After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

August 16th, just after the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The bright moon in the sky remains round and full, hanging quietly like a flawless white jade plate.

The moon was silent, emitting only its usual hazy, cold white light.

Looking at it at a glance,

The moonlight was bright and clear, as if it were missing nothing.

At this time, whether in the Southern or Northern Dynasties, there was no trace of the Mid-Autumn Festival atmosphere in the human world.

The hazy light in the field of vision did not make people feel good; it only made them seem to see the smoke of gunfire in a daze, feeling confused and feeling a sense of dread in their hearts.

Throughout the entire city of Nanjing.

There were no couplets, no poetry gatherings, and no banquets this year.

There were no shouts of hawkers beckoning customers to the street, no aroma of mooncakes, no fragrance of fine wine; instead, the air was filled with all sorts of foul odors.

Even the Qinhuai River, once brimming with cosmetics, now seems to be emitting a nauseating stench of corpses.

The pleasure boats on the river are long gone; they have either been converted into warships, left idle on the shore, or used to transport provisions. Some of the older ones have even been dismantled and burned as firewood.

The craftsmen who sculpted jade rabbits were no longer on the streets. They were either working as artisans, weaving bamboo baskets, or serving as laborers. The stronger young men were given a suit of armor and incorporated into the Five Armies to guard the city.

The majestic city of Nanjing stands dusty and worn on the banks of the Yangtze River.

The navy that once protected Nanjing for sixty years, with more than three hundred warships of various sizes, is still stationed on the Yangtze River, facing off against the Northern Dynasty navy coming from the east, separated by twenty miles of river.

With the river defense artillery of Nanjing City, it was difficult for the warships of the Northern Dynasties, the Russians, and especially the Dutch to get close.

Luan Zongyuan, who was appointed Governor-General of Southern Zhili by the Empress, ordered that the navy should not go into battle, but should guard the southern gate of the capital and not lose it.

After his southward attack on Changzhou failed, Yue Zhongqi's 100,000-strong army besieged Nanjing.

Zhang Tingyu, the governor-general of Shandong and Henan provinces in the Northern Dynasty, and Li Wei, the governor-general of Jiangnan, were continuously mobilizing grain, weapons, and soldiers from various provinces, prefectures, and counties to transport across the river to support Yue Zhongqi.

The people of the Northern Dynasty were terrified at the sound of the officials' voices, but Zhang Tingyu and Li Wei both issued strict orders, reducing the number of men conscripted from one out of ten households to one out of five. The able-bodied men were sent to the Green Standard Army, while the rest became laborers to transport grain for the court. Many villagers fled, and there was widespread resentment.

Even so, it did not shake the Northern Dynasty's determination to move south.

However, because the Heavenly Principle Sect was constantly attacking the grain transport routes in Shandong, Zhang Tingyu was overwhelmed and unable to supervise the suppression, so he requested assistance from the imperial court.

In early July, the emperor of the Northern Dynasty officially dispatched Prince Duan, Hongchang, to travel south.

After Hongchang took command in Shandong, he continuously suppressed the Tianli Sect, which enabled Yue Zhongqi to still muster an army of 100,000 to besiege Nanjing after losing tens of thousands of Green Standard Army soldiers in Jiangpu and Liuhe.

On the eighth day of the eighth lunar month, Yang Ye, the general of the Yunhu Third Battalion, led 10,000 troops from Jurong northward to defend the emperor.

Yue Zhongqi dispatched his general, Chaldan, the commander of the Manchu Plain Yellow Banner Army, to confront Yang Ye head-on, and Yang Ye was utterly defeated.

Fortunately, Yang's troops were well-disciplined, and they fought and retreated, eventually returning to Jurong.

August 11th.

Zhang Gu, the Right Commander of the Five Armies of the Great Liang, led 20,000 troops from Changzhou to Zhenjiang. The Northern Army's Zhenjiang camp was on high alert. Hong Huang, the General Commander of the Green Standard Army of Jiangnan, led 10,000 troops, defeated Zhang Gu, and pursued the defeated army.

Zhang Gunan fled back to Changzhou.

Yue Zhongqi then besieged Nanjing with his troops while ordering Hong Huang to advance to Changzhou.

He then ordered Chardan to attack Jurong.

On August 12, the Yongwei Battalion marched east out of Nanjing and engaged in battle with Yue Fei's troops, defeating 20,000 of Yue Fei's troops deployed in the east.

