Chapter 1085: A Princess Wedding Show |
Ying Yue had flown on airplanes twice before, both times in Qin Country. At that time, she flew on the DC-3, which is the famous C-47 transport plane. The performance of this type of aircraft was actually quite good, and it remained the main transport aircraft in Europe and America after World War II.
However, the Great Tang Empire had a better alternative: the C-130 transport aircraft. Even though this aircraft didn’t offer a qualitative improvement in comfort, it did have significant enhancements in safety and transport capabilities.
The C-130 transport plane that Ying Yue was on had been modified for passenger transport, with relatively comfortable seats installed, but it was still not a particularly comfortable choice overall.
In fact, the Great Tang Empire was now experimenting with the production of a brand new type of passenger plane on Dragon Island: Jet airliners. Their advent could completely change the air transportation landscape and make flying a comfortable pleasure.
Tang Mo had had enough of the noisy and bumpy airplane riding experience, so he was eager to produce a qualified jet airliner to make flying more pleasant and safe.
That day, Ying Yue arrived in Chang’an, and she regretted that because she flew there, she didn’t get to see Chang’an City’s train station right away.
However, she did see Chang’an City’s International Airport: The size of the airport took Ying Yue by surprise, as it was her first time seeing such a massive airport.
Parked on one side, the DC-3 and C-130 transport planes numbered in the hundreds, and many of the civilian airplanes were painted with different patterns and colors, making for a beautiful sight.
These planes came from many countries and different companies, some were from the Great Tang Group transportation company, others from civil aviation, including those from Chu Country, and there were even planes from the Dahua Empire.
This time, she was received by Imperial Chancellor Roger, who was much younger than Ying Yue had estimated, and also very amiable.
Roger briefly explained the situation and introduced the wedding preparation process: Ying Yue would have to stay in Tang Country for a while, waiting for all the necessary preparations to be completed on this side before holding the ceremony to complete this marriage alliance between the two countries.
During this process, Ying Yue would stay in a royal villa especially prepared for her in the suburbs of Chang’an, to learn some of the “court etiquette” of the Tang Country’s Royal Family and some language habits of Tang Country.
Since Tang Country’s court held no particular etiquette, learning etiquette meant adapting to the living pace of Tang Country’s Royal Family, changing previous habits to more easily integrate into Tang Mo’s big family.
Language habits were much more important than Tang Country’s etiquette, and this aspect indeed needed some time to learn. For example, in the Great Tang Empire, subjects were addressed with their official titles as suffixes, while in other countries, ‘Your Excellency’ was the common ending, which was clearly different.
Of course, the title “Your Excellency” was still used, such as when the other party held no official position and was simply nobility or a merchant; then subordinates would still address them as Your Excellency or Mister.
All this required time to get used to, but Ying Yue was quite interested in it so she did not find it boring. As soon as she arrived at the villa, Ying Yue received many gifts, all of which were very valuable.
The three Imperial Concubines had all given generous gifts, and His Majesty The Emperor had personally ordered the delivery of a gift of very high standard. Additionally, the villa had arranged for sufficient staff, even the chefs were very comprehensive, allowing Ying Yue to experience what is truly the world’s number one cuisine.
Frankly speaking, whether it was clothes, food, accommodations, or transport, as well as culture and technology, the Great Tang Empire truly deserved to be called the center of the world. Here, Ying Yue saw many new and strange things she had never seen before, and also somewhat understood why Nangong Hong would say that becoming an Imperial Concubine in the Great Tang Empire was already a good thing.
The life she was now enjoying, compared to that in Qin Country, was really much better. She hadn’t even become the Imperial Concubine of the Great Tang Empire yet, but her luxury had already far exceeded that of her own father, the Emperor.
Before meeting Ying Yue, as Tang Mo was dealing with government affairs in his office, he suddenly asked Imperial Chancellor Roger, who was reporting to him, “Did Ying Yue bring a map of Qin Country? Is this what they call the so-called outward-looking nature of a girl?”
Roger, being a senior, laughed at Tang Mo’s question and explained, “Pretty much, but we don’t really need this map anymore; its accuracy is too low, far inferior to the ones we use.”
He actually had a good impression of Ying Yue. As the close friend of Tang Mo’s father, Roger hoped Tang Mo would marry more wives and have more children.
Ying Yue was evidently a fine young woman: She was beautiful and dignified, came from a distinguished family, and in terms of status and position, was much better off than the current three concubines of the Empire. Seeing his friend’s son marrying so many outstanding wives, Roger naturally was pleased.
However, concerning the gift of the map, Roger indeed found Ying Yue’s actions amusing: “Besides, it didn’t have any military deployment markings on it, not as detailed as the photos taken by our satellites.”
