The World Online
chapter-1190

Moving back to 8th month, 2nd day, 4 PM in the afternoon.

Fallen Phoenix City, King palace.

Within the quiet Imperial Reading Room, Great Jin Queen Feng Qiuhuang was reading and annotating memorials. As the frontline war matters were urgent, and Feng Qiuhuang was not good at military matters, all she could do was to take charge of the Capital City to calm down the people's sentiment and ensure the logistical supplies of the army.

As for the war matters, she could only rely on Guo Ziyi and Meng Tian.

Guo Ziyi was leading the blazing legion corps, defending against the Great Zhou army outside of the city. Meng Tian, on the other hand, led Guards Legion Corps to defend the Capital City and was the last line of defense.

Along with the frontline battle getting worse and worse, and their grain line being disturbed by the Great Zhou army, Guo Ziyi was leading the blazing corps to retreat back toward the city. They were prepared to gather up with the Guards Legion Corps to defend.

Kangxi Emperor was hoping for Great Zhou to take down Great Jin quickly while Feng Qiuhuang was looking forward to Great Xia wiping out Great Qing.

Although the two sides did not have a direct relationship, they were in the same boat.

The wilderness was like that. Only the strong could control their fate, while the weak could only leave their fate to the hands of others.

Although Feng Qiuhuang was not willing to admit that she was a weak part of the wilderness, without the direct reinforcements of Great Xia, she was being forced back by Great Zhou with no power to fight back. It let her realize that in this battle of the wilderness, Great Jin really could not be considered as strong.

One huge wave was enough to wipe out Great Jin.

This strengthened the determination in her heart that if Great Jin survived this calamity, she would bow her head to Great Xia. It was time for her to learn from Bai Hua and the others and put down the burden on her shoulders.

The current wilderness stage had no place for her to do a solo performance.

Seeing that Great Xia had shown the ambition to unify China, it could save Great Jin once, but it could not do so every single time. Even if Ouyang Shuo was willing to do so without anything in return, Great Xia's officials would not be willing.

Joining them was the best choice.

Thinking about this, a look of worry flashed across her brows.

A day ago, when she expressed for the first time that she was willing to join Great Xia at a family meeting, she was greeted with a bunch of objections.

"Why?" Feng Qiuhuang did not understand.

In her eyes, if she joined Great Xia, she would be the one who lost the most, but to the Feng Family, they would be able to put down the pressure and enjoy riches and prosperity. As such, they should be the ones happy about it.

Take Bai Hua as an example.

When Bai Hua brought Consonance City to join Great Xia, in a short two years, she rose up to the Nanjiang Governor-General position. Her power was comparable to what Feng Qiuhuang had now and even exceeded hers.

Bai Hua's family also benefited from that and became a rising and prosperous family in China.

It was not that she was prideful, but with her ability and the foundation of the Great Jin Dynasty, her future results would not be weaker than Bai Hua after joining Great Xia.

This was all pros and no cons for the Feng family.

Facing her questions, the Feng family discussed amongst themselves but had no exact answer to give her.

The reason was actually really simple.

After Great Jin established the dynasty, the Feng family rose up to become the royal family. This was something that their ancestors did not think about doing, and it was the most glorious time for the Feng family.

The Feng family was enjoying their current spot and did not want their status to drop.

"Cough," Feng Qiuhuang did not know how to react. After a long while, she said, "If we do not, we can be destroyed by the surrounding enemies at any moment. Is that what you're willing to see?"

"We won't. Great Xia would not allow that to happen." An elder said it like it was to be expected.

Feng Qiuhuang understood right away, and her heart felt a chill.

In the eyes of the Feng family, they saw Great Xia as a free bodyguard, enjoying their protection with certainty. In their eyes, even if Great Xia unified China, there would be a place for Great Jin.

Even to say that they wished for Great Xia to unify China so that there would not be anything for them to worry about.

"Human nature can never be read."

Feng Qiuhuang was disappointed to the max and left behind a vicious sentence, "Regardless of whether you all agree or not, I'll choose to join Great Xia." As she said that, the family meeting ended.

The hurriedly leaving Feng Qiuhuang did not notice the weird look of the elders.

...

"Sister, have a drink!"

The one who spoke was Qing Luan, who handed over a cup of tea.

At the start of the 1st year of Gaia, with the support of Ouyang Shuo, Feng Qiuhuang successfully broke away with her family, becoming an independent Lord. Out of the four good friends by her side, only Qing Luan remained till now.

Her loyalty was rewarded greatly.

After establishing the Great Jin dynasty, Feng Qiuhuang followed the Great Xia model and established the Imperial Court organization. Qing Luan was appointed as the advisor of the Secret Documents Pavilion and was the official that Feng Qiuhuang trusted the most.

