Chapter 1

Chapter 1

[The Emperors Are Furious]

1. The Emperors Reunite in the Underworld

In the seventeenth year of Huangtong in Great Zhou, the sovereign passed away.

A man in the Son of Heaven’s informal robes lay on the couch, already breathless. The fierce eyes that had once overawed all quarters were shut; never again would they look upon the realm he had conquered with his own hands.

Several senior ministers and imperial princes stood solemnly to either side. Beyond a curtain, the palace consorts knelt in an adjoining room, their muffled sobs drifting out. Outside the hall, palace attendants and eunuchs covered the ground in a dark mass, all wailing aloud.

The Crown Prince, Li Derun, stood to one side, his face bloodless. Attendants stepped forward to dress him in the Son of Heaven’s ceremonial crown and court robes, while other eunuchs presented the Six Imperial Seals.

His voice choked with grief, the Minister of the Imperial Clan came forward and implored, “The Late Emperor has passed. Your Majesty must proceed to Chongzheng Hall and ascend the throne at once, that your title and station may be set in order!”

The Crown Prince gave an almost imperceptible nod, his expression stricken. He turned and kowtowed three times to the Late Emperor upon the couch. When the rites were complete, he rose with grave composure and departed for Chongzheng Hall.

The Son of Heaven possessed all within the four seas, but the heights were bitterly lonely. His Imperial Mother had died three years ago; now that his Imperial Father was gone as well, he was truly alone in the world.

In the pale light before dawn, tears rolled from his eyes and struck the floor without a sound.

The Late Emperor was dead, but his spirit remained. Standing beside the bed, he watched his eldest son leave with reluctant eyes and called after him in anguish: “Construction has already begun on the imperial road from Jianzhou to Quanzhou. You must never let My death halt it. There are many old ministers at court, and redundant offices have begun to multiply. Be patient and deal with them gradually-do not take too large a step at once. Since I fell ill, the Northern Rong have repeatedly stirred. Once news of My death spreads, they will certainly make a move. You must guard against both arrogance and impatience…”

The Underworld’s envoys drove a soul-bearing carriage out of the void, its wheels rumbling. The hour of parting had come.

After one final look at his son’s resolute, upright back, the Late Emperor burst into tears. “Run’er, you and your brothers-take good care of yourselves!”

…

The Late Emperor’s surname was Li, and his personal name was Yuanda. He died on the sixteenth day of the fifth month in a gengzi year, at the age of forty-nine.

His achievements had been illustrious. He ushered in the golden age of Huangtong, brought prosperity to the people, and inaugurated four centuries of Zhou rule.

According to the laws of posthumous naming, one who ordered Heaven and Earth was Wen; one broad in virtue and learning was Wen; one diligent in study and eager to inquire was Wen; and one benevolent and loving toward the people was Wen. His posthumous name was therefore fixed as Wen, and his temple name as Gaozu. Thus was he known as Emperor Wen, Gaozu.

…

In the mortal world, Emperor Gaozu had been an enlightened Son of Heaven, protected by the Heavenly Dao. In death, he was no ordinary ghost. A party of underworld bailiffs respectfully escorted him to the Underworld, where his name and particulars were recorded before Yama. Then, in recognition of his outstanding achievements in life, the Ten Kings of Hell weighed his merits and faults and released him from the cycle of mortal existence, leaving his spirit imperishable.

He had been a heroic emperor among men. After crossing the threshold between life and death, Emperor Gaozu was dazed for only a few days before quickly recovering his equilibrium. He had a ghost servant lead the way and set off to tour the Underworld with considerable interest.

He passed the ghost-haunted Wangxiang Terrace, admired fields of red spider lilies stretching for ten thousand li, and paid his respects to the solemn, majestic Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. After a lifetime spent looking upon the mortal realm’s mountains and rivers, he found roaming the far reaches of the Underworld rather diverting too.

Human emperors from every temporal dimension came to the Underworld after death, where the Ten Kings of Hell judged their merits and faults. Those whose accomplishments were brilliant enough to be handed down through the ages could become ghostly divinities and dwell in the Underworld forever, deathless and undying. Emperor Gaozu was assigned to this district as well.

On his second day after settling into his new home, someone sent over a visiting card. Emperor Gaozu unfolded it, took one look, and laughed. “Why, he even shares My surname…”

His eyes quickly swept over the card. He asked the ghost servant standing below, “What sort of Son of Heaven was this man surnamed Li and personally named Shimin? I have never heard of him. Do you know?”

