When the testamentary edict spread, silence fell in every quarter, throughout Chang'an, Guanzhong, East of the Passes, and even among the frontier peoples in all directions.
No one had expected such an outcome!
No one had expected Liu Yang to leave such a strange testamentary edict!
It was unprecedented, unheard of.
Ever since Liu Yang's death, the ambitious had been rubbing their hands, eager to manipulate the succession. After several successive changes of imperial line, there was even an established procedure for choosing a new emperor.
The key was that improving oneself was less effective than blackening someone else's name. Understanding this deeply, the ambitious held damaging information and vulnerabilities concerning the rival imperial princes who posed the greatest threats, ready to cross the sea like the Eight Immortals, each displaying their own powers.
They had intended to enthrone an imperial prince of Filial Emperor Cheng close to them, seeking immense wealth and rank that would catapult their families into the Great Han's foremost houses. Never had they expected Liu Yang to knock every one of them flat with a single blow.
However many schemes they had, however many bargaining chips, all were useless once they lost the right to enter the contest.
Every candidate for the imperial throne was out!
Nanyang Commandery.
It had the greatest concentration of imperial kin in the entire Great Han, but no Lords King ruled here; it was administered directly by the court.
Although there were no Lords King here, there were plenty of close branches related to the imperial family, particularly Liu Clan high-ranking marquises who had not been made kings, as well as the Great Han's formidable princesses. Previous emperors had struck at them, but that had not posed much of a problem.
Yet every social stratum had people whose lives