“Remember, when one’s aim is to achieve greatness… everyone is expendable”

* Wu Zetian

At the Southwestern part of the Imperial capital lays the Western Palace, where the court was held every day from before dawn to dusk, managing the affairs of the state.

The floor, made of marble, reflect the dragon carving on the ceiling, while it’s columns are painted gold, it gives off an awe-inspiring power, that seems to suppress even the boldest of men.

The emperor himself, sitting on his imperial throne, seems to be bored at the court discussion before him, instead of focusing his attention on fondling his concubine using one hand, while holding a jade sculpture on another.

When abruptly, the sound of metal clashing together could be heard.

A man dressed in full armour appeared, his face seems to be filled with the scars of time, yet the handsomeness of his earlier years could still be seen. Appearing before the count, then trodding before the emperor, he pauses for a moment, before suddenly kowtowing.

The emperor himself appears to barely notice the men, after a movement, he waves his sleeves, indicating the man can continue.

“This servant has failed the emperor,” despite the man suppressing his voice, the authority of a general within it could still be heard.

The emperor gave a sound of acknowledgement, still appearing to have no interest in the person.

The man continued,” it’s regarding the elixir to immortality.”

The emperor’s face now appeared a little serious.

“To report to the emperor, my daughter has fled, two of my door guards had last seen her.” naturally, this man was Xu Jin, Xu Xiaomengs’ father.

The emperor stood up from his throne, while the concubine remained where she is.

Abruptly, the jade within the emperor’s hand was thrown towards the Xu Jin, yet he did not dare evade it, resulting in it hitting him directly on his head.

“You mean you lost Xu Xiaomeng, my elixir of immortality?” the emperor harshly said.

“This servant, in a drunken stupor, had spoken aloud the emperor's arrangement, resulting in her escape,” Xu Jin said, kowtowing even deeper.

“Drag general Xu out and chop off his head!” the emperor’s face was now red with anger, his concubine too afraid to approach him.

“Emperor please reconsider,” the court unilaterally plead,” general Xu had contributed greatly to the emperor, to kill him is to do a great disservice to the country.”

Yet the emperor seems to be convinced in his decision, with his silence rejecting the court’s begging.

The concubine which he had been playing with then approached the raging man, whispering in his ears in a delicate and shy voice,” my emperor, though Xu Jin has done a great disservice to the empire, his is still a man with value, I propose we send him to recapture Xu Xiaomeng, then afterwards suspending his salary for six years and revoking his noble title.”

The emperor, who had not listened to the advice of the court, appears value the suggestion of this concubine much more, returning to his seat, he swung his sleeves, before speaking once again,” Xu Jin has lost my elixir of immortality, that is unpardonable, but considering your previous service towards the empire, you shall be pardoned death,” he took in a breath before continuing,”Xu Jin shall have his salary suspended for six years, his title revoked, and will be given the task of recapturing Xu Xiaomeng, furthermore, he will not be allowed alcohol for six months.”

After the emperor had given out his edict, a eunuch dismissed the court.

Yet as the court was walking out the front gate, Xu Tianjian, along with an envoy appeared before the court.

“Reporting to the emperor, the peasants of Bingjiang had revolted, they had killed the governor, nobles, bureaucrats, and merchants within the city, and replaced it with their own.”

The emperor laughed, before roaring as he approached Xu Tianjian,” impossible, completely impossible, Bingjiang has eight thousand guards and a city wall ten meters tall, to be overthrown by a group of starving peasants is completely impossible.”

The concubine once more appeared before the emperor,” it is possible my emperor, Bingjiang’s city walls had been in decay for years, furthermore, it is well known that the governor of Bingjiang is corrupt, the soldiers may have not received their pay for months, resulting in many of them deserting, while the rest have low morale.”

The emperor, a little calmer, then turned to his concubine, then asking,” then how did the merchants and nobles within the city allowed it to be taken, did they not displace any form of resistance?”

