Xue Daoming fell silent. Having spoken from the heart, Dong Bingtai said no more either, merely watching him with bloodshot eyes. Only after a long while did Xue Daoming reach out and gently pat his shoulder. "I have considered all these things," he said quietly. "But however grand my ambitions may be, a lone tree cannot hold up the sky. If all the officials have bowed to the tyranny of those two villains, what can I use to stand against them?"
"Your Majesty," Dong Bingtai said, "power and threats can only make people submit for a time. They can never win people's hearts. This Palace Coup came without warning. Though Li Chenzhou and the Eldest Princess acted together, the true root of the trouble was Xue Daohong!" News that Xue Daohong had murdered the Grand Empress Dowager and taken Great Yong's throne with a forged testamentary edict had already spread far and wide. Although he had not been held accountable after his death, the splendor and scale of his funeral had fallen short even of those held for Empress Dowager Jiang and Worthy Consort Dong. Had his guilt not been established, Dong Bingtai would never have dared call the former emperor by name.
Xue Daoming sighed. "It seems my elder brother was deceived as well."
Dong Bingtai sneered. "Had power not clouded his mind, how could he have been so easily led astray? He stirred up trouble in the Bohai Kingdom, hoping to eliminate the Prince of Yan, only for the prince to thwart him. With the Black Hu army still at the Northern Frontier, instead of stabilizing the country and setting aside old grudges to unite against the enemy, he used this assassination incident to stir up more trouble. He swallowed that nonsense about pacifying the interior before repelling