Such was the tacit understanding between Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong that they seemed to be reading each other’s minds.
But those sitting down there didn’t necessarily know anything about what the two of them were thinking. Mu Rongfeng, seeing Ling Zhang’s and Yuwen Tong’s countenance didn’t change a bit after he wore a dismissive look for quite a while, briefly furrowed his brows, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face. Some of the others had also been observing, but at this time they were also baffled as to what Ling Zhang’s and Yuwen Tong’s intentions were.
Members of the Ling family, however, were all beaming as though they were really here to enjoy the banquet, watching the dancing, listening to the music, talking and laughing happily.
Seeing this, all the others had mixed feelings, for they had no idea whether the Ling family were really unconcerned or just faking it.
It struck them that the Ling family didn’t seem to be really unconcerned, that it was more likely they were pretending.
Nobody considered the possibility that the Ling family were simply happy and didn’t care about any of those miscellaneous things.
Ling Zhaowu, who was scornful of those anxious to scheme against each other, couldn’t even be bothered to glance at any of them. Ji Yin and Ji Yanlai had unequaled kung fu skills and thus didn’t have the slightest inclination to look at any of those people who were like ants in their eyes. Ling Xingzhong also relaxed considerably because of Ji Yin’s company. Ling Zhaowen had always been an astute man and was now under the protection of his big brother, so he certainly wouldn’t cast any of those people an extra glance.
The group of them were sitting together, and beside them were Yuwen You’s branch of the Yuwen family, who had the same blood as Yuwen Tong’s, and whose personalities bore striking similarity to that of Yuwen Tong as well, so they wouldn’t toss a single needless glance to those people.
Aside from them, the Left Prime Minister, the Ji family and Zhao Zheng, the Minister of War, were also present and their reactions were, for all intents and purposes, the same.
Seeing this, some of the others caught on to the situation, immediately withdrew their searching, curious gaze and started making remarks of benediction without cease. These sly old foxes were not stupid. They stood up to offer their congratulations one after another, as though the delicate mood just now had never existed.
And then it was time to present gifts to the newly-weds. Wedding gifts from the officials all had their own characteristics. Naturally, diplomatic corps of the Wan Kingdom, the Luohai Kingdom and the Fangcun Kingdom had also brought presents, each better than the last, as though this were some kind of contest.
All the lists of gifts were announced loudly and everybody could hear the contents distinctly. Gifts from most of the officials had good omens attached to them. Some of the gifts were costly, and some others were more about the omens they represented than their monetary value, but overall, the gifts were all appropriate for the occasion, and there was nothing wrong about any of them. Presents from the Wan Kingdom, the Luohai Kingdom and the Fangcun Kingdom were mostly expensive ones, including their respective regional specialities such as rare marine products from the Fangcun Kingdom, precious medicinal herbs from the Luohai Kingdom, thoroughbred horses from the Wan Kingdom, etc. Nobody tried to rock the boat by doing something like send beautiful women as gifts. Even the diplomatic corps of the Wan Kingdom were doing things by the book, and Ling Zhang was secretly a little surprised by it.
The Wan Kingdom had been in incessant conflict with the Great Wen since the last imperial dynasty, and Yuwen Tong had inflicted numerous defeats on them. Even Shan Congwen had died by Yuwen Tong’s sword during the latest fighting, but these envoys from the Wan Kingdom were still so well-behaved, which showed that they were indeed badly in need of a couple of years’ peace to recuperate and build up strength. In other words, the situation in the Wan Kingdom was indeed dire. If the Great Wen had enough strength, they might be able to take the Wan Kingdom first, but unfortunately at this time the Great Wen badly needed to regain strength as well, and the people needed to rehabilitate their homeland and restore their lives. From this, it could be deduced that in the tripartite balance of the Great Wen, the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom, the third was, surprisingly, the most capable of waging a sudden war, no matter which of the other two would be the target…
Ling Zhang looked at the diplomatic corps of the three countries. He’d been impassively observing them as well.
“The Ji family present a long-lost manual of martial formation…”
Right at this moment, the Millennium Pavilion’s gift was announced. Ling Zhang was somewhat astonished to hear it. The gifts that were being announced were from Ji Yanlai, and there was actually a manual of martial formation among them! During the day, when he’d entered the palace, among his trousseaus was a casket containing manuals of superb martial formation, cultivation methods, kung fu skills, etc. He had thought that those were all the gifts from the Millennium Pavilion. How come Ji Yanlai was sending him another manual of martial formation?
A flicker of surprise flashed across Ling Zhang’s eyes which looked in the direction of Ji Yanlai.
The others were also looking at Ji Yanlai. What with Ji Yanlai’s obtrusive appearance, many people had been secretly observing him, so at this time they naturally took advantage of this opportunity to boldly size him up. However, he just stood up, sent his best wishes to the newly-weds and then sat down, showing no inclination to explain anything.
Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong were uncertain about his intentions, so they naturally wouldn’t ask him for any details, but some guests started whispering to each other.
It was quite a while before the last gift was presented. The next step was for the emperor to reward the Ling family.
Yuwen Feng made Ling Xingzhong the Marquess Yongkang (AKA, the Marquess of Eternal Health), granting him yearly salary, fief and a series of other privileges. Ling Zhaowu was made the Earl Taichang (AKA the Earl of Prosperity) and was also granted yearly salary, fief and a series of privileges. The title of the Marquess Yongkang was hereditary.
By bestowing titles of nobility to two members of a family, the emperor was already making an exception, and the title of the Marquess Yongkang was hereditary. Also, Ling Zhaowen had been transferred to Shengzhou to be the new governor and would soon go to Shengzhou to take office, which showed how much the emperor valued the Ling family.
