Chapter 1 Queen Song’s Poison Plan

Empress Song wore a phoenix crown and a phoenix feather robe, sitting on the hall seat of the Golden Phoenix Hall. The sunlight from outside the window shone on her clothes, and the golden silk orbs shone, luxurious and glorious, making the maid on one side dare not look directly at her.

She came from a family of military officers, and her grandfather was a first-rank cavalry general from the previous dynasty. He had a high position and great power and had a strong momentum. He promoted many powerful officials and generals in the court.

As the daughter of an important official, Empress Song has been treated differently since childhood. She can go in and out every day for the forbidden palace that ordinary people cannot enter in their entire lives and is deeply loved by the Empress Dowager, which is equivalent to growing up in the palace.

Seeing the defiled, she even saw the scene of a concubine being sentenced to death for offending the Empress Dowager. When she was very young, she understood that the deep palace was like a battlefield, either you die or I live. She inherited the blood of her father's generation, not only did she not be afraid of it, but she also thought that she would sit high and dominate the life and death of others one day.

At the age of sixteen, she was elected to the palace and successfully became the imperial concubine. Later, she designed to frame her only opponent and imprisoned Concubine Su into the cold palace. She finally ascended the throne of the queen. She has been proud of her over the years.

However, after the news of the Battle of Shicheng King in Stranglethorn Valley came, she was somewhat annoyed. She had always had a vague concern for this eldest prince who also inherited the power of the Chu State ruling.

Since the eldest prince accidentally became king, she secretly sent people to chase Fang Ling all the way, but unexpectedly the other party still arrived at the fiefdom safely.

She had been resentful of this matter and even woke up from a nightmare several times, always thinking that it would be a disaster. As soon as the Eight Kings Rebellion, she took the opportunity to urge His Majesty to order the king to test the loyalty of his ministers and create opportunities for the eldest prince to die.

As a result, the King of Shicheng really rushed to the front line of Dingzhou under the order. However, the opposite of his wishes was that he not only did not die, but also became famous all over the world by ambushing the thorns.

If she had known that the eldest prince had such ability, she would have secretly attacked the mother and son when they were still in the cold palace a few years ago. However, the time had passed, and now she had no choice but to regret it.

Just as he was thinking, the maid came in to inform him that Prime Minister Cui Yixuan was here.

The worries between Queen Song's eyebrows were slightly weaker, and she waved her sleeves and robe to let her go. Cui Yixuan walked in with big strides. Her white eyebrows were like hooks and her eyes were as sharp as lightning. As the first-class prime minister of the dynasty, she could be said to be above ten thousand people. Although she is wearing casual clothes now, she exudes the aura of a superior person all over her body.

After Cui Yixuan met, Queen Song sighed quietly, "Does Cui Qing know the reason why I am so anxious to summon you?"

Cui Yixuan was a mature figure, and he could not have expected what Queen Song was upset. He smiled and said, "The Empress is for the King of Shicheng."

Queen Song nodded and sighed: "It is for this King of Shicheng that he killed the northern general of Yizhou in this Battle of Stranglethorn Valley. Now the court is praised by him and his reputation has soared. Even His Majesty is quite amazed. If he does not stop his momentum, he will be the biggest obstacle to my son's ascending the throne in the future!"

Since Cui Yi's daughter married the prince, his power has become a rope with the power of Queen Song, so he also assisted the prince with all his heart. After hearing Queen Song say this, he nodded and said, "The Empress is right. The King of Shicheng is indeed a shocking battle. The old minister did not expect that he had such ability. It was arrogance to ambush Gu Shaofeng in Xuzhou, but if he wins, he can be said to be brave and conspiring."

Queen Song said slightly unhappy: "Cui Qing, now is not the time to praise the enemy!"

Cui Yixuan also felt that the words were a little too much and laughed: "The old minister has made a mistake, but as far as I know, the King of Yizhou was furious because of this incident, and appointed Gu Shaofeng's uncle Gu Ziyun as the northern general and led 50,000 troops to Qingzhong City. Not to mention that the number of this man is five times that of Qingzhong City, Gu Ziyun is not a simple person, unlike Gu Shaofeng, who only knows how to talk about war on paper. This man went to the Eastern Border Fortress at the age of 20 and repelled many attacks from the Wu Kingdom. He is a veteran on the battlefield and is famous."

Queen Song nodded slightly and said, "I have heard of Gu Ziyun's name. It is said that he is a rare talent. It is a pity for the King of Yizhou to use it. He led 50,000 troops to give Qingzhong City enough pressure." At this point, she changed her tone and said a trace of murderous intent in her eyes, "But Cui Qing, the King of Shicheng can kill Gu Shaofeng, which shows that his strength is beyond my imagination. Maybe he will use some tricks. If this battle has not started and Gu Ziyun is killed again, wouldn't it make him more famous?"

Cui Yixuan agreed: "The Queen's concerns are not without reason. The King of Shicheng may have some luck in winning the Battle of Stranglethorn Valley, but he also showed considerable abilities. It is by no means accidental. Although Gu Ziyun is powerful, judging from the ambush strategy, Shicheng King is definitely not a person who plays cards according to the rules, and he really cannot guarantee that he will lose."

