Li Ming, who thought he had connected all the dots, was very pleased. He felt that tying a peerless statesman like Wang Yue to Great Xia's cause through a princess was well worth it.
After all, Great Xia's princesses had always met tragic ends. Take Princess Yunyan, the current emperor's younger sister. She had been sent to the Northern Kingdom for a political marriage and died there the following year.
Yet among the entire court, only the current emperor, Li Ming, had been even slightly saddened. The rest of the court had considered her death insignificant.
That was why Li Ming was so determined to launch a northern campaign. On the one hand, he wanted to unify the realm; on the other, it was also a kind of revenge.
Unfortunately, the aristocratic families did not support him, so his dream of a northern campaign remained just a dream.
Li Ming felt that marrying his biological daughter, Li Rong, to Wang Yue, a nobody of unknown origins, was a little unfair to her. Still, compared with sending her off for a political marriage, it was an enormous favor. He felt no guilt whatsoever.
So Li Ming, entirely free of any misgivings, said excitedly, "In view of Lord Wang's merit in recommending those crops, I grant my approval!"
When Li Chuan saw that Imperial Father had agreed, he felt relieved. He thought that his sister had finally escaped this cage.
He no longer had to worry that one day she might end up like his aunt, sent off for a political marriage and never to return.
But Li Ming realized that if he did not deliver the decree in person, it might never reach the mountain. Worried that something might go wrong, he hurriedly said, "Imperial Father, on my way back, I