Pingyang had long resisted capture because its city walls were high and its granaries full. As long as the Xiongnu people defended without venturing out, they were very difficult to attack.

Chen Wu said, “Inspector, let’s launch a frontal assault. Bring out the cloud ladders.”

Zhao Hanzhang looked at the moat beneath Pingyang’s walls, then at the height of the walls, and shook her head. “No. A frontal assault like that would cost too many lives.”

Ji Yuan said, “Then we can only besiege the city, forcing them to exhaust their provisions so they have no choice but to come out.”

Ming Yu said, “We could also force them to seek reinforcements from their forces outside, relieving the pressure on their attacks against Yuzhou. The Inspector wants to besiege Wei to rescue Zhao—we need them to send back reinforcements for it to count as success.”

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t object to this point and nodded. “Then let’s make a show of launching a full assault to force them to call for aid.”

Fu Tinghan saw that her brows were still furrowed and asked, “When their reinforcements return, will you still be able to break into Pingyang?”

Zhao Hanzhang shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Fu Tinghan: “You really want to break in?”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “I want to capture their emperor and make use of him.”

Fu Tinghan thought for a moment and understood. “You want to exchange their emperor for ours?”

Zhao Hanzhang: “An emperor for an emperor—they probably won’t agree. But an emperor for my grand-uncle shouldn’t be difficult.”

Ji Yuan, standing nearby, overheard and shook his head. “I’m afraid that won’t work. They still want to use Minister Zhao to threaten you. The Xiongnu are different from us. If their emperor is captured, they can simply replace him with another. They’re not as troubled by such matters as we are.”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “I’ll ransom my grand-uncle, and I can also promise them that as long as the emperor lives, I won’t establish a new emperor.”

Ji Yuan’s eyebrows twitched. He had long wanted to discuss this matter with Zhao Hanzhang, but she’d been too busy since returning, never having time. Now that the conversation had led here, he asked, “With the Crown Prince deceased, whom does the Lady intend to establish as Crown Prince?”

Zhao Hanzhang deflected: “The surviving members of the imperial clan haven’t been found yet.”

“Someone spotted the Prince of Qin in Xiuwu County,” Ji Yuan said. “I’ve already sent people to search. The Commandery Administrator of Zhao should have received the news as well. The Prince of Yuzhang and the Prince of Xindu still have no news. Our thinking is that since those two’s fates are unknown and they’re young, it would be better to establish the Prince of Qin as Crown Prince.”

Zhao Hanzhang: “The Prince of Qin is also young, isn’t he? He’s only ten years old. Can he govern?”

Ji Yuan: “He needn’t trouble himself with that—isn’t the Lady here for that?”

Zhao Hanzhang asked, “Sir, are you suggesting I monopolize power and become a second Gou Xi?”

“No, I’m suggesting you become Cao Mengde.”

What kind of good example was Gou Xi?

Ji Yuan glanced at her. He wasn’t foolish—how could he suggest she become Gou Xi?

Ji Yuan said, “Only this way can you command the world to serve you.”

Zhao Hanzhang frowned. “But establishing a new emperor means absorbing the old officials. The aristocratic families will each pursue their own interests, and the Jin court… It’s not that I look down on them, but they’re truly too good at infighting and killing. When I had Gou Xi take the emperor and relocate the capital, it was precisely to avoid being caught in this vicious cycle.”

“Times have changed,” Ji Yuan said. “Now the world is in chaos, the emperor captured. Apart from you, who else can turn the tide?”

He continued, “After the Battle of Yuncheng, more than half the court officials were captured. Those who escaped were only two or three out of ten, holding minor positions. They wouldn’t dare disobey you.”

Zhao Hanzhang listened and began to think seriously.

Ji Yuan pressed his advantage: “Inspector, the world has fallen into such chaos that even a distant imperial relative like the Prince of Langya dares to proclaim himself Great Alliance Leader. Who knows who else might emerge in the future?”

“Why not establish a legitimate line yourself? With the emperor in hand, you can command the world. Court ministers will all be selected by you. You’ll remain as before, doing whatever you wish.” Ji Yuan lowered his voice. “In the future, when you’ve pacified the world, everything will fall into place naturally, just as it did for Emperor Wen. Who would dare criticize you?”

Zhao Hanzhang was a good child who listened to advice. She stroked her chin and thought seriously. “Sir makes a good point. But I promised Fifth Grand-Uncle I would never destroy Jin.”

Ji Yuan said quietly, “The Lady is overthinking. When the time comes and the new emperor sincerely abdicates the throne, how could there be any talk of destroying Jin?”

Ming Yu, standing nearby, also said, “The Lady need not worry about this. Let things take their natural course.”

During the Han Dynasty, when Cao Pi wanted to become emperor, there were still people loyal to the Han who advised against it. Now? Who cared about being a Jin official?

Anyway, Ji Yuan and Ming Yu had never thought highly of Jin.

Chen Wu stood to the side, wanting to speak but hesitating. He was loyal to Jin, but not exactly to Jin—he was loyal to the Han people. Well, Zhao Hanzhang was also Han. If she had such ambitions, so what? Who became emperor wasn’t the point—as long as the common people could live stable lives, that was what mattered.

Zhao Hanzhang waved her hand. “Let’s find the person first. His Majesty is still alive. Even if we establish a Crown Prince, he’ll only be a Crown Prince.”

Zhao Hanzhang looked at the distant Pingyang City and said worriedly, “How should we attack this city?”

Everyone also gazed at Pingyang City with troubled expressions. Actually, if they had time, besieging it for three to five months until their provisions ran low would surely cause internal chaos.

But the problem was that time didn’t allow for that.

Fu Tinghan lowered his eyes in thought, then reached out to pull her aside. “What about using gunpowder?”

Zhao Hanzhang’s eyebrows jumped. “Didn’t you say gunpowder couldn’t be used in warfare?”

Fu Tinghan pulled a letter from his sleeve pocket and showed it to her. “Some things, once created, are no longer under human control. It’s like Pandora’s box—we were too naive to think otherwise.”

Zhao Hanzhang opened the letter. It was written by Qiu Wu.

He was responsible for preparing provisions and weapons for various armies, including siege engines and ballistas for the Zhao family army in Luoyang.

While preparing these, Qiu Wu had a flash of inspiration. He felt that using trebuchets to launch stones wasn’t intimidating enough—why not use the explosives they used for mining ore?

Since gunpowder could blast apart stone, it could surely blast apart city walls too.

The more Qiu Wu thought about it, the more certain he became. He even led people to use explosives to blast down a house’s perimeter wall. After confirming it really worked, he excitedly informed Fu Tinghan of this discovery, writing an eight-hundred-character essay arguing that they could create new weapons from this.

So when sending trebuchets and ballistas to Luoyang, he had people make a cartload of gunpowder to send along, trailing two li behind the main convoy.

Despite such a great distance, they had safely delivered it to Luoyang, and from Luoyang to here.

Fu Tinghan said, “I’ve been suppressing this matter, not telling a third person, waiting for you to return and make the decision. Should we use this gunpowder or not?”

Zhao Hanzhang looked down at the letter, her hands tightening. When she raised her head, her expression was calm. She smiled slightly and said, “Use it. Why not? If it can reduce casualties among our soldiers, why wouldn’t we use it?”

“Since the box has been opened, we can’t avoid it anymore,” Zhao Hanzhang said, pressing down on her racing heartbeat. “Let’s face it head-on. Since we’re going to use it, let’s use it properly.”

This meant fully developing firearms.