What he didn’t know was that this was actually a glorious tradition on the Western Continent: back when the Great Zhou Empire had not yet perished, a princess of the Great Zhou Empire married a prince from Dahua Kingdom, and brought several talents she had found to Dahua as part of her dowry.
It was these very dowry servants who later became Dahua Empire’s aid in its rise, eventually helping the Dahua Empire to bring down the Great Zhou Empire and take its place…
Later on, when the Dahua Empire gave a princess in marriage to and allied with Shu Country, that princess directly brought important intelligence about the Dahua Empire’s southern campaign against Shu Country, allowing Shu Country to be prepared and thwarting the Dahua Empire’s attempt at southern conquest.
The result of this led to the complete collapse of Dahua Empire’s strategy to unify the Western Continent, indirectly allowing Qin Country to rise, and the Dahua Empire’s ruler of rejuvenation fell ill, from then on Dahua Empire lost its only chance to unify the Western Continent.
In short, on the Western Continent, marrying off a princess is not a good omen, so there were very few instances of such princess diplomacy. The King of Qin, Qin Duo, had refused several previous marriage alliances, part out of favoritism for the princess, and partly due to such considerations.
Although Roger was not familiar with the “princess diplomacy anecdotes” of the Western Continent, he still felt that a princess who could consider the interests of the Great Tang Empire was a good princess: “But after all, this shows an attitude, indicating that this Princess Ying Yue is clear about her own stance, and that is still very important.”
"Guess what, with the King of Qin’s astuteness, does he know about this map or not?” Tang Mo looked towards the Imperial Security Bureau Director Li’ao on the other side.
Li’ao frankly analyzed, “He probably knows, the skills of a princess certainly can’t outmatch those of an old fox like the King of Qin.”
"Then I won’t take advantage of this trivial matter, as if our Great Tang Empire still needs to rely on a woman stealing something.” Tang Mo nodded, and then looked at Roger, expressing his thoughts: “Someone, take the latest military map of Qin Territory that we are using and send it to my father-in-law Old Taishan, after all, it is right to share good things, isn’t it?”
Li’ao found this interesting upon hearing it, cracking a smile and laughing, “Hahaha! Your Majesty is wise!”
"Long live His Majesty!” Roger also bowed and said.
…
In the King City of Wuyang, the King of Qin, Qin Duo, was discussing matters regarding Ying Yue with a few of his trusted ministers. Just as Tang Mo had surmised, Qin Duo indeed knew about Ying Yue secretly taking a map of Qin Country with her.
Old King Qin sat on his throne, lamenting in solitude, “This child is just like her mother. When her mother married from Dahua Empire to our Qin Country, she also hid a map of the Dahua Empire… That map I still keep, drawn on a sheepskin, every time I look at it I think of that kind woman.”
He indeed had loved that Princess Consort, and the affection between them had always been good. Unfortunately, the Princess Consort passed away early, leaving only this daughter to Qin Duo.
It was precisely because of this “glorious tradition” of the Dahua princess that Qin Duo turned a blind eye for his daughter—of course, the real reason was that the map Ying Yue took wasn’t that important.
Since it’s a tradition for princesses to marry out, how could the countries not be especially on guard against such things? The fact that it still occurs frequently despite precautions speaks volumes.
In fact, the act is more for show than of actual significance: while the first few instances may have had a profound impact, later on it was basically a small maneuver to elevate one’s own daughters’ status in their husband’s home.
Turning a blind eye, letting one’s own daughters or sisters take some inconsequential intelligence with them when they marry out, in exchange for a higher status in their new family, or to improve their own condition.
A minister, somewhat concerned, asked, “But, Your Majesty… Are you really okay with allowing Her Highness the Princess to take our map of Qin Country with her?”
The King of Qin explained his intentions: “In reality, that map is outdated. Our latest strategic deployments, factory locations, and fortress construction are not recorded on that map. Moreover, Qin Country doesn’t share a border with the Great Tang Empire, even if they knew our deployments, what could they do?”
"In three to five years, this place will have changed, and that map would be of no use.” He said with certainty.
"What Your Majesty has said is very true, it seems I was overthinking,” the minister was actually just asking the question to set off their king’s illustrious and valiant image with his own foolishness.
The King of Qin also used the pedestal provided by the minister, offering some explanation for his own maneuvers: “Actually, it’s also because technology has been advancing rapidly. The previous maps are clearly outdated, and we are currently redrawing new maps with a much higher precision than the old ones.”
What he relied on was the latest surveying technology, which had greatly accelerated the updating and obsolescence of maps. Since the old maps would be outdated in a couple of years anyway, Ying Yue taking an old map was thus no big deal.