Lu Yuanpeng looked back and saw that the Bai family army around them were all busy with their tasks and no one was paying attention to them, so he said: “You don’t need to worry about it… I, Lu Yuanpeng, will take care of your lifelong affairs! What do you think of my sister?”

Sima Ping stopped in his tracks and raised an eyebrow at Lu Yuanpeng.

“Let me tell you, my grandfather likes…”

“Get lost, get lost, get lost…” Sima Ping pushed Lu Yuanpeng away again.

“Hey! I’m being serious with you! My grandfather thinks highly of you!” Lu Yuanpeng stuck to him again.

Sima Ping stopped walking, maintained his arms-crossed posture, and looked at Lu Yuanpeng seriously: “Lu Yuanpeng, let me tell you something…”

“What?” Lu Yuanpeng looked at Sima Ping foolishly.

Sima Ping’s gaze fell on the tuft of fashionable hair by Lu Yuanpeng’s temple that had been cut: “Just now, that tuft of hair you deliberately kept by your temple ran into my sword and got cut off…”

Lu Yuanpeng hurriedly looked down at the small tuft of hair he had specially kept, and immediately flew into a rage, drawing his sword and shouting: “Sima Ping, this young master will kill you!”

Sima Ping turned and dodged Lu Yuanpeng’s sword, dodging left and right, teasing Lu Yuanpeng like playing with a cat, making him jump around frantically.

Bai Qingjue, returning from his patrol, saw Sima Ping and Lu Yuanpeng’s bickering figures from afar and sighed softly. These two were both troublemakers, and he wondered who would eventually end up paired with Little Four.

On the twenty-first day of the tenth month in the second year of Yuanhe, the Great Zhou Bai family army split into two routes and captured Dongyi’s Guadu City and Liuguan City that night, with the two routes converging.

On the twenty-first day of the tenth month in the second year of Yuanhe, the Yan nation’s great army landed on Dongyi soil and launched fierce attacks on Dongyi cities.

On the twenty-second day of the tenth month in the second year of Yuanhe, the Great Zhou navy led by General Jiang Huaisheng landed on Dongyi soil.

On the twenty-third day of the tenth month in the second year of Yuanhe, the Bai family army led by the Great Zhou Emperor captured three more Dongyi cities in succession, pressing directly toward the Dongyi capital.

The Dongyi Empress was in the palace, hearing continuous reports from the front lines. Though pleased, she also felt a hidden worry.

The Empress first used the Great Zhou’s unstoppable momentum to shake the loyalty of the Dongyi Imperial Guard Commander. Then, after Dongyi’s navy suffered a crushing defeat and Great Zhou’s navy had also landed on Dongyi soil, while the Bai family army led by the Great Zhou Emperor had been advancing unobstructed since Guadu and Liuguan, almost reaching the capital.

Therefore, the Dongyi Imperial Guard Commander finally decided to side with the Empress, choosing to support the Seventh Prince currently in Great Zhou to ascend the throne as emperor.

After the Imperial Guard Commander defected, he went to persuade the general defending the capital…

Since the Second Prince ascended the throne, he had killed without exception every court minister who displeased him. This person was no different from a madman, and the court ministers all lived in constant fear.

If the new emperor hadn’t forced his way to the throne through rebellion and then insisted on pursuing and killing the Great Zhou envoys, ultimately causing the death of Great Zhou’s Prince Han Cheng in battle, and later bringing back Prince Han Cheng’s corpse while having people declare that unless the Great Zhou Emperor came personally to claim it, they would feed Prince Han Cheng’s body to dogs, how would Great Zhou have come to attack Dongyi?

Now it was good – the Great Zhou Emperor had indeed come personally, but he had brought his army to fight all the way here.

The Second Prince’s overestimation of his abilities would bring catastrophic disaster upon the entire Dongyi nation due to his arrogance. How could the court ministers agree to this?

