Transmigrating into a Turbulent Era as a Soldier, Starting with Marrying a Wife

A great victory at the Chishui River resulted in the complete annihilation of the Tiele army.

Marquis Longxiang immediately sent a victory report to the imperial court.

Ten of Marquis Longxiang's personal guards, each equipped with two horses, traveled day and night to report the victory to the capital, Shangjing.

Relying on the relatively complete postal station system in the Great Liang's interior,

it would only take seven or eight days to travel from the Chishui River to Shangjing, the heart of Great Liang.

At this time, in Shangjing of Great Liang,

the May wind was still a bit cold.

Within the imperial city, teams of imperial guards, armored and armed with spears, maintained a high level of alert.

The walking eunuchs and palace servants were all cautious and prudent.

Inside the Xiaoyao Palace, the sounds of silk and bamboo instruments echoed.

The decadent music lingered.

Dozens of graceful young dancers, dressed in thin纱, holding feather fans, were dancing lightly.

Inside the main hall, the smoke from the incense burners swirled, enveloping the figures at the head of the hall.

On a luxuriously carved dragon榻, Chen Yun升, the nominal ruler of the Great Liang Dynasty, Emperor Jianxing, sat on a soft couch, staring blankly at the singing and dancing.

Looking closely, the emperor's eyes were dull, his gaze unfocused, as if in a half-dreaming, trance-like state.

His body swayed slightly, perhaps due to fatigue, and saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth.

At this moment, a snow-white jade hand reached out from the side and wiped the saliva from the emperor's mouth with a brocade handkerchief.

Then the owner of the jade hand sighed softly.

The sigh came from the woman sitting to the emperor's left.

She was a bewitching woman in black palace attire, her hair piled high in a cloud-like bun, her eyes icy cold.

Her gaze seemed to carry the frost and chill of ice and snow.

This person was Consort Xiao敏, the Empress Xiao of the Western Palace of Emperor Jianxing.

And on the emperor's right side stood a humble-looking old eunuch in purple robes.

In fact, what most people didn't know was that the central power of Great Liang currently

was truly controlled by these two people.

And because Empress Xiao was at the head, it was also known as the Empress's faction.

At this time, outside the Xiaoyao Palace, within the imperial city, all the gates were tightly closed.

The four gates, east, west, north, and south, had been heavily guarded by a large number of armored soldiers.

Eunuchs of the inner guard, dressed in black, were conducting a large-scale search within the imperial city.

From time to time, eunuchs and palace maids were forcibly dragged out of their rooms by them.

These captured palace people were either weeping bitterly or trembling all over in a state of collapse.

Before long, inside the Xiaoyao Palace,

a black-clad inner guard entered from a side door, first kowtowing and paying respects to the people at the head of the hall.

Then he got up, went to the chief eunuch, and whispered a few words in his ear.

The black-clad Empress Xiao sighed again and asked,

"How is it, Eunuch Wu? Have you found those rats who sneaked into the imperial city?"

The old eunuch waved his hand, first dismissing the black-clad inner guard.

Then he turned his head, bowed to Empress Xiao, and said.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, my men have been conducting a thorough search throughout the imperial city and have arrested a total of seventy-six suspected eunuchs and palace maids."

"If there are no accidents, the spies sent by the Second Prince and Third Prince should be mixed among them."

The black-clad empress nodded, then asked in a cold voice,

"Then, Eunuch Wu, how do you plan to deal with them?"

The old eunuch's lips parted, revealing a very kind smile.

"How else can we deal with them? What this old servant and Your Majesty are doing is too big, and it must not be revealed."

"The only ones who can keep secrets are the dead."

"This old servant thinks that it's time to feed the fish in the Imperial Garden, and it's time to fertilize the flowers and plants on Imperial Mountain."

Empress Xiao looked at the old eunuch coldly, and couldn't help but feel a chill in her heart.

This old thing is really ruthless.

It seems that these seventy-six palace people will not survive today.

The old eunuch bowed again and said in a gentle voice.

"This old servant invites His Majesty and Your Majesty to take a walk in the Imperial Garden in the back palace."

"Let's see how this old servant feeds the fish and fertilizes the plants."

Empress Xiao pondered for a moment, then said slowly,

"Alright, then I'll go and take a look."

