The reborn girl always wants to escape, but the abstinent marquis hugs her and coaxes her!

Chapter 50: Accepting the Imperial Order and Expressing Gratitude

The fifth day of the wild hunt is the day of the competition.

This year, the emperor followed Mu Rong's advice and changed his tactics, ordering the princes to form a clan team to fight against the military generals.

In the morning, there is horse riding and archery, which tests everyone's riding and archery skills; in the afternoon, there is a battle, which tests flexible tactics.

The brothers of the clan are tied together and help each other, so there is naturally less tension.

As for the military generals, although they had experienced many battles, they did not dare to easily offend the royal family.

In the morning archery competition, although Mu Rong and the third prince Wu Tianxiao took the lead, the performance of the other princes was mediocre, and the clan team was on the verge of defeat.

But... they couldn't resist the generals' letting up. The originally unpredictable match ended in a draw thanks to the efforts of both teams.

The emperor was quite interested in watching it.

Almost all the men of status in the hunting palace gathered in the hunting ground, while the women sat on the high platform to watch the battle.

There was an elegant seat on the high platform with a sunshade curtain, where the emperor, empress and concubine Shu sat together.

The Queen ordered the Crown Princess to sit with her, and Concubine Shu naturally did not want to be outdone, so she called the Second Princess in.

The Third Princess Mu Qianyin seemed a little embarrassed at this time, but she was open-minded by nature and didn't care about other people's eyes. She went to sit next to Xu Rongrong.

The emperor naturally didn't care about these details, but he took a look and said, "The one sitting next to Sister Yin is that Xu...Xu..."

"Your Majesty, this is Xu Rongrong, the daughter of a sixth-rank court official and the fiancée of Marquis Weiyuan," the chief eunuch, Eunuch Yao, said hurriedly. The emperor nodded. "Yes, she's a nice girl, but her father's rank is too low. It's a shame for Rong'er to have such a father-in-law."

"Father, why don't you take this opportunity to promote Lord Xu? It will also give Brother Rong some face." The Crown Princess asked coquettishly.

The emperor smiled and shook his head: "No more nonsense! How can promotion in the officialdom be treated as a joke?"

Upon hearing this, the Crown Princess wrinkled her nose playfully and didn't take it seriously.

The Second Imperial Concubine, sitting beside him, snorted inwardly: What an idiot! Even if the Crown Prince wanted to win over the Marquis of Weiyuan, he wouldn't be so impatient!

Seeing that the emperor was in good spirits, the queen glanced at the eunuch Wang who was serving beside him.

The latter immediately understood and quietly withdrew.

A moment later, Xu Rongrong and Mu Qianyin came to the audience with Eunuch Wang.

"Your servant Xu Rongrong pays homage to the Emperor and the Empress. May the Emperor and Empress be blessed with good health. May the Concubine Shu also be well." Xu Rongrong kowtowed in a very proper manner. As she stood up from her position, the pearl hairpin around her neck remained motionless.

The emperor narrowed his eyes and nodded: "Good rules."

The Queen said gently, "From a quick glance at him at the Qixi Festival banquet, I only remembered that he was very good-looking. Now that I see him again, I realize that he has both good character and good looks." She smiled and called Xu Rongrong to her feet. "Brother Rong is a good hunter. You can watch the battle from here."

Xu Rongrong nodded in agreement and stood below.

A burst of cheers was heard. It turned out that the third prince had knocked the opposing general off his horse with one shot.

The emperor glanced at Mu Qianyin and praised, "Third brother is not bad."

Mu Qianyin thanked him with a smile.

But just as he finished speaking, the Fourth Prince fell off his horse while surrounded by military generals.

"Fourth Prince is a fool." The emperor laughed heartily and ordered Eunuch Yao to send for the imperial physician to take a look. Fortunately, the Fourth Prince was not seriously injured. After a quick cleanup, he got back on his horse, and the emperor nodded with satisfaction.

The battle went on and on, with both sides winning and losing, and the emperor was very excited to see it.

The hearts of everyone in the private room seemed to be affected as well, and as the emperor's mood fluctuated, Xu Rongrong seemed particularly quiet in contrast.

The emperor was a little surprised and beckoned her over: "Sister Rong, why are you so calm? You don't seem worried at all?"

