Saving the foolish general, she accidentally becomes his favorite.

The fifth day of May.

Preparations for the Emperor Emeritus's birthday celebration have been underway for a month now.

Today, the streets are deserted and the whole city is in an uproar.

Emperor Xuanyuan Ming ordered a palace banquet to invite nobles, literati and scholars from various countries to celebrate his birthday, a continuous feast that lasted for three days.

To demonstrate the Emperor Emeritus's wisdom and martial prowess and his blessings upon the people, a general amnesty was granted, with all punishments except for beheading reduced, in order to highlight the Emperor Emeritus's profound benevolence and longevity.

At this time, all the inns, big and small, in the capital were almost full.

Officials from outside Kyoto came to offer their birthday greetings, as did envoys from other countries. The crowds were so large that the motorcades carrying gifts lined several streets.

Among all the countries today, only the retired emperor has such popularity, which is truly a magnificent sight.

Most people, both commoners and officials, praised it highly. At that moment, two officials from out of town were chatting and drinking wine downstairs at the restaurant.

"Speaking of the Emperor Emeritus, he was quite a prominent figure in several countries back then!"

"Yes, yes, during his years in office, taxes for the people were reduced or exempted whenever possible, officials implemented numerous anti-corruption policies, the people lived prosperous lives, trade with the four countries flourished, and the country truly became wealthy and powerful."

"The reason why the retired emperor maintained good relations with other countries during his reign was because he was a righteous person and had deep friendships with the old kings of the deceased countries. Also, because he lived a long life, his seniority was still higher than that of all the emperors who were still in power."

Another onlooker joined the chat:

"That being said, most of those who came to Tian Shu to offer birthday greetings this time were princes and princesses. I heard that only one country had their monarch personally come to offer his congratulations! That's giving them a lot of face!"

"Which king is going to come in person?" the crowd began to inquire.

Unexpectedly, the onlooker shook his head, saying only that a relative of his was in charge of reception at the post station and knew about the matter, but it was inconvenient to reveal too much.

When the group realized they couldn't find out the answer, they lost interest.

The Imperial Palace, Cixin Hall.

Unlike the bustling crowds outside, the decorations for the ceremony were arranged in an orderly manner inside the Palace of the Retired Emperor, and the ceremony proceeded smoothly and solemnly without being noisy.

The retired emperor was old and disliked making noise, so the attendants in the palace all spoke in hushed tones.

"You mean the King of Beichen has arrived?"

The retired emperor glanced at the young eunuch beside him with slight surprise.

He was feeding the birds after practicing martial arts in the early morning when he suddenly heard some unexpected news.

"Yes, the King of Beichen is coming in person. To avoid any unforeseen events along the way, it was kept secret until he arrived in the capital. Only then was someone sent to inform him that the King had arrived and to ask the post station to arrange the highest level of hospitality."

The retired emperor pursed his lips, calmly handed the birdseed to the young eunuch, and instructed:

"We should treat them well and remember not to be impolite."

Rumors are circulating that the king will personally attend to offer birthday greetings, but due to his high status, the itinerary has been kept secret.

Only now has the Tian Shu Imperial Palace received the news, and the one who has arrived in such great style is Tian Shu's ally, the Bei Chen Kingdom.

Beichen is rich and prosperous, even surpassing the wealth of Jiangnan.

However, Beichen has a very obvious weakness: it is located by the sea, with little land and a large population, and limited arable land, resulting in insufficient food supply.

Every year, they earned a lot of money through maritime trade, which they then exchanged for food with other countries.

While maritime shipping is extremely profitable, this method also has drawbacks. Every year, many fishermen go out on their boats and then disappear in storms at sea.

Therefore, although there was trade along the coast, it was not much. Every year, Beichen Kingdom exchanged grain and various materials with Tianshu Kingdom, and its trade was relatively frequent among all the countries.

When the former emperor of Beichen Kingdom was alive, he and the current retired emperor of Tianshu Kingdom established a treaty of friendship, under which the two countries agreed not to invade each other.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the new ruler of Beichen still came to celebrate the birthday of the retired emperor, although it was indeed an excessively grand affair.

To date, no emperor of any country has ever had a foreign monarch personally attend his birthday celebration.

It is perfectly normal for a monarch not to be able to move around freely.

But since he is willing to come, it means that he still keeps the alliance established by his fathers, and the two countries are still allies, which is very good news.

The retired emperor was momentarily shocked to hear that the ruler of Beichen would be coming in person, but then he smiled:

"He's thoughtful; he's a kind and compassionate child."

