Grand Tutor He glanced at Prime Minister Rong standing at the front of the officials. The old fellow hadn’t feigned illness today and came to court, but he was like a deaf decoration, turning a blind eye to this turbulent undercurrent of struggle.

Grand Tutor He had tried to win over Prime Minister Rong. After all, Prime Minister Rong was a three-dynasty veteran minister with deep influence at court. Even with the Xiao family’s great power, within the Cabinet, Prime Minister Rong still firmly outranked them. If he could gain Prime Minister Rong’s support, the situation would naturally be incomparable.

Grand Tutor He had made three private visits before, discussing the pros and cons with the Prime Minister. He knew it was useless to talk to the Prime Minister about how brilliant the Crown Princess was and how she would become a wise ruler if she inherited the throne. An old minister skilled in political maneuvering like the Prime Minister didn’t want an iron-blooded, enlightened monarch above him. Grand Tutor He approached from Rong Pu’s angle, discussing the public opinion and political benefits the Rong family could gain from supporting the imperial family under current circumstances, discussing Rong Pu’s attitude and ambitions, and finally hinting that the Crown Princess’s perfect match was none other than Rong Pu.

Once Rong Pu became the national father-in-law, the Rong family’s glory and favor would naturally never fade.

Old Rong had clearly been moved, agreeing to cancel his sick leave and participate in the court assembly.

Now he had come to the court assembly, but what use was it to come as a wooden puppet?

Looking at Deputy Prime Minister Xiao’s expression – smiling at the corners of his mouth, never once looking at Prime Minister Rong from beginning to end – he had obviously done his groundwork and was confident of success.

What groundwork he had done wasn’t hard to imagine – probably dispelling Prime Minister Rong’s fantasies about Rong Pu marrying the Crown Princess, and offering benefits to the Rong family.

Grand Tutor He thought of some academy matters and sighed inwardly.

The Crown Princess’s heart belonged to someone else, and that person had once killed a nanny beside Old Lady Rong, making an enemy of the narrow-minded Old Lady Rong.

Although Prime Minister Rong might not entirely listen to pillow talk, the Crown Princess gaining Di Yiwei’s loyalty obviously also displeased the Rong family. Probably in the Rong family’s eyes, the Yongping Army belonged to the Rong family, and the Crown Princess was poaching their people.

Several incidents combined made Prime Minister Rong choose to stand aside again.

It was a pity that he had deliberately removed details of the Crown Princess’s romantic affairs from the Six-Volume Chronicles to avoid irritating the Rong family, but now it seemed all his efforts were wasted.

On the high platform, the Empress Dowager very habitually took over the power of presiding over court, saying loudly from behind the curtain: “Read from the Daily Records of Activities, Great Ancestor Emperor’s collected volume.”

The Daily Records of Activities were imperial chronicles recording the emperor’s words and deeds. Each emperor of Da Qian had a volume, sealed in the Imperial Archives. The Empress Dowager suddenly wanting to read Great Ancestor Emperor’s Daily Records surprised everyone.

A historian who had been standing to the side stepped forward and unrolled the yellow silk in his hands, reading aloud: “Previously, in the seventeenth year of Kaitai, on the day of Jiazi in spring, His Majesty stroked his knee and said: ‘Last night I happened to have a dream, seeing a divine child presenting a precious cauldron, gaining great supernatural powers and a vajra body, controlling all things and ruling all things to govern the world…'”

Everyone suddenly understood.

Simply put, they had found statements from Great Ancestor Emperor in the Daily Records saying his natural talents were bestowed by heaven in dreams, were true divine powers of heavenly mandate, and therefore he could rule the world and command all directions.

This was a common trick of rulers – they always loved to cloak themselves in the mysterious divine garment of heavenly mandate to bewitch ignorant masses and consolidate imperial power. Its authenticity was unverifiable, but lies told often enough were probably believed even by the liars themselves.

The officials naturally didn’t believe it, but this didn’t prevent them from acting shocked and awed, taking the lead in kowtowing and shouting “Long live.”

The common folk below who were fortunate enough to participate in this grand event obviously believed it somewhat, kowtowing with resounding thuds.

