Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 253, Daiyu's Wedding Night

Meng Shen, dressed in the master of ceremonies' attire, cheerfully announced:
"I bow to Heaven and Earth to express my gratitude for their creation!"

Fang Yong and Daiyu bowed together.

"Bowing twice to our parents to express our gratitude for their upbringing!"

Fang Yong and Daiyu bowed again.

The old man and Lin Ruhai were sitting up there.

The old man is still single. Although Lin Ruhai has some wives and concubines, he has not remarried, so the two of them are the only ones in the family.

At this moment, seeing Fang Yonghe's beloved daughter getting married, Lin Ruhai showed a happy expression.

Although he had some difficulty accepting Fang Yong before because of Fang Yong's background, he believed that a bandit who occupies one place is a bandit, while a king who occupies one country is a king. Now that Fang Yong had seized control of four states and was poised to conquer the world, Lin Ruhai naturally had no complaints.

Not only did Lin Ruhai show no dissatisfaction, but he was even worried that Fang Yongcheng would look down on Daiyu's family background afterward and break his promise.

After all, that kid has a notorious reputation for womanizing, so it's hard to feel at ease with him.

It was for this reason that Lin Ruhai devoted himself to writing a book for Fang Yong, hoping to demonstrate his own role and thus prevent Fang Yong from easily breaking his promise.

Now it seems that everything is going smoothly and beautifully.

At this moment, in the face of Fang Yong and Daiyu's worship, Lin Ruhai and the old man need to call out to them to rise.

Lin Ruhai was about to speak, but when he glanced at the old man beside him, he found that the old man kept his mouth tightly shut and did not move at all.

Normally, the two people would speak in unison, inviting the newlyweds to stand up, but now...

Daiyu was a sensitive person, and when this situation arose, she immediately recalled the old man's dissatisfaction with her when they met at the water village, and she couldn't help but feel nervous.

Fortunately, at that moment, Fang Yong grabbed Daiyu's hand and held it tightly.

Daiyu felt immediately at ease.

The emcee in charge was Meng Shen.

Meng Shen's hosting skills were average; he only became the master of ceremonies because of his position as Minister of Rites. Therefore, he was initially taken aback and didn't quite grasp the situation.

But he quickly realized something was wrong, so he rushed to save the day, calling out in his capacity as emcee:

"Newcomers, please rise!"

The emcee is responsible for guiding the entire wedding process. Although it is not as meaningful as the old man and Lin Ruhai saying "please start" at this time, it is still in accordance with the proper etiquette.

Fang Yong and Daiyu then got up.

"The couple bows to each other! The ceremony is complete; escort them to the bridal chamber!"

The ceremony concluded successfully, and Daiyu was escorted to the bridal chamber.

Fang Yongze also needs to handle some simple social engagements outside.

Given Fang Yong's current physical condition, he can no longer get drunk from drinking, so it's just a little more troublesome when it comes to social engagements.

Soon, Fang Yong pretended to be unable to hold his liquor, handed over the task of drinking with Li Ni, and then left early.

Of course, before leaving, he did not forget to send someone to escort the Longqing Emperor back, to prevent the Longqing Emperor from making mistakes while he was away.

As a loyal subject of the Great Xi Dynasty, he did not want the Longqing Emperor to make a mistake.

Upon entering the bridal chamber, one immediately sees Xiao Xueyan dressed in festive attire.

Fang Yong reached out and pinched her, which made Xiao Xueyan squeal with delight.

Upon entering, Daiyu was dressed in formal attire, with a phoenix coronet and embroidered robe, sitting in front of the bed.

Fang Yong stepped forward and gently lifted the veil with his ruyi scepter.

"Your Majesty!"

Daiyu called out softly.

Fang Yong approached Daiyu, gently kissed her forehead, and said:
"Sister, you don't need to call me Prince. Just call me Brother."

As he spoke, he reached out to help Daiyu remove the phoenix crown from her head.

"My little sister must be exhausted."

Fang Yong asked with heartache.

This is the Nine Phoenix Crown, featuring nine golden phoenixes and nine pheasants, adorned with nine pearls and nine rubies, three layers of openwork gold, and twenty-nine hanging pearls, along with various other treasures that cannot be listed. Beneath its luxurious and beautiful exterior, an undeniable fact is that this crown weighs several kilograms, and wearing it for extended periods would be extremely heavy, unbearable, and could even cause injury.

