186 – Exchange of Views Between the Two Countries (1)

Zhangsun He came to the palace to accompany the Sixth Prince of Tuluo with a face full of smiles, which surprised Emperor Xiaohui. He didn’t purposely investigate, but he had heard that Zhangsun He was beaten by Imperial Prince Ming, so he asked curiously.

Zhangsun He took the opportunity to tell him that Imperial Prince Ming would have another son. He did it on purpose. Properly exposing his own affairs to Emperor Xiaohui would make Emperor Xiaohui be more at ease with him.

As expected, Emperor Xiaohui was completely unconcerned as he congratulated Zhangsun He with a smile on having things worked out. The matter of Imperial Prince Ming having another son had no influence on him. He could sit on the throne for 20 years more at most. After 20 years, it would be the next emperor’s business to guard against the Imperial Clan’s children. He didn’t need to be overcautious.

Two days later, the palace held another banquet. Whether or not Great Xia wanted to count on Tuluo, they were guests from afar, after all, so Great Xia had to entertain the envoys of Tuluo. If things were done carelessly, Tuluo would be suspicious.

Besides, the issue of candidates for the peace marriage also needed to be put on the agenda today.

The banquet was held at noon in the Hall of Reception.

Both Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin liked the dishes from the imperial kitchen. Qin Mian asked for leave for his two sons and took them to the palace. Lei Tie supported this, but his sons still needed education. He straightforwardly told them that another purpose of taking them to the palace was to let them see the various aspects of society. If they were slacked in studies, they would be punished. Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin were young, but they knew about very troublesome things. They calmly promised.

The rest of the ministers and ladies looked at them with unusual gazes.

Qin Mian didn’t care. Chen Mufeng asked him what he was thinking. He directly replied so smugly, “My sons are smart. It’s fine if they miss class all day.”

Chen Mufeng had noting to say in reply. He made up his mind that when his younger brother was born, he would love him dearly like a son.

This banquet was different from the last one. In addition to the mandated ladies, there were also unmarried daughters of dignitaries and nobilities.

Great Xia paid more attention to the prevention between [unmarried] males and females. If the parents of the female were present, the requirements for prevention between males and females were not strict. Moreover, there were so many palace maids and palace attendants at the banquet that the possibility of underhanded secret dealings was very low.

The ministers and ladies had long known that the Tuluo delegation came to Great Xia for the purpose of courtship. They couldn’t help guessing that the purpose of Emperor Xiaohui’s asking them to bring the unmarried girls to the banquet was probably to confer a suitable woman the title of a princess to be sent to Tuluo for the peace marriage. Some parents were delighted to hear about it – if their daughter became a princess, they would also get some rewards. Some parents were particularly upset about it – they were unwilling to let their daughter marry in foreign countries. But the emperor’s order must not be violated. Thus, there were so many beauties in the Hall of Reception, mostly young girls aged between 14 and 18 who had not yet been engaged.

This time, the seats were not divided between men and women but according to family arrangements. The married couple sat in the front while their daughters sat behind them. Some married couples had only one daughter behind them, some had three or four. They were legitimate daughters and concubine-born daughters……

Emperor Xiaohui sat on the throne with the empress and the empress dowager sat on the left and right of the throne respectively. Princess Yanqing and Princess Duanning were present; Princess Duanning sat together with the empress, while Princess Yanqing sat with the empress dowager.

First Prince, Second Prince, Third Prince, Fourth Prince, and Fifth Prince were all present. This was the first time Qin Mian had seen five adult princes at the same time. Among them, First Prince was born by the former empress, Second Prince and Third Prince were born by the current empress, and Fourth Prince and Fifth Prince were born by Worthy Consort and Honored Consort respectively. The order of the imperial harem of Great Xia was one empress, one noble consort, four principal –worthy, honored, pure, and virtuous– consorts, and six imperial concubines. The rest of the ranks were unlimited. The empress was the only one in the imperial harem to bore two sons, which one could conclude that the means were unusual.

Qin Mian looked around and wondered: Are Princess Yanqing and Princess Duanning not the candidates for the peace marriage?

After three rounds of wine, Emperor Xiaohui instructed Prime Minister Wen out of the corner of his eye.

