For many years, the Qianwan Emperor had a secret idea regarding the power dynamics within the palace. While others were unaware, his few close confidants knew it implicitly.

He wanted to depose the Empress and Prince Dongyang, posthumously honor his birth mother, and elevate a concubine from Qingzhen Palace to a higher position.

If this idea were to be realized, it would instantly shake the most important blood relations in the imperial family, potentially leading to great changes across the land. Due to these potential threats, the Qianwan Emperor had been hesitant to act, and this idea could only be described as a secret deeply hidden in his heart.

Prince Dongyang's attempt to establish himself independently was an opportunity. In fact, in the period before he tried to raise an army, there had already been signs and movements leaked - what kind of person was the Qianwan Emperor? And how could the imperial secret guards be vegetarians?

When Li Jinyuan thought he had done it flawlessly, little did he know that he had already become a pawn played in the hands of others.

Li Ji maliciously indulged this imperial brother, indulging him to gather troops and collude with court officials. Sometimes he even secretly facilitated his actions, luring him to go further and further down this path of no return.

Just the day before Li Jinyuan was about to take action, Li Ji suddenly dispatched troops to surround the Prince Dongyang's residence. The imperial secret guards searched the residence and found counterfeit dragon robes, dragon crowns, and correspondence, waiting only for the imperial order to immediately confiscate the household!

With Li Jinyuan's downfall, the Empress Dowager could certainly also be toppled! Her fall would prove that she was unvirtuous and incompetent. The one who should have been made empress back then should have been the Qianwan Emperor's birth mother!

That long-held wish was about to become reality. Everyone could feel the Qianwan Emperor's undisguised delight. However, at this moment, the Empress actually forged an imperial decree and sent someone to escort Prince Dongyang out of the capital!

As soon as Prince Dongyang left the capital, he immediately rushed at full speed to the Hanbei military camp. Meanwhile, the Empress secretly ordered the Crown Prince to prepare troops and personnel, waiting for the Qianwan Emperor and Prince Dongyang to fight it out so that the Crown Prince could take advantage of the situation and emerge victorious.

This plan was originally carried out very meticulously. Even if the Qianwan Emperor knew what they were doing, he had no intention of intervening. It could be said that if the Empress's plan had proceeded, perhaps the Crown Prince would have already ascended the throne.

However, no one expected that not long after Prince Dongyang Li Jinyuan went to the Hanbei military camp, he was strangled to death by Lu Jiuchen!

With Prince Dongyang's fall, the Empress Dowager was immediately deposed and confined to the Cold Palace, not allowed to take a single step out. That night, the Qianwan Emperor went to Fengxian Palace and calmly said two things to the Empress.

The first was that he gave her a dagger, a bowl of poison, and a three-foot white silk cord, telling her to choose for herself; the second was to have someone read out the posthumous edict establishing the eldest imperial grandson as the new emperor, counting it as the affection between husband and wife for many years, letting her die with peace of mind.

The Empress chose the poison. The finest aconite, instantly lethal. After struggling bitterly in the world for so many years, this most noble woman in the world finally followed in the footsteps of her sister, Empress Mingrui, and departed.

Mingde didn't know how he returned to the military camp outside the city. He should have gone back to Qingzhen Palace after seeing the Crown Prince, but he didn't go to see the Crown Prince at all. He turned back halfway. Those people were driving the carriages and horses, but no one noticed that he had secretly jumped off the carriage and exited the palace through the secret passages he had walked when he was a secret guard.

The night had already enveloped the outskirts. The withered grass across the mountains and fields shivered in the cold wind, spinning and fluttering up, then falling down again.

Which gust of wind, carrying that lingering fragrant soul, howled and went far away?

That woman who once hugged him tightly while crying, that woman who had never given birth to her own child in her life, had now truly silently gone far away. Which glance back had become the eternal farewell, one would never know.

The river water was icy cold. Mingde soaked quietly in the water. All the blood in his body seemed to be boiling and howling, but his heart kept sinking down and down, all the way into a bottomless abyss.

Why? I no longer have a mother...

Perhaps the heavens are truly unfair to people. Some are born into imperial and noble families, able to summon the wind and command the rain with a flip of their hand, holding the power of life and death in a single thought. Others struggle to survive, going through hardships, and just when they finally grasp some precious things in their hands, they can be easily taken away by those in high and mighty positions in the blink of an eye.

No matter how much you cherish and treasure it, no matter how hard-won it is, even if it's the most important thing to you, something you think about with all your heart, it's just something that those in power can easily trample underfoot and destroy for entertainment.

