approached, Yao Chuguang's heartbeat involuntarily quickened.

The carriage slowly stopped, the door was gently pushed open, and a woman in a plain long dress slowly walked down from the carriage.

Her hair was simply tied up and fixed with a wooden hairpin. Her face was not made up, but she had a strong and resolute temperament.

Yao Chuguang walked forward, extended her hand, and said softly, "Xueqing, welcome back."

Xue Qing was slightly startled, tears flashing in her eyes. She gently held Yao Chuguang's hand and said, "Your Highness, I'm back."

Xueqing slowly got off the carriage, turned around, lifted the curtain and shouted, "Xu'er, come here and get off the carriage."

Only then did Yao Chuguang see a child about three years old walking out timidly.

As soon as he came out, he grabbed Xueqing's sleeve tightly and hid behind Xueqing.

Yao Chuguang's expression remained unchanged. He smiled slowly, as if reminiscing about old times, and asked, "Is this your child?"

The smile on Xueqing's face froze for a moment, but she soon relaxed and said, "Well, I'll name him Xu'er."

Yao Chuguang slowly squatted down, looking at the child in front of her with gentle eyes, and asked softly, "Xu'er, I'm your aunt! Do you want to go eat something delicious with me?"

After saying that, Yao Chuguang stretched out his left hand and gently took Xu'er's little hand, and at the same time took Xueqing with his right hand, and then led them to walk towards the city.

At noon, the sun is just right.