This was not because Wei Changying pretended to be indifferent, but she was really not happy. Because imperial edict of the marriage between Princess Linchuan and Gu Wei, the son of the Gu Family in Hongzhou, had been given.

Along with the imperial edict of the marriage, the imperial message to the top nine imperial guards was also given.

This imperial edict should have come down at the beginning of spring this year. But it was only because Princess Linchuan decided to get married, and the imperial guards were among the candidates for the Emperor's son-in-law so that this message was delayed. The imperial edict ordered Shen Cangfeng and other nine men, the top ten winners of New Year's Eve's military performance last year, immediately went to the frontier to serve in the army for three years. This excluded Gu Wei, who was selected as the Emperor's son-in-law.

The point was that in these three years, any effort could be equivalent to three efforts.

Three years later, their efforts would be checked together and they could return to the capital to be rewarded based on their merits.

After the victory of the north of Fengzhou, His Majesty learned that this greatest victory in the history of the Great Vi over the alien race in the past decade or more was created by Song Duan, a young member of the Song Family in Jiangnan. His Majesty praised under great pleasure that "sure enough heroes are often young people." Later, Song Duan was supposed to be summoned to the capital to have an audience with the Emperor. However, this "Young Hero" made northern tribes deeply afraid. He and his father, Song Han, were both assassinated by the northern tribes...

While His Majesty felt sorry and disappointed, he saw that the imperial guards were all heroic. He then suddenly asked the man who reported the victory, "Comparing with Song Duan, how are my imperial guards?"

The imperial guards were all the children of the gentlefolks and the aristocrats, who were cultivated by their families. Therefore, they were arranged to the place that was close to the Emperor. Although the man who sent the message of the victory was ordered by Wei Qi to praise Song Duan, he did not lose his head. He naturally replied, "Song Duan can be called as a young talent, but how can any ordinary birds be on the side of the Phoenix? The people near His Majesty are all far better than Song Duan."

So His Majesty felt that the reason why there was only one great victory, which took place in Fengzhou, in the country was that all the talents had been kept close to him. As a result, it gave rise to the idea of sending young talents around to garrison the frontier to invigorate the national prestige of the Great Vi.

It was just that the elders of these imperial guards had brought the highly valued children in the families to the place near the Emperor in order to make it easier for them to have a bright future. However, now His Majesty was going to send all these people to the frontier. As soon as His Majesty was pleased, he would choose a group of new imperial guards to serve him and forgot about the previous ones. What about the future of these children who had already been cultivated?

So all the elders in these families had come forward one after another to advise the Emperor. Wei Changying didn't know the details in this. In a word, His Majesty might be too eager for victories, maybe he was confused, maybe he made the decision on a whim, or maybe he had his own judgment... In any case, this opportunity to return to Beijing for rapid promotion after three years in the border area was fought to the death by all families at New Year's Eve's martial arts performance last year.

Finally, according to the ranking of New Year's Eve last year, the people who got the ten seats were Shen Cangfeng of the Shen Family in Western Liang, Gu Yiran of the Gu Family in the capital, Duanmu Wuyou of the Jinxiu Duanmu, Gu Wei of the Gu Family in Hongzhou, Deng Zongqi of the Deng Family in Rong City, Su Yuwu of the Su Family in Qingzhou, Liu Youzhao of the Liu Family in Eastern Hu, Qian Lian of the Qian Family in Xinghe, Gu Xi'nian of the Gu Family in the capital, and Pei Kai of the Pei Family in Youzhou.

Gu Wei was about to marry Princess Linchuan. His Majesty loved the Princess. He was not willing to let his daughter leave the capital, or he could not bear to see Princess Linchuan separate from her husband right after getting married. Thus, he directly promoted Gu Wei so that he could accompany the Princess in the capital.

The remaining nine people did not get such a good fortune. They still had to go to the border according to the plan of His Majesty and came back three years later with meritorious service before they could seek the official posts and receive the reward. At the same time, they could also prove His Majesty's wisdom.

As for the border area, the western and northern borders of the Great Vi were now stationed by the Shen Family and the Liu Family respectively. These two families have been fighting off and on with the Di people and the northern tribes for more than ten years. The whereabouts of Shen Cangfeng and Liu Youzhao would be known without asking.

