A most turbulent atmosphere outside the skies threatened to open their floodgates with thunder and lightning streaking across the dark firmament a loud roar resounded through the Palace walls and darkness prevailed.
"Congratulations Your Highness." Liu Zhan applauded her.
"There's no need." Empress Li replied as she took a cup of tea from the table beside her and had a sip.
"Surely, the Grand Empress Dowager will not survive through the night." Liu Zhan remarked.
"Who would have thought her demise would come to soon, I'd have to worry about her getting away with the murder of the Retired Emperor but now that she'd round up all the Courtiers in secrecy I don't have to worry about her not being a rebel." Empress Li replied.
"In deed Your Highness." Liu Zhan agreed.
"I only wish that Chiyun Ling were here." Empress Li muttered while Liu Zhan bowed her head.
"She'd excused herself earlier saying that she wasn't feeling well." Liu Zhan replied as the Empress lowered the cup onto the table and she reclined in her seat smiling at herself.
"Tough times never last but tough people do." She said, "how much have I endured because of that very old sly fox surely I can hardly rid myself of excitement when I think about the fact that I'll rid this world of her sooner or later." She confessed.
"Patience Your Highness." Liu Zhan comforted her, "this time round I assure you that not even the heavens shall save her." She confirmed as she smiled ghastly at her mistress.
"Now that I shall take back all the power and make it mine alone, this is none other than the heaven's will." Empress Li said.
The Emperor riding on horseback with General Li San they were escorted by a large number of Imperial guards as they marched into the South.
The men bore with themselves swords and very long Spears while torches illuminated the walkways of the large Palace complex in a short while they halted at a junction and the Emperor was startled so much by that move.
"What are we doing here?" He asked.
"Does Your Majesty not know?" General Li replied.
"With an idea however faint I wouldn't be asking." The Emperor announced.
"One division of the Imperial guards must protect the Palace well enough to see to it that nothing goes out and the Grand Empress Dowager is very cunning, suppose the Retired Emperor's troops put up resistance and the bodyguards of these Courtiers it wouldn't be easy for us to take hold of them." General Li replied.
"And that is what I want." Emperor Guangzong muttered.
"The longer that the Grand Empress Dowager holds then our attack however great will buy her enough time to mobilize an external attack on the Palace, if we are to succeed tonight then we must have all the numbers and hereafter, we shall right the history books as Victors and we'll remain so for the next a hundred and even perhaps a thousand years." General Li San replied.
"All the Courtiers are with her and I can only wait until dawn to coerce those imbeciles, for the time being only the Imperial guards can listen to me so with only two divisions can we not make it through the night?" Emperor Guangzong asked.
"We don't want a long fight and that's why I arranged for all the others to march that support Your Majesty to come into the Palace." General Li replied.
"The others?" The Emperor asked.
"The Li Clansmen and all their households' finest warriors could amount up to a force of two thousand and as it is that they received Your Majesty's grace they shall now return Your Majesty's favour." General Li replied.
Hardly had he spoken when there was a mild trumpet sound on their left and turning to look there another force of soldiers that were dressed slightly different from the Imperial guards in green and silver were marching towards them bearing a large number of torches in their possession as they slowly approached the Emperor's force.
With only three horsemen in the lead even from a distance those faces appeared familiar enough to the two and the soldiers halting the three relatives of the Empress unmounted their steads and then went down on their knees before the Emperor.
"Long Live Your Majesty." They said to him while he smiled overjoyed.
"Is there surely no man in the land more loyal than the sons and daughters of the house of Li?" Emperor Guangzong asked.
"It is our duty to serve Your Majesty." The men replied.
"If it was the duty of all men in the country to govern the world would have been so easy but having you here I feel at ease." Emperor Guangzong remarked.
"Your Majesty will forgive us that we are late and many of our friends could not make it in the night but they'd all send this our concerted army with which altogether we shall depose the cruel Grand Empress Dowager and prevent the emergence of another Wu Ze Tian in our dynasty." One of the three said.
"It is better to be safe than sorry and out of my grace I shall surely remember you." Emperor Guangzong promised them.
"It is time Your Majesty." General Li replied.
"Very well." Emperor Guangzong replied, "we march on towards the Palace of Virtue and Longevity." He said raising his whip in the air as he charged with his brave general beside and the troops merged running after him.
Grand Empress Dowager Wu was seated in a room and there with her was Wan'er and Wan Mei who were looking up to her with her entire retinue.
There was nothing more than a small group of lanterns giving off the light while the thunder roared outside and the doors being flung open Commander Wu walked in and he bowed his head to her.
"Your Highness." He greeted.
"What's going on now?" Grand Empress Dowager Wu asked.
"It is time." Commander Wu replied and the old Grand Empress Dowager smiling at herself she ceased the arms of her chair and she stood up at once while everyone else in the room went onto their feet and they bowed their heads to her.
"At your service Your Highness." They muttered in unison.
