Emperor Liang’s eyes widened. His heart, which had nearly jumped out of his throat, finally settled back down, but his rage became even more uncontrollable…

“Excellent! So you’re playing the game of death remonstrance with me! I’m not dead yet! Do you want to become emperor already? Are you so afraid of Jin? Where has all the backbone of Liang people gone?!”

Emperor Liang angrily slammed the table with loud banging sounds and roared: “Don’t anyone hold him back! Let him ram into it! Ram into it right now! I want to see if he dares to do it, see whether he’s trampling on my dignity to win himself a good reputation, or if he’s truly a loyal minister!”

“Your Majesty, please calm your anger!” The old Chancellor kowtowed again, begging the Emperor to restrain his fury.

“A useless waste who’s been pathetic for so many years dares to perform death remonstrance! Are you trying to be one of those fame-seeking loyal ministers… or do you want to replace me?! If you want to replace me, you should come with a sword to kill me – that would be most direct! Why bother with this death remonstrance charade to win over the court’s loyalty!”

The Third Prince, his face covered in blood, suddenly raised his head. He had thought that as long as he performed death remonstrance, he could use his blood to awaken his father’s reason. But his father called him a pathetic, useless waste! Said his death remonstrance was an act… was buying people’s hearts!

The Third Prince’s eyes filled with tears. He bit his teeth tightly without making a sound, accepting his father’s baseless accusations, and closed his despairing eyes.

“Your Majesty, please calm your anger!”

Ministers throughout the court knelt, begging Emperor Liang to restrain his fury.

“Jin’s emperor builds a Nine-Tiered Platform and won’t cause his Kingdom’s ruin! But if I seek revenge for Qiheng, will it ruin the Kingdom?! This is my Kingdom! Not yours yet!” Emperor Liang pointed fiercely at the Third Prince, his face changing color with anger. “I’ll do as I please! It’s not your turn to make decisions! If you want to make decisions… wait until I’m dead and you ascend the throne!”

“Your Majesty, please calm your anger! The Third Prince has no such intentions! Please, Your Majesty, forgive the Third Prince!” The elderly Chancellor of Liang’s head knocked against the ground with loud banging sounds as he begged the Emperor for mercy.

“Old Chancellor, rise!” Emperor Liang’s expression softened slightly, but with a knot of anger stuck in his chest, he raged at the Third Prince again: “I originally didn’t want to use Zhao Sheng, but you… You guaranteed with your head that Zhao Sheng should lead the Zhao family army into battle! Now look what’s happened… Zhao Sheng has taken the Zhao family army and defected to Jin. This is the fine general you recommended!”

Emperor Liang clenched his teeth and threw memorials from beside him at the Third Prince: “If you weren’t my son, do you think… your head would still be on your shoulders?! Your life would have been forfeit long ago, and you’d still be here performing death remonstrance with me!”

Emperor Liang stormed off again, and the ministers hurried to help the Third Prince to his feet.

The old Chancellor looked at the Third Prince’s bloodied face and quickly pulled out a handkerchief to press against the wound on the Third Prince’s head, saying earnestly: “Why must the Third Prince do this! His Majesty has always responded to gentle persuasion rather than force… Acting this way only harms yourself!”

The old Chancellor truly felt sorry for the Third Prince. Though the Third Prince was mediocre without great talent, his loyalty to the Kingdom was truly wholehearted.

Otherwise, given the Third Prince’s timid and cautious nature, how would he dare to knowingly provoke the Emperor’s wrath? How could he repeatedly plead in court for the Emperor to think thrice for the people’s sake?

The Third Prince pressed the handkerchief with his hand and thanked the ministers, but his eyes no longer held their usual emotions – they were calm as stagnant water.

The next day, the Third Prince claimed illness and stayed in his mansion, not attending morning court. When ministers went to visit the Third Prince’s mansion, he wouldn’t see them either, seemingly determined to no longer participate in government affairs, staying home to nurse his wounds behind closed doors.

