Chapter 366: Marriage
At the same time, the Nan Kingdom army was stationed.
Under the gaze of all the soldiers, a letter with the official crest of the Eastern Palace came out of Nanlijun's tent, passed by the kneeling Lion Power Army, and went straight to the Luojiang Royal Court.
The letter contained only one simple sentence:
"I am willing to send the daughter of Yun family in Youzhou to King Luojiang, to establish a marriage alliance and a truce."
This order from the Eastern Palace was beyond everyone's expectations.
After being treated inhumanely like that, given Nan Lijun's previous temperament, he was determined to seek revenge at all costs.
But she actually agreed to a truce.
Is it because he suffered a defeat and personally experienced the annihilation of the Northern Expedition, so he is afraid?
Or is it simply because King Luo Jiang wants to marry Yun Chen and he is happy to see Yun Chen humiliated?
No one knows the reason.
In short, those short twenty-one words deeply chilled the hearts of all the soldiers of the Lion Army.
It also crushed Huo Gannian, who had not yet recovered from the pain of losing his father.
He knelt at the spot closest to the princess's tent, his face extremely pale, his hair too messy to be combed, and his armor was crumbling. It was because he had fought too many battles and could no longer withstand any sword or arrow.
His body swayed in the cold wind, he bent forward and kowtowed, his voice hoarse:
"I beg Your Highness to revoke your order. Yun Chen..."
Just saying those two words seemed to have exhausted all his strength.
"Yun Chen...is the general of our Lion Might Army. He has been in the army for over two years and has fought in ninety-nine battles, both large and small, and has made countless contributions...I know that a truce with Luojiang is the best policy for the country right now, but from ancient times to the present, there has never been a case of marrying a general for national merit! I beg Your Highness to revoke your order for the sake of...for the sake of General Huo...and General Yun who just died in battle..."
After Huo Gannian finished speaking, he bowed his head again, lowering his always noble head in front of all the soldiers of the Lion Army.
Behind him, Rong Yi, Luo Dongdong, Ye Yan, Buyan... a large group of Lion Army soldiers also bowed their heads.
The curtain of the princess's tent was tightly drawn, and Nan Lijun's hollow and cold voice came from inside the tent:
"King Luojiang wants to marry Yunchen and is interested in a ceasefire. I am simply fulfilling his wish. If a problem can be solved by one person, why not do it? Must countless soldiers die for this? Will you be satisfied, General Huo?"
These words were like a bucket of cold water poured over one's head, chilling one to the bone.
It sounds reasonable at first glance.
Nan Lijun seemed to have suddenly become a different person. He was no longer led by the powerful officials. It was as if he had grown poisonous thorns all over his body overnight and began to know how to kill people without being seen.
Huo Gannian did not say anything and remained in the posture of bowing deeply without moving.
Rong Yi couldn't bear to listen any longer, and suddenly straightened up, deliberately speaking in the loudest voice possible so that everyone could hear:
"Your Highness! 'This person' can be any woman in the world! But she cannot be from the Lion Army or the Northern Expedition Army! Do you know what price this 'person' you are talking about has paid for your safety, for the sake of being in front of you?!
Even if he were just an ordinary soldier, if he died in battle, the court would treat his family well, let alone General Yun, who is so old! He sold all his property to go to the battlefield! General Yun just died in battle! Are we going to abandon his daughter? Wouldn't this chill the hearts of soldiers all over the world! Who would still be willing to fight for the country?!
Rong Yi said everything that Huo Gannian couldn't say.
Every word was sonorous and powerful, striking the hearts of every soldier of the Lion Army.
I thought Nan Lijun would be furious like before and would throw teacups out of the tent.
But after a moment of dead silence, all that could be heard was Nan Lijun's sneer of contempt:
"Why, any woman in the world can be tortured in the Luojiang Royal Court, but Yun Chen can't? She is more noble than any other woman in the world—more noble than me, right?"
Rong Yi was speechless for a moment: "That's not what I meant..."
"Shut up!" Nan Lijun interrupted coldly, and then ordered in an unquestionable tone:
"This matter is a done deal, no further discussion allowed! If anyone dares to question my decision again, or even utters one more word—Duan Jie—I will execute you first and report later! Execute immediately!"
Duan Jie sighed silently and had to obey the order.
He wanted to go over and persuade Huo Gannian, but the latter stood up straight, his face was pale and his lips were bloodless.
Huo Gannian stared at the motionless curtain and pleaded in the most humble voice:
"Your Majesty's order is as heavy as Mount Tai. Your Highness, you promised to allow me to marry Yun Chen..."
Nan Lijun ignored it. The tent was quiet and there was no sound at all.
It was getting dark.
Under the persuasion of Duan Jie and a group of Northern Expedition soldiers, the soldiers of the Lion Army dispersed one after another.
In the end, Lian Rongyi supported himself on the ground with his hands, rubbing his painful knees, and left with a gloomy face.
Only Huo Gannian was left kneeling alone in the snow, neither speaking nor showing any intention of leaving.
The soldiers cast worried and sympathetic glances at Huo Gannian from time to time.
One soldier said, "How sad! After two and a half years of fighting, the result is to hand our general over to the enemy country?"
Others said, "You're crazy! Only General Rong would dare to say that! What kind of family background do we have? How many lives do we have to stand against the princess?"
"Why, only she can do it, and no one else can say anything? Have you forgotten how we abandoned Guying City and came here? How did the country fall to the point where one-third of it is occupied by the Black Scale Cavalry? Who were we trying to save? We went north to defend the king, and what did we achieve in the end?"
"Don't blame him. I guess everyone thinks the same way."
"So, we're going to continue the war without General Yun? Are we going to fight the Black Scale Cavalry? Or should we send the general out to marry another woman? Oh, now that we've lost our only female general, I hope Jiao Zuotai likes men too!"
"Stop talking nonsense—Oh no! General Huo fainted!"
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