Chapter 1445: My Prince, Just Give In Already!

Zhu Cihuan could understand Shaanxi dialect. When he came back from the Third Prince Zhu's place, hadn't he escorted a Shaanxi-version Shunzhi the whole way? After listening to Shaanxi dialect the entire journey, he could understand some of it no matter what — besides, Li Yuemei was speaking standard Shaanxi Mandarin.

And the moment he heard those words, he was dumbstruck!

What did this girl mean? Calling me a good-for-nothing, I'll accept that. But what does "would rather die than marry" mean? Since when did We ever say We wanted to marry you? Imperial Brother never told me to come to Li Dingguo's place and marry a female bandit! I'm a dignified Ming Commandery Prince — could I take a female bandit as a wife? Impossible! Even if I agreed, my eldest brother would never agree!

Just as Zhu Cihuan stood there stunned, Li Dingguo spoke up: "Daughter, don't talk so absolutely. I've heard this Zhu prince is quite learned. Right now he's slumped over his horse — probably just worn out from the journey."

Li Dingguo had it wrong too — he also mistook Li Jinxue for the Prince of Luoshan. At that moment two palace guards were actually helping him dismount! And this Li Jinxue wasn't wearing proper official robes either (when the prince wears plain clothes, his men naturally wear plain clothes too), but a red riding jacket that looked quite noble.

He wasn't too satisfied with this prince slumped over the horse either. But he had no other choice right now. If he didn't "bind" a king to himself and thereby gain a righteous mandate, he and his men would be trapped on the plateau.

Without that mandate, his army could never pass through the Dokham Plateau, advance west to Anxi, and then continue westward to rendezvous with the Prince of Dai.

"Hmph," Li Yue'e paid no mind to any of that. She snorted, "Ada, look at him — he can't even stand steady after such a short ride. With that kind of body, can he follow us to the Western Regions to conquer the world? I won't marry him!"

What? Accompany you to the Western Regions? Zhu Cihuan grew more and more confused. He thought to himself: I still have to go back to Nanjing to serve the Retired Emperor... the house in West Garden hasn't even been transferred to my name yet!

And the Western Regions was a place where even his third brother, the Third Prince Zhu, had gone in and suffered heavy losses — let alone himself and Li Dingguo?

"Ada, Sister Yue'e," Li Yuan finally reacted at this point and spoke up slowly, "you've got the wrong man. This one in red isn't the Prince of Luoshan — he's Vice Clerk Li of the Western Sichuan Military Commission." He pointed at Zhu Cihuan. "This one in white is His Highness the Prince of Luoshan!"

"What?" Li Yue'e hurriedly looked over the "big good-for-nothing prince." Her square face flushed red in an instant, and her heart began thumping wildly, as if a little deer were bounding around inside it.

This prince was far too handsome. That big frame, that big beard, that high nose bridge, those deep-set eyes, that pair of bright, piercing eyes!

And his riding posture was beautiful too — after a whole journey, he still sat ramrod straight. He must be a fine man skilled in horsemanship!

Now this was a son-in-law worthy of riding a dragon...

Li Dingguo looked at his future son-in-law and nodded with satisfaction. Now this was the bearing of a king! Truly worthy of his daughter. His daughter most likely liked him too.

Thinking this, Li Dingguo clasped his fists toward Zhu Cihuan and said in a ringing voice: "Your Highness the Prince of Luoshan, I am Li Dingguo. My respects!" Then he pointed at his daughter and said with a smile, "This is my daughter, called Li Yue'e, eighteen years old this year, a famous beauty of Songpan Guard! I've heard that you, my prince, remain unmarried to this day. Why not pair up with my daughter here — a talented man and a beautiful woman!"

This was far too direct, wasn't it? Meeting for the first time and already talking about "a talented man and a beautiful woman"... it was practically on par with how his own eldest brother snatched up Wu Sanmei!

Once Zhu Cihuan understood what Li Dingguo meant, he was completely stupefied. What kind of business was this? Your Li family may have roving-bandit origins, but you still can't be this casual about marriage!

And he was, after all, a Commandery Prince!

"C-Commander Li," Zhu Cihuan hurriedly tried to decline, "this prince truly has no talent. This prince was a poor student — the Imperial Academy, the Capital Academy, the Military Academy, and so on, I failed to get into all of them. How can that count as talent? Commander Li, perhaps you should consider someone else?"