The meaning was obvious – Great Ancestor Emperor’s natural talents were bestowed by divine spirits in dreams. The cauldron pointed to the kingdom, supernatural abilities came from the cauldron, and whoever gained these heavenly-granted talents would gain the world.

This was to theoretically solidify Tie Lin’s inheritance rights.

Satisfaction showed in the Empress Dowager’s eyes.

Court matters were like this – one must have proper justification.

With righteous name and proper reason, things could be done smoothly.

The next step was to have Tie Lin come forward and publicly demonstrate his abilities.

Tie Lin had actually manifested natural talents before Tie Ci left the capital, but Prince Zhao had him hide it.

After Tie Ci left the capital, Prince Zhao hinted about this to the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager was initially somewhat hesitant – after all, Tie Yan was still relatively compliant, and Tie Ci was just a waste in her mind, not worth driving wolves to devour tigers.

Who knew Tie Ci would be so troublesome, and Tie Yan was obviously becoming restless too.

Could a puppet that was no longer compliant and even beginning to bite back still be used?

Although Prince Zhao might not be entirely reliable either, at least he was a prince without military power. Compared to Tie Ci who had already gained Di Yiwei’s support, eliminating the latter was more important.

As for whether this would bring new troubles later… at worst, she still had him.

The Empress Dowager’s gaze shifted slightly to the black-robed man standing behind her to the side. Clearly in bright light yet wearing an incongruous black robe, this person had an ability to make everyone ignore him, like a black cloud or black feather, blending into all dark backgrounds.

The black robe sleeve hung beside her. Her fingertips moved slightly under her wide sleeves, slowly approaching that black color.

The moment before contact, that black color suddenly drifted away like floating clouds.

The Empress Dowager’s fingertips stiffened. After a long moment, she slowly withdrew them.

…

The Xiao family’s carriage stopped at the imperial city gates. Guard soldiers approached, and Lan Xian’er confidently produced the Xiao family token.

The gate guards glanced at the family crest on the carriage and waved them through.

Suddenly someone said: “Wait.”

Lan Xian’er looked in surprise at a young general walking forward.

She didn’t recognize this person, but Dan Shuang, who was peeking from inside the carriage, suddenly dropped the curtain.

“Wang Ran!”

Tie Ci frowned.

This former fiancé, the son of the former War Minister whose leg she had broken, was actually in charge of imperial city guards.

This was somewhat troublesome.

Wang Ran approached with his hand on his sword, staring at Lan Xian’er. After hearing her stated purpose, he said: “The palace has ordered that unless the Empress Dowager gives orders and Ciren Palace sends someone to escort, no one may enter the imperial city. If the young madam wants to send medicine to the young master, give it to this official. I’ll have someone deliver it later.”

Lan Xian’er said: “How can the young master’s medicine be handled by outsiders? Who could bear responsibility if something went wrong?”

Wang Ran said coldly: “This official doesn’t know you. Who knows if you’re impersonating Xiao family servants to deliver poison to the young master?”

He waved his hand: “Looking at your shifty eyes, at this time, a woman delivering medicine alone is highly improper. Men, search the carriage!”

…

While the front court held its assembly of ten thousand, the inner palace was calm.

Ruixiang Hall’s main gates remained tightly closed.

But inside was a bustle of activity.

The screen wall between Ruixiang Hall’s front and rear halls had been pushed down. A group of young women rolled up their sleeves and trouser legs, wielding hoes and sweating as they dug up the floor.

Those usually delicate girls, under Gu Xiaoxiao and Little Insect’s direction, quickly dug a deep trench across the entire hall. Then they cut down garden flowers and trees, chopped up wooden furniture from the hall, brought out many silk quilts and brocades, threw them into the trench, then brought several metal buckets and poured their contents over the wood pile with splashing sounds. The strong smell of fire oil spread, and the girls expressionlessly lit fire starters in their hands and threw them into the trench.

Flames immediately shot skyward with billowing black smoke. Little Insect sniffed the smell and said with satisfaction: “The oil His Highness’s teacher gave us works really well.”

