Chapter 105: Marriage and Sacrifice! (Please collect! Please vote! Please invest!)

Shangguan Hongyuan personally helped Chen Jingyu up from the ground, patted his shoulder, and taught him respectfully: "I know you are worried. No matter what I say at this time, it will be hard for you to believe it, but time will prove my promise to you!"

If you don't betray me, I will never betray you!"

Shangguan Hongyuan's words were powerful and his expression showed his determination. Chen Jingyu was deeply moved and said sincerely:

"Your Excellency's kindness to me is as great as a mountain. Even if I die a thousand times, I will never be able to repay your kindness!"

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After a stick of incense, Shangguan Hongyuan sent Chen Jingyu away and immediately called his son Shangguan Changgong over.

Looking at the man who looked like his own son, Shangguan Hongyuan said slowly, "If I remember correctly, Chen Jingyu has a daughter. Go and marry her!"

After he finished speaking, Shangguan Hongyuan's expression looked a little complicated. In his life, he was powerful and famous. He held the emperor hostage to command the princes, and all the heroes in the world bowed before him.

But it was also because of this that he, who had committed countless murders, seemed to be punished by God. His twelve wives and concubines gave birth to more than twenty children for him, of whom only seven were sons and the rest were all daughters. Among these seven sons, six died before the age of ten. Only Shangguan Changgong is still alive today.

It is precisely because he has only one son that he is even more precious. Shangguan Hongyuan also loves him deeply. If not, now is the most critical moment in the game of chess, and Chen Jingyu, his right-hand man, must not be lost.

If it weren't for this, he really didn't want his only son to have anything to do with Chen Jingyu, a dying man...

Shangguan Changgong was stunned when he heard his father's words, and said helplessly: "Father, Lord Chen does have a daughter, but she is only thirteen years old this year... and I am already thirty-one, and Ren'er is already five years old..."

Shangguan Hongyuan couldn't help but frown when he heard that there was such a big age gap between his son and Chen Jingyu's daughter. After thinking for a while, he continued, "You can get engaged first and settle the status. Let Chen Jingyu's daughter grow up to be fifteen years old. In short, you must marry her. In addition, Ling'er is also of marriageable age, so she can marry Chen Jingyu's youngest son."

Shangguan Changgong had been with Shangguan Hongyuan for many years and was well versed in government affairs. When he heard his father's arrangements, he immediately understood the deep meaning behind these actions and asked in a deep voice, "Did he confront his father?"

"He doesn't have the courage and ability to show his cards yet, but he has done a lot of probing. The situation in the court is complicated now, and the nobles are ready to make a move. I don't know what this old man Lin Shize is plotting. The Supervisory Office still cannot do without Chen Jingyu, so we must keep him stable now..."

Shangguan Hongyuan waved his hands and said with some headache. In front of his only heir, Shangguan Hongyuan, as the Prime Minister of the Great Zhou Dynasty, did not pretend to be mysterious and expressionless. "Then can't I let cousin Tingshu marry his daughter? There is only a seven-year age difference between them. I am almost old enough to be her father..." After thinking about it, Shangguan Changgong showed a bitter face and said with some embarrassment:

"Humph! Although Ting Shu is my nephew, he is still not as good as you. If you want to stabilize Chen Jingyu and make him continue to work willingly, you have to do it!" Shangguan Hongyuan shook his head and said firmly:
Seeing that his father had made up his mind and knowing that he had made a decision and it would be difficult to change it, Shangguan Changgong sighed helplessly and did not refuse.

As a mentally sound adult with no special habits, he was naturally very resistant to the idea of ​​marrying a little girl who was only thirteen years older than him and seventeen years younger than him.

However, as the heir of Shangguan Hongyuan, he knew that while he enjoyed the family's glory and power, he also had responsibilities and obligations to the entire family. If necessary, he had to make sacrifices for the family's interests...
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Da Zhou, Datian Pass.

It was noon. After checking the official documents, Ye Mingsheng, with more than 400 soldiers under his command, entered Datian Pass. As the border between Da Zhou and Gongdu, Datian Pass was a relatively young city with only a dozen years of history. Also, because Gongdu was a vassal state of Da Zhou, the threat was limited.

Therefore, Datian Pass was not built particularly tall. The city wall was only about two meters high and half a meter thick.

Despite this, the defense measures of Datianguan are still basically complete, including urn cities, watchtowers, arrow towers, and other defense measures.

As long as 5,000 troops are deployed here and sufficient food and grass are prepared, they can at least withstand the attack of tens of thousands of troops for ten days. However, because the palace capital mainly defended by Datian Pass has posed no threat to Da Zhou in recent decades, and the border has been peaceful for too long, the regular force of Datian Pass is generally only about 1,000 to 2,000 people.

After successfully arriving at Datian Pass, Ye Mingsheng gave his men, who had been busy for days, a good day off. They could move freely during the day, but all had to return to the camp before sunset and were not allowed to spend the night outside.

After completing official correspondence with the garrisoned generals and keeping proof of his on-time arrival, Ye Mingsheng encountered a general named Chen who was guarding Datian Pass. Although the other party spoke very tactfully and did not say it directly, his words implied that he hoped Ye Mingsheng and his men would leave quickly.

After all, Datianguan is just a simple military fortress. In addition to the garrison, there are only a small number of family members in the city. The food and grass in the city are very limited and cannot support Ye Mingsheng's hundreds of people for a long time...

After learning about the other party's concerns, Ye Mingsheng immediately stated that his troops would only rest in Datian Pass for one day and would continue on the road back to Luoan tomorrow. Knowing this, General Chen was naturally overjoyed and very actively arranged a military camp for Ye Mingsheng's men as a temporary residence.

Although the camps arranged for Ye Mingsheng's imperial guards were mostly thatched huts, the same as those where the soldiers defending the city lived, for Ye Mingsheng's soldiers who had been camping in the wild for almost a month, the treatment was already quite good.

(End of this chapter)