On the wedding day, my wife was abnormal

The sixth day of the third month in the second year of Shenghui.

Pyongyang Royal Palace, Gyeongbokgung Hall.

Just a few days ago, this place was filled with false carnival due to the misreported "Anzhou victory", but now it is shrouded in dead silence of fear and despair.

The real battle report, like a snowstorm accompanied by hail, completely shattered their short-lived dream.

Anzhou City was not defended, but was completely reduced to scorched earth!

The defending general Cui Renshi fled from the battlefield, and more than 10,000 defenders and tens of thousands of civilians were slaughtered!

The news was confirmed by the scattered defeated soldiers and spies who had managed to escape, and spread like a plague in the royal capital. Finally, it was brought before the king and regent by trembling ministers.

Inside the hall, the charcoal brazier was still burning brightly, but it couldn't dispel the bone-chilling cold.

King Go Zang of Goguryeo was as pale as paper. He curled up on the throne, his body shaking violently uncontrollably, even his teeth were chattering, as if he would faint at any time.

Regent Gao Yun could no longer maintain his usual sinister composure. He slumped in a chair beside the throne, his eyes blank, his lips trembling as he muttered repeatedly, "Impossible, this is impossible! How could Anzhou be conquered?"

Your Highness, all the civil and military officials were silent, everyone looked ashen, and some of the elderly and weak even had to rely on their colleagues to stand firmly.

The flattery and bold words that echoed throughout the hall a few days ago now turned into silent fear.

There was an almost suffocating sense of oppression in the air.

"Your Majesty, the Regent." The Minister of War's voice trembled, almost crying, "The news is absolutely true. Anzhou has been captured by Murong Yan using fire, and General Cui Renshi is nowhere to be found in the city."

He couldn't continue. The bloody description in the battle report made him want to vomit just thinking about it.

"Massacre after massacre." Gao Yun suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, and his voice was hoarse and sharp. "Haezhou, Anzhou, and next is Pyongyang! It's you and me!!"

His fear instantly ignited panic among everyone in the hall.

"It's over, it's all over." A civil servant collapsed to the ground in despair, sobbing uncontrollably. "Murong Yan isn't human, she's a devil! She's the devil in that weird nightgown who's taking my life!"

"How did the fire start? Why did Dongshan catch fire for no reason? And the wind was blowing from the southeast?!" another general shouted in horror, as if the strange fire had already spread to the outskirts of Pyongyang.

"It's Murong Yan! She must have used some magic!" someone shouted hysterically. "She was wearing that black and gold demon costume, chanting something in front of the formation, and she summoned the fire of hell! How can we mortals compete with this magic?!"

Panic was like a flood that broke through a dam, instantly submerging the entire court.

A fierce quarrel broke out again between the pro-war and pro-peace factions, but this time, the content of the quarrel was no longer about war or peace, but how to die a little more decently, or whether there was a glimmer of hope for a humiliating survival.

"Surrender! You must surrender immediately!" Wen Zhengchun, who advocated peace, burst into tears and fell to the ground, kowtowing repeatedly. "Your Majesty! Regent! No more fighting! Haizhou and Anzhou are our past examples! Murong Yan doesn't care about morality at all. She just wants to destroy the Goguryeo ancestral temple! Surrender now, offer a letter of surrender, pay tribute, and perhaps you can save the royal bloodline and the lives of the people of Pyongyang!"

He emphasized the words "save your life" with great emphasis, his words filled with desperate plea.

"Surrender? Minister Wen, are you getting senile?!" Park Jung-woong, the pro-war faction, was also pale, but he still managed to shout, "Murong Yan even killed the envoys who came to ask for peace! She is determined to kill them all! Surrender? That will only bring humiliation upon yourself and lead to a faster death! The only solution now is to rally all the troops in the country and defend Pyongyang to the death! Fight her to the bitter end! Even if the city falls, we will crush her teeth! Let her know the blood of the Goguryeo men!"

"Blood? Can blood withstand the giant stone fire pots falling from the sky? Can it withstand the demonic fire that covers the mountains?!" Wen Zhengchun retorted at the top of his lungs, "General Park! Look at Haeju! Look at Anju! What is that? It's hell! Are we going to turn Pyongyang into that?!"

"Then what do you say we should do? Give up our ancestral heritage? Let that witch step on our corpses and dance in Gyeongbokgung Palace in her weird nightgown?!" Park Jung-woong's eyes were bloodshot.