He asked Gu Xiaoxiao: “Young Master Gu, will this work? Burning the palace is a great crime. If…”

Gu Xiaoxiao stood far away, expressionless: “If we can delay until the Crown Princess returns, no crime is a crime. If the Crown Princess can’t return in time, even drinking an extra sip of water will be a crime in the future. What’s burning a palace? Losing your life is what matters most.”

“I’ve never done something so glorious before. I feel a bit excited.” Little Insect trembled as he poured another bucket of oil into the trench.

The great fire blazed in the trench between the front and rear halls, but from a distance, it looked like the entire Ruixiang Hall was burning.

Little Insect muttered to himself: “Don’t know if it’s useful. Sigh, delay what we can delay.”

Then he scrambled onto the roof and shouted: “Fire! Fire!”

Immediately, gong sounds, warning whistles, and footsteps created chaos.

The palace had a Water Bureau specifically responsible for handling fires. They immediately carried water pumps to fight the fire, but couldn’t get through the main gate – Little Insect had welded the iron door bar shut, frantically saying from behind the door that the door was damaged by fire.

The firefighters had to attack from the wall tops. Palace walls were very high, and climbing them without orders was forbidden. In the emergency, the Water Bureau Supervisor ordered people to get ladders, but was told all ladders in storage had been borrowed by the Ministry of Works. When they asked the Ministry of Works, they said the Ministry of Revenue had borrowed them. The Ministry of Revenue clerks had borrowed ladders to inspect granaries. When asked why the Ministry of Revenue had no ladders when granaries had their own ladders and why they had to borrow from the palace, the responsible Ministry of Revenue official was an old clerk with poor eyesight and a stutter who couldn’t answer in half a day. Seeing the towering flames with people screaming inside, they tried to have guards scale the walls, but each one who went up fell down, saying someone seemed to be flipping their feet, but with thick smoke rolling inside making visibility poor, and everyone screaming for help, who would flip down rescuers? Even if they said so, no one believed it.

Inside, Little Insect and others stayed upwind with wet towels over their mouths and noses. The girls were responsible for screaming like slaughtered chickens, with the content changing to someone seeking private revenge, trying to destroy the Crown Princess and everything about her.

The White Marsh Guard commander responsible for inner palace security and the Water Bureau people had to report to the front court, requesting permission to break down walls.

They had no authority to damage the Crown Princess’s palace.

In the front court, Ceremonial Director Li Gui waited for the Daily Records reading to finish, then proclaimed loudly: “Summon Prince Zhao’s heir…”

Suddenly he stopped, noticing some commotion in the venue.

Some people raised their heads, some shifted their bodies, some spoke in low voices, and there was a faint smell of burning in the air.

He looked up and saw a column of black smoke rolling up to the sky.

The Empress Dowager also saw it and stood up abruptly.

…

At the imperial city gates, Wang Ran ordered the carriage searched.

Lan Xian’er panicked but dared not interfere. Usually the Xiao family entered and left the imperial city without obstruction – she hadn’t expected such complications today.

In the carriage, Tie Ci calmly gripped the dagger at her waist.

This bastard was so despicable – she should have broken his third leg too and sent him to personally serve in Ciren Palace. The Empress Dowager would definitely have liked that.

Wang Ran approached with a squad of soldiers.

Suddenly hoofbeats thundered toward the city gates.

Wang Ran looked up and saw the lead rider, saying in surprise: “Qi Yuansi? How did you get back?”

Charging at the front was indeed Qi Yuansi, approaching with a stern expression. He and Wang Ran both belonged to high official families and had some friendship in the past, but now his expression was cold as he pointed at Wang Ran: “Wang Ran! Someone has reported to the Left Commander of the Central Army Command that you’ve been frequenting brothels and violating military discipline! The Left Commander orders you to immediately relinquish your post pending investigation!”

The Central Army Command controlled the capital’s defenses. Except for the White Marsh Guard and Vermillion Bird Guard responsible for palace interior and exterior security, they had authority over all other armed forces in the capital. Outside the capital, the Iron Armor, Kuiniu, and Flying Cavalry three great camps guarded the metropolitan area and attached counties. Inside were the Five Military Commands, Capital Prefecture Guard, and patrol forces responsible for capital security. Wang Ran was a company commander in the Capital Guard, naturally under the jurisdiction of Qi Ling, the Left Commander of Central Army Command.