"You all that are gathered today shall charge with me and I shall reward your loyalty." She declared while they stared at one another moving away and clearing the aisle for her while she walked out of the room with a thick fur coat over her.
Empress Li still held up in the comfort of her room it's doors were flung open and the first thing she saw ahead of her was Chiyun Ling along with a number of other Eunuchs and Ladies in waiting who quickly walked over to her and bowed their heads.
"You are here at last." Liu Zhan remarked.
"Where have you been?" Empress Li asked.
"Pardon me Your Highness." Liu Zhan replied while Imperial guards moved into the room shortly after.
"What's the meaning of this?" Liu Zhan asked.
"Someone has forgotten their place so soon?" Empress Li asked.
"An Imperial order commands me." Chiyun Ling replied.
"And what does it say, from who in particular?" Empress Li asked.
"The Empress has fallen out of favour with the six palaces and the rebellious guards have all been apprehended and withheld, the Palace of Virtue and Longevity has been locked and the Emperor himself confined their as a Retired Sovereign far from the Coffin of the Late Emperor which will be transferred to the ancestral shrine for prayers before His Late Majesty's burial and the Grand Empress Dowager takes charge as regent and mediator of the ascension of the Crown Prince to the Dragon throne." Chiyun Ling replied.
"Ascension of the crown Prince to the throne, how brazen, Regent that's more ironic." Empress Li said.
"It's Her Highness the Grand Empress Dowager's oral decree." Chiyun Ling said but the Empress too proud she was unwilling to bend and let alone bow her head she reserved her posture in her seat and only tightened her grip on its arms.
"Her Highness the Empress colluded with her family and they ill advised the Emperor on his misconduct, the Crown Prince is young and versatile and very good in nature to resist the evil and poisonous schemes of his mother that could deter his reign hence you are therefore banished to the Cold Palace to serve your penance and reflect on your actions." Liu Zhan said and looking at the young women behind her they launched themselves at the two women and ceased them while Liu Zhan screamed in protest and the Empress Dowager furious she only reserved her say for a rather awful and acursing silence.
Crown Prince Zhao Kuo asleep in his bed he could feel someone tightly shaking his shoulder and holding onto him in the dead of night.
"Your Highness." They called him and opening his eyes he turned around to see who it was.
The dark silhouette in front of him came to life as he recognized the features against the lightning that was shining through the windows.
"Liu Cheng?" He called surprised.
"Someone turn on the lights." Liu Cheng ordered and the doors being opened with Lan He rushing in, the ladies in waiting quickly lit the lanterns illuminating the whole room as the Crown Prince sat up in his bed and lifted the curtain to see the others in the room only to recognize Eunuch Deng standing in front of his bed.
"What are the both of you doing here at this very late hour?" He inquired.
"We are here as per the Grand Empress Dowager's orders." Liu Cheng replied.
"What's happened?" Crown Prince Zhao Kuo asked feeling a little bit uneasy.
"Her Highness has ordered that you be taken to the main Palace immediately." Liu Cheng replied.
"The main Palace? The Grand Empress Dowager?" He sounded astonished, "what about the funeral parlour, are we not in mourning?" He asked but there was only silence, "what would her Highness be doing there at such a late hour?" He went ahead to inquire.
"We dared not ask but judging from the looks of it all I can not say that it is yet something favourable on our side?" Liu Cheng replied.
"What do you mean favourable on our side?" Crown Prince Zhao Kuo asked but the latter only bowing his head in silence the young man figured out that something was wrong.
"Father." He said as he quickly got onto his feet and wearing his boots he dashed across the room to his doors which he flung open only to find a fairly large number of Imperial guards with the Emperor's sedan chair.
"Your Highness." Eunuch Deng shouted after him.
"What happened to my father?" He asked.
"Your Highness can only know when you see for yourself." Eunuch Deng replied as he looked away.
"Alright." Crown Prince Zhao Kuo replied as he mounted the sedan chair and without protest he was led away while Eunuch Deng looking at Liu Cheng they followed him closely from behind.
Emperor Guangzong and his troops arrived at the gates of the Palace of Virtue and Longevity and positioning themselves around the structure for a moment they halted while General Li ordered a number of his men to kick the doors open which they did and immediately they charged into the Courtyard where a number of ladies in waiting and Eunuchs still in their mourning attire were startled.
Emperor Guangzong and his General descended from their steads and marched through the entrance as well the whole regiment forming an aisle for him they saluted him on either side as he approached the staircase that led up to the two storied building from where he could in a distance see a woman that was seated before the coffin it brought him a faint smile on his face.
Gracefully with General Li San following him behind they mounted the stairs and arriving at the doorway he stared at the funeral tablet that had been erected in front of the coffin which read, "THE FILIAL ANCESTOR OF THE GREAT SONG, ZHAO ZHEN."
"You made it?" He heard a very familiar voice saying to him and moving around slowly and looking from aside he recognized the old woman as his step mother the Dowager Empress Xie.
"You?" He said.
