As soon as Bai Jingrong walked out of the hall, her face instantly darkened.
"Go to Ji Rong and see me immediately!"
"Yes, empress." Bai Ning responded quickly and hurriedly sent the message.
Bai Jingrong did not stop walking, and led the people out of the Queen Mother's Palace, all the way to the Government Hall.
It was already past the time for the princes and ministers to discuss matters, and Ji Zhan was handling political affairs in the palace.
But when they entered, Ji Zhan was not the only one in the palace.
Luo Junyao followed Bai Jingrong and saw at a glance that the beautiful girl sitting next to Ji Zhan was the Princess of Xituan.
Bai Jingrong saw the girl sitting next to Ji Zhan, and her face became more and more ugly as she thought of something, "Your Majesty."
Ji Zhan raised his head and glanced at her, then said in a calm tone: "Mother."
The girl had also met Bai Jingrong. At this time, her eyes were somewhat curious and wary, but she still stood up politely and greeted Bai Jingrong, "Agua has met the Queen Mother."
The girl's Qi language was very good, with almost no accent, which was much better than Luo Junyao's.
Bai Jingrong didn't appreciate it. He glanced at her coldly and said, "Get out."
The girl was stunned and couldn't help turning her head to look at Ji Zhan.
Ji Zhan frowned and said warmly to the girl: "Aya, please go out first. My mother and I have some things to discuss."
Hearing this, the girl immediately smiled, nodded obediently and walked out.
"You guys should go out too." Bai Jingrong waved her hand.
"Yes, your Majesty." The maids following Bai Jingrong responded in unison and stepped out respectfully.
Soon only the mother and son were left in the hall, and the atmosphere became somewhat condensed.
Ji Zhan said displeasedly: "Mother, what do you want to do? Aya has not offended you."
Bai Jingrong sneered and said: "You are promising. In just a few days, the most favored princess of Xitian has become obsessed with you. But if you expect Xitian to help you stabilize the throne, I advise you not to have such wishful thinking."
Ji Zhan felt uncomfortable hearing these words, and he couldn't help but blurt out, "Of course she is not as capable as the queen mother."
Bai Jingrong was stunned, and his expression suddenly changed. Before Ji Zhan could react, he slapped him hard in the face.
Snapped!
There was silence in the hall.
Bai Jingrong never denied that she used her beauty to take advantage of men, and she didn't think there was anything wrong with her. But when these words came from her own son, she still found it difficult to face them calmly.
A trace of annoyance flashed in Ji Zhan's eyes. He was indeed angry at Bai Jingrong for restricting him from competing for power, but he didn't want to use such words to irritate her.
But the words had already been spoken, but Ji Zhan could not say anything to apologize.
The hall was so quiet that it seemed like the only sound that could be heard was the breathing of the two people.
It seemed like a long time passed, and it seemed like it was only a moment. Bai Jingrong had turned around and walked to the side and sat down.
"Xitian is indeed one of the most powerful tribes in the desert, but the clan's military strength is only 20,000. Do you expect them to deal with Xie Yan or the old people from the royal family? How do you know that they have no plans of their own?
?" Bai Jingrong said calmly, as if nothing happened just now.
Ji Zhan was silent for a moment and said with a wry smile: "Queen Mother, do I have any other choice?"
He seems to still be sitting on the throne now, but it is just the result of many compromises. In fact, he can be regarded as a loner.
If we don't look for allies from outside, even if we survive the crisis brought by Xie Yan and King Chaqin, we will be ignored and become a puppet.
Wherever there is power in this world, there will be intrigues, and the struggle for power and profit has never been unique to the people of the Central Plains.
"Xie Yan's troops, even including the Dongyin people, are less than 200,000. I don't believe he can destroy the Qi royal court in a short time." Ji Zhan said solemnly.
Bai Jingrong lowered his eyes and said calmly: "Perhaps Xie Yan has never thought about annihilating the Qi people." If Xie Yan really wanted to destroy the Qi people, he would not have borrowed the troops from the Western Regions, but personally led Dasheng's elite troops.
But this is actually not cost-effective for Dasheng. The desert is too big and too desolate for Dasheng to implement long-term effective control here.
Once the Qi people become extinct, someone will inevitably take their place, perhaps the Dongyin people, or perhaps some other tribe will rise.
Secondly, crossing the desert was a huge drain on Da Sheng's troops and horses, and the results and losses were hardly proportional.
Therefore, Xie Yan chose to use the soldiers and horses of the Western Regions to achieve the purpose of weakening the Qi people.
If he can achieve his goal, Xie Yan will definitely still need someone to control the Qi people. Instead of letting the Qi people choose a new king in a desperate situation and start over again, there is a more suitable candidate than Ji Zhan, the Qi King who has had his backbone broken.
