Diqin Designer

Chapter 416 I Want Liu Qing to Become the Governor of the Western Regions
Li Nian didn't know what happened in the Peacock Kingdom. Even if he knew, he wouldn't be too surprised. Strengthening and saving a country is never easy.

Many times, when we want to make our country strong and save it, the biggest obstacle does not come from outside, but from within. There will always be a group of people who hold high positions but do nothing. Even if they know that their country is in danger, they still hinder the country's progress and development. This is especially common in periods of national decline and destruction.

They are not necessarily stupid, but they are unwilling to see changes in the country because of considerations for their own status and interests. After all, although the country may become stronger after the changes, their power and interests will be damaged.

If this is the case, then what's the point of having a strong country? I don't care whether the country is strong or destroyed. What's important is the benefits I can get.

The Maurya Kingdom is now in a period of decline. It is extremely difficult to ask its princes and ministers to cut their flesh and give up their interests.

Li Nian judged from the beginning that after Master Moye and others returned to their country, even if they spoke of the power of the Qin Dynasty and that the Qin Dynasty would pose a threat to the Peacock Kingdom, it would be difficult for the Peacock Kingdom to turn around and develop.

Because the forces that could obstruct them were too strong, and the king, princes, and ministers did not support them, how could they possibly realize their wish to reform the Maurya Kingdom?
For the king, princes and ministers of the Maurya Kingdom, what these people said might be true, but the Qin Dynasty was still far away from them. Even if there was a threat, it would be in the future. It would not be too late to find a solution after the fire broke out. But if they let these people "do whatever they want", their interests would be harmed immediately.

Moreover, if the Qin people attacked, at most they would lose their country, but what these people wanted to do was to shake their power and position. The former was tolerable, but the latter was not.

At this time, Master Moye and others were still on their way back to their country and had not yet returned to the Peacock Kingdom. In Xianyang, the Great Qin, Li Nian was not in the Liuying Palace today, not even in the Great Qin Palace. He was being taken by the First Emperor to attend Lao Liu's wedding.

Old Liu is Liu Ji, the King of Pei. It was not easy for the King of Pei either. After struggling for most of his life, he finally got married today. However, his wife was no longer the famous Lu Zhi, but a woman whom Li Nian didn't know at all.

Now everyone can see that Liu Ji will achieve great things in the future. At the triumphal ceremony, His Majesty ranked him third, only after Wang Ben and Meng Tian who led the troops into battle, and higher than all the other generals. He personally awarded him a Qin Black Bird Medal to highlight his merits.

If we don't make friends with such a person now, do we have to wait until he becomes successful before contacting him?

Although Liu Ji seemed to have taken off, at least his trace could still be seen and touched. When he ascended into the heavenly palace and turned into a man in the clouds, it would be difficult to see even a corner of the heavenly palace.

Therefore, after the triumphal ceremony, there was an endless stream of people going to the home of Liu Ji, an older bachelor, to propose marriage. And none of them were from ordinary families. A family like Lu Zhi's could not even enter Liu Ji's doorstep.

A commoner girl of this rank can enter my Liu family? Look at the backgrounds of those who come to my house to propose marriage.

Either you are an important official in the court, or you are a powerful military general, or your family is quite wealthy. What is the core competitiveness of your Lu family?

Of course, the Lu family is different now. Lu Zhi has married Prince Gao as a princess. According to information obtained by Li Nian, Lu Zhi also gave birth to a son for Prince Gao, who was named Ying Heng by the First Emperor.

When Li Nian knew this name, he had no doubt that the First Emperor must have thought of Emperor Wen of Han, Liu Heng, and deliberately gave his grandson this name. Did the First Emperor think that he could seize Liu Heng's luck for the Qin Dynasty in this way?

The First Emperor was also an inexplicable metaphysical person, but Liu Heng was the son of Pei Gong, while Ying Heng was the grandson of the First Emperor. According to this generation hierarchy, wouldn't the First Emperor be considered the father of Pei Gong?
There was an endless stream of people visiting the Liu family every day, and there were countless people who wanted to propose marriage or act as matchmakers. This made Mr. Liu so happy that even his leaky teeth were showing.

Originally, among his sons, the third son was the most troublesome for him. Although he was already an adult, he did not do any serious work. He just wandered around the village with a group of people. Not only was he looked down upon, but he could not get married, which made him unable to hold his head up in the village.

This made Mr. Liu so worried that his beard turned a lot white. What should he do? His son is already an adult, but he does nothing all day and hasn't gotten married yet. It's so shameful. People will point fingers at him.

But they didn't expect that the almighty Emperor Qin would suddenly send an envoy to Pei County to invite their family to Xianyang to attend the ceremony of enthronement. The main invitee was his idle third son.

