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Chapter 860 Marriage Grant
The emperor's decree to appoint Suning as King Ning of the Song Dynasty immediately shocked all of China. Even the Liao Dynasty, Western Xia, and Dali were stunned. You know, this was the first king of a different surname in the history of the Song Dynasty. They couldn't help but feel curious about this magical rebel of the Song Dynasty.

In Youyang, Sheng Hong had just arrived when he heard the news that Su Ning had been canonized as the Prince of Ning by the Emperor. The Sheng family in Youyang was naturally ecstatic. At this time, the eldest brother Sheng's matter of sending his daughter away became even more urgent. "Second brother, this is a great fortune for our Sheng family!"

"Yes! I was still worried about whether Prince Ning would succeed, but now all the worries in my heart have disappeared." At this moment, Sheng Hong was so surprised that he almost jumped up. With the emperor's personal canonization, he was no longer the "grass-roots king" before.

"Second brother, then you should take Shulan to Jiangning Prefecture as soon as possible! When Pinlan grows up, we will send her there as well." The eldest wife of the Sheng family, who had reacted, urged Sheng Hong with a look of surprise on her face.

"Okay! Big Brother, then you must educate Pinlan well at home. They will both be the future concubines of Prince Ning!"

"Ah? Second brother, can't you be the principal princess?" Although Prince Ning's concubine was already very remarkable, the eldest wife of the Sheng family was becoming a little greedy at this time.

"Huh? This may be a little difficult. You know, our Sheng family is still too weak." Seeing that the eldest brother of the eldest house was so greedy, Sheng Hong shook his head with a bit of a smile.

"Well, second brother, why don't you stay for a few more days? I will prepare some gifts to congratulate Prince Ning on his enthronement. This way, His Royal Highness Prince Ning will not think that our Sheng family is too rude." The eldest wife of the Sheng family knew this truth very well, and after thinking about it, she told him her arrangements.

"Okay, then I'll stay one more day."

Bian Jing, Tianlao, men's prison.

The food for Gu Yankai and the others had gotten much better in recent days, which had always puzzled the ailing Gu Tingyu. He then looked at the stunned Gu Yankai and asked, "Father, ahem... have you noticed any recent changes?"

"Change? Humph! What kind of changes can we see if we stay in this dark prison all day long?" Gu Yankai looked at his eldest son in front of him in astonishment, and soon said with a depressed snort.

"Father, cough... haven't you noticed that our food has gotten much better recently? The jailer also had a smile on his face when he looked at us?" Seeing that Gu Yankai hadn't noticed the recent changes, Gu Tingyu asked with a wry smile and shook his head.

"Huh? Tingyu, what exactly do you want to say?" The confused and irritable Gu Yankai looked at Gu Tingyu in front of him blankly and asked.

"Ahem...Father, if my prediction is correct, ahem...the second son Tingye may have succeeded in the rebellion, or he may have been successfully recruited by the court." Then Gu Tingyu did not continue to be mysterious, but directly stated his guess.

"Success? What could this evil creature possibly accomplish?" Hearing this name that infuriated him once again, Gu Yankai still couldn't maintain his composure. He then said, filled with endless mockery and curses, "I think this evil creature should have been beheaded by the imperial army as a public display."

"Father, cough... If my second brother was really beheaded in public, cough... then we would have been executed together. Expelling my second brother from the family tree will not appease the emperor's anger." At this time, Gu Tingyu shook his head disapprovingly, feeling that the father beside him had been blinded by hatred.

"Ah? Could it be that this evil creature Gu Tingye has really been recruited by the imperial court?" After receiving these reminders from his eldest son, Gu Yankai also realized the recent abnormalities belatedly.

"Ahem...nine out of ten! You know, the Song Dynasty has always been fond of recruiting people. Small rebels can become small officials, and big rebels can become big officials. In fact, everything is possible."

"Hmph! So what even if Gu Tingye was recruited by the court? Our Ningyuan Marquisate is completely finished. This evil creature climbed up by stepping on our corpses." At this time, Gu Yankai thought that his title of Ningyuan Marquis was gone, and he couldn't help cursing in anger.

"Oh! Ahem... yes! Our Ningyuan Marquis Mansion is completely finished. The best outcome will be to be demoted to a commoner." Gu Tingyu knew very well this helpless reality. After all, even the Lord would not pardon their Gu family.

Tianlao, women's prison.

Seeing that Xiao Qinshi, who had pretended to be an adult all her life, was about to be beheaded, she naturally no longer had the need or mood to continue pretending. Instead, she sat there in a daze with a dead heart. She no longer had the demeanor and dignity of a lady in a marquis's mansion. She was almost no different from a crazy woman on the street.

