315, Yunzhou City
315, Yunzhou City
A month later——
Nanjun·Yunzhou City
"Princess, this Prince of Zhennan really doesn't take you seriously at all. He hasn't even sent anyone out to greet us yet."
When they waited at the gate of Yunzhou City for half a day, no one from the Zhennan Palace came out to greet them.
The young palace maids serving in the carriage were getting impatient and were angrily complaining to their princess about the Prince of Zhennan's disrespectful behavior towards them.
The fifth princess sat in the carriage, leaning against the carriage, looking listless, and did not respond to what her maid said.
"Master, when you meet Prince Qi, you must punish them for the crime of disrespect..." Seeing that their master didn't say anything, the palace maid thought that their master agreed with what she said, so she became more and more excited.
Another palace maid at the side took a look at their master's expression, patted the sister who was speaking, and used her eyes to stop the sister from continuing speaking.
At this time, Lu Mingfei, who was sitting in another carriage, was also getting a little impatient.
As early as two days ago, he had sent someone to Yunzhou City at full speed to inform the Zhennan Palace of their upcoming visit.
But when their convoy arrived here today, they were stopped outside the gate by the general guarding the city and asked to wait here.
This wait lasted for more than two hours. Not only were people getting impatient after waiting for so long, even the horses were neighing impatiently after standing there for so long.
Their journey from Jingdu Prefecture to Yunzhou was not peaceful, as they encountered several waves of bandits. After many twists and turns, they finally arrived at Yunzhou City, but were stopped at the city gate.
If it wasn't granted by someone in the Prince of Zhennan's Mansion, Lu Mingfei really couldn't imagine who would have the intention to make things difficult for them.
But there was no way around it now. It was the imperial court that wanted to negotiate with the Prince of Zhennan, not the Prince of Zhennan. The initiative lay with the Prince of Zhennan, so it was normal for him to want to take advantage of Qiao.
Moreover, the Crown Prince of Zhennan was summoned to Kyoto Prefecture as a hostage for more than ten years by a decree from the late emperor. It was normal for the Prince of Zhennan to be angry with the court.
If the emperors of the Zhao family had not been incompetent, the Prince of Zhennan would not have rebelled.
Even standing here, they could feel that the generals defending the city were looking at them with unfriendly eyes.
However, from this point, Lu Mingfei could see that the King of Zhennan probably had no intention of negotiating with them.
Thinking of this, he felt that the Prince of Zhennan had already given face to the court and the emperor by not sending people to kill them on the way.
But no matter what, they had come here with so much hardship, and they couldn't return empty-handed. No matter what the outcome, he had to meet the Prince of Zhennan. This was an explanation to the emperor, and also to himself.
The guards beside them saw their master about to get off the car and reached out to help them, "Sir."
"It's okay, I'll get off and take a walk." Lu Mingfei raised his hand, telling the guards not to help him. He got off the carriage by himself and put his feet on the ground.
I looked up at the sun in the sky. It was almost at the center.
It was almost noon.
Fortunately, it is only the beginning of spring in March, and the spring sunshine is just right, neither too cold nor too hot. Even the sun around noon is not too strong.
Standing in this spring sunshine, my heart, which should have been at ease, is not at ease at this moment.
Yunzhou City is the largest city in Nanjun. Although it is not as prosperous as Kyoto City, there are still many people coming and going through the city gate.
They waited here for a whole morning and saw many caravans carrying goods into the city.
There is a war in the north now, and the situation in Kyoto Prefecture is unclear. These merchants all know to hide and seek refuge. Many caravans are not heading north, but instead heading south.
There's no war in the south. The weather has been good in the south for the past two years, and there haven't been any major disasters. The Prince of Zhennan commands hundreds of thousands of troops, so even if the imperial court sends troops to attack, it's not certain that the Prince of Zhennan will lose.
Perhaps because of their trust in the Prince of Zhennan, these caravans are now heading south.
They encountered many caravans along the way and even traveled with them. Otherwise, the bandits they encountered on the road would not let them go even if they were from the imperial court, seeing that their group was small.
At the gate of Yunzhou City, there are ordinary people setting up stalls to sell things, and the generals guarding the city do not drive them away. It is obvious that they allow these ordinary people to do some small business here.
They had been at the city gate for such a long time just now, and Lu Mingfei also noticed that the generals guarding the city had strict inspections for the passing civilians and caravans, but they did not make things too difficult for them. As long as the goods were in good condition, they would be allowed in.
From the way these generals defending the city acted, it could be seen that the King of Zhennan was very strict in his rule.
Looking at the ordinary people outside the city, although their clothes are full of patches, they look relaxed and at ease. It can be seen that the people in Nanjun should be living a good life.
Although these common people are poor, they are rich in spirit.
The poverty of Nanjun is actually closely related to the economic development here.
