The girls' sobs were soft and deliberately low, making the sudden shouts of the men outside seem all the more jarring.
Zhao Xiheng was startled. Ignoring the cold, she lifted a corner of the carriage and saw a young man trying to approach it, but being stopped by soldiers.
So he took off his outer robe and threw it on the ground, leaving only his snow-white undergarments, and knelt heavily on the ground.
He bowed towards her carriage and loudly recited, "Since the founding of the nation ninety-three years ago, eight hundred thousand brave men of the Great Zhou have been born and raised on this land. It is awe-inspiring to die for this land. To cede territory to appease women and children, to humiliate the nation and lose its sovereignty, is truly the act of a coward..."
He stood out from the noisy crowd and was eventually driven away.
Zhao Xiheng did not sleep well that night at the official post station. She curled up in the quilt, looking delicate and timid, which was very endearing. She seemed like a person made of water, unable to exert any strength, and it made people feel sorry for her.
Outside the dream, she heard the soft, rustling sobs of the servants; inside the dream, she saw swaying, old scenes from years past, pulling at her from both sides and leaving her no peace.
The young and unrestrained emperor sat high in the temple, holding a girl with her hair in two buns in his arms, and looked down at the envoys kneeling below.
He covered his youngest daughter's ears and said, "Listen to me, even if I die in battle, even if my bones are crushed inch by inch, I will never agree to a marriage alliance with you!"
"I won't become the son-in-law of the Xianbei king; I'm his ancestor!"
"You Wang Que are so lacking in relatives you've become an idiot! If you want to claim kinship, come to the Great Zhou and call me 'Father'!"
The young emperor berated her fiercely, but Zhao Xiheng felt increasingly at ease.
That was her father, Zhao Xinglie, the previous emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. In her dream, her father was only twenty-five years old, holding her, who was five years old, in his arms.
When her father scolded her, he covered her ears, fearing that the young girl would learn it and be scolded by her mother. But her father didn't know that she heard every word clearly.
Of course, he learned very well...
When Zhao Xiheng woke up, she felt a sense of loss. The scene in her dream was too real, as if she had returned to the time when her father was still alive. She rubbed her temples, wrapped herself in the blanket, and felt that it was probably that spirited young man who had stirred up her memories.
Her father was ambitious; he would always hold her and look at maps, saying he wanted to make the Great Zhou Dynasty strong and prosperous, to reclaim all the lost lands, and to make all the surrounding small countries submit to him.
He died on the battlefield after completing only half of his mission.
The prophecy came true; he was captured by the Xianbei and died from the excruciating pain of having his bones crushed inch by inch. When he returned, there wasn't even a complete skeleton left.
Zhao Xiheng didn't know who could avenge her, nor who could inherit her father's ambition. Clearly, her uncle did not possess such potential and was even quite weak, which led to the current rebellion of the vassal kings and the chaos in the Great Zhou.
Although Zhao Mingxin was marrying down, it was not without the intention of winning over the Prince of Zhenbei.
Both Goguryeo and Hepingzhou had to head northeast towards the Great Zhou, crossing the Qinling Mountains and the Huai River.
The Zhenbei Prince's Palace was located in Bukhan City, Pingzhou, while the Goguryeo royal court was located through Tiangang City, which is north of Bukhan City.
Originally, the entire northeastern region belonged to Goguryeo, but because Zhao Xinglie was brave and skilled in battle, he conquered the land from Tiangang City in the north to Pyongyang in the south in his early years and established it as Pyeongju. From then on, Goguryeo was divided into two parts. Although they were under the jurisdiction of one country, there was a distinction between Northern and Southern Goguryeo.
The further north we went, the stronger the wind blew, and snowflakes began to fall.
Jinyang has no snow all year round.
After traveling through several official post stations, Zhao Xiheng finally realized that she had left the place where she had lived for fifteen years and was going to live in another unfamiliar and extremely cold place.
Zhao Mingxin screamed and complained that it was too cold and that they needed to stop and regroup. A short while later, the carriage curtain was suddenly pulled open, and Zhao Mingxin climbed into Zhao Xiheng's carriage and sat down without any ceremony.
The journey had been arduous, and the fact that she had only come to cause trouble now was thanks to the cold weather. Zhao Xiheng continued to hold her hand warmer and ignored her.
The two had not gotten along since childhood, and even though they left their hometown to marry together, Zhao Xiheng could not be warm towards her.
Zhao Mingxin curled her lip and swept her eyes up and down with disdain. "We're sisters after all. We'll only be separated by a river in the future. If you're not doing well, don't try to hide it from us."
This isn't a nice thing to say; it's a tone that seems to wish someone a bad life.
Zhao Xiheng ignored her, which fueled Zhao Mingxin's anger. When she was young, Zhao Xiheng was the legitimate daughter of a princess, a proud and arrogant woman whose haughty demeanor was repulsive. She had even beaten Zhao Mingxin. Now, Zhao Xiheng was just a destitute woman whose parents had died, while Zhao Mingxin was the proper princess. Why did she dare to be so arrogant towards her? Zhao Mingxin had come today to show off.
The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to trample Zhao Xiheng into the dust, and the more vicious her words became, "Zhao Xiheng, the Goguryeo king you're going to marry will have a grandson who's several years older than you. You'll even be able to hold your great-grandson after you go, saving you the trouble of having one yourself. I'm so envious, unlike me, the heir to the Prince of Zhenbei is only twenty years old."