The ghost servant replied with utmost deference, “This sovereign ruled Great Tang. He ushered in the golden age of Zhenguan and was considered an exceptionally enlightened ruler even within his own temporal dimension. His posthumous name was Wen and his temple name Taizong. He arrived before Your Majesty and owns the residence to the west.” He then gave a detailed account of the life, deeds, and failings of Emperor Wen, Taizong.

“Oh?” Emperor Gaozu listened with fascination, then clapped his hands and laughed. “He shares My surname and even bears the same posthumous name. I should very much like to meet a man with whom I share so curious a destiny.”

The visiting card proposed the following day, but Emperor Gaozu could not wait. He ordered a ghost servant to fetch some fine burial wine from his treasury, then carried it personally to call upon the residence to the west.

When Li Shimin heard from his ghost servant that an emperor surnamed Li had just moved in next door, he too found the coincidence extraordinarily pleasing and sent over a visiting card. To his surprise, his new neighbor came to call that very day.

He went out to welcome him in person and found a visitor who appeared about thirty, tall and broad, strikingly distinguished, with an unmistakable air of power about him. Li Shimin immediately thought well of the man. They exchanged a few laughing pleasantries and soon felt a strong mutual admiration. Li Shimin ordered his ghost servants to lay out a feast with wine, declaring that they must drink until they were thoroughly drunk.

Emperor Gaozu was bold and forthright by nature, while Li Shimin was no petty man himself. When their conversation reached its liveliest point, each fetched a weapon and went to the training ground for a contest. After a hundred exchanges, neither could gain the advantage. They threw back their heads and laughed, then returned to the banquet to drink together.

After more than an hour of passing cups back and forth, they inevitably began to talk about their experiences as emperors in the mortal world. From affairs of state, the conversation turned to their wives and children.
Emperor Gaozu heaved a long sigh, tears in his eyes. “My wife, Lady Xu, was gentle, virtuous, and wise. She stood at My side from our youth-truly, a companion bestowed by Heaven. When My temper rose, none of the ministers dared remonstrate with Me; she alone had the courage to speak plainly. How hateful that Heaven granted her so few years and took her before Me. Do not laugh at Me, Shimin, but had our children not remained, I would have wished to follow her in death…”

At this point, the two men discovered that they were fellow sufferers. Their shared sorrow cut even deeper.

Wiping away his tears, Emperor Gaozu said, “Not long after Empress Xu died, My youngest daughter fell ill and passed away too. She was our littlest child-only six years old. I had not even had time to choose a Prince Consort for her or grant her the richest fief before she followed her mother. An old man burying his own young…” The tears he had only just managed to stop began streaming down his face once more.

Li Shimin broke into wrenching sobs. “My Sizi! I gave my daughter that childhood name in the hope that she would be strong and free from illness, but instead… She was only twelve when she left me!”

The two mortal emperors wept face-to-face, and everyone within earshot shed sorrowful tears with them.

Zhu Yuanzhang walked in from outside with his hands clasped behind his back. At the sight, he sneered. “You are grown men. Why put on the airs of weeping children? All this sniveling is enough to make you a laughingstock! I heard that a certain Li Yuanda had just arrived-a man born among commoners who climbed all the way to the imperial throne. I thought at last there might be someone worth talking to. Yet the moment I step through the door, I find you two wailing in each other’s arms. Shameful!”

Emperor Gaozu took no offense. Nor did he wipe his tears. “The human heart is made of flesh. Are emperors somehow different from ordinary men? Shimin and I were recalling our virtuous wives, both lost too young, and the little daughters we each suffered to bury. Our sorrow brought us to tears. I fear we have made ourselves ridiculous before you.”

Zhu Yuanzhang thought of Empress Ma, who had also died too soon, and of his beloved son Zhu Biao. The mockery vanished from his face, leaving it bleak. He pulled over a chair, sat down, and muttered, “Pour me a cup too.”

Emperor Gaozu poured the wine for him personally, then asked, “And how should I address this gentleman?”

“His surname is Zhu, his given name Yuanzhang, and his courtesy name Guorui,” Li Shimin said by way of brief introduction. “He began with nothing but a begging bowl and ended up Son of Heaven. Quite a remarkable man.”

Emperor Gaozu smiled. “So it is Brother Zhu. I have been remiss.”

