Mu Hu's bold request made all the relevant parties in the Ming Dynasty stunned, although the emotions of the relevant "parties" under the stunned were different - some surprised, some were embarrassed, some were happy, and some were relieved - but the only same reaction was that they were all shocked

What is annoying is that it is a group of ministers headed by Shen Rongxuan, as well as the top officials of Dongchang and the army, they have no opinion on the fourteen grids, they have no opinion on Xiang Xiaoqiang, and they have no opinions on the matter of marrying Xiang Xiaoqiang under the fourteen grids, strictly speaking, they have no opinions What they have an opinion about is that the princess of the Ming Dynasty will marry who will not marry whom, and a peacemaker of the Northern Qing Dynasty dares to point fingers

Secretly happy, naturally it is Xiang Xiaoqiang and Fourteen Gege, the two initiators themselves didn't expect things to go so smoothly, what they originally imagined was that Mu Hu once again expressed his distrust of Daming's national policy, at this time, Wei Zijin took the opportunity to instigate Zhu Yourong to give marriage, and married Xiaoqiang under the fourteen grids, who knew that this step was saved, Mu Hu directly proposed to ask the fourteen grids to marry Xiang Xiaoqiang, so that the fourteen grids and Xiang Xiaoqiang didn't even have to speak in person, Zhu Yourong could push the boat down the river, is there a more perfect process than this?

Relieved, that is, Zhu Yourong Zhu Yourong also accepted the affection between Xiang Xiaoqiang and Fourteen Gege, as well as with his cousin Xuanxuan, but this "triangle relationship" plus herself, it will become "four corners" She is also worried about how to save these "four corners" together, and now there is an opportunity to save up the "two corners" relatively justifiably, she also knows that the "two corners" will be saved first, and the remaining "two corners" will be sooner or later

As for the surprise, it was all the others who didn't know the inside story

……

Because this involves the lifelong events of a princess and an earl, and also involves whether Beijing can be restored peacefully, which is a dual event of the royal and militaristic states, Zhu Yourong justifiably summoned several important military and political ministers into the palace and held a small imperial meeting together

Of course, it does not include the two parties: Xiang Xiaoqiang and Fourteen Gege

"I think about it, this matter is not a trivial matter," Zhu Yourong sat on the sofa, looked at the ministers and generals sitting on the sofa around him, and said with a complicated expression, "The other party's conditions are also quite strange, so in my busy schedule, invite a few Aiqing into the palace, and everyone will discuss it together, and see...... Say yes or no"

Wei Zijin stood in the corner, his head slightly bowed, but his eyes quickly scanned the adults on the sofa

Wen Chen's side first looked at each other, but no one spoke, Shen Rongxuan just sat on the sofa, lowered his head and held the bowl, gently scraping the floating tea leaves, and did not speak

On the general's side, Tang Yunsheng glanced at Zhang Zhaoxian, Zhang Zhaoxian closed his eyes slightly and gave an affirmative signal

Tang Yunsheng immediately spoke:

"Your Majesty, the old minister thinks that Princess Liaoyang is my Daming Princess, and Earl Jiang Xinzhou is also my Daming Earl, how can the dignified Daming Princess and Earl's lifelong event be dominated by a pseudo-Qing general who seeks peace! Now the position of the enemy and us is here, it is the other side that asks for us, not that we have to ask for the other party, and it is also us who should put forward the conditions! Now they don't understand their own situation, and they actually put forward such a presumptuous request, if we actually agree, it is to send a signal to the other party: we are afraid of them, we have to ask them! In this way, the positions of both sides will be reversed, and they will definitely make more undesirable demands! Your Majesty, the old minister thinks it's absolutely inappropriate! It should be dismissed immediately! ”

Zhu Yourong was a little surprised, she originally thought that the military had always been more pragmatic, and now that there is an opportunity to peacefully recover Beijing and greatly reduce casualties, they should vigorously agree with it, why are they strongly opposed?

