The Eldest Daughter Is Beautiful and Saucy
Chapter 196: Anecdotes about monarchs and ministers
Chapter 196: A Story of a King and His Ministers
The prince put his hands behind his back, walked along the river, thought for a while, and then slowly stopped.
Bai Qingyan, who was following the prince, also stopped. The prince looked back at the guards who were still some distance away from him and Bai Qingyan, and said, “Before coming to Southern Xinjiang, my father gave me a secret order that after the war in Southern Xinjiang is over, Miss Bai will not have to follow me back to the capital. Do you understand what this means?”
“You want to kill me?”
Bai Qing spoke so frankly and openly that the prince felt guilty. He tightened his hands behind his back, not knowing whether the idea proposed by Mr. Fang and the others would work.
“But I want to protect you!” said the prince.
The sound of the rushing water of the Jing River was so loud that it almost drowned out the prince’s words.
But Bai Qingyan clasped his fists and said to the prince: “Your Majesty has done me a favor, I cannot make it difficult for you! But if you want me to die, I must die. But please spare my life until the war is completely settled! Even if I die on the battlefield, it will be worthy of the name of my Bai family.”
Hearing the word “en”, the prince’s ears twitched, and he couldn’t help but think of the generations of loyalty and bravery of the Bai family for the country and the people. He shook his head: “Although I am not talented, I know that there is indeed no more outstanding general in Jin State than Miss Bai! Miss Bai cannot die, I will protect you even if I risk my life.”
The prince’s words were three-tenths true and seven-tenths false… He handled his emotions very well, and others would probably have believed it.
But when she thought of how her grandfather was deceived by the emperor and gave his undivided loyalty to the current emperor, only to die in southern Xinjiang without any descendants, her heart sank.
The Crown Prince today is so similar to Your Majesty back then!
Bai Qingyan couldn’t pretend to be in tears, so he could only kneel on one knee, clasping his fists and asking the prince: “But how can I make things difficult for His Highness?”
The prince helped Bai Qingyan up and said, “No matter how difficult it is, I will definitely protect Miss Bai. If not for anything else… just for the people of the border of Dajin! Miss Bai, are you willing to follow me?”
“Your Highness…” Bai Qingyan pursed his lips and said, “May I ask Your Highness, what is your ambition in life?”
The prince clenched his palms, remembering what Qin Shangzhi had said before…
Qin Shangzhi said that the eldest daughter of the Bai family had completely inherited the style of the Bai family. The six words “live for the people and die for the country” are the family mission of the Bai family. If the prince wants to recruit Bai Qingyan for his own use, he needs to let Bai Qingyan see his ambition!
Qin Shangzhi also reminded His Royal Highness the Crown Prince not to forget the eulogy that Bai Qingyan read at the Bai family’s funeral. The words written by King Zhenguo Bai Weiting were “Unwavering, Willing… to return peace to the people, to establish peace on earth, and to remain committed until death.”
The prince silently recited these words in his heart, looked into Bai Qingyan’s clear and calm eyes, and said: “My wish is that all people can live in a peaceful and prosperous world.”
She looked at the prince in silence, wondering if when the emperor spoke those words to his grandfather, he had also been as sincere and unreserved as the prince was today?
“Your Highness, do you know why my grandfather brought all the men of the Bai family to the battlefield in Southern Xinjiang?”
Unexpectedly, Bai Qingyan did not express his loyalty to him, but talked about something irrelevant. The prince was stunned and did not think clearly, so he just said, “I don’t know…”
“At the beginning, Your Majesty told my grandfather that he wanted to conquer the world. Since my grandfather was loyal to Your Majesty and was Your Majesty’s minister, he naturally had to make plans for Your Majesty’s ambition. Your Majesty wanted this world, so… Jin State must have brave generals who are good at fighting! Other princes were unwilling to let their sons go to the battlefield! So my grandfather let all the men of the Bai family, regardless of whether they were legitimate or illegitimate, come out to train, so that Your Majesty could prepare for the future conquest of other countries!”
The prince was shocked, he really didn’t expect… Bai Weiting brought all the men of the Bai family to the battlefield with this plan!
“So today, since Bai Qingyan wants to be loyal to His Highness, he needs to ask His Highness about his ambitions. Please tell me the truth. Otherwise… if it’s like my grandfather and Your Highness, my grandfather doesn’t know what Your Highness wants… and he just does things with a single-minded focus, which makes Your Highness unhappy and makes the emperor suspicious of his ministers.”
The prince looked at Bai Qingyan seriously. Bai Qingyan’s words were very bold. If she didn’t really want to serve him, how could she dare to say such bold words that were equivalent to rebuking His Majesty? !
Since ancient times, any talented person who chooses a master is probably afraid of ending up like Bai Weiting in the future!
Bai Qingyan said that she had no chance of having children, so if she served him… she would never marry and would be loyal to him.
Old Fang had also suggested to the Crown Prince that he take Bai Qingyan as a concubine. However, although Bai Qingyan was beautiful, the Crown Prince felt that Bai Qingyan was sacred and inviolable when he saw her upright and righteous demeanor. He could not develop any desire to get close to her, and after thinking for a long time, he gave up the idea.
At this moment, the prince was hesitating in his heart, whether to tell Bai Qingyan truthfully that he only wanted to preserve the prosperity of Dajin, or to do as Qin Shangzhi said… to show Bai Qingyan his “ambitions”.
The prince did not answer in a hurry. Bai Qingyan just listened quietly to the sound of the Jing River flowing and stood there motionless.
After a long while, the prince finally raised his eyes and said to Bai Qing: “Father…you were wrong to suspect King Zhenguo, but I will not be wrong to suspect General Bai! Since ancient times, wise rulers and virtuous ministers have been a good story. I also hope that a hundred years later, the historians will record…that General Bai and I can also become a good story of ruler and minister.”
General Bai?
The prince changed his address…to tell her that he did not regard her as a girl, but as a minister who could be relied upon and could create a good story between the monarch and his subjects.
After a while, Bai Qingyan knelt down solemnly in front of the prince and kowtowed: “Bai Qingyan is willing to sacrifice his life for the prince, and will not retreat even if it means going through mountains of swords and seas of fire.”
In this way, Bai Qingyan was officially accepted as the prince’s disciple.
The prince was quite excited. He bent down and helped Bai Qingyan up again. “However, in order to achieve world peace, we must not act too hastily. We must take our time and stabilize Dajin first!”
Bai Qingyan did not really believe that the prince wanted to rule the world.
Today’s trip with Crown Prince Jinghe was just a show that the Crown Prince put on for her and she put on for the Crown Prince.
The prince’s goal is only to maintain Dajin’s current dominant position. Although people with different beliefs cannot work together, he can still be used for the time being.
Thinking of this, she suddenly froze…
When the emperor said those words to my grandfather, did he also intend to use her like this?
After going through so much, she finally changed. She failed her grandfather’s teachings and the Bai family’s ancestral precepts, and turned into a complete villain!
However, she does not regret it.
The road ahead is difficult, but as long as she can preserve the Bai family, the Bai family army, and fulfill the ambitions of several generations of the Bai family, she will be an upright person.
Seeing that Bai Qingyan had not replied, the prince clenched his fists and asked, “General Bai, do you think what I said is inappropriate?”