Princess Wanshou’s legendary resurrection from the dead and Prince Shao Li Yuanying’s secret return to Chang’an – the brother and sister with lightning speed had controlled Daming Palace and caught all their competing brothers in one net. Working together, they inherited the most classic succession battle of the Li bloodline, counterattacking from desperate straits, truly a manifestation of Heaven’s mandate.
His Majesty remained silent about this – during his illness he had suffered another stroke, unable to speak or move, only able to lie on the imperial bed with staring eyes and drool flowing from the corners of his mouth.
Just as the court and countryside were still immersed in the shocking emotions of the Princess’s “spirit liberation and immortal ascension” and the coup, another incredible event occurred.
A cavalry force of five thousand men, flying banners of “rescuing the king,” appeared like divine troops descending from heaven beneath the walls of Chang’an city. The commanding generals were Li Yuanying’s trusted subordinates Yuan Shaobo and Lü Qiao. Calling them divine troops descending from heaven was no exaggeration.
Though this elite force mounted on Chengde fine horses wasn’t exceptionally numerous, their arrival process was extremely miraculous. Setting out from Youzhou, they raced day and night, passing through Chengde and Zhaoyi territories, cutting across the Taihang Mountains before striking directly at the capital region of Luoyang, then passing through the strategic Tong Pass – a journey of nearly ten thousand li, as if entering uninhabited territory.
All the regional military commissioners and local officials along their route played deaf and dumb, giving them free passage throughout. Until they arrived at Chang’an’s walls, the court had received no reports whatsoever.
Once the cavalry entered Chang’an, they immediately attacked Right Army Commander Wang Jinliang’s private residence, killing his entire family, then divided forces to systematically eliminate dozens of this powerful eunuch’s highly-placed trusted associates and adopted sons according to a list. Left Army Commander Liu Shouqian’s faction, having shown wisdom and submitted quickly, earned the special privilege of returning home to retire.
The Divine Strategy Army received generous rewards from the Princess’s tomb burial goods and were thoroughly satisfied. Eating someone’s salary means serving them loyally – the soldiers quickly switched allegiance to the new master, and the deeply-rooted eunuch faction power within the imperial guards was uprooted entirely. In just over ten days, the Li Yuanying siblings had completely cured the malignant disease that had plagued the Great Tang for nearly forty years.
Simultaneously, the Youzhou, Chengde, and Zhaoyi liaison offices stationed in Chang’an all submitted memorials congratulating Prince Shao’s investiture as Crown Prince and celebrating the Princess’s return to court.
Henan Prefecture Governor Dou Jing was even more shameless in his boastful proclamations, claiming the Bureau of Astronomy at Luoyang’s Eastern Capital observatory had observed auspicious celestial phenomena of dragons and phoenixes appearing together with purple qi coming from the east – surely the Princess, sensing Father Emperor’s serious illness, had driven her immortal phoenix carriage to distant Youzhou to escort her elder brother back to Chang’an to fulfill filial duties.
Zhaoyi Military Commissioner Lu Xuanfu put it more simply and directly: This is the royal army. When the royal army passes through, how could subjects obstruct it?
Officials with any brains understood clearly that the Xuanwu Gate coup was just a small dish – somehow, half the Great Tang realm had already fallen into the siblings’ hands. Crown Princes invested by the Emperor might not be stable; only a self-invested Crown Prince was a solid heir apparent.
Regional commissioners and local officials throughout the realm moved with the wind, hurriedly collecting various auspicious omens to present after Li Yuanying’s enthronement. For a time, the value of unusually-colored animals like white peacocks, white tigers, and white deer skyrocketed.
Fang Xuanling lamented in the “Book of Jin”: “Once the governance of the realm is lost, without world-commanding heroic talent, it cannot be recovered!”
Under the Great Tang’s declining sunset situation, the Li bloodline had again produced Li Yuanying and Li Baozhu siblings, seemingly bringing a glimmer of revival hope.
At this time, some sharp-minded people in court and countryside suddenly recalled a mysterious children’s song that had been circulating recently with hidden meaning. The song had only one line: “Wild geese fly in threes, beauty returns, plain face rides in the imperial carriage seizing spring’s radiance.”
“Wild geese flying” had always been a metaphor for siblings’ birth order. This children’s song was clearly prophecy, precisely predicting that the three siblings born to the Noble Consort would ride in the imperial carriage one spring, returning to the palace to seize power. As for who specifically the “beauty” referred to, there was no need to investigate deeply – since they were children of the world’s greatest beauty, presumably all would be outstanding in appearance.
However, the siblings had no time to attend to these minor details. They had more urgent matters to handle. Before formally ascending as emperor, Li Yuanying had to display a filial son’s attitude to the world to remedy moral shortcomings.
After all, with his father not yet deceased, the son had led troops to kill brothers and seize power – his virtue was lacking. Even the founding emperor back then had to preserve his father Li Yuan’s dignity by making the gesture of “kneeling to suckle the imperial breast.”
