Logging into the Game World Early and Starting with a Royal Marriage to the Empress

The marquisate has stood firm for 600 years, relying on a continuous emergence of talents, each generation producing generals capable of commanding large armies.

Now, the world is divided into three parts: to the north of the Great Wu lies the Great Faith, to the west lies the Great Celebration, and to the east, the Eastern Wasteland is dominated by powerful demons with endless mountain ranges.

To the south, the Southern Barbarians thrive with their strong witchcraft. The world is far from peaceful. With these external enemies, the marquisate does not need to constantly cater to the emperor to gain his favor.

On the contrary, the royal family often seeks to win over the marquisate. Every year, during festivals, the palace bestows rewards. This time, the marriage of a princess is the most obvious signal.

And Xia Chen… He has never been one to be content with living in the shadow of others for long. If he were truly to become engaged to the future empress, he would be somewhat restricted during the coup in five years.

“Do you not wish to marry the princess?”

Cui Mengrou gazed at Xia Chen softly, her eyes flowing with the natural charm of a mature beauty.

“No!” Xia Chen replied resolutely, without a moment’s hesitation.

“There is no room for negotiation in this matter. At this point in time, the imperial edict should have already left the palace gates and is on its way to our marquisate,” Xia Qian sighed and shook his head.

The matter had long been decided; now it was merely a matter of stating the outcome.

Xia Chen was silent. He was well aware that many things had already been set in stone. With his current status, he had no right to participate in the decision-making process.

Yet, he was one of the main characters in this marriage, but he only found out after everything had been settled. Wasn’t that absurd and laughable?

“Originally, this marriage was not intended for you. The emperor had his eye on your younger brother. The envoy sent to the Eastern Wasteland was gently refused by your second brother. Only then did the main character of this marriage become you!” Cui Mengrou looked at the silent Xia Chen, pondered for a moment, and then slowly revealed the behind-the-scenes struggles of this marriage.

Xia Chen inquired carefully and only then learned that this marriage was originally supposed to be granted to his younger brother, Xia Hao.

However, his parents refused without hesitation, citing that Xia Hao was still young and should focus on martial arts and military strategy, and should not be distracted by marriage at an early age.

They then took the initiative to petition, stating various reasons such as Xia Chen being the eldest legitimate son and his age being close to that of the second princess.

After receiving this reply, Emperor Wen was silent for three days. Finally, this morning, the imperial edict was issued from the palace, agreeing to Xia Yuan’s petition and confirming this marriage.

Seeing Xia Chen’s calm expression, Cui Mengrou felt a pang of sympathy. Becoming a son-in-law of the emperor was a ladder to success for an ordinary person. However, for the children of a meritorious family like theirs, it was a kind of shackle.

Six hundred years ago, the Ling Emperor favored eunuchs and relied on maternal relatives, leading to the rebellion of the feudal lords and nearly overturning the empire. If it weren’t for Emperor Wu Zong’s revival, the empire would have long changed its surname.

After Emperor Wu Zong obtained the empire, he summarized the lessons learned and stipulated that from then on, maternal relatives should not interfere in politics or hold important positions. Although he did not completely eliminate the influence of maternal relatives, they were no longer favored. A hundred years ago, Emperor Su Zong began to re-employ maternal relatives to balance the government.

Nowadays, although the situation for maternal relatives is much better than before, they are still subject to many restrictions.

A son-in-law of the emperor is naturally considered a type of maternal relative. This is also the fundamental reason why Xia Yuan, facing the emperor’s intention to marry his younger son to a princess, preferred to offend the emperor rather than agree to the marriage between the princess and his younger son.

Marrying a princess means a hopeless future!

Xia Qian’s eyes showed a sigh. His nephew had already suffered a lot in fate. However, the emperor’s edict was irresistible, and someone had to be sent for the marriage alliance. If Xia Yuan and his wife did not want their younger son to be involved, then the eldest son had to step in.

“Although it is very unfair to Chen’er, he was born with a weak body. Although he has been diligently studying military strategy these years, his future in martial arts is limited.

Becoming a son-in-law of the emperor, with the support of our marquisate, he will have a life of wealth and honor without worries. Perhaps it is also a good thing,” Xia Qian thought to himself. Although emotionally, he had watched his nephew grow up and naturally felt closer to him than to the unfamiliar Xia Hao, he was the head of the family and had to consider the interests of the family more.

