The Eldest Legitimate Daughter is Both Beautiful and Valiant (ELDBBV) - Chapter 90

The battle in Nanjiang cost his Jin kingdom hundreds of thousands of troops. For at least five years, the Jin kingdom would have no strength to fight Western Liang again, and would unavoidably have to cede land and sue for peace.

The emperor was so furious that his hair bristled and his hands shook. Just now he had been angry at the Bai family’s coercion, yet at this moment what he hated most was his legitimate son, Prince Xin!

That arrogant brat, incompetent yet still forcing the chief commander to go into battle. He regretted that back then he had given Prince Xin the gold token. My own son… How could he not know what sort of trash he was?!

Yes, when he sent Prince Xin to the Zhenguo Duke, it was with the intention of letting Prince Xin suppress the Zhenguo Duke. He merely wanted to cause the Zhenguo Duke’s whole family to be guilty! He just wanted destroy that so-called myth of the undefeatable military household.

Yet, as the emperor of Great Jin, he had never thought to let the Great Jin Kingdom lose this disastrously!

The Bai family dying is not worth pitying, but those hundreds of thousands of dead troops were all his, how could he not feel heartbroken?!

And that Liu Huanzhang!

How dare he betray the country!

How dare he lead Great Jin’s army to fight amongst themselves!

Traitor! Exterminate his nine generations! He must exterminate his nine generations!

The emperor’s hand gripping the bamboo scrolls was constantly shaking. When he thought of the daughters of the Bai family in mourning clothes kneeling outside Wude Gate, and the civilians of the capital forcing him to kill his legitimate son, his fury burned even more!

He only had that one legitimate son!

The emperor’s head ached terribly, and in his heart he was so angry that he wished to immediately issue an order to exterminate the Bai family completely.

At this time, the empress was pacing round and round outside the hall, not knowing what to do. Now the Bai family together with the civilians were kneeling outside the palace gate, insisting they wanted justice, wanting the emperor to kill Prince Xin to appease the people.

The empress and the emperor had been married for so many years. She knew too well that the emperor liked to seek fame and a good reputation. What if he truly killed Prince Xin to protect his own reputation…

The empress did not even dare to think about this. The emperor had many sons, but she had only that one son!

Inside the hall, the emperor looked at the dark-faced Princess Dowager. He closed his eyes and said, “Aunt, we’re family. Behind closed doors naturally we speak as a family. Aunt, you’ve made this matter so big, what is it that you want?”

The emperor, his eyes dark and filled with murderous intent, looked towards the Princess Dowager, “Do you really… want to force me to kill Prince Xin?!”

“Since we are behind closed doors speaking as a family, then I shall say a few words from the depths of my heart to His Majesty!” The Princess Dowager gripped the tiger‑head cane in her hand tightly, her expression calm. “Before I married Bai Weiting, who back then was the heir of the Zhenguo Duke, my Father the Emperor once said to me… He said that the Bai family of the Zhenguo Duke’s residence was the pillar of the country, the backbone of Great Jin Kingdom. The imperial clan needed to rely on the Bai family, yet also to guard against the Bai family! My father was already advanced in years and had little time left. He hoped I could help him preserve the Lin family’s imperial power and guard against any treasonous thought from the Bai family! That day… I swore by the bl00d of our imperial clan.”

As if fearing these words were not weighty enough, the Princess Dowager gripped the tiger‑head cane even more tightly, her voice quiet, “That year, Father the Emperor gifted me a squad of imperial shadow guards. All these years, I have kept them at the residence. Even when the Duke and my sons went to war, I have never deployed them. Does Your Majesty know… what I was guarding against?”

The emperor’s gaze towards the Princess Dowager grew solemn. He had never imagined there had been such hidden matters behind her marriage into the Bai family.

Even when her own sons went to war she had not used them. Then truly… it was to guard against the Bai family’s rebellion.