After the successful coup, Li Yuanying attended the Emperor’s bedside day and night without removing his clothes, while Princess Li Baozhu kept her armor on, leading troops to patrol Daming Palace and guard their father and brother’s safety. The siblings devoted themselves entirely to filial care. Li Yuanying even became ill himself from overexertion, triggering his own stroke.
Despite such devoted care for over a month, the Emperor’s condition showed no improvement. Li Yuanying performed an action even more extreme than “suckling the imperial breast.” Before important ministers and court historians, he personally wielded a knife to cut his own flesh for his father, slicing his own leg to use his blood and flesh in medicine, hoping his filial devotion would move Heaven.
Unfortunately, lifespan is ultimately determined by Heaven. The Emperor drank this soup filled with filial devotion and passed away that very night.
With this, even the most pedantic great scholars could find no fault. After all, how many filial sons in the world could be so harsh with themselves? Even if it were theatrical performance, the sincerity was sufficient.
When news of the late Emperor’s death reached Youzhou, the imprisoned Cui Rongrong heard of her former husband’s filial act of cutting his own flesh for medicine. She was first stunned for a while, then laughed uncontrollably, calling out loudly: “Excellent! Excellent! That cunning fox is ruthless to both others and himself. Ci Yin, did you see? I have avenged you!”
Following the late Emperor’s testament, the state funeral was kept simple throughout, and the siblings didn’t relocate their parents’ tombs for joint burial.
That same month, Crown Prince Li Yuanying ascended the throne and granted general amnesty to the realm. With his leg wound still unhealed, he was supported by guards and barely completed the enthronement ceremony.
The female physiognomy once attacked by political enemies as having “no sovereign’s bearing, possessing the looks that bring disaster to the nation” now had her reputation transformed to “combining heaven and earth’s bearing, employing sun and moon’s brilliance” – a natural imperial countenance. Li Yuanying didn’t care, only feeling relaxed – not directly gazing upon the Son of Heaven was a ritual principle, and when everyone prostrated on the ground, finally no one stared at his face.
Princess Wanshou’s resurrection allowed the imperial physicians executed by the late Emperor last year to be posthumously exonerated and reburied with cleared names. The amnesty edict was first sent to Qianzhong, permitting the exiled physicians’ families to return to the capital. The Princess specially instructed officials along the route to treat them generously.
After reclaiming military authority from the eunuch faction, Li Yuanying appointed Lü Qiao as Divine Strategy Army Right Commander and placed loyal officers who had faithfully followed him through adversity into key positions throughout the army. As for the crucial position of Left Commander, he delayed making an appointment. Everyone speculated this position would surely belong to Yuan Shaobo, his childhood study companion and most trusted confidant.
Ten days after enthronement, Li Yuanying announced the investiture of the greatest contributor to the coup – his sister Li Baozhu, changing her Wanshou title to “Princess Imperial Chengtian Wanshou.”
Divine right of kings – the two characters “Chengtian” (承天) had always been usable only by emperors. But the Princess had legendary deeds of transformation and immortal ascension. Without her single arrow retreat before Xuanwu Gate and “self-grave-digging” to reward the three armies, who would have won remained uncertain. It could be said the sister was Li Yuanying’s divine sign, Heaven’s auspicious omen foretelling the emperor’s mandate.
On the investiture ceremony day, the Emperor commanded all ministers to attend wearing the highest grade court robes.
Over a thousand court officials gathered before Xuanwu Gate, arranged in formation according to rank, with Golden Guard ceremonial armor gleaming brilliantly in the sunlight on both sides. During the long process of awaiting the Ministry of Rites’ summons, everyone’s minds wandered with countless thoughts.
The former Princess Consort of Shao, Lady Cui, had been divorced for some unknown transgression. The Emperor’s marriage arrangement with the Hongnong Yang family had failed, and his concubine had died of illness before entering the palace. Twenty-five-year-old Li Yuanying still had no heirs, and his health appeared greatly damaged during his exile in Youzhou.
How to send one’s marriageable daughters into the palace? Did the Emperor still have reproductive capability? Without heirs, would he establish his brother as crown prince? Though no one dared question the Emperor’s birth again, Li Yuanyi, born in the deep palace, had unquestionable bloodline. The Princess remained unmarried – which family was qualified to be her consort? At minimum, families who had refused marriage proposals back then probably faced three generations of exclusion from elite circles.
Just as the ministers held their tablets while lost in wild thoughts, the ceremony’s protagonist finally appeared before Xuanzheng Hall. When everyone clearly saw the Princess’s attire, they were immediately stunned speechless.
She wore not the pheasant-feathered robes of titled ladies, but a crown with hanging beads and imperial robes. Except for slightly different Da Tang Pi Zhu Ji – Chapter patterns on the clothing and nine hanging white pearl strings instead of twelve, everything else was identical to the Emperor’s crown and robes – this was the Crown Prince’s formal ceremonial dress.
