The Emperor suddenly stood up, stepped around the desk, and violently threw the bamboo slips in his hand before Bai Qingyan.

“What do you mean?! Having obtained the bamboo slips of military records, you didn’t immediately present them, and the people of the capital heard what was written in these slips before I did. Making oaths before the spirit tablet, bringing emotionally agitated and grieving people to block Wude Gate – you’re just short of forcing the palace, and you still dare to ask what I mean?! Do you think I’m so old that my ears are blocked and eyes dim, unable to see through the Bai family’s despicable schemes?!”

She bent down to pick up the bamboo slips from the ground, wiping them with her plain white sleeves. The last line of text caught her eye… Deputy Commander Bai Qishan was trapped in Feng City for five days without provisions. The Nanyan army captured the five sons of the Bai family alive, stripped them naked before the battle lines, carved their flesh to humiliate them, and tried to force Bai Qishan to surrender.

Overwhelming fury boiled in Bai Qingyan’s chest like hot oil. Finally unable to restrain herself, she gritted her teeth and spoke: “The Bai family’s schemes for seeking justice and self-preservation are despicable, but Your Majesty’s purpose in appointing incompetent supervisors… giving golden tablets and command arrows to incompetents – is that not despicable?”

“How dare you!” The Emperor’s eyes were about to split with rage.

“Xiliang and Nanyan watch like tigers. Great Liang and the Rong barbarians harbor ulterior motives. The nation’s elite soldiers fight desperately against the armies of Xiliang and Nanyan, who covet the Great Jin, unafraid of being wrapped in horse leather, unafraid of being separated from their bodies, unafraid of having heaven and earth as their graves. They shed blood and sacrifice their lives, fighting for family and Kingdom, vowing never to retreat! But with the southern frontier war so urgent, Your Majesty instead fears that subjects’ achievements might overshadow the master, ordering a prince who has never been on battlefields and knows nothing of military strategy to supervise the army with golden tablets and command arrows to steal credit – is this not supremely despicable?!”

“The fool used golden tablets and command arrows to coerce! Now all the Bai family’s sons are dead, Jin no longer has a Duke who could deter Great Liang and the Rong barbarians from daring to invade for ten years, and the court no longer has brave and skilled generals! Hundreds of thousands of troops all perished… Great Jin has truly severed its arms!”

Looking at the Emperor’s ferocious expression, she couldn’t help but laugh coldly: “When Great Jin humbly bows and scrapes to seek peace with Nanyan and Xiliang, the Rong barbarians and Great Liang will dare to pounce and get their share – is Your Majesty satisfied with this situation?!”

The Emperor clenched his teeth tightly, his eyes bloodshot. Bai Qingyan’s words hit the bull’s eye, which was exactly why the Emperor was so furious and regretful after seeing the bamboo slips.

“Whether Your Majesty destroys the Bai family or not! Consider it a warning to the people of the world – even if you want to serve the Kingdom loyally, never be so devoted that you leave yourself no way out! Otherwise, when all the men of the family are dead… even when their spirits are escorted back, they can only use coffins as thin as paper that even common people wouldn’t use, and even ten-year-old children cannot be granted whole corpses!”

Before the Emperor could speak, Prince Xin had already shouted angrily: “Your Bai family is nothing more than watchdogs raised by my imperial family! Your grandfather and father, those two immortal old things, just accumulated troops to increase their power. Does your Bai family still have my father Emperor, as sovereign in their hearts? Do you still have the imperial power of my Lin family?! How can the Lin family’s rivers and mountains… tolerate watchdogs to interfere?! That old bastard Bai Weiting… always talking about the world’s people, the state, and the common folk, putting on airs of serving Kingdom and people! Do you dare say… your Bai family hasn’t paved the way to usurp my Lin family’s rivers and mountains and rebel against my father Emperor?!”

“My father held out desperately in Feng City without water or provisions – was that rebellion?!” She stood up, spreading the bamboo slips in her hands, her blood-red eyes filled with tears, the bamboo slips in her hands rustling from shaking. “My five younger brothers were captured alive. To prevent the Xiliang people from using the humiliation of Bai family sons to shake military morale, my father tearfully raised his bow and shot my five brothers dead – was that rebellion?!”

