A white-feathered sparrow flew over the courtyard wall and fluttered down into Tongque’s raised hand beneath the eaves.

After Tongque removed the message tied to the white-feathered sparrow’s leg and unfolded the slender strip of paper to read it, her brows furrowed.

The Azure Cloud Guard holding A’Li asked: “The Xiao army is attacking the city. Should we immediately deploy personnel to meet the Princess and escort her out of the palace?”

A’Li made two “ah ah” sounds in the Azure Cloud Guard’s arms, her chubby paws still firmly gripping Wen Yu’s sachet, a single undried teardrop hanging from her long lashes.

Not having seen Wen Yu these past two days, every time she woke she would cry for a while in a little tantrum. In the past she had been most accommodating—anyone who coaxed her would be rewarded with a smile revealing four short, shallow glutinous rice teeth. Now it was already good if she didn’t cry no matter who held her.

Tongque shook her head, saying: “The Princess told us to act according to the original plan.”

The Azure Cloud Guard said: “With the Xiao army attacking the city at this time, can the royal capital’s Forbidden Army hold until border reinforcements arrive? Even if General Gu receives word on the road and rushes over, it will probably still take some time.”

After the Battle of Luodu ended, Xiao Li and Fan Yuan continued deep into the western frontier pursuing Pei Song. Because Chen Kingdom’s war with Xiling gradually intensified, Wen Yu subsequently ordered some troops transferred from Liang territory to aid Chen.

However, from Luodu to Pingzhou was still a distant journey. If not light cavalry units, the army march would take nearly a month. From Pingzhou leaving the pass to Chen Kingdom was another journey of nearly a month.

Moreover, because last year Wen Yu used swift and decisive methods to force the major aristocratic families to disgorge their embezzled autumn grain, the court aristocratic families’ private dissatisfaction with her had grown even greater.

She could use fairness to resolve the conflict between Chen Kingdom and the Qieji tribe, but power and profit had always been things extremely easy to bewitch people’s hearts.

Aside from pillars like Qi Simai who truly worked for the people and would firmly stand on the same boat with Wen Yu for the common people’s benefit, the other officials—the ambitious schemed for profit, the slick followed the wind, the timid protected themselves wisely.

To truly forge the Chen Kingdom court hall into an iron cake, she still needed to pull up several more trees with rotten roots.

During the year she was pregnant, she had planted sufficient personnel in the court. Once those people had thoroughly mapped out the rotten root networks beneath the positions vacated after toppling the Jiang faction and Liu faction, that would be when she acted.

But those aristocratic clans weren’t the type to wait passively for death either. After vaguely perceiving Wen Yu’s purpose, they were also finding ways to save themselves.

Wen Yu didn’t continue pressing step by step precisely to prevent those aristocratic families from becoming cornered dogs that jump over walls.

When their fundamental interests hadn’t been touched, they were still willing to maneuver. But if they realized clearly that Wen Yu was determined to uproot them entirely, they would stake their lives to fight out another way to survive.

The royal capital’s Forbidden Army and Imperial Guards both had countless intricate connections with the various major aristocratic clans.

Therefore, using the excuse that the Chen army from Liang territory was still in Luodu and transferring them back to Chen Kingdom would require considerable time, Wen Yu transferred troops from the Liang army stationed in Pingzhou.

The purpose was to station her own troops in the royal capital.

Unfortunately, human plans couldn’t compare to Heaven’s plans. Xiao Li had first besieged the royal capital, demanding Wen Yu as if seeking revenge. The ambitious Yan family and the major aristocratic clans that were already restless seized the opportunity to usurp power and place Wen Yu under house arrest.

A’Li didn’t know if she was being held uncomfortably or what, but she pursed her lips, and whimpering sounds of imminent crying emerged from her throat again.

The Azure Cloud Guard hastily patted her back to soothe her. Out of heartache, she couldn’t help but feel some anger toward the instigator of this entire situation: “Commander Zhaobai was right—that Xiao fellow really is an ungrateful wolf. When he was in difficulty in the Wei camp and was slandered by the Pei camp, it was the Princess who helped him time and again. Yet he’s fine—only remembering that bit of old grievance!”