His second brother’s younger son, Xia Hao, was a talented young man who might achieve what their ancestor Xia Xuanzhen had done and become the leader of the family in the future. He should not be bound by the identity of a son-in-law of the emperor.

…

…

Although Xia Chen was indignant in his heart, his eyes were still calm, and he wore a smile on the corner of his mouth, calmly accepting everything.

He naturally knew the severity of the situation. His own parents, not wanting to affect the future of their younger son, finally remembered that they had an elder son in the capital and threw him out to defuse the seemingly conciliatory but actually disintegrating and suppressing offensive of Emperor Wen.

His marriage was nothing more than a product of compromise in the power struggle. As for his own thoughts and opinions, they were not important.

“Even the empress who dominated the four seas and eight desolates and dominated the world was used as a tool for political marriage before she came to power. Why can’t I accept it?”

Xia Chen was resilient and extremely optimistic inside. Thinking of this, he felt unblocked.

“And the person originally chosen did not want to marry her and was rejected. No wonder the history of the Emperor Wen period was so secretive. It’s really hard not to control one’s own destiny!”

While thinking, Xia Chen sighed in his heart. The last sentence was not clear whether it was said to the empress or to himself. At this moment, he was more determined to seize power!

In the front hall, Lvzhu walked in quickly but still gracefully.

“Master, madam, there are people from the palace, and it is Ye Gonggong himself leading the team. The scene is very grand.”

Xia Qian and Cui Mengrou looked at each other and both knew the purpose of the visit.

“Chen’er, go with us to welcome the envoy!”

Xia Chen quietly got up and followed the two to welcome his fate.

Xia Chen saw Ye Gonggong, whom Lvzhu had mentioned, outside the main gate of the marquisate. Ye Gonggong had white hair but looked youthful and ruddy.

Although he was a eunuch, he had his own charm, and no one dared to underestimate this gonggong.

“Ye Wuzheng, known as Ye Gonggong, has served three generations of monarchs and safely passed through the coup. In the empress’s time, he still guarded the palace, and his strength was unfathomable! He is the royal family’s heritage and a loyal servant of the emperor!”

These pieces of information flashed through Xia Chen’s mind spontaneously.

“This is the legitimate son of the Marquis of An Dong. He is indeed a talented person!”

Ye Gonggong looked at Xia Chen with a smile and congratulated him.

Seeing this gonggong, who would shine brightly in the coup in the future, Xia Chen respectfully bowed to him.

This surprised Ye Gonggong a little, but he quickly came to his senses, smiled and nodded at Xia Chen, and had a good first impression of this young man.

Although Xia Chen was the protagonist, some of the things that happened later actually had little to do with him. He just needed to make an appearance.

Ye Gonggong was welcomed into the marquisate, and then he took a bath and changed his clothes. Ye Gonggong read the imperial edict, and Xia Chen welcomed the edict. This marriage was officially confirmed.

After going through this set of procedures, Xia Chen was also confused. There were too many rules and etiquette that needed to be followed for a formal imperial edict.

Therefore, the so-called imperial edicts are mostly oral and middle edicts, without so many complicated ceremonies.

But this time it was different because it was a marriage granted to a princess. Both the marquisate and the palace must have a grand scale to show their place great importance on to both sides.

The whole process was busy until the afternoon. Holding the scroll with the dragon pattern, which was made of an unknown material, Xia Chen felt everything was like a dream.

He really became the fiancé of the empress, but could he really survive the coup and become the emperor’s husband?

Was Xia Chen’s death in the coup just an accident?

Thinking of these, he looked at his uncle and aunt walking in front and no longer hesitated. He quickened his pace and walked to the two people’s side.

“Uncle, I have broken through to the eighth rank of refining essence. I want to find a job to serve the country!”

Xia Chen took a deep breath and said firmly.

…

【“When the founding emperor was young, he was calm and reserved, with all his sharpness hidden. Among his fellow clan members, he did not show any outstanding talent. However, the empress of the Wu Dynasty, Yao Guang, who was still a princess at that time, was the only one who saw the hidden talent of the founding emperor. She believed that he had a surprising talent and would achieve great things in the future. At that time, Emperor Wen of the Wu Dynasty was just about to choose a son-in-law for Yao Guang. Yao Guang took the initiative to petition, and the founding emperor successfully became engaged to the empress of the Wu Dynasty.” ——《History of Xia》, Volume One, Chronicles of the Founding Emperor】