A trace of madness appeared on his face: “What do you mean, deceived by Lu Yumin? It was I who forced Lu Yumin to participate! It was I who told him to seek out Pei Guanyue and Shen Que! It was I who personally sent the fifty thousand soldiers of the Tianwei Army to their doom!”
Six years ago, in Shenlong Hall, Lu Yumin had been shocked. He prostrated himself, looking at his student, whom he had taught with all his heart, in disbelief: “Your Majesty must not do this! Even if you want to seize power from the Empress Dowager, there are other ways. Why sacrifice our Great Zhou’s soldiers?”
“I can’t wait any longer! I’m already seventeen! She still won’t relinquish power! She’s in excellent health and will live at least another eight or ten years. What am I supposed to wait for?” Emperor Longxing paced back and forth in frustration: “I can’t wait another day. Guo Qinwei is a general promoted by the Empress Dowager herself. The Tianwei Army is her greatest political achievement. If the Tianwei Army is defeated and the six provinces of the Guannei Circuit are lost, it will announce to the world that the Empress Dowager has appointed the wrong people. What right would she have to control the court then? What right would she have to give orders? At that time, even if I could tolerate it, the world would not!”
“But the Tianwei Army is also Your Majesty’s subjects. Moreover, the six provinces of the Guannei Circuit have always been the territory of the Great Zhou. How could Your Majesty hand over territory and subjects to be trampled by the Turks? This… this would bring eternal infamy!”
“Those who accomplish great deeds don’t bother with minor details. If I don’t tell, and you don’t tell, who will know? People will only know that Guo Qinwei was greedy for merit and acted rashly, causing the Tianwei Army’s defeat and the loss of the six provinces of the Guannei Circuit. At that time, Guo Qinwei and the Tianwei Army would become the shame of the Great Zhou. Who would try to redress a shameful incident? Besides, once I regain power, I will reclaim the six provinces from the Turks. I will not let the people remain under the iron hooves of the Turks.”
Emperor Longxing made a solemn vow, but Lu Yumin just shook his head with a pale face: “Your Majesty should reconsider. This is not the act of a benevolent ruler.”
“Benevolent ruler? What is a benevolent ruler? Can a monarch who has a kind heart but no power be called a benevolent ruler? A benevolent ruler must not only be benevolent but also be a true ruler. Teacher, right now, I can’t even appoint you as Left Deputy Director. Am I still a ruler?”
Lu Yumin wept openly: “The Empress Dowager, as a hen that crows like a rooster, is indeed hateful. But Your Majesty cannot abandon your soldiers and subjects just because you hate the Empress Dowager…”
“Soldiers? Those are soldiers loyal to my mother. As for the subjects, I will only make them suffer for a short time, not for their whole lives.”
Lu Yumin was stunned. He looked at his student and, for a moment, felt so unfamiliar that he couldn’t find words to respond.
Emperor Longxing grew increasingly agitated: “Teacher, I can’t wait any longer. I’ve studied the maps for a long time and have thought about it repeatedly before coming up with this plan. This plan, though cruel, will be fatal. Teacher, trust me.”
Lu Yumin just trembled, saying nothing. Seeing this, Emperor Longxing sighed: “Teacher, you are the person I trust the most, which is why I’m plotting this great matter with you. Alright, if you’re unwilling, I’ll contact the Turks myself.”
“No.” Lu Yumin looked up, anxiously stopping him. His expression was extremely pained. After a long moment, he finally said: “Your Majesty must not dirty your own hands. Let this subject do it. In the future, if it’s exposed, I will take all the blame.”
He finally agreed. A faint smile appeared at the corners of Emperor Longxing’s lips—a smile that was innocent yet cruel. This seventeen-year-old youth confidently instructed: “Teacher, Feng Prefecture’s Governor Pei Guanyue is ambitious. We can use him. And there’s also the Central Commandant Shen Que, my cousin. He has always harbored resentment against my mother. We can use him too. Go find them and have them help you. They will agree.”
Emperor Longxing had already planned the conspirators. He revealed his entire plan to Lu Yumin. Lu Yumin was still apprehensive. He asked Emperor Longxing: “If the Turks’ appetite is too great, and after taking the six provinces of the Guannei Circuit, they still refuse to withdraw their troops, and instead ally with Pei Guanyue to march south directly to Chang’an, what then?”
“That won’t happen.” Emperor Longxing denied it outright: “For Nidu Khan, the Great Zhou is too large to swallow. Even if he could swallow it, he would have to expend a hundred times the effort to fight against the remaining forces of the Great Zhou. This deal is not worth it. It’s better to follow the agreement and only take the six provinces of the Guannei Circuit. The six provinces have a population of one million, which is enough for him. As for Pei Guanyue, leaving aside the fact that his wife and children are all in Chang’an, just considering the man himself, although he is ambitious and unscrupulous, he is not a fool. If he allies with the Turks, he would be attacked by the entire world. So he might as well pretend to resist the Turks in Ningshuo, become a hero of the Great Zhou. That way, besides high office and rich rewards, glory and splendor, he can also earn a place in history.”
Emperor Longxing had observed the participants in this plan hundreds of times, so he was very confident that Nidu Khan would not march south and Pei Guanyue would not betray him. But finally, he added: “Of course, if Pei Guanyue betrays me, causing the Turks to directly threaten Chang’an, then I can only say my luck is bad and I lost the gamble. But who knows what fate holds unless you take a gamble? And I would rather be a failed gambler than an incompetent puppet.”
