"We must break the safeguards that demon empress left behind, and set this realm to rights. But we must act like a skilled physician prescribing medicine: identify the symptoms and strike home in a single blow, not bluster like reckless brutes and waste our strength."
Gazing at the candle flame, Li Qianli murmured, "'Should any betray this virtue, raise troops, and stir the masses, may the enlightened gods bear witness, may a hundred calamities descend, may their descendants be barren, and their realm left undefended.' These were the words His Majesty, Prince Xiang, Taiping, and Wu Sansi swore in the Mingtang. What do you make of them?"
Li Xi sneered. "That old hag was childish! She created those blood-deep feuds with her own hands, and thought a few curses could wipe them away? Stupidity beyond measure!"
"Not so."
Li Qianli sighed. "Xi, you are mistaken. This was no childish curse. It was the last vestige of 'legitimacy' she left the Wu Family."
He slowly rose and walked to the window, looking out into the heavy darkness. "She knew better than anyone that an oath could not bind human hearts, much less stop blades and armies. But what she wanted was precisely that phrase: 'may the enlightened gods bear witness.' Before anyone coveting the Wu Family's power or seeking to settle old scores could act, they would first have to bear the name of one who 'broke the Mingtang Oath and angered the gods of heaven and earth.'"
"The struggle for the realm is not fought with troops and political cunning alone. It is also fought over righteous cause and legitimacy. She left that curse so that all who came after her would harbor misgivings, even if they won..."
At this, Li Qianli's voice abruptly chilled, turning sinister. "That is why