“What good is being emperor?” Zhu Yuanzhang lamented. Tears spilled from his eyes. “I could not even keep my old wife and son alive. And after my death, my sons and grandsons… Ah, forget it!”

Each of the three was lost in his own grief. No one spoke. A night wind shrieked past, carrying a burst of bloodcurdling screams to their ears, along with what seemed to be the iron tang of blood.

Emperor Gaozu’s expression changed slightly. He instinctively looked toward the source of the cries and the bloody scent, but Li Shimin clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Pay it no mind. It is nothing serious. Ying Zheng is merely beating his son at home.”

Emperor Gaozu stared at him in confusion. “What sort of Son of Heaven was Ying Zheng? If his son was permitted to come here, he too must have been an enlightened sovereign. Why beat him?”

“There is more to it than you know.” Zhu Yuanzhang topped up his cup, taking blatant pleasure in another man’s misfortune. “Ying Zheng was the first emperor in the worlds Shimin and I came from. Men called him the Ancestral Dragon. His achievements were magnificent, and he truly was an emperor for the ages. The son who lives with him is no ordinary son, either. The wretch neglected the government, slaughtered every one of his brothers and sisters, and drove an enormous empire to ruin. Even the Ten Kings of Hell could not stand it. They made a special exception and allowed him here to atone for his crimes and soothe the First Emperor’s rage.”

Understanding dawned on Emperor Gaozu. “I see.”

The words had barely left his mouth when a tall, brooding figure appeared in the doorway. One hand resting on his sword, Ying Zheng sneered, “And how are you any better? Your grandson killed your son; your son killed your grandson. The pot mocks the kettle!”

The taunt struck Zhu Yuanzhang where it hurt most. His expression changed abruptly, and he lurched to his feet to argue the matter through. Emperor Gaozu and Li Shimin each grabbed one side of him and forced him back down. “Drink, drink! Calm yourself!”

Ying Zheng gave a contemptuous snort. His tigerish gaze swept over the three faces at the table, and suspicion flickered across his own. At last, he looked at the only stranger, Emperor Gaozu. “So you are the newly arrived Li Yuanda? Have all three of you been crying?”

“That is correct. Greetings, Shi Huang.” Emperor Gaozu offered him the courtesy due an equal, neither servile nor overbearing. “The three of us thought of wives and children who died before their time. Grief overcame us, and so we wept.”

“You will find no sympathy from him,” Li Shimin said with a low laugh. “He never appointed an empress and was never especially close to any of his children. All he wanted was to unite the six states and live forever. He had no attention to spare for such things.”

Emperor Gaozu was astonished. “Oh?”

Ying Zheng lifted his head, proud and imperious. “We possess all beneath Heaven and strike awe throughout the eight wilds. Our achievements surpass the Three Sovereigns; Our virtue exceeds the Five Emperors. What woman in this world could stand shoulder to shoulder with Us? For all of you to be so ensnared by the affections of wives and children-what womanish behavior!”

Liu Che approached at a jaunty pace and jeered, “It was precisely because you were so harsh and cutting that your son feared you. One forged edict ordered him to take his own life, and he despaired and obeyed.”

Ying Zheng retorted without hesitation, “A man who drove both his wife and Crown Prince to their deaths has no right to say such a thing to Us!”

Emperor Gaozu did not know whether to laugh or sigh as he listened to the emperors trade barbs. He rose and invited the two newcomers to sit. “Today is the first time I have met you all, and your bearing is every bit as remarkable as rumor promised. Let this gathering serve as a welcome feast for Yuanda. We shall drink, and speak no more of the past, lest another quarrel arise.”

Ying Zheng and Liu Che had come one after the other because they wanted to take the measure of this new emperor. Now that they found him neither arrogant nor intimidated, but warm and composed, they took something of a liking to him. They accepted his invitation and joined the conversation.

Every man present had been a great ruler of a flourishing age, a titan of his time. Each had his own insights into domestic rule and the conduct of war. Wine cups circled the table, and the atmosphere gradually turned convivial.

Their first small gathering ended happily for host and guests alike. After Emperor Gaozu returned to his residence, he sent out invitations for a banquet of his own. Coming and going in this fashion, the emperors soon grew familiar. He also became acquainted with Emperor Wen of Sui, Emperor Chengzu of Ming, and others. They often met to drink and talk, and their days were exceedingly harmonious.

