The court fell silent. No one spoke first.
After a long silence, the Empress's elder brother, Marquis Chengen Zhou Xian, stepped forward to break the deadlock.
The Empress had borne only one legitimate princess, Shuning Princess. She was eighteen, just of marriageable age. Naturally, Zhou Xian was unwilling to send his niece to her death.
"Your Majesty." Zhou Xian spoke with righteous severity.
"Northern Liang is remote and desolate, its conditions harsh. Shuning Princess has been frail since childhood. I fear she would not endure that climate."
"This minister believes a princess in good health and with a resilient temperament should be chosen to go."
What Zhou Xian meant was clear: do not pick my niece—pick someone else.
Zhao Mingyuan, the younger brother of Consort Li and a Ministry of Rites official, immediately took up the words.
"Marquis Chengen speaks reasonably. This minister has heard that Princess Yuping, born of Consort Shu, is fifteen years old, healthy and strong, and skilled in riding and archery. She is precisely the best candidate for a marriage alliance!"
The officials of Consort Li's faction immediately exploded.
"Zhao Mingyuan, what do you mean? Princess Yuping is a golden branch and jade leaf. How can she be sent to such a land of tigers and wolves?"
"Consort Shu's princess cannot go, but Consort Li's princess can? What sort of scheme are you harboring?"
Quite a few officials stood to the side, watching the others fight like dogs biting dogs.
Someone muttered quietly, "They usually put on such dignified faces, but at the crucial moment, none of them is willing to suffer a loss."
"Exactly. Sending their daughters for a marriage alliance would hurt them more than killing them."
"But the princesses are not their daughters. They are His Majesty's daughters. Of course they do not