Chapter 251 Marriage
Lu Jing knew that he could no longer hide this matter from Su Qingwan, so he told her in detail what the eldest princess had done in the capital over the past few months.
The princess still firmly controls the military and political power, and the attitude of the southwest is ambiguous. After all, they are all members of the royal family, and they are very likely to unite to fight against Lu Jing. Although Lu Jing is the regent and can make his own decisions in domestic affairs, he has to obey the princess's orders in military and political affairs, which puts him in an extremely passive situation.
The eldest princess was ambitious and even attempted to get involved in the capital's guards. She privately invited General Liu to banquets many times. General Liu was a staunch royalist who held the last will of the previous emperor and was loyal to the young emperor. He was not so easily turned against.
The Jiangnan navy was controlled by the Marquis of Anping. When the previous emperor was alive, the Marquis of Anping's mansion was a royalist party. However, due to the incident of Li Xueying, the Marquis of Anping's mansion had a grudge against Lu Jing and opposed him in government affairs. Now, they have a tendency to side with the eldest princess.
Lu Jing said to Su Qingwan with a serious face: "If the Huainan fiefdom falls into Lu Changqing's hands, the princess will at least be able to control the military power of three realms, and all of them are her direct forces. I will never take this risk. Xiaowu, if you insist on letting Lu Nianqing take over Huainan, then Huainan will not have military power. I will transfer the southwest garrison back to Zhongzhou, send people to take over, and train my own direct troops!"
The distribution of military power in Dayuan is intricate, with various forces intertwined and requiring careful balance. Its complexity and risk factor far exceed internal affairs.
Su Qingwan was extremely intelligent and understood everything at once. She knew that Huainan must take control of the military power, after all, it was the border defense line. Over the past decade, border wars have been frequent, mainly concentrated in the southwest, and most of the garrisons were also transferred from the southwest, resulting in extremely weak defense forces in Huainan City.
Now there are only two options before her: either transfer troops from the southwest or form her own army. However, given Huainan's current situation, it is simply a fantasy to want to form an army belonging to Huainan. She will have to wait until the population of Huainan increases fourfold before she can achieve her goal of forming an army.
Su Qingwan thought for a moment and expressed her thoughts: "Xilin and Dayuan have signed a truce agreement, and I am also negotiating trade cooperation with Xilin Yongxuan. The Xilin Crown Prince is in poor health, and the next Xilin King is likely to be Xilin Yongxuan. In this way, we should not have a war within ten years. If you want to transfer the troops in the southwest back to Zhongzhou, it's fine. After Nian Qing succeeds as the King of Huainan, we will form our own army in Huainan. The internal affairs and military power of the Huainan fiefdom are completely separated from the capital. I don't want funding from the capital, and the fiefdom can be completely self-sufficient. Even if we need to raise troops, the fiefdom will pay for it. However, it will take at least ten years to build a decent guard army. Ten years later, the emperor will grow up, and then we will discuss the follow-up matters. What do you think?"
Lu Jing heard this and gave a bitter smile. The tea had already cooled down and he had no intention of drinking it. "Xiao Wu, twelve years ago, the civil servant group falsely accused Huainan of having its own army and refusing to listen to the imperial court's orders, which led to the extermination of Huainan. Do you want to repeat the same mistake? If Huainan's fiefdom raises an army again within ten years, it will still be regarded as having its own army. The previous emperor had a grudge against Huainan by exterminating his own clan. How can Huainan convince the imperial court of its loyalty?"
"This is absolute nonsense! We, the Huainan people, have been stationed on the border for six generations and have never done anything like treason or collusion with the enemy. This is clearly a false accusation and they are ready to find a pretext!" Su Qingwan was instantly enraged. The pain of genocide has always been an untouchable knot in her heart. Whenever it is mentioned, she becomes furious.
Lu Jing looked calm as he continued to analyze, "If the court agrees to Huainan building its own army, it must be to use this to check and balance the Southwest. But you have a close relationship with the Southwest. Neither the Princess nor the Emperor can sit idly by and allow the power of the border clan to grow. What's more, the Emperor is now the only one in the direct bloodline, and he is still a child. It is still unknown whether he can grow up smoothly. In ordinary families, children can only be raised to be a little relieved when they are ten years old. Children are too fragile, and a snowstorm may endanger their lives. If the Emperor If something happens to the emperor, Dayuan will fall into turmoil again, and they will definitely adopt a son from the royal family. Do you think Southwest will agree? Southwest has many soldiers and generals, and is also a royal family. As long as the emperor is alive, the princess and Southwest will be on the same front to fight against me, the regent. If something happens to the emperor, they will definitely break up immediately. If the princess controls the troops in Huainan and the garrison in Jiangnan, Dayuan will be in civil war and people will be devastated. Therefore, I must prevent this crisis and prepare for it!"
Su Qingwan was slightly startled after hearing this, and had to admit that Lu Jing was right. She couldn't help but say, "You are truly loyal to the late emperor."
Lu Jing smiled bitterly and responded: "I am the emperor's salary, so I am loyal to him."