?
A Qi King with Central Plains ancestry and fear of Dasheng.
Bai Jingrong almost saw Xie Yan's calculations, and a faint feeling of exhaustion arose in her heart.
Ji Zhan always blames her for hindering him in everything. If he has the ability and scheming of Xie Yan, why would she do this?
Ji Zhan looked at Bai Jingrong in silence, and Bai Jingrong instantly understood what he meant.
He also saw that Xie Yan would not really destroy the Qi people, so what he did was to stabilize his position and prepare for the fight for power later.
Bai Jingrong wanted to laugh, but she couldn't.
She didn't know whether to be happy that her son was smart, or to be sad about his style and vision.
She couldn't help but think of Qu Fang's words again, and the waning mood in her heart became more and more serious.
"That's all." Bai Jingrong said in a deep voice: "You can do whatever you like, but I need to remind you that Xie Yan will not destroy the Qi clan, but he is not the only one to say how far he will weaken the Qi clan.
Forget it. Don’t forget that he still has to give an explanation to the people of the Western Region and Dongyin.”
Xie Yan did not mobilize troops from the Western Regions for nothing.
Ji Zhan said in a deep voice: "I know."
Bai Jingrong nodded, "I just received the news that Xie Yan sent Luo Junyao to Xituan. Is your Xituan princess really reliable?"
"Luo Junyao? Princess Regent of Dasheng?" Ji Zhan was stunned and said: "He sent a princess to conquer the Khotan tribe?"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Xitian is different from other countries in the Western Regions. It is a tribe that has lived in the desert for a long time and has been neighbors with the Qi people. It has almost no dealings with the Central Plains dynasty.
If there are still people in various countries in the Western Region who admire the culture of the Central Plains, it is hard to say whether the people of Khotan know which direction Dasheng is located.
What is the use of Xie Yan sending a woman to such a tribe?
It might be seen as a provocation to look down upon the Khotanese tribe.
Bai Jingrong said calmly: "You should have seen some news about Luo Junyao. Do you think she is an ordinary princess?"
The smile on Ji Zhan's face faded a little, but she had forgotten that this young regent princess had ruined his mother in several ways.
However, he still had some confidence in this, "The Khotanese will not be so stupid as to abandon us and form an alliance with Dasheng thousands of miles away. Soon, Agua will become my queen, and her son will
Become the future king of the Qi people."
"Are you sure that the Qi people will accept a king with foreign blood again?" Bai Jingrong said.
Why is the royal family of the Qi tribe so anxious to make a royal daughter the new queen? It’s because they don’t trust half of the foreign blood in Ji Zhan’s body.
Letting them accept that the next generation of kings will have thinner Qi bloodline is probably even harder than killing them.
Ji Zhan said: "This will happen in the future."
Bai Jingrong sighed: "That's all, I'll send people to resolve the matter in Xitian. I hope they really won't let you down."
Ji Zhan looked at her but hesitated to speak.
Bai Jingrong said: "If you want to say anything, just say it."
Ji Zhan said: "Rouran..."
Bai Jingrong sneered and said: "You finally asked, don't worry, after Xie Yan and the Dongyin people retreat this time, I will hand over all the soldiers and horses in my hand and Rouran's soldiers and horses to you."
Ji Zhan was stunned, this was something he never expected.
"Mother, why are you..."
Bai Jingrong lowered her eyes and said, "Maybe I'm tired."
Outside the main hall, a girl named Agua sat boredly on the edge of the steps, playing with her pigtails.
Seeing the people on the left and right standing motionless, I thought it was interesting and went over to strike up a conversation.
Bai Ning has always been calm and natural, which made Agua feel very bored. She turned to stare at Luo Junyao, who was looking at the youngest person next to her.
"May I have your name?"
"Back to the princess, my name is Chu Chu."
"Are you Chu Chu?" Aguya looked at her and raised her eyebrows: "I heard that the king likes you very much?"
Luo Junyao had a look of astonishment on his face and said quickly: "The princess is joking, how can this slave be worthy of being liked by the king? I have only sent two messages to the king on the order of the Queen Mother, and have never gotten along with each other in private."
Agua snorted softly, "It's boring."
"Princess, whether it is true or not, the king is the man that this princess likes. You must stay away from me in the future, otherwise..." She made a gesture of wiping her neck, and a dangerous and threatening look appeared on her pretty face.
.
Luo Junyao rolled his eyes several times in his heart, but his face looked frightened and cute.
"My slave obeys my order. Princess, please rest assured. I will never dare to think of overstepping my bounds."
"That's good." Agua said with satisfaction, "Don't worry, as long as you are obedient, this princess will not do anything to you."
"..." Princess, do you want to consider your real opponent first?
