Having children earns benefit, start competing for dominance in the world by marrying a wife

Chapter 606: Chapter 356 Princess Junwan's Fragile Health_1

```

Seeing the words "hostage," Wu Ming's face grew even uglier.

In Wu Ming's view, if Great Wu were to send a hostage to North Country, it was very likely they would choose him.

To any dynasty, a hostage was no different from a disposable piece; thus, they certainly wouldn't choose the most important prince.

His father, the Emperor, valued Prince Lu Yi so much that he didn't even let Prince Lu Yi come on this mission to North Country, so his father would definitely not allow Prince Lu Yi to be a hostage in North Country.

The Emperor naturally had several other sons, but compared to Prince Lu Yi and himself, those princes were essentially of little use, with Prince Lu Yi and himself, the Second Prince, being the most distinguished.

If his father were to send another prince as a hostage to North Country, it was very likely that North Country would not agree. The North Prince wasn't a fool; how could he possibly allow Great Wu to send a prince of no significant importance to be a hostage in North Country.

Just as Wu Ming's heart was wracked with anxiety, he suddenly saw the newspaper stating that North Prince's choice for hostage was Great Wu's Princess Junwan.

A moment of stun washed over Wu Ming, followed by ecstasy.

The North Prince actually wanted that woman to be a hostage in North Country!

This was simply too good to be true!

Although Wu Junwan had fallen out of favor by now, no one could guarantee that she wouldn't make a comeback one day.

If Wu Junwan were to return to the court someday, she could still potentially regain great power, leaving the princes breathless under her weight.

However, if Wu Junwan were to become a hostage in North Country, things would be different. A hostage was a disposable piece, and once Wu Junwan arrived in North Country, it would be much harder for her to re-enter the circles of the Capital City, let alone return to the center of power.

As long as Wu Junwan was expelled from the place of power in Great Wu, it would be the same as her being completely eliminated from the game.

Thinking this, a sense of exhilaration filled Wu Ming's heart. The princes of Great Wu had been oppressed by their imperial sister for far too long. They would all be delighted to have her removed from the center of power.

However, Wu Ming quickly thought of a problem—would their father-king agree to let their imperial sister be a hostage in North Country?

As everybody knew, the reason their imperial sister had so much power, enough to be named Princess Junwan, was entirely due to their father-king. If he did not wish for Princess Junwan to participate in governance, she could not possibly have been named Princess Junwan.

If they could get their father-king to agree to North Prince's terms, that would be perfect.

But how could they get their father-king to agree?

Could they do it as they had done last time by having the court ministers collectively submit a petition?

Wu Ming believed that if his faction's ministers submitted a petition for Wu Junwan to become a hostage in North Country, then Prince Lu Yi's faction's ministers would definitely join in the petition as well.

Although they were not of the same faction, when it came to dealing with Wu Junwan, all the officials from the prince factions could unite. Your journey continues with ???

Thinking this, Wu Ming immediately said to the guard beside him, "Prepare pen and paper."

The guard hurried to bring pen and paper before Wu Ming, who directly began drafting a memorial inside the pavilion, incorporating some things he had heard upon arriving in North Country into the text.

After finishing the memorial, he handed it to the nearby guard, "Send this memorial back to Great Wu immediately."

Negotiations are a long-term process; they couldn't possibly be concluded in just a few days. If he hurried to send the memorial back to Great Wu now, the Emperor's royal decree would probably still arrive before the negotiations concluded. Then, Wu Ming would have a sense of his father's attitude towards the terms offered by North Country.

Of course, the most important purpose of his memorial was to inform the ministers in court that North Prince intended to have Wu Junwan become a hostage. As long as those ministers were aware of this, surely many would follow suit in submitting petitions.

Just as the guard by Wu Ming's side was about to turn and leave the pavilion, Wu Ming suddenly reminded him, "Right, after the memorial is sent back to the imperial city, find someone to spread the news that the North Prince intends to make the Great Princess a hostage. Make sure all the court ministers know about this."

The guard immediately bowed and said, "Yes, Your Highness."

"Alright, go."

"Your subordinate takes his leave." With those words, the guard turned and left the courtyard.

Evening.

Dusk fell, and lanterns in the courtyard were lit one by one, with the entire Prince's Mansion blazing with lights. After dinner, Lu Chen spent some time in Wind Cloud Court, playing with the two children borne to him by Mu Zixuan, and then, feeling it was about time, he made his way to Zhou Youyou's room.

Just as Lu Chen was about to enter the northern courtyard, a female soldier's voice rose from behind him, "Prince, Wu Ming has seen this afternoon's edition of the Eastern Newspaper Agency and has written a memorial to be sent back to Great Wu. Should we intercept this memorial?"

Lu Chen replied indifferently, "No need, let them send the memorial back to Great Wu."

Even without intercepting Wu Ming's memorial, Lu Chen had a fair idea of what it likely contained. Evidently, Wu Ming intended to convey some of the information released by North Country back to the Emperor and Great Wu's ministers.

After hearing the response, the female soldier said, "Yes, Prince, your subordinate takes her leave."

The female soldier turned and departed from the inner courtyard, and at that moment, Lu Chen stepped into the northern courtyard and directly entered Zhou Youyou's room.

Upon entering Zhou Youyou's room, Lu Chen found that she was alone, and he asked with a smile, "Where are those two little rascals? Why aren't they here?"

Blushing, Zhou Youyou, sitting at the bedside, replied, "Prince, I have already sent the two of them to my sister's room."

Zhou Youyou had heard during the day that Lu Chen had asked Xiao Wenyao to come to her room, so she knew Lu Chen would undoubtedly come to favor her that night. Therefore, she had sent the children to the next room early on and sat on the bed alone, ready.

Hearing this, Lu Chen smiled slightly, and then sat down beside the bed, taking Zhou Youyou's delicate hand into his.

Seeing Zhou Youyou's face flushed red, Lu Chen lifted his hand, gently caressing her cheek, "Youyou, you're already the mother of two children, why are you still so shy?"