"Why does Your Majesty look like he has seen a ghost?" Empress Dowager Xie asked, "could it be that you were expecting someone else in this spot?" She inquired curiously.
"Where is the Grand Empress Dowager?" Emperor Guangzong asked.
The old woman only reserved her silence momentarily while the thunder seemingly gave a reply she was unwilling to offer at that moment which forced him to turn around and then walk around the coffin slowly while he inspected it.
"I'm not too sure what Your Highness has heard or known about me, but I know myself to not be too gentle, don't expect me to ask a third time so tell me, where is the Grand Empress Dowager?" Emperor Guangzong asked as he returned and stood behind her.
"Your father's body is barely cold, you couldn't see him once on his deathbed and ignored every humble plea that the Courtiers brought before you, called yourself our most August Sovereign your era would be unchallenged yet now you wish even in these uneasy days and moments of his untimely departure from the mortal realm to kill your mother and grandmother?" Empress Dowager Xie asked, "are you not too filial a son." She said sarcastically.
"I will find the Grand Empress Dowager even if I have to turn this funeral parlour upside down, even if it means that blood will flow through the Palace." Emperor Guangzong insisted.
"I won't blame Your Majesty for not listening if I suggested, I couldn't compare to the woman that bore you in her womb for nine months but what would you know that your father went through?" Empress Dowager Xie asked as she offered her hand to Daiyu who took it helping her up onto her feet while she turned around and faced him with the most confident gaze she could find.
"What would you know about him?" Emperor Guangzong asked.
"That someone will be buried along with the Late Emperor but that person surely won't be me." Empress Dowager Xie replied.
"The sedan chair carrying the Crown Prince Zhao Kuo arrived in front of the Emperor's Chambers and which at the time were surrounded by a large number of Imperial guards and Eunuchs, an event that left the young man worried.
He got out of the seat in his white silk nightgown and hurriedly climbed the stairs ceasing the doors of the room with his own two hands and throwing them open he caught sight of his great grand mother the Grand Empress Dowager Wu seated in his father's seat.
Right beside her there were ladies in waiting and Eunuchs that were bearing a number of ornaments which included a twelve beaded golden crown that was inlaid with diamonds and semi precious stones which constituted what was two dragons, a Jade ceremonial tablet with the same Celestial designs that was adorned with floral like carvings and a very beautiful gold, red, black and navy blue ceremonial garb bearing the five taloned nine dragons along with ten tassels embroidered to it, the sun itself sewn around his shoulders and stars touching the waist area, not so far from them was a pair of boots that appeared golden and shared a color combination identical to that of the Imperial dragon garb.
"Kuo'er, our valiant grandson." Grand Empress Dowager Wu muttered.
"What's happening?" Crown Prince Zhao Kuo replied.
"So much." Grand Empress Dowager Wu replied as she stood up from behind the table and walking around it she approached her grandson bearing a golden scroll in her hands while she bowed her head to him.
"Allow me." She said gracefully.
"You can't." Crown Prince Zhao Kuo protested.
"And why is that?" Grand Empress Dowager Wu replied as she walked past him and back to back they maintained a fair distance between themselves.
"Where is my father?" The young prince asked.
"Your father has sinned more than enough and he ails yet he surrounds himself with the ill company the people are not happy." Grand Empress Dowager Wu replied, "the Courtiers were ousted from the Palace demanding that he'd rescind and be a filial son, yet over and over again he yielded to the influence of your mother's kin and poisoned the relationship between himself and the people the historians in future will only laugh at us and mock us if we retained him as a Sovereign of our great state." She informed him.
"But what has that got to do with me?" Crown Prince Zhao Kuo asked.
"You shall have to accede the throne." Grand Empress Dowager Wu replied the latter surprised he widened his eyes unable to believe a single word that had been said to him.
"Accede the throne?" He asked.
"The Sovereign is the model of the dynasty and the star of the people, he teaches and they emulate while they all look to him for guidance or counsel in darkness when lost its his duty to light the path for his people but how can a lost man lead a lost generation as well?" Grand Empress Dowager Wu replied raising her voice.
"So you are suggesting that I rebel, that I replace my own father?" Crown Prince Zhao Kuo asked.
"For generations our Great Song has been respected, filial piety and generosity, respect for the ancestors and the living are the cores of our existence and the roots of our heritage for all we know we are above any other state and also our dynasty is the model of Kings." Grand Empress Dowager Wu replied.
"Pardon me Grandmother for expecting a bit too much when I can only give to little as it is that I have learnt from my father's mistakes I can not do the same thing that will make him resent me for the rest of his life." Crown Prince Zhao Kuo said as he turned around to walk out of the room and opening the doors he saw the Eunuchs blocking his path and all the Imperial guards around the place kept on looking at him.
"Move away?" He raised his voice at them angrily and for a moment falling silent they could only kneel down on their right knees and place their right hand on the left side of their chest.
"Please ascend the Dragon throne Your Highness." Commander Wu led them into shouting out aloud.