Now that there was another way out, with Great Zhou bringing troops to attack Dongyi, after entering the imperial city, they would support the legitimate son born to the Empress as the new Dongyi Emperor. How could the Dongyi court ministers disagree? Moreover, there had long been rumors that before the late emperor’s death, he had originally intended to establish his legitimate son as the new emperor. If not for the Second Prince leading troops to force his way to the throne through rebellion, the Seventh Prince would now be on the throne.

The Dongyi Emperor sat on the dragon throne, listening to continuous battle reports, his eyes bloodshot from several sleepless nights.

“Didn’t you all say that our Dongyi navy was the strongest! Yet it was completely routed by the Great Zhou’s navy! How do you still have the face to return alive!” The Dongyi Emperor looked at the naval commanders kneeling at his feet who had returned in defeat, wishing he could tear the men before him to pieces.

“Your Majesty, please understand – our Dongyi navy is indeed formidable, but the Great Zhou people are cunning and divide us to defeat us piecemeal. We don’t have as many warships as the Great Zhou, and once our ships were damaged, the nation could not build a single usable warship in the short term. That’s why we suffered losses! The Great Zhou is vast and rich in resources… It’s not something our Dongyi can compare to!”

The defeated naval commander, despite his wounds, kowtowed until his forehead was bleeding.

The Dongyi Emperor narrowed his eyes, looking at the other generals behind the kowtowing naval commander who were trembling like sieves. He gripped the jade cicada in his hand tightly, his dark eyes showing signs of irritation and madness: “Defeat is defeat. Dongyi has no place for defeated generals! Drag them all out and behead them!”

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty must not do this!”

“Your Majesty, spare our lives! Your Majesty, spare our lives!”

“Now is precisely when our Dongyi needs people. Your Majesty, please reconsider! Please reconsider!”

“Your Majesty, please give them a chance to atone for their crimes through merit! The Great Zhou army will probably reach the capital walls soon. Let them die in battle rather than lose their heads!”

Court ministers knelt all over the floor, pleading with the Dongyi Emperor to reconsider.

In the court ministers’ view, this emperor had truly gone mad. With enemy troops already at the gates, instead of thinking about how to rally the military’s morale, he still wanted to kill people! Mad! He was truly mad!

But the emperor remained unmoved. Seeing that the Imperial Guards were not moving to drag the men out, his emotions exploded instantly. He kicked over the table in front of him and shouted: “What, can’t I command you anymore! Do you all want to die?”

“Your Majesty has lost his mind!” The Dongyi Empress, who had not yet been formally titled Empress Dowager, appeared at the entrance of the great hall with a cold smile on her lips. She stepped into the hall: “Now that Great Zhou’s troops are at our gates, instead of thinking about how to resist the enemy, Your Majesty is here killing his ministers. Is this how an emperor should behave?”

“Who let this wench out? Are you rebelling?” The emperor stood up, glaring viciously at the Empress. The loyal guards beside him had already drawn their swords to protect the emperor.

“Rebel? Isn’t that exactly what you did… Second Prince!” The Empress stood at the front of the assembled ministers. “His Late Majesty once left an edict for the legitimate Seventh Prince to succeed to the throne. Second Prince, you led troops to force your way to the throne that night, killed the First Prince, killed all the important ministers present, and burned the edict… Did you think no one would know?”

The Dongyi Emperor gritted his teeth and glared at the Empress, pointing at her: “Kill this wench for me!”

“Who dares!” The Imperial Guard Commander led troops into the hall, drew his sword to protect the Empress, and faced the Dongyi Emperor directly.

Now that Great Zhou’s troops were at the gates and the Empress had already reached an agreement with Great Zhou, the choice between supporting the emperor or the Empress was not difficult to make.

“All rise. The Empress has already reached a consensus with the Great Zhou Emperor. Great Zhou will support our legitimate Seventh Prince to ascend the throne as emperor!” the Imperial Guard Commander declared loudly.