Forcing a Palace Coup

At noon, inside the Hall of Proclamation.

"Greetings, Your Majesty! Long live His Majesty, long live, long, long live!"

Clang!

The doors shut, and all the palace maids immediately withdrew.

"Imperial sister, why did you reprimand Chancellor Gu in public? He has faithfully discharged his duties and accomplished a great deal for the Xiling Dynasty over the years."

A figure casually raised her head from a stack of memorials. "Emperor, what happened to keeping your feelings off your face, as I taught you? You came to question me over Chancellor Gu?"

"Imperial sister, I'm not blaming you. I'm only afraid you'll stir up resentment among the officials. Many at court have already submitted impeachments over how long you've held the regency. I'm afraid they'll join forces to pressure me."

Di Chenzhe, the emperor, sighed softly and walked over to the desk.

"Though I've been on the throne for five years, court officials keep changing and the situation remains unstable. I know how much thought you've put into everything, imperial sister, and I don't want those people to wrongly accuse and criticize you."

Since Di Qingyu began assisting him five years ago, she had been debauched and depraved. Besides keeping dozens of male companions, she had killed innocents indiscriminately and monopolized the reins of government. She had even openly struck down an official who contradicted her with a single slash of her sword in court, throwing the entire court and country into turmoil.

"Criticize..." Di Qingyu's luminous eyes darkened slightly, a trace of scornful amusement in them. "Since you fear they'll join forces to pressure you, imperial brother, I do have a solution."

Di Qingyu tossed a memorial impeaching her for arrogance, tyranny, and holding power for too long directly in front of Di Chenzhe. Her eyes were cold, tinged with bloodlust.

"For every person who dares speak up, kill one! Then promote young men from humble families. The noble clans have grown rather disobedient lately anyway. It's time to kill the chicken to frighten the monkeys, and keep killing until everyone shuts up. Surely I don't need to teach you how to kill."

"..."

Di Chenzhe's heart skipped a beat. Thinking of the growing talk among the people about the "female emperor of Xiling," he lowered his dark eyes, then raised them with a soft chuckle.

"You're joking, imperial sister. Those ministers are just full and looking for trouble. If we really killed them, wouldn't all the thought you've put into keeping the officials in check and laying your plans these past years have been wasted?"

"It was no trouble. It's only what I should do to help you secure your realm."

Di Qingyu smiled and said nothing more. She merely stood and raised a hand to pat his shoulder.

"Imperial brother, I'm tired too. I've guarded this realm for you for five years. It's time you let me rest."

Di Chenzhe's body stiffened imperceptibly. "Imperial sister, are you stepping down as regent princess?"

Di Qingyu didn't answer directly. Instead, she spoke with a deeper meaning.

"You're accomplished enough now, a qualified emperor." With that, she walked away.

Watching Di Qingyu's desolate retreating figure, Di Chenzhe hesitated. His fingers clenched tightly beneath his robes, the knuckles turning mottled blue and purple, as memories of her guidance over the past decade and more flashed through his mind.

If not for her, he would have frozen to death in the cold palace long ago.

But then his gaze shifted to the memorial on the desk that Di Qingyu had already half reviewed. The red annotations stung his eyes, and the hesitation and softheartedness in his heart vanished at once like smoke.

Imperial sister, you were the one who taught me to pull up the weeds by the roots!

Late that night.

"Ah! Murder!"

The previously silent palace suddenly erupted in commotion. Weapons clashed and people screamed. Not only were the imperial guards scrambling into action, but the hidden guards normally kept out of sight emerged as well.

Meanwhile, the Hall of Mental Cultivation was brightly lit.

"Imperial sister, what are you doing?!"

Di Chenzhe had only thrown on his dragon robe, without even having time to straighten his clothes or crown. Clearly, he had been caught off guard.

"Didn't you say you were going to hand power back to me and leave this place?"

"When did I ever say I was leaving? I've merely grown a little tired of sitting in the grand princess's seat after so many years. I thought I'd try another one."

Di Qingyu held a bloodstained sword. Her features were cold yet gentle, and she smiled with abandon, but her bloodthirsty eyes shone with ambition.

Hearing this, Di Chenzhe's eyes widened. As he listened to the noisy but orderly footsteps outside, his expression changed.

"You want to become emperor yourself?!"

Di Qingyu's expression was ruthless and resolute. "I have what it takes to stand above ten thousand people, so why should I settle for standing below one? Besides, you've stopped being obedient."

With that, she went straight for Di Chenzhe, sword in hand.