Emperor Longxing revealed everything, leaving the Empress Dowager dumbfounded. After a long while, she finally reacted, her lips beginning to tremble, tears bursting from her eyes, and one slap after another landing on Emperor Longxing’s jade-like face: “Are you even human? You’re worse than a beast!”
Emperor Longxing’s teeth were stained with blood. He laughed: “Yes, I am a beast. And there’s also the cat ghost case. When Shen Que wanted to harm you, that stolen headrest was given to him by me. It was I who wanted your life!”
“You… you…” The Empress Dowager was heartbroken: “How did you become like this?”
Compared to the Empress Dowager’s agitation, Emperor Longxing was quite calm. He giggled: “Mother, I’ve always been like this, never changed. I am your son. How many corpses did you step on to become Empress Dowager? I am also my father’s son. How did he act like a pig to eat the tiger and cruelly kill his foster mother? I am your flesh and blood. Which one of you two is a kind person? You are both so vicious. How could you think you would raise a kind son? Oh, my elder sister was kind, but she died. Even her death was used by you to push forward new policies. Hah, she doesn’t seem like your daughter at all!”
The Empress Dowager was so grief-stricken that she nearly gnashed her teeth: “You… you beast without humanity, no matter how vicious your father and I were, we never sold out our country! Are you fit to be an emperor? Are you fit to let the subjects call you ‘Your Majesty’?”
“Why not? Father knew that my elder sister wasn’t killed by Zheng Yun, yet didn’t he still instigate the Taichang Blood Incident, killing tens of thousands? Weren’t those tens of thousands his subjects? He could still be called ‘Your Majesty,’ so why can’t I?” Emperor Longxing laughed heartily: “Since ancient times, winners have been kings and losers have been bandits. What is selling out the country? What subjects? If I had succeeded, the history books would have written that I was a sagacious ruler who brought order out of chaos! Besides, they would also praise me for enduring humiliation to seize power in one move!”
The Empress Dowager was so angry that her body trembled. She picked up a document from the table and struck Emperor Longxing with it: “You still don’t repent! Are you fit to be ‘Your Majesty’? You’re not even fit to be human!”
Emperor Longxing’s forehead was injured, with bright red blood flowing down, streaming over his eyes, making him look like a ghost. He smiled: “Mother, why I colluded with the Turks, why I wanted to kill my mother—it’s all thanks to you!”
The Empress Dowager was stunned. Emperor Longxing said, “Since I was young, you’ve taught me to be a sage. I couldn’t have my likes and dislikes, couldn’t have my sorrows and joys. I was just a tool you created to realize your dreams. You and my father, each more vicious than the other, yet you demanded that I be a sage. Ask yourself, are you a sage? If you couldn’t do it, why did you demand that I do it? All I got from you was endless punishment, kneeling, criticism, and intimidation. You are my birth mother, but you weren’t as good to me as Lu Yumin was! I could never feel your love for me. How could I believe that you would return power to me? That you wouldn’t depose me? To protect myself, I colluded with the Turks and plotted to kill my mother. In the end, isn’t it all thanks to you, Mother?”
The Empress Dowager was so angry that she wept bitterly: “You say everything is thanks to your mother? You say your mother doesn’t love you? When you were four years old and seriously ill, who stayed by your side day and night to take care of you? When you were ten years old and assassins sent by the Prince of Jiangzhou tried to kill you, who pushed you away and shielded you with her body? It was your mother, whom you claim doesn’t love you! Why did your mother want you to be a sage? It’s because your mother and your father killed too many people, and future generations will certainly have mixed evaluations of us. Your mother wanted you to be a benevolent ruler praised by all, so that thousands and tens of thousands of years later, whenever you are mentioned, there would only be praise. Is that wrong?”
“Of course it’s wrong!” Emperor Longxing refuted: “That’s your idea! Did you ever ask me? You always wanted me to become another elder sister, but I’m not my elder sister! I am like you and my father—selfish, cruel, and vicious. I can’t become my elder sister!”
The Empress Dowager gritted her teeth. She glared at Emperor Longxing, but she couldn’t find a trace of remorse on his face. She suddenly felt hopeless and nodded: “Fine, not raising you well was your mother’s fault. There’s no point in saying more between us, mother and son. Let everything end today.”
Emperor Longxing sneered disdainfully. He staggered to his feet, took Consort Hui’s armor, then sat on the ground, placing the armor on his knees. At this moment, he would rather let this distorted love accompany him than open his mouth to plead with the Empress Dowager again.
He straightened his clothes and calmly said: “Is it poisoned wine or white silk, Mother? Give it to me. Anyway, I won’t regret it.”
He finally said, “Mother, you don’t need to eat vegetarian food for the rest of your life to atone for my sins. I don’t care for it.”
The Empress Dowager seemed to have aged ten years. She leaned against the painted wall and struggled to her feet: “Even if you don’t care, your mother will still do so.”
She leaned against the wall, slowly walking out of Shenlong Hall. Only when she left the hall did her body weaken, almost falling to the ground. The eunuchs hurriedly supported her. She glanced at the golden cup in the eunuch’s hand, slowly closed her eyes, and her voice was filled with endless sorrow: “Give it… to His Majesty.”