Chapter 977: A Beautiful Girl in a Golden House (Second update, please subscribe)
The top of the cloud, accompanied by the mist on the top of the cloud, is like a fairyland.
This plateau is less than 50 kilometers away from Zhongdu. There are rivers, waterfalls and, of course, royal gardens in the nearby cliffs and canyons.
In fact, the entire Genting belongs to the royal family. Although there is a magnificent palace in Zhongdu, there are more than a dozen palaces in the Genting Valley. To some extent, this palace is a place for the royal family to escape from the world and vacation.
As a distinguished guest of the Ming Dynasty royal family, Princess Sissi of course had her own palace here - the white Achilles Palace.
This palace was a gift from Emperor Zhu the Great, and she had turned it into a temple of art: the 10 "Muses" in front of the Ionic columns are serene and elegant; Apollo and Hermes, the goddess of hunting Artemis and the goddess of beauty Aphrodite stand on both sides of the garden path. Being in it, it feels like coming to the garden of the gods in Greek mythology.
The beautiful white palace is hidden in the green forest. When strolling in this beautiful garden with Sisi, Emperor Zhu the Great could always see the "Achilles" that appeared repeatedly here - Franz Matz's oil painting "Achilles on the Chariot", Gustav Hert's white marble statue "Dying Achilles", and Johann Geitge's bronze statue "Victorious Achilles". Achilles was Sisi's favorite hero.
Emperor Zhu never asked why Sissi was so in love with Achilles, as long as she liked him.
As they strolled and chatted, a beautiful little girl was running in the garden in front of them, accompanied by a lady-in-waiting. It was their daughter, Elizabeth, who had just turned three years old - she had the same name as her.
"Elizabeth is always happy every time you come over."
Holding his arm, Sissi, like all wives, gently rested her head on his shoulder. As she spoke, she looked at her daughter who was just running, her face filled with unconcealable happiness.
"I know. I will come here more often in the future."
Emperor Zhu nodded, and when he looked at his daughter, like all fathers, his eyes were full of doting.
Sissi nodded and said nothing until a moment later.
"You were thinking of Vienna, weren't you?"
As smart as Sissi was, she certainly knew why the man next to her was distracted before. Even when she was in Ming Dynasty, she often contacted the Austro-Hungarian ambassador to Ming Dynasty and had a certain understanding of the developments in Vienna.
"Almost. After all, some things cannot be avoided."
Looking at the man next to her, Sissi said.
"Joseph was not a particularly shrewd ruler, but he was not one to betray his friends. At least not first."
"I know, Sissi, Joseph is a very good friend."
Emperor Zhu the Great was serious, as good as Napoleon III.
"And you know, Sissi, Europe is too far away from the Ming Dynasty. For the Ming Dynasty, apart from maintaining the imperial alliance, the Ming Dynasty is not willing to intervene too much in the disputes of the Old Continent."
"Do you need me to come forward?"
Xixi looked at the man next to her, her beautiful face brimming with confidence.
“Even though I’m here, I still have an influence on Vienna that outsiders can’t.”
"My dear, I certainly believe that, but now is not the time..."
Emperor Zhu laughed.
"Besides, aren't we here to enjoy life?"
As he spoke, Emperor Zhu ran towards his daughter and played with his young daughter in the garden.
Although he is over 40 years old, in front of his family, Zhu Xianhai is just a father, husband or lover.
Looking at Zhu Xianhai lying on the grass and playing with his daughter, the frown on Xixi's beautiful face relaxed, and her heartfelt happiness was revealed between her brows.
He never knew that he was her Achilles, her hero. What he brought her was never love, but unfettered freedom. However, their marriages were each other's Achilles' heel.
It was destined to be a tragedy for them to be together. Thinking of this, a trace of melancholy and sadness appeared on her face...
…
There are no mundane concerns in Genting Manor. Emperor Zhu can relax and unwind here, riding horses and hunting with Sissi, Elizabeth, Monica, Bellucci and others. When he is tired, he will play in the rivers and waterfalls.
This land of thousands of square kilometers was, to a certain extent, the royal playground and, of course, the "golden house" of Emperor Zhu.
However, happy times are always limited. After relaxing for a while at Genting Manor, on the evening of the third day, Emperor Zhu boarded the royal train and set off on his journey home amid the roar of the steam locomotive.
The train came from Zhongdu, and Liu Kunpeng, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also came with it. The reason why he rushed from Zhongdu in a hurry was to tell His Majesty that the Kingdom of Heaven had been fooled by the British and was going to use tariffs as collateral to borrow money from Britain to build railways, steel mills, arsenals, and shipyards. It looked like they were going to work hard and fast.
"Your Majesty, the British are doing this, it's definitely like a weasel visiting an old hen, they have no good intentions, we must make preparations early!"
“It’s something that’s expected.”
After three days of rest, Emperor Zhu, feeling refreshed, smiled.
"If we support one side, the British will definitely support the other side. Their purpose is probably to support an opponent for Xuzhou, or even to make China's civil war continue forever - this is of course realistic. Although the area controlled by the Heavenly Kingdom is roughly the four provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi and Zhejiang, it seems that the territory is not large, but the national strength is not much different from Xuzhou. After all, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have been richer than the north since the Song Dynasty. Their purpose of supporting the Heavenly Kingdom is not to unify China with the Heavenly Kingdom, but to prevent China from standing on our side in future wars, or to make China unable to take care of itself."
Emperor Zhu smiled coldly. To be honest, he felt it was a bit unbelievable that Britain had only just started to "hook up" with the Kingdom of Heaven. Why did they think of it only now?
In fact, this is not Britain’s fault.
In the past ten years, the Ming Dynasty has been on good terms with Xuzhou and the Heavenly Kingdom, and even the warships of the Heavenly Kingdom were purchased from the Ming Dynasty. Britain wanted to support the Heavenly Kingdom, but was also worried that it would be a waste of money!
Now that Xuzhou has taken over the world, the Ming Dynasty can only choose one of the two. If the Ming Dynasty chooses Xuzhou, the Kingdom of Heaven will naturally become Britain's option.
"Your Majesty, Britain has evil ambitions and intends to sow discord between us and the Kingdom of Heaven. In my opinion, we should send a special envoy to make our position clear to them and try to stabilize them to prevent them from being used by Britain..."
Liu Kunpeng's suggestion was a very common one. After all, to a certain extent, the Heavenly Kingdom could be considered a quasi-ally of the Ming Dynasty.
Although the cooperation between the Ming Dynasty and the Heavenly Kingdom over the years could not be described as close, the relationship between the two countries had always been very good. As long as envoys were sent, they would definitely be able to be persuaded to prevent them from being used by the British.
Emperor Zhu was silent for a moment, then asked back.
"It seems that there is no need for this. We don't need to deliberately win over that party. After all, for China, the future there needs a winner."
(End of this chapter)
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