The Azure Cloud Guards below didn’t know the relationship between Wen Yu and Xiao Li. When Zhaobai was around, she habitually showed no good face when mentioning Xiao Li. Therefore the Azure Cloud Guards below also felt that Xiao Li only remembered grudges and not kindness, truly letting down Wen Yu’s efforts to recruit him. They quite felt indignant on Wen Yu’s behalf.

Now with such an incident occurring, their resentment toward him would only grow heavier.

Tongque couldn’t say much. She took A’Li and coaxed her for a while, saying: “The Princess intends to use this to thoroughly purge the court hall once, and also take the opportunity to win over the neutral faction officials. After all, fortune and misfortune are interdependent.”

On the day Xiao Li besieged the city, after she went to Zhaohua Palace to report to Wen Yu about the movements at the city gates, she also told Wen Yu together about the news the Azure Cloud Guards had secretly discovered regarding the Yan family and several major aristocratic families privately meeting with the Forbidden Army.

Wen Yu had explained everything to her at that time.

If the Forbidden Army also turned traitor, she should immediately take A’Li out of the palace and hide her in properties the Azure Cloud Guards had secretly purchased outside the palace for message relay. After being able to leave the city, she would take A’Li to find Gu Xiyun.

Though the Azure Cloud Guards and Imperial Guards could fight, the Forbidden Army was the royal capital’s garrison army. With over a hundred Azure Cloud Guards against over ten thousand Forbidden Army troops, that would be one-sided slaughter.

“If he hadn’t besieged the royal capital hostile to the Princess, how could the Forbidden Army have been so easily turned by the Yan family? When General Gu arrives at the royal capital with the great army, the Princess clearly has plenty of methods to slowly rectify the court hall.”

Though understanding Wen Yu’s intention to remain in the palace now, that Azure Cloud Guard was still indignant. She anxiously paced back and forth under the eaves: “No, I’m still worried about the Princess. Why don’t we first abduct the Princess out?”

Tongque, holding A’Li, said: “When the Princess chose that day to remain in the palace as a hostage, it was to protect Minister Qi and the others and the female officials from Zhaoyun Pavilion. If the Princess weren’t in the palace, given the Yan father and son’s ruthless cruelty, even if they didn’t make an example of Miss Baolin and the others, could the embroiderers, cooks, and craftsmen who originally followed the Princess to Chen territory escape this calamity?”

Tongque looked at that Azure Cloud Guard earnestly: “The Princess doesn’t want us to die, and also doesn’t want the subjects who followed her to Chen territory or the Chen Kingdom officials who now serve her loyally to die in such pointless power struggles.”

That Azure Cloud Guard’s eyes reddened somewhat awkwardly: “I’m worried about the Princess.”

Tongque said: “Don’t worry. The Yan family wants to elevate their Yan family son as royal heir, but that child isn’t the Princess’s bloodline. They don’t dare harm the Princess.”

After meeting the Empress Dowager last time, Wen Yu had been having them closely watch Lingxi Palace. Wen Yu had known early on about Miss Jiang San carrying on an affair with Yan Zhen and bearing a son.

Wen Yu had also roughly guessed the reason the Empress Dowager suggested she claim publicly to have given birth to a male infant.

Fortunately the Empress Dowager was sensible. After Wen Yu refused, she subsequently didn’t mention it again, only attempting to apply pressure secretly to have Yan Zhen take his niece to the Yan residence.

Wen Yu only had her continue watching.

Yan Zhen had never been willing to bring Miss Jiang San out of the palace. Tongque had privately scorned him several times, thinking this fellow feared his father and the first wife in his household. She never expected the other party was actually waiting for the opportunity to execute this wishful scheme.

But as long as Great Liang still existed, even if they were forced to hand Wen Yu over to Xiao Li, they wouldn’t dare privately harm Wen Yu.

That Azure Cloud Guard said: “The royal capital’s Forbidden Army hasn’t experienced battlefields. They probably can’t match the Wolf Riders under that Xiao fellow’s command. If the Princess truly falls into his hands…”

Tongque said with certainty: “He also won’t harm the Princess.”