Not only Zhu Yourong was surprised, but several ministers present also had the same feeling, and they exchanged glances suspiciously

Then, Foreign Minister He Ziguang spoke:

"Your Majesty, there is certainly some truth in the words of the Chief of General Staff of Tang, but everything can not be seen only on one side, but should be comprehensively weighed from the two aspects of pros and cons It is true that if we agree to the other party's request, of course, we will lose something, for example, a little face, a little pride of the winner, and so on, but the harvest is more The Manchu regime that ravaged the north for nearly 300 years can die overnight, Beijing, a historical city that has been established for more than 3,000 years and has been built for more than 800 years, can be spared from catastrophe, and countless Chinese cultural wealth, The heritage of human civilization can be preserved...... Your Majesty, you should understand that the peaceful restoration of Peking will not only be a victory for us, but will also be an immortal feat, many generations later, when tourists and scholars from all over the world flock to Beijing and look at the intact monuments, they will sigh: Alas, neither Rome nor Paris has such beautiful and intact ancient buildings! Your Majesty, think about how future generations will admire your decision today! ”

After the Foreign Minister finished inciting the feelings, Zhu Yourong's cheeks flushed when he was already moved, nodded slightly, and was about to make a decision almost immediately, but he still couldn't help but hold back that this was a pre-imperial meeting after all, and everyone must be allowed to speak fully, and he couldn't just listen to two sentences and make a decision in a hurry

However, He Ziguang's words all went to her heart

The scene was quiet for a while, He Ziguang was expressionless, and lightly picked up the bowl and tasted two sips of tea, but his eyes quickly glanced at the crowd, revealing a proud look that could not be concealed

Zhu Yourong couldn't understand why the reaction of the civil and military sides was diametrically opposed to what she imagined

But what she didn't know was that what He Ziguang said was also the general thought of the cabinet ministers, on the one hand, these ministers attached more importance to "cultural heritage", on the other hand, they had already seen the "meaning" of Xiang Xiaoqiang and His Majesty, for fear that one day Xiang Xiaoqiang would really marry His Majesty, resulting in too much power and difficult to check and balance

And now suddenly a "Liaoyang Princess" was killed halfway, which really made the ministers' eyes light up, and Xiang Xiaoqiang's relationship with His Majesty was an open secret, but the relationship between him and Fourteen Gege, there were still very few people who knew it, in the eyes of ordinary people, Xiang Xiaoqiang and Princess Liaoyang was a relationship between superiors and subordinates, and they felt that Xiang Xiaoqiang was doing his best to chase His Majesty into his hands, and he would not do this kind of unrealistic daydream of "the empress princess hugged left and right", and the ministers all felt that at this moment, Xiang Xiaoqiang was given a princess, then His Majesty would naturally be" Unbundled", it will no longer be Xiang Xiaoqiang's, and the "power of Xiang Xiaoqiang and His Majesty will be combined" that everyone is worried about, and it will not appear

On the side of the army, it is the opposite, especially Zhang Zhaoxian and Tang Yunsheng, they have always taken extra care of Xiang Xiaoqiang, and regarded Xiang Xiaoqiang as their own students and their own people, in addition to Xiang Xiaoqiang is really talented and very on the road, a very important point is that there is Her Majesty the Empress behind Xiang Xiaoqiang, and the relationship with Xiang Xiaoqiang has been closer to His Majesty, and to a certain extent, the relationship with His Majesty has been narrowed As for Xiang Xiaoqiang if he really marries His Majesty one day, it will be difficult to control the power and engage in **, the top level of the army has different opinions

Of course, the Ming Dynasty is moving towards the Northern Qing model, this kind of result is also what the army does not want to see, but after all, that is the future, there are still many variables, these soldiers seem to be very far away, and now someone wants to give Xiang Xiaoqiang a princess, which is a direct threat to the relationship between Xiang Xiaoqiang and His Majesty, especially now that the cabinet ministers are also fueling the troubles, the army is more vigilant, if the "special relationship" between Xiang Xiaoqiang and His Majesty is really cut off because of this princess, then they put so much "capital" on Xiang Xiaoqiang, it will be wasted

……

At this time, Zhang Zhao spoke first:

"Your Majesty, the old minister thinks that the reason why Mu Hu put forward this kind of non-division request is nothing more than that he is worried that the future national policy of the Ming Dynasty will be unfavorable to the banner people, so since we keep saying that the future policy is 'national reconciliation', Mu Hu asked the Ming side to come to a 'Manchu and Han marriage' first, and first 'reconcile', his request is nothing more than to test whether the Ming Dynasty's 'national reconciliation' policy is true or false

"Therefore, what Mu Hu wants to see is that a Han nobleman and a banner nobleman are married, and it does not necessarily have to be Princess Liaoyang and Commander Xiang, Your Majesty, Princess Liaoyang is a princess with a noble status, and Commander Xiang is only an earl, the status difference between the two is a little bit and Commander Xiang is only twenty-five years old, and Princess Liaoyang is nearly twenty-seven years old, Princess Liaoyang is nearly two years older than Commander Xiang...... It also seems that there is something wrong with the age......