Upon hearing Fang Yong's words of concern, Daiyu reached out and gently embraced him, her face slightly flushed, and said:

"Not tired at all, brother, you must have forgotten the cultivation technique we practice..."

Fang Yong also thought of this when he heard this. Indeed, with his constant nutritional supplements, Lin Daiyu was no longer the same as before.

If he could withstand it, how much more so a mere phoenix crown?
Fang Yongsui was relieved and said:
"Let's drink the nuptial wine!"

Daiyu hummed in agreement.

The two drank wine according to ancient customs.

Daiyu's fair skin took on a slight pink hue after drinking the wine.

Fang Yong picked up Daiyu and took off her dress.

She took off her embroidered shoes, revealing a pair of white socks underneath.

Logically speaking, one shouldn't wear white socks for a festive occasion.

Only after Fang Yong repeatedly pleaded with her did Daiyu finally agree to change into a pair of white socks, which were embroidered with pale pink plum blossoms, so they weren't entirely white.

Even though they were an old married couple, Daiyu still couldn't stand Fang Yong's behavior of holding her feet as if they were precious treasures.

"Why is my brother like this!"

Daiyu said with a slight complaint, her delicate foot pushing forward slightly, stepping on Fang Yong's chest.

Fang Yong chuckled and embraced Daiyu, kissing her perfect body.

"I love every part of my sister."

Deceived and coaxed, Daiyu quickly lost all resistance and blindly cooperated with Fang Yong.

Our focus shifts to Hangzhou.

After Wei Xing received the order, he led his troops day and night and soon arrived in Suzhou, where they joined up with Gan Ba's army.

Wei Xing's main force had 10,000 troops. Some of them were lost in the Taihang Mountains, but not many. Fang Yong later sent him another 20,000 troops from Huaiyin and 20,000 troops from Shandong, bringing the total to less than 50,000.

After arriving in Suzhou, Fang Yong transferred Lin Lin's troops and Ding Wanke's troops from Songjiang, as well as Ji Quan's troops from Jiaxing, to Wei Xing's command to assist Wei Xing in eliminating Xu Shaobao, bringing the total number of troops to 70,000.

The imperial edict arrived first, even though it was issued later.

Wei Xing was appointed General Who Conquers the South and ordered to quell the rebellion of the Yue bandits, which was a legitimate reason for his campaign.

Previously, Xu Shaobao had already suffered a major defeat in Jiaxing City.

Zhao Youcan led his troops in rebellion, nearly killing Xu Shaobao.

Although Xu Shaobao survived by risking his life, his forces were greatly weakened, forcing him to retreat to Huzhou and no longer dare to fight against the Huaiyin Army.

Then Wei Xing led his troops to arrive, and the large army pressed on, heading straight for Huzhou City.

At the time, Lin Lin concluded that Xu Shaobao's base was in Hangzhou, and that his troops in Huzhou were few in number, wounded, and demoralized, so he would not dare to defend Huzhou to the death and fight against the Huaiyin army.

Lin Lin proposed a plan to divide the army into three routes, with him and Ji Quan each leading 15,000 troops to circle around to Huzhou and cut off Xu Shaobao's retreat, thus annihilating Xu Shaobao outside Huzhou.

However, for some reason, Wei Xing did not adopt Lin Lin's plan after hearing it, and instead chose to march his army steadily and attack the city head-on.

Lin Lin didn't understand this at all, but Wei Xing was the commander-in-chief appointed by Fang Yong, so he had no choice but to obey.

As for Ji Quan and Ding Wanke, both of them were former generals who had surrendered from the imperial court. They would never question their superiors' orders unless they were too outrageous and meant to send them to their deaths.

The army quickly began its attack on Huzhou City.

Just as Lin Lin had predicted, Xu Shaobao resisted briefly for two days before fleeing to Hangzhou.

Wei Xing quickly captured Huzhou and wrote a battle report to Fang Yong to claim credit.

In his battle report, he described the battle situation in detail, including Lin Lin's suggestion. He requested Fang Yong to provide provisions and to send more basic officials to govern the Huzhou area.

However, the amounts reported by Wei Xing, whether in terms of grain or officials, were far excessive. Huzhou had already been under the control of the Huaiyin Army, and there was no shortage of so many officials...

General Wei Xing reported this to the emperor, and then immediately launched an attack on Hangzhou.

(End of this chapter)