Zhao Xiheng raised an eyebrow and nodded slightly, her tone gentle and unhurried, as if she hadn't realized this wasn't a compliment at all. "It's true, the King of Goguryeo was old, had few affairs, and died young. His children are all adults and don't need my support. When you become Queen Mother, please invite me to Goguryeo. I wonder if you'll be available then..."
She paused for a moment, feigning surprise, "The Prince of Zhenbei is only twenty years old now, in the prime of his life. He will likely have many children by then. As the legal mother, you will have to take care of your own children as well as raise your illegitimate children. You will probably be very busy."
Zhao Mingxin was so angry that his body trembled.
Everyone knows that the Prince of Zhenbei is a regional warlord who is not afraid of the emperor at all. Even when the princess gets married, the prince's concubines are not dismissed.
"Zhao Xiheng, I'll tear your mouth apart!" Zhao Mingxin, who had been arrogant for years, pounced on her, ready to fight.
"Quiet down." Zhao Xiheng frowned, her tone low, almost like she was coaxing a child, but her actions were anything but gentle. She grabbed Zhao Mingxin by the collar, twisted both her hands behind her back, and pressed her face against the carriage wall.
"Zhao Xiheng, release me! I'm going to kill you!" Zhao Mingxin screamed like a pig being slaughtered, perfectly displaying the image of an arrogant princess.
When gods fight, mortals suffer. The palace servants dared not touch Zhao Xiheng, and could only kneel down and kowtow, begging Zhao Xiheng to release Zhao Mingxin.
Zhao Xiheng patted her cheeks like she was slapping a dead pig, her lips curving slightly, gentle and serene, "Cousin, have you forgotten? This marriage that you envy so much was given to me. If you're still envious, I'll give it back to you. Now that you're out of Jinyang, without your uncles and aunts backing you up, I advise you to tone it down. After all, it's never good for sisters to accidentally hurt each other while bickering."
Zhao Mingxin gasped. She still remembered how Zhao Xiheng had hit her when she was young, pulling her hair and beating her. After leaving Jinyang, she and Zhao Xiheng were of similar status, far from the emperor's reach, and her mother couldn't support her at all.
After Zhao Mingxin was kicked out, Zhao Xiheng put on another thick coat and snuggled in the warm little quilt in the car, munching on pastries while holding a book in her arms.
The palace servants all knew she was afraid of the cold, so the stove in the carriage was kept warm. However, the carriage was bumpy, and Zhao Xiheng's eyes started to hurt after reading only a few pages.
She stretched out her slender fingers and pinched her brow.
Her brows furrowed, and she looked delicate and frail, like a tender bud sprouting in the dead of winter. When she wasn't scolding, she was serene and composed. "Are we almost at Pingzhou?"
"Yes, we can enter Dandong tomorrow."
Zhao Xiheng was worried. Dandong was on the border of Pingzhou. Logically speaking, when a princess was to be married off to a prince's fiefdom, the envoy should have started to welcome her from Qingzhou and escorted her all the way to the prince's residence, and then made preparations for the wedding.
But now we're almost at Pingzhou, and there's still no sign of the Prince of Zhenbei's envoy. Either they don't care about the royal family, or something has happened in Pingzhou.
As she pondered, she awkwardly ate a chestnut cake. "I need to get another blanket; it's getting even colder." She felt that the colder it got, the slower she thought, as if her brain was frozen.
Zhao Xiheng was wrapped in three layers of thick clothes, making her look round and plump like a glutinous rice ball just fished out of the pot.
It was already this cold before even reaching Pingzhou. She couldn't imagine what she would do if she went to Goguryeo, which was even further north than Pingzhou.
The atmosphere in Dandong was off. The streets were deserted, every household had their doors and windows closed, the cold wind howled, and snowflakes danced in the air, as if this raging white beast was about to swallow the city whole.
This time, not only did the envoy of the Prince of Zhenbei fail to come to greet us, but even the officials of the official post station did not appear.
The guards rode on horseback, only their eyes visible, their eyelashes frosted. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and the horses neighed and stirred as if startled, creating a slightly agitated scene.
As soon as Zhao Xiheng entered Dandong, she sensed that something was wrong. The neighing of the horses only intensified her unease.
His mind, which had been foggy from the cold wind these past few days, suddenly cleared, and he gave the order, "Retreat along the same route, don't waste time! Get out of Pingzhou! Quickly!"
After a month of arduous travel, Zhao Mingxin's already bad temper had flared up even more. She yelled at the top of her lungs into Zhao Xiheng's car next door, "Don't go back! We finally made it to Pingzhou, the road is so difficult and cold, are you trying to freeze me to death?!"
The one escorting the bride was General Pingwei. He ripped off his mask, frowned, and sniffed the air. Frost fell from his beard, and his breath was as plentiful as freshly steamed buns.
A faint, almost imperceptible stench of blood permeated the air, but it was masked by the biting cold. The prolonged chill had dulled one's sense of smell, making it even harder to detect.
He exclaimed in alarm, "Get out of Pingzhou! There's an ambush!"
Before the troops could move, the city gate slammed shut, sending up sprays of ice crystals.
"Tsk. We've been discovered!" The man sighed, seemingly annoyed, as if extremely regretful, then laughed, a chilling and sinister laugh that sent shivers down one's spine.
All around was snow, a vast expanse of white that made the sound echo and reverberate in layers, the man's voice seeming to fill all directions, eerie and ghostly.
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