"How Eunuch Wu feeds these fish, how he applies this fertilizer."

Empress Xiao didn't want to lose her momentum in front of this old guy.

In the current imperial city, the Empress's relatives control thousands of elite imperial guards and the four gates.

And this Eunuch Wu controls the inner guards and palace people.

As for what the Empress's faction has done, it is indeed a sky-shattering event.

Back then, to consolidate her position, Consort Xiao of the Western Palace colluded with the chief eunuch Wu De'an and used poison to kill the Empress of the Eastern Palace.

Originally, things were done extremely secretly, but for some reason, there have been rumors recently that the emperor wants to thoroughly investigate the Eastern Palace incident.

In order to protect themselves, the two went all the way and used a poison from the Western Regions on the emperor.

Leaving him in a half-dreaming, half-awake, and dazed state.

In order to eliminate future troubles, the Empress's faction even falsely issued an imperial decree, tricked the crown prince into coming, and plotted to murder the crown prince within the imperial city.

The two originally thought that they could put the Seventh Prince, born to Empress Xiao, on the throne and take control of the court.

So they released the news that the emperor was seriously ill and established the Seventh Prince as the crown prince.

Who would have thought that this would stir up a thousand waves in the court, and the matter of establishing the Seventh Prince as the crown prince was strongly opposed by the entire court.

The civil officials group, led by the Left Prime Minister, insisted that since ancient times, there has been an order of seniority, and since the crown prince has died, the Second Prince should be established as the crown prince.

Moreover, this Second Prince often helped impoverished scholars in the folk, and had a good reputation.

But this Second Prince had a problem, that is, his birth mother was only a palace maid, and his status was only庶出. According to the Great Liang law, it was difficult to establish him as the crown prince.

And the noble group of Great Liang, led by General Zheng Tianxiong, strongly supported the Third Prince to inherit the position of crown prince.

For no other reason than that the Third Prince's mother, Noble Consort Rong, came from a famous noble family and had inextricable links with the Great Liang noble group.

So in the current Shangjing city, the emperor is deeply poisoned and has become a clay sculpture in the temple and cannot manage affairs.

The Empress's faction wants to push Empress Xiao's Seventh Prince to be established as the crown prince, but is opposed by the entire court.

The Second Prince, promoted by the civil official group, is extremely difficult to be established as the crown prince because he is庶出.

And the nobles want to support the Third Prince, but are opposed by the other two parties.

For a time, in this Shangjing city, with the goal of establishing the crown prince, the three parties formed a stalemate.

The most active now is the Second Prince's faction, led by Left Prime Minister Cai Hongwen.

These civil officials are connected by the same year in the imperial examination, disciples and former officials, forming the so-called 文德 party.

Although this Second Prince Chen Jingxuan is庶出, he is currently the head of all the princes, and he is also extremely good at gathering people's hearts.

These literati are also extremely good at creating momentum, and they are vigorously promoting the Second Prince's virtue in the court and in the folk.

For a time, the call for the Second Prince to be established as the crown prince in the folk was extremely high.

Compared to the Second Prince, who relies on the praise of civil officials.

The Third Prince's advantage is the support of the nobles.

Led by General Zheng Tianxiong, the nobles in the court control the military power of the six prefectures near Shangjing.

As long as they give an order, they can easily mobilize 30,000 troops.

If the Empress's faction really forces the Seventh Prince to be established as the crown prince, they may immediately face the siege of the army.

This also makes the Empress's faction quite afraid.

Of course, the Empress's faction is not without a chance of winning. They control the imperial city's imperial guards, the emperor himself, and the jade seal.

Moreover, the two princes outside the imperial city are also highly opposed and in a stalemate with each other.

The three parties are all trying their best to dig out each other's handles and shortcomings to create momentum for their own heir to the throne.

Everyone understands that once their heir fails and fails to finally obtain the throne.

Then those who support them will be thoroughly liquidated by their opponents, and their families will also suffer a devastating disaster.

So for all three forces involved in the struggle for imperial power, they have no way back.

At this most tense moment, the Empress's faction in the imperial city made a big mistake.

That is, the Great Liang jade seal, which was placed in the Jianfu Palace in the imperial city, was inexplicably stolen.