Building Momentum

The urgent dispatch traveled eight hundred li from Northwind Pass, changing horses but never riders. By the time it raced into the capital, darkness had only just fallen.

The courier's legs were covered in bloody blisters, and three horses had been run to death. When he swung down from the saddle, his legs gave way, and he dropped to his knees on the stone steps outside the palace gates.

The emergency report, sealed with wax, passed through the Ministry of War and the Six Offices before being submitted layer by layer.

The Ministry of War's main hall stayed lit through the night. Several senior officials gathered around that thin sheet of paper, yet no one dared add a single word to it.

"They tore it up? They really tore it up?"

"Absolutely true. Right in front of the soldiers and civilians of the entire pass, she tore the imperial edict into four pieces."

"This is a case of rebellion. Nothing like this has happened in three hundred years."

Someone muttered softly, "Shen Qingtang... she really dared."

Before dawn, the news had spread among the military officials.

Several veteran generals in the capital requested permission to attack the Northern Frontier, only to be suppressed by a single order from above. Without an imperial edict, no one dared act rashly.

The news was delivered into the palace overnight. The emperor was watching a dance when he glanced at it and casually hurled the memorial to the floor.

At dawn, Prince Jing's residence.

Prince Jing, Xia Cong, slammed the flying dispatch onto the table. The teacup jumped, spilling tea all over the tabletop.

"A woman, leading a bunch of beggar sects, thinks she deserves to occupy the Northern Frontier!"

He had not even changed out of his court robes. His ears were