"Please ascend the Dragon throne Your Highness." Everyone else replied after him in unison and they bowed their heads.
"Are you out of your mind?" Crown Prince Zhao Kuo asked.
"Months fighting on the border but having less supplies if you turn down all these men then they shall perish and Grace the annals of history as rebels, is there cause not justified and are they wrong to desire a Sovereign that can love them and take care of them?" Grand Empress Dowager Wu asked and the Prince falling silent the Eunuchs walking closer to him he was forced to withdraw inside where all the other ladies in waiting threw the dragon robes over him and the Grand Empress Dowager positioned herself right in front of him.
"The world belongs to Zhao and his children and the blood of Zhao Kuangyin flows through your veins, at this point if you decline to lead the people the Generals will rebel and when they rebel that mandate of heaven that was given to your family shall be snatched away." Grand Empress Dowager Wu spoke as she walked up to him looking him in the eye.
"What makes me an Emperor?" Crown Prince Zhao Kuo asked.
"What do you want the future generations to remember you as?" Grand Empress Dowager Wu asked, "the man that through his people into anarchy how different are you from the Last Emperor of Han?" She went ahead to say until he found his back against the table.
"Your Highness." He spoke in protest.
"Your father is a sinner that can no longer reconcile himself with the people and his court, to protect the mandate of heaven and whatever little dignity he still has Your Highness must ascend the Dragon throne." The Grand Empress Dowager said as she also went down onto her knees before him.
"No." He still rebuked.
"You ask for peace and reconciliation it is the only way, to atone for the sins of your father you must replace him and rise to the throne to become yet an Emperor of your own." Grand Empress Dowager Wu said.
"Please ascend the Dragon throne Your Highness." Everyone else replied after him in unison and they bowed their heads.
"Has it come to this?" Crown Prince Zhao Kuo asked as the Grand Empress Dowager stood up and taking the twelve beaded crown in her hands she faced him.
"This is your new Dawn Your Majesty, make our Zhao state of Song Great Again." Grand Empress Dowager Wu said as she rested the crown on his head and he sighed.
"I have no choice." He muttered.
"Well done our most valiant grandson." Grand Empress Dowager Wu remarked as she slowly stepped aside and all the others continued to dress the young Prince up.
"What did you say?" Emperor Guangzong asked as he turned around and faced the Empress Dowager.
"You heard me well enough Your Majesty, I said that someone will be buried along with the Late Emperor but that person surely won't be me." She confidently replied and at that moment amongst the very soldiers that the Retired Emperor had marched in with and the reinforcements that were behind the Li Clan princes strife broke out at the gates of the Palace of Virtue and Longevity were shut while other soldiers rushed in through the funeral parlour from the side Chambers and they positioned themselves between the Empress Dowager and her step son.
"You mean to rebel against His Majesty?" General Li asked.
"And who is His Majesty?" Empress Dowager Xie asked.
"What do you mean?" Emperor Guangzong asked.
"His Majesty is ill and the world knows that your mental faculties are highly questionable, you can not perform the funeral rituals and there are poisonous Courtiers around you that have derailed your sense of judgement hence to preserve the Pride of the Imperial family and the state to thrive while we eliminate any form of internal hostility from the ambitious Generals as we learnt from the example of General Yang we choose to Crown your son who is of age and beloved by too many the Emperor." Empress Dowager Xie replied.
"And you expect me to stand and watch?" Emperor Guangzong asked.
"Our duty is to protect your Majesty from yourself as this is no negotiation." Empress Dowager Xie remarked, "it's a coup de tat." She confirmed for him while his rounded loyalists were slain down one by one and the others ganging up on General Li they ceased him and forced him to his knees.
"Who would have thought that even in your silence you would turn out as poisonous as the Grand Empress Dowager?" Emperor Guangzong asked.
"Pardon me Your Majesty but this is the will of the people and I am bound by oath to protect every last one of my husband's children whether they like it or not, now that you brought yourself here we shall tell the world what to believe." Empress Dowager Xie replied.
"There isn't even an Imperial decree in His Majesty's name and signature to announce his abdication." General Li said.
"Who needs his approval when the person holding the Imperial seal is Her Highness?" Han Touzhou suddenly spoke up from behind the other guards as they paved way for him to move to the front and he halted right before the Emperor and bowed his head.
"You of all people?" Emperor Guangzong asked.
"Your Majesty is Retired so you shouldn't worry, as I speak the main Palace and the Courtiers are gathered to witness the ascension of their new Emperor." He assured him.
The trumpets were sounded and the gates to the main Courtyard we're opened as the Grand Empress Dowager's Palanquin preceded her great grandson's while everyone of the officials outside at the marvellous sight they bowed their heads.
Soon enough stopping right in front of Grand staircase that led to the Grand Hall the two moved out and led by the Imperial guards bearing the Imperial banners and standards along with the provincial flags, they mounted them on to the doorway where they walked through the aisle leading to the Dragon throne while the Grand Empress Dowager stopped ahead of the audience with the Crown Prince on the opposite side.