Xiao Qinshi, who had worked hard for so long, was still a little depressed. She had worked hard in the Ningyuan Marquis Mansion for so long and knew clearly that both Gu Yankai and Gu Tingyu were in very poor health. Perhaps one day the father and son would die one after another. Then she only needed to arrange for the second son Gu Tingye to be expelled from the Gu family, and then the title of Ningyuan Marquis would belong to her biological son Gu Tingwei. However, all this was disrupted by Su Ning's random punch.

"Wow! There are meat dishes today! Sister-in-law, come and have dinner." At this moment, the surprised voice of the fourth daughter-in-law of the Gu family suddenly came, as if she had not eaten meat for eight hundred years.

"Fourth wife, can you be a little more promising? Have you never eaten meat in your eight lifetimes?" At this time, Xiao Qin couldn't help but look at the surprised fourth wife with disgust and questioned.

"Sister-in-law! We haven't eaten meat for four or five months. It's rare to see so much meat." Although she could hear the sarcasm in Xiao Qin's words, the fourth wife retorted disapprovingly.

"Humph! You're not worried about this being your last meal. Think about it, by this time, that evil creature Gu Tingye should have been eliminated."

"Ah? Beheading? I would rather be beheaded by the government than stay here and suffer." Hearing that she might be beheaded, the daughter-in-law of the fourth branch of the Gu family did not care anymore. She felt that it was much better than staying here and living a life worse than death.

"."

Xiao Qinshi, who was already a master of the green tea world, quickly realized that something was wrong. She had a strange guess in her mind, and then she crawled to the side of the prison, looked at the prison boss who was distributing food to the prisoners, and asked, "Sir? Sir?"

"Is there something wrong with the eldest lady of the Gu family?" The jailer looked at Xiao Qinshi politely, without beating or scolding her as usual.

Seeing the sudden change in the jailer's attitude towards her, Xiao Qinshi's suspicions became more certain. Then, suppressing her inner surprise, she asked, "Sir, has something big happened outside?"

"That's right! The emperor has just issued an edict, conferring the title of Prince of Ning on Suning, with the title of Duke of a County, and granting him the Jiangning Prefecture in the south of the Yangtze River. He also gave Prince Ning the name Zhao Ning, making him the emperor's adopted son." The jailer then explained to Xiao Qin with a beaming face.

"Ah? Who is Suning?" Xiao Qin asked again with a look of surprise.

"Madam Gu, Su Ning is naturally Gu Tingye from your Ningyuan Marquisate. Didn't your Gu family expel him from the family tree? So Prince Ning naturally needs to change his name."

"What? Gu Tingye was crowned king? And his fiefdom is actually in Jiangning Prefecture?" At this time, Xiao Qinshi felt ecstatic again, and her despaired state changed again.

At this time, the Gu family members who heard the conversation between the jailer and Xiao Qinshi also became excited. You know, there has never been a so-called king of a different surname in the Song Dynasty, and some of them were just fake "archway" conferred after their death. Naturally, they would not believe that the jailer had any need to deceive them, and realized that they finally had a chance to escape from this prison.

"Master jailer, does that mean our Gu family will not be executed?" Then the wives of the fourth and fifth branches of the Gu family rushed to the jailer in surprise and asked.

"Huh? I really don't know. After all, no one has mentioned this matter yet." The prison boss was a little confused when he suddenly heard such a question. It was indeed far beyond his cognition and ability.

"Ah? How could this happen? Didn't King Gu Ning ask the emperor to release us?" At this time, the Gu family members also realized something, and they all looked at the jailer in surprise and asked.

"I don't know! I'm just a small prison boss, how could I possibly know such details?" "..."

Of course, Suning knew that he couldn't push the emperor and his ministers of the Song Dynasty too hard. After all, he was worried that they would really do something desperate, so he decided to use the relatively gentle method of boiling a frog in warm water. If he really destroyed the Zhao Song court all at once, it would not be in his best interests, so he accepted the old emperor's enthronement this time.

However, although Suning accepted the old emperor's appointment as King Ning of the Song Dynasty, the Ningyuan Army still did not stop attacking the Jiangnan area. Instead, they continued to send troops to attack Jiangnan West Road and Fujian Road. If the captured officials wanted to leave, the Ningyuan Army would happily send them back to Bianliang. Therefore, almost every city was handed over without bloodshed. The old emperor who was far away in Bianliang was furious with Suning's behavior.

"Damn it! This Prince Ning is really too much. He refused to come to Bian Jing to be conferred the title and even attacked other places in the south of the Yangtze River." The old emperor smashed his favorite teacup in anger, and then complained about Suning's tyranny at the top of his voice.

"Your Majesty, it seems that Prince Ning is determined to occupy the entire Jiangnan region." Several ministers expressed the same guess. After all, Suning was no longer hiding at this time.

"Hey! Which gentleman is willing to go to Jiangning Prefecture and rebuke Prince Ning to stop his advance immediately. Dividing the river and governing separately is absolutely impossible to allow."