Although it is still unclear why the Qin Emperor invited the third son, this was a blessing from heaven. The Liu family followed the envoy to Xianyang, and after arriving in Xianyang, there was an even bigger surprise.

The third son was entrusted with important tasks by the Qin Emperor. He was first allowed to observe government affairs in the court and then assigned some positions. When the Qin Dynasty decided to conquer the Donghu and Yuezhi, the third son was asked to lead a Qin delegation to Wusun to establish diplomatic relations with the Wusun people and discuss a joint attack on the Yuezhi.

Although this trip is full of dangers and his life may be in danger if it is not done well, if it can be done well, it will also be a huge achievement. The third brother will gain a firm foothold in the court through this achievement, and his Liu family will also be glorious because of it. It can be said that danger and opportunity coexist.

Unexpectedly, the third brother was successful. Thanks to his merits in the mission, he was awarded a Qin Black Bird Medal by the Emperor himself at the triumphal ceremony.

The third son, who was originally considered incompetent and a source of worry and annoyance to him, has suddenly become the most promising person in the Liu family. He no longer has to worry about the third son's marriage. Instead, he is worried about too many matchmakers. With so many noble ladies, which one should he choose to be the third son's wife?
But in fact, he couldn't make up his mind and had to look at the third son's own opinion. But this did not prevent Liu Taigong from being happy: our son has made progress, and our Liu family has become prosperous!

Liu Ji ultimately did not choose to marry one of those noble ladies from prominent families. Instead, the wife he chose came from the family of a minor official of a low rank.

Because Liu Ji saw clearly that he had his current glorious position because the Emperor valued him. If he wanted to have a more stable position and greater power, he had to strengthen the Emperor's value of him and make the Emperor trust and value him more. Only then would he have the opportunity to take one or several steps further.

Choosing to marry those noble ladies may seem glorious on the surface, but for his desire to go further, it will most likely have the opposite effect, because it will undermine the emperor's trust and esteem in him.

Liu Ji thought that the Emperor would think like this: I trust and respect you, but you marry those powerful people, and this is how you repay me? Do you think that by becoming relatives with those powerful people, they can help you make further progress? Do you think that I will not give you a chance to make further progress?
Moreover, his marriage to the powerful and influential people would most likely arouse the emperor's suspicion: What do you powerful people want to do by colluding with each other?
Besides this, Liu Ji had another consideration. The noble lady was of noble birth, and marrying her might not necessarily lead to a harmonious relationship with him. It might even cause unrest in the family.

For these reasons, Liu Ji decisively rejected the matchmaking attempts of important ministers and high-ranking officials and chose the daughter of a minor official whose family background was not prominent.

Afterwards, the emperor's response also proved the correctness of his choice. When he learned that he was going to get married, the emperor gave him many rewards and told him that he would come to drink a glass of wedding wine at his wedding day. If he chose to marry a noble lady, the emperor might still give him rewards, but certainly not so many, and he would not say that he would come to drink his wedding wine.

What Liu Ji thought was not wrong, but from Li Nian's point of view, the reason why the First Emperor came to his wedding was not because he did not marry a noble lady and expressed his "loyalty" to the First Emperor, but because he was the original Emperor Gaozu of Han in history, and his original wife was taken away by the First Emperor, so the First Emperor went to witness his wedding.

Today is the day when Liu Ji gets married. According to the current marriage process of the Qin Dynasty, it is divided into six stages: Nacai, Wenming, Naji, Nazheng (engagement), asking for the date, and welcoming the bride.

What Liu Ji was talking about today was the sixth stage, "the wedding ceremony", which usually took place at dusk. Therefore, the "wedding ceremony" was actually the "hunli", the ceremony of marrying the wife at dusk.

But because they knew that His Majesty the Emperor would be coming today, the two families intentionally moved up the "welcoming ceremony" so that the bride could arrive at the Liu family earlier. It would be unacceptable for His Majesty the Emperor to arrive while the bride would take a long time to arrive, leaving His Majesty the Emperor waiting with everyone else.

Therefore, not long after Li Nian followed the First Emperor to the Liu family, the bride also arrived at the Liu family. The wedding at this time did not have the process of "worshiping the hall", but instead included the ceremony of washing hands, eating from the same pot, drinking the same cup, and untying the tassel and tying the hair.

The Liu family's house is very lively today because the First Emperor said he would come to drink a wedding wine, so all the ministers in the court came. The Liu family's house could not accommodate so many people, so they had to borrow space from the neighbors to entertain them.

Han Xin was also brought here by Li Nian. Watching Liu Ji and his bride, who were wearing black and red formal attire, going through the wedding process, Han Xin suddenly asked Li Nian, "Master Li, do you want to do the same when you marry your master's wife?"