"She has confidence in Rong Ge'er!" The Crown Princess rushed to answer, "If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had Rong Ge'er's skills, I would definitely be calmer than Rong Jie'er."

The emperor laughed and said, "You are naughty!"

After saying that, he then asked Xu Rongrong, "Since that's the case, Rongjie, guess which team will win this match?"

Xu Rongrong looked into the hunting ground.

The royal family team is led by the crown prince, and together with the princes and clan members, there are a total of ten people. But now there are only eight people left on the field, while the military generals team has all ten people. In terms of numbers, the military generals team has a slight advantage.

As for their condition, after half a day of competition, except for Mu Rong, the third prince, and Prince Pingyuan, the rest of the royal family team were already exhausted, while the military generals were still in high spirits.

No matter from which angle you look at it, it's no problem for the military team to win this game.

However, after Xu Rongrong pondered for a moment, she replied, "Your Majesty, I believe the royal family team will win."

Ha! The Second Princess sneered in her heart: He is just a flatterer, saying only what Your Majesty likes to hear.

The Emperor also became interested. "Oh? Sister Rong, tell me why you think the Imperial Clan team will win? I think they seem to be already losing."

Xu Rongrong answered truthfully: "The outcome of this battle has nothing to do with the number of people or their condition. It's simply because they are the royal family team, so they will win."

"..." The emperor frowned slightly. "You mean, the generals, because of their status as royal family members, deliberately lost to them?" Xu Rongrong nodded. "That's exactly what happened."

"Are all the military commanders of our Great Zhou Dynasty people who curry favor with the powerful and wealthy?" The emperor's expression was difficult to tell whether he was happy or angry.

Mu Qianyin reached out and tugged at Xu Rongrong, but the latter seemed oblivious and simply smiled, "This has nothing to do with clinging to the powerful. Whether they are members of the royal family or military commanders, everyone in the hunting grounds is your Majesty's subject. The two of them are simply joining forces to entertain their parents with colorful attire."

The emperor looked at him strangely. "Sister Rong, are you saying they're just playing around? But what if this isn't a hunting ground? If they were really on the battlefield, wouldn't they be acting this way?"

"I don't think so."

"What do you mean?"

"To please His Majesty, the royal family and their generals have united to stage this spectacular battle. Doesn't this truly demonstrate the unity of the entire Zhou Dynasty? If we were to truly confront the enemy on the battlefield, how could such a united team be invincible?"

The emperor fell silent. As if to confirm her statement, when the prince thrust his wooden spear forward, the opposing general fell off his horse and collapsed to the ground before the spear even touched him, looking a bit embarrassed.

The emperor burst out laughing when he saw this.

The gradually heavy atmosphere in the private room finally dissipated.

The emperor smiled and said, "You are so bold."

Mu Qianyin secretly gave Xu Rongrong a thumbs up.

Xu Rongrong looked at the emperor's smiling face, thoughtfully: She knew that although the current emperor was rich and powerful, he was still a father who valued family affection at heart. What he wanted to see most was a situation where all the princes worked together and the civil and military officials were of one mind.

What she said was just a reflection of his inner thoughts.

The battle was quickly decided, and just as Xu Rongrong said, the clan team narrowly won.

The emperor ordered Eunuch Yao to distribute the prizes, then stood up and faced the people in the hunting grounds. "If our Great Zhou wants to maintain long-term peace and stability, both civil and military governance are indispensable. I hope that all the generals will work together with the royal family to resist foreign enemies."

The crows in the hunting ground knelt down and shouted "Long live the king".

The sound echoed in the wilderness for a long time.

The emperor turned around again and said, "Sister Rong is a good child. What should I reward you with?"

Xu Rongrong hurriedly said, "I haven't done anything, so I dare not accept the reward."

The emperor smiled and said, "You cannot refuse my reward. However, I have already given those pearls and jades to the warriors below..."

He changed the subject and said, "I will reward you with the title of County Master."

Everyone: "..."

The emperor then instructed Eunuch Yao: "Draft an edict for me, granting the Xu family the seal of Princess Ping'an and a salary of the second rank." Xu Rongrong: "..."

What else could she do? She could only accept the order and express her gratitude.