"Willing to listen... to the teachings of Princess of Zhen!" Wang ng once again clasped his hands toward Bai Qingyan.
Bai Qingyan’s serene and profound gaze settled on Wang ng: "I rushed back with the army, and my soldiers have witnessed nurous officials forcibly taking children. Their hatred for the Lin Dynasty, which treats its people like livestock, has grown to the bone. The Pingyang Army, coming all the way here, must have seen a lot as well. General Wang ng, don’t your soldiers feel disheartened by the Lin Dynasty? The soldiers I lead fight for the people, while the soldiers of the Pingyang Army under your command have already wavered in their loyalty to the Lin Dynasty! The outco... has long been decided!"
Wang ng’s eyes widened. He thought... the Princess of Zhen intended to support the Crown Prince’s ascension, but her words... did they imply rebellion?
"The words of the Princess of Zhen..." Wang ng stopped mid-sentence. Was there anything wrong with what she said?
On their way to Dadu City, the Pingyang Army saw nothing short of hell on earth. Children aged five to ten were in high demand amongst the traffickers. Families losing children were countless, and officials even ordered the governnt officials to forcibly take children from the common people.
Did Wang ng not feel heartbroken seeing these sights?
"General Wang ng, will you surrender or fight to the death in service to the country? The choice is yours..."
After Bai Qingyan finished speaking to Wang ng, she turned to Du Sanbao: "Leave it to you!"
"Rest assured, Princess of Zhen! I will take good care of General Wang ng!" Du Sanbao clasped his fists, his wolf-like gaze fixed on Wang ng, who was filled with disbelief.
Bai Qingyan leapt onto her horse, caught the silver spear with a red tassel thrown by Ji Tingyu, full of spirited vigor, and called out loudly: "Leave a small squad with General Du Sanbao to clean up the battlefield. The rest, follow to storm the Imperial Palace. The first to break through the gates... will be rewarded with a hundred gold pieces!"
The soldiers’ emotions were high as they charged toward the Imperial Palace with Bai Qingyan.
Du Sanbao, hearing Bai Qingyan call him general, grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, his heart filled with imnse excitent.
·
At that mont, King Liang, holding the "deceased" Emperor and Crown Prince along with the Eldest Princess as captives, was in a jostling carriage heading south, leaving the sounds of slaughter in Dadu City far behind.
The Emperor was tightly bound, with a cloth stuffed in his mouth, sitting in the jostling carriage, his face dark and unsightly.
The Crown Prince had already fainted, tears still clinging to the corners of his eyes, blood at the corner of his mouth.
King Liang bit his molars, pressing a cloth to the flesh on his thumb torn off by the Crown Prince’s bite.
Before leaving Dadu City, King Liang had ordered the Crown Princess Consort and the little imperial grandson to be killed. The Crown Prince was terrified upon hearing this. Seeing that pleading was useless, he attempted to fight King Liang to the death. If not for Fan Yuhuai knocking him unconscious in ti, King Liang’s hand would have been crippled.
The elderly Eldest Princess sat upright in the carriage, hands folded on her lap. She knew that King Liang was forcing her to leave the city with him to use her as leverage against her granddaughters.
Originally, when Bai Jinxiu breached Dadu City, King Liang did not have ti to take the Eldest Princess into the palace because the Duke of Zhen’s household guards were very fierce. At that ti, King Liang did not have ti to forcibly take the Eldest Princess into the palace.
But today, the Eldest Princess walked out of the heavily guarded Duke of Zhen’s mansion and boarded King Liang’s carriage because she still wanted to save the Crown Prince.
King Liang sent word that if the Eldest Princess did not board the carriage, he would kill the Crown Prince and the "deceased" Emperor.
The Emperor... the Eldest Princess no longer cared about him.
The Eldest Princess also knew that King Liang’s life was still tied to the Crown Prince’s, and he would not kill the Crown Prince so easily.
The Eldest Princess did not know how to face her granddaughter Bai Qingyan, who intended to rebel against the Lin dynasty.
So she chose to leave Bai Jinse and Nanny Jiang behind and boarded King Liang’s carriage alone.
She still wanted to make one last struggle for the Lin family’s imperial power. She hoped that no matter where they went, she could protect the Crown Prince for a while longer, hoping that Bai Qingyan could help the Crown Prince ascend the throne or even... help the little imperial grandson ascend the throne, becoming a powerful minister controlling the court instead of a treasonous villain.
Otherwise, after a hundred years when she had failed to protect her Bai family’s children and grandchildren, and also failed to protect the Lin family dynasty, she would have no face to see her husband Bai Weiting and would be ashad to et her own father.
She was greedy, initially hoping for a win-win situation, but it wasn’t possible.
Now, since she couldn’t protect her children and grandchildren, she wanted to do her best for the Lin family dynasty.
When leaving, Bai Jinse and Nanny Jiang insisted on coming along, but the Eldest Princess didn’t bring anyone...
She was ready to sacrifice her life for the Lin family’s imperial power because she was the Eldest Princess of the Jin Kingdom. However, her young and naive granddaughter Bai Jinse should not follow her to beco a pawn for King Liang to threaten Kid.
She also understood that she could do her utmost for the Lin family’s imperial power because she was the wife of the Bai family... the grandmother of Bai Qingyan, the Princess of Zhen.
The Eldest Princess knew her body was failing by the day. If she could die before Kid overthrew the Lin dynasty, it would be natural. If not...she would support Kid’s ascension to the highest position as a woman. In terms of character...governing talent, and decisive judgnt, Kid was not lacking!
However, if Kid took the throne, she might not be a good emperor.
Kid, inheriting the integrity and spirit of the Bai family’s ancestors, was an upright and great person with a huge heart and ambitious ideals. But the more flawless a person is, the less suitable they are to be an emperor.
Once, Kid asked her if those loyal and righteous people could not survive in this world and if those with a kind heart, righteousness, and bottom line were destined not to die well.
At that ti, she couldn’t answer Kid because the kindness, righteousness, and bottom line Kid ntioned were fundantal for being a good person, a gentleman, and a subject. But to beco a king, an emperor, or even a great ruler... how could one retain kindness, righteousness, and a bottom line?
To achieve great things and beco a king, one must be able to hide a lot of impurity and filth in their heart and use any ans necessary.
Like the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, Yan Hui, and Zengzi, such noble and exemplary n could not bear impurity and rot in their hearts. But the Eldest Princess, born in the imperial family and having grown up beside her father, knew that the imperial heart was incomparable to gentlen and sages, could contain great righteousness and love for the world, yet also embrace impurity and filth.
The "Zuo Zhuan" has a saying: "The mountains have defects, thus they are great. The rivers have silt, thus they are deep. The fine jade contains flaws, thus it is precious."
However, the Bai family is too upright, too sentintal and righteous. If faced with a choice between abandoning righteousness and gaining benefits, such as abandoning her as a grandmother to achieve greatness, Kid might not do it. But as an emperor, she would have to do it!
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