“Brother, between us siblings… whatever you have to say, speak freely!” Empress Dowager Yan spoke softly.
“Please forgive this minister’s impertinence, but it seems it truly is as His Majesty said—we need to depose His Majesty and install a new emperor!” Zhong Xingxiao spoke extremely quickly, as if greatly afraid, then hurriedly prostrated himself on the ground to beg forgiveness.
Empress Dowager Yan’s steps faltered, nearly losing her balance. Her hands tightly clutched her handkerchief, her heart feeling as if pierced by a sharp blade.
“Empress Dowager…” Zhong Xingxiao hurriedly stepped forward to support her, speaking in a low voice, “This minister is Your Majesty’s elder brother and naturally must consider what’s best for you. Think about it—if A’Li is deposed, the First Prince is not someone capable of shouldering great responsibility. Currently, many court officials support the Ninth Prince. If you bite down and refuse to relent, damaging our Great Yan emperor’s reputation and making people think the Great Yan emperor doesn’t keep his word, that would be one thing. But what if those officials supporting the Ninth Prince use this opportunity to force His Majesty to abdicate and push the Ninth Prince to the throne? Empress Dowager… at that time, who knows whose the imperial throne will be!”
Upon hearing these words, Empress Dowager Yan’s scalp immediately went numb, and she said, “It won’t happen! A’Yan… it won’t happen!”
“Empress Dowager! One must guard against others’ schemes, even if the Ninth Prince truly has no such intentions!” Zhong Xingxiao glanced left and right, then moved a step closer to Empress Dowager Yan and said, “Even if the Ninth Prince truly has no such intentions, but Empress Dowager, think about it—currently the court is divided into the Empress Dowager’s faction and the Regent’s faction. The Regent’s faction… might they want to take this opportunity, using the excuse that Yan cannot be used to gamble with Great Zhou, to propose installing a new emperor and push the Regent onto the throne?”
Empress Dowager Yan almost couldn’t resist telling her brother that Murong Yan was Xiao Rongyan, but she hadn’t forgotten her husband’s repeated warnings when he was still alive, and later A’Li’s repeated instructions—that the matter of Murong Yan being Xiao Rongyan must not be told to anyone else besides those who already knew.
Especially later, when A’Yan married the Great Zhou emperor under the identity of Xiao Rongyan, then faked his death to escape that identity, A’Li had repeatedly warned that from then on, she must forget that A’Yan was Xiao Rongyan.
Empress Dowager Yan tightly pressed her lips together without speaking, thinking of those officials who followed Xiao Rongyan. They constantly watched her… watched A’Li, wishing they could pull her A’Li down from the throne and push Xiao Rongyan up instead.
Even Eunuch Feng, who had once served at her husband’s side, had gone to serve A’Yan after her husband’s death…
“Empress Dowager, speaking honestly, this minister believes the method His Majesty has devised is already the best possible!” Zhong Xingxiao continued walking slowly with Empress Dowager Yan toward the direction of the Empress Dowager’s palace, speaking as they walked, “Currently, the Regent also disagrees with His Majesty using Yan to gamble with Great Zhou. I fear… the Regent might be stirred up by those in the Regent’s faction and develop thoughts of deposing His Majesty… and ascending the throne himself. With the Regent’s current prestige in Yan, if he wanted to ascend the throne, probably no one could stop him!”
“It won’t happen…” Empress Dowager Yan’s fingernails dug into her palms.
“The Empress Dowager once told this minister that you trust the Ninth Prince’s feelings toward the Late Emperor, yourself, and His Majesty. If that’s the case… then please, Empress Dowager, for His Majesty’s sake, persuade the Regent to agree to His Majesty’s plan!” Zhong Xingxiao spoke slowly, “Otherwise, if we truly create the chaos of installing a new emperor, at this critical juncture, it would bring nothing but harm to Yan!”
“But what if… what if A’Yan still disagrees?” Empress Dowager Yan’s heart suddenly became uncertain. What if A’Yan felt that A’Li was young and rash, unsuitable to be emperor, and developed thoughts of replacing him?
“The Empress Dowager can use Consort Ji to persuade the Ninth Prince. If the Ninth Prince disagrees, you can advise him… that he should have confidence in Consort Ji’s new policies!” Zhong Xingxiao thought for a moment, then continued, “Moreover… actually, His Majesty’s method might not necessarily be agreed to by Great Zhou either. After all, the Great Zhou is currently strong in military might and has already contained our Yan’s main forces. When His Majesty sends envoys to Great Zhou… this rhetoric also demonstrates that our Yan, to avoid suffering for the common people, is willing to place imperial power after the people’s welfare. If Great Zhou disagrees, then the one who will be criticized… will be the Great Zhou emperor who clings to power. Even if war breaks out, in terms of popular sentiment, we Yan won’t have lost, and the people of Yan will still unite with us to resist Zhou!”
Listening to her brother’s detailed analysis, Empress Dowager Yan lowered her eyes to look at the path beneath her feet and nodded. In her peripheral vision, the swaying jade ornaments on her ceremonial steps were tangled together, just like her emotions.
“Brother, tell me honestly—what do you think… if we truly follow A’Li’s proposal and our Yan and Great Zhou compete based on national policies, with the two countries merging into one?”
Empress Dowager Yan wasn’t entirely unaware of Bai Qingyan’s character, and couldn’t help but worry.
When her husband was still alive, he had once told her… the Bai family’s character was noble and upright, the most principled family he had ever seen. So Empress Dowager Yan was very afraid… that when A’Li proposed this method, Bai Qingyan would agree.
She needed to be certain that their Yan could win!
Just as A’Li had said, this was a grand gamble, wagering the territories of both Great Zhou and Yan. Victory would mean ruling all under heaven; defeat would mean losing everything. She was still afraid…
Afraid that now she was forcing A’Yan to agree to A’Li’s method, but Yan would lose. Then… when she met her beloved husband in the afterlife, having failed to preserve the Murong family’s territory for him, what face would she have to meet her husband?
Empress Dowager Yan’s tears swirled in her eyes as she stared unblinkingly at her brother, hoping Zhong Xingxiao could give her a definitive answer to put her at ease.
After thinking for a moment, Zhong Xingxiao said, “Our Yan is implementing the new policies that Consort Ji originally created, and when they were first implemented in our Yan, they truly achieved the goal of enriching the country and strengthening the people in a short time. This is something we’ve practiced and proven effective.”
“As for Great Zhou…” Zhong Xingxiao thought for a moment before continuing, “Great Zhou’s new policies—our spies have continuously sent reports to the Yan capital. Though this minister isn’t particularly interested, I did glance at them, and I feel… Great Zhou’s new policies look magnificent and are being carried out with great fanfare, but whether they can show results in a short time, no one can guarantee! Take the policy of women taking imperial examinations to become officials—Empress Dowager, think carefully. When Consort Ji was in power, didn’t she try to implement this? Did it succeed? It did not…”
“So you mean the Great Zhou will most likely fail as well?” Empress Dowager Yan asked urgently.
Zhong Xingxiao nodded, “This minister thinks so! Moreover, looking at the Great Zhou’s new policies, many of them are also imitating the new policies that Consort Ji once wanted to implement, just with slight modifications.”
Empress Dowager Yan nodded. She had also roughly reviewed Great Zhou’s new policies and discovered that many of them were national policies that Consort Ji had once wanted to implement in Yan but had ultimately failed.