Queen Song said coldly: "So today I have to find a perfect solution. Even if I can't kill him, I have to ruin his reputation!"

Cui Yixuan thought about it carefully, and after a while, he said, "The old minister came up with an idea."

"Cui Qing, tell me quickly." Empress Song was overjoyed. Cui Yixuan was able to become prime minister, and he was superior in both talent and strategy. If he came up with an idea, it would definitely not be simple.

Cui Yixuan said: "Now that the Shicheng King is looking forward to everyone, we should not blatantly put on his shoes. It is better to follow the public opinion and suggest that Your Majesty give him important tasks and let the Shicheng King coordinate the battle in the Dingzhou front line!"

"What? Cui Qing, didn't you give him a chance to make meritorious service?" Queen Song couldn't help but stand up and said.

Cui Yixuan said calmly: "My lady, please listen to the old minister's analysis. The army of Yizhou State stationed on the Xuzhou border has more than 100,000 troops, while the five important towns on the Dingzhou border are only 50,000. Moreover, the guards of these five important towns are not ordinary characters, and they have deep-rooted contradictions. How can you be impressed by a mere teenager? It is absolutely impossible for the King of Shicheng to defend the front line and prevent the Yizhou troops from breaking through!"

Queen Song suddenly realized and said happily: "Cui Qing is worthy of being the prime minister. This strategy is really amazing. If the King of Shicheng can defend Qingzhong City, it may not necessarily be able to defend the five major cities on the front line of Dingzhou. Once the war fails, not only will it decline in fame, but we can also find opportunities to punish him. It is really a strategy of killing two birds with one stone!"

Cui Yixuan smiled slightly and said, "That's right, no matter how powerful the King of Shicheng is, he is just a young man. If he wants to impress the guards of the five major cities and to repel the 100,000 Yizhou troops, these two impossible problems are combined. I am afraid that when he hears this imperial edict, his feet will be frightened. Moreover, the queen's strategy makes people feel more generous and has the tendency of mother to be in the world."

Queen Song laughed happily and praised Cui Yi for choosing the perfect plan.

Cui Yixuan suggested again: "In addition, I have another suggestion. Now that the Eight Kings are in rebellion, although they are very powerful, as we continue to increase troops in various states, all aspects will be beneficial to us. It is better to let the prince go to the front line. As long as you find important officials to assist you, it will be of great benefit to the prince's reputation and will be more smooth in the future ascend the throne."

Queen Song couldn't help but nodded and said, "Then I will send the prince to the south. The southern general is a general promoted by my grandfather. He is also very scheming. With him, he will definitely be able to protect the emperor."

After saying that, she smiled and said, "Just as soon as the prince leaves, the princess will be lonely for a while."

Cui Yixuan laughed and said, "As long as you can get His Royal Highness to ascend the throne, what is this mere loneliness?"

Queen Song smiled with satisfaction, waved Cui Yixuan, immediately got up and left the hall, and went to blow the wind in her ears to Emperor Chu.

From the fiefdom to Qingzhong City, lurking from Qingzhong City into Jingui County, and then hiding in the mountains and forests to look for opportunities for ambush. Fang Ling has not slept well for these days. After this war, he was covered in scars and felt unbearable pain when he turned over when he was sleeping, so he got up very early every day and couldn't sleep late.

Five days before the end of the Battle of Stranglethorn Valley, three thousand troops were healing and recuperating in the city, and resting in the health. The remaining defeated generals of the Gu family continued to guard the three counties of Jin and Gui, and did not dare to act rashly.

News from all aspects has come one after another in the past five days, and the most troublesome thing is of course the news that Gu Ziyun led 50,000 troops to Jingui County.

The development of the matter was long as Fang Ling expected. After he knew that after he had killed Gu Shaofeng, Fang Zongao would not be able to swallow this. He even felt that it would be possible if Fang Zongao went on the battle in person.

However, the soldiers came to block the enemy and the water came to flood the earth. As early as when he was determined to ambush the Stranglet Valley, he had sent people to send Xu Mou, who was guarding the fief, to send 20,000 troops to Qingzhong City.

In order to cover up, Fang Ling did this matter very secretly, and even Song Ying'er didn't know it.

At the same time, 20,000 people were divided into several batches, each batch of only two or three hundred. The horses marched quickly. In order not to spread the news, he even wrote a letter to Yuan Dekang, the governor of Dingzhou.

Yuan Dekang got the benefits of Qianfeng Cui porcelain and was bewitched by Fang Ling. Now Fang Ling has made a name for himself in the battle of Stranglet Valley and has indeed defended Qingzhong City. Of course, Yuan Dekang hopes that he can continue to win so that he can sit freely as the governor.

So even if some officials in the county and county noticed the recent movement of a small group of people, he suppressed all the news. In this way, no one knew that 20,000 people were coming towards Qingzhong City, and this became Fang Ling's trump card!
Chapter completed!