When Tianji, who was far away in Youzhou in the north of Laifeng State, led his men to ambush the soldiers of Lengyue State, the court of Laifeng State also fell into a huge crisis.
"Xiahou Jing, what do you mean?" Hua Qingcheng, who was sitting high in the main seat in Baohua Hall, looked at Xiahou Jing, who was talking nonsense in the hall, with eyes as sharp as knives, and asked slowly.
"Hehe..." Xiahou Jing smiled slightly, his eyes filled with mockery. "Why, Nalan Qingcheng, you've only just turned seventeen, are you already deaf and blind? I've just made it very clear that neither your good mother, the Queen Nalan Yunzhi, nor a young girl like you are worthy of aspiring to the throne of the Laifeng Kingdom."
"Oh? My mother and I are not qualified. Could it be that you, Prince of Pingxi, Xiahou Jing, or your daughter of the Prince of Pingxi, Xiahou Yu, who is open to both sexes, is qualified?"
Hua Qingcheng looked calm and composed. She picked up the tea on the table, took two sips, and moistened her throat. After all, she had been negotiating with those foreign envoys for a long time, and she was really thirsty.
As Hua Qingcheng finished speaking, everyone in Baohua Palace was in an uproar, especially the foreign envoys, who looked at Xia Houjing with strange eyes.
"Hmph!" Xiahou Jing snorted disdainfully under the scorching gazes of the crowd.
But she said with a righteous and stern voice: "The Nalan royal family is foolish and incompetent, and is completely unable to bring welfare to the people of Laifeng Kingdom. In overthrowing your Nalan family's rule, I am simply following the will of heaven and the will of man."
Xia Hou Jing had an arrogant look on her face, and her words were full of contempt and disdain.
"Xiahou Jing, do you think this general is dead?" Feng Cailan slammed the table and stood up from the seat in the general's mansion.
The battle-hardened General Feng of Laifeng State exuded an iron-blooded spirit brought back from the battlefield. Even if she just stood there, she brought an endless sense of oppression to people.
Xiahou Jing turned his head to look at Feng Cailan, his eyes filled with both envy and deep jealousy. "Feng Cailan, Feng Cailan, I truly envy you. Not only do you have a distinguished family background, but you're also beautiful, and at such a young age, you've become the Grand General of the Laifeng Kingdom. But as for me, do you know how much hardship I've endured to secure this prestigious position as a king of a different surname?"
"Haha, you talk as if my position as general fell from the sky. It's absolutely ridiculous!" Feng Cailan responded to Xiahou Jing's remarks with a sneer of contempt.
Admittedly, Feng Cailan came from a family of military commanders, which did give her a slight advantage over the average person. However, her current achievements were not achieved through her ancestral influence, but rather through her own hard work on the battlefield, gradually building up her merits. Therefore, Feng Cailan truly deserved the title of Grand General!
Xiahou Jing raised her eyebrows slightly, her eyes sweeping across the Baohua Palace like sharp blades, a cold smile playing on the corner of her mouth, "Never mind, it's no longer important..."
"Snap! Snap! Snap!"
As Xiahou Jing's crisp applause sounded, everyone was shocked to see two fully armed armored rebels escorting Nalan Yunzhi, who was as pale as paper, bleeding from the corners of his mouth, and dying, into Baohua Palace.
"Your Majesty!" All the people of Laifeng in Baohua Palace were shocked.
"I... I know my end is near, but now, the great cause of my Nalan family is about to be destroyed by the hands of a disloyal and treacherous minister like Xiahou Jing... I, ahem... I will not be able to rest in peace..."
After angrily scolding Xiahou Jing, Nalan Yunzhi immediately acted as if he was on the verge of death, with his life hanging by a thread, and the ministers were heartbroken and burst into tears. The voices of condemnation against Xiahou Jing became louder and louder.
"Your Majesty, I will immediately capture this audacious Prince Pingxi!"
General Feng Cailan had just spoken when she was about to charge at Xia Hou Jing. However, just as she was about to strike, her legs suddenly gave way, and she collapsed to the ground like a wilted eggplant.
"Haha... Feng Cailan, you didn't expect that? This muscle softening powder doesn't taste good." At this time, Xiahou Jing felt that she had everything under control. She first mocked Feng Cailan, and then swept her gaze towards the civil and military officials in Baohua Hall, with a cunning flash in her eyes.
"Those who follow me will prosper, and those who oppose me will perish. As the saying goes, 'He who knows the times is a hero.' I am giving you one last chance to surrender, otherwise don't blame me for being cruel and ruthless!" Xiahou Jing's voice was like a devil's low hum, echoing in Baohua Hall, making everyone shudder.
As Xiahou Jing finished speaking, some officials who had initially wavered in their stance, after careful consideration, immediately sided with her. These were primarily those who had previously supported the former virtuous king, the eldest princess, Nalan Junxue, and the third princess, Nalan Qiudi.
"It's simply... simply outrageous!" Feng Cailan tried to get up from the ground, but her body was out of control. She could only roar with difficulty to express her anger towards Xia Hou Jing.
Hua Qingcheng, sitting in the main seat, seemed to have been similarly inflicted with the muscle softening powder, and was as weak as a withered flower in the wind. She spoke feebly, "Xia...Xiahou Jing, you actually harbor such evil intentions. Don't you feel ashamed of the Queen Mother's trust in you and her careful cultivation?"
"Hmph!" Xiahou Jing sneered disdainfully before saying with disdain, "Nalan Yunzhi was merely reborn into a better position than I. In terms of martial arts and strategy, how am I inferior to her?"
"Really?" At this moment, a voice as cold as ice and chilling to the bone marrow suddenly sounded in Baohua Hall.
But the Emperor Nalan Yunzhi, who was on the verge of death, suddenly shook off the two armored rebels who were suppressing her, straightened her body, wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, and stared at Xiahou Jing with contempt.
"Although kings, princes, generals, and ministers are not born into a family, isn't being born into a noble family a symbol of strength? I am blessed by fate and destiny, and you—Xiahou Jing, from beginning to end... have been nothing more than a clown!"
Looking at Nalan Yunzhi, who seemed to have been reborn, a hint of doubt flashed in Xiahou Jing's sophisticated and shrewd eyes.
However, her doubts vanished as she thought of the 150,000 elite soldiers ready for battle outside the city, and the 500,000 elite troops, led by Lengyue Princess Gongyang Jieying, lurking covetously at the border of Laifeng. She felt her worries were unnecessary, nothing more than groundless anxiety.
At this moment, Xiahou Jing has no way to retreat. Only by burning her boats and fighting with her back against the wall can she realize the long-cherished wish that has lingered in her heart for many years...
In just a moment, Xia Hou Jing had regained her confident demeanor, and then she said arrogantly, "It's hard to say who will win..."
"What a coincidence, I just think so too..." Nalan Yunzhi looked coldly at the civil and military officials who kept walking towards Xiahou Jing, with a sarcastic arc at the corner of his mouth.
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