Chapter 515: Ten-Mile Red Dowry

When Zhang Qiu said this, Harry couldn't help but develop a strong curiosity, and he couldn't help but ask: "What do you mean by 'long in the literal sense'?"

"There is a tradition in China, which is to use a convoy of carriages to transport the dowry. Thus, the longer this convoy is, the more it can show the prominence of the family." When Zhang Qiu said these words, her face was flushed, obviously a bit shy. "And the highest specification is called 'Ten-Mile Red Dowry', which means the convoy of the dowry can reach five kilometers long."

"A five-kilometer convoy, how much stuff can that hold..." Harry sighed, and he was trying hard to imagine that scene.

"It's not five kilometers." Another girl's voice intervened. Harry turned his head and recognized that it was Lin Shuanghe, Zhang Qiu's colleague at the embassy. Of course, to a certain extent, she was also one of Zhang Qiu's few good friends here.

"Various factions in the country are staring at your wedding; this has become a political task." Lin Shuanghe explained slowly. "Therefore, for Qiu's dowry, we will adopt the highest specification, which is the strictest definition of the Ten-Mile Red Dowry, that is, 'the head carriage has arrived, the tail carriage has not yet started', the length of the entire dowry team must exceed the distance from the bride's home to the groom's home."

Harry's brain hadn't turned the corner yet, and Lin Shuanghe immediately, almost impatiently, explained: "Even though dignitaries often play tricks of covering the Vermilion Bird Street, they absolutely cannot compare to this most formal Wizarding World marriage: we are going to cover the entire Silk Road, with a total length of nearly ten thousand kilometers, and are expected to use 540,000 trucks to highlight the decency of our great country."

"Are you saying?" Harry was shocked by this concept. "A convoy, spreading from East Asia all the way to Western Europe? Is this a bit of a waste of money and manpower?"

Zhang Qiu didn't speak, but she clearly enjoyed it a bit.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg for the Empire." Lin Shuanghe also enjoyed this shock very much. She deliberately raised a little finger, her tone full of self-satisfaction.

"So, we people are also the tip of the iceberg you mentioned." The old man who was originally following Lin Shuanghe, with a slightly decadent expression, interrupted with some dissatisfaction. "The imperial court doesn't care, right?"

Before Lin Shuanghe could continue, Zhang Qiu immediately stood up and grabbed the old man's arm. "How can you say that? We are all looking forward to your arrival. Harry, let me introduce you: this is Old Cheng, a legendary scientist and engineer. He was the chief designer of our moon landing program and personally planned everything from the first step on the lunar surface to the completion of the Moon Palace. He is an absolute expert in the field of Earth-Moon aerospace..."

"And then I, this absolute expert, was sent to such a barbarian country?"

The old man's tone was unkind, and, he used very precise English vocabulary, precise to the point that Harry immediately heard the deep disdain for Britain from his mouth.

"Miss Lin, I think this is something you need to pay attention to." Harry didn't get angry in front of Zhang Qiu; he just reminded her with restraint. "The thoughts and mindset of the accompanying personnel... I don't want to cause any diplomatic incidents, okay?"

"Sorry, General Potter." Lin Shuanghe immediately grabbed the old man's other shoulder. "We didn't plan to let Engineer Cheng work on your side. What we hope is to give him the status of 【Zhang Qiu's private consultant】 through the term 【dowry】, so that it is convenient for him to enter your team, which is the moon landing program you initiated and conducted together with the Soviets, so as to avoid direct intervention by China."

"Engineer Cheng, this is the new position given to you by the imperial court; you promised before." Lin Shuanghe said very seriously to the old man. She didn't use honorifics, and her attitude was very tough.

"Fine, change to another barbarian great country, right." The old man hummed with dissatisfaction, then turned and walked upstairs. "Call me when Old Liu and the others arrive."

After watching the old man step up the stairs, Lin Shuanghe turned to Harry and Zhang Qiu, and said with a hint of apology: "Sorry, you two, this stems from some misunderstandings, but please believe that he will understand."

"How to understand?" Zhang Qiu frowned. "He obviously has opinions about us, and he obviously has opinions about the Soviets."

"Qiu, you might not know that after the country evaluated Harry's status and position, the definition given was 【Feudal Prince】, and an ordinary girl cannot marry a Feudal Prince." Lin Shuanghe nodded lightly. "So the dowry also includes the title of Princess, and a Princess must of course have a fief. Moreover, land deeds were originally an important part of the Ten-Mile Red Dowry."

Harry didn't ask. He could probably understand that this was a temporary ennoblement to comply with the process, but he was also curious about how the Chinese would define Zhang Qiu's fief.

