The Emperor was irritated by the obvious threat. He angrily rolled his sleeves and swept the items on the royal table to the ground, “This is ridiculous! A dignified man ignoring the overall interests of the country for a woman! This nation also came about from your father’s hard work and yet, can you not bother to care about continuing his legacy and preserving his home?”
Xie Xuanchen just said lightly, “He is him, but I am me.”
Everyone else in the court was shocked. They thought that Prince An merely doted on the Princess, but they didn’t expect that he was already this into her.
Faced with the Emperor’s accusation, he directly admitted it without even defending himself. He was really ignoring his ancestors’ work and the future of his country for the sake of a woman.
Everyone was left speechless for a moment as they were all shaken by this declaration that resembled thunder.
The Emperor was furious and walked away, leaving the court unhappily.
Mu Mingtang had been waiting at home for a long time today. Suddenly, she heard the servant say, “The Prince has returned to the mansion,” before she immediately ran out.
Xie Xuanchen’s expression looked very calm. He even smiled slightly after seeing Mu Mingtang, “It’s still cold here, why did you come out?”
Mu Mingtang rushed to Xie Xuanchen, hesitating slightly in apprehension to ask about the situation, “You…how are things going outside?”
“It’s okay,” Xie Xuanchen said lightly. Seeing that she was still worried, he smiled, “At worst, I won’t have the military power anymore, but it’s nothing important.”
When Mu Mingtang heard this, she hesitated to speak. Finally, she sighed softly, “Actually, I can stay here alone.”
“No,” This time Xie Xuanchen didn’t even think about it and rejected her idea. Even his expression became cold, “I will go where you are. I will never leave you alone again.”
The two of them had argued about this issue last night, and in the end, Xie Xuanchen forcibly stopped her from talking. Mu Mingtang knew that she couldn’t defeat Xie Xuanchen. After all, he was very stubborn regarding certain issues.
Such as territory, such as tribute money. Another example was her, of course.
***
On the other side of things, it would be wrong to say that the Emperor was deeply saddened by his nephew’s obsession with women and his unwillingness to make the right choice for the safety and well-being of the country. He raged in public mostly because he wouldn’t have Mu Mingtang as a bargaining chip.
The Emperor wanted to use Xie Xuanchen, but he was even more wary of the Prince. If Xie Xuanchen was allowed to take Mu Mingtang away, then the Prince would have nothing to worry about. By then, who would be able to guarantee the fact that he wouldn’t insinuate a rebellion?
The Emperor and Xie Xuanchen faced off indirectly to see which side was going to give in first. In fact, this was nothing but a lose-lose situation. Ye Luji was more than ready to command his army to cross the river. If neither Xie Xuanchen nor the Emperor gave way, Ye Luji would eventually invade the capital. The Emperor would no longer be around and Xie Xuanchen would not be able to do well. At this point, it depended on who was in a more urgent situation.
Finally, the spies came to report that Ye Luji had scouted the road and that a hundred thousand troops were just about to cross the river. The Emperor could no longer sit still and agreed with Xie Xuanchen to take his wife on the subjugation.
However, this put Prince An under the guise that he was addicted to women and acted ridiculously. Hence, the Emperor could claim that he was worried about handing the life-saving card of the capital to Xie Xuanchen, so the 100,000 troops remained in the city to protect the Emperor whereas only 8,000 troops were allocated to Xie Xuanchen.
Ye Luji brought 100,000 men with him.
8000 versus 100,000 was basically a death sentence, proving that the Emperor’s calculation was extremely shrewd. Mu Mingtang was not in his hands any longer, so the Emperor had no trump card to suppress Xie Xuanchen. Naturally, he would not hand over 100,000 troops to Xie Xuanchen, which resulted in a mere number of 8,000. If Xie Xuanchen wanted to stop Ye Luji, he would have no choice but to fight to the death. When Xie Xuanchen was almost exhausted and near death, Emperor Qin’s men would have arrived by then. So with the military capital present, he would be able to defeat a powerful enemy without a single blow to his own men.
Killing three birds with one stone while minimising a loss of his reputation. After all, it was Xie Xuanchen who disregarded the overall situation first.
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