Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 79: Loyalty is Unspeakable
Li Daoyuan could not hold it back any longer. He knew that Li Chong was not that kind of useless warrior. On the contrary, Li Chong's ancestors had been important officials in the Southern Dynasty, and his father was also an important official in the court. He himself started out as a civil servant as Zhongsan Daifu, so his cultural literacy was not low.

Li Daoyuan said: "When the sage said 'food and sex are human nature!', he meant that it is human nature to pursue beautiful things. How could this be what the general meant?"

Li Chong laughed and said, "Emptiness is color, color is emptiness, beauty is color, food is also color, you are good at growing in appearance!"

Li Daoyuan couldn't hold it in anymore and said, "The theory of emptiness and color is a Buddhist theory. How can we use Buddhist theory to explain the ancient sages' classics?"

Li Chong was not angry at being criticized by Li Daoyuan, but said in a low voice with grievance: "If Mr. Cui was here, he would have discussed with me which maid is more beautiful."

Li Daoyuan sighed slightly. This great general was both a man of letters and martial arts, but he was just like a sex-hungry ghost.

At this moment, Li Chong suddenly pointed to the distance and said, "There's a beauty over there!"

Li Daoyuan looked over and saw a charming woman in palace clothes approaching slowly. He quickly pulled Li Chong and said, "General! Shut up! That's Princess Lanling!"

Only a beautiful lady in palace dress was seen swaying in the firelight, but her brows were tightly knitted together and the surroundings were as cold as ice. The maids in the Qinghe Palace were so scared that they walked around them.

Princess Lanling was a frequent visitor to the Qinghe Palace. She and Qinghe Prince Yuan Yi were born of the same mother and had a close relationship.

Compared with the slightly immature Princess Chenliu, Princess Lanling has more charm of a married woman, but compared with the gentle Princess Nanyang, Princess Lanling has more noble airs of a royal family.

However, the one confronting Princess Lanling at this time was a middle-aged man in a loose robe. He protected the maid behind him and stared at Princess Lanling.

Princess Lanling said, "Okay, you haven't been back home for the past six months, is it just because of this vixen?"

The man opposite was obviously not as imposing as Princess Lanling. He forced himself to say, "I am the King of Song of the Great Wei. I don't need to inform a woman like you whether I will return to the palace or not!"

"My lady! If I hadn't married you, how could you have inherited the title of King Song?"

Princess Chenliu, who was hiding nearby, was shaking with excitement and said to Luzhu, "The fight is about to begin!"

Lu Zhu sighed and said, "Princess, Princess Lanling is your sister after all. What good will it do you if she fights with King Song?"

"What do you know!"

Li Daoyuan frowned, watching Princess Lanling about to pounce and beat the maid behind Prince Song. He was about to step forward to stop the fight, but was stopped by Li Chong.

"This is the princess's family affair, why are you stepping forward?"

Li Daoyuan said: "This is under the jurisdiction of Henan Prefecture. If anything goes wrong, it will be my official business as the Left Minister of Henan Prefecture."

Li Chong grabbed Li Daoyuan and said, "Princess Lanling is the closest sister to Prince Qinghe. Do you want to interfere in her family affairs? Look, Prince Qinghe is here."

Just as he finished speaking, Prince Qinghe, dressed as a nobleman, arrived in person. Seeing his sister and brother-in-law making a fuss again, he couldn't help but hold his forehead.

"Sister."

"Brother Wang, I want to separate!"

Princess Lanling said in a stern voice, and then pointed at her husband, Prince Song Liu Hui, and said: "You got your title thanks to Princess Shang, and you won't get the title after the separation!"

Princess Lanling then said to her brother, "If you accept me as your sister, then the Queen Mother will take away his title!"

After saying this, Princess Lanling turned away.

Prince Qinghe's face was full of distress. He looked back at his brother-in-law and immediately vented his dissatisfaction on him:
"Someone, come and send Prince Song back to his palace." Despite this episode, the night banquet still went on as usual. This extravagant banquet also opened Li Daoyuan's eyes.

The fine wine was poured into a huge wine pool. Maids dressed in gorgeous clothes toasted back and forth and served delicious dishes.

Li Daoyuan didn't like drinking. He was about to refuse the toast from the beautiful maid in front of him, but she turned pale with fright.

Li Chong said, "The king has ordered that if the distinguished guest does not drink, the maid who offers toasts will be kicked out of the Qinghe Palace."

Li Daoyuan couldn't help but say, "The lesson of Yongjia is right before our eyes. Is Prince Qinghe learning from Jin Guyuan?"

Li Chong said, "Let's drink. What did the good master say about Yongjia? You don't want this lady to be driven out of the palace and live on the streets, do you? Let's drink!"

Li Daoyuan could only drink it in one gulp, his face full of worry.

Outside the mound, Su Ze found a suitable place to set up camp, and asked the team members to take turns to stand guard at night. He also assigned a small team of followers to patrol around the camp.

Looking at the falcon on the shoulder of the deaf-mute falconer, Su Ze was worried.

This hunting falcon is very intelligent. When the follower of King Rourun who raised him was killed by his uncle Li Tong, the hunting falcon hovered in the sky for several days without rest, looking for revenge on his uncle.

It was also because the falcon had been hungry for a long time in its pursuit of revenge that the [deaf and mute falconer] was able to take the opportunity to tame the falcon.

During this hunting trip, Su Ze summoned falcons to look for any trace of his father-in-law Li Tong in the hunting grounds, but he has found nothing so far.

I can only wait until I return to the mound tomorrow to look for it. But by that time, will I still be able to stop Yafu?
In addition to what Princess Chenliu said, the King of Rourou was planning to send his men to assassinate him in the name of the Begging Army. The water was too muddy this time.

Su Ze already had a vague plan, so he quickly forced himself to sleep to conserve his energy for tomorrow's plan.

The next morning, Su Ze woke up from his sleep. As the sky began to turn white, the melodious sound of a trombone was heard throughout the hunting ground.

This is the signal for the end of the hunt. Before the second trombone sounds an hour later, everyone needs to return to the mound with the prey and take stock of the harvest.

The Yulin Huben who obtain more prey can enter the next round and answer questions from King Qinghe.

On the top of the mound, an all-night banquet had just ended. Prince Qinghe Yuan Yi was rubbing his hungover head and getting dressed with the help of his maid.

A group of scholars in white clothes gathered around the Prince of Qinghe. Liu Bozhi held a book in his hand and handed it to the Prince of Qinghe, saying, "Your Majesty, this is the new volume of Xianzhonglu that was just revised yesterday. Please take a look."

Prince Qinghe took the bamboo slips. This "Xianzhonglu" was a set of books compiled by him by gathering the scholars under his tutelage and collecting the deeds of loyal and righteous people in history.

Prince Qinghe planned to present this book to Queen Mother Hu to prove his loyalty and regain her trust.

Liu Bozhi, a relatively famous scholar under the King of Qinghe, was also responsible for the compilation of one of the volumes.

Prince Qinghe had a high level of literary attainment. After hastily reading the whole thing, he closed the book with satisfaction and said, "Loyalty! Loyalty is beyond words!"

You can search the old story of Jingu Garden on Baidu yourself. It means that if you don’t drink the toast from the maid, you will be killed. At that time, Wang Dao never drank, so after hearing about it, he had to get drunk. Wang Dun refused to drink, so the maid was killed.

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(End of this chapter)