"His Late Majesty the Emperor is dead and the news of his passing struck a very deep and most sombre note in us all, as it is that the Emperor could hardly perform his rituals and is of very questionable faculties, his mind is swayed and he pushes the world into anarchy by yielding to the evil counsel of his kin. To ease the world and restore tranquil in the Imperial Court, with all the power vested in me as the Grand Empress Dowager that was appointed regent by the Xiaozong Emperor himself I can not fail to answer to the ancestors of Zhao, out of respect, preservation and honour, I oblige to the rules from the ancestors to dethrone the Emperor." Grand Empress Dowager Wu said, "I am crowning the son of dethroned Empress Li and Grandson of the Xiaozong Emperor, the blood of Taizu and Immortal radiance Zhao Kuo as the Emperor of the Great Song, Qingyuan is the Emperor's first regnal era His Majesty is the Ruler of the Country." She announced and stepping aside the Emperor Ningzong mounted the stairs that led to the dragon throne but halted in his footsteps a little bit hesitant while the silence prevailed in the Grand Hall.
"Please ascend the dragon throne Your Majesty." Grand Empress Dowager Wu spoke in what to him might have sounded as a commanding tone and the latter unwilling he took little and restrained steps while staring at the golden seat intensely before he faced the world with the Jade ceremonial tablet still in his grip.
He rested himself gently with all Grace and taking a deep sigh he could hardly withstand the tension mounting up in a room for a moment there had never been a seat in his life more uncomfortable than it was.
The Grand Empress Dowager was pleased and in submission she went down on her knees first while the Courtiers and officials followed her lead throughout the Grand Hall and outside in the Courtyard.
"Greetings Your Sovereign Majesty, Long Live Your Grand Majesty." She praised him while the others sang the same chorus in unison shortly after her his eyes teary he fought hard enough to withhold his grief on the inside and not let it show.
Yang Meizi stood in the dungeons hearing the jubilation outside and staring through the window above her head she heard someone opening the padlock to her cell and shortly after walking in and halting behind her.
"Quite the last person that I was expecting to see." She muttered.
"Is this what you meant by cursing at me?" Emperor Ningzong asked.
"How is it so Your Majesty?" Yang Meizi asked as she turned around and faced him.
"The night has hardly been any longer, I was awakened from an uneasy slumber and only to be cast into a more difficult reality." Emperor Ningzong remarked.
"Your Majesty has ascended the throne against all odds, only some more hours and the sun will be up while the world will awaken to yet another Great news it is the Great Song's very good fortune." Yang Meizi replied.
"Very good fortune?" The Emperor asked.
"Aren't you all the sons of Zhao Your Majesty?" Yang Meizi asked as she turned around and faced him while he looked at the strands of her hair unkempt and her very expression unlively.
"You must be very happy looking at me." He muttered.
"Even if I was what good would it so to me?" Yang Meizi asked.
"The Courtiers are rather pleased and unwilling to forgive that mother of mine they do agree with the Grand Empress Dowager confining her to the cold Palace as a prisoner, my father must hate that this filial son of his was swayed to usurp the dragon throne for him.
And what about the world, they all have their eyes on me and they have rested great expectations, Zhao Kuangyin, his father and children or those my great ancestors were fearless warriors yet here I am a man that can not even wield a sword." Emperor Ningzong replied.
"You were born a prince." Yang Meizi asserted.
"With no expectation of bearing the crown, I surpassed childhood itself barely holding on and hoping that in the whole world I would be a free man." Emperor Ningzong interrupted, "more than once I hoped that I was destined to be no different from a free spirited Prince who promised myself nothing more than the happiness that I would give myself." He remarked.
"Has that innocent dream besmirched you of everything that you have worked hard for so far?" Yang Meizi asked and the Emperor keeping quiet he moved to the nearby wall where he sat down and placed his hands on his head while She on the other hand walked to the same window and stared at the mild light that shone through it.
"In the 5th year of Qiandao Era I was only eight years old when I saw my mother and my uncle dying before my eyes, I was raised in the bush and while other girls of my age had dolls to play with the only thing that my mother could give me were swords and arrows.
I knew that for me there was no life more beautiful than this, I'd have to worry less about getting dirty I could not put my heart or soul into writing the one thing that was close to a woman's education for me was dancing, where my waist and legs were always stiff my mother always lashed me hard enough saying that I had to be graceful enough to find a man in the future to marry me and if only I could embrace that humble pattern I would wield a sword against any man on earth." Yang Meizi said.
"My mother did it?" Emperor Ningzong asked.
"For her all that ever mattered was to become Empress and I don't know how many nights she stayed beside you, regardless if she had to bend to get there she wouldn't mind slaying a couple of people and now even joyful that she has fallen, joyful that heaven has answered my prayers, joyful that you are in pain taking away the one person I had to love and cherish so deeply I mourn that none of those machinations could return to me the very things your family has stolen." Yang Meizi muttered while the Emperor looked up at the ceiling and exploding in laughter tears rolled from his eyes before he went silent again.