"How could the people of this world let a woman like you become emperor?!"

Fortunately, even after becoming emperor, Di Chenzhe had never felt secure over the years. He had kept a sword even by his bed, and he immediately took it up to fend off Di Qingyu.

Blades flashed and swords crossed. The guards outside had been held back, leaving only the two of them in the room. Clearly, Di Qingyu would only be satisfied if she killed him with her own hands.

Di Qingyu spoke with defiant scorn. "They wouldn't let me govern from behind the curtain back then, but didn't I do it anyway? Though I'm merely a woman, haven't I maintained peace in the Xiling Dynasty for five years?"

She had taught him his swordsmanship, but he could never match her!

So after only a few exchanges, Di Chenzhe was stabbed in the abdomen by Di Qingyu!

"Ngh!"

Di Chenzhe grunted, blood seeping from his abdomen at once. But before Di Qingyu could swiftly take his head, the next moment-

"Chancellor Gu, save me!"

Bang! Bang!

Two thunderous reports suddenly rang out in the air.

Di Qingyu sensed danger and immediately twisted away from the attack. But though she dodged the first, the second hidden weapon passed straight through her sword.

Pffft!

Pain pierced her chest, and the hand holding her sword faltered. Di Qingyu lowered her eyes and saw blood spurt from her chest, but the hidden weapon that had sunk into it was nowhere to be seen.

She braced herself against the ground with her sword in one hand, then turned toward the doorway and saw that her people had been subdued by the deathsworn Gu Wenci had brought.

"Gu Wenci, are you blind, to serve a worthless lump of mud that can't be plastered onto a wall?" Di Qingyu sneered.

A tall, elegant man stood in the doorway, holding an exquisite, cold black object that seemed to be a weapon that did not belong in this era.

He was Xiling's chancellor, Gu Wenci.

"Di Qingyu, His Majesty is Xiling's sovereign. He has the people's support and the mandate of heaven, while you are arrogant and tyrannical, killing innocents indiscriminately and seeking to force a palace coup. You are truly a rebellious traitor. All these years, you've monopolized the government and harmed countless loyal officials. If you took the throne, you would only throw the court into chaos and leave the people destitute."

Di Qingyu found it laughable. Even knowing the tide had turned against her, she remained utterly unruffled.

"I've been regent for five years. Loyal or treacherous, the officials I killed were nothing but corrupt toadies who sold offices, fawned on their superiors, and bullied those beneath them. The people destitute... Go and see for yourself. Are there any refugees begging in Xiling's capital, or people selling their daughters for money? Xiling's national strength is the greatest of the four kingdoms, and more people from the other three kingdoms have sought refuge in Xiling than anywhere else!"

Saying this was nothing more than a slap in Gu Wenci's face, a deliberate tearing away of the cloth concealing his shame. It was merely an excuse for these men to fear her, rely on her, yet hate her and get rid of her.

The pain in Di Qingyu's chest grew increasingly suffocating, and her body gradually bent forward. But she forced herself to lean on her sword hilt rather than fall, maintaining a cold, aloof posture.

"How did you know my plan? Did you plant a spy?"

"Your Highness, if I could have planted a spy to scheme against you, I would not have had to wait four years to bring you down."

Gu Wenci walked inside. The commotion outside continued; clearly, the forces he had brought were fighting Di Qingyu's people.

"In this round, I won only because of a secret of heaven." He looked at the woman he had fought for so many years, his expression complicated.

Indeed, though Di Qingyu was a woman, she had made him wary and earned his admiration. It was just a pity that they stood on opposite sides.

Di Qingyu knew only that Gu Wenci was indeed strange. She had sent assassins after him several times, but he had come back alive every time.

Was heaven helping him too?

"Ha!"

Di Qingyu curled her lips into a soft laugh, blood staining them crimson.

"Gu Wenci, with such cunning and ambition, I doubt you'll stop at being chancellor." She turned to glance at Di Chenzhe, her expression mocking.

"Imperial brother, you're wary of me and can't even defeat me, yet you still imagine you can control a menace with the heart of a wolf like Gu Wenci. Once I'm dead, there'll be no one left to hold him in check. Should I call you a fool, or say that I was certain you were a lump of mud that couldn't be plastered onto a wall when I chose you as emperor?"

"Rest assured, imperial sister. I don't doubt those I employ, and I don't employ those I doubt!"

Di Chenzhe's face turned livid as he glared at Di Qingyu with resentment. She was about to die, yet she still didn't forget to humiliate him and sow discord.

