“Originally, I advised you because I wanted to give you a path to preserve the entire Li family, but… You and Left Chancellor Li Mao don’t merely want to preserve your Li family in this chaos. With one of you on each side, regardless of who wins or loses, when all is said and done, only one of you two will die. Not only will the Li family be preserved through the other’s achievements, but they’ll also rise to prominence when one person attains enlightenment.” Bai Jinxiu looked at Li Mingrui with clear eyes, “Is that not so?”

Li Mingrui hadn’t expected Bai Jinxiu to guess his thoughts, but since he’d been seen through, he frankly admitted: “It’s merely seeking a way for the entire Li family to survive, to find a good way to survive! Just as when the Bai family men died in battle, His Majesty and Prince Xin both wanted the entire Bai family to die, Princess Zhenguo sought a way for the entire Bai family to survive – it’s the same, all beyond our control.”

Bai Jinxiu, with her hands behind her back, calmly looked at Li Mingrui: “It’s not the same…”

Though both were seeking survival, how could Li Mingrui compare himself to her eldest sister?

People like Li Mingrui simply didn’t understand the Bai family, much less understand her eldest sister.

Li Mingrui looked up at Bai Jinxiu, not quite understanding what she meant by “not the same,” but seeing that Bai Jinxiu had no intention of continuing, he simply looked at her without pressing for clarification.

Bai Jinxiu smiled and said, “Lord Li is still better suited to be a civil official and strategist, not suited for leading troops in battle.”

“Yes…” Li Mingrui frankly admitted, “Therefore, when Duke Zhenguo was still alive, his decision to have Bai family heirs learn military strategy from childhood, train in the army at ten, and campaign on battlefields was reasonable.”

Bai Jinxiu still followed Li Mingrui’s suggestion and managed to quietly send word to the imperial palace about dispatching people to contact the Pingyang army. Prince Liang indeed didn’t disappoint Bai Jinxiu and Li Mingrui, quickly taking action.

On the eleventh day of the fifth month in the eighteenth year of Xuanjia, Emperor Jin issued an edict naming Prince Liang as Crown Prince. The former Crown Prince was demoted to commoner status, charged with treason, and sentenced to be cut in half at the waist on a chosen date.

On the fourteenth day of the fifth month in the eighteenth year of Xuanjia, the deposed Crown Prince of Jin attempted to assassinate Emperor Jin during an audience. The imperial physicians were powerless to save him, and Emperor Jin died.

On the same day, Li Mao and others knelt and requested Prince Liang to ascend the throne to manage the situation. Given the urgent circumstances, the coronation ceremony would be simplified and set for the sixteenth of the fifth month.

Prince Liang, not yet enthroned, issued edicts in the Emperor’s capacity after setting the coronation date. He claimed to have thoroughly investigated the matter of Consort Tong from years past, stating that both witness and physical evidence proved Consort Tong and her maternal family had been wronged. Censor Jian Congwen deserved death ten thousand times over, and the Second Prince’s rebellion was complete nonsense – all framed by the late Duke Zhenguo Bai Weiting. Therefore, he posthumously honored Consort Tong as Empress Dowager Rende and posthumously named the Second Prince as Prince Bade the Idle.

Chancellor Lu and a group of veteran ministers were brought before the great hall to receive the edict, but the hundred officials refused to acknowledge Prince Liang as Emperor Jin, much less recognize Consort Tong as Empress Dowager. Chancellor Lu was furious beyond measure, detailing the Second Prince’s eight evils… how dare he be called “Eight Virtues”? He loudly proclaimed that Emperor Xuande was a treasonous regicide who killed his father and framed his elder brother – a shameless wretch.

Li Mao and others also advised Prince Liang that upon ascending the throne, he should first establish a posthumous title for the late emperor rather than first posthumously honoring Consort Tong and the Second Prince.

When the veteran ministers opposed him, Prince Liang declared that whoever opposed would be sent to accompany his father emperor. Li Mao and his group dared not speak further, but Chancellor Lu, Minister of War Shen Jingzhong, Chief Justice Lu Jin, Minister of Ceremonies Dong Qingping, and other officials would rather die than submit.