Ling Xingzhong and Ling Zhaowu rose to their feet, stepped forward and expressed their gratitude to the emperor. All other officials offered their congratulations to the two of them. The Ling family had instantly become one of the most powerful families in the capital city, one that was very much in favor with the emperor.
While warmly sending their congratulations to the two people, the officials were also bearing some other thoughts in mind. Ling Xingzhong was of advanced years, and it was impossible for him to resume pursuing a political career, so he wouldn’t wield real power. His title was mainly about honor and the most important attribute – hereditariness. As long as the Ling family still stood and Ling Xingzhong’s offspring were competent enough, the title of the Marquess Yongkang would be carrying more and more weight. Take Ling Zhaowen for example. He was now the Shengzhou governor, and if one day he made some achievements and was transferred back to the capital city, he would have both real power and marquessdom after Ling Xingzhong’s death, and his career prospects would be limitless. It could be predicted that some day the Marquess Yongkang would be a very influential political figure.
As for Ling Zhaowu, the Earl Taichang, he was the one that the officials found it most difficult to figure out, because Ling Zhaowu had chosen to pursue a business career rather than a political one. On top of that, his earldom was not hereditary, which meant that the title “the Earl Taichang” would be gone with his death. Given that Ling Zhaowu was Ling Zhang’s father, if he’d chosen to enter politics, his brother wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of succeeding to the title of their father, but he seemed to be totally uninterested in pursuing an official career, and would rather give up all the honor he could some day have for his little brother. Most outsiders felt that Ling Zhaowu was stupid, for he was the empress’ father but refused to take advantage of this. Another thing that confused everybody was that Ling Zhaowu was barely forty and in the prime of his life, so he could totally remarry and have more sons, but Ling Zhaowu seemed to be quite content with what he had and had no interest whatsoever in marrying another woman… Many people in the capital city had covertly made some inquiries and tried to strike up relationships with Ling Zhaowu and marry their daughters to him, but Ling Zhaowu had turned down them all. Nobody could fathom out what Ling Zhaowu was thinking. As a result, all of them had faintly searching expressions in their eyes when they looked at Ling Zhaowu, wondering what was going on in the Ling family.
There was, in addition, another matter. The Ling family had been rewarded, and the die had been cast, but hitherto, the emperor hadn’t made anybody Wang (a nobleman of the highest rank below the monarch in feudal China).
The titles “the Marquess Fuan” and “the Marquess Huaiwen” had been conferred on two members of the branch of the Yuwen family, and the titles “the Marquess Yongkang” and “the Earl Taichang” on two members of the Ling family. Nobody had been made Wang since the new dynasty had started. It was as though the emperor was reserving it. As regards for how much longer he would reserve it, the officials could only rely on their powers of deduction and imagination to figure it out.
Now the empress had been selected, and the political landscape had basically stabilized, so the speculations about the imperial seraglio once again came floating out of the officials’ memory in spite of themselves, but this time around, they were thinking about this matter deeper. The emperor had allowed the empress to take Jiang Yu and Zhao Jiusi in as his advisers, both of whom had elders that either were or used to be high-ranking courtiers. This showed that the emperor’s attitude towards the empress was ambiguous, so everybody was waiting to see what the empress’ style of dealing with things would be like.
Moreover, the imperial seraglio was indeed a great temptation, and everybody wanted to have some contacts in it, but this emperor of theirs was different from any of his predecessors. He not only had taken a man as his consort but also refused to be manipulated by anybody. Most of his predecessors, when they’d first been enthroned, had chosen to marry daughters of top-ranking officials to gain their support so as to consolidate his emperorship. Also, some of them had had to marry female members of some aristocratic families too powerful to be kept under control in order to pacify them and rope them in. But now things were different. Back at the time when the Great Wen had just been built, almost all large families that had carried enough weight with the imperial court had been eradicated, which was why currently nobody was able to rock the foundation of the imperial court or pose a threat to the emperor’s status. The emperor had been a marshal before acceding to the throne, and the strongest and largest army of the Great Wen was under the emperor’s command. All his subordinates were infinitely loyal to him. It could be said that the incumbent emperor had absolute dominion over this nation, and nobody could undermine his authority.
After realizing this, some of those who previously hadn’t caught on to the situation gradually saw sense, and they could all feel cold sweat on their backs.
This emperor of theirs had taken the throne without any bloodshed. It’d seemed a runaway victory, but in fact all his obstacles had been removed before his enthronement! The officials recalled the confused fighting and the precarious situation in the capital city during the short period before the downfall of the Zhou family. At that time, this emperor of theirs had appeared quite unthreatening because of his loss of half of his military power, and most people had seemed to forget about him, but what if he had actually been having everything under his control all this time? Their emperor was even more formidable than they imagined him to be, and he had absolute power over them.
Thus, all those who had some insight came to understand. Nobody should mess with Yuwen Tong at this point in time. Many of those who’d been coveting positions in the imperial seraglio slowly calmed down.
Also because of this, many people began to feel bitterly regretful. Previously they had also considered recommending their sons or nephews to Ling Zhang, but what with their misjudgement, all those they’d recommended had been their family members who were believed to be mediocre, which was why they’d missed the opportunity to plant someone in Ling Zhang’s think tank. Presently, Jiang Yu of the Jiang family and Zhao Jiusi of the Zhao family were the only two members of it.
The Jiang family had Jiang Shennian who was very visionary. As for the Zhao family, Zhao Zheng was now the Minister of War. Though it seemed that he’d been neither promoted nor demoted, everybody knew that in his case, rank didn’t mean anything, that the emperor’s trust in him was the most important, that Zhao Zheng was in the emperor’s confidence. By sending Zhao Jiusi to be Ling Zhang’s adviser, the Zhao family had actually sent a message to everybody. However, the die had now been cast and it was no good regretting it.
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