The emperor's misconduct was a warning from God, and the situation that had finally stabilized was thrown into turmoil again.
After Huaicheng surrendered to Feng Shuo, several neighboring cities were also persuaded by Chu Yangui to surrender. After the evidence that Empress Gao gave to Feng Shuo was announced to the world, the people denounced the court and supported Feng Shuo. For a time, the Daxuan Dynasty seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
An Yongyuan trained another 20,000 heavy cavalry in just a few months. Yuzhou was finally no longer isolated from the fight and could compete head-on with the imperial cavalry.
Compared to Feng Shuo's side, which was supported by the people and had high morale, the imperial army was like a dog that had lost its home. In the area where they were stationed, local people would throw rotten vegetable leaves and rotten eggs at them when they met the army.
In this situation, the two armies fought and the imperial army was defeated.
The various princes who revolted also saw the general trend clearly. In addition, after Feng Shuo formed an alliance with Xing'an Hou and protected the land of Yuzhou, the princes came to form an alliance one after another.
***
After the heavy rains at the beginning of summer, the weather in the imperial city became hotter day by day.
The sunlight shining on the golden glazed tiles looks like flames rising from the top of the wall.
The door to the cold palace was kicked open roughly, and the red-painted wooden door slammed heavily against the palace wall, making a loud "clang" sound.
Queen Gao, dressed only in plain clothes, sat at the stone table and leisurely painted her nails with bright balsam juice.
Seeing Feng Shiyan in a rage, Empress Gao curled her lips, her eyes full of satisfaction after revenge: "Your Majesty is so angry, it seems that the throne is unstable."
Feng Shiyan stepped forward and grabbed Empress Gao's neck. There were tiny drops of blood on his face, and his eyes were so cruel that he seemed to want to eat someone: "Gao Tan, I should have killed you long ago!"
The hatred in Empress Gao's eyes was no less than his. She said fiercely, "You forced me to do this! Your Majesty, wouldn't you feel guilty about sitting on the throne while stepping on the corpses of the Gao family?"
Feng Shiyan clenched his five fingers tightly and said, "Then you go down and watch with the Gao family to see if I am safe or not!"
A strong feeling of suffocation came over her, and Empress Gao's eyes turned white. She pulled hard at his hand that was pinching her throat. When her sharp nails scratched the back of Feng Shiyan's hand, Empress Gao died with a strange smile on her lips.
The chief eunuch who came with him was frightened by the smile of Empress Gao, and he quickly turned his eyes away. With a cry of surprise, he took a silk handkerchief to bandage the back of Feng Shiyan's hand that was bleeding: "Your Majesty, please don't damage the dragon's body!"
Feng Shiyan still had the anger in his heart, and his expression was extremely gloomy: "Pass on my decree, all the bodies of the Gao family will be left exposed for three days and thrown into the mountains to feed the wolves!"
The chief eunuch was horrified. After all, Prime Minister Gao was the emperor's uncle, but not only did he not allow his body to be intact, he even refused to bury him.
The new emperor was moody and unstable. Even he, as the chief eunuch of the palace, could not figure out his temper. He had to serve him with his head on his belt on weekdays.
After receiving Feng Shiyan's order, the chief eunuch immediately responded, "I obey your order."
Perhaps it was because the sun was too scorching, Feng Shiyan felt a little dizzy. When he raised his feet to leave the cold palace, he suddenly felt dizzy and fell to the ground.
The chief eunuch was horrified: "Your Majesty!"
After taking a closer look, he found that the hand of Feng Shiyan that was scratched by Empress Gao was already blue and black.
The eunuch in charge felt the blood in his body run cold.
*****
The eldest princess hurried into the palace and saw that the back of Feng Shiyan's hand had begun to fester as he lay on the dragon couch. Even though she had experienced many storms, she couldn't help but feel a chill in her heart.
Even after drinking bowl after bowl of detoxifying medicine, the poison still spread to other parts of Feng Shiyan's body.
The imperial physicians from the Imperial Medical Bureau were kneeling on the floor in the bedroom, each with beads of cold sweat on their foreheads.