Mingde soaked quietly in the water. In the deep night, only the sound of his breathing, deep and shallow, could be heard. In the distance, human voices could be vaguely heard. In the city, the homes of late-returning people lit up with candlelight, dotting like distant stars.

Those were all too far, too far away from him.

That insignificant, pitiful, and lowly bit of worldly joy was finally torn away alive.

The night seemed like an endless long river, never to see the light of day again.

The next day, the palace sent people to summon him, but the commander's tent was closed and refused to see anyone. When the head eunuch came again with an imperial decree to summon him, the tent sent someone to reply: "The general is seriously ill with a cold and does not dare to meet, fearing it would alarm His Majesty."

A few days later, he led his troops into the capital for an audience. The silver-white fine armor glittered and gleamed. With robes flying and horses not touching the ground, like a celestial being descending to the mortal world, he broke into the city. The masses all shouted, "Long live our emperor!" The earth shook and the mountains swayed for a moment.

Inside the palace was a high platform. The Qianwan Emperor, accompanied by his ministers and confidants, with bright yellow true dragon ceremonial trappings, waited in magnificent splendor to welcome the returning army.

It wasn't until noon that the distant iron gates of the palace opened with a thunderous sound. Amidst the earth-shaking rumbles, dust kicked up by horse hooves gradually appeared in the distance, almost covering the entire range of vision, forming a line where the horizon met the sky.

Zhang Kuo asked in a low voice, "Your Majesty, the palace gates..."

The Qianwan Emperor suddenly raised his hand to stop him. The army was getting closer and closer, and the entire ground seemed to be shaking. The thunderous sound of thousands of galloping horses was like rolling thunder, so frightening that the timid and weak-hearted didn't dare to face it directly.

Amidst the sea of dark figures and horses, a young general in white robes and silver armor stood out at the forefront, like the tip of an arrow charging ahead, galloping into the palace like a flowing cloud and waterfall.

The Qianwan Emperor didn't even turn his head. Zhang Kuo only heard his voice, tinged with a hint of coldness: "...At such a good time, don't mention things that dampen my mood..."

The army rushed to the foot of the city wall and came to an abrupt halt. In an instant, apart from the echoing rumbles, there was not a single sound. The entire army stood solemnly in the dusty wind, no one moving or speaking.

Officials passed the message down layer by layer, from the high city walls all the way to the palace gates below. By right, the gates should have opened at this point, but for some reason, they remained tightly shut. From the communication channels, someone repeatedly announced:

"--His Majesty decrees that the entire army dismount and kneel in obeisance--"

"The entire army dismount and kneel--"

"Commander Shangguan Mingde, lead the entire army to dismount and kneel--!"

It was as if there were no other sounds in the world. The shrill decree filled the broken wind, stirring up clouds of dust that brushed against the closed palace gates with a rustling sound.

Someone tried to move, but was immediately struck down from their horse by those on either side.

Mingde raised his head from atop his horse, gazing at the Qianwan Emperor from afar. His features were indiscernible in the sunlight, only his silver-white light armor glinting dazzlingly, making it hard to keep one's eyes open.

The Qianwan Emperor leaned forward slightly, his gaze almost obsessive and intoxicated as he stared fixedly at Mingde. If looks could manifest physically, Mingde would have been tackled and dragged over countless times by now.

"...So beautiful..." the Qianwan Emperor chuckled softly, an indescribable hint of cruelty in his tone, "...Truly...too beautiful..."

His expression was so calm and assured, as if nothing could exceed his control. Even when Mingde raised his bow and arrow from a distance, he didn't so much as twitch an eyebrow.

Mingde's wrist moved swiftly, suddenly drawing out seven arrows and firing them in rapid succession towards the Qianwan Emperor!

In an instant, the city walls erupted into chaos. Everyone rushed forward, some shouting to protect the emperor, others crying treason. The clamoring voices rose and fell. Huge shields were raised in the blink of an eye, firmly guarding the entire tower.

Mingde lowered his bow, and the deputy general behind him abruptly raised a large flag that flapped loudly in the wind.

"Charge! The one who breaks through the palace gates shall be granted a thousand miles of land and the title of marquis over ten thousand households!"

"--Charge--!"

The army surged forward with a thunderous roar. The small contingent of Imperial Guards defending the palace gates was no match for them. In just a moment's time, a massive boom exploded amidst the chaotic troops as the thirty-foot tall, gold and red palace gates were rammed open. The disorderly soldiers, like small currents in a huge whirlpool, scattered and charged into the imperial palace.

General Mingde had rebelled.

He led the Great Camp of Hanbei on a thousand-mile march to the capital, then directly stormed the nine-layered palace city where the supreme emperor of the land resided.