In this era, the country's political center has always been in the north, so economic development naturally tends to be in the north. However, due to the roads and climate in Nanjun, as well as the many mountains and bandits, the caravans used to avoid this area.
But now the caravans are heading here because the situation in the north is unclear, which has led to the economy beginning to tilt and develop towards the south.
Lu Mingfei stood in front of a food stall and asked the old woman selling the food, "Grandma, what kind of food are you selling?"
"I made the spring rolls myself, stuffed with jam made from fresh flowers. Would you like to try it, my dear?" The old woman picked up the spring rolls and handed them over.
"Okay, give me two." Lu Mingfei took off the purse hanging on his waist, took out a few copper coins from the purse and put them on the stall, and took the cake handed to him by the old man with his other hand.
He took a bite and found it soft and sticky. He then realized that this spring roll was made of glutinous rice. The outside was soft and sticky, and the inside was stuffed with some sweet filling made of some unknown flower.
"Well, it's quite delicious. You should try it too." Lu Mingfei nodded and handed the extra one in his hand to the guard Ma standing beside him.
Guard Ma took the gift from their master, took a look at it, and wasn't too interested. But under their master Lu's encouraging gaze, he lowered his head and took a bite.
When Prince Qi Jun of Zhennan led his men out to the city gate, what he saw was Lord Lu standing in front of a stall eating.
"This Mr. Lu seems to have quite a leisurely time, doesn't he?" Qi Jun raised his eyebrows.
When the generals guarding the city saw their prince coming out, they took the lead in bowing to him and said, "Greetings, Prince."
"Everyone, get up." Qi Jun waved his hand.
"Thank you, Prince." The soldiers who had been kneeling on one knee finally stood up.
On this side, Lu Mingfei heard the word "Prince". He turned his head to look towards the city gate and saw a young man riding a horse. He recognized that this person was the Prince of Zhennan.
The two people's eyes met across the air.
***
When he was in Kyoto City, Lu Mingfei had met the Prince of Zhennan many times.
However, he had no connection with the Prince of Zhennan.
Although he had a good relationship with Zhao Lang, and Zhao Lang had a good relationship with the Prince of Zhennan, his relationship with Zhao Lang was not known to others, so Zhao Lang did not take him to meet his friends or introduce him to the Prince of Zhennan.
Therefore, his relationship with the Prince of Zhennan was just that they had met a few times on the surface.
Seeing the Prince of Zhennan coming out to greet them, Lu Mingfei stuffed the remaining piece of biscuit in his hand into his mouth, chewing it while walking towards the Prince of Zhennan.
His steps were so leisurely, as if he was just going to meet an ordinary person.
Qi Jun sat on the horse and looked down at the champion Lu, then turned over and got off the horse and landed in front of Lu Mingfei.
Lu Mingfei bowed to Qi Jun and called out, "Prince."
"Lord Lu." Qi Jun just nodded slightly.
The two people's eyes met calmly. Lu Mingfei always had a faint smile on his face, and his attitude was neither humble nor arrogant.
This time he represented the imperial court and the emperor's face. If he kowtowed in front of the Prince of Zhennan, he would only bring shame to the imperial court and the emperor.
Therefore, he still had to maintain the dignity of an envoy.
Even at this time, he couldn't be overbearing or show off. But at least, he had to be on equal footing with the people from the Zhennan Palace.
The fifth princess in the carriage heard the voices outside. She lifted the curtain of the carriage and looked out, and saw the Prince of Zhennan standing not far away. She was the man she was about to marry.
Feeling someone was looking at them, Qi Jun turned his head slightly and saw the fifth princess in the carriage.
The woman in the carriage was beautiful, with a pair of delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed, and there seemed to be an unrelieved sorrow between her brows.
The two people's eyes met from a distance. The fifth princess in the carriage looked at him steadily and then lowered the curtain.
Seeing that the Fifth Princess in the carriage was unwilling to see him, Qi Jun's heart sank. He turned to look at Lu Mingfei in front of him, and remembered what he heard in the Imperial Garden that time, that the Fifth Princess wanted Lu Zhuangyuan to be her husband. He sneered in his heart.
Lu Mingfei could not fail to notice the slight expression on the face of the Prince of Zhennan when he saw the fifth princess in the carriage.
"Prince, the person in the carriage is Her Royal Highness the Fifth Princess."
"The imperial edict from His Majesty granting the marriage between you, the Crown Prince, and the Fifth Princess is here with me. Do you think I should read it out here? Or should I read it out after we enter the city?"
Hearing this, Qi Jun looked at Lu Mingfei with a sharp look. He approached Lu Mingfei and lowered his voice to ask Lord Lu, "Why, Lord Lu doesn't want to be the prince consort?" Author's gossip: Thank you Bole 9492239 (9492239) for your support, mua! To know more exciting content, please leave me a message on Liancheng Reading Books
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