One day, Emperor Gaozu and several of the other emperors went boating on the Wangchuan River. On their way back together, they passed the Hall of Yama and saw a globe of light hovering outside. The instant it spotted them from afar, it began bobbing wildly, then shot straight toward them.

“The First Emperor?! Emperor Gaozu of Zhou?! Emperor Taizong of Tang?! Oh my God-Emperor Chengzu of Ming and Emperor Wu of Han too?!”

Ying Zheng swept it aside with his sleeve and frowned. “What is this thing?”

Curiosity appeared on the faces of the other emperors as well.

An underworld bailiff was stationed nearby. Hearing the question, he respectfully explained, “Your Majesty, this is a technological product from a later age. It is known as a System. Because the Underworld connects to many different worlds and contains countless spatial passages, the occasional novelty finds its way here…”

“System?” Emperor Gaozu was more bewildered the longer he listened. “What does that mean?”

Before the bailiff could answer, the System reacted as though it had discovered a new continent. It cried in delight, “Gaozu? Li Yuanda, Emperor Wen, Gaozu of Great Zhou?!”

“That is Us.” Emperor Gaozu looked it up and down. “You have heard of Us?”

“Of course! You’re tremendously famous in later generations!”

The System could not contain its excitement. “There’s a question people in later ages have argued about endlessly, and neither side has ever convinced the other. By sheer chance, I’ve met you yourself here in the Underworld. Finally I can ask!”

“Later generations know of My achievements as well?”

The System had scratched precisely the right itch. Emperor Gaozu was smugly proud, though he tried not to show it as he surveyed the others. With a kindly expression, he said, “What do you wish to ask?”

The moment he gave permission, the System blurted, “Which woman did you truly care about most-Empress Deming or Zhaorong Liu?!”

Liu Che snorted with laughter.

Emperor Gaozu had expected a question about his magnificent achievements in the three campaigns against the Western Regions, or perhaps the glorious feat of South Yue’s submission. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined the System wanted to ask about some trivial harem matter-much less one so utterly divorced from reality.

Anger stirred in him. “Who is this Zhaorong Liu? How dare some lowly wretch be compared to Empress Deming!”

Lady Xu, Empress Deming, had been Emperor Gaozu’s first wife. She was virtuous and wise, forbearing and kind. To hear the System suddenly claim that later generations placed his admirable Empress Xu on equal footing with some inexplicable Zhaorong Liu-how could he not fly into a rage?

The System jumped in fright. “Th-the talented lady who wrote poetry. Zhaorong Liu.”

Emperor Gaozu racked his memory for a long while before digging such a person out of its dustiest corner. “She was merely a Zhaorong. How could she possibly be compared to Empress Deming?”

His thoughts churned, and his fury swelled. “Did someone alter the Veritable Records? Or erase the accounts of Empress Deming from the histories of Our dynasty?!”

After Empress Xu’s death, Emperor Gaozu had personally overseen her funeral, suspended court for three months, and honored her with the highest possible rites. He had also ordered her virtuous words and deeds compiled into a book and entered into the histories. Only after checking it repeatedly and finding no fault had he let the matter rest.

Now the System claimed that people of later generations actually debated whether he had cared more for Empress Deming or Zhaorong Liu. Since Emperor Gaozu could make no sense of it, he naturally assumed someone had tampered with the histories and court diaries.

“No,” said the System. “Every account of Empress Deming is still there, exactly as it was.”

Emperor Gaozu erupted. “Then what is the meaning of this Lady Liu?! Did some member of the Liu Clan become a court historian in a later age and invent special embellishments for her? The wretch deserves death!”

He had ruled over a golden age. Though his mortal body was gone, his imperial authority remained. When his thunderous wrath broke loose, violet lightning began to flash across a radius of ten li.

Trembling with fear, the System hurriedly said, “Nothing like that. The main reason is that a director in a later age made a television drama… Um, you can think of it as a legendary tale in which you are the protagonist. Zhaorong Liu was the female lead.”

Emperor Gaozu did not understand television dramas, but he understood legendary tales, and he could more or less guess what “female lead” meant. His eyes blazed at once. “If she was the female lead, then what was Empress Deming?”

“A supporting character,” said the System.

Emperor Gaozu understood. “The television drama said We cared most for Lady Liu, so later generations believed it? Do they have no brains with which to think for themselves?!”

