On the wedding day, my wife was abnormal

Du Ruhui and Zhou Qing were also stunned. They never expected that the Kong family's counterattack would take such an extreme and insane form!

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger! Take care of your health!" Lin Zhen held Murong Yan tightly, feeling her body tremble slightly from her rage. He was equally furious, but he had to remain calm. "The most urgent task is to deal with the invasion from the northern deserts! The northern border defenses must not be lost!"

Murong Yan leaned against Lin Zhen's chest, breathing heavily. After a while, she managed to suppress the anger that was about to burst out of her chest.

She raised her head, her eyes filled with a chilling killing intent, so intense it seemed to freeze the air.

"What a fine family of Confucius! What a sage's descendant!" She spoke each word clearly, her voice as cold as ice from the deepest hell, "Issue my decree!"

"First, order the Ministry of War to immediately dispatch elite troops to reinforce the northern frontier! Order the Yanran Protectorate to hold out for reinforcements, and the Yunzhou garrison commander to hold off the enemy forces!"

"Secondly, issue a nationwide announcement exposing the heinous crimes of the remnants of the Confucius family in colluding with the northern deserts and betraying the country for personal gain! Nail them to the pillar of historical shame! Let's see which scholar-official will dare to speak up for such traitors!"

"third,"

Her gaze shifted to Shadow One, sharper than ever before.

"Use all available resources, even if it means digging three feet into the ground, to drag out those rats of the Kong family hiding in the ditches before the iron cavalry of the northern desert tramples the Great Wall! Especially that little bastard! I want to see them pay the most painful price for their betrayal!"

Her orders were issued one after another, clear and decisive. The temperature inside the warm pavilion seemed to drop a few degrees.

"Your Majesty, we obey!" The crowd responded in unison, sensing the seriousness of the situation and the empress's unwavering resolve.

After giving the order, Murong Yan felt as if all her strength had been drained, and she leaned weakly against Lin Zhen. Lin Zhen waved for Du Ruhui and the others to leave and make preparations.

After everyone left, only the two of them remained in the warm pavilion. Murong Yan buried her face in Lin Zhen's chest, her voice trembling with exhaustion and lingering fear: "Husband, did I really go too far back in Penglai? Did I force them to this dead end?"

Lin Zhen hugged her tightly and said firmly,

"No! Yan'er, you're not wrong! It's their despicable nature that's the problem! Even without the Penglai incident, given the chance, they would still betray everything for their own selfish interests! The only way to deal with such traitors is to nip them in the bud! We'll fight the battles in the north! We'll eliminate the sins of the Kong family! You still have me, and thousands of loyal and brave soldiers!"

......

night.

The towering flames over Qufu City dyed half the sky a terrifying crimson.

The Confucius Mansion, once a place of resounding bells and lavish banquets, now stands as a living hell.

Ten-year-old Kong Zhiqian witnessed the entire tragedy of his family's destruction through the cracks in the book box.

The fallen figures of his uncles, the shrill cries of the women, the splattered blood of the servants, and the cold, ferocious faces of the black-armored soldiers were like countless red-hot irons, fiercely branding his tender soul.

The stench of blood and burnt smell that filled the air became his nightmare for countless nights thereafter.

"Qian'er, my Qian'er," the wet nurse Zhang's voice faintly rang out from outside the trunk, filled with suppressed fear and despair.

The box was gently opened a crack, and Zhang Mama's pale, tear-stained, and soot-covered face appeared before Kong Zhiqian.

With trembling hands, she stuffed a hard piece of dry food and a small, heavy brocade pouch into his arms.

“Listen, Qian’er,” Zhang Mama’s voice was urgent and hoarse, tears falling in large drops, “Crawl out through the dog hole in the backyard and run eastward without looking back! Go find the contents of this brocade pouch belonging to your aunt in Jinan Prefecture. You can only open it in a critical moment. Remember, survive! You must survive! Preserve a lineage for your Kong family!”

After saying that, Zhang Mama used her last bit of strength to close the lid of the box and push it to a more secluded corner.

Immediately afterwards, Kong Zhiqian heard the shouts and pulling sounds of soldiers outside, as well as a short scream from Granny Zhang, and then everything fell silent.