After rescuing Zhao Sheng’s mother, wife, and brothers, the Bai family guards split into two groups. One group drove carriages bearing the Zhao family crest straight north. After leaving the city, they abandoned the carriages and rode day and night toward Liuzhou City, finally reaching the Jin army camp on November 20th, bringing along a personal letter and token from Zhao Sheng’s mother.

When Zhao Ran had come to ask Zhao Sheng for tokens, claiming Princess Zhenguo would send people to Han City to rescue his family before news of Zhao Sheng’s surrender to Jin reached Great Liang’s capital, Zhao Sheng hadn’t held particularly high hopes. He never expected… that Princess Zhenguo’s people would actually rescue all his family members.

Cai Ziyuan deeply felt that Bai Qingyan had played this move extremely well – it both made Zhao Sheng grateful and indebted to her, and allowed her to grasp Zhao Sheng’s weakness to control him.

He had previously worried… that Bai Qingyan’s rash use of Liang’s fierce general Zhao Sheng might be difficult to control, but if she held Zhao Sheng’s entire family in her palm, then Bai Qingyan wouldn’t need to worry about Zhao Sheng’s feigned surrender or eventual betrayal.

Zhao Sheng was indeed deeply grateful to Bai Qingyan. After solemnly kowtowing to thank her, to demonstrate his open heart and sincere desire to follow Bai Qingyan, he opened Old Dowager Zhao’s letter in front of her.

In the letter, Old Dowager Zhao said that regardless of what decision her son made, she believed in him because she knew her son was someone who cared for the people. If something was harmful to the people, he would rather die than do it. She told Zhao Sheng to rest assured that the Zhao family would never become a burden to him.

Old Dowager Zhao’s words had two meanings: first… she believed Zhao Sheng would never betray Great Liang’s people, and second… if Princess Zhenguo ever used the whole family to threaten Zhao Sheng, Old Dowager Zhao would lead the entire family to their deaths rather than let them become Princess Zhenguo’s leverage over Zhao Sheng.

Cai Ziyuan’s brow twitched – he hadn’t expected Old Dowager Zhao to be so resolute.

After reading the letter, Zhao Sheng was already in tears. Bai Qingyan was also deeply moved by Old Dowager Zhao’s decisiveness, saying, “Old Dowager Zhao is truly a hero!”

Zhao Sheng bit his teeth even more tightly and bowed to Bai Qingyan: “Zhao Sheng has absolutely no divided loyalty toward Princess Zhenguo. I am willing… to follow Princess Zhenguo in creating a peaceful and prosperous age!”

“Bai Qingyan will do everything in her power to let General Zhao see this day within her lifetime!” Bai Qingyan straightened her back and said solemnly.

Since that day when he had met Zhao Sheng beneath Liuzhou City, Yang Wuce had fallen into great internal conflict.

He wanted to become a meritorious minister in pacifying the realm, yet didn’t want to bear the reputation of treason. Although Yang Wuce’s subordinates had all expressed their positions, willing to follow Yang Wuce to the death, Yang Wuce remained torn.

News from Great Yan about consecutively capturing several of Wei’s cities kept arriving, along with reports that Wei had sent envoys seeking peace, only to be rejected by Great Yan… claiming that Wei had started the war, and during the great battle had dared to involve Xiliang in attacking Yan, causing severe injury to Emperor Yan. Without destroying Wei… it would be difficult to vent Great Yan’s hatred.

It was clear that Great Yan was determined to destroy Wei this time, laying the foundation for future unification of the realm.

Every time war reports from Great Yan and Wei arrived, Yang Wuce would lose his composure, yet force himself to calm down, worried about bearing the name of traitor, his heart torn between heaven and earth in terrible torment.

If Jin attacked and captured Liuzhou City, forcing him to surrender to Jin… that could be considered Heaven deciding for him. But unfortunately, nearly a month had passed, and Jin had made camp at Qingxi Mountain pass with no intention of attacking the city.