The System sputtered for a moment, then tried to defend them. “It wasn’t quite like that. Mainly, the historical records contain too little about Zhaorong Liu…”

Emperor Gaozu nearly laughed from sheer contempt. “She was nothing but a lowly concubine. What great deeds of hers deserved pages of ink?”

The System explained cautiously, “One theory in later generations says that the woman you cared about most was actually Zhaorong Liu, but you wanted to protect her, so you ordered all records about her erased…”

Emperor Gaozu stared at it as though it had lost its mind.

“We cared for Lady Liu most, so We made sure she remained unknown and left no trace in the histories? Was the person who invented that theory thinking with his heels?!”
Emperor Gaozu thundered, “If We truly cared for Lady Liu, why would she have remained a mere Zhaorong? Even if she could not be made Noble Consort, she should at least have ranked among the Four Consorts! How do they explain that?!”

The System lowered its eyes meekly. “They say you wanted to protect Lady Liu from the jealousy of the other harem consorts, so you used Empress Xu as a shield.”

Emperor Gaozu stared at it in disbelief.

The other emperors burst out laughing.

“What bloody horseshit!”

Emperor Gaozu had been an emperor for decades. After so many years of reading, practicing calligraphy, and cultivating his character, it had been a very long time since he last swore. “We are the mighty Son of Heaven, holding all beneath Heaven in balance, yet We could not protect one woman? We dared not even promote her and had to use Our empress as a shield? What, did We win this throne in a children’s game?!”

“Do the people saying this even know what it means to care for someone?”

The System did not dare make a sound.

Hands planted on his hips, Emperor Gaozu paced three circuits before the entrance before he managed to suppress his fury. A long while later, something suddenly occurred to him. “Was Lady Liu buried with Us after her death? Did We not tell the Crown Prince that no palace consort was to accompany Us in the imperial mausoleum? Did that little bastard dare obey to Our face and defy Us behind Our back?!”

Shivering, the System said, “Lady Liu wasn’t buried in the imperial mausoleum. In fact, she wasn’t even interred in the consorts’ cemetery.”

Emperor Gaozu blinked, thoroughly baffled.

He was utterly baffled. “Then why do they say We cared for her most?!”

The System defended the theory in a feeble voice. “They say you wanted her to be free and unrestrained, no longer bound by anything, and hoped she would not be born into the imperial family in her next life.”

Emperor Gaozu looked as though he had heard utter nonsense.

Liu Che laughed until his stomach hurt. Zhu Yuanzhang asked Li Shimin beside him to rub his aching guts. Even the stern and formidable Ying Zheng could not keep the corner of his mouth from twitching.

Amid his fury, Emperor Gaozu found the whole thing both ridiculous and absurd beyond belief. “A concubine rejected by her husband and by her husband’s family, left to wander alone outside their burial grounds-you call that caring? It sounds more like hatred to Us!”

The System said softly, “They say the deepest love breeds the deepest hatred. You hated her so much precisely because you had loved her…”

Emperor Gaozu was speechless.

Emperor Gaozu laughed in exasperation. “By that reasoning, when We displayed a rebel’s severed head and had his corpse flogged and dismembered, was that because We cared about him too? Lady Liu was still alive when We died. After Our death, she became a Consort Dowager, and all decisions concerning her funeral rested with the Emperor and Empress. Why did Run’er and his wife treat her this way?”

At that, his expression turned thoughtful. “Are there any records of Lady Liu’s family?”

“It’s precisely because there aren’t any records that later generations came up with so much speculation,” the System said. “The histories say very little about her, which gave the screenwriters room to invent.”

Emperor Gaozu sneered, his eyes turning razor-sharp. “My son was an emperor in the mortal world. Why would he deliberately humiliate a Consort Dowager and erase all records of the Liu Clan? Unless she committed some grave taboo, and the crime implicated her mother’s family…”

The System flickered, dumbfounded.

The System had never dreamed that asking the man himself would produce such an answer. It was still hovering in midair, stunned, when a large hand suddenly seized it and Li Shimin’s face loomed close. “And Us? What do later generations say about Us?”

The System hesitated, thought for a moment, then asked curiously, “Some people in later generations say the woman you loved most was Consort Yang. Is that true?”

Li Shimin stared at it in astonishment. “How could they possibly think that? The woman We cared for most was Guanyinbi, of course!”

The System asked another question. “I’ve heard that your favorite son was Li Ke, Prince of Wu, and your most beloved daughter was Princess Gaoyang. Is that true?”