The chief eunuch did not need the princess to ask any more questions and started crying and telling her how Feng Shiyan was poisoned after being scratched on the back of his hand by Empress Gao.
The eldest princess looked unhappy and asked the director of the Imperial Hospital, "Do you know what poison your Majesty was poisoned with? Is there any antidote?"
The envoy looked embarrassed: "According to the diagnosis of this old minister, Your Majesty was poisoned by snake venom. This venom is from the desert black snake. It is very unusual and there is no antidote so far..."
The eldest princess' pupils shrank: "Desert venomous snake?"
The desert is far outside the Great Wall, thousands of miles away from the capital.
Empress Gao was able to hand over the letter to Feng Shuo, which revealed that Empress Dowager Gao and the Gao family were conspiring to seize the military power of the Mu family. The first person the Grand Princess thought of was Feng Shuo's work.
She closed her eyes solemnly and asked the court envoy: "How much time do you have left, Your Majesty?"
The envoy said, "The snake venom was mixed into the juice of Impatiens. When Your Majesty was scratched, the wound was not contaminated with much venom. Your dragon body is strong, so you have been able to survive until now. For now, I can only use medicine to stop the spread of the venom, but the venom cannot be eradicated and will always erode your internal organs bit by bit. At most, you may have a year to live, at least, you may only have a few months."
"The fact that your Majesty was poisoned must be kept secret from the outside world, and your Majesty should also be kept in the dark about it." The eldest princess' eyes were filled with sadness, but she still made a quick decision.
The envoy nodded and said, "This old minister understands."
After everyone in the bedroom had left, the eldest princess looked at Feng Shiyan's dark purple festering wound and finally shed tears, "Yan'er, you are the only relative I have in this world."
Feng Shiyan's tightly closed eyelids trembled suddenly, and he opened a crack and said weakly: "Aunt..."
The eldest princess almost cried with joy: "Imperial Physician! Call the Imperial Physician! His Majesty has woken up!"
Feng Shiyan tried to sit up by himself, but found that half of his body was unconscious. He frowned and asked, "Why can't I move?"
The eldest princess said with a dark look, "Your Majesty has been poisoned, and the toxins in his body have not yet been completely cleared."
When he heard that it was poisoning, Feng Shiyan finally remembered that he had fainted in the cold palace.
He looked around but didn't see Jiang Yanxi, so he asked, "Where's Concubine Xi?"
The sadness on the eldest princess's face faded a little, and she said, "I ordered people to block the news that Your Majesty was poisoned."
Feng Shiyan knew that the Grand Princess disliked Jiang Yanxi. He wanted to say a few more words but he really didn't have the energy to do so. He just said, "I want to see her."
The Palace of Cangjiao.
The robe in Jiang Yanxi's hand is almost done.
She sewed the needlework very densely, as if she had put all her thoughts into it.
The little palace maid who handed her the medicine that day has now been promoted to a senior palace maid in Cangjiao Palace.
There was no one else in the palace, and the maid lowered her voice and said, "Although the news has been blocked in the Yangxin Palace, the imperial physician from the Imperial Hospital has not returned since entering the palace. It seems that the emperor has been poisoned."
Jiang Yanxi didn't say anything, she just focused on the embroidery work in her hands. Her fingertips were pricked by the needle and bled, but she didn't feel any pain. The blood dyed the embroidered golden dragon's claws red, as if the dragon had lost a claw.
The maid narrowed her eyes slightly: "Princess, are you sad?"
"No." Jiang Yanxi finally spoke. She raised her head, her face expressionless, "How are we going to leave the palace?"
The maid said, "It's hot in summer now. The princess may as well go out of the palace on the pretext of going to the temporary palace to escape the heat. As long as she leaves the palace, our people can rescue the princess."
The snake venom was extracted by the former officials of the previous dynasty. They originally wanted Jiang Yanxi to poison Feng Shiyan to death, but they were afraid that Jiang Yanxi would not be able to escape, so they turned their attention to Queen Gao who wanted revenge.
