When the emperor looked over, the second princess was so frightened that she dared not act presumptuously. She suppressed her anger and sat awkwardly in the seat that originally belonged to the third princess.
Although the Second Princess endured it, she hated Gao Zhijun to the core in her heart and vowed to avenge her loss today.
After everyone was seated, the hall fell silent as they waited for the emperor to speak.
"Today's palace banquet is hosted by me for Princess Xiangyun."
"Everyone knows Princess Xiangyun. Not only does she possess medical skills and contributed a prescription to cure the plague, saving Daliang, she also opened a clinic and provided free medical treatment to the people."
"He will also forge powerful weapons to crush the Tatars and drive them out of Daliang, thus protecting the people of Daliang from the suffering of war. He will also devise a plan to sign a peace treaty with the Tatars, establishing a fifty-year ceasefire. During these fifty years, the people along the border won't have to worry about war."
"Princess Xiangyun has also developed hybrid rice, the high-yielding Fanfan and Mufan. Rice yields 2,100 kilograms per mu, and sweet potatoes yield 3,000 kilograms per mu. Just imagine, with all this rice and sweet potatoes, will the people of Daliang still worry about running out of food? Will they ever go hungry again? I'm sure everyone will have enough food in the future, and they won't have to flee hunger anymore."
"Not only that, but she also invented a miraculous agricultural tool—the curved plow. It not only saved manpower and energy, but also greatly increased efficiency. The people could use it to reclaim wasteland, eliminating all wasteland in Daliang. With rice and sweet potatoes planted on these wastelands, every household in Daliang would have a surplus of food, and the treasury would be filled. With the curved plow, men could go out to work while women stayed at home to farm. This way, the people would have not only surplus food but also surplus silver, allowing them to live a stable and prosperous life."
"Princess Xiangyun has done so much to benefit the country and the people. Which minister can compare to her?"
"Princess Xiangyun is not only the benefactor of Daliang, but also my benefactor and the benefactor of the people of Daliang. Such a remarkable woman is a role model for Daliang women, a thousand times better than Daliang men."
"I hereby declare that I recognize her as my daughter and shall be named Princess Xiangyun. If there are those who dare to bully her or cause trouble for her, they are showing disrespect to me and are offending me and the entire imperial family. Do not blame me for not remembering our friendship."
The emperor spoke of Gao Zhijun's great achievements and warned his subordinates not to try to bully Gao Zhijun. Otherwise, don't blame him for being ruthless and punishing them.
"Your Highness dare not!"
"The ministers dare not!"
"The ministers dare not!"
The ministers and their families left their seats, knelt before the emperor and pledged their respects.
"You'd better not dare, otherwise I will never let you off easily!"
The emperor said.
"The Emperor's wisdom and bravery, his benevolence, his diligence and his love for his people have moved Heaven, who has sent Princess Xiangyun. From now on, Daliang will be peaceful and prosperous, and people will live and work in peace and contentment. The day is just around the corner!"
"With our magical weapons, unifying the world and having the four seas come to us is just around the corner!"
The prime minister complimented the emperor and praised him.
"The Emperor is wise and powerful, benevolent and kind-hearted, diligent in his work and loving his people. The country is at peace, and the people live and work in peace and contentment!"
"Unify the world, expand the territory, and attract people from all over the world!"
"The Emperor is wise and powerful, benevolent and kind-hearted, diligent in his work and loving his people. The country is at peace, and the people live and work in peace and contentment!"
"Unify the world, expand the territory, and attract people from all over the world!"
…………
Led by the Prime Minister, the ministers and their families in the hall praised the Emperor. The praises reverberated throughout the hall, deafening and overwhelming.
The emperor was delighted and said with a smile, "All the nobles, please stand up!"
There is an emperor who doesn't like compliments and praises from others. This is a recognition of him.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
The prime minister led the ministers in expressing their gratitude, then led everyone to stand up and sit back in their seats.
After the emperor's words, the ministers and their families were all thinking about how to get Princess Xiangyun to marry into their families.
Princess Xiangyun is so favored by the emperor that marrying her will make the family prosperous.
Only the Second Princess hated Gao Zhijun so much that she gnashed her teeth and was determined to take revenge.
She completely forgot what the emperor said. If she dared to touch Princess Xiangyun, her position as princess would be over.
Lady Anyang looked at Gao Zhijun, who was graceful and elegant, with a beauty so captivating she could captivate fish and geese. If her son could marry such a daughter-in-law, he could save himself decades of hard work.
After Anyang Hou sat down, he accidentally saw Huo Jinqian and was shocked. He felt that the young man looked very familiar, very similar to someone who kept him awake at night and often had nightmares.
"Like, really too much like the eldest princess?"
Marquis Anyang said to himself, with a look of longing in his eyes.
He was not cruel to the eldest princess. When he first rescued her, he did not know that she was a princess, but he saved her out of his nature as a scholar.
While recuperating at his home, he was deeply attracted by her kindness and beauty.
So, when the princess's men found her, he realized she was a princess. And to repay his life-saving grace, the princess brought their family back to the capital and settled them there. She also begged the emperor to allow her to marry him.
When he married the eldest princess, he was determined to live with her until old age and love her for the rest of her life.
During their marriage, they were a loving couple that was envied by others.
However, the good times did not last long. The eldest princess became pregnant, which was a happy thing. The emperor also arranged for him to work in the Ministry of Rites and became the Minister of Rites.
However, he suffered from a common problem among men in the world. During the eldest princess's pregnancy, he could not stand the loneliness and favored the concubine arranged for him by his mother. From then on, things got out of control.
In order to curry favor with him, his colleagues secretly sent him many beautiful women. In those beauties, he gradually forgot his original vow to be good to the princess. He only wanted to stay in the beauties, living a life of revelry every night, and had long forgotten the vows he had made to each other.
He was unaware of his mother's conspiracy with his aunt to murder the princess. When he found out, it was already a done deal and there was no way to change it, so he had no choice but to acquiesce.
After the eldest princess left, he had nightmares every night at first, but in the gentle countryside, he slowly forgot about the eldest princess.
It was not until his son disappeared that he learned that his mother and aunt could not accommodate a child. Unfortunately, he found out too late, as his first son had already died.
Now, looking at that young man, he actually looked very similar to the eldest princess, and there was even a slight resemblance between his eyebrows. Could he be his son with the eldest princess, and his son had not been murdered back then? This thought made Anyang Hou feel like he was struck by lightning, and he was stunned and motionless.
Huo Jinqian also seemed to have the same idea. He turned his head to look at Marquis Anyang, but there was no warmth in his eyes, just the indifference as if he was looking at a stranger.
This should be his adopted father, the murderer who killed his mother.
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