"In the end I lost." He alleged, "you couldn't bring yourself to loving me." He remarked.
"No." Yang Meizi assured him.
"I can have your head except that you know I won't kill you, I am paying for my mother's sins and you are happy that heaven has punished me for what I have deprived of you." Emperor Ningzong said.
"What is so hard about ordering for my neck, what is so hard about commanding the sabre against it?" Yang Meizi asked.
"I just learnt that the Grand Empress Dowager acted immediately she chose to visit you, your wrath could turn you yet again into a demon that could haunt me in the future.
My family is to blame and you acted out of filial piety, to some extent the hatred and the sore relationship between us both I brought upon myself." Emperor Ningzong replied as Yang Meizi sat down as well and embraced her legs as she looked at the dark ceiling as well.
"All that I ever wanted to do was to be an ordinary woman?" Yang Meizi confessed.
"Alright." Emperor Ningzong remarked.
"You would grant that to me?" Yang Meizi asked.
"If I kept you in the Palace you would hate me for the rest of your life which for me is something much worse than death." Emperor Ningzong said, "At Dawn you shall leave the Palace, you shall leave Lin'an and you shall never return." He dictated as he stood up and turned to walk away.
"The dungeon is too cold for me Your Highness you couldn't sleep in that new hall of yours even if you wanted, there are ghosts everywhere haunting you and I can not thank you because I owe you nothing." Yang Meizi said as he halted in his footsteps.
"Find a good man to love and have children, teach them to be my loyal citizens and if ever they wish to become ministers to serve their country let them be, you can consider this the last shred of compassion I can give you in atonement for my sins and I won't ask any more from you other than this." Emperor Ningzong muttered as he somberly walked away.
"Watch your step Your Majesty." Yang Meizi said after him while he negotiated a corner and walking through the hallway he was intercepted by Lan He who appeared to have heard everything.
"How could she still be that arrogant to Your Majesty?" He scolded and the Yang Emperor resting his hand on the wall he looked down shivering in the cold and the robes feeling too heavy on him.
"Even in this attire I am uneasy and every place suffocates me within the main Palace, for once she is right when she says that of all places this dungeon is more peaceful." Emperor Ningzong remarked.
"But Why Your Majesty, why is it that you still choose to keep your affections for her even when you know that you won't yield from them?" Lan He asked.
"You only know to be a very loyal servant that I can take to be yet another brother of mine, what would you know about loving when you have to keep giving despite expecting nothing in return?" Emperor Ningzong replied in the most sombre note letting go of the dark grey walls and walking out slowly as he left behind his retainer who staring sadly at him could feel his pain embedded in each and every step that he dared to take.
"The night has been fairly long enough, it's even colder now but think about it, after years of service I had grown to trust Chiyun Ling but now aside from the Imperial harem this is the only coal that she can offer to me her former master." Retired Empress Li remarked.
"Please calm down Your Highness." Liu Zhan said when the doors of the small room were flung open and the Grand Empress Dowager walked in and bowed her head to her vanquished compeer.
"Your Highness is here to see me?" The Retired Empress Li asked.
"The night was too long and I had to stop by and see, it has been a while since someone moved in to the Cold Palace surely you now understand what it means to go up against me." Grand Empress Dowager Wu remarked.
"Who would have thought that this would be my end, at this rate I would prefer a bowl of poison but if it means that I must accept defeat from you then I'd rather stay alive to fight." Retired Empress Li said.
"With what?" Grand Empress Dowager Wu asked as she got closer to her and bending over she looked her in the eye.
"Even if you mangled my neck right here and now and even if you drew a hairpin through my heart do you think I wouldn't rest in peace?" Grand Empress Dowager Wu asked.
The Retired Empress looked the other way.
"You were so full of yourself trying to get the blood of the Late Emperor on my hands and trying to get the sabre on my neck and make me the biggest rebel in the dynasty but what happened?" Grand Empress Dowager Wu asked.
"Shouldn't I be the one to ask Your Highness that?" Retired Empress Li asked as she returned her gaze to the old woman in front of her the latter with yet a gentle smirk she moved around the room.
"You put moles right under my nose and I turned a blind eye, I tolerated everything that you did you must have thought that for a moment I was powerless to rule over your life and death you only got too close to one person that could earn your trust and that way I was able to give you my thoughts and still keep track of everything that you were doing." Grand Empress Dowager Wu replied.
"Very great in deed Your Highness, you caught me off guard." Retired Empress Li said.
"The world must feel too small but I am not that heartless, had you been in my place and myself in yours, I would be begging for death because you know at my very old age there isn't much for me to endure leaving a cursed life." Grand Empress Dowager Wu said as she set herself in front of her Grand daughter in law with her back facing her.
"If you spare me beyond this point rest assured that you will regret it, even if you lead me to the grave I would unearth your remains and tread on them for you to feel my wrath." Retired Empress Li assured her.