The rest were assigned to two places. Gu Yiran, Deng Zongqi, Gu Xinian, and Shen Cangfeng would go to Western Liang; Duanmu Wuyou, Su Yuwu, Qian Lian, Pei Kai, and Liu Youzhao would go to Eastern Hu.

After knowing this division method at first, Wei Changying was very surprised, "You only regulate the western and northern tribes? What about the bandits in the country?"

Shen Cangfeng said with a smile, "All the officers said that bandits can be wiped out by the state and county governors themselves. Compared with the alien trouble in the border areas, bandits are only a trivial matter."

Wei Changying could not help but say, "Although I am a woman, I don't know anything about military affairs. However, on my way from Fengzhou to the capital, from what I saw and heard, I know that many bandits were also the original common people. Because they had no food and clothing, they had no choice but to become bandits, and many fertile lands could not stand the exploitation of cruel officials and had to be abandoned. This is the case in the country. So I'm afraid it won't be good if we don't suppress the bandits and pacify them."

"Don't say that outside." Although Shen Cangfeng spoke gently, he looked very solemn, "His Majesty does not like to hear such words. What's more, bandits are everywhere in the country, and it will take a long time and people will receive the least merits to wipe them out. So who will be willing to do it?"

Wei Changying bit her lip and was speechless: Before, His Majesty wanted to send the imperial guards to the border to serve, yet he was discouraged by the gentlefolks. When His Majesty promised to triple the merits, the families began to compete again. His Majesty did not like to hear that there were many bandits in the country, but he liked the good news against the foreign race. The people below would always try to cater to the interest of the ones above them. Although the common people couldn't make a living these days, the gentlefolks were still rich in clothes and food. Naturally, they would send their children wherever His Majesty liked.

As for the plight of the common people below, it would be rare for the important officials who lived in the buildings of the deep courtyard to see it with their own eyes. Even if they did see, there would be state governors who could be passed the buck or blame.

However, no matter how sorry she was for the displaced commoners she saw on the way to the capital, Wei Changying could not ask Shen Cangfeng to give up his bright future of going to Western Liang to build meritorious service and turn to suppress the bandits in the country. It could be seen that Shen Xuan must have made great efforts to contribute to the idea of the so-called tripling of merit, only considering the merit related to Di and Rong tribes.

This time, the imperial guards went to the border to serve. While it seemed that there were nine people, excluding the Emperor's son-in-law Gu Wei. But in fact, it could be said that there were only two people.

They were Shen Cangfeng and Liu Youzhao.

After all, they were heading to Western Liang and Eastern Hu. No matter which of these nine people had done meritorious service, the big merits must be taken by Shen Cangfeng and Liu Youzhao. The Shen Family and Liu Family ate meat and other families drank the soup. From His Majesty's point of view, this was to send the talented people around to invigorate the national prestige. But in the view of the gentlefolks, it was an excellent opportunity to cultivate their children. And after they persuaded His Majesty together, they shared this opportunity decisively with each other.

Because of the infighting in the Liu Family, Liu Xisun, who was originally highly expected, did not get this opportunity. The Liu Family had to let Liu Youzhao take the place.

And in the Shen Family, because of the brotherly affection between Shen Xuan and Shen Zhou, they united to cultivate Shen Cangfeng. This made Shen Cangfeng smoothly occupied the leading position and firmly seized the opportunity to rise to a higher position quickly.

Speaking of Shen Xuan and Shen Zhou, they were still in their prime. The reason why Shen Cangfeng was decided so early to take charge of Mingpei Hall was to establish prestige and fame for him as soon as possible. This great opportunity this time would cost an unknown amount of painstaking effort for Shen Xuan and Shen Zhou. These two brothers joined hands against other officers to get it. Who dared to stop it? Not to mention his wife, even Madam Su, Shen Xuan would certainly not forgive easily.

What was more, Wei Changying was not willing to sacrifice her husband's future. This country was His Majesty's country, not the country of the Shen Family. If His Majesty did not care about the life or death of the common people, how much could others control it even if they tried to manage it?

She was stunned for a while, suppressed all the sadness into her heart, and asked, "When are you leaving?"

"I'm about to leave these two days." Knowing that she was reluctant to leave him, Shen Cangfeng stretched out his finger, swept her sideburns, and comforted her, saying, "Don't worry, we are both young, and three years will pass very quickly. When I come back, even if I leave the capital again, I can bring you along with me."