With a smile, Prime Minister Wen stood up and bowed in respect to Emperor Xiaohui, “Reporting, Your Majesty. Your subject thinks that since His Highness Liu is a rare guest, just serving food and wine is rather too dull.”

“Oh? Can it be that my dear subject Wen have a good suggestion?” asked Emperor Xiaohui with interest.

Prime Minister Wen said, “Your subject has heard long ago that people of Tuluo are good at literature and martial arts. Our Great Xia has no lack of great talent in literature and martial arts. Why don’t we take this rare opportunity to have a competition? On one hand, we can learn from each other; on the other hand, it can live up His Highness Liu and the envoys.”

Qin Mian understood. It seemed that Emperor Xiaohui was very confident in his subjects’ talents, so he had to show off.

Few of the officials who could achieve the fourth rank and above were confused. Seeing that Emperor Xiaohui and Prime Minister Wen were collaborating, they profusely agreed. In between modest words, they hoped they could ask the people of Tuluo for some advice.

After Emperor Xiaohui heard what was said, he naturally supported it strongly, “My dear subjects said it with solid judgment. But what does Your Highness Liu think on it?”

When Liu Manqing went to Great Xia this time, he only placed two of his own people in the envoy group, while the rest were arranged by Tuluo’s emperor. Even if he didn’t care about Tuluo’s reputation, the rest of the people wouldn’t let him bow out. So of course, he had to smile in agreement.

The envoy group’s Ye Yunwen was the ambassador of the diplomatic mission. He was about 40 years old and refined in manner. His gentle eyes were always flickering with calm and wise radiance. He said in a leisure manner, “We’ve been admiring the culture of Great Xia for a long time. Your Majesty’s words are exactly our thoughts. How does Your Majesty want to compete?”

This was the case with the exchanges between different countries – there was competition all the time. They had come prepared – there were many martial experts and gifted scholars in the envoy group.

It was really boring just to eat and drink. The young men and women in the banquet all had their interests perked up.

Emperor Xiaohui pondered for a moment, “Since it’s a competition, of course, it has to be enjoyable. How about this? The first is literary competition and the second is martial arts competition.”

Ye Yunwen glanced at the young girls behind the ministers and the mandated ladies, thinking that Emperor Xiaohui might want to choose one of these girls to be a princess and marry to Tuluo. They were not easy to fool. If they could defeat Great Xia in today’s competition, they could better make a demand.

He looked at Liu Manqing and respectfully asked, “What does Your Highness Liu think?”

Liu Manqing said, “Your Majesty said it with solid judgment.”

Emperor Xiaohui was about to speak when a clear female voice rang out in the hall.

“Imperial Father, your subject-daughter has a suggestion; wonder if it’s proper to say?”

The speaker was Princess Yanqing.

Emperor Xiaohui gave her a warning look but gently said, “What does Yanqing want to say?”

Princess Yanqing’s eyes flashed over Qin Mian as she said with a smile, “Your subject-daughter thinks that for the literary competition, how about both our Great Xia and Tuluo come out with three questions and pick the people to answer them. The same goes for the martial arts competition so that it’s more interesting.” Although today’s seating was not separated by gender, the civil and military officers were still separated. Besides, the civil and military uniforms were different. The people of Tuluo would be stupid if they didn’t know how to take advantage of it. Today, she wanted Qin Mian to be humiliated!

Emperor Xiaohui slightly nodded, “It’s a good idea.” Great Xia had always attached great importance to literature and art. Even many military officers could compete in poem recital. Therefore, he had nothing to worry about.

It seemed that the people of Tuluo came prepared, so they agreed with Princess Yanqing’s suggestion without a twitch.

Qin Mian noticed Princess Yanqing’s gaze just now. He was very curious about how the other party would aim at him.

Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin both looked at Princess Yanqing. The brothers had similar cold expressions and their gazes were so sharp that they frightened people.

Princess Yanqing’s heart jumped, subconsciously avoided their gazes, and then looked over with indignant. The two brothers had already looked away and talked in low voices.

Emperor Xiaohui drank a mouthful of fine wine and then smilingly said, “Your envoys of Tuluo are our distinguished guests, you may ask the questions first.”

Liu Manqing suggested, “Your Majesty, how about this: my country and your country ask a question alternately?”