"Your threats do little to frighten me." Grand Empress Dowager Wu remarked, "you would do well to understand your place." She added.
"Which is beneath your feet?" Retired Empress Li asked.
"You should accept your date, why must you keep fighting?" Grand Empress Dowager Wu asked as she turned around to face her.
"Would you in my place?" Retired Empress Li asked while she kept quiet and the latter having her reply she laughed echoing throughout the whole room before she fell silent.
"That's the difference between us Your Highness." The Retired Empress claimed as she stood up from where she was seated and she walked up to the old woman and looked her in the eye, "between Your Highness and myself there sure must be someone familiar that you see yet the only difference is that all your life you only had to put on the perfect act of submitting, on the other hand I made everyone of my feelings known to the world." She uttered.
"And where did that get you?" Grand Empress Dowager Wu asked.
"I have enjoyed all my years on the top and all those that have worshipped me and the ones I have butchered as well, the blood I have claimed to get this far, I regret none of those petty actions if I live on I won't stop even if you walk out of those doors." Retired Empress Li asked.
"I won't kill you so that I hurt the new Emperor, rather I'll look forward to the moment that you'll get yourself killed even if in the afterlife." Grand Empress Dowager Wu replied as she turned around and walked out.
"Hear this from me Your Highness, you'll regret that you spared me this day." The Retired Empress continued to shout after her but she couldn't stop in her footsteps to hear her cursing from behind.
The dawn of the new day was breaking and guards surrounding the Retired Emperor Guangzong's complex the Ningzong Emperor appeared kneeling in front of his door.
"Greetings father." He said.
"Is it not my very own good son?" The Retired Emperor Guangzong asked.
"Father?" Emperor Ningzong asked.
"You dare to take my place even against my will, I could forgive that the Grand Empress Dowager would coerce you and trust that your mind is incorruptible sooner or later you would learn to yield and in yielding I would be proud that to the very end I vanquished my enemies." Emperor Guangzong spoke to him.
"I'm sorry that I failed you father." Emperor Ningzong apologized.
"You needn't be so cruel to yourself for being too brazen, your grace and comforts I am to blame for raising you like a coward, weak enough to become the Grand Empress Dowager's most valiant great grand child, weak enough to turn into another of her puppets against your own father, against your own flesh, blood and marrow." Emperor Guangzong muttered.
"Father, please forgive me." Emperor Ningzong called but the old man behind the doors gave the order for him to stop.
"Don't fuss about it." He remarked.
"You can come out and hit me all you like and kick me batter me I won't move but all that I did until now please trust me when I say this that it was to protect you." Emperor Ningzong confessed.
"And as I would tell you held no greed for the throne you failed me but most importantly when you walked into that Palace of Virtue and Longevity my heart was shattered it bled so badly that I regretted more than anything that your thoughts were against mine, clashing with every single belief of Virtue I saw for you, you passionately caressed your grandfather to death but which of his crimes did you know I thought about this too, how many times were you aware he tried to bury me yet you took my silence for granted and thought that there was no grudge reasonable enough for me to hold against him or I was merely childish at my very age surely my mind was poisoned by your mother and my allies as the Courtiers claimed, how many times did I come near death and it was because of him, how many of them saw me as yet another of his shadows and not an Emperor and how many of them bowed their heads to me but their hearts to him?" Emperor Guangzong asked.
"There's no way Grand father would have wanted to kill you." Emperor Ningzong assured.
"And how much of that do you know, how certain are you that I was never a threat to him, how certain are you that he'd cherish my self rule?" Emperor Guangzong asked, "sons have turned against their fathers and it's not new each day you'll tell me blood is thicker than water do you trust that too, Taizong of Tang was said to have butchered his own, the families of Great Wei were no different these generational wrangles haunt us all yet from the very beginning my strife was to ensure that I remained filial to your grandfather but where did that get me?" Emperor Guangzong asked, "Or is it for a moment that you would have understood if the person that was lying in that coffin in his place and was preparing to be entombed was me would reality have dawned on you?" He flared.
For a moment his son went silent and still on his knees he shed a couple of years.
"You knew grandfather well enough to say this?" He asked calmly
"You are too innocent for the truth even now I suppose." Emperor Guangzong remarked while the young man struggling to retain every bit of strength he had left he sighed.
"Even when he lay dying before my eyes he could care less of himself or me, he could hardly look me in the eye without feeling an ounce of guilt it shredded him so much knowing that he could only search for you with his eyes but you were that one thing he still couldn't see." Emperor Ningzong muttered, "over and over he could only pity himself and claim how sorry he was knowing that you resented him so much he still persisted and sincerely thought of you as a son and regardless of all the ill that he faced he still chose to love you more than me who was there with him for a moment I could see I was merely walking in your shadow to console his final hours, to grant him some peace however little it may have seemed or at least, I could make him smile one last time despite the heavy weight on his heart." Emperor Ningzong confessed.
"Hence you chose to believe him?" Emperor Guangzong asked.
