*
Jun Beichen flicked his finger and took out a jet-black dragon-shaped jade pendant from his pocket.
The black dragon was coiled menacingly on the jade tablet, its head held high, its fangs menacing, and every scale on its body as fine as a hair, making it appear extremely sharp. A very thin golden thread ran from the dragon's head to its tail.
Under the sunlight, four small golden seal characters, "As if the Emperor were personally present," could be faintly seen on the jade plaque.
When Shi Yuanhuai saw the jade pendant, his pupils contracted instantly, and he even caught his breath.
That's... a dragon scale talisman!
Legend has it that the Great Yan Dynasty had a secret army belonging to the royal family, an army that had always been loyal only to the emperors of each dynasty.
However, since the death of the late emperor and the ascension of the current Yan emperor, the token has disappeared without a trace.
The year His Majesty ascended the throne, he killed countless people, but he could never find the whereabouts of the token.
Many people, both in and out of the court, even believed that it had already been buried with the imperial mausoleum, or that... the Imperial Guard never existed at all!
But he knew from his father that the Dragon Scale Guards were real!
That mysterious Dragon Scale Guard is under the command of the Dragon Scale Talisman...
It is said that the Dragon Scale Guard has a total of a thousand men, each of whom is a warrior capable of taking on a hundred men. When the late emperor was in power, the Northern Barbarians invaded, and only three Dragon Scale Guards were sent to infiltrate the enemy camp. In one night, they took the heads of three generals of the Northern Barbarian army!
Because of that battle, the Northern Barbarians dared not invade the Great Yan again for nearly 20 years.
But Jun Beichen was only 3 years old when the late emperor passed away...
Thinking of this, Shi Yuanhuai was terrified, and even his forehead was covered in cold sweat. When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse.
"You... the Dragon Scale Guards, they actually obey your orders!"
Jun Beichen's expression remained calm. He looked down at the dragon scale talisman in his hand, his fingertips tracing the bloodstains on the dragon's eyes.
He did not answer Shi Yuanhuai's question, but instead said:
"I have no need for General Shi's assistance."
"The Shi family army should focus on firmly holding the northern border of Great Yan!"
At this point, Jun Beichen paused, looked up at General Shi, and spoke in a low but firm voice, each word deep and resolute.
“I can assure General Shi that in the future, all six palaces will be abolished, leaving only the Empress in the central palace.”
"As for the Empress's position, naturally only you, Qingqing, are worthy to sit there!"
After he finished speaking, there was a deathly silence all around.
Shi Huaiyuan thought a lot when he learned that he had the Dragon Scale Talisman.
At that moment, he was certain that this idle prince was destined to pursue that high position.
Moreover, with the Dragon Scale Talisman in his hand, he will surely sit in that position!
However, an emperor is definitely not a good match.
At the very least, he would never allow his daughter to waste her life in that deep palace.
But before he could figure out how to completely sever his relationship with his daughter, he heard these words first.
Are all six palaces ruined?
Regardless of the dynasty, using the imperial harem to check and balance the previous dynasty was a common practice and has existed since ancient times.
There has never been a precedent of establishing only one empress!
It wasn't that he didn't want to believe it, but rather that these words were simply too shocking.
If the empress he was referring to wasn't his daughter, perhaps he would have scoffed and cursed him as a "tyrant"!
But at this moment, he was indeed speechless. After a long while, Shi Yuanhuai finally spoke:
"If one day the Emperor's heart is no longer with us... I hope Your Highness will consider that three generations of my Shi family have died on the battlefield and allow me to bring my daughter home!"
Shi Yuanhuai's back slowly bent. This iron-blooded general and commander of the northern border, who had never bowed his head before a vast army, bowed deeply to the young future emperor before him for the sake of his daughter.
His voice was terribly hoarse, and every word seemed to be squeezed out of his chest.
And that last sentence, "bring my daughter home," was practically squeezed out through gritted teeth!
The daughter herself was in love with Prince Xian, and when Prince Xian spoke of Qing'er, he saw the determination and resolve in his eyes.
Whether it was because of his daughter or because of his imperial obsession.
It seems there's no other way but to wait and see how things unfold.
Therefore, his only recourse was to plead for a better outcome for his daughter by invoking the honor of the entire Shi family...
The Shi family had only one son for three generations. In his generation, because Madam Shi injured her body when she gave birth to Nanqing, she could no longer conceive. There was a lot of gossip around him, but he only wanted the children his wife had borne for him!
What about sons? What about daughters?
His daughter is no less capable than any man; which young general in their Northern Army could withstand ten moves from her?
He originally intended to choose someone trustworthy from the army, but little did he know that she would take a fancy to this idle prince.
Moreover, he is a former crown prince with the potential to rise to high office!
Sigh~
Jun Beichen took two steps forward, steadily lifting the deeply bowing General Shi, and said:
"General Shi, there's no need for such words. I, Jun Beichen, will never betray her!"
That was his beloved...
He waited 21 years for the person he finally met.
If anyone was to be blamed, he felt it was more likely that Qingqing had wronged him...
Jun Beichen, who deeply felt this, suddenly coughed lightly. He looked at General Shi and said frankly:
"Father-in-law Shi, now that we've both been frank, you and Mother-in-law must not again consider trying to persuade Qingqing to stay away from me."
Then he added, "Also, you are not allowed to secretly observe the young masters of other families!"
As early as the day Jun Beichen took a liking to Nan Qing, he sent people to Shuobei City to inquire about Nan Qing's deeds from childhood to adulthood.
The eldest son of General Shi's deputy commander, the youngest son of Lieutenant General Lin, Captain Zhou of the Shi family army, and the son of the prefect of Shuobei...
Ha, General Shi is really impatient!
He thought, if the imperial edict hadn't been issued so quickly, his beloved might already be married to someone else!
That wasn't all; then a secret guard reported that General Shi and his wife had been secretly watching Xie Shaozhi, the only son of Grand Tutor Xie, all along the way.
It's said that this one is not bad after Qingqing gets tired of him...
When he heard the report from the guards about that day, he almost ground his teeth to powder.
He never imagined that the Shi family's values... were actually quite open-minded!
He was in love with Qingqing, so they tried to stop him from having any feelings for her.
Qingqing was in love with him, so she devised a plan to kidnap him and take him to the bridal chamber for marriage.
He and Qingqing were getting along very well, and he was already thinking about when Qingqing would get tired of him, dump him, and then find someone else...
Moreover, he knew that his mother-in-law was currently having a private chat with Qingqing, and he wondered if she was going to suggest getting Qingqing another one...
Let's try another one... let's try another one...
Thinking of those four words, Jun Beichen's temples throbbed several times. The usually composed man looked at General Shi across from him with resentment, who also looked embarrassed.
Another suffocating silence...
The difference is that the act of suffocation is different now.
What remains the same is that it is still General Shi who feels suffocated...
Little did he know that the Prince of Xian's secret guards were still used in this way.
He not only knew about his and his wife's plan to keep Qingqing away from the idle prince, but also about the fact that he knew about it.
They even knew they were secretly observing Xie Taifu's son!
Isn't this... a bit too willful?
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