Thousand Miles of Bright Moonlight

Chapter 15: Finalize the Marriage

That one decisive, tragic battle preserved Chang'an, allowing Zhu shi to occupy the most strategic provinces in the Guanzhong plains.

　　Afterwards, Zhu shi became the emperor and peace prevailed in Guanzhong. But in other regions, different powers had long ago established themselves as kings, making the situation turbulent.

　　When the last emperor Zhu shi reigned, the world was in rebellion.

　　In the midst of the troubled times, the withered Xie family lost the their army. The family was full of widows with no one to rely on, and their power shrank to a mere county.

Reaching Xie Wuliang's generation, in the di lineage, only he and his younger sister, Xie Manyuan, were left to depend on each other.

　　Xie Wuliang wanted to follow the example of his ancestors to gallop into the frontier and recover the rivers and mountains, but he was prone to sickness since childhood, unable to draw a bow or ride a horse.

　　And Xie Manyuan was a girl.

　　Xie Wuliang took a different path and vigorously operated the Xie family properties. Relying on Jingnan's well-developed water system and carrying out trade with all the major powers, it soon helped the Xie family accumulate wealth that could rival the nation. He had also stocked up large quantities of foodstuffs during this period.

At the time, Wei County's General Li who had regained twenty-one cities in thirty battles, entered Xie Wuliang's line of sight.

　　The Xie family had money, had prestige, had provisions but lacked generals and lacked soldiers.

　　The Li family had generals, had soldiers but lacked provision, lacked money and lacked prestige.

　　Connecting the families of Li and Xie by marriage, Li Zhongqian was born.

　　Xie Wuliang knew his younger sister Xie Manyuan was simple and naive, so he had his nephew Li Zhongqian receive personal upbringing by his side.

　　The childhood Li Zhongqian was intelligent and resourceful, courteous and considerate. At a young age, his bearing was extraordinarily elegant, literacy was eloquent, martial arts able to raise the hundred pounds gold hammer.

　　Who in the Li clan did not praise Li Zhongqian?

　　It was because Li Zhongqian was naturally talented and intelligent, deeply favored by the elders of the Li clan, that there was a struggle for shizi.

　　At that time, even Li De could not make a choice between Li Xuanzhen and Li Zhongqian, and could only delay the conferring of shizi.

Later, when Tang shi died, Li De appointed Li Xuanzhen as shizi.

　　Xie Wuliang was so far-sighted that he immediately took away Li Zhongqian's pair of golden hammers, forbidding him from practicing martial arts, telling him to concentrate on his poetry and study. So that, in the future, he could become a wise wang who was loyal to the emperor and an official who loved the people.

　　"Hu Nu, you must by all means listen to Uncle's words. You have an evil destiny, too heavy in hostility. If you concentrate on studying poetry and books, you may be able to live safely until old age. But once you take up martial arts, you may not live past the age of 30."

　　"Hu Nu, you remember, do not engage in martial arts!"

　　Li Zhongqian made a heavy oath.

　　Three years later, the Xie family was exterminated.

　　Li Zhongqian followed Xie Wuliang's final wish and continued to painstakingly study hard.

　　It was not until Li Yaoying was five years old that he had to break the vow he had made in front of his uncle, abandoning literature for martial arts.