Little Kong Zhiqian bit his lip hard, the taste of blood filling his mouth. He dared not cry out, the intense fear and hatred almost tearing him apart.

He didn't know how much time had passed, until the shouts and cries outside gradually faded, leaving only the crackling of burning wood and the noise of soldiers rummaging through items, before he dared to gently open the box lid.

What came into view was a scene of utter chaos and corpses lying haphazardly on the ground.

He saw the familiar Granny Zhang lying not far from the box, with a dark red stain beneath her.

Overwhelmed by grief and fear, he nearly fainted. But the words "live on" acted like a final incantation, sustaining him.

He huddled up like the humblest insect, relying on his familiarity with the mansion's layout and using the shadows and ruins as cover, slowly making his way to the backyard.

The thick smoke stung his eyes, and the heat scorched his skin. He dared not look at those once-friendly, now cold and stiff, familiar faces.

Finally, he found the narrow dog hole hidden behind the artificial hill, a place known only to him and a few of his playmates.

Without the slightest hesitation, he struggled to crawl out.

Outside were cold, dark alleyways, a world apart from the towering flames inside the mansion.

He glanced back at the blood-and-fire hell that had devoured everything he had, and deeply engraved the names "Murong Yan" and "Lin Zhen," along with the tragic scene of that night, into his heart.

"Murong Yan, Lin Zhen." He roared silently in his heart, his small fists clenched until they turned white, his nails digging deep into his palms.

He dared not linger and, following his wet nurse's instructions, ran madly eastward.

A ten-year-old child, who had never traveled far alone before, suddenly displayed an amazing survival instinct.

He deliberately chose to travel through deserted paths and woods, drinking stream water and dew when thirsty, and gnawing on dry rations as hard as stones when hungry.

At night, I would huddle in haystacks or dilapidated temples, listening to the barking of wild dogs and the sound of the wind, trembling with fear, yet afraid to close my eyes.

A few days later, the dry rations were gone.

He was exhausted and hungry, and could barely walk. In despair, he remembered the brocade pouch his wet nurse had given him.

Trembling, I opened it and found a few gold leaves and a folded, slightly yellowed piece of paper inside.

The note contained only a few words and an unfamiliar place name: "Head north to the Northern Desert Royal Court, find Ashina Luo, a merchant under the command of the Left Wise King."

Going north?

Mobei?

That was the legendary, bitterly cold, and desolate land, the sworn enemy of the Holy Emblem!

Kong Zhiqian was stunned.

Why did the wet nurse send him there?

Go find a stranger, a businessman?

But at this moment, he had nowhere to go, and he didn't know if his aunt in Jinan was safe.

This note became the only faint light in his darkness.

He dared not use gold leaves to buy things in town, for fear of being discovered by the soldiers.

They could only continue their arduous journey through the mountains, exchanging gold leaves for food with the seemingly simple mountain people they occasionally encountered, lying that they had been robbed while visiting relatives.

He walked aimlessly northward, with only one vague thought in his mind: to get away from the Holy Emblem, as far away as possible.

He walked for an unknown amount of time, and became dark and thin, his clothes tattered, making him almost unrecognizable.

Until one day, he collapsed in a desert.

When he woke up, he found himself in a tent filled with the smell of fish and mutton, surrounded by several men wearing fur coats whose appearances were very different from those of people from the Central Plains.

"Hey kid, you're awake?" a burly man with a full beard and wearing a leather hat asked in broken Chinese, his eyes sharply scrutinizing him. This man was the merchant Ashina Luo.

Kong Zhiqian huddled in fear, clutching the last gold leaf in his arms, too afraid to speak.

Ashina Luo's gaze swept over his clenched fists and the tattered but still subtly distinguishable fabric of his clothes, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes.

He waved the others away, squatted down, and lowered his voice: "Kid, you're from the south? Your surname is Kong?"

Kong Zhiqian trembled and looked at him in horror.

Ashina Luo seemed to have confirmed something, grinning to reveal teeth stained yellow by tobacco: "Don't be afraid. Someone asked me to take care of you. I heard about what happened in Qufu."

He sighed, his tone carrying just the right amount of "sympathy".

"That woman Murong Yan is truly wicked, she's too cruel."