“Do you think that by wearing men’s clothing, the court officials will see you as an emperor… as a man?” Li Tianfu let out a contemptuous sneer. “Never…”

The Xiliang Empress’s hands trembled, and she delivered another harsh slap to Li Tianfu’s face. This time… Li Tianfu staggered back two steps but didn’t fall. She looked at the Xiliang Empress with venomous eyes: “Now that the eight great families have united, soon… Xiliang will change hands. I hope that when that time comes… elder sister can still strike me with such force!”

The color drained from the Xiliang Empress’s face, her entire being as if plunged into the icy waters of midwinter, thoroughly chilled.

After a long moment, the Xiliang Empress raised her eyes to look at her blood sister, her voice even colder than what she felt: “Someone come…”

Soon, the palace doors of Huaixiang Palace were suddenly burst open. Wind carrying heat waves and rich fragrance surged in abruptly. The layers upon layers of cloud brocade gauze inside the hall were suddenly lifted by the wind, and at the end of the semi-transparent thin gauze swaying chaotically… stood the Xiliang Empress and Li Tianfu facing each other.

Li Tianfu glanced at the Xiliang Empress, almost half a beat slow before slowly turning her head. Through the gauze curtains flying on both sides, lifted high by the wind, she saw two rows of armored, sword-bearing Imperial Guards striding in with imposing presence, walking toward them with fierce momentum. Her face changed dramatically.

Looking back again… she saw that her elder sister was no longer willing to say anything more to her. She simply lowered her eyes, turned around, and lifted her feet to walk toward those layers of flying, deep and shallow water-colored gauze curtains, brushing shoulders with the two rows of Imperial Guards who were approaching quickly, never looking back.

“Elder sister!” In her terror, Li Tianfu instinctively called out to the Xiliang Empress.

The Xiliang Empress’s steps paused, her fists clenched tightly, her eyes red and moist… her gaze showing some hesitation.

The gauze curtains lifted by the wind slowly fell down. From the inner chamber came Li Tianfu’s angry shouts and the sound of armor friction as the Imperial Guards apprehended her. The Xiliang Empress raised her eyes again, tears sliding down from the corners of her eyes, but there was no longer any hesitation in her gaze. She raised her hand to part the cloud brocade gauze and stepped out of Huaixiang Palace.

The little eunuch who had been waiting outside Huaixiang Palace holding an imperial edict saw the Xiliang Empress emerge alone. He respectfully bowed, and after the Xiliang Empress left, the little eunuch held the edict high with both hands and stepped into Huaixiang Palace.

Yun Poxing had been waiting in the great hall for a long time, staring at the swaying bronze phoenix bird lamps on both sides of the hall, feeling increasingly uneasy.

Before long, the Xiliang Empress entered the great hall with a grave expression. Yun Poxing hurriedly supported himself on the table, wanting to rise with difficulty. The Xiliang Empress waved her hand at him: “General, no need for ceremony. Please sit… I have something to discuss with the General.”

Yun Poxing was truly suffering from unbearable back pain, so he nodded and obediently sat down.

“The General must be full of doubts, right?” The Xiliang Empress stood directly across from Yun Poxing, speaking with a grave expression. “The eight great families have colluded with the merchant Cui Fengnian, intending… to incite great chaos in Xiliang, to blame this chaos on the new policies, to pull me… down from the imperial throne, and to enthrone Princess Pingyang as emperor.”

Yun Poxing was so shocked his eyes widened: “What?!”

Yun Poxing was also a member of the Yun family, one of the eight great families, but he hadn’t heard any whisper of this.

The Xiliang Empress turned to look at Yun Poxing: “I just went to Huaixiang Palace. Princess Pingyang has already confessed…”

Yun Poxing’s throat tightened. For a long moment he couldn’t speak, only staring blankly at the Xiliang Empress. He acknowledged that the new policies had some problems… but which nation’s governance wasn’t corrected through mistakes? The new policies did harm the interests of the eight great families, but without breaking, there could be no rebuilding. Now Xiliang was already in extreme danger. If they didn’t make bold reforms to strengthen the nation, they would either be swallowed by Great Zhou, or by Great Yan, or even by the Rong and Di tribes!

If the nation no longer existed, how could the eight great families that depended on Xiliang continue to survive? Were they trying to walk the path to death?

The principle that “when the skin is gone, where can the hair attach” – why didn’t the eight great families understand this!

Sacrificing small family interests now in exchange for Xiliang’s future strength – would they still worry about the eight great families having no benefits to gain?

The Xiliang Empress lowered her eyes. Though she tried hard to restrain herself, she still revealed her sadness: “She is… the blood sister I trust most. If she opposed my new policies because she truly felt they were harmful to Xiliang, if she had ideas to strengthen Xiliang and wanted to pull me down from the throne to sit there herself, I… would be happy. But now she…”

The Xiliang Empress closed her eyes: “For the sake of avenging a eunuch, she would actually drag all of Xiliang into it. If she sat in this position… it would be to wage war against Great Zhou! This would mean national destruction! Even if… she wanted to avenge father against the Bai family of Great Zhou, I…” she wouldn’t be this heartbroken.

Yun Poxing knew about this matter. After Li Tianfu returned, she had knelt before the Xiliang Empress for a day and night, begging the Xiliang Empress to send troops to attack Jin, saying that Jin was bullying them too much.

But Li Zhijie had told Yun Poxing that Li Tianfu had gone mad… For the sake of a eunuch, she was reckless, wanting to wage war against Jin. She had even tried to assassinate Bai Qingyan at the wedding banquet with the Jin Crown Prince, which was why Li Zhijie had brought her back.

But Yun Poxing hadn’t expected Li Tianfu would be mad to this extent – actually wanting to pull down her sister who loved her so much, just so that all of Xiliang would wage war against Great Zhou.

However, waging war against Great Zhou at this time would be no different from throwing eggs against rocks.

Yun Poxing understood this principle, and the eight great families of Xiliang, with their abundance of capable people… must also understand this principle. They were probably trying to install a puppet ruler, and Princess Pingyang had simply been deceived.

After a long moment, the Xiliang Empress spoke: “We can’t hesitate any longer. If we continue to delay, it will surely cause great chaos in Xiliang. By then… we won’t need to wait for the Rong and Di tribes, Great Zhou, or Great Yan to attack – Xiliang’s internal strife will cause it to collapse and disintegrate!”

The Xiliang Empress had made up her mind, her heart filled with ruthless determination: “Even if… it leaves me with an evil name in history, the people of the eight great families cannot be allowed to remain!”

“Your Majesty!” Yun Poxing understood what the Xiliang Empress wanted to do and was so shocked he straightened his aching back. “The eight great families’ power has deep, intertwined roots. This isn’t something that can be solved by killing some people!”

“The eight great families exploited the loophole in the new policies that supported merchants, encouraging the people to put all their energy into jade brocade, furs, and papermaking. Xiliang’s already scarce good farmland has no one to cultivate it. The eight great families attempt to profit from grain while throwing Xiliang into chaos. If we wait any longer… the people will be drinking the northwest wind!” The Xiliang Empress spoke with composure, revealing a ruthless determination for decisive action. “Strong medicine for chronic illness – whether General Yun agrees or disagrees with today’s matter, I… must do it!”

“Your Majesty!” Yun Poxing couldn’t help but feel panicked. “This might throw Yun Capital into great chaos!”

“Since the eight great families want to support a puppet emperor, why… can’t I support my puppets among the eight great families? Kill those disobedient ones and keep those obedient ones… those who submit! What’s wrong with that!”