“I wished to help our Lin family preserve the inviolability of imperial authority, so today… I advise Your Majesty that Prince Xin must be executed!” The Princess Dowager clutched the sandalwood prayer beads hidden in her sleeve, letting out a long sigh. “Let’s not talk about the Bai family’s personal enmity. Let’s speak only of the hearts of the people! The military records were delivered to the Bai family’s mourning hall in full view of the public. Prince Xin’s actions are already known to all! The Bai family and the civilians are gnashing their teeth in hatred! Your Majesty must know… the water that carries the boat can also overturn it. Imperial power can only endure if the people are supportive! If Your Majesty executes Prince Xin, then this time… the civilians outside Wude Gate will be won over by Your Majesty! If Your Majesty cannot bear to execute Prince Xin, cannot even bear to punish him… what Your Majesty will lose will not merely be the hearts of those people outside Wude Gate.”

The Princess Dowager spoke as though thinking only of the imperial clan, but she too harboured private grief. She truly did wish the emperor would kill Prince Xin, to avenge her husband… her sons, and her grandsons!

Her youngest grandson, so lively and endearing, had only been ten years old!

Had it not been for Prince Xin’s greedy desire for merit and recklessness, forcing Bai Weiting to go into battle, how could the Bai family have ended with every male perishing?!

Prince Xin… deserved to die!

Yet she could not appear as a weeping, pleading woman, begging the emperor by the ties of bl00d to kill Prince Xin.

The Princess Dowager had known from a young age how women differed from men. When facing a man, first she must not see herself merely as a woman. A man’s ambition was the realm, while a woman’s heart was often too soft… seeking only for her own kin and her home behind the walls. This was what she had once taught her eldest granddaughter Bai Qingyan.

These words from the Princess Dowager made the emperor’s heart pound wildly. He gripped the bamboo scrolls in his hand and knocked it against the desk, then tossed it aside, leaning back against the cushion embroidered with a flying golden dragon, closing his eyes and pondering again and again.

In the struggle between the stability of imperial power supported by the people’s hearts, and the reluctance of familial affection, before long the emperor’s chest filled with a heavy, choking breath.

He kept his eyes closed and asked, “In saying these words to me, does Imperial Aunt truly have not even the slightest intention… to kill Prince Xin in order to avenge your sons and grandsons?”
After all, having long occupied the throne, the emperor carried upon him an overwhelming aura of power and dominance that was deeply intimidating.
The Princess Dowager steadied her mind and slowly opened her mouth, “It’s true that I’m the Duchess of the Zhenguo Duke’s household, but first and foremost, I am the Princess Dowager of the imperial clan!”
The emperor opened his eyes, his cold and calculating gaze fixed upon the Princess Dowager, filled with probing suspicion.
The Princess Dowager met the emperor’s eyes directly, her voice calm and steady. “As things stand now… Liu Huanzhang’s nine generations must not be spared! While the civilians are still gathered outside Wude Gate, Your Majesty must at least show your resolve. Let the imperial guards surround the Liu residence and confiscate their property! As for Prince Xin, precisely because he is your legitimate son, he must be harshly punished. Even if he is not executed, then at least he must be cut off forever from the path to the throne! As for the Bai family… There remain only a few widows and orphaned girls. They can no longer stir up any great waves.”
In the past, when the late emperor was still alive, he had told the current emperor that this eldest princess, the legitimate daughter of the imperial family, was a capable and proud woman. Though over the years she had chanted scriptures and eaten a vegetarian diet, and a look of gentle mercy had settled into her features, yet when faced with real matters… the ruthless decisiveness carved into her very bones had never changed.
“Aunt’s eldest granddaughter, she’s truly formidable, isn’t she?” The emperor’s eyes narrowed, and at the mention of Bai Qingyan, a murderous intent slipped out, his voice turning cold as ice.
The Princess Dowager’s hand, holding the sandalwood prayer beads, trembled slightly. She gently began to turn the beads, her voice resolute. “I have already planned for what will come next. The Bai family’s great mourning shall be handled with simplicity, so that this uproar may soon subside! Afterwards… I shall enter the palace myself and request to return the title of Zhenguo Duke, then go to a temple to pray for the nation and remain there in seclusion! I only beg Your Majesty, for the Bai family’s generations of loyal service, allow the widows of the Bai family… to return to their ancestral home in Shuoyang.”