Nine dragons fight for the throne, I don't want to sit on this throne

"What...what do you mean?"

Inside the palace.

Chu Ning stared at the somewhat embarrassed empress with disbelief and a look of surprise on his face.

Everyone knows that people who have never given birth will be scared when giving birth for the first time.

But didn’t the empress have a child?

Princess Gaoping, who died in the Great Chu, was her most beloved daughter!

Now suddenly saying that she has never given birth to a child, what is this?

Chu Ning didn't react at all.

It was the first time that the empress saw Chu Ning like this. The corners of her mouth slightly raised, forming an arc.

Seeing this man who looked ferocious in front of outsiders behave like this in front of her, the empress felt a sense of conquest in her heart.

No matter how powerful Chu Ning is, he is still under her control!

"In fact, the late emperor and I are husband and wife in name only, not in reality."

The empress touched her belly and explained, "Before the late emperor wanted to marry me, he had already been injured on the battlefield and could not have sex.

He married me only because he wanted to use the family power behind me to consolidate his throne.

When I discovered his secret, in order to stabilize my position in the palace, I pretended to be pregnant and adopted Gao Ping.

The late emperor was inhumane. He did not dare to make public the fact that I adopted Gao Ping, but he held a grudge against me and always tried to find a way to get rid of me.

In the end, I took the lead in launching a coup and seized the imperial power from him."

At this point, the empress suddenly rolled her eyes at Chu Ning and said, "Have you forgotten our first time?"

Chu Ning was slightly stunned, and recalled the first time he had with the empress.

Although the empress was drugged at that time, she was like a walking corpse on the bed and did not cooperate at all.

At that time, I was only focused on making love with the empress and had no time to think about these things. But now that I think about it, that was not the behavior of a young woman at all.

Moreover, the empress rested in the house for a long time before she could take action.

In this way, he was actually the empress's first man.

Chu Ning's eyes widened when he realized what was happening, his face full of disbelief: "No wonder you didn't cooperate at first. I thought you were determined, but it turns out you don't understand at all."

The corner of the empress' mouth twitched, and she clenched her right fist and punched forward.

Chu Ning laughed, stretched out his hand to grab her fist, and laughed: "Who would believe this if I told anyone else? If I hadn't tried it with you personally, I wouldn't have believed that this was your first time."

The empress felt embarrassed by what he said and snorted, "You men really all have knots in your hearts."

These words made Chu Ning touch his nose.

In fact, he doesn't care about these things. Of course, it would be even better if it was the empress's first time.

He was not a pedantic person, but the fact that the empress told him this was enough to show her trust in him.

The little thing that stood between the two of them was completely gone.

"Men are more or less possessive."

Chu Ning quietly defended himself, then touched her belly and said softly, "But don't worry too much, giving birth will only take an hour.

You have martial arts skills, so as long as you conserve your strength, you will be fine.

By the way, are the midwives and maids reliable?"

The news of the empress's pregnancy must not be spread out at this time, otherwise the army of the Great Zhou would be instigated to rebel.

It would be disastrous if someone knew that the empress was pregnant.

Therefore, these people must be reliable and the news must not be leaked.

The empress held Chu Ning's hand and said softly, "Don't worry, the midwife and the maid are all from my family. They watched me grow up when I was a child, and they are absolutely reliable.

After the children are born, I will immediately gather them in an empty residence and temporarily put them under house arrest to ensure that nothing goes wrong."

Chu Ning nodded repeatedly after hearing this: "Since you are sure, I will not ask any more questions. Leave the matters outside the palace to me. I also trust you with the matters inside the palace!

However, for safety reasons, I will send a few guards to guard outside for the next few days."

After knowing the empress's secret, Chu Ning became more and more worried about her safety.

But the empress frowned: "You don't have many people around you. If you transfer more people over, then you yourself..."

"It doesn't matter!"

Chu Ning smiled and said, "I will not go out of the city to fight, so you don't have to worry about me. Instead, the safety of you and your child is the most important."

Just as he finished speaking, a maid's voice came from outside the palace: "Your Majesty, Your Highness the King of Chu, Lord Di sent someone to deliver the news that the enemy has begun to attack the city."

The empress's expression changed slightly: "It seems that the rebels can't wait any longer!"

Chu Ning sneered: "Attacking the city at night, they must have gotten angry because of my scolding today!"

As he spoke, he helped the empress to lie on the dragon couch and said softly, "You should rest first. I will go and take a look. If everything is ok, I will come back to see you."

The empress nodded slightly: "Be careful."

Under her gaze, Chu Ning lifted the bead curtain and left.

……

On the city wall.

The defenders continued to throw stones and huge logs down, and the rebels and Yan army outside the city launched a fierce attack.

Chu Ning rode his horse to the scene and looked at the enemy troops attacking outside the city with no expression of joy or sadness on his face.

"Greetings to His Majesty the King of Chu!" Xue Huaide stepped forward and bowed.

Chu Ning nodded and asked, "How is the situation?"

Xue Huaide patted his chest, full of confidence: "Your Highness the King of Chu has cleared the streets today. Our army has sufficient defense equipment. Even if the enemy attacks fiercely for a month, they will not be able to break into the city."

This made Chu Ning smile: "If that's true, then we can continue to consume the enemy's soldiers and morale."

"I'll leave this place to General Xue. I'm tired from traveling a long way, so I'll go back and rest first."

"Farewell, His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu!"

After checking that there were no major problems with the city wall, and that Xue Huaide was a good commander and that there was no problem with the deployment of troops on the city wall, Chu Ning returned to the palace to accompany the empress.

The two hadn't seen each other for a long time and had a lot to talk about. Chu Ning also wanted to take this opportunity to spend some time with the empress.

But at this moment, a conspiracy was taking place in the city.

……

In Luocheng, inside a huge mansion.

More than a dozen heads of wealthy families gathered together.

Everyone looked grim and said nothing.

At the head of the group sat two white-haired old men, they were the former patriarchs of the Yang and Dugu families, two of the three great families in the Zhou Dynasty.

Seeing that no one was talking, the old Patriarch Dugu sighed and took the initiative to speak: "Everyone, I believe you all know what happened today. His Highness the Prince of Chu is decisive and very difficult to deal with."

As soon as he finished speaking, a family head below sneered: "He's just a young man, are we really afraid of him?"

Yang Bowen, the old patriarch of the Yang family, smiled bitterly and said, "King Liang has sent someone outside the city with a letter, asking us to open the city gates and let them in at the right time. After the mission is accomplished, he will reward them according to their merits. What do you think?"

There was silence in the hall for a while, and then someone said in a deep voice: "Let's see the situation first."

"Yes, the current situation is unclear, so we can't agree to it easily."

"But if we refuse, they will definitely attack us once they enter the city."

Everyone disagreed.

Dugu Xin narrowed his eyes upon seeing this and stood up suddenly: "Everyone, how about this, agree to it first!

If there is a chance, we can open the city gates. If there is no chance, then it is not our fault. "

Everyone looked at each other, then nodded in agreement.

At this point, the aristocratic families reached an agreement.

They are waiting for an opportunity to open the city gate!

Of course, whether there is such an opportunity depends on whether the soldiers outside the city have the ability to create the opportunity!