Prince Liang decided that on his coronation day of the sixteenth of the fifth month, he would behead the deposed Crown Prince, Chancellor Lu, Minister of War Shen Jingzhong, Chief Justice Lu Jin, Minister of Ceremonies Dong Qingping, and other ministers, hanging their heads outside Wude Gate to intimidate the rebel armies of Yuanping and Shuoyang led by Bai Jinxiu.

When Bai Jinxiu received news of the Emperor’s death and Prince Liang’s impending succession, she was discussing siege strategies with the generals. She wasn’t particularly surprised, only feeling that they could no longer delay. At the latest, they must attack the imperial city by the sixteenth of the fifth month, or Chancellor Lu and other important court ministers would be in danger – especially Chief Justice Dong Qingping, who was eldest sister’s maternal uncle.

However, ensuring that Prince Liang would take the Crown Prince’s life without harming Chancellor Lu, Dong Qingping, and other court ministers was extremely difficult to control.

On the contrary, several Yuanping army generals wept bitterly before steeling their resolve to avenge the Emperor and capture Prince Liang alive.

Grand Princess, who was sitting in the shade of trees in Changshou Courtyard, teaching Bai Jinse to play chess, heard the news and dropped the chess piece in her hand. Her expression remained calm, showing neither joy nor sorrow. After a long while, Grand Princess let out a long breath, took the chess piece that Nanny Jiang had picked up, and placed it on the board.

Ji Langhua stood to one side. She knew Grand Princess had originally intended to spare the Emperor’s life for at least three to five years, but hadn’t expected Prince Liang to become a variable.

Now, even Ji Langhua could see a dynasty’s obvious decline, let alone someone of the Grand Princess’s caliber.

Prince Liang at this moment was like a grasshopper after autumn, making as much noise as possible to prove to all of Jin that he could overturn heaven and earth, to prove to the world that he was Jin’s true master.

“Grandmother…” Bai Jinse had yet to place her piece, looking up at Grand Princess with eyes full of worry, “Should you rest?”

Grand Princess shook her head, took a piece from the chess box, and looked up at Bai Jinse with a smile: “If I rest now, when Prince Liang creates even greater disturbances later, grandmother might fall ill from anger and never recover…”

Though Prince Liang was skilled at concealment and disguise with a vicious mind, Grand Princess didn’t consider him a person of great wisdom. With Prince Liang’s strategist Li Mingrui captured, his actions were either influenced by the extremely self-serving Left Chancellor Li Mao or followed his whims – who knew what other disturbances he might create.

On the sixteenth day of the fifth month in the first year of Yuanhe, the treasonous Prince Liang of Jin ascended the throne in the imperial palace, establishing the era name as Yuanhe.

On the same day, Bai Jinxiu led troops to simultaneously attack Wude Gate from four directions.

The newly enthroned Prince Liang, dressed in imperial robes, wearing the imperial crown, with the emperor’s sword at his waist, stood at the entrance of the main hall, looking down from his elevated position at the deposed Crown Prince and ministers including Chancellor Lu, Xie Yuchang, Fan Yuhuai, Minister of War Shen Jing, Chief Justice Lu Jin, and Minister of Ceremonies Dong Qingping, who had been bound and brought before the great hall by the imperial guards.

The ministers had been stripped of their official robes, wore shackles, and had become prisoners in white clothing.

Upon seeing Prince Liang emerge in imperial robes, the deposed Crown Prince trembled all over, crying out: “Your Majesty! Your Majesty… please spare me! You’ve already obtained the throne, just spare your brother’s life!”

The deposed Crown Prince was filthy and disheveled, with straw still stuck in his hair and an unpleasant odor about him. When he was pushed down from the city tower that day, he had been so frightened he wet himself, and still hadn’t been able to change out of those clothes.

Facing Prince Liang, the deposed Crown Prince had once possessed the momentary courage to face death unflinchingly, but ever since that night when he helped Bai Jinxiu escape, the longer time dragged on, the more he regretted it, regretted whatever madness had possessed him to let Bai Jinxiu escape with the imperial edict.