Many people were incredibly grateful to this brave young girl. When she bravely stepped forward to marry into the Southern Liang Dynasty, how could she not know that she might never return to the Great Zhou Dynasty in her lifetime?
But for the sake of the people of the Great Zhou, and to prevent the soldiers from dying, she resolutely shouldered this heavy burden with her frail body.
They didn't think she was disfigured, nor did they think she was ugly; on the contrary, she was more beautiful than anyone else.
Knowing that Prince An and the princess were returning to Shengjing today, many people spontaneously went to the city gate to see them off. Many commoners brought out their treasured possessions, eggs they had saved up for a long time, and freshly made meat pies, basket after basket, and delivered them to the carriage.
"Princess, please take these meat pies with you on your journey. They are all homemade."
"Princess, please take these eggs with you. They were laid by our own chickens and they're delicious."
Ruoling hurriedly lifted the carriage curtain, revealing a scar beneath her veil that snaked down to her right ear. She reached out her hand to them, and many people wanted to shake it.
A pair of rough hands, with cracked cuts and thick calluses, but in the end they didn't touch the princess's delicate, fair hands, and quickly withdrew them.
These hands are too small and delicate; they couldn't bear to touch them with their rough hands, lest the princess feel pain.
"Princess, have a safe journey!"
"Princess, you must live to be a hundred years old!"
"Your Highness Prince An, have a safe journey!"
Someone shouted this, and then the cries of "Your Highness Prince An" and "Princess Consort An" echoed in everyone's ears.
Zhu Yu had seen many such scenes when he was in the Northwest, so it wasn't a big deal for him.
But Lu Xiaoyun, Lu Yuyan, and Princess Ruoling had never seen such a scene before.
Ruoling's face was covered in tears: "Ayan, am I amazing?"
Lu Yuyan pulled the person into his arms: "Yes, you are very capable and brave."
Lu Xiaoyun gestured for Feng Yan and the others to take the things, and secretly slipped a few pieces of silver into their pockets.
While in Anyang, Lu Xiaoyun had already sent a letter to Zhu Dan by carrier pigeon, informing him of what had happened there.
After receiving the letter, Zhu Dan summoned his ministers to discuss the matter for several days. Then, in his capacity as Emperor of the Great Zhou, he sent a state letter, denouncing the Southern Liang for going back on its word and demanding that they give the Great Zhou an explanation, otherwise the Great Zhou's million-strong army would not be to be trifled with.
The Great Zhou Dynasty has just experienced several upheavals, but even a weakened camel is bigger than a horse, and the Great Zhou has never been afraid of war!
Lu Xiaoyun also sent a letter to Tuoba Yao, the crown prince of Southern Liang, under the guise of a mysterious person. She simply told him three things that Tuoba Min's confidant had told her.
When the Crown Prince of Southern Liang finished reading the contents, he was furious. He immediately returned to his residence, mustered several hundred soldiers, and led them into the Third Prince's residence.
At that time, Tuoba Min was still unconscious in an inn hundreds of miles away from the capital.
Without Tuoba Min in charge, the residence of the Third Prince of Southern Liang was like a plate of loose sand. It was precisely because of this that Tuoba Yao did not concern himself with the authenticity of the contents of the letter, since everyone knew that he and Tuoba Min were at odds.
Whether it's true or not, we'll find out by surrounding the Third Prince's residence and turning his secret chambers and dungeons upside down!
When he unearthed more than ten skinned corpses from the dungeon and found his wife, who had been missing for many years and was now insane and neither human nor ghost, in the secret room, he went completely mad, roaring and brandishing his knife, ordering his men to kill all the servants in the Third Prince's residence.
Although the women around Tuoba Min changed one after another, he never married. The only women who stayed with him for a long time were three concubines who had no real power or influence.
When Tuoba Yao saw his wife in that state, he lost his mind. He captured the women and threw them into his own guards, where they abused and tortured them day and night.
Those soldiers were used to being surrounded by men, and they had eyes for women. You can imagine how these three men were tortured in the end.
When the Emperor of Southern Liang learned of this, he was also furious about the many evil deeds committed by Tuoba Min, and did not hold the Crown Prince accountable.
Tuoba Min was unconscious in the inn for three days. When he woke up, he felt that his injuries were enough to support him to return to the capital. He immediately asked his confidants to contact his subordinates to escort him back.
He vowed to take revenge on Tuoba Yao!
Unfortunately, when he returned to the capital, he found his mansion covered in blood and corpses, and his three beloved concubines dead, their lower bodies rotten beyond recognition.
The dungeon was dug up, the secret chamber was smashed, all his men were dead, and he himself had become like this. Tuoba Min had also gone completely mad.
The dungeon and the secret room were his secrets, known only to his closest confidants. But now that Tuoba Yao had wiped them all out, what was there for him not to understand? There was a traitor among his own people!
The trusted confidant who escorted him was even more certain upon seeing this appearance that the group of people who burned down the camp, chopped off the Third Prince's arm and third leg, and killed all the guards except for him were His Highness the Crown Prince's men!
Knowing that Tuoba Min was suspicious by nature and would rather kill the innocent than let the guilty go free, the confidant realized that if he didn't leave now, he would be facing a hellish nightmare. So, taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, he decisively ran to Tuoba Yao for protection.
When Tuoba Yao saw him, he naturally assumed that he was the person who delivered the letter to him that day. This person was one of Tuoba Min's closest confidants, and he knew far more than that.
Thus, the capital of Southern Liang was plunged into a bloodbath. Crown Prince Tuoba Yao and the Third Prince Tuoba Min went from open and covert struggles to a complete falling out. In their conflict, it was a zero-summons exchange: if one of them killed the other, the other would kill ten. If one of them was wounded, the other would destroy his stronghold.
Emperor Liang of Southern Liang was already over seventy years old. Faced with his two most valued sons fighting like this, his repeated reprimands were to no avail. He was also powerless to resist the two large armies under their control.
Furthermore, given the major incident involving the princess of the Great Zhou who was sent to marry a foreign ruler in Southern Liang territory, he had no choice but to personally write a letter of apology and order people to send a large amount of money, cattle, sheep, horses, and other goods as compensation.
They dared not mention again that the Great Zhou should send a princess to marry into the Zhou dynasty.
If it weren't for his two sons, he wouldn't have imagined that a third person could have done it.
The Third Prince, unwilling to allow the Crown Prince to have such a powerful in-law family as the backing of the Great Zhou, took this action against Princess Ruoling.
The Crown Prince's two wives had both been murdered by the Third Prince; how could he tolerate this?
It's a fight to the death between the two of them.
Finally, one day, upon hearing that the Third Prince had cut off the Crown Prince's leg and that the Crown Prince was on the verge of death, the Emperor of Southern Liang coughed up a mouthful of blood and never woke up again.
Thus ended over a century of peace for the Southern Liang Dynasty, plunging it into internal strife.
Many people fled to the State of Chen, but even more fled to the State of Zhou.
General Yang and the prefect of Anyang jointly submitted a memorial to the emperor, inquiring about the new emperor's intentions.
Zhu Dan immediately approved the entry of the Southern Liang people into the Great Zhou, but they had to be dispersed and incorporated into various cities, and would be subject to monthly registration and questioning by local officials.
When they first arrived in Da Zhou, they had no houses and no income. The local government rented or sold them houses, but they had to pay rent or purchase a house every month for a period ranging from ten to twenty years.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
