Chapter 649: Open and Naked Contempt
Beneath the bridal veil, Mu Yunyao’s eyes curved slightly. Hearing the firmness in Yue Wang’s voice, the anger in her heart gradually dissipated, replaced by a deep and spreading warmth.
“Very well. Let us first complete the wedding.”
A wedding happens only once in a lifetime. She did not want a single regret left behind. As for the matter of those Beijiang people slandering her, there would be time enough to settle that score afterward.
Princess Helian’s heart trembled. Beneath her sleeves, both hands clenched tightly into fists. Unbidden, her mind returned to the first time she had laid eyes on Yue Wang.
At that time, she had only just come of age. She had followed her royal brother to the border, where they directed the Beijiang cavalry in harassing the frontiers of the Dali Dynasty. Elsewhere, everything had gone smoothly, yet here in Yuexi, the Beijiang cavalry—whom she had always regarded as invincible—had not dared step forward at all.
She had been utterly puzzled and kept questioning her royal brother. Her brother, his expression grave, gazed toward Yuexi with deep-set eyes and said, “Because there is one man there.”
That answer only deepened her confusion.
“We of Beijiang have hundreds of thousands of cavalry, each one capable of fighting ten men. Are we truly to fear a single person?”
The moment the words left her mouth, she saw a black steed burst forth from the borderlands of Yuexi. It raced like lightning itself, carrying the force of thunder, and the figure seated upon it was even colder and sharper than the flash of light. Never in her life had she seen someone so awe-inspiring. Even the imperial brother she admired most could not compare.
From that day onward, she paid close attention to all news from Yuexi. She watched as immense changes unfolded there in a short span of time. She watched that man remain, from beginning to end, like a cold star in the heavens. She had thought him like the snow upon the high mountains of the frontier—unchanging through the passage of time, through the turn of seasons, forever cold and white.
Yet now, seeing him again, he was smiling at a single woman with a softness like spring wind.
Yue Wang and Mu Yunyao turned to face one another and completed the final step of the wedding.
The ceremonial officer glanced at the Beijiang delegation, whose faces had gone green with anger and who, from beginning to end, had not dared say another word. He let out a heavy inward sigh of relief.
“The rites are complete!”
Yue Wang curved his lips in a smile, raised a hand to lift Mu Yunyao’s bridal veil, and looked with open delight upon her incomparably beautiful face. Then, still holding her hand, he turned toward the Beijiang delegation.
“Now that Princess Wenxian and I are married, she is my Princess Consort. Whatever you wish to discuss, you may address it to me.”
The Beijiang officials looked at Yue Wang’s deep, icy eyes and ground their teeth in silent fury. Of all the princes of the Dali Dynasty, Yue Wang was the one they understood best. And the more they understood him, the more they feared him, because too many Beijiang cavalrymen had died by his hand. Every one of those deaths was a lesson written in blood.
Though Yuexi nominally belonged to the Dali Dynasty, it was a place of bitter cold, sparse people, and vast land. In former days, the people of Beijiang had ridden across it almost as though it were ownerless territory, and often passed through Yuexi to harass Yuxi City.
All that ended when Yue Wang was enfeoffed to Yuexi. During the first two years, while he was recovering from his health, his control over the region had been insufficient. But in the years that followed, no matter how many cavalry Beijiang sent, they never again managed to set foot upon Yuexi’s soil. Later, they were struck back in several campaigns and forced into retreat again and again, losing great numbers of cattle and sheep in the process.
Quite a few of the older envoys could not help shivering at the sight of him. In earlier years, they had assumed that this prince was still young and that conditions in Yuexi were so harsh that even the stationed troops could hardly fill their bellies. They had thought such men would collapse at the slightest fright.
Who could have guessed that Yue Wang would not only forge that army into order, but would turn what seemed a flock of sheep into a pack of wolves?