"No talent?" Li Dingguo laughed. "No matter. My daughter here doesn't really have much beauty either — just a big, rough girl, a perfect match for your talent."

Zhu Cihuan looked at Li Dingguo's daughter, then back at Li Dingguo, not knowing what to say. This big girl couldn't be called ugly — she somewhat resembled Empress Wu. Sending her into the palace for his eldest brother would be quite fine. But he didn't like this model — the one he liked was Hani!

"It cannot be," Zhu Cihuan was getting desperate. "Commander Li, marriage is a serious matter and cannot be handled so casually. It must be memorialized to His Majesty and the Retired Emperor for their decision. Besides, you are a frontier commander and I am a prince of the capital — it is not appropriate for us to form a marriage alliance."

"I know the rules!" Li Dingguo nodded. "Didn't His Majesty snatch the current Empress right out of the Earl of Pingxi's mansion? As for the matter of a frontier commander and a capital prince being unsuited for marriage — that's even easier to solve! I've already thought it through. Once you and my daughter are married, we'll raise you up as king and go west together to conquer the world. Then you won't be a capital prince anymore."

Quite the arrangement!

Zhu Cihuan was stunned beyond all further stunning. Was his bad luck really this enormous? He came to Songpan Guard to deliver an imperial edict, and now Li Dingguo was going to bind him as a son-in-law — and on top of that, he was supposed to go to the Western Regions and become some kind of king!

His life's goal was to be a landlord king, not a king! If he'd wanted to be a king, he'd have gone to Luzon long ago. Why would he need to go to the Western Regions?

"Commander Li!" Zhu Cihuan waved his hands repeatedly. "This prince still must return to Yingtian Prefecture to serve the Retired Emperor. I cannot go to the Western Regions to be a king. Moreover, this prince has brought an imperial edict — my Imperial Brother orders you to go to Chongqing as Military Governor. If you go to the Western Regions instead of Chongqing, that is defying an imperial decree!"

Li Dingguo burst out laughing: "My prince, let me speak plainly with you. I know exactly what your Imperial Brother is thinking — nothing more than to strip me of my military command. But I'm not ready to hand over that command. The hundred-some thousand men who follow me won't follow any other commander, and no one else can lead them!

If I truly handed them over, trouble would surely follow."

Li Dingguo looked at his son-in-law and said with deep sincerity: "That is why I've resorted to this plan — asking you, my prince, to be my son-in-law, and to be the banner for all of us, to lead us to the Western Regions to make a go of it. Perhaps we can carve out a homeland there!"

What he was telling Zhu Cihuan now was, for the most part, his true thoughts. No matter what Zhu Cilang's purpose was in transferring him to Chongqing, he could not hand over the military power in his hands.

Because this was not about the interests of one family or household, but the interests of thirty or forty thousand "old brothers"...

"This, this, this..." Zhu Cihuan's heart was bitter! Not only had he entered the tiger's den and the dragon's palace, but the Tiger King and Dragon Lord were now recruiting him as a son-in-law!

What was he to do? Even if he tried to flee now, could he even escape?

Seeing Zhu Cihuan completely dumbstruck, Li Dingguo laughed heartily and called to his attendants: "Men! Treat His Highness the Prince of Luoshan well! He is my fine son-in-law! Hahaha..."

The attendants had long been prepared. Several hundred personal guards had followed Li Dingguo and his daughter out of the city. At this moment they surged forward and surrounded Zhu Cihuan's party. Some of the guards had already produced firelocks, their dark muzzles pointed straight at Zhu Cihuan and his retinue...

He glanced at the muzzles, then at Miss Li, who was making eyes at him. Zhu Cihuan, whose nature was somewhat soft to begin with, could only heave a long sigh: "Retired Emperor, your son is useless, your son is unfilial..."

Zhu Cihuan was indeed somewhat cowardly. If he had truly been willing to die rather than marry, could Li Dingguo really have killed him?

But this "big good-for-nothing prince" with his mighty, domineering looks, when faced with a test of life and death, barely held out at all before he was sent off to the bridal chamber... He wasn't even tied up and thrown in — amid a chorus of congratulations, he walked into the bridal chamber himself.

Seeing Li Yue'e in her bright red wedding dress, her red bridal veil covering her face, Zhu Cihuan had nothing left but a sigh.

Hani was gone — all that remained was a female bandit!

The garden at West Garden in Nanjing would most likely be taken back by the Retired Emperor too. He would just have to go to the Western Regions and make a go of it.

(End of Chapter)