"The title reserved for Qiu is 【Princess Longyue】, and the fief is the Tian-Gong Mansion." After Lin Shuanghe finished reporting the information, she immediately began to explain. "Perhaps in recent years, or the people in the Wizarding World don't pay much attention to aerospace news, but in fact, we have completed the construction of all three lunar bases in the past few decades and formed a new province. The Tian-Gong Mansion just mentioned is one of the bases, which is equivalent to a city in administrative level."

Although he had some guesses, when Harry really heard this news, he still felt a bit dazed: while they were discussing how to land on the moon, the Chinese had already established a complete lunar base. And, at this very moment, his fiancée was about to become the owner of one of the bases.

"Because the Yumen Pass responsible for Earth-Moon traffic is located in the Heavenly Palace Mansion, Qiu has the right to authorize Engineer Cheng and his team to assist the Soviets in developing moon landing rockets, including large-capacity rockets sufficient to reach the back of the moon. If it weren't for this layer, they would be restricted by confidentiality regulations, that is, the plan and resolution of this cooperation were processed through the Moon Palace, which can bypass..."

"Fine, fine, fine." Zhang Qiu waved her hand to interrupt her explanation. "I understand what you mean. Because for Engineer Cheng, his only chance to return to the lunar surface is to take my path, so in the end, he still has to come and smile at me, is that how it is."

"Yes, administratively he can only take this path, and physically, he can only rely on Yanayev's new rocket." Lin Shuanghe looked around. "To tell you the truth, the country is preparing a super-specification large supply trip. Although there is no official announcement, many gossip says that it is the last trip."

"Why is it the last trip?"

"I don't know either. The high-level seems to be preparing a very secret plan, and I heard a few words from my uncle..." Lin Shuanghe's expression was a bit complex. "According to my guess, the Great Ming will experience a long period of closing the country, and even the Earth-Moon channel will be closed. I don't know what they are preparing to do, but it is indeed unprecedented."

"Then you people in the embassy are not going back?" Zhang Qiu asked.

"Maybe." Lin Shuanghe looked a bit lost.

"Really strange, what is Master preparing to do?" Zhang Qiu leaned her whole body on the back of the chair, falling into deep doubt.

Harry looked at the drifting eyes of the two girls and said casually: "If Master Xuanjun is willing to tell us, then we will always know, right? If he is not willing to say, then what we need to do is live our own lives well. I don't think there is any need to worry too much."

Zhang Qiu shrugged and suddenly laughed out loud.

"Don't say it, the word Longyue reminds me of a classic palace fighting novel... and we have a kind and funny palace fight right in front of our eyes. I think it's time to put a full stop to them." Zhang Qiu took a deep breath. "We need to find an opportunity to talk to Lu Xiusi and Narcissa, on a more official occasion, with a more official identity."

"Right at the Ministry of Magic." Harry began to imitate the Minister's smug tone. "The noble Princess Longyue, meeting the small department head of the Ministry of Magic... and his wife without a position, or rather, a housewife!"

Zhang Qiu hit him with a smile, and Lin Shuanghe explained very seriously: "Before you are officially married, the title will not be issued."

"Alright, then we have to wait until, er, graduation this year?" Harry looked at Zhang Qiu with a bit of consultation.

"I would rather respect the tradition here, that is, catching the bouquet when Lupin and Tonks get married, and then we will hold the wedding." Zhang Qiu nodded. "Of course it won't be long, later Tonks's belly won't be able to be hidden."

"About around Easter, I've heard a little bit, but there is no detailed arrangement yet." Harry touched his chin. "If we hope to be as soon as possible, we still need some preparation time. If it's in June or July, it happens to be graduation season. Are we holding the wedding right after graduation?"

"I've been graduated for a long time." Zhang Qiu muttered. "And, I am looking forward to the so-called dowry that can cover the entire Silk Road—although most of it should be national-level resources, and the part that belongs to us won't be too much."

"Yes, although the exact gift list has not been determined, some friends in the country have noticed the movements of several storage bases—if there are no accidents, the imperial court will transport many materials for building floating cities here." Lin Shuanghe revealed a little content simply. "And some magical weapons used to 'support the establishment of the Dalaran Guard'. They seem to hope that Harry will personally control this floating city built by Britain and the US."

"Weapons, sigh." Harry sighed with dissatisfaction, but he knew that he shouldn't refuse for emotional or rational reasons.

Zhang Qiu keenly saw this emotion of his, so she diverted the topic to Ma Erfu again. "Then we can talk to the Malfoys on many occasions, building a magical floating city, forming a moon landing team, or even a magical university—you are a key figure in these things."

"Then how should we talk to them?" Harry scratched his head. "And don't forget, Lu Xiusi is a deep-scheming person, don't be too clever and end up with a blunder." ===== CHAPTER 516 =====