—

Those Chen Kingdom dispatched to the frontlines were all soldiers conscripted from among the common people. The Forbidden Army guarding the royal capital, even if not children of meritorious nobles, were people from families with connections among the common folk who found ways through relationships to squeeze them in.

After all, both ate imperial grain, but the Forbidden Army’s military pay was much higher than those frontline soldiers fighting desperately for their lives. They neither had to eat sand in the wind nor stake their lives to strive for advancement. If foreign enemies killed their way to the royal capital’s doorstep, that meant Chen Kingdom had been beaten into nonexistence—there was also no need for them to defend to the death.

How many years would it take for succession struggles or palace coups to occur once?

Therefore the Forbidden Army in ordinary times only caught petty criminals, raided residences, and the like. After enduring long enough, they would be promoted upward.

Those from good backgrounds with clan protection were already minor leaders from the day they became Forbidden Army.

Those from lesser backgrounds who were clever and caught noble attention, getting their names remembered—their future path would be smooth from then on.

The military officers in the court who had been tempered on battlefields mostly looked down on the conduct of the Forbidden Army and Imperial Guards. But unfortunately, after they licked blood on blade edges on the battlefield and came back around, they still didn’t advance as quickly as those who had clan members or gained noble appreciation.

Thus those with real ability and pride who disdained the ways of the royal capital’s nobility naturally formed their own faction guarding the frontiers.

Those middle-tier officers who had suffered enough hardships fighting desperately on battlefields but were constantly held back with no hope of advancing upward still needed to bow low and curry favor with the powerful.

When Jiang Yu originally gained the title of Ever-Victorious General, it was partly due to his own ability, but also partly because the Jiang family escorted and promoted him.

The Empress Dowager and Prime Minister Jiang had always hoped he would remain in the royal capital commanding the Imperial Guards and Forbidden Army. Thus he could become the Jiang family’s final lock.

Anyone who wanted to move against the Jiang family, even with ironclad evidence, would still need to fight it out at blade-point.

Precisely because of this, many old-school military officers in the court couldn’t quite look favorably upon Jiang Yu.

Jiang Yu was proud by nature and had always wanted to prove that all his achievements weren’t accomplished by relying on the Jiang family’s support. That’s why he was so insistent on going to the frontlines.

After Jiang Yu’s death, among the generals in the royal capital’s Forbidden Army, there were almost none who, in order to prove themselves, stubbornly insisted on going to the borders.

When Xiao Li’s Wolf Riders deployed their formation outside the royal capital that day and intimidated the Forbidden Army generals defending the city with a single crossbow bolt, these reasons were also involved.

The royal capital’s officials saw the gains and losses of conquering cities and territories on battlefields and the number of soldier casualties from those memorials and urgent reports. Those numbers were sharp weapons for factional attacks. Censors could speak with righteous indignation, yet might not have witnessed those scenes of corpse mountains and blood seas.

Aristocratic family ministers habitually used their deeply entangled clan power to suppress those martial men below who relied on blade and sword to fight their way up. At banquets they inevitably made people topics of elegant mockery. How could they have seen the circumstances of generals truly fighting desperately on battlefields?

When Xiao Li’s Wolf Riders attacked the city with the momentum they used fighting barbarians in the northern frontier, the Forbidden Army that had always been soaking in the royal capital’s wealth and privilege was frightened from top to bottom.

The royal capital’s city gates being breached was no different from crushing a wall built of tofu.

After Xiao Li issued a military order forbidding harm to civilians within the city, the great army drove straight in through the broken gates, heading directly toward the royal palace.

When Duke Yan received the battle report of the city gates’ fall in the Council Hall, he was so shocked he completely disbelieved it, shouting sternly: “Complete nonsense! The royal capital’s Forbidden Army numbers over ten thousand. How could they not hold even half a day!”

The aristocratic family ministers conspiring with the Yan family all showed grave expressions.