“That’ll do, too.” Emperor Xiaohui raised his hand and made a “please” gesture, “Then you go first.”

The envoys of Tuluo all looked at Ye Yunwen.

Ye Yunwen stood up and bowed in respect to Emperor Xiaohui. He pondered for a moment. As he spoke, he glanced over the line of military officers. “It’s midsummer now. For the first question, this foreign official asks you to compose a poem with the theme of midsummer.”

Everyone came to understand. The other party knew that Great Xia attached importance to literature and art, and yet he came up with such a simple question – this was obviously just a probing.

Ye Yunwen looked at an Assistant Regional Commander with a stocky and imposing build in the line of military officers and said, “This daren, please answer.”

The Assistant Regional Commander stood up and cupped his hands in obeisance. Scratching his head, he pondered with his head down.

Ye Yunwen looked not too excited and not at all urged him.

Of course, it was not good for the Assistant Regional Commander to delay for a long time. After thinking for a moment, he recited, “No warmth in the east window at night, cool and windy in the north door. I sit and lie back the whole day, leave not from the room. My heart which does not worry, is the same as going out.”¹

Some people nodded; others shook their heads.

Ye Yunwen commented simply, “Although the poem is simple, it’s quite interesting. Your country really has an abundance of talented people.”

Emperor Xiaohui laughed out loud.

Liu Manqing said with a smile, “Your country’s turn to set a question.”

Everyone looked at Prime Minister Wen.

Prime Minister Wen stood up rather benevolently and said, “Then, please compose a poem with the theme of wine.” He also pointed to one of the other party’s military officers.

It was unexpected that the military officer had a great talent. After standing up, he just pondered a little and recited, “I lift my drink and sing a song, for who knows if one’s life is short or long? Man’s life is like the morning dew, past days many future days few. The melancholy my heart begets, comes from cares I cannot forget. Who can unravel these sorrows of mine? I know of only one man, the God of Wine.”²

All of Great Xia’s people were shocked. It’s a wonderful poem!

Without hesitation, Emperor Xiaohui praised, “Good poetry! The first round is your country’s win. Here’s to you!”

After the toast, Tuluo set the second question.

It was still Ye Yunwen who came with the question, “Now, there are chickens and rabbits in the same cage; 35 heads and 94 feet. The question is, how many chickens and rabbits are there respectively?”

After listening to this question, Qin Mian, Qin Ruiqi, and Lei Ruilin’s faces changed slightly. Wasn’t this the “quadratic equation of two variables” taught by Qin Mian? When Qin Mian taught Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin, Lei Tie followed suit, so all four of them could solve this problem. However, by the looks of the others, almost all of them appeared tense.

Qin Mian said to himself that Ye Yunwen proceeding very ruthlessly. This problem was very difficult for ordinary people – it was not that they couldn’t solve it, but they might take a long time to solve it.

Many people wrote the calculations on the table with their fingers dipped in wine.

Ye Yunwen swept a glance around and looked at Prime Minister Wen, “Trouble Wen-daren to answer.” He could still try to probe again because the first round was won by Tuluo. He thought that Prime Minister Wen had the highest position among the civil officers and should be the most outstanding one.

Prime Minister Wen stroked his short beard and ordered someone to bring a brush, paper, and abacus.

Sheng Xuhao, the commander of the envoy group, said, “Your Majesty, should this question be time-limited?”

Emperor Xiaohui was also a man of profound knowledge. Naturally, he could see the difficulty of this problem. From above, he had a good view of people’s faces. He had no confidence, but he didn’t show it. He said with a smile, “It should be so. How about within the limit of a single stick of incense takes to burn off?”

Liu Manqing’s party had no objection.

Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin looked at Qin Mian inquiringly. Qin Mian slightly shook his head.

Prime Minister Wen was as steady as a mountain. After writing for a while, he put down his brush and answered, “23 chickens and 12 rabbits.”

Ye Yunwen praised with his hands cupped in obeisance, “I admire the great talent of Prime Minister Wen!”

“Haha, I don’t deserve such a compliment.” Prime Minister Wen took a look at Emperor Xiaohui, seeming somewhat unconfident.

Emperor Xiaohui’s smile was brief.

Ye Yunwen was pleased and said aloud, “What is your country’s second question?”

Footnotes