Wei Changying could not help but ask, "Can't you take me with you this time?" She felt a little embarrassed when she asked this, and her cheeks were blushed. She looked at the flower arrangement in the porcelain vase not far away and whispered, "Ah, I have never been to West Liang, and I am curious about it..."

Shen Cangfeng smiled, pinched her cheek, and said, "There is no one else here. Are you still embarrassed to say that you don't want to leave me?" Then he said, "It's cold and bitter in West Liang, and I'm afraid you can't adapt to the climate there. What's more, my father thought it would be better to go alone this time. After all, the Di tribes went out and plundered everywhere. I'm afraid that I would not have a fixed place to live when I get there. Even if you go to West Liang, you'll probably be in your mansion. Not to mention that you may not be able to see me, you are not familiar with the relatives of the collateral branches there. You might as well stay in the capital."

Wei Changying also heard Madam Su mentioned that although the Shen Family had only one clan title, Mingpei Hall, the collateral branches had a different heart. At that time, because Shen Cangfeng's grandparents passed early, leaving only Shen Xuan and Shen Zhou, the two brothers supported each other and took great care to stabilize the position of Family Head for some years.

It was conceivable that the Shen Family in Western Liang would not have a good relationship with Grand Preceptor and Count Xiangning in the capital.

In addition to this, Western Liang was very cold so that it would be better for Wei Changying to stay in the capital.

"Who doesn't want to leave you?" Wei Changying felt sorry, took a supercilious look at him, but snuggled up into his arms and hummed, "I mean, you will be gone for three years. And after three years, how many sisters you'll bring back for me? Maybe someone will call me mother when you get back? Huh?"

While she spoke, she outstretched her arms around his waist.

Shen Cangfeng held her in one hand and played the gong tao belt hanging from her lapel with the other hand. He seemed to smile and said, "Well, I thought Ying'er is emotional because of not wanting to leave me. But it turns out to be jealous for fear that I will take concubines in West Liang?"

He then teased her, "Or will you accompany me right now so that I will be thinking of you and despise the women in West Liang?" When he said that, he became to put his hand on Wei Changying's body.

"As a matter of fact, you will be there for three years so it doesn't matter if you have several people to serve you." Wei Changying turned her eyes and looked up at him.

Shen Cangfeng was stupefied, subconsciously stopped the action, and then said with a smile, "Last time on Spring Grass Lake, the lotus-picking girls teased me for a few words, yet Ying'er couldn't stand it. How could you be so generous now?"

"I have always been very generous! But how can those lotus-picking girls be worthy of my husband?" Wei Changying said sweetly, "Husband, don't you think so?"

"In this way, if the woman who teases your husband is born beautiful, Ying'er will not care about it?" Shen Cangfeng attached to her ear and said in a hoarse voice. And he took advantage of the opportunity to kiss behind her ear.

Wei Changying allowed his action, smiled, and said, "Of course. Husband, you are born handsome and elegant. It's unknown how many women in the boudoir adore you, let alone those women of humble origins. If they are not outstandingly beautiful, how can they be assigned to you to be the concubines? In the past, those lotus-picking girls were poor in beauty. If they were taken as concubines by you, they would disgrace you when the news spread..."

"What Ying'er said makes a lot of sense." Shen Cangfeng suddenly raised his head and said with a straight face, "But I have no choice but to have a heart tied to you, and I really have no intention to take a concubine."

Wei Changying looked at him sideways and said in disbelief, "You won't take any concubine?"

"No. Absolutely not!" Shen Cangfeng said definitely!

Wei Changying sighed, reached out and caressed his face, and said affectionately, "Husband, is this too much for you?"

"We are a couple. Why do we speak so politely?" Shen Cangfeng also looked at her affectionately and said sincerely, "As for my affection to Ying'er, the heaven and the earth can see it, and the sun and the moon can be the witnesses. I will stay in Western Liang for only three years, how can I change my heart? Ying'er really looks down on me! As the saying goes, 'No water's wide enough when you have crossed the sea; No cloud is beautiful when you have seen the cloud in Wu Mountain'. Since I saw you, I can no longer let another person go into my heart!"

"Your words moved me so much!" Wei Changying continued to caress his face with tenderness in her eyes.

Shen Cangfeng said seriously, "Ying'er!"

"Huh?" Wei Changying blinked her eyes and looked innocent.

So Shen Cangfeng flattered, "Since Ying'er is so moved, then… Can you take off the hairpin that has been pointing at the back of your husband's heart since just now?"