It’s true that you are a princess, and you are also a member of the royal family Ji’s family. A strong dragon can’t overpower the local snakes, and Xitian is not that strong, right?
Bai Jingrong walked out of the hall and happened to hear the last sentence. She chuckled lightly and walked past Agua without even giving her a look.
The others didn't dare to say anything, and they didn't have time to look at Aguya's face, so they quickly followed Bai Jingrong's footsteps.
In the evening, news came from the Assembly Hall that Princess Agua suddenly vomited blood and fell into a coma.
After diagnosis and treatment, the palace doctor concluded that Aguya was poisoned by the poison of the half-moon lotus that is unique to the desert. If the poisoned person cannot take the antidote in time, he will vomit blood and die.
Half-moon lotus is not a rare poison in the desert, and the antidote is naturally not difficult to find.
But when the imperial doctor was detoxifying, he discovered another thing. Princess Agua was also given sterilization medicine. Fortunately, it was discovered in time and it did not really damage the root cause. After a year or two of treatment, she can still get pregnant and have children.
of.
As soon as this incident came out, Ji Zhan was naturally furious and dealt with all the attendants inside and outside the Yizheng Hall.
Agua's brother went to the palace to express his strong dissatisfaction with Ji Zhan. Ji Zhan did not want to break up with the Xitian people at this time, so he naturally tried to appease and make promises. With Princess Agua's persuasion, Ji Zhan finally calmed down the situation.
The anger of the Khotanese prince.
When Bai Jingrong heard this, he just sneered and said nothing.
In the dim room, Luo Junyao slowly placed a small paper roll on the candle and lit it.
The paper roll was quickly swallowed up by the tongue of fire, and the room suddenly became ablaze, and a very faint fragrance spread.
Soon the flames went out and the room fell into darkness again.
Luo Junyao pursed his lips slightly.
She can be regarded as saving Princess Agua, right? Although she vomited a few mouthfuls of blood, it was better than finding out a few years later that she had been killed by someone and rendered infertile.
As for what Ji Zhan would think, it's none of her business.
If Ji Zhanru hated the Qi clan because of this incident, they would not be wronged.
After all, the poison on Agua's body was not inflicted by them, nor was it inflicted by Bai Jingrong. Who else could it be besides those Qi clan members?
Thinking of this, the smile in Luo Junyao's eyes became brighter and brighter.
I yawned a little, got up and went to wash up and go to bed.
In the blink of an eye, another three days passed, and the fighting outside the city was still raging.
King Chaqin was not satisfied with the current war. After all, they were on someone else's territory, and the best situation was to have a quick victory. The current delay was not reassuring after all.
"Prince Regent, now that the army has been unable to attack the royal city of the Qi tribe for a long time, I wonder what your Majesty has to say?" King Chaqin glanced at Prince Umo Zatuo, who was sitting opposite him, with a hint of disdain between his brows.
The small countries in the Western Regions cobbled together a hundred thousand soldiers and horses from east to west, but their combat effectiveness was not as good as the 30,000 soldiers in Dongyin. Now that his follow-up reinforcements have arrived, he naturally does not take the people of the Western Regions seriously.
Zatuo naturally saw it and was very unhappy in his heart, but it was hard to get angry in front of Xie Yan.
Xie Yan said calmly: "After all, the Qi people are powerful people who once conquered the desert. King Chaqin is too anxious."
King Chaqin sneered and said: "Prince Regent, the people I promised have arrived. The soldiers and horses from Dongyin and the Western Regions are fighting hard now. You, Dasheng, have not lost a single soldier."
Xie Yan said in a deep voice: "We will definitely break through the royal court of the Qi clan within seven days. If King Chaqin doesn't believe it, just do it yourself."
King Chaqin was choked and took a deep breath before saying: "Okay, let's do it for seven days. If we can't break the royal court of the Qi tribe by then, don't blame me for not accompanying you!"
Xie Yan didn't say much, he just made a gesture of please.
King Chaqin snorted softly, stood up and said, "I still have something to do in the army, so I'll leave first."
After watching King Chaqin go out, Zatuo said with some worry: "Your Majesty, this person Chaqin has a rat's head and two ends, could he..."
Xie Yan shook his head and said: "No, what he wants more is the royal court of the Qi clan than having a momentary dispute with me."
Zatuo frowned slightly and heard Xie Yan say: "Don't worry, I will never break my promise to your father."
Hearing this, Zatuo's expression instantly relaxed a bit.
The Central Plains has always been known as the land of etiquette and the land of heaven, and this reputation is still there.
If we cross the river and demolish the bridge this time, how will we face the countries in the Western Regions in the future?
"Yes, thank you very much, Your Majesty. We naturally trust Your Majesty and Dasheng, so we are willing to send troops with Your Majesty."
