Princess Too Young, Prince Too Old Chapter 5: Young Prince V

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Lu Minglan dared not to let Lu Zhishan stay at her sleeping chamber any longer. He was so n.o.ble and there couldn't be anything wrong. Lu Zhishain knew it himself. Before he left, he gave all money he brought which included two hundred pence and two clove sachets to Lu Minglan. As he got to the doorway, he suddenly stopped. Then he untied the true-love knot and put it into Lu Minglan's hand saying, "My mother left it to me when I was small. I take it with me all the time. It is said that the mutton-fat jade on it has been blessed by eminent monks. Now that princess loves it, I'll give it to her as a gift. I hope she could grow up healthily with its protection."

Lu Minglan didn't decline it; instead, she thanked Lu Zhishan for her daughter. Lu Zhishan then got back to courier hostel late at night. Though the courier hostels of Northern Di were not good enough to compare with those of Dali, they were still clean and comfortable. Lu Zhishan averted his eyes to the white porcelain tea cups and the delicate snacks on the table, after which his eyes got darker and darker. He really wanted to break all the cups and throw all the cheese, pastries as well as cakes to the faces of those flatterers.

However, he just did nothing. Silently, he lied down on the large bed and covered himself with thick, soft quilt. Smelling the light odor of the cashmere carpet, Lu Zhishan kept awake all night. The second day he went back to Khyaagta with the group of people at dawn. "Princess Heshuo was really lucky. You see, the king has dozens of concubines but she is the only one who is able to give birth to a pigeon pair. I heard that the King wants to promote her position. The princess must work hard to persuade him. But the first lady hasn't agreed to it," said a man of the group.

"That old king of Northern Di lives with rough and strong women in Northern Di for such a long time. How can he be able to bear the delicately pretty girl of Han nationality? Furthermore, I have also heard that Princess Heshuo's mother is also tease, or how could our previous emperor sleep with her and make her become a concubine? Princess Heshuo must learn all the methods from her mother." Another man added and laughed.

Lu Zhishan killed people for the first time that day. He did it so fiercely that even those soldiers who were accustomed to battlefield felt scared when they saw the scene. Lu Zhishan was not intended to stop flogging them at all. The two officers were flogged to death and their flesh was spattered to all directions. Their bones gradually appeared but Lu Zhishan didn't stop. If senior general didn't get there in time, those two officers would definitely die in an extremely horrible way.

"Prince! Prince!" Zhao Jingting's dark face got pale when he arrived. He tried hard but eventually failed to wrestle the strap from him. And the back of his hand accidentally got hurt, the flesh was battered and blood poured quickly. The furious young man was much fiercer than any beasts. Zhao Jingting gasped and knelt on the ground begging, "Prince, don't be angry, please!"

It was until this moment that all soldier knew that the boy who had been with them for almost half a year was their emperor's favorite son, the eldest prince. Immediately, all of them got fl.u.s.tered, knelt beside Lu Zhishan and kowtowed to him, noticing that their prince had been covered with harsh blood.

"All of us are warriors of Dali's battlefield. All we want is just driving away our enemies to create a peaceful state. We'd better to kill ourselves if we can't even protect our families well!" shouted Lu Zhishan to those soldiers who were kowtowing in front of him. His throat was hoa.r.s.e for that but he still kept saying, "Don't forget you rely on women to live a peaceful life. You can ignore the shame, but how could you slander others while enjoying the favour you have gotten? Those two people deserve it as they insult women!"

After the hysteria, Lu Zhishan went back to Zhao Jingting's room.

"General Zhao, I want to get to the southwest border with you next spring." Lu Zhishan said those words peacefully with a determined look on his face.

Zhao Jingting fixed his eyes on the young prince who was only fourteen years old, recalling what his emperor had ever exhorted to him. Then he replied, hesitantly, "Prince, you are so n.o.ble. How could emperor be willing to let you fight on the southwest border?"

I have my own way to persuade my father." Lu Zhishan looked pretty peaceful hearing the words. "But General Zhao, you have to promise me you will treat me as equally as your subordinates.

Zhao Jingting observed the boy with his eyes. After a while, he agreed and slowly nodded saying, "Okay, I promise, Lu Yongzhan."

Yong Zhan was the other name of Lu Zhishan.

The next year Lu Zhishan really followed Zhao Jingting to the southwest region. Emperor praised him for taking the lead in protecting their country and granted him the t.i.tle of Prince Ning though Lu Zhishan was still under age. All people said that Prince Ning will be crown prince when he came back from border.

Before he left the capital city, Lu Zhishan went to the Shoukang Palace to bid farewell to empress dowager Xu Shumin. He didn't go back hurriedly; instead, he went to Jingfu Palace. There were only four concubines of the previous emperor left and all of them lived there. Lu Zhishan didn't came in. He just stood outside for a while and looked at the old woman who was resting under the flower racks. Though she was old now, she was still beautiful. At the first sight Lu Zhishan knew that the old woman must be an attractive beauty when she was young.

Lu Zhishan looked for a while and then he called over the chief eunuch of Jingfu Palace and enjoined him to take good care of the four concubines and then he gave him a handful of gold melon seeds as tips. The chief eunuch was so surprised that he kept kowtowing on the hard stone ground to show his grat.i.tude.

In the following days Lu Zhishan still paid great attention to the condition of Northern Di's royal household. He got the news that the king of Northern Di sent Mu Nanzhi to Dali's imperial palace to show his sincerity in the fourth year though she was only five years old. Then she was raised by empress dowager and his father gave her the t.i.tle of Xiaojun, an honorable name for woman. Two years later, Lu Minglan was promoted to be the high-ranking concubine.

At that time, Lu Zhishan had been in the southwest region for seven years. Tubo (former Tibet) and Siam declared war to Dali, soon after which the southwest border became a living h.e.l.l. Imperial edicts were sent for several times to urge Lu Zhishan to come back the capital. However, he just ignored them and fought on the front line with ordinary soldiers. It never occurred to Lu Zhishan that he would stay at the southwest border for twelve years and just came back the capital city for one time. He also never expected that the war would last for more than ten years and ended with the failure of Dali.

Lu Zhishan remembered clearly that he led his people fighting for three days at Shunhua. Those soldiers died one by one, and gradually, he saw the blood grew into a stream, his eyes getting red with hatred. Then Lu Zhis.h.i.+ found that he was not able to differ the living from the dead. No relief troops came to help them. In the end, Lu Zhishan was shot in the knee with an arrow. After falling off the horse, he just lost consciousness and got black out.

When he woke up, Lu Zhishan had been in Yunnan. He had been comatose for four days and was dug out from the dead. His subordinates risked their lives to protect him on the road and finally sent Lu Zhishan to Kunming (capital of Yunnan Province). The arrow was shot into his knee deeply. In the humid condition of southwest border, his whole knee had swell to an enormous size. Smelly pus came out of the wound. However, Lu Zhishan just felt no pain when he saw his knee had become twice bigger than it was before.

Lu Zhishan lost the war in Shunhua and almost forty thousand soldiers of Dali were killed in the war. It was impossible for Dali to form another army force in a short time. Meanwhile, more and more officials held the opinion that they should stop the war and ask for peace as soon as possible. The war had already lasted for ten years and they couldn't keep fighting all the same. People were complaining about it and officials were protesting it too. They couldn't stand the fact that they were not able to win the war after fighting for so long and now they had suffered a lot for it. It was clear that a negotiation would be held soon. Another girl might be sent out to solve the problem, not to mention ma.s.sive money and treasures.