Duan Shao seemed to have heard the implication, and said with a smile: "Could the agreement between the Divine Marquis and your concubine back then have something to do with martial arts?"
Ximen Wuhen said: "That girl has reached the age of leaving the court a few years ago. I also want to find a family for her. If a girl is not allowed to stay, if she gets married early, I will fall off early and be free."
All the ministers immediately laughed out loud again.
Ximen Wuhen is a special being in the court. Although his title is not as noble as the four hereditary nobles, his prestige in the court is rare. At this time, it is as if gossip is commonplace, and the atmosphere in the court is quite relaxed. .
Almost all the ministers in the palace have children. Everyone has the feeling of licking a calf, and when it comes to children, everyone feels the same way.
"I remember that the girl said at that time that if she got married, she must agree to two conditions." Ximen Wuhen said slowly: "The first thing is that the husband she will marry in the future must be something she likes. That's fine, if she doesn't like him, she will definitely not marry him."
The King of Huainan laughed and said: "Your Majesty, there is no need to say more about this for the Crown Prince. His Highness is of noble birth, elegant in demeanor, and possesses both civil and military skills. Girls all over the world will be vying to be by the Crown Prince's side."
"What the prince said is absolutely true." Ximen Wuhen said with a smile: "The second thing is to defeat her in martial arts. If these two things can satisfy her, I will keep her even if I want to. It won’t work.”
"That's it." Duan Shao smiled and said: "The two conditions of Shenhou and your concubine are quite reasonable. She was raised by Shenhou. If she had to compromise, she would not be like a girl raised by Shenhou. This kind of temperament, That’s what I appreciate.”
Ximen Wuhen sighed: "Prince, although she has set these two rules, they are not suitable for today's marriage. If the Holy Father decrees marriage, there is no need to take the children's jokes to heart."
"The Lord's words are wrong." Duan Shao shook his head and said: "Since your lady has mentioned it many times, she must have kept these two things in mind. If I ignore your lady's thoughts because I am the crown prince of Qi, then I will also I'm sorry." After thinking for a moment, he offered his hand to Longtai and said: "My lord, since Miss Ximen has this intention, Duan Shao will not force others to do anything. Duan Shao is willing to agree to Miss Ximen's request and have a discussion with him."
"Prince, you must not do it." Ximen Wuhen said immediately: "The prince has a noble status, how can he lower his status and fight with the child just because of a few jokes from her family?"
Longtai also nodded slightly and said, "Ximen Aiqing's words make sense."
Suddenly, they heard a voice saying: "Your Majesty, I have an idea. I don't know if it is suitable." Everyone followed the voice and saw that Jin Yihou had already walked out from among the ministers.
Longtai's eyes shone slightly and he said, "Jin Yihou, what can you do?"
"Your Majesty, it's really admirable that the prince can care about Miss Ximen's feelings." Qi Ning said: "It's just that what the prince said is very reasonable. The prince has a noble status, why should he take action himself? I think it is better to let the prince choose someone by himself. , to fight on behalf of the prince, as long as the skills of the person chosen are almost the same as the prince, regardless of victory or defeat, it will be the same as the result of the prince's personal action." He glanced at Duan Shao and then said: "But I don't know what the emperor and the prince want?"
Long Tai nodded and said, "That's an idea." He looked at Duan Shao and asked, "Prince, what do you think?"
"My Lord, what Jin Yihou said is a good way to kill two birds with one stone." Duan Shao said with a smile: "In that case, Duan Shao is willing to send Huo Cong to compete with Miss Ximen. Huo Cong's skills are on par with mine. If Miss Ximen defeats Huo Cong, then she has defeated me."
When the courtiers heard this, they thought that the marriage was already a certainty. Longtai and Duan Shao were just giving Ximen Wuhen a little face, so they wasted a lot of trouble.
However, although this competition has not yet begun, the outcome has already been decided.
The Shenhou Mansion is a maverick government office in the Chu State. It does not have to take orders from any government office, but directly gives orders to His Majesty the Emperor. Naturally, most officials do not know what the Shenhou Mansion does, but everyone knows that the Shenhou Mansion There are only two main responsibilities of the Hou Mansion. The first responsibility is naturally to supervise the Jianghu forces in Chu State and prevent these forces from causing trouble in Chu State. The other major responsibility is to send spies to sneak into other countries and take charge of Get information.
In fact, some of the ministers knew very well that the reason why the Shenhou Mansion was so powerful was, firstly, because of Ximen Wuhen's power, and secondly, because there was a powerful imperial court behind Ximen Wuhen. .
However, not all the officials in the Shenhou Mansion are highly skilled in martial arts. Although there are many first-rate masters among them, what the officials in the Shenhou Mansion are best at is pursuing hidden pursuits.
If Ximen Zhanying was good at martial arts, it would have spread throughout the capital and beyond, and she would never be known as the daughter of a divine lord like now.
Ximen Wuhen is a master of martial arts. He has practiced hard for many years and gone through countless bloody battles to achieve what he is today.
And Ximen Zhanying is less than 20 years old, and has always been under the protection of Shenhou Mansion. If Ximen Zhanying's martial arts is so amazing, only eleven out of ten people will not believe it.
But the Huo Cong in front of him was obviously different.
Since Duan Shao proposed to marry the daughter of Shenhou, he was bound to win. Although he had to compete with Ximen Zhanying, Duan Shao would never take it lightly and would definitely send the strongest master around him.
Huo Cong is obviously such a character.