Only then did the ministers understand that Li Yuanying had no intention of letting his younger brother, who had accomplished nothing, inherit the great enterprise. Nor did he plan to consult with court officials. After him, the Great Tang was about to welcome its second female emperor.
On this day, the Emperor not only invested the Princess with the title and rank of “Chengtian Wanshou,” permitting her to establish her own office and select staff, but also granted her the highest civil honorary title “Kaifu Yitong Sansi,” the highest military merit “Shangzhu Guo,” and the actual position of Divine Strategy Army Left Commander. This was the first woman in Tang history to receive formal court official positions.
Xuanzheng Hall was utterly quiet, with only the Chancellor’s drawn-out voice reading the investiture edict echoing.
After bestowing the seal and treasures, Li Yuanying took his sister Bao Zhu’s hand, seating her beside himself – that is, on the imperial throne – to jointly receive the ministers’ obeisance.
The censors immediately began composing opposing memorials, their content nothing more than rehashing old tunes like “the hen crowing at dawn brings only ruin to the household.” Another group, anticipating the opposition, was already brewing counterarguments in their minds.
For example, since the Princess had achieved spirit liberation and immortal ascension as a celestial being returned to the mortal world, celestial beings were neither male nor female, inherently without gender distinctions. Since genderless eunuchs could command armies and receive titles, why couldn’t a celestially powerful princess?
The two sages sat hand in hand on the imperial throne. The Emperor appeared weary and pale, while the Princess was full of vitality – who would last longer was obvious at a glance. The ministers privately weighed whether to align by gender or bet on longevity – a new game had begun.
Undercurrents surged within Xuanzheng Hall, while outside remained bright with sunshine.
On the tower of Yuehua Gate stood a barely visible blue shadow. His concealment skills had reached perfection, his breath control was flawless – even with Golden Guards scanning back and forth, they could hardly detect anyone there.
To find the best viewing position for the ceremony, he had infiltrated the palace the previous night, lying in ambush here in advance.
From afar, she wore layers of cumbersome ornate clothing, topped with a ridiculous board, with many pearl strings hanging before her face like curtains installed on a hat’s front and back. She remained as proud and spirited as ever, but times had changed – she now had countless guards and subjects, no longer the down-and-out young lady with only a thin donkey and two or three followers.
The phoenix twins had wandered the martial world, growing through trials along the way, tempered in heaven and earth’s furnace, finally breaking free of their shells in nirvana with full-grown wings.
Today was clearly her good day, yet somehow what floated into Wei Xun’s mind were her tear-streaked, aggrieved appearances throughout their journey. Since recovering from his injuries, he had been fighting an unprecedented powerful enemy – the heart demon attempting to “steal the pearl” once again. Following the siblings from Youzhou all the way back to Chang’an, it had taken months to finally defeat it.
He understood clearly that she had personally tried the days of retiring to the martial world during their journey – she wasn’t accustomed to it and didn’t like it.
And her world – he didn’t like either.
He acknowledged that the flower he deeply loved grew from soil he despised, yet she had still formed respectable character. Didn’t this prove she had sufficient courage and ability to change this corrupt earth? If he selfishly claimed Bao Zhu for himself, he would be failing her natural talents and betraying that ethereal dream of paradise.
Perhaps she was the divine instrument destined to “overturn the world.”
Living between heaven and earth is like being a traveler from afar. Journeys always have endpoints; what matters is the scenery along the way.
Watching her figure disappear into the depths of the palace buildings, Wei Xun knew it was time to leave. As he turned, he suddenly thought of a homophonic joke: The world should have a new wise ruler (bright pearl – ming zhu/ming zhu).
In that flash of thought, Wei Xun wanted to tell it to Bao Zhu, then froze, feeling melancholy.
Author’s Notes: The phoenix twins’ (arsenic version) filial effectiveness was remarkable. Bao Zhu cleared the path all the way, so the cavalry’s arrival went smoothly. “Kneeling to suckle the imperial breast” comes from “Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government” – neither the Old Book of Tang nor New Book of Tang recorded this. Given Sima Guang’s habit of creative writing, this probably didn’t happen (but it’s quite interesting).
“Combining heaven and earth’s bearing, employing sun and moon’s brilliance” comes from “Book of the Later Han,” describing Emperor Xiaoming of Han. “The hen crowing at dawn brings only ruin to the household” comes from “Book of Documents.”
“Living between heaven and earth is like being a traveler from afar” – Han dynasty “Green Cypress on the Mound” by anonymous author. During Wei Xun’s disappearance for several months, he had begun teaching himself to read.
If you prefer an open ending, you can use this point “Living between heaven and earth is like being a traveler from afar” as the ending node.
But Bao Zhu disagrees. Please continue viewing the next ending point: “Traveler from afar? Did I approve that?”