This time, Xu Tianjian spoke with a bit of a stutterer,” my emperor, the merchants had been avoiding the city ever since the famine, while the nobles had thrown out all the unnecessary servants and soldiers, preferring not to feed an extra mouth, due to this, they had gained much hatred among the populous.”

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It seems like the emperors’ anger once again exploded,” This emperor was not talking to you, remain silent, even if the city has fallen into ruins, how did a group of peasants without weapons take it.”

The court remained silent as if too afraid to answer, yet the concubine showed no fear, looking at the emperor in the eye, she explained,” emperor, I have heard a rumour that the peasants saw a silver haired girl, describing her possessing the beauty of a fairy, which had greatly boosted their morale, moreover, there appeared to be a young scholar which had been handing out food, yet he had suddenly disappeared once they had arrived at the city, those peasants had already been fed, to be suddenly taken away from their days of full stomach would rouse great anger, those men could have well been the vanguard during the attacks.”

Hearing the soothing voice of his favourite concubine seemed to calm down the emperor once again before his face suddenly turned black from his anger.

“Xu Jin, isn’t the silver haired girl your daughter?” he questioned, this time, he was no longer yelling, instead, he spoke it in an authoritative voice.

Xu Jin could kowtow no lower replying,” it may be, emperor, this servant deserve death.”

Yet the emperor seems to be no longer angry, instead, giving out a command,” Xu Jin, your military prowess is known through the heavens, take forty thousand troops, reconquer the Bingjiang, and bring Xu Xiaomeng before me.”

“Xu Jin obeys.”

Finally, the court was truly dismissed, as Xu Jin and his son walked out, Xu Tianjian suddenly asked his father.

“Father, I have heard from the common masses the emperor was a wise one, yet he appears to be irrational.

Xu Jins Face grew dark, slapping his son, he scolded,” your words will get you killed,” before leaning to his sons ear, whispering,” the emperor had sent half his life campaigning against the Northern barbarians, yet once he established peace at the border, he became obsessed with immortality, consuming countless substances, including mercury.”

The content Xu Jin had told Xu Tianjian is an open secret, known to almost all nobles and bureaucrats that had been familiar with the emperor in his prime, yet if the emperor heard it, the person would be executed on the spot.

Walking out of the Western Palace, and onto the Xu family carriage, the father and son pair continued.

“Father, I do not understand, how is that concubine able to hold that much power over the emperor?” Xu Tianjian asked.

Xu Jin looked at his third son’s face, which still retained some of its baby fat, making Xu Tianjian appearing innocent despite his valiant features that he had inherited from his father.

Xu Jin checked the carriage, ensuring no one can hear him, before leaning closer to his son.

“From rumours I had heard that concubine is surnamed Hu, coming from the extreme South of the empire, despite her barbaric background, she had impressed the emperor with her elegant dance as well as her poetry that had stunned the court. Perhaps the only reason she had not yet become empress is due to her commoner background.”

Xu Tianjian was quite stunned, looking at his father who had returned to his seat as if nothing had happened, he did not ask any more questions.

At the Eastern Palace, used to house the emperor and his family, is a small lake, surrounded by artificial mountains, creating secluded from the rest of the palace, making it an ideal place for privacy.

The emperor and concubine Hu, sitting on a porcelain bench appears to be rather intimate, yet the contents are most certainly not.

“Why did you stop me when I had planned to execute Xu Jin?" he asked, before continuing," despite his history of serving in the frontier, to disobey my arrangement is proof that he is disloyal."

Concubine Hu showed a shy smile, before whispering into the emperor’s ears,” we shall see his loyalty from this campaign, even if he was disloyal, emperor always has his sons under your wise hands.”

The emperor chuckled, before violently coughing, bring his handkerchief to his mouth, splashes of his blood formed flowers.

Concubine Hu panicked, tending the sickly emperor, before calling a eunuch to sent the emperor back into his chambers, reminding the eunuch to give the emperor medicine, she went back to her private palace.

It had originally been the palace of the empresses, yet the emperor had granted it to Concubine Hu while placing the empresses into the palaces usually reserved for concubines.