That battle had been a disastrous loss for Beijiang. Many of their soldiers had been captured, and this very Yue Wang had ordered their heads cut off and sent rolling down the hillside until they landed at the feet of the Beijiang cavalry below. After that battle, Beijiang no longer dared to invade Yuexi lightly.
One envoy, unable to contain himself, spoke up. “Yue Wang, we have already made ourselves perfectly clear. Princess Wenxian used deceit and manipulation to forcefully keep our Beijiang Sixth Prince within the Dali Dynasty. Such conduct shows utter contempt for Beijiang and openly challenges Beijiang’s dignity. If Princess Wenxian does not provide us with an explanation, then Beijiang will never let the matter rest.”
Yue Wang’s expression remained indifferent. At those words, he gave a mocking smile.
“You are only an envoy. Can you truly make decisions on behalf of Beijiang?”
The envoy’s face changed at once, and he cast a pleading glance toward Helian Liluo.
Helian Liluo gave a slight nod, though her voice sounded stiff. “What this envoy says is indeed Beijiang’s meaning.”
The mockery in Yue Wang’s expression deepened.
“Leaving aside the fact that my Princess Consort has no knowledge at all of who this so-called Sixth Prince of yours is—even if she did know, even if she deliberately made use of him, what exactly could you do about it?”
Helian Liluo’s face darkened with anger. “Your Highness Yue Wang, are you showing contempt for Beijiang?”
“You were the ones who just insisted again and again that my Princess Consort deceived and made use of your Sixth Prince. By that logic, she has already been showing contempt for Beijiang all this time. Since you have endured such contempt for so long, you ought to meet it calmly. Why is it that after hearing only a few words from me, your reaction is so extreme?”
Yue Wang paused, then continued in an even colder tone.
“I have heard that Beijiang is presently a complete tangle of disorder. The people no longer submit, plague is spreading in every direction, and the royal clan thinks only of fencing off land and claiming pasture, utterly indifferent to whether the common people live or die. The people’s resentment has grown unbearable, and the strength of the state has declined sharply. Having no other choice, you sent envoys here, hoping to exchange for a prescription to treat the plague and thereby steady the hearts of the people. Tell me, have I spoken wrongly?”
Beijiang was made up of many tribes, and its governance was loose. It was nothing like the Dali Dynasty, with its severe hierarchy and tight order. That looseness had given him ample room to operate. The merchant caravans he had sent into Beijiang were never merely there to make money. After so much time, he had long since come to understand Beijiang seven or eight parts out of ten.
The envoy who had spoken so boldly only moments before now looked deathly pale. He kept glancing toward Helian Liluo, not daring once to meet Yue Wang’s eyes.
The officials gathered to witness the ceremony wore thoughtful expressions. If matters truly were as Yue Wang described, then there might be much to see in the days ahead. With Beijiang in turmoil, perhaps this would become an opportunity to seize some of its land. For years, Beijiang had profited from the Dali Dynasty. It would only be fair to reclaim a portion of that.
Helian Liluo felt her heart quiver. Her face turned ashen, and a trace of fear flashed through her eyes.
“Your Highness Yue Wang, the words spoken by the Beijiang envoys just now were somewhat excessive. We have been searching for my sixth brother for so long that, upon suddenly hearing he had become a subordinate under Princess Wenxian, we found it difficult to accept. That is why we spoke rashly and too harshly.”
The situation in Beijiang truly was dire. She could only retreat and soften her stance for now. If she continued to press matters in open opposition to Yue Wang’s line of attack, the result might very well be armed conflict between the two states. The Dali Dynasty, though in a critical period of imperial succession, remained far stronger than Beijiang. If war came, the side to suffer would be theirs.
Around the hall, the officials of the Dali Dynasty smiled faintly, their eyes openly mocking the Beijiang envoys. Their skins truly were thick enough. To deny with their own mouths the very things they had just said—what difference was there between that and swallowing back down what one had spat out? How utterly shameless.
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