However, Yue Zhongqi quickly ordered the 5,000 elite Eight Banners cavalry deployed to the south to provide assistance.

The brave guard battalion held its ground and retreated to Nanjing.

On August 13th, the laborers arranged by Li Wei finally delivered the hundred cannons.

Among them, there were only three general cannons and fewer than twenty heavy cannons weighing over 1,000 jin.

But the simultaneous firing of hundreds of cannons also plunged Nanjing into days of deafening thunder...

……

The booming sound of artillery fire lasted from morning till night.

Nanjing, not to be outdone, engaged in a cannon-fire exchange, resulting in casualties on both sides.

Yue Zhongqi was determined this time. Even at night, he ordered the artillery to continue the attack, trying to keep the defenders on the south wall from sleeping.

Such cannon fire naturally traveled from the Gaoqiao Gate in the south into the imperial city.

But inside the imperial city, neither the eunuchs nor the palace maids cared about being afraid.

What worried them even more was what happened in the Qianqing Palace, where the Empress resided.

Her Majesty the Empress of Daliang... is about to give birth.

Having children is never an easy thing.

For a woman, carrying a child for ten months and bringing the fetus into the world is a perilous journey.

Her Majesty the Empress, the Emperor of Liang, is facing the gates of hell tonight.

Inside the East Warm Pavilion, Her Majesty the Empress's heart-wrenching cries echoed through the vermilion doors and windows.

Those outside the door were all terrified.

The palace maids boiled pot after pot of water, but they never heard the four midwives inside the room shout, "Bring in the hot water!"

Some of the more timid ones cried while boiling water.

With the enemy army besieging the city of Daliang, and the situation so precarious, Her Majesty the Empress is about to give birth.

What if... what if...

Not to mention the eunuchs and maids in the palace, even the cabinet and all the officials were on tenterhooks.

In order to stabilize the people's hearts, His Majesty had already stopped seeing his ministers much two months ago when his belly was already quite large.

He worried that his own condition would cause the court officials to lose morale and disrupt the army's spirits.

Even when it was absolutely necessary to meet with foreign officials, they would be separated by a screen.

At this time, the north and south were at war, and the affairs of the court could not afford to go wrong in the slightest.

She then entrusted all political affairs to Chief Minister Qin and military matters to Luan Zongyuan.

Last month, feeling that she was about to give birth, the Empress was worried about her health, so she personally selected four children from among the Zhu imperial relatives.

According to seniority, some people should call her "elder sister".

Some people have to call her aunt.

Zhu Cuiwei ordered Wang Bing to take good care of the Qi Prince's residence and the Wu Prince's residence.

They gave the other party a secret order.

If anything were to happen to herself or the unborn child, she would order the deaths of the King of Wu, the King of Qi, and all their children who were over the age of twelve.

To prevent those with ill intentions from installing the two kings and disturbing the hearts of the people of Daliang.

Wang Bing kowtowed repeatedly, and without hesitation, replied in a deep voice:

"If Your Majesty truly dies, after I have ordered the execution of the princes, I will come to serve Your Majesty as soon as possible."

Zhu Cuiwei shook her head and smiled, handing over the name cards and birth dates of the four children to the other party, saying, "Summon the cabinet ministers and Commander Yan."

In front of the five cabinet ministers, as well as Yan Yuqing, Zhang Qi, and Wang Bing, Zhu Cuiwei entrusted her affairs after her death.

"Gentlemen, if I am disliked by our ancestors and do not wish to become emperor, in order to relieve the crisis of this dynasty and protect the ancestral temple of my Zhu family."

"At that time, I will trouble you to select one of these four children as the heir apparent, and choose the eldest to succeed him. If he is unworthy, I will..."

She looked at Qin Yuanzhang:

"Grant the Duke of Qin the power to depose and install emperors."

Qin Yuanzhang burst into tears, immediately lifted his scarlet robe, and bowed deeply.

The others also bowed and kowtowed, their hearts filled with unspeakable sorrow...

……

When the bright moon rises to its zenith.

When Old Madam Ning, her face pale, clutched a string of Buddhist prayer beads and chanted "Amitabha" thousands of times.

"Wow……"

"Wow...wow...wow..."

Inside the East Warm Pavilion,

Suddenly,

A loud cry rang out...