Di Qingyu chuckled. After looking up and glancing at the two of them, she forced her trembling body upright.

"Heh, no. Once I'm dead, this realm of the Di clan should be destroyed too."

"Gu Wenci, Di Chenzhe has no ability, but he's full of suspicion. You'd better hurry and send him down to keep serving me like an ox or a horse. As for you, come down in another three years."

Three years: she was plainly cursing Gu Wenci, who was only in his twenties, to live just three more years and die soon!

With that, Di Qingyu raised her sword in one hand, spun it in a flourish, and swiftly swept it across her body.

"Don't!"

Di Chenzhe had not expected her to cut her own throat. He rushed forward.

But it was too late. Blood spurted from Di Qingyu's fair neck onto the ground, and there was no longer any chance of saving her. She had cut short the last of her remaining time herself; after all, she knew she could not survive that hidden weapon.

The Xiling Dynasty, spring of the fifth year of the Mingjia era.

Grand Princess Di Qingyu launched a failed palace coup and died by her own hand, at the age of only twenty-seven.

Thus, the historical records left only a few brief lines about this princess who had brought disaster upon the country.

"Her cunning bordered on the demonic. Debauched and depraved, she threw the court into chaos and sought to claim the throne. She was an aberration and a disgrace among the women of the world."

In the fourth year after Di Qingyu's death, just as she had expected, Gu Wenci rebelled.

Di Chenzhe was no match for him. Gu Wenci stripped the remaining collateral branches of the Di clan of their status and exiled them to the borderlands, after which they vanished without a trace.

Gu Wenci not only took control of Xiling, but six years after ascending the throne, he also conquered Dongpu, Beixiang, and Sangnan, joining them into one country known to history as the "Great Sheng Dynasty."

What endured for generations was not only the tale of his achievements, but also the love story of how he and his empress remained devoted to each other alone all their lives and grew old together.

Di Qingyu knew all of this later history.

Of course, she was thoroughly dead and had not come back to life. Perhaps her resentment was too great, for the underworld did not take her soul away. Instead, she watched everything play out in the mortal world as a ghost, and in the end even heard a conversation between Gu Wenci and his empress.

"Damn! He actually had some fucking system that warned him of danger! No wonder he schemed against me back then!" Di Qingyu ground her teeth with hatred.

The mystery she had been unable to solve no matter how hard she thought was finally resolved. No wonder she had occasionally felt as though she was being watched, and no wonder Gu Wenci had always escaped the assassinations she arranged!

One had high-tech weapons that didn't belong in this era and could learn of danger in advance, while the other was a girl from the future with divine medical skills. How was she supposed to fight that?!

How could she win?! Even if she had eight hundred schemes up her sleeve, they had all been laid out in front of the enemy!

And even after she died, she couldn't enter reincarnation. She had to watch Gu Wenci conquer the world and leave a glorious name for generations. Was heaven fucking with her?!

Di Qingyu was so angry her chest hurt. Looking up at heaven, she burst into curses.

"Fuck you, you damned heaven! Do you **** even know what you're doing? You're making a fool of me for fun, is that it?! You ****!"

The ghostly words that followed were impossible to understand, but the cursing was filthy.

At last, her resentment knotted up inside her, Di Qingyu, who had been a ghost for more than thirty years, was so furious that she fainted. Her vision went black, and her soul finally dissipated from the mortal world.

Content warnings:

1. The female lead is neither wholly righteous nor wholly wicked. She is a ruler from ancient times who kills and saves people alike. Don't judge her by modern standards of justice and morality.

2. The female lead can make use of anything, including her looks, feelings, tears, and friends, but she will not use her body.

3. The female lead is outstanding, so it's natural for her to have admirers. There's hardly any romance; she won't fall in love, there's no couple, no harem, and she won't have children. But that doesn't mean she won't make use of feelings and men. Men can use their harems to balance the court, and of course a female emperor can do the same. But her only love is power; she has no heart for men.

4. The female lead's cheat isn't very powerful. She mainly relies on her methods and wits to defeat the male lead with a system and protagonist's luck, so there will inevitably be twists, elaborate plans, and schemes. If you prefer mindless wish fulfillment, you can turn left at the door.

5. No women tearing each other down, and no mindless cannon fodder. There are only contests between people on opposing sides. Even a female lead with protagonist's luck won't be written as a brainless villainess.

6. This entire story is set in a fictional world. Don't treat a novel as a history book or an encyclopedia. Switch off your brain and enjoy the story. Thank you.