Ying Zheng and the prime minister stayed in Yong for a few days then they traveled to Xianyang to meet with King Zhaoxiang.
After 2 months Ying Zheng the prime minister and the army reached the capital city Qin state.
Nothing big or out of the ordinary happened.
Ying Zheng met with some nobles and ministers of the prime minister's faction.
Ying Zheng expected them to be stupid arrogant and look down on commoner startup like him but that was not the case at all. The nobles and ministers were all cordial and down-to-earth kind of people.
Not many of them were blinded by his flattery. Rather than saying it did not work it would be better to say it did work but not as well when he used on general Qing Huan and the nobles from the military.
Through this experience, Ying Zheng created ties with a lot of ministers nobles, and generals. All in all, it went mostly well.
Ying Zheng went to all kinds of parties and ceremonies during the three days he was waiting for King Zhaoxiang to meet him.
...
After three days finally, the day came Ying Zheng was Infront of the imperial court. He was a bit nervous but calmed down.
Ying Zheng found out that he was losing his cool since he left the military and that was very uncomfortable.
The meeting with king Zhaoxiang went according to plan or at least it went as Ying Zheng expected.
Ying Zheng was directly promoted to general now he had three positions above him great general of the army prime minister and of course King but that would all come in time or at least as long as King Zhaoxiang is still alive. Which would be around nine years to seven years.
'I need to become great general in two years and prime minister in seven years. Achieving great general will be easy prime minister will easier but King that would be hard since I need a royal bloodline or a decree from the heavens. But I need an entourage and followers I do not expect them to be loyal to me but hmph they will have to do for now.'
Ying Zheng left the imperial court with prime minister Zhang Lu and his other ministers and generals but suddenly one of them asked "general Ying when are you planning to leave Xianyang?"
Ying Zheng pretended to think for a moment and said "hmmm I guess around a month."
Hearing this almost everyone was shocked and as if they planned it together they stopped suddenly and asked loudly in unison "What a month?"
Seeing other factions staring at them prime minister Zhang Lu tried to solve the awkwardness of people staring at them by apologizing to them "sorry do excuse our lack of manners."
Hearing the prime minister apologizing the people around apologized and left and the ministers from his faction apologized for their lack of manners.
Finishing this Zhang Lu looked at Ying Zheng and said: "You are about to be married how can you leave your wife alone and considering how long a normal military campaign takes it would be safe to assume you will be gone for at least four months to five years."
Hearing the prime minister saying this the ministers started bootlicking him and started saying things like
"Yes, that is right Ying Zheng how could you leave your newly wedded wife behind?"
"Yes that is right I also agree how heartless of you"
"Ying Zheng how can you leave a beautiful woman behind just after a month."
Hearing this even Ying Zheng had to sigh and give way and asked the prime minister "Alright how can I be unfilial to my father-in-law? I will do as want. How long should I stay?"
Hearing this prime minister Zhang Lu was extremely happy that Ying Zheng was filial and willing to give way and decided not to go way overboard and said "How about this I am old and want to see my grandson. You can leave after two or three months after your wife is pregnant but you have to come back a month before your son is born."
Ying Zheng noticed how the prime minister said son instead of a child but it was not like he disagreed with it. Who would want a King whose first child was a daughter in fact Ying Zheng would kill the child himself if it was a daughter.
The Chinese fixation with picking an "auspicious" time for births is well known but there was also a time when it was culturally acceptable to dispose of a child,d especially a girl who was likely to bring bad luck on the family.
In traditional Chinese society, however, the concept that one's upbringing could be a cause for waywardness was dismissed, both by parents and other family members, as deeply unfilial. To acknowledge – much less accept – the key role that nurture plays implies inadequate parenting skills or dysfunctional family relationships. Any poor fit that developed between child and family, therefore, must have been the fault of both child – as a soul reborn – and the universe; the actions and temperaments of adults connected to a child could not possibly have had any bearing on how they turned out.
Chinese attitudes to fate's subtle workings also come into play. From the horoscopes of both parents, soothsayers can determine that a particular date would be inauspicious for a child's birth and that such a child would be the cause of untold grief and suffering later on.
Physical manifestations of supposed future parent-child incompatibility were traditionally detected by midwives. If an infant defecated at birth, the belief was that the child would be at odds with its father; if it urinated, it would be unharmonious to the mother.
Although most people might disagree with the killing of a first daughter you have to take a step back and think about it. The parents during those times were usually poor and to feed a daughter until she grows up and marries someone goes to their house that would be a lost investment.
But now let us say it was a son and sons usually inherit their father's land so they will not and will work on the fields with their fathers or even hunt which girls can not do.
Time is the enemy of humans the father will get old and can not continue working on the land then it will be his son's turn to feed him. So naturally,y it would be better to invest in your son's education rather than wasting it on your daughter.
Now although that does not apply to higher-ups like nobles it will be better to invest in men since they are more logical thinkers and not emotional it is rare to see a man following his dreams rather men choose the logical options for their family. men do not have that freedom.
A woman would easily be able to quit a position of power than a man this would happen a lot you would see this in European kingdoms or noble houses such as governors in the middle ages where they would find a man sitting on his throne waiting to die and find his wife and children already ran away.
Ying Zheng sighed and said "Alright sir thank you. When is the wedding?"
Zhang Lu along with the ministers and generals laughed heartily and then Zhang Lu said "Three days from now is celebrations the King is holding for you and according to the royal astrologer it would be best if you married the next day after the celebrations and it will bring luck to our family and your son he also said if you married then you will get an extraordinary son who will surpass you and me. Hahahaha the future for our family is bright Ying Zheng."
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