"Your Majesty, I am willing to go." At this time, Prime Minister Shen took the initiative to step forward and accept the offer.

"Good! Prime Minister Shen has always been a wise fox of the Song Dynasty. I believe he can deal with the greedy King Ning." Looking at Prime Minister Shen, who was always known as an old fox, the old emperor nodded with satisfaction and agreed.

"Your Majesty, I will not fail in my mission."

Seeing that Great Minister Shen actually took the initiative to accept the opportunity to go to Jiangning Prefecture, Great Minister Han and Great Minister Fu looked at each other meaningfully, and each of them had strange thoughts in their hearts. They guessed that the old fox Great Minister Shen was attracted to Su Ning and was preparing to go to Jiangning Prefecture in person to inspect the new King of Ning.

After everyone left the emperor's hall, Han Da Xianggong and Fu Da Xianggong walked to a deserted place and whispered, "Fu Da Xianggong, Prince Ning has been canonized now. Should we consider the selection of Prince Ning's consort next?"

"Hmph! Lord Han, can't you see that old fox Shen can't wait any longer?" Lord Fu had long noticed Lord Shen's little thoughts, otherwise he would never have taken the initiative to go to Jiangning Mansion.

"Well, I heard that his family also has a eldest granddaughter, but she seems to be only thirteen years old this year. It's a bit too early to discuss marriage now." At this time, Grand Minister Han also guessed Grand Minister Shen's little thoughts, but shook his head at Grand Minister Fu with a puzzled look on his face.

"Hey! Isn't Prince Ning only fifteen this year?" At this time, Prime Minister Fu smiled disapprovingly. As long as Prime Minister Shen was willing, anything would not be a problem.

"No! We must quickly remind the emperor to make plans early." Han Da Xianggong, who reacted immediately, wanted to turn back and remind the old emperor.

"Mr. Han, please be patient! I'm afraid the emperor and the empress are already considering it." At this time, Mr. Fu hurriedly grabbed the impatient Mr. Han, and then guessed that the old emperor and Empress Cao would definitely not ignore this issue.

"Oh?"

In the harem, Empress Cao had seen the emperor frowning every day, and naturally knew everything about the previous dynasty. She smiled at the old emperor and advised, "Your Majesty, now that Prince Ning's matter has been resolved, you should be able to breathe a sigh of relief."

"Ah! Prince Ning, this evil creature! I asked him to come to Bian Jing to be conferred the title, but he actually said that he had caught a cold and was unable to attend the ceremony, so he told me to just take care of the arrangements." The old emperor felt particularly aggrieved and depressed at this time, and finally tasted the helplessness of Gu Yankai.

"Your Majesty, Prince Ning has just surrendered to the Song Dynasty, so he is naturally on guard."

"Humph! This is more than just a defensive attitude! This is sheer audacity! After being crowned Prince of Ning, he continued to attack Jiangnan. Not only has he taken control of the entire Jiangnan East Road and Liangzhe Road, but most of Fujian Road and Jiangnan West Road have also fallen."

"Ah? The Ningyuan army's attack speed is so fast?" After hearing the old emperor's explanation so detailed and urgent, Queen Cao couldn't help but widen her eyes in shock.

"Humph! These loyal ministers and righteous men of mine surrendered too quickly. They were simply trying to make a handover."

"Official, what should we do?"

"Don't worry! Lord Shen has already left for Jiangning Prefecture to rebuke Prince Ning and halt his advance."

"Oh? Your Majesty, I remember that Lord Shen has a thirteen-year-old granddaughter?"

"Madam, what do you mean?"

"Your Majesty, I feel that Old Fox Shen is so proactive this time. He must have some hidden agenda. He must have set his sights on the position of Princess Ning."

"This"

"Your Majesty, why don't we quickly select a daughter of the royal family and marry her to Prince Ning? This will naturally make Lord Shen give up this idea."

"Madam, the most suitable person in the royal family is Princess Jiacheng of the Yong family. She was just shot down by the Ningyuan Army's navy. How could she possibly accept this marriage?"

"Your Majesty, have you forgotten Princess Fukang? She is the same age as Prince Ning."

"Huirou?"

"Your Majesty, I know you've always doted on this eldest princess, but we no longer have time to consider this. If Prince Ning were to marry an important official or a noble, it would be a fatal crisis for the Song Dynasty. Remember, the Duke of Ying also has an only daughter of a similar age."

"But I have already adopted Prince Ning as my adopted son and given him the surname Zhao to explain the issue of a king with a different surname. It would be inappropriate to marry Princess Huirou to him."

"Your Majesty, this isn't a big deal. I know you're wary of Prince Ning and his Ningyuan Army, but after a while, you can just move the Ningyuan Army to the frontier to fight the Liao barbarians. By then, the fisherman will surely benefit from the conflict."

"Alright! I will immediately issue an order to grant the marriage."

……

(End of this chapter)