nycdaug Chapter 461: Song Huizong Grants Marriage
Chapter 461: Song Huizong Grants Marriage
As soon as Lu Cheng returned to Bianjing City, he was taken into the palace by eunuchs from the palace and met Song Huizong.
"Keep your word, first tell me the details of your border patrol this time."
"Yes, Your Majesty, this time I went north, I first arrived at Yunzhongfu Road..."
After Lu Cheng finished explaining the situation in detail, Song Huizong stroked his beard and smiled slightly: "The Liao Kingdom has indeed declined. They can't even keep the annual tribute sent to them by our Great Song. It seems that the century-long plan of successive emperors to paralyze the Liao Kingdom through annual tribute and make the Liao Kingdom's military preparations slack has been successful. Keep your promise, I intend to train a new army for the future. Are you willing to be the one to train the troops?"
"This... Your Majesty, I manage your Majesty's business, and I handle millions of dollars every year. If I get involved in military training, it would be inappropriate and would cause criticism from the court officials. Your Majesty, please find someone else who can do it. There are many talented civil and military officials in the court, and there must be someone suitable to train the troops."
"Don't employ people you doubt, and don't doubt people you employ. Since I want you to lead the military training, I naturally trust your loyalty. Don't refuse if you want to keep your word."
"In this case, how about I select some elite soldiers and generals for Your Majesty, and Your Majesty selects some suitable generals to serve as the chief officers, and I assist them? How do you think?"
"I am very pleased that you have such a heart to keep your promise."
At this point, Song Huizong suddenly changed his tone and asked about Lu Cheng's family affairs: "Shou Xin, I remember you should be twenty-three this year, right?"
"My Lord, I am already twenty-three years old."
According to the age of this world, Lu Cheng just turned 22, which makes him 23.
"I heard that you are the only one left in your Lu family. Why haven't you married yet?"
"Your Majesty, you are well aware of my situation. Since I came to the capital, Your Majesty has valued me and entrusted me with important tasks, managing the royal business. There are indeed many ministers in the court who want to become relatives with me.
But I owe my present existence to Your Majesty, and I dare not try to establish any relationship with other ministers, fearing that I would miss the task Your Majesty has assigned me. Moreover, I am now an official of the imperial court, and ordinary women are not considered to be my equals, so I have never married. As for expanding my family, I have taken in several concubines, and they are enough for me. "
"That won't do. You are an official appointed by the imperial court of the Song Dynasty. How can you be single? My dear, you are already fifteen years old and are old enough to get married. Why don't you become my consort?"
"How dare this humble official marry into a wealthy family?"
"You are loyal to me, have both talent and virtue, and are also good-looking. I am very optimistic about you. Don't you want to marry my daughter?"
"That's not the case... I'm just afraid that I've wronged Her Highness. If Her Highness likes me, I'll be willing."
"Haha, what's there to be dissatisfied about? The last time you entered the palace, Yu Pan disguised herself as a maid and secretly met you. She was very satisfied with you. Well, since you have no objection, I will set an auspicious date and marry Yu Pan to you after the New Year."
"I thank you, Your Majesty!"
Calculated, the eldest princess of Song Huizong, Princess Jiafu, has just turned 14 this year and will only be 15 next year. If placed in the future, she would be just a junior high school student.
No matter how lustful Mr. Lu is, he would not be interested in a little girl of fourteen or fifteen years old.
If she is really married home, she must be kept as a treasure. If the marriage is not consummated within one or two years, I am afraid Song Huizong will not be willing.
In fact, it was normal for Song Huizong to want to grant a marriage. Lu Cheng made so much money for him every year, was such a good fighter, and was deeply loved by him. Song Huizong certainly wanted to keep Lu Cheng under his control.
With the relationship between father-in-law and son-in-law, Song Huizong felt much more at ease.
But in ancient times, people who wanted to make a difference in officialdom were generally unwilling to become a consort to a prince consort, because if they became a consort to a prince consort, they basically could not engage in politics.
Especially in the Northern Song Dynasty, as early as the beginning of the founding of the country by Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin, after taking away the military power of the generals by drinking wine, in order to appease those generals, he married his daughters or sisters to those generals or their sons through marriage, and conferred them the title of Fuma Duwei on them, and rewarded them with various money and treasures to show his favor.
Once he became a royal consort, his political career would be ruined. He could only hold some honorary titles and could not have too much contact with military generals.
This is why Lu Cheng has never thought about making any major advancement in officialdom and doesn't care about these things.
Moreover, since Emperor Huizong of Song had spoken, Lu Cheng, as a minister, had no way to refuse.
After the matter was settled, Song Huizong quickly had someone choose an auspicious date and prepared to hold the wedding in the spring of next year, marrying his eldest daughter to Lu Cheng.
After all, Zhao Yupan was the eldest princess of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, and it was also the first time that Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty married off his daughter, so all the ceremonies had to be prepared in a grand and formal manner.
There is one good thing though, the prince consort of the Song Dynasty was allowed to take concubines, and there were even cases where a prince consort favored his concubine over his wife.
For example, Wang Shen, a son-in-law of Emperor Huizong of Song, married the eldest princess of Wei, the daughter of Emperor Yingzong of Song, and was named the son-in-law of the emperor. However, Wang Shen was unruly and behaved improperly. Although the princess was gentle and virtuous, filial to her parents-in-law, and good at managing the household, Wang Shen favored his concubines, who even dared to act unruly in front of the princess and contradict her.
Song Shenzong couldn't stand it, and in order to stand up for his sister, he demoted Wang Shen twice. But Wang Shen still didn't repent, and even took advantage of the princess' illness to have fun with his concubine in front of the princess.
The princess fell seriously ill at the age of 30 and died. Song Shenzong went to visit her in person and asked her if she had any last wishes before her death. Unexpectedly, the princess asked Song Shenzong to restore her husband's official position.
Because of this, all the civil and military officials in the court knew that Wang Shen was a bad person and were unwilling to associate with him. However, Song Huizong became close to Wang Shen because he could paint and they had a deep relationship.
Without mentioning these, Lu Cheng returned home and had some free time. He was about to become a royal consort, so he could also take off his official duties in the court.
As for Song Huizong's decision to let Lu Cheng train the troops, it was just a test. According to the Song Dynasty practice, the person in charge of the army would not be in charge of money and food, and the military and politics were separated, and the army and logistics were separated.
Since Lu Cheng has money, it is naturally impossible for him to lead troops.
Of course, even if Lu Cheng was really allowed to train the troops, the civil and military officials in the court would definitely hinder him in various ways and would not allow the training to proceed so smoothly.
On the one hand, the civil officials did not want another military general to rise. On the other hand, they did not want the emperor to have a group of elite soldiers in his hands.
As for how Song Huizong should train his soldiers and who should train them, Lu Cheng didn't care about that.
Perhaps, when the time comes and they remember him as a capable fighting prince consort, they will at most let him be a coach in the army, with an empty title but without the power to command troops.
When Lu Cheng had free time, he would take Pang Qiuxia, who was dressed as a man, out for fun every day, and steal women at night.
Of course, as letter after letter came out, Dong Ping in the far-away Western Army, Wu Song in Jeju Prefecture, and Lu Da and others on the northern border were all busy.
Before leaving the Ministry of War, Lu Cheng went to meet a man, a gunner at the Armory of the Ministry of War, known in the martial arts world as Ling Zhen, the Thunderbolt...