```

Zhou Youyou didn't know what to say, "This humble one... this humble one..."

Seeing Zhou Youyou too embarrassed to speak, Lu Chen began making his advances and soon had her laid out on the bed, sealing her cherry lips with a kiss.

Lu Chen had forgotten he had also called for Xiao Wenyao; he began to cultivate affection with Zhou Youyou directly. Although Zhou Youyou still remembered someone else had not come, she did not dare to say much.

A quarter of an hour later.

After bathing, Xiao Wenyao headed to the northern courtyard. Upon arrival, she quietly asked a maid there, "The Prince hasn't arrived yet, has he?"

The maid replied, "Replying to Lady Xiao, the Prince has already been here for a while."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Wenyao's heart skipped a beat. Was she late?

Would the Prince be angry with her later?

With a heart filled with trepidation, Xiao Wenyao still went towards Zhou Youyou's room, and only after entering did she hear faint sounds.

Xiao Wenyao's concern deepened; she really was late.

This was trouble! Being late meant facing punishment.

Since matters were being attended to inside, she didn't feel it was right to just barge in.

She couldn't knock either, could she? Wouldn't that disturb the Prince?

As Xiao Wenyao was pondering what to do, Lu Chen's voice came from inside, "Yaoyao, why are you standing at the door? Come in."

Hearing Lu Chen's voice, Xiao Wenyao still hesitated for a moment before softly pushing the door open.

Just as she was about to speak, a force pulled her in, dragged her onto the bed, and the door slammed shut behind her.

Xiao Wenyao lay on the bed, stunned. Lu Chen and Zhou Youyou were not on the couch; instead, Lu Chen was with Zhou Youyou near the table...

Seeing what was happening, Xiao Wenyao didn't dare to speak. She quietly took off her shoes and lay alone on the bedchamber.

She thought to herself that as long as she didn't speak, the Prince's attention wouldn't be on her later.

However, in the next moment, Lu Chen appeared before her. He said with a smile, "Yaoyao, you maligned me in the courtyard today. Let's see how I'll punish you tonight!"

Xiao Wenyao's delicate body trembled as she weakly said, "My Prince, your servant knows her mistake..."

Before Xiao Wenyao could finish, Lu Chen kissed her red lips, and Xiao Wenyao was sternly reprimanded.

Seeing Xiao Wenyao being taken care of, Zhou Youyou, who was resting nearby, didn't dare to breathe a word. She thought to herself that she must never anger the Prince in the future; the Prince's anger was truly frightening.

...

Half a month later.

The Great Wu court.

These past few days, there'd been rumors throughout the Capital city saying that the North Country had proposed for Great Wu to send a hostage to their lands.

Initially, the ministers of Great Wu, upon hearing this news, all presented memorials expressing opposition.

Even though they had been defeated, the Great Wu dynasty was still a dynasty. How could a dynasty send a hostage to a feudal state within another dynasty? Wouldn't Great Wu become a laughingstock among the major dynasties from then on?

Just as the ministers were filled with righteous indignation, more rumors spread that the North Country had chosen Princess Junwan as the hostage. This made the ministers in the court extremely pleased, and they resubmitted memorials to the Martial Emperor, stating that Great Wu should agree to this condition from the North Country.

Now, the Martial Emperor's desk was piled with two kinds of memorials from the same ministers; one set opposing the sending of hostages to the North Country, and another set supporting the idea of sending Princess Junwan to the North Country as a hostage. It made those ministers seem as if they had split personalities.

The Martial Emperor, sitting on the Dragon Throne, eyed the ministers below with a piercing gaze, as if he wished to kill them on the spot.

The assembled ministers kept their heads low, not daring to utter a word.

After a long pause, the Martial Emperor spoke, "Have all my beloved ministers recently been stricken with amnesia?"

"First you submit memorials insisting that I must not agree to send a hostage to the North Country. Now, these past few days you've been sending memorials urging me to send Princess Junwan to the North Country as a hostage!"

"Who can explain to me how your attitudes have changed so drastically in such a short time?"

As the Martial Emperor's voice fell, the ministers dared not speak. However, at that moment, Chai Jiliang stood up. Despite being demoted, he still had access to the court; he had not been expelled from the center of power.

Chai Jiliang was a man of action, and even though he had been demoted by the Martial Emperor, the latter could not directly banish Chai from the imperial city. If Chai, the man of action, were to be forced out, the ensuing troubles would likely be too much for anyone else to handle.

Seeing Chai Jiliang step forward, before he could say anything, the Martial Emperor directly asked, "What does the honorable Chai have to say?"

Chai Jiliang immediately knelt on the floor and said, "Your Majesty, Princess Junwan is delicately constituted. It would be utterly improper to send her to the bitterly cold lands of the North to be a hostage!"

Hearing Chai's words, the ministers from the Imperial Prince Faction were displeased. What did he mean by 'delicately constituted'?

Princess Junwan was the only one among the Martial Emperor's children to have broken through to the Master Realm. The other princes hadn't even reached the eighth level of the Realm, let alone the Master Realm. If anyone was 'delicately constituted', it was those princes. She, as a Grandmaster, was very robust.

The entire court knew why Chai Jiliang didn't want Junwan to go to the North Country as a hostage. He fancied the Princess, and since he was already part of the Junwan faction, naturally he did not wish for Junwan to become a hostage in the North Country.