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Chapter 619 Harmony
This time, Lu Qing was right.

Only two days had passed since that secret letter, and new information had already emerged.

This news is even more attention-grabbing than the previous one.

After the news of Lu Zhang's demotion to the border spread, before Lu Zhang could even set off, the King of Jie had already received the news and sent a memorial to the capital. The gist of the memorial was that the reason why the King of Jie agreed to send his only precious daughter to Jin Kingdom to receive a marriage decree was on the condition that the Emperor of Jin would promise to marry his daughter to his most favored son.

King Jie was already enduring the pain of missing his daughter when he traveled a long way to marry her off. He never expected that in such a short time, Lu Zhang would lose his glory and be sent to guard the border. This was clearly inconsistent with the previous agreement.

Moreover, he had already heard in the Jie Kingdom that when Emperor Jin demoted Prince Xiaoyao to a commoner, he even offered to allow Prince Shuo's daughter to divorce Prince Xiaoyao.

Therefore, King Jie believed that his daughter should also be treated the same way, so he requested Emperor Jin to issue an edict to allow his daughter, Princess Yanshu, to divorce Lu Zhang, just as he had done with King Shuo's daughter. He also promised to send someone to the capital as soon as possible to bring his daughter back.

As for the many dowries that were brought along when the marriage was arranged, he could leave them to Lu Zhang and not let Yan Shu take them back to the Jie Kingdom.

Unexpectedly, after reading the memorial, Emperor Jin rejected it without saying a word.

Emperor Jin's reasoning was that Yan Shu's situation was different from Zhu Yu's. Lu Qing had been demoted to a commoner. When he bestowed the marriage, it was agreed that the daughter of the Prince of Shuo would marry the Prince of Xiaoyao. Since Lu Qing was no longer the Prince of Xiaoyao, if the Prince of Shuo was unwilling to acknowledge the marriage and Zhu Yu was unwilling to continue following Lu Qing, then there was a reason for them to divorce.

Although Lu Zhang went from living a life of luxury and comfort in the capital to being sent to guard the border, where he might face some hardships, this did not change the fact that he was still a prince and the Prince Yi. Neither his title nor his status had changed.

When the marriage was arranged, Emperor Jin did not promise that the Princess of Jie would stay in the capital with Lu Zhang and live a life of luxury forever. Lu Zhang's dispatch to guard the border shows that he was deeply trusted by his father and could not be regarded as being unappreciated.

Therefore, Lu Zhang's current marriage is the same as when he got married, and it does not contradict the promise he initially made to the King of Jie. There is no reason to take it back, and it is impossible for him to casually agree to a divorce.

Otherwise, if any reason could be found to invalidate the marriage decree, wouldn't that be treating the imperial edict as a piece of waste paper?
Emperor Jin's decisive response displeased the King of Jie, who immediately sent another envoy to the capital. This time, the envoy's tone and attitude were somewhat less polite, and he threatened Emperor Jin, saying that it would be best if the marriage between Lu Zhang and Yan Shu could be dissolved peacefully, but if the King of Jie refused to send his precious daughter back, Emperor Jin should be prepared for any consequences.

This is already a fairly blatant threat.

Emperor Jin had always been wary of the Jie Kingdom, and now, seeing the Jie King's increasingly presumptuous attitude, he flew into a rage and ordered the envoy sent by the Jie King to be dragged away and beheaded.

Upon seeing this, the court officials quickly spoke up to dissuade him, because no matter how disrespectful the King of Jie's attitude was, they could not simply behead the person he sent to deliver the message.

As the saying goes, even in war, one should not harm an envoy. Now, the King of Jie is already emotional, and this could easily shatter the carefully constructed facade of peace. Some even advised that the Jie people are brave and skilled in battle, and there's no need to insist on such a marriage, a matter of face. They suggested doing a favor by letting the Jie princess divorce the King of Yi, thus avoiding offending the Jie people and giving the King of Yi a better wife than the uncouth Jie woman.

However, it was clear that none of these words of advice resonated with Emperor Jin. Instead, they only made him angrier and angrier. In the end, he was so angry that he fainted and it took him a long time to recover before he vomited blood.

After that, Emperor Jin did not attend court for two consecutive days. It was not until this secret letter was sent out that Emperor Jin, still recovering from his illness, summoned a few senior officials to the Southern Study for a private audience. He still did not have the energy to attend court normally in the morning.

On the other hand, since those people in the court that day ultimately failed to persuade Emperor Jin to change his mind, the envoy sent by the King of Jie was still beheaded.

This news should reach Jiedi soon. As for how Jiedi will react, it is unknown at the moment. However, it is rumored that there are often horses moving around on the border of Jiedi, but the other side has not crossed the border or seen any large army gathering. Therefore, the garrison on the Jin Kingdom side can't do anything but watch and keep a close eye on things.

Such an event may not have a significant impact on the capital, but it is unsettling for the people living in the border areas. Panic ensued, and all sorts of rumors circulated among the people.

After sending that secret letter, they received no further news until they crossed the border between Jin and Lan and entered Lan territory.

After traveling day and night, their pace slowed down shortly after entering Lan Land.

Apart from the area bordering Jin Kingdom, where the climate is quite similar to that of Jin Kingdom, the deeper one goes into Lan Land, the more different the climate becomes. There are more mountains around, the trees become much denser, and even the grass on the ground becomes much thicker.

Lan Di is always hot and humid, and the four of them suffered a lot during their journey over mountains and valleys. In addition to the pervasive moisture in the forest, there were also all kinds of snakes, insects, and rodents.

So even though the moisture made their clothes very damp, sticking to their bodies, making them feel stuffy and hot, and extremely uncomfortable, they couldn't loosen or take them off even a little bit, otherwise they would attract all kinds of insects and even poisonous snakes in the forest.

The thick grass on the ground became extremely slippery due to the moisture, making it easy to slip and fall, which forced them to slow down their pace.

At night, the group could only find a sheltered spot, light a fire, and barely dry their clothes to make themselves a little more comfortable.

Fortunately, there were no ferocious wild beasts in Lan Di, so apart from the arduous journey, there were no other dangers.

Zhu Yu felt somewhat fortunate, because ever since she decided to go out with Lu Qing, she had been doing some physical exercises and practicing some self-defense moves under his guidance, and her physical fitness was much better than when she first arrived here.

Otherwise, they might not be able to withstand the "steaming and baking" process day after day.