"Your Majesty, the old minister has the courage to suggest that if Your Majesty considers Lord He's opinion, you might as well choose another young man with the same status and age as Princess Liaoyang from among my relatives of Emperor Daming...... In this way, it can also better show the people of the northern banner that I am determined to 'national reconciliation' in the Ming Dynasty, and my Zhu Ming royal family uses its own children to marry the women of the Aixinjue Luo clan, isn't it more convincing than using the foreign surname of Commander Xiang? ”

When he said this, he really blocked the mouths of many ministers, but many ministers thought disdainfully in their hearts: What you said is so good, it is nothing more than that you don't want Princess Liaoyang to snatch Xiang Xiaoqiang with Your Majesty, just find a young man from the Zhu family or the Zheng family to marry Princess Liaoyang, and the ambiguous love between Xiang Xiaoqiang and His Majesty is still intact, this abacus beads play well! It's just that you are now saying that there is a disparity in the identities of Xiang Xiaoqiang and Princess Liaoyang, so one day when you instigate Your Majesty to marry Xiang Xiaoqiang, I think how can you say about your identity, and then we can also talk about the "disparity in identity", so isn't the disparity in identity?

Both sides focused their eyes on Zhu Yourong again

Zhu Yourong avoided everyone's gaze, fiddled with the bowl in his hand, and whispered:

"Uh...... What Zhang Aiqing said also has some truth...... It's just that...... At present, among the clan and relatives, there don't seem to be children of the same age as Princess Liaoyang...... This, it doesn't seem ...... appropriate."

Well?

Her words, coupled with this reaction, many ministers and generals saw it in their eyes and muttered in their hearts

Your Majesty, this is obviously talking nonsense, no matter which Zhu Zheng family is, there is now a young man of more than one age who is worthy of the title of Princess Liaoyang, Your Majesty, this is obviously a pretext

Don't...... Could it be that His Majesty himself does not reject Princess Liaoyang?

He Ziguang spoke almost immediately:

"Your Majesty, the prince of Yanping, the Marquis of Changping, Zheng Yujiao, and Princess Liaoyang are the same age, and they are the heir to the throne of King Yanping of my Ming Dynasty, no matter their age or identity, there is no problem with Princess Liaoyang, how did Your Majesty forget?"

Zhu Yourong was stunned:

"Huh? …… Oh...... Yes, yes, how did I forget...... Oh, no, Zheng Yujiao just got married last year, and she has two wives, wouldn't it be too aggrieved if the princess marries again? ”

As soon as her weak rebuttal fell, several of the minister's side immediately shouted:

"Your Majesty, it's okay!"

"Xiang Xiaoqiang is also a lady of the two rooms!"

"Yes, Your Majesty, after the constitutional reform of the Ming Dynasty, from the princess to the princess, I have never heard of anyone who can monopolize a husband like before!"

"Yes, the more women with status, the more they must set an example for the women of the Ming Dynasty all over the world! Your Majesty don't worry too much! ”

……

After saying this, Zhu Yourong was also dumbfounded and had nothing to say

At this time, Zhang Zhaoxian spoke again:

"Your Majesty, my lords, how did we all forget? What we are discussing now is not only a military event, but first of all, the choice of a mate between two Ming citizens! My Ming Dynasty is a modern civilized country, everyone has the right to choose their own spouse, that is to say, who to marry or not to marry, the final decision can only be made by the parties themselves, and no external force can interfere with Your Majesty for any reason, since it involves Commander Xiang and Princess Liaoyang, then why don't we invite the two of them and let them tell me in person? ”

The scene was silent again

More than ten seconds later, Zhu Yourong's face turned red, and he said a sentence stubbornly:

"What Zhang Aiqing said is very true, this matter should still listen to their own wishes, Zijin, and ask someone to invite Princess Liaoyang and Xiang Qing to come"