"Even with me and Liu Cheng beside him he was dying alone and if someone wouldn't avenge him the Courtiers would band into a coup eventually to atone both for your sins in their sight and personally to protect you I had no choice but to ascend the throne." Emperor Ningzong said.
"Great." Emperor Guangzong muttered sarcastically, "you can now leave." He said and Emperor Ningzong raising his head and looking up to the ceiling he closed his eyes and shed tears.
"If it's Your Majesty's will, I shall humbly oblige, you can hate me as the son that betrayed you, but in my heart I will always love and respect you as a father and that isn't something that shall ever change." Emperor Ningzong uttered as he stood up gracefully and turning around he departed from the Courtyard while the old man remained leaning against the wall in the silence as he smirked at the day of light that managed to shine into the dark room.
Imperial soldiers surrounded the Li Manor and Grand Empress Dowager sat face to face with the Minister Li Dan and His wife.
"I know you are aware of everything that happened in the Palace." She said.
"Your Highness chooses to see us in person then we are so blessed." Minister Li Dan replied.
"My Great grandson just ascended the throne and today mourning three hundred coffins paraded out of the Palace and three hundred more heads from the house of Li that your daughter bestowed undeserving favours rolled on the charge of treason and deceiving the Emperor along with manipulating him.
"So Your Highness is here to grant us the same date?" Lady Zhang, the mother of the newly Retired Empress asked.
"You are in deed very smart." Grand Empress Dowager Wu replied as she placed a very small pot on the table before them.
"At the very least if you do it on your own I'll make sure you rest in peace and not pieces." She remarked.
"Surely Your Highness finally shows yet another side you hid from the world long enough, though what they'll say, what they'll know will be what you tell them are you certainly any different from the daughter I raised?" Minister Li Dan asked.
"Sadly enough she made me an enemy and I might let her live a couple of more years there's no guarantee that she'll learn well enough, I do not intend to live long so if I must annihilate every last one of my enemies I might as well do it for his future and the future of the Great Song." Grand Empress Dowager Wu replied.
"Hence you choose to spare Han Touzhou?" Minister Li Dan asked.
"Is he not at all more reliable?" Grand Empress Dowager Wu asked, "as far as I know his daughter is the Empress at least for the time being he is useful enough to protect him from the world." She assured.
"For the time being?" Minister Li Dan uttered.
"Whether his niece will be Empress forever I can not guarantee but he is another of those talents that's too foolish and greedy you don't suppose that I would entrust the whole Zhao Empire into his hands, a simpler way to answer your question and suit your curiosity is to tell you that there isn't anything under heaven a man can not become and when every tool has served its purpose it can be disposed." Grand Empress Dowager Wu said as she stood up.
"Are you not that remarkable?" Minister Li Dan asked.
"You are running out of time." The Grand Empress Dowager informed him before she turned around.
"But who can inherit your acumen and poise, the Crown Princess isn't the first I have seen she'll only be too passive on one hand, on the other should she fail she'll be entirely detached she can not with her background and the blood flowing through her veins be the very arrow you'll draw against him and the world." Minister Li Dan uttered.
"Surely I am not that hopeless, there are yet other men inside the Palace and beyond it's crimson walls, you ended up here because I willed it, now atone for the mistakes of your dearest daughter and I'll send her your ashes and let her live with the guilt of killing you for the rest of her life." Grand Empress Dowager Wu said and the old man ceasing the small bottle he opened it with his wife looking at him.
"We'll haunt you even as ghosts." Lady Zhang confessed and drinking its contents they immediately acted up and blood running from their mouths they fell down on the ground dead and Grand Empress Dowager Wu turned around to look at them.
"Wan'er?" She called as the young lady moved closer to her.
"Yes Your Highness." She replied.
"Are they not a very unfortunate old couple?" Grand Empress Dowager Wu asked.
"Sadly." Wan'er replied as her mistress sighed.
"But considering what they said." Wan'er spoke up.
"What is it?" Grand Empress Dowager Wu asked.
"Who in the world can inherit both your poise and acumen if not the Crown Princess Han?" Wan'er aside.
"This victory I owe to yet another, the idea of this nightly success my hands couldn't forge." Grand Empress Dowager Wu replied, "if could stare into those dark and vengeful eyes that are fearless, there is a commanding aura and a phoenix rages and shakes the world for a moment even I wondered how she could be a common woman with yet a very witty mind of a ruler." She remarked.
"If I could understand who you spoke highly of?" Wan'er asked.
"Very remarkably poisonous with time you'd know, in deed as that shaman once told me, I myself forged a blade that is deficient of a haft and I know not if sooner or later I will regret it." Grand Empress Dowager Wu replied.
YOU ARE READING
ROSES OF BLOOD
HistoryczneThe Empress Wu fostered a daughter within the Crimson walls of the Cifu Palace who with altered and faint origins she became the sister of a Marquis. Bound to her filial piety and the path of hardship, a "seductress" is what she must become poisonou...
