Inside the hall.
The nanny tidied up the room in an orderly fashion, then carried the loudly crying child to the bedside and congratulated him with a smile.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty, on the birth of your son."
Chu Changning's hair was damp, and fine sweat beaded on her forehead. Hearing the old woman's words, she glanced sideways at the wrinkled baby in the swaddling clothes, her pale lips twitching slightly.
"It's a son."
"Yes, Your Majesty is fortunate to have given birth to another prince."
A group of people waited anxiously outside the courtyard. Taozhi couldn't hear any movement from inside, so she called out loudly to inquire.
"How is the princess?"
The old woman exclaimed joyfully, "Don't worry, mother and child are safe and sound."
Mother and child?
The Empress Dowager, who had rushed over, overheard these words. A look of joy flashed in her eyes, and as soon as the nanny opened the door, she went in first.
Incense burned inside, dispelling the smell of blood. When the maids saw the Empress Dowager, they immediately knelt down and offered their congratulations in unison.
"Go down and collect your reward."
Chu Changning was lying weakly on the couch. He glanced at the person who came in and propped himself up to sit up.
The Empress Dowager happily held the child, but seeing that she was pale, she quickly told her not to move around and asked the nanny to make her some ginseng soup.
Tao Zhi had prepared everything long ago. Upon hearing this, she immediately brought in a soup to nourish the blood and qi, and carefully fed it to her princess.
A moment later, a eunuch from Jianzhang Palace rushed in, looking flustered.
The Empress Dowager handed the child to the wet nurse and walked out of the main hall.
"What is it?"
The eunuch immediately prostrated himself on the ground and whispered the news from the previous dynasty.
The air seemed to freeze for a moment. The Empress Dowager's expression changed, and she almost lost her balance, swaying a few times.
"Really?"
"Yes, there's trouble in the previous dynasty. Cui Xiang killed several ministers during his reign, and the Prince of Yan summoned his troops back to the capital."
The Prince of Yan? Yan Shiji?!
The Empress Dowager was furious, trembling with rage, and hurriedly went to the Hall of State Affairs.
"They were wolves in sheep's clothing; they should have all been slaughtered back then."
Chu Changning had just given birth and needed to rest, so no one in the palace dared to linger and they all left, leaving only Taozhi to serve her.
Ayu lay by the cradle, blinking her wet eyes curiously at her sleeping little brother.
Taozhi took a handkerchief and walked to the bedside to wipe the sweat from her forehead.
"The Empress Dowager has left, Your Highness can rest for a while now."
"Where is Frost Moon?"
Taozhi was taken aback, and subconsciously glanced at the window, looking suspicious.
"They were all in the garden just a moment ago, how come they've all disappeared in the blink of an eye? Your Highness, please take good care of yourself. I'll go look for them in a bit."
Chu Changning felt uneasy. She glanced at the two children beside her and lay down wearily.
The palace staff took meticulous care of her, providing her with medicinal soups and tonics. Within a few days, Chu Changning's body recovered its vitality. She also used special ointments to care for her skin and exercised her body. Later, there was no trace of her ever having given birth.
However, she was always worried about the war in the Northwest, and as soon as her confinement period ended, she wanted to go to the Imperial Study to see the war reports.
But Shuangyue said everything was fine in the Northwest and told her to rest, so she often stayed in the palace playing with the two children.
She didn't learn the devastating news until a month later.
That night, Cui Linyuan suddenly came to Xuanming Palace and asked her for the token to mobilize the Imperial Guards, saying that the Prince of Yan had rebelled and joined forces with the aristocratic families to force the emperor to abdicate and seize the throne.
Chu Changning was shocked. She remembered that Yan Beimo had told her to go to Cui Linyuan if she needed anything before he left, so she handed the token to him directly.
As soon as the others left, she immediately called Shuangyue over, grabbed the latter's hand, and spoke in a tight voice.
"Has something happened to His Majesty?"
When Yan Beimo was in power, no member of the Yan clan dared to disobey him. Such a blatant rebellion must mean something bad happened in the Northwest.
Shuangyue's bones ached from being pinched so hard, and she silently lowered her head without saying a word.