"Enough!" Gao Yun slammed the armrest of the chair, making a loud noise and interrupting the quarrel.

He gasped, his eyes sweeping over the panicked courtiers below the stage, finally landing on his nephew who was trembling on the throne.

A huge feeling of powerlessness and doomsday fear gripped his heart. He knew that what Park Zhengxiong said was a dead end. But would Murong Yan accept Wen Zhengchun's surrender?

Thinking of the beheaded envoy Jin Wenhan, his heart turned cold.

"What will Murong Yan do next?" Gao Zang asked in a trembling voice with tears in his eyes.

This question plunged the hall into a dead silence once again. Everyone was wondering: what "choice" would the empress, dressed in a gorgeous and strange nightgown, whose methods were even more ruthless than Shura's, leave them after slaughtering two cities in a row and heading straight for Pyongyang?

"She will besiege the city," Gao Yun said in a dry voice, "and then use all means to break the city and massacre the people just like she did to Anzhou."

Every word he spoke seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, full of despair.

"Mudan Peak, our Mudan Peak." A general in charge of the city defense suddenly shouted in fear, "Mudan Peak is high above us. If Murong Yan occupies it..."

He didn't dare to say anything more, but everyone understood what that meant - Pyongyang would repeat Anzhou's mistakes!

Even worse!

Because this is the royal capital!

Panic, like tangible ice water, flooded everyone's head.

Inside Gyeongbokgung Hall, the only sounds were heavy breathing and suppressed sobbing.

The carnival a few days ago now seems like a huge and ironic joke.

The dark golden nightgown that they had never seen before, which was hundreds of miles away, now weighed clearly on everyone's mind like the most terrifying nightmare. The long train seemed to have crossed the mountains and rivers and wrapped around their necks.

At the same time, the atmosphere in the Daqian army's tent was completely different.

Murong Yan leaned lazily on the soft couch covered with white tiger skin. Lin Zhen sat beside the couch and carefully fed a peeled orange slice to her mouth.

Murong Yan was still wearing the dress that resembled the descent of a divine phoenix.

The bloodshed in Anzhou City did not seem to have left much of a mark on her, or rather, she had easily put it behind her.

"Hmm, so sweet." Murong Yan opened her mouth to take the orange, squinting her eyes in satisfaction, like a cat whose fur was stroked.

She stretched out her foot and gently kicked Lin Zhen's calf, "Husband, you should eat too, don't just feed me."

Lin Zhen smiled and peeled a petal for himself, putting it in his mouth and nodding, "It's indeed sweet. This was just sent over from Jiangnan at full speed. I know Yan'er likes it."

"My husband still loves me the most." Murong Yan smiled sweetly, leaned over, rested her head on Lin Zhen's legs, and looked up at him. "Those annoying Goguryeo people must be scared, right? I heard that their emperor is very timid."

Her tone was full of innocent cruelty, as if she were talking about the weather.

Lin Zhen gently stroked her long hair, his eyes full of doting: "It's inevitable that they'll be frightened. The consecutive capture of two cities, especially the fire attack on Anzhou, is enough to deter all the scoundrels. I'm sure Pyongyang is in chaos right now."

"Chaos is better," Murong Yan curled her lips, playing with the belt on Lin Zhen's robe, "It would save us from wasting energy. It would be best if they opened the city gates and surrendered on their own, so that I can return to Chang'an with my husband to see the apricot blossoms earlier."

She said, yawning slightly, "I haven't slept well these past few days."

"Then Yan'er, would you like to take a rest for a while now?" Lin Zhen asked softly.

"No," Murong Yan shook her head and rubbed against his arms again, "Husband, hold me, I will sleep for a while, just for a while."

Her voice gradually trailed off, thick with sleep.

Lin Zhen adjusted his posture to make her pillow more comfortable, then pulled the quilt over and gently covered her with it.

He lowered his head, looking at the peaceful sleeping face of the person in his arms, and was completely unable to connect her with the cold-blooded empress who ordered the massacre.

Only the divine phoenix dress that she never took off even in her dreams, with its dark golden glow flowing quietly in the tent, reminded him of the uniqueness and complexity of her identity.

The five-meter-long tail was spread out messily under the couch, as if it was an extension of her boundless power.

Lin Zhen sighed softly and hugged her tighter.

No matter how cold she is to others, in his arms, she will always be his Yan'er.