Li Nian tilted his head to glance at Han Xin, and immediately knew that this guy was not asking whether he also had to wear clothes of this color and go through this process, but was asking when he would get married.

Ying Shunying also came with the First Emperor and was sitting next to Li Nian at the moment. When she heard Han Xin's question, her little face flushed, but she was listening attentively with both ears.

Li Nian immediately gave Han Xin a slap on the head: "You don't need to worry about your teacher's affairs!"

Han Xin was not angry at all after being hit on the head by Li Nian. He had many teachers, but the one he liked and was closest to the most was his teacher Li.

Teacher Li gave him the feeling of not only being a teacher but also a friend. Although there was a gap in age and status between them, the atmosphere created by Teacher Li was very relaxed and the two got along quite harmoniously.

Teacher Li not only taught him a lot of knowledge, but also taught him many life principles. He was both a teacher, a friend and a brother.

Han Xin said righteously, "As Master Li's disciple, how can I not care? Master Li and his wife will get married soon and give birth to junior brothers and sisters. I can still help Master Li take care of them! Otherwise, when I am older and not in Xianyang, I will not be able to help Master Li take care of the junior brothers and sisters."

Han Xin already knew his future path and would definitely not stay in Xianyang for long. He would gain experience in various fields and might even leave Qin to command troops in foreign countries.

Li Nian replied: "Then you have to wait a few more years. Your master's wife is still young, so let's talk about it in a few years."

When Ying Shunying heard Li Nian's words, her face turned even redder. Although Han Xin had always called her "Master's Wife", and everyone in Qin and even foreign countries knew that she was Li Nian's fiancée, Li Nian's reply to Han Xin still made her feel like she was announcing to everyone that she was his fiancée.

Han Xin's issue also attracted the attention of many people. Many people only realized at this time that he had not yet officially married Princess Shunying. They almost thought that the two had been married for a long time.

Everyone is also very interested in Han Xin's suggestion that Li Nian get married and have children as soon as possible. What will happen to the children born in the future?
Li Nian also noticed Ying Shunying's reaction and whispered to her, "Don't worry, our wedding day will be different from Lao Liu's today. I guarantee it will be unprecedented!"

It will indeed be "unprecedented in ancient times" because some of the things he wants to use did not exist in ancient times and will be brought into this era by him.

Ying Shunying's face turned even redder when she heard this, but she was stunned by the word "Old Liu". Then she realized who it was and looked at Liu Ji, thinking that Li Nian was deliberately calling Liu Ji "Old Liu" to say that someone was older.

However, Liu Jike does not look old today, but rather very handsome, especially when he is dressed in a black and red suit, which adds a sense of nobility.

When the process was over, looking at the couple who had completed the etiquette and were now husband and wife according to both law and etiquette, the First Emperor, who was sitting in the guest of honor, smiled and said, "Today is a big day for Mr. Liu, and I will add another happy day for you."

"When Liu Qing entered Xianyang, I once commented on Liu Qing, 'Liu Ji of Pei County, if it is a peaceful time, he will be a capable minister who can stabilize the country, if it is a chaotic time, he will be a hero who can stabilize the country.' Do you remember?"

Many ministers were learning for the first time about the First Emperor's evaluation of Liu Ji, and they could not help but be surprised. This evaluation was too high. In short, wouldn't it be "a capable minister in times of peace and a hero in times of chaos"?
However, His Majesty the Emperor wants to give Liu Ji the opportunity to get married?
Li Nian knew what kind of good news the First Emperor wanted to give. The First Emperor was still very generous and actually dared to let Liu Ji go. If he hadn't thought about the emperor, Liu Ji would have been imprisoned or killed long ago.

Hearing what the First Emperor said, Liu Ji said solemnly: "I will never disobey your Majesty's evaluation of me. I will always keep it in mind and use it as a guide for my actions!"

The First Emperor continued, "Your Excellency Liu has indeed made great contributions to the Great Qin, and has lived up to my and your praise. Your Excellency Liu is quite capable, especially in dealing with people and things. You are extremely talented, and even I am not as good as you. Since you have this talent, I should not restrict you, but should allow you to further develop your talent and help the Great Qin become stronger."

After saying all this, the First Emperor finally talked about the "pleasure" he wanted to give Liu Ji. He looked at Liu Ji and said seriously, "I want to make you, Liu, represent the Great Qin and stay in the Western Regions permanently, and be the governor of all affairs in the Western Regions for the Great Qin. What do you think?"

When these words were spoken, not only Liu Ji was surprised, but many ministers were also shocked, except for Li Nian, Wang Wan and others who had known about it for a long time.

(End of this chapter)