Seeing that she remained silent, Chu Changning's face instantly lost all color, and he hissed.
"What's wrong with him?"
Shuangyue knelt down with a thud, crying out in anguish, "The Northern Expedition has failed, and His Majesty has died by the Chuan River."
The world suddenly became quiet. Chu Changning caught his breath, and everything went black before his eyes. He couldn't help but fall forward.
"Your Majesty---"
Frosty Moon was shocked and quickly helped her up.
A cold wind whistled in, and endless pain and fear engulfed the surrounding air.
Chu Changning's eyes were red, her hair disheveled as she collapsed to the ground. The moonlight from the sky enveloped her, but could not conceal her sorrow.
Impossible! He promised her he'd come back safely, how could this be?
Liar, liar---
In early August of the third year of the Jianyuan era, due to the death of the Great Qi Emperor in the northern expedition, Jiankang was in turmoil. The Prince of Yan, together with other aristocratic families, forged an imperial edict to force the emperor to abdicate and rebel. Right Chancellor Cui Linyuan ordered the imperial guards to suppress the rebellion in front of the Taihe Hall, kill the traitors, and punish the aristocratic families.
When the Great Qi Emperor was in power, other powerful families were suppressed and dared not cause any trouble. Now that he is dead, the Crown Prince is too young to shoulder the great responsibility, so they all rose up in rebellion.
Within a few days, the various armies loyal to the Great Qi Emperor returned to the palace to suppress the rebellion.
Yan Rongli led 100,000 troops from the southeast, angrily rebuked the officials on the grounds that the body of the Great Qi Emperor had not been found, and even personally killed his fifth uncle, saying that no conclusion could be drawn without seeing the Emperor's body.
The Great Qi is beset by powerful enemies, with war and riots breaking out on the front lines, the border passes being breached, and troops from the Western Regions entering the pass. Once Tongguan is breached, the entire world will be in turmoil and a new dynasty will be established.
With 100,000 troops heavily guarding the palace gates, Cui Linyuan ordered several generals to send troops to the border to assist in finding the body of the Great Qi Emperor, suppressing the rebels in the court, and single-handedly maintaining the overall situation.
Back then, on the Lichuan Plain, the Great Qi Emperor was chased by enemy troops to the Great River. He was stabbed twice and died on the spot. To prevent a trap, the young master of the Western Regions, Helian Ye, delivered the final blow and watched the man die with his own eyes.
Later, reinforcements arrived and took the body away, but they were pursued by the people of Beidu and never returned. Their fate is unknown.
In places like the North, the corpse would probably have been devoured by wolves in the Tianshan Mountains long ago, with even the bones gnawed away. The mangled remains would have rolled in the mountains and been torn apart by other wild animals, unable to survive.
The general from the Western Regions laughed triumphantly on the Li River, dreaming of unifying the Central Plains. He boasted loudly, but was nothing more than a worthless brat, utterly useless.
After Helian Ye killed the Emperor of Qi, he was eager to conquer Jiankang in the south, but refused to go north. He then competed with the Western Regions for the world, and the two sides instantly became rivals, with constant battles.
At the end of August, the two sides clashed in the north. The struggle was fierce, other small countries were crushed, and war broke out all over the north.
Shen Yan only wanted to unify the north and end the division, so he naturally did not want the Western Regions to enter the Central Plains and divide the world.
During the battle of Lichuan, he secretly sent his confidants to infiltrate the military camp and, taking advantage of the chaos on the battlefield, killed Yuwen Yong and framed the general of Daqi.
When Yuwen Yong went to stop the Qi reinforcements, no one doubted his death on the battlefield. After the victory in the Battle of Lichuan, he quickly adjusted his tactics and turned his weapons against Helian Ye.
As long as Helian Ye is killed and the Western Regions are driven out of the Central Plains, the entire northern lands will be unified, and the north will be at peace. At that time, the northern capital will launch a southern expedition, and in a few years, the north and south will be unified, and the centuries of war will come to an end.
When the world is at peace, all the lands are united, and the people live in tranquility, it will be a prosperous and peaceful world.
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