Feng Qiuhuang did not think much, drinking it right away.

Who would have expected that the tea would contain a weird poison? The moment she drank it, Feng Qiuhung could not say a word and could not move. She laid paralyzed on the throne and became a vegetable.

A queen was betrayed by her most trusted person.

Maybe this could not be called betrayal because since the start, Qing Luan was a chess piece that Di Chen had buried beside Feng Qiuhuang. The happenings of the 1st year only made her hide deeper.

Only now did Di Chen activate her.

The culprit, Qing Luan, did not show any happiness. Looking at the paralyzed Feng Qiuhuang, she broke into tears.

Humans were not wood, and they had emotions.

Looking out for one another for five to six years, although the two of them were not actually sisters, they were closer than that.

If it were possible, Qing Luan would rather she had never been activated in her life. However, fate was just so cruel, so cruel that it made one helpless. Not everyone could control their fate.

Qing Luan was a pitiful person who was played by fate.

In reality, Qing Luan was indebted to Di Chen, and she was within his hands. At any moment, he could push her family and her into an irrecoverable spot.

Qing Luan had no choice but to follow his request.

Qing Luan knelt in front of Feng Qiuhuang, crying, "Sister, I know you can hear me. I'm sorry. This sin is mine, and I cannot be let off. Only in death can I pay you back."

As she said that, Qing Luan shattered the poison in her mouth and killed herself, disappearing as a white light. Looking at the white light, a tear dropped from the corner of Feng Qiuhuang's eye.

Qing Luan was gone.

After reviving, she disappeared from Fallen Phoenix City and disappeared from the game world. Even until the game ended, no one ever seen such a person.

This day was named as the Qing Luan calamity.

...

Very quickly, the unusual happening within the Imperial Reading Room was noticed by the guard outside.

When Personal Guard Commander Ran Min received the report, he dealt with it really calmly. He let the court ladies send the queen to her sleeping palace while sending the imperial physician to give her an antidote. At the same time, he informed the officials and the members of the royal family to enter the court.

The frontline war was still underway, and if news of the queen being poisoned was spread out, who knows what huge waves would arise. Ran Min was really dutiful and locked down the palace, doing everything to ensure that the outside world would not know anything about it.

Sleeping palace, outer hall.

Great Jin prime minister Meng Yi and three core members of the Feng family gathered together to discuss the matter.

Unlike Great Xia, which had a huge number of civil servants, Great Jin had a limited number. Although Feng Qiuhuang followed the Great Xia model, she followed Great Jin's actual situation to make some adjustments.

The biggest change was that there was not a Cabinet but a prime minister instead.

As the only decent civil servant, Meng Yi was the best choice. Apart from that, Feng family members were appointed in the Great Jin Imperial Court and were an undeniable power.

Feng Qiuhuang, who came from an aristocratic family, became subconsciously used to ruling a country.

The atmosphere of the outer hall was really depressed.

Just now, Great Jin's three best physicians diagnosed the queen, but they had no idea. They only said that this weird poison would dissipate itself.

As long as she rested for a week, the poison would disappear by itself.

However, what time was it now? The enemy was already near the city. If the queen did not wake up in a week, many things would happen. Who knows, maybe before she woke up, Great Jin would disappear.

Hence, they needed to think of another way.

It was not difficult to break the poison. As long as one gave her a substitute doll and killed her, the poison would be gone when she revived.

The problem was that killing her would be killing the ruler, and apart from royal family members, no one else dared.

The weird thing was that no one in the Feng family was willing to take such a risky move.

Feng Qiuhuang's brother, Great Jin 1st class Marquis Feng Tianlie said, "Death is a forbidden thing, much less for a queen. In my eyes, let's wait for a week. As for court matters, although the queen is not here, the royal family still is. We will handle it."

"Don't tell me that the Imperial Court cannot run just because the queen is not here for a week?"

Facing such accusations, what else could Meng Yi say? Although he felt that there was something going on, this was within the imperial family, and it was not something an official like him could interfere in.

The matter was settled just like that.

Later that night, the Imperial Court sent a notification that the queen was resting up and the Prince Regent Feng Tianlie would temporarily take over.

First, he closed down the Fallen Phoenix City teleportation formation.

After the Shanhai Guards investigated the notification, they finally noticed that something was unusual. They did not dare to take the matter lightly and immediately reported it upward.

...

Luoyang City, courtyard.

When Ouyang Shuo read the intel from the Shanhai Guards, his face was terrifyingly dark. Before he even exploded, Feng Tianlie actually took the initiative to call Ouyang Shuo that night.