The retired emperor recalled that when he was young, he had once held the current emperor of Beichen in his arms. In his memory, the little emperor was like a glutinous rice ball, short in stature but full of knowledge, a rare talent...

As people grow old, they can't help but start to look forward to this year's birthday celebration. He gazes into the distance, his thoughts wandering, wondering how his old friend's son has grown up.

Looking back at himself in the bronze mirror, he sighed helplessly at the eunuch:

"Getting old, getting old, you have to admit it..."

The eunuch quickly tried to comfort him.

……

Outside the palace, on the official road.

When the Prince of Beichen arrived in person, his entourage was the grandest ever, with as many as two hundred attendants accompanying him.

The carriage wound its way along the official road, like a river that stretched to the horizon.

Because the matter was kept secret all the way, the staff at the post station were quite flustered when they arrived in the capital and learned that the king of Beichen Kingdom was coming in person.

However, the Empress had already prepared all the highest-level ceremonial arrangements, so the people at the post station were initially taken aback but quickly got back into the swing of things and rearranged the venue.

Prince Beichen sat in his sedan chair, lazily stretching out one hand—his fingers were distinctly boned, each joint exuding coldness and devoid of color. He made a gesture, and his attendant immediately handed him a cup of warm soup.

The Prince of Beichen disliked drinking tea and preferred soup, which had to be warm; it couldn't be too hot or too cold.

The attendants had grown accustomed to this journey and were now handling it with ease.

"Your Majesty, the post station is replacing all the decorations. The master of ceremonies in charge said that it will only take a short while. The royal ceremonial items have already been prepared inside, and only the exterior decorations need to be changed."

"Oh? So the royal ceremony has already been prepared? You guessed right..."

The Prince of Beichen lifted the curtain, glanced at the post station without any restraint, looked in a certain direction in the distance, and smirked.

He was holding a dark red dried flower in his hand; the flower had long since lost its moisture and looked withered.

He had played with it all the way until they reached the post station, where he finally crushed it...

"In that case, go in, pack your things, and prepare to enter the palace," the Prince of Beichen ordered with a sinister grin.

The servants quickly began preparations.

"This is the Prince of Beichen?"

A man and a woman were sitting by the window in the restaurant, watching the traffic on the street.

A man dressed in luxurious robes waved a fan, watching and chuckling sarcastically:

"This is truly extraordinary. Bringing so many suitcases, even if it's just for show, is it really necessary for other countries?"

Anyone who didn't know better would think he was celebrating his father's birthday!

The woman beside her had bright eyes and white teeth, and was also dressed in luxurious clothes, but she remained calm. She only glanced at him indifferently before continuing to drink her tea, as if all the hustle and bustle outside had nothing to do with her.

The man continued:

“Mingzhu’er, don’t you take a good look at the fine men outside? This time when you came to Tian Shu Kingdom, your father said that he would let you choose a man who suits your taste and get married as soon as possible.”

Upon hearing this, Mingzhu'er seemed to have heard a funny joke. A slight smile played on her lips as she looked at the man with an air of haughtiness and said coquettishly:

"Then you'd better take a good look for me, see which family's fine young man is worthy of your approval, and can be considered as satisfactory as you want, so that I can snatch him back and make him my bandit husband."

The man called Third Brother seemed amused and flicked Mingzhu'er's nose: "Naughty!"

Then, he looked with considerable curiosity at the truckloads of boxes:

"Everyone says Beichen is wealthy, but I wonder what gift Beichen sent this time?"

Mingzhu'er's eyes flickered for a moment, and she said with great interest:

"It might be something really good that no one would expect..."

Her eyes shone with interest, as if she had a deep interest in this treasure.

Upon hearing this, the man became very excited and immediately said, "If Mingzhu is interested in Beichen's treasures, then I will do everything I can to snatch them from Beichen."

Mingzhu burst out laughing:

"Third brother, this is a gift from the emperor of one country to the retired emperor of another country. How could you steal it?"

Third Brother smiled mysteriously: "How will you know if you don't try?"

"Third Brother, stop fooling around."

"I will get you any treasure you want, Mingzhu."

For some reason, Mingzhu'er's eyes welled up with tears when she heard this sentence. Her heart was surging, but she still pretended to be calm on the surface.

She turned around, pretending to look further away, and walked towards the window, hiding the tears in the corners of her eyes so that her third brother wouldn't see them...

Deep down, I made up my mind:

She was determined to get her hands on the congratulatory gift from the Northern Chen Kingdom!