Li Shimin did not know whether to laugh or cry. “All the children We loved most were born to Guanyinbi. The only two children We kept and raised by Our side were hers as well. That little bastard Chengqian rebelled and nearly angered Us to death, and even then We could not bear to kill him! Have these people never thought to open a history book?”

The System asked tentatively, “But don’t the histories say you wanted to make Li Ke, Prince of Wu, the Crown Prince?”

“That was a feint. It was false,” Li Shimin replied without the slightest hesitation. “We had three legitimate sons and passed over all of them to make a concubine-born son Crown Prince? Besides, the man We chose to discuss the matter with was Zhangsun Wuji, Guanyinbi’s elder brother. Anyone thinking with his heels would know he was bound to support his own nephew!”

Liu Che could not help snorting. “The people of later generations do not seem very clever.”

Then he asked, “And Us? We dealt the Xiongnu a devastating blow, pacified Minyue, and opened the Silk Road. With achievements such as these, how do later generations judge Us?”

The System dithered for a long while before offering tentatively, “A heartless, ungrateful social-climbing husband?”

“…” Liu Che said. “What does that mean?”

The System explained with extreme caution. “It means you were faithless and cruel. You deposed Empress Chen and forgot the promise to hide Chen Ajiao in a golden house, while Empress Wei was a shameless mistress.”

Liu Che’s expression changed violently. The claim struck him as absurd. “We deposed the empress first because Empress Chen was childless, second because she practiced witchcraft, and third because the act allowed Us to strike at the Dou Clan’s maternal relatives and the old meritorious houses. The deposition and appointment of an empress concern countless affairs of state. How could they be reduced to romantic sentiment? Had We truly been cruel, We would have ordered her death as We did Lady Gouyi. Why would We have kept her in the palace and maintained her in comfort?”

The System had no answer. Even its glow dimmed considerably.

Zhu Yuanzhang squeezed past the furious emperors, walked over with his hands tucked into his sleeves, and asked in a small voice, “Nothing you want to say to Us?”

The System flickered twice, leaned close to his ear, and whispered a sentence.

Zhu Yuanzhang’s eyes blazed like a wrathful guardian deity. “What? They say We had a donkey’s face?!”
Li Shimin killed his elder and younger brothers: minus one hundred points. He forced his own father’s hand: minus another hundred. He slept with his sister-in-law: another hundred deducted. The Reign of Zhenguan: plus one hundred thousand. Final score: 99,700.

Emperor Xiaozong of Ming married only one empress. How devoted! Plus one hundred points. He also indulged the Zhang Maternal Relatives, possibly the most arrogant and tyrannical maternal clan of the entire Ming dynasty, while they committed crimes and preyed upon the people. A few tears from his wife were enough to make him smooth everything over and pretend nothing had happened. Minus two hundred points. Throw in his handful of rather unimpressive political achievements, and a score of sixty is already more than generous. I will not even discuss the spectacular son the two of them produced.

If you imagine yourself as Empress Zhang, her life seems very happy. But given the size of the population and our own status as readers in modern society, most of us would not have been Empress Zhang. We would be far more likely to have been one of the wretches whose family the Zhang Brothers destroyed, one of the powerless poor with no avenue for justice, one of the ants whose emperor helped conceal the crime in the name of “keeping the peace.”

Try imagining it another way. Your sister was sexually assaulted by the Zhang Brothers and took her own life. When your father and brothers reported the crime, the Zhang family had them killed too. Empress Zhang wept a few tears on her brothers’ behalf, and the Zhang Brothers escaped without so much as a scratch. Your entire family died for nothing. Still satisfying when you think of it that way?

The Zhang Brothers tried to sexually assault palace maids inside the imperial palace. When a eunuch stopped them, Empress Zhang had the eunuch killed. Li Mengyang impeached the Zhang Brothers, so Empress Zhang wailed and sobbed until Emperor Xiaozong ordered his execution…

Historically, Empress Zhang’s son died young and her final years were bleak. Most likely, the evil she committed by endlessly coddling and protecting her brothers came back upon her. She deserved it.

The direction of the story should be fairly obvious now. These emperors truly are feudal male chauvinists. Nation and power come before everything. They absolutely, categorically will never surrender the realm for a beauty. If that is unacceptable to you, then I sincerely recommend withdrawing now. Thank you, thank you. _(:з”∠)_