Su Qingwan glanced at him and said, "I don't know how to answer you for the moment. Nianqing has not yet returned to his ancestral home. I have to wait for him to make a decision before making any plans."
"Xiaowu, if Jingdu really wants to completely divide Huainan, it will be easy. The current Huainan fiefdom is no longer qualified to sit at the negotiation table with Jingdu on an equal footing. Things are different now." Seeing that the time has come, Lu Jing spoke frankly, "Huainan has been weak for many years, while the southwest is becoming more and more prosperous. In this world, things rise and fall together. If Huainan wants to prosper, the southwest will inevitably decline. Huainan can cut off the economic lifeline of the southwest. Over the years, the reason why the southwest has been able to rise is that the court deliberately turned Huainan into a lawless area. Although your relationship with the Southwest Palace is good, you are a member of the Huainan royal family after all. If you really want to revitalize Huainan, the southwest may not agree. After all, the interests of the fiefdom are always higher than human feelings."
Su Qingwan understood these reasons, which was why she wanted to form the Huainan Army instead of transferring troops from the southwest. But when Lu Jing said it so bluntly, she couldn't help feeling a little bitter.
Although Lu Jing had only been the regent for a few months, he had been in the emperor's guard for a long time. If the late emperor had made arrangements, he must have taught him how to handle government affairs. Otherwise, it would be impossible for Lu Jing to be able to match the eldest princess as soon as he took office as the regent, and even dare to come out of the capital to negotiate with her.
"So, Your Majesty, what suggestions do you have? I'm all ears." Su Qingwan asked.
"You come to arrange marriage!" Lu Jing said firmly, "If you want to hand Huainan over to Lu Nianqing, you must arrange marriage. If you were asked to marry into the royal family, you would probably be disgusted to the point of vomiting, right? After all, the royal family has a grudge against you for exterminating your family. Apart from the royal family, the Lu family has been destroyed, and other high-ranking clans are also not a big deal. The only person you can choose for marriage is me. Stabilizing the situation through marriage is the only condition for Lu Nianqing to take charge of Huainan. If Lu Nianqing refuses to recognize his ancestry, you will be the King of Huainan... Then we can discuss it separately, how about it?"
If Su Qingwan succeeded the title of King of Huainan, there would be no possibility for her and Lu Jing. There was absolutely no possibility of marriage between the King of Huainan and the Regent.
Su Qingwan's anger grew, but she had no choice. This was the cruel reality she had to face. She was more inclined to let Nianqing take over Huainan, but the problem Lu Jing mentioned did exist. In this case, as a princess, she would probably have to go to Beijing as a hostage to represent Huainan in a three-way balance of power with the princess and Southwest. In this case, the only person she could choose to marry was Lu Jing!
"I'll consider it!" Su Qingwan couldn't help but sneered, "If the prince had proposed the marriage earlier, why would we have wasted so many days? We would have already reached an agreement."
Lu Jing was stunned by her retort, then smiled and said: "First the courtesy, then the force, don't blame me, Princess!"
He was actually being sarcastic with her? Su Qingwan was so angry that she wanted to curse him, but she finally suppressed her anger. She had always been emotionally stable, but she had been furious several times because of Lu Jing. This habit was not good, and she had to control it.
Lu Jing was also feeling uncomfortable. The situation in Huainan was so complicated that marriage was indeed a way to stabilize the situation, but he wanted to marry Su Qingwan sincerely.
"Xiao Wu, you'd better be willing!" After leaving these meaningful words, Lu Jing stood up and said goodbye. He still had official business to attend to, so he hurried out of the house with Li An.
Lu Zhu cursed angrily, "What does your Highness mean by this? What do you mean it's best if the girl is willing? If the girl doesn't want to, can he still force her to marry him?"
"He dares!" Qingyun said coldly, "If that's the case, we're not easy to mess with."
Su Qingwan thought to herself, maybe Lu Jing really dares to do this. She could never see through Lu Jing. He had a clear goal. Once he decided to do something, no one could stop him, and he was very decisive. Just like he had given his full trust to the late emperor, he was determined to devote his whole life to the young emperor. Since he wanted to marry her, if she didn't want to, with his temper, he might do something crazy. Lu Jing always gave her a feeling of madness hidden under his calmness. Su Qingwan really didn't want to go to the point of breaking up with him.
"Send a letter to Nian Qing, asking him to return to Huainan immediately!" Su Qingwan ordered.
Lu Zhu nodded and went out to instruct his men to deliver a letter. Although Lu Nianqing had been traveling around the world and had not been heard from for a long time, Su Qingwan had never lost contact with him and knew how to contact him.
Lu Jing's words still left a shadow in Su Qingwan's mind. Nian Qing was indeed raised by the eldest princess and had no emotional foundation with Huainan. He also just learned about his life experience. His feelings towards Huainan and the eldest princess were different and he would not be as loyal to her. If... she also felt a faint sadness in her heart.
If she knew Nian Qing's identity, she could just bring him up with her, but how could that be possible? She hadn't even kept it a secret from Xi Nan, and she couldn't even control her own life, so how could she raise Nian Qing?
The current situation is indeed difficult to back down. If she takes a wrong step, she will lose everything. She needs to be more cautious.
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