Jiang Yanxi had just said "OK" when a palace attendant outside the palace came in with a message: "Your Majesty has asked Concubine Xi to go to the Yangxin Palace."
Jiang Yanxi and her maid's expressions changed slightly.
Feng Shiyan informed her as soon as he was poisoned. Could it be that he found out something
When Jiang Yanxi arrived at the Yangxin Palace in a restless mood, the Grand Princess had already left and Feng Shiyan was sleeping on the couch. He usually made people intimidated with just a glance, but at this moment he looked a little fragile.
Jiang Yanxi looked at the swollen back of his hand and the dark purple color that spread into his sleeve. She couldn't tell why and tears just fell from her eyes.
Feng Shiyan seemed to sense something. When he opened his eyes and saw her crying, he struggled to raise his good hand, as if to stroke her cheek.
Jiang Yanxi sat down beside the couch, leaned down slightly, and gently placed her face against the palm of his hand.
Feng Shiyan looked a little surprised, but more delighted. He asked her in a softer tone than ever before, "Why are you crying?"
Jiang Yanxi shook her head and refused to say more, but her tears flowed violently.
Feng Shiyan's hand had been lifted for too long and it was a bit strenuous, so he lowered it to her abdomen. He looked a little regretful and said, "I have always wanted to have a child with you."
Jiang Yanxi closed her eyes and cried, not saying a word.
There will be no children between them. She took medicine after each incident.
But at this moment, she was really wondering what it would be like if they had a child
Thinking about it in the end, Jiang Yanxi even found it ridiculous. How could they have a future
She lay down beside him and hugged him gently: "Your Majesty, the palace is hot and stuffy, which is not conducive to your recovery. Let's go to the temporary palace."
Feng Shiyan said: "Okay."
He seemed to know that he didn't have much time left and was trying his best to fulfill her wishes.
Jiang Yanxi's pupils trembled slightly, and a tear fell into his shirt. She tried to hide the hoarseness in her voice: "Father is old, and I am worried about him in the prison. Can you dismiss him and let him go back home?"
"I will pardon him and release him from prison tomorrow, and he will still be the Minister of Revenue."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Jiang Yanxi's shoulders trembled as she cried silently.
Feng Shiyan sighed softly and patted her shoulder gently: "Don't cry."
He was awake for a short time and soon fell asleep again.
Jiang Yanxi placed a kiss on his eyelids and choked up as she said, "Feng Shiyan, if there is an afterlife, let's be together..."
In this life, there are too many unbearable things between them, such as national hatred and family feuds.
If there is an afterlife, I would be born in an ordinary family, marry a king, and live in love with him until old age. How wonderful would that be
*****
The Daxuan Dynasty was on the verge of collapse. Feng Shuo led a large cavalry force and was supposed to attack the capital directly. However, the Minghan Kingdom in the southern border took advantage of the civil strife in Daxuan and attacked again.
The Minghan Kingdom was equally powerful as the Daxuan Dynasty and had always been a strong rival of Daxuan.
The momentum of this expedition was fierce enough to capture three cities in the southern border at once, and further up was Feng Shuo's fiefdom of Hengzhou in the south.
Feng Shuo had no choice but to readjust the battle situation. Now the rebel allies surrounded the capital, and the imperial court was only relying on the last heavy cavalry troops to survive.
He ordered Chu Changping to continue besieging the capital, while he himself went to the southern border to fight against the Minghan Kingdom.
The war had lasted too long, and the food and fodder were supported by the old grain from previous years, so it was not a big problem. The real shortage was medicine for the wounds.
All the medicinal materials in the Daxuan Dynasty were looted by various forces during the war, and wounded soldiers died in the military camps every day due to inflammation and infection of their wounds.
Military doctors were short of medicine, and except for some generals, no one dared to give medicine to ordinary soldiers.
Jiang Yanyi's previous worries finally came true. Fortunately, the caravan that had left the border returned and bought back a large amount of medicinal materials.
Transporting medicinal materials was a serious matter, so Jiang Yanyi decided to go south in person.