“My blood brother Bai Qingyu was left in the rear. He clearly could have fled using protecting Prince Xin as an excuse, but he still fought to the death at the Bai Ridge front line until his bones were scattered – was that rebellion?! My seventeenth brother was only ten years old, trapped in Feng City, without provisions for five days. After death, the Xiliang bandits dug out his heart and liver… his belly was full of mud and tree roots! Was this rebellion?!”

Her voice carried killing intent, echoing heart-stirringly in this great hall.

“My seventeenth brother was only ten! His life had not yet begun! But the loyalty deeply embedded in his bones, the unyielding backbone passed down through generations, made him raise his sword to kill enemies, even knowing it was a path to death! Such loyalty – looking across the world, besides my Bai family, who else has it?!”

“Great Jin has dominated the nations for decades, but capable military generals are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns! To cultivate successors for the Great Jin who could deter the nations, grandfather and father brought all the Bai family men to the front lines, leaving no room for the family, no way out for the Bai clan. Your Majesty turns a blind eye to such sincere loyalty! My entire Bai family swore to serve unto death, generations crushing their heads and grinding their bodies – what did we get in return?! Treacherous court officials’ frame-ups and false accusations! Your Majesty’s suspicion! Your Majesty’s jealousy! And Your Majesty’s wariness!” Her pain burned through her five organs and six viscera. Enduring the tearing, blade-twisting agony, she looked toward Prince Xin. “If the Bai family wanted to rebel… your golden tablet and command arrow would be nothing but scrap iron – how could it command my grandfather?! How could you have had the life to return to the capital?!”

The eunuchs knelt on the ground, shaking like chaff in a sieve. The Son of Heaven’s wrath made everyone panic.

Prince Xin’s lips trembled, and the Emperor pressed his lips tightly together.

In the magnificently imposing great hall, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Holding the bamboo slips, she slowly knelt again, choking as she whispered: “Your Majesty, do you still remember what you said to my grandfather in the Eastern Palace with its red bricks and green tiles when you were first established as Crown Prince? Your Majesty said… Uncle-in-law is ten years older than I, and I have regarded uncle-in-law as father and elder brother since childhood, not treating uncle-in-law as a court minister. Uncle-in-law has the world’s myriad people in his heart, seeking peace and prosperity for all living beings under heaven, and I am the same. With me in court and uncle-in-law on the battlefield, for this entire lifetime, I entrust military power to you, never to doubt.”

The Emperor’s fists clenched at his sides, his thoughts seeming to be pulled back to that year of heavy snow in the depths of winter. Bai Weiting’s extremely imposing features were solemn, his eyes red, bowing deeply to the ground with a resounding voice: “I will not fail the Crown Prince’s expectations.”

Those words… were just the calculations of an unfavored prince who had climbed one step away from that position, seeking to find backing for himself!

Did Bai Weiting… take it seriously?!

The Emperor’s thoughts were in turmoil.

“This is why grandfather had the entire family serve loyally, leaving not a trace of retreat for the Bai family… taking all my Bai family men to the southern frontier!”

Seeing the Emperor’s expression, she continued: “Grandfather said that since ancient times, military generals are most feared by rulers, but with Your Majesty’s trust, grandfather feared nothing! Grandfather said Your Majesty has the great ambition of a Kunpeng, wanting to rule the world as king, and what he sought was peace under heaven. If his aspirations could not be achieved in his lifetime, the Bai family descendants should take this as their goal! If one day the four seas were unified and the world at peace, the Bai family descendants should voluntarily return the military power granted by the Emperor to the imperial family. Because weakening powerful ministers and centralizing power is what every emperor should… and must do after pacifying the world. As long as the Bai family conducts itself with loyalty and acts with integrity, not clinging to power and position, no matter who from the imperial family sits on that throne of nine tripods, they will surely preserve the Bai family’s safety most gently.”

The Emperor’s lips trembled. He never knew that Duke Bai Weiting… held him in such high regard.

She raised her head to look at the Emperor, whose hand was quietly supporting the sandalwood desk: “Your Majesty, grandfather trusted Your Majesty so much, but did Your Majesty… achieve never doubting?”