When Si Ning Saw the piles of books Xiao Pei brought for him made him spent half an hour in the bathtub as a means to escape his reality for a bit. He shamelessly gave the list of the beauty materials he would need to Xiao Pei before sending him away for the night.
Si Ning spent hours mentally learning all the etiquette he needed to survive, most were not different from how it was in the mordern day world or how he was taught as an Actor and he was sure he would have no difficulties in surviving in this world as long as he doesn't entangle himself with the Imperial family but as a General he was bound to encounter them.
Si Ning concluded that if he acts submissive to the Emperor, politely to those that have a higher rank than him and escaping the women in the harem then surviving would be nothing but easy as pie since he was a handsome rich Young Master, a General of the country and what more could he wish for to live well except deepdown Si Ning doesn't want to be a General anymore and after deeply thinking about it, he concluded that getting a higher rank than Shao Lang could go to hell for all he cares, he would have love to beat Shao Lang but it doesn't worth him losing his head yet Si Ning wasn't able to find any record of how to successfully leave an official post and it was already driving him crazy.
It was late when Si Ning discovered the books Xiao Pei provided for him had no details on the Imperial family, he couldn't call Xiao Pei back since he sent him away yet he didn't have the heart to blame him since Xiao Pei assumed he already knew the details on the current Imperial family. Si Ning had no choice than to leave it for another time as he went through the books about the current state of the country skipping most unessesary details.
The reports containing the details of the war with Xilie nation made Si Ning almost collapsed after finding out that the number of troops the Si Family had was nothing less than two hundred thousand troops and all his worries about the Imperial family flew out of the window and he found himself more occupied on the details of his troops.
"This is impossible." Si Ning said checking all the details on the last war and all the details of the men he lost. He took half of his troops to war and lost almost all. The ones that were saved were the ten thousand troops he sent to the border who were unable to join him when he called out for reinforcements because of the distance. The distance was so large that the ten thousand troops had to stay back and the temporary Commander Si Ning placed in charge would arrive later at the capital.
Just knowing all the details of the war, how the number of his troops were cut into half and about him not being competent enough to utilise his troops better but according to the report, his troops suffered most in the war and the rest of the Generals of Xiu were only able to engage Xilie's army that acted as a decoy to allow their main troops led by Shen Yu to cross over to attack Si Ning's army. The purpose of attacking only Si Ning's army was the only confusing part since Si Ning's army was stationed far from the border and their only purpose was to engage the Xilie's army that were able to break through the front lines.
The reality turned out different and Shen Yu's army went on a roundabout to attack Si Ning's army and when the situation got Si Ning in a pinch, he sent out words for reinforcements and the only closest troops to them were the troops led by Shao Lang but then they never showed up.
Three hundred thousand of troops led by General Shen Yu kept attacking them and they fought a great battle. Xilie was a strong nation and they should have more than nine hundred thousand troops for an all out war but the other Generals of Xiu nation were only able to engage in battle with just merely ten thousand troops of Xilie nation while the three hundred thousand attacked only Si Ning's army.
The situation was very fishy and Si Ning's detective instinct wasn't able to keep up. His men were neither keeping something valuable nor do they keep a valuable person within their midst yet his troops were the ones that suffered most damages of the war. The Xilie's army might want to attack him for them to break through to the capital if only Xilie nation sent out at least seven hundred thousand troops so they would be able to clear Si Ning's army along the way.
The reinforcement from the capital was led by the Emperor and the Second Prince but they received the report from Chen An that they were able to capture Shen Yu and Si Ning and all his Commanders were still alive then the Emperor and the troops had to return, only Xiu TianZhao and few men were sent to escort Si Ning and the rest of his troops home.
Si Ning took a pen to start writing all the keypoints of the details he read. Most Seigniors in the country also had a lot of troops but only the Si family had the most of the military power in the whole nation, second of the troops of the Imperial family.
"Military power, military power balance.... marriage." Si Ning used his hand to rest on his chin as he dipped his pen in the ink. "Marriage." He muttered.
The last drama he was supposed to be in as Shao Lang's innocent loyal servant. When they discussed about it at the reading of the script meeting after the selection of the whole cast, the Emperor in the drama was supposed to send a marriage proposal to the most powerful family in the country and when Si Ning compared the details of that drama to his reality then he should consider the possibility of the Emperor of Xiu taking Si Nan's hand in marriage in order to have a firm hold on the nation.
Si Ning concluded he would rather die than send his beloved sister to marry an old Emperor but if his sister marries the Crown Prince then he would have no complain but for her to join the Emperor's harem and possible be bullied wasn't something Si Ning want to consider.
According to his calculations the Crown Prince should be a little older than Xiu TianZhao and since Xiu TianZhao talks highly of him then he should be a righteous person and since the Second Prince was handsome then the Crown Prince should be too and if he leaves his sister in the hands of such person then he would have no worries but first he had to take on his detective role and play it out well in investigating the Crown Prince and if the Crown Prince turned out to be different then he would have no choice than to find a good husband for Si Nan.
Thinking about this Si Ning realised he was nothing but a fool since he knew little about his family. What if Si Nan was already engaged or married.
"Ah....." Si Ning swung his lose long hair around knowing he was already overthinking and anymore than that would cause a severe headache.
The tea Ah Dai brought for him had already gone cold and for him to stop over thinking, Si Ning took a plain paper and started drawing.