Chapter 1343 - 1179: Princess Ba Yu
Chapter 1343: Chapter 1179: Princess Ba Yu
The Emperor had grown accustomed to receiving tea from Gu Chengyu, and after taking it, he drank it all in one gulp, feeling a remarkable lightness in his chest.
"What kind of tea is this? Every time I’ve had this tea in the past two days, I’ve felt much more refreshed." The Emperor smiled with a hint of amusement and asked.
"This is the Biluochun you often drink, Your Majesty!" Gu Chengyu was not tense; after all, the Emperor could not possibly guess that there was Spiritual Spring in it.
The Emperor nodded without further questioning, as if he were merely indulging in a momentary interest.
"How are Ye’s eyes these days? Is there any improvement?"
"Reporting to the Emperor, the Eldest Prince is better than he was two days ago; he can already make out shadows!" Gu Chengyu turned to look at the Emperor, knowing that although the Emperor was very weary, the border matters could not be delayed.
"So, your pills have miraculous effects, fortunately he used them at the time; giving them to me would merely be a waste." The Emperor felt a bit relieved; as long as Ye’s eyes could recover, there was hope.
"Your Majesty, there’s no need to be pessimistic. Look, aren’t you much better than you were two days ago?" In these two days, Gu Chengyu had uttered too many comforting words; he held a sense of compassion for a dying person.
"Your Majesty, buying soldiers only at the border is far too slow; I believe it could be expanded to the nearby State, enlarge the scope, and once the numbers are collected, proceed to the border. Currently, there are only around fifty thousand men; it is likely even less in these past few days. Moreover, Prince Gong’s forces are causing trouble, and they have started imitating us, even offering more Silver Coin to buy soldiers than the court. If we do not expand to other areas, it’s difficult to gather an army of one hundred thousand."
Gu Chengyu sighed, Prince Gong’s tactics, though rogue, were quite effective. Although Prince Gong did not have much Silver himself, it was enough to create obstacles for them, and precisely what they lacked was time.
There were reports from the Hidden Guard; Prince Gong and Prince Jing had already formed an alliance. These two must be already planning how to attack the court, and we must quickly gather an army of two hundred thousand to eliminate them in one fell swoop.
"Let’s do it that way! The sooner we deal with these two, the sooner we’ll have some breathing space." The Emperor, thinking of these matters gave him a headache, felt he couldn’t hold on much longer; he hoped not to leave Ye with a mess that he couldn’t handle before dying.
"Jinyu! This time the envoy from Da Xing has arrived, not only with a Prince but reportedly with an Imperial Family Princess?" The Emperor suddenly remembered something; this Imperial Family Princess following the envoy to Dayan, what was her purpose? Could it be simply to see the sights? That seems unlikely.
After all, the envoy from Da Xing came to Dayan for diplomatic relations between two countries, not to travel leisurely with a girl, which indeed seems odd.
"Yes! It’s said to be the Eighth Princess, Ba Yu!" Gu Chengyu nodded; he had caught a glimpse from afar this morning and found it strange that there was a Princess. But upon reflection, the purpose of Da Xing became clear.
"What do you think?" The Emperor allowed Gu Chengyu to support him off the bed; laying there all day was enough to waste a person.
"Since ancient times, marriage alliances are believed to be most beneficial for stimulating diplomatic relations between two countries." Gu Chengyu was indifferent to this notion; Dayan’s Princes were already married, besides the Emperor couldn’t possibly let those two wed Da Xing’s Princess.
Moreover, the Emperor’s children were all very young; the eldest Prince was only eight years old and couldn’t possibly marry a Princess. So this Princess of Da Xing wanted to marry over, but there was no suitable candidate. Likewise, there was no Princess of appropriate age here to wed over there. This was precisely what he found peculiar.
Da Xing couldn’t be ignorant of this fact, yet they brought a Princess along, intending perhaps to find a suitable young noble from Dayan to marry among the aristocratic family sons?
Unlikely, wouldn’t this unnecessarily diminish Dayan? Is Da Xing’s Princess only worthy of wedlock with a noble of Dayan?
"They are well aware of Dayan’s situation too, bringing a Princess over, whom should she marry?" The Emperor was puzzled; he too believed Da Xing intended a marriage alliance, but there were truly no good candidates in the Imperial Family.
Those two had already married their main wives, so is Da Xing’s Princess thinking of settling as a concubine? Suddenly, he turned to glance at Gu Chengyu and raised an eyebrow, his gaze becoming a bit peculiar.
Gu Chengyu suddenly felt a chill, his mouth twitching, "Perhaps she just wanted to come along with her brother to appreciate Dayan’s cultural and architectural beauty; after all, our Dayan is picturesque and rich in talent, isn’t it normal for her to want to experience it?"
"Is that so?" The Emperor found words but swallowed them down.
Gu Chengyu left the palace at the hour of dismissal; he directly mounted his carriage to head back to his residence. Yet he suddenly remembered, he had been too busy recently; since the last visit to his teacher’s mansion, he hadn’t had the time to go again. There was some leisure today, it was best to go pay the teacher a visit!
"To Liang Mansion!" Gu Chengyu ordered, then leaned back in the carriage, closing his eyes.
"Ah!"
A startled cry came from outside the carriage, which suddenly halted, causing Gu Chengyu’s body to lurch forward involuntarily.
Gu Chengyu immediately steadied himself; he was tempted to curse, why did these kinds of things keep happening when he rode a carriage? His body had developed a conditioned reflex.
"What’s going on?" Gu Chengyu pressed down his anger, asking in a deep voice.
"Sir!" The coachman was about to respond when Gu Chengyu heard a woman’s delicate shout.
"Gu Chengyu, come out here, before this Princess!"
Hmm? Gu Chengyu was a bit bewildered, a Princess? Which Princess?
"Sir?" Ming Mo’s face appeared at the carriage’s entrance; he was originally sitting on the driver’s seat with the coachman. Even he was somewhat confused by this sudden turn.
"Gu, come out of there, are you hiding like a turtle?"
Gu Chengyu felt helpless; he suddenly thought of the Princess Ba Yu from Da Xing, who came with her brother to Dayan.
He lifted the carriage curtain and cast his gaze across. He saw a young girl clad in a vermilion crossed collar sword sleeves robe astride a tall steed, the golden embroidery of treasure flower on her dress dyed into a rainbow by the setting sun, impressively splendid.
Slender eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes, and peach-red cheeks—truly a beauty in the making. Yet, at this moment, her charming face akin to a peach blossom was full of arrogance, causing those around to wish to keep a distance.
However, Gu Chengyu’s attention was not on her appearance but focused on the long whip she held.
"Why, it’s Princess Ba Yu, my apologies!" Though Gu Chengyu didn’t know why the other party sought him, and with such apparent displeasure, etiquette still couldn’t be disregarded.
Ba Yu watched as the tall, elegant young man descended from the carriage and bowed to her, making her snort coldly.
Ba Yu flicked the long whip in her hand, her gaze lingering on Gu Chengyu’s face for a moment, then she cast a thorough glance over him from top to bottom, suddenly blurting out a frank observation.
"Hmm! Hardly impressive, look at that physique, like a weakling."