Wang Ran was shocked: “What brothels? What military discipline violations? Qi Yuansi, are you crazy?”

Then he reacted: “No, Qi Yuansi, you have no military rank – what authority do you have to arrest me? You’re here to set me up, you’re the Crown…”

“Bang.” A hard fist slammed into his nose bridge.

Wang Ran, caught off guard again, saw stars and fell backward.

“Take him away!”

Immediately soldiers who had come with Qi Yuansi carried Wang Ran off.

Qi Yuansi turned to look at the Xiao family carriage, uncertainty in his eyes.

Tie Ci lifted the carriage curtain and smiled at him.

Qi Yuansi’s eyes lit up. He immediately turned to Wang Ran’s bewildered subordinate soldiers: “The Central Army Left Commander orders gate guard changes every two hours. Please go rest first.”

He showed the Central Army Command token. The soldiers dared not disobey and immediately formed ranks to leave.

Qi Yuansi deployed his men at the gates and quietly approached the carriage.

Tie Ci said: “This is too risky for you!”

This was putting all bets on her. If she failed, the Qi family faced complete destruction.

“My father only told me to bring soldiers to act as circumstances demanded, helping you out of trouble when necessary, turning a blind eye. I was the one who took down Wang Ran. I also dealt with the relay messengers transmitting orders from outer city inward.” Qi Yuansi kept his eyes straight ahead. “But I can only give you two hours.”

Gate guard changes every two hours was routine. After two hours without change, the responsibility would be great.

“But before the palace city, there are also large armies guarding. We have no authority to deploy the Three Great Camps…”

“No need for guard changes.” Tie Ci said. “No need for the Qi family to take such risks either. After I enter the imperial city, wait a while then lead troops to follow. If something’s wrong on my end, come out chasing me, chase all the way to the palace city.”

Qi Yuansi was stunned, then understood Tie Ci’s meaning.

This was leaving him an escape route. By leading troops to chase Tie Ci, he could both help her muddy the waters, disrupting the Three Great Camps’ formation and lowering their vigilance, while also allowing the Qi family to clear their involvement.

Warmth stirred in his heart.

The Crown Princess was always someone who considered others.

“Good.”

The Xiao family carriage entered the imperial city. Everywhere inside were Three Great Camps soldiers patrolling. The imperial city streets were very deserted because most residents were imperial relatives and officials second rank and above. Today’s Grand Assembly meant these people and their families had all gone to the palace square, instructing servants left behind to stay indoors before leaving. Almost no one could be seen moving on the streets, which made anyone appearing on imperial city streets very conspicuous.

Fortunately, the Xiao family carriage held unparalleled status at this time. Three Great Camps soldiers who saw the Xiao family crest and Lan Xian’er’s token all let them pass without inspection.

On the deserted imperial city streets, even shops were temporarily closed, so no one noticed a half-open window on a roadside wine tower.

Several people stood behind the window, watching the passing carriage from afar.

“Master, really not giving this to them? There’s a large army behind. The kind with no escape.”

The gray-robed, blue-shoed nun lifted a wine pot to her mouth for a drink, smiling amiably: “Hot air balloons don’t fly high. Even if we gave it now, it might not float over these ten-plus li. If it gets shot down by arrows, it would fall into the army instead. Besides, looking now, Little Five has grown capable – no need for us to meddle.”

“Speaking of which, Master, why do you always help Little Five but not like to help completely? You obviously have more powerful things than hot air balloons, like that long tube you brought out last time – one burst of fire could clear a bloody path.”

“Because my task is to have her grow herself until she reaches where she should reach and finally accomplishes what we want accomplished. Occasional help in life-or-death moments is fine, but if I do everything for her, points will be deducted.”

“Master, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Good that you don’t understand. If you did, I wouldn’t be far from elimination. Alright, nothing more for us here. Let’s go back. My precious disciple has been performing well lately, and Master got another good thing to show you.”

“Is it the mobile base station needed for that square box last time?”

“Hah! You’re thinking too much.”

…