The messenger who rushed back knelt in the center of the great hall, blood still on his face, his expression full of panic: “What this humble one says is entirely true!”

Before Duke Yan could unleash another round of temper, outside the palace more Imperial Guards came rushing urgently: “Report—the Xiao army—the Xiao army has attacked into the palace city!”

Duke Yan’s form staggered and he truly fainted directly in the great hall.

“Father! Father!” Yan Zhen hurriedly supported Duke Yan, but the expression on his entire face was also as if rudely awakened from a dream, full of shock and disbelief.

Their original plan was to have the Forbidden Army hold for a day and a half until border reinforcements arrived.

How could they not hold even half a day?

The great hall had already become a complete mess. The aristocratic family ministers were all blaming each other, arguing endlessly.

The Chen King sitting above had a face full of gloom. Listening to the ministers below arguing louder and louder, he directly stood up and overturned the King’s table before him. The royal robes hung loosely on his body. He pointed at the Yan father and son, then pointed at the aristocratic family ministers accusing each other in ugly displays, shouting violently: “Useless! All useless!”

“Ten thousand Forbidden Army couldn’t hold the royal capital for half a day! What use does this King have for you!”

In his anger he also kicked the intricately carved, heavily crafted throne, but the chair was too heavy and didn’t budge.

“The Liang woman! The only option now is to quickly bind the Liang woman and present her to that jackal surnamed Xiao!” An aristocratic family minister immediately shouted.

“Right, right, right! I’ve heard that jackal surnamed Xiao casually flays people and massacres cities. We absolutely cannot let him transfer his grudge against the Liang woman onto our Chen Kingdom!”

The aristocratic family ministers all spoke somewhat tremulously.

—

Though Wen Yu knew that once Xiao Li began attacking the city, the royal capital couldn’t hold for long, when Yan Zhen brought Imperial Guards looking utterly defeated to Zhaohua Palace again to bind her, she was still quite surprised.

This speed of breaking through the city was truly something even she hadn’t anticipated.

When her arms were bound behind her back and she passed by Yan Zhen’s side, Wen Yu slightly raised the corners of her lips with light mockery: “Not even a day has passed, yet Vice Commander Yan’s facial expression is truly splendid.”

Yan Zhen naturally felt humiliated. For the first time exceptionally boldly looking at Wen Yu’s face—so beautiful it could easily capture people’s souls—he suddenly said with undisguised malice: “This subordinate believes the Princess should also worry about her own upcoming circumstances. When the Princess was in my Yan family’s hands, my Yan family would still treat the Princess well. But when the Princess falls into Xiao Li’s hands, he probably won’t treat the Princess very mercifully.”

Wen Yu withdrew her gaze, only saying: “No need for Vice Commander Yan to trouble himself with concern.”

After Wen Yu passed by, Yan Zhen breathed in that barely perceptible faint fragrance remaining in the air, clenched his jaw tightly, and suddenly kicked over an incense burner placed beside a pillar.

—

The sky was overcast and a light drizzle had begun falling again.

The ministers of the Chen King’s palace all stood slightly hunched with lowered heads in this misty drizzle. The palace servants below had already prostrated themselves on both sides of the rain-dampened open ground and palace paths.

Wen Yu stood bound at the very front. To her side and rear stood the Chen King and Yan Zhen, one left and one right.

On the floor tiles at the palace gate ahead, one could still faintly see bloodstains spreading in the rain, left from the earlier fierce battle.

Not knowing whether it was the Wolf Riders’ or the Imperial Guards defending the palace gates’.

Cold wind chilling to the bone, amid the clip-clop of horse hooves, outside the palace gates iron cavalry banners covered the sky, black armor like rock.

The one in the lead drove his horse through the gate tower, holding a long halberd at an angle, his black cloak trailing long across the horse’s back. His features were coldly fierce and profound, his lines as if carved by blade. The violent energy wrapped in his sharp brows and eyes made people dare not look directly at him.

From the moment he appeared on horseback at the gate tower, all the Chen Kingdom ministers present felt that when breathing, the air throughout their entire chest cavities became thin. Inexplicably they began unable to catch their breath.