The twenty-third day of the lunar month, Chinese New Year's Eve.

On this day, every household has to send the god of the stove, kowtow and worship incense, which will really be lively.

However, on Chinese New Year's Eve this year, there was a bleak scene in the new capital of Darong.

There is no prayer of the people to worship the god of the stove, there is no chanting of the beggars to send the stove, and there is no happy laughter and play of children.

In the streets and alleys, there were only bursts of grief-stricken cries......

It's a pity that these cries couldn't penetrate the heavy palace walls at all, disturbing the after-dinner rest of the Empress Dowager's ancestor in Ning Xinxuan.

After covering the soft and thick brocade quilt for the Queen Mother lying on the couch, Ziwei raised her head, glanced at the gloomy sky outside the window, and knew that another snowstorm was coming.

In fact, in recent days, there have been several rare heavy snowstorms in Darong, and the appearance of natural disasters has been revealed.

The government and the opposition have been talking about such ominous signs, causing panic in the hearts of the people, and there is a sense of uneasiness that a great calamity is coming.

As a result, the news of the defeat suddenly came back.

A whole hundred thousand Great Rong Iron Horsemen disappeared silently between the distant extraterritorial barren mountains.

When the bad news first arrived this morning, the Queen Mother stayed there on the spot and couldn't say a word.

Even the hot-tempered Emperor, His Majesty, was unusually silent, and locked himself in his study for half a day, without even eating lunch.

After that, he hurriedly drove the Hanxiang Pavilion again, presumably to seek comfort from Miss Xiangjun.

However, no matter how hard they tried to cover it up, the truth of the defeat was spread and quickly spread.

In less than half a day, the news had spread from the palace to the outside of the palace, and the entire new capital city suddenly fell into a gloomy fog.

Thinking of the reports she heard from her subordinates about the situation in the capital during the day, Ziwei couldn't help but sigh deeply, her eyes full of anxiety and pain.

Although she herself did not have any relatives in the team of the western expedition, among some of the palace sisters she knew, some of them had lost their father and brother since then.

Seeing that the Queen Mother, who had experienced this heavy blow, finally fell asleep after barely eating some clear porridge, Ziwei hesitated slightly, but decided to take advantage of this rare moment of leisure to see the palace sisters who were still immersed in grief.

She quietly opened the door and walked out of Ning Xinxuan, telling the palace people guarding outside to pay close attention to the movements of the Queen Mother inside, and then left in a hurry alone.

And not long after Ziwei left, Hua Xiangjun took Cui'er to Cining Palace.

Those palace people naturally knew very well the identity of this Xiangjun girl's future queen, and they knew that she was extremely familiar with Ziwei girl, so no one stopped them, and let their master and servant come to Ning Xinxuan's door.

When the palace people guarding the door saw the two of them, although they felt a little strange, they still stepped forward to salute respectfully.

Hua Xiangjun waved his hand lightly and let them be exempt.

Then, she shook a dragon-shaped jade pendant in her hand to the palace people, and said softly: "I heard that the old ancestor of the Queen Mother is in poor health, and Your Majesty asked me to come to visit the sick and greet her." ”

Those palace people all knew that this dragon-shaped jade pendant was the personal belongings of His Majesty the Emperor, so naturally they didn't dare to say more, so they hurriedly took the initiative to open Ning Xinxuan's door and invited this Xiangjun girl to enter to meet the Queen Mother.

After quietly giving Cui'er a look, Hua Xiangjun walked into Ning Xinxuan alone.

And Cui'er, who stayed outside the door, immediately signaled to those palace people to close the door again.

Hua Xiangjun came to the pavilion and walked straight to a delicately shaped incense burner placed in the corner of the house.

She carefully opened the lid of the censer, then took out a small paper bag from her bosom and poured all the white powder into the censer.

After carefully closing the lid of the incense burner, she walked to the bed where the Queen Mother lay and sat down slowly in the chair beside her.

At this time, the Empress Dowager Yin, who was originally asleep, seemed to be alert and opened her closed eyes sharply.

When she finally saw clearly that the person sitting quietly on the edge of her bed turned out to be Hua Xiangjun, her dim old eyes couldn't help but quickly flash a gleam!

"Xiang'er, what are you doing here?"

She asked, slowly sitting up from the bed, a look of obvious wariness on her face.

Hua Xiangjun just smiled faintly and replied unhurriedly: "Naturally, I came to visit the Empress Dowager's ancestor." ”

"Did Yu Wengang ask you to come?"

Empress Dowager Yin just asked, but immediately shook her head, "No, at this time, he will no longer have the leisure to see what happened to my old woman! At this moment, presumably His Majesty the Emperor is busy planning how to take away all the military and political power from my hands." ”

Hearing her say this, Hua Xiangjun actually nodded unabashedly and said, "Yes, His Majesty the Emperor has just left the Hanxiang Pavilion. He had already decided to convene his ministers overnight to discuss how to deal with it. ”

"What is the countermeasure?" the Empress Dowager Yin immediately asked vigilantly.

Hua Xiangjun continued unhurriedly: "One hundred thousand Darong iron horsemen, all of them were buried in the barren mountains outside the territory, and there are no bones left, which is the death of the whole country. As the emperor of Darong, he should take the responsibility of this defeat and give a reasonable explanation to all the people in the world. ”

Empress Dowager Yin immediately retorted disdainfully: "Explanation, what explanation? Victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, and there is no need to make too much fuss at all!"

Moreover, since the commander of this expedition to the west has been killed, he naturally has a reasonable explanation for the defeat. And the emperor is the king of a country, how can he explain to the people who don't understand anything!"

"Is that really the case?"

Hua Xiangjun smiled disappreciatively, "When the Queen Mother proposed to send troops to Chongyuan, His Majesty the Emperor expressed his opposition three times and twice. But the Queen Mother still insisted on going her own way, and still let this proposal pass in the court, and as a result, the 100,000 Darong Iron Cavalry was wiped out.

Of course, for you, the Empress Dowager's ancestor, His Majesty the Emperor is indeed a little restrained and does not dare to touch you easily. But for those misguided ministers who once waved the flag and shouted for you in the court, and stood to cheer, Your Majesty can still move somewhat.

If we don't kill a few more of these sinners, how can we show the people of the world the death of Your Majesty and the wrath of the Son of Heaven?"

"You...... You treacherous little slut!"

The Empress Dowager Yin couldn't help but grit her teeth and scolded, she couldn't care about pretending to be a high-minded and noble appearance at all, "This must be your slander to the emperor!"

In a rage, she suddenly stretched out her thin claws and slapped Hua Xiangjun's forehead!