Duan Shao had just praised Huo Cong a lot, and he was naturally very satisfied with this personal guard. As the name suggests, these eight guards were carefully selected to become the confidants of the Crown Prince of Dong Qi. Their martial arts skills are naturally extraordinary, otherwise they would never be valued by Duan Shao.
This time Duan Shao came to Chu from Dong Qi, he would naturally be very concerned about his own safety. The iron guards who could follow him closely were naturally the best among the best.
Although Dong Qi is a small country with few people, it does not mean that Dong Qi lacks experts. A country that can have a great master will naturally have many top players.
An East Palace Iron Guard who was relied upon by the Crown Prince of Dong Qi came out to fight against the young Ximen Zhanying. Of course it was obvious who was superior.
Longtai smiled and said: "Ximen Aiqing, since the prince wants to send someone to fight instead, what do you think?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, the prince is generous and kind, and he cares about my little girl, which really makes me shed tears of gratitude." Ximen Wuhen said respectfully: "Everything depends on the judgment of Your Majesty!"
Longtai nodded and said: "In that case, I will issue an order to summon Ximen Zhanying into the palace to compete with Huo Cong."
"Your Majesty, the court is meeting today. If I go to summon Miss Ximen at this time, I'm afraid the meeting will be delayed." Qi Ning reported again: "I think it's better to choose a good day, agree on a time, and then compete. Discuss."
Longtai naturally knew that Qining had a reason for saying this, and immediately said: "What Jin Yihou said is absolutely true. If this is the case, then in three days, Ximen Zhanying and Huo Cong will be summoned to come to the palace to discuss. If Huo Cong wins, I immediately issued a decree to marry Ximen Zhanying to the crown prince of Qi."
He did not say what would happen if Huo Cong was defeated, but everyone knew that if Huo Cong was defeated by Ximen Zhanying, then Duan Shao would naturally give up on his marriage proposal. However, the officials thought that this possibility was very slim. However, the martial arts competition in front of the palace in three days' time can be considered a good show, and you can just watch the excitement then.
All the ministers said in unison: "The Holy One is wise!"
After the court ended, the ministers left the palace. Qining hadn't gone far when he heard Ximen Wuhen's voice coming from behind him. He turned around and saw Ximen Wuhen following him from behind.
Qi Ning thought that this old guy might be his father-in-law in Taishan in a while. He suddenly showed a respectful look, cupped his hands and said: "God!"
Ximen Wuhen didn't look very good, but with a smile on his face, he said, "Master Marquis, you owe me something. I miss you day and night."
Qi Ning was startled, thinking when did she owe him anything
Seeing that Qining didn't understand, Ximen Wuhen smiled and said: "Master Hou, do you still remember the abstract painting school? You said you saw it from a book, and you also said you would help me find the book. But later, Master Hou was busy with other things. I never had the chance to ask for advice, but I was thinking about that book day and night."
Qi Ning suddenly realized it, patted his head and said: "I'm really sorry, God, I really haven't forgotten this matter, I just forgot to tell you. After I returned home that time, I did rummage through the boxes and cabinets, and I just... Not found."
Ximen Wuhen said in frustration: "That's such a pity. Hey, that's how many things in this world are. When you don't care, they are at hand, but when you really care about them, you find that they have been far away from you."
"Shen Hou, after I go back, I will search carefully and dig three feet into the ground to find some clues."
Ximen Wuhen said with a smile: "That can't be done. If you dig three feet into the ground, wouldn't it mean that the Jinyi Marquis Mansion will be demolished? If the Jinyi Marquis knew it under the spring, that would be great." After a pause, he asked softly: "Master Marquis, the Crown Prince of Dong Qi has requested a marriage, what do you think of it?"
"This...!" Qi Ning shook his head and said: "I really don't have any opinion on this matter, but if Miss Ximen really marries Dong Qi, she will be the one who is most reluctant to leave her behind."
"He will always have to leave." Ximen Wuhen sighed: "I only hope that he can marry a good family, take good care of her, and live out his life in peace. If this can be the case, I really have nothing else to ask for. .”
Qi Ning said with a smile: "Don't worry, God Lord. Ximen Martial Arts has God Lord personally attack him. Even if he faces the Dong Qi Iron Guard, he will definitely not be at a disadvantage."
"Your Majesty, these are words of comfort." Ximen Wuhen shook his head and said, "Others don't know about Zhan Ying's martial arts, so don't I know it? The iron guard under Prince Dong Qi can tell at a glance that he practices outer martial arts. She is definitely not weak. Even if Xuanyuan Po takes action against the Big Dipper in Shenhou Mansion, he may not be able to win easily, let alone Zhan Ying. In the final analysis, this competition is just a formality, and the outcome has already been decided. Points, no suspense.”
"The god's martial arts are extraordinary. He still has three days to give some guidance. Maybe...!"
Ximen Wuhen sighed: "If you don't do it normally, what's the use of improvising? The level of martial arts cannot be changed overnight. Even if I teach her everything I have learned in my life in these three days, she will It's impossible to learn it successfully." He smiled bitterly and said, "That's all, for the sake of Da Chu, Zhan Ying suffered some injustices, so what?"
Qi Ning heard Ximen Wuhen's emotion and thought that Ximen Wuhen had no chance of winning this competition. Seeing that his face was slightly pale, Qi Ning asked softly: "I heard that the Lord God is not feeling well these days. I wonder if he is okay." Some? I never knew, and I didn’t go to visit, so don’t be offended."