The palace the empresses had been exiled to was desolate. In the earlier reign of the emperor, there had been hundreds of concubines, yet all of them had been deposed of after Concubine Hu had entered the palace, through a series of assassination, blackmailing and suppression, leaving Concubine Hu as essentially the sole woman of the emperor.

Within her room was a maidservant, carefully avoiding looking at Concubine Hu in the eye, she tendered her master perfectly.

“Xiao Xi was it,” Concubine Hu’s delicate and shy voice could not be heard anywhere, instead, it sounded distant.

The maid servant's body shook, thinking to herself, Xiao Xi was Concubine Hu’s maidservant two months ago, whose fate is now unknown, yet the maidservant was too afraid to speak up, replying.

“Yes my lady, this servant is indeed Xiao Xi,” the girl’s voice quivered like that of a mosquito.

Yet it seems as if Concubine Hu had already forgotten she had asked the question.

Picking up a brush, Concubine Hu began to write a letter, it’s message was direct and ruthless.

“Increase the amount of mercury to the emperors’ pills,” it reads.

The words, not only imply Concubine Hu was aware of the harmful effects of mercury but it also that she was the one responsible for the emperor’s gradual degradation of his mind.

After carefully sealing it, she handed it to ‘Xiao Xi’, instructing her to deliver it to the imperial physicians’ hands.

‘Xiao Xi’ obeyed, carefully avoiding looking at the letter, walked towards the residence of the imperial physician, leaving it in his hands, she fled back to Concubine Hu’s residence, yet before she entered, a cold object touched her neck, cleanly severing it, yet not a single drop spilling onto the ground.

The body was then quickly carried away as if it was never there, to begin with.

This whole process was efficient, as if repeated hundreds of times, while the assailants’ figure could not be seen.

Concubine Hu seems long numb to this process, only sighing a little.

“It’s such a shame, her face was quite agreeable,” Concubine Hu lamented, before writing another letter.

After a week, Xu Jin had returned to Xuchang, while Xu Tianjian had remained within the capital.

As soon as he entered the city walls of Xuchang, he did not go to Xu manor, instead directly heading to the barracks, gathering the forty thousand that will be striking Bingjiang.

After ensuring he was well supplied, the horses were fed, the soldiers well equipped and the siege equipment were functioning properly, he proceeded to march his army towards Bingjiang, with his current arrangement, he can campaign for six years.

Li Ming, during this whole, had not been idle, she naturally knew they were going to send forces to reconquer the city.

After a months Bingjiang city appear to be doing far better than it originally had when she had overthrown its governor, numerous children are becoming literate, the production of rifles is booming producing more than twenty thousand rifles, and the crops seem to be growing well, ready to be harvested in half a year.

Her army, recruiting both man and woman to increase her reserve of manpower, had been completely equipped with flintlock rifles. Trained in line formation, they still wear their peasant clothes, as proper uniforms are too difficult to produce at the current moment.

Unfortunately, she had only four weeks to train these soldiers, resulting in them coming out less desirable, due to their lack of training, they could only fire at most two rounds per minute, while the lack of calvary means that she has to maintain the use of square formation to prevent outflanking, which greatly reduces the maneuverability of the army.

Ultimately, she had managed to raise an army the size of four thousand, partially due to the recent famine, which had reduced the population of Bingjiang, as well as it’s historically only being a city of fifty thousand, to raise an army this size was already impressive.

Yet this was certainly not enough to hold against Xu Jin’s army, even with the use of hot weapons.

Li Ming, upon the news of an army of forty thousand, did not at first respond, instead, she had a meal of only bread, as well as some vegetables, then walking towards the governors’ study, where she burnt all the papers within the room, before finally going in front of the army four thousand men strong.

“We are leaving the city,” Li Ming said in a solemn voice, while she could hear a slight gasp in the back of her head, she ignored it.

“Gather the bare minimum of your belongings, we cannot defeat the enemy, it is best to avoid direct confrontation, and to keep as many soldiers as we can.”