The Eldest Legitimate Daughter is Both Beautiful and Valiant (ELDBBV) - Chapter 92

The emperor suddenly stood up, stepped around the desk, and flung the bamboo scrolls in his hand fiercely at Bai Qingyan’s feet.

“How could there be talk?! After getting hold of the military records, you didn’t promptly presented them, instead letting the people of the capital hear what they contained before I did. You swore an oath before the spirits, stirred up the grief and anger of the masses, and blocked Wude Gate. You were just short of forcing me to abdicate, and you still dare to say how could there be talk?! Do you really think I’ve grown so old and dull of hearing and sight that I can’t see through the Bai family’s filthy schemes?!”

She leaned over and picked up the bamboo scrolls from the floor, wiping them carefully with her mourning garment’s sleeve. The last line came into view… Deputy Commander Bai Qishan was trapped in Fengcheng for five days and exhausted their provisions. The Nanyan army captured five sons of the Bai family alive, stripped and flayed them to force Deputy Commander Bai Qishan to surrender.

An overwhelming rage surged through Bai Qingyan’s chest as if boiling oil had been poured over her heart. In the end, she could not suppress it, and bit out through clenched teeth, “The Bai family’s scheming to demand justice and protect itself may indeed be filthy, but what of Your Majesty’s purpose, sending an incompetent prince to oversee the army and granting him the golden imperial token? Was that not filthy as well?”

“Presumptuous!” The emperor’s eyes were bloodshot with rage.

“Western Liang and Nanyan covetously eye our borders. Daliang and Rongdi harbour ulterior motives. The most elite soldiers of this country fought desperately with the armies of Western Liang and Nanyan who coveted the Jin kingdom. They did not fear dying on the battlefield, being torn limb from limb, or even having heaven and earth as their only grave. They shed bl00d and lay down their lives for their families and their country, vowing never to retreat! Yet in the midst of a dire battlefield in Nanjiang, Your Majesty feared your subjects might become too powerful, and sent an imperial prince who knows nothing of war or military strategy, armed with a golden imperial token, to seize merit. Is that not the most disgraceful scheme of all?!”

“A fool who forced the commander-in-chief to act with the golden token! And now the sons of the Bai family lie dead, the Jin realm no longer has a Zhenguo Duke whose very name could keep Daliang and Rongdi at bay for ten years. There remain no fierce generals in court! Hundreds of thousands of soldiers lie dead… the Jin kingdom has cut off its own arm!”

Seeing the emperor’s twisted, furious expression, she could not help but let out a cold laugh, “Soon, when the Jin kingdom bows and scrapes before Nanyn and Western Liang to beg for peace, Daliang and Rongdi will rush in to share the spoils. This outcome… is Your Majesty satisfied?!”

The emperor ground his teeth until his eyes were red. Bai Qingyan’s words hit the nail on the head. It was why after reading the bamboo scrolls, he had flown into such a rage and bitter regret.

“Your Majesty wishing to exterminate the Bai family may be good! It shows the world that even if you die for the country, you must never give your whole heart and leave no escape for your kin! Otherwise, all the men in your family will be wiped out… Even when the coffins are brought back, the coffins would be so thin that even commoners would disdain them, unable even to give a ten-year-old child an intact body to bury!”

Before the emperor could speak, Prince Xin shouted angrily, “Your Bai family is nothing more than watch dogs raised by my imperial clan! Your grandfather and father, those two old bastards, hoarded troops and power for themselves. Did your Bai family ever keep my Father the Emperor and the Lin family’s imperial authority in your hearts?! How could a watch dog be allowed to meddle in matters of the imperial house?! Bai Weiting, that old scoundrel… Always mouthing off about the people of the country, putting on airs of loyalty! Do you dare say… your Bai family did not scheme to seize the Lin family’s throne and pave the way for rebellion?!”

“My father, even when Fengcheng’s water and grain were cut off, still resisted desperately. Was that to rebel?!” She stood, unfolding the bamboo scrolls in her hand, eyes bloodshot and brimming with tears, the bamboo scrolls shaking in her trembling hands. “My five younger brothers were captured alive, and to prevent the enemy from using the Bai sons to shake our army’s morale, my father wept as he shot them dead with his own arrows. Was that to rebel?!”

“My brother Bai Qingyu, left behind at the rear, could have fled under the pretext of protecting Prince Xin, yet he fought to the death on the frontline of Bailing, leaving no corpse behind. Was that to rebel?! My seventeenth younger brother was only ten years old. He was trapped in Fengcheng for five days without food, and after dying had his heart and liver gouged out by Western Liang bandits… His belly was stuffed only with dirt and tree roots! Was that to rebel?!”

Her raised voice, carrying murderous resolve, echoed shockingly through the grand hall.

“My seventeenth younger brother was only ten years old! His life had not even truly begun! Yet the loyalty and righteousness was etched deep into his very bones. The unyielding iron will passed down through generations made him raise his sword to fight the enemy, knowing full well it was the road to death! Who else in the world apart from my Bai family can claim such loyalty?!”

“For decades the Jin kingdom has dominated the world, yet we can count the truly formidable generals on a single hand! To cultivate successors worthy to awe the other kingdoms, my grandfather and father brought every male of the Bai family to the front lines, not leaving even the tiniest path of retreat for the Bai family! Your Majesty turned a blind eye to such wholehearted loyalty! Our entire Bai family vowed to give our lives in service, generation after generation offering up our heads and our bl00d, only to gain what in return?! The slander and framing by treacherous court officials! Your Majesty’s suspicion! Your Majesty’s doubt! And Your Majesty’s fear!”

Her very insides felt torn apart by pain, yet she endured the agony, her eyes turning cold as she looked to Prince Xin, “If the Bai family truly intended to rebel… Then the golden imperial token in your hand, Prince Xin, would be nothing but scrap iron. How could you ever have commanded my grandfather?! How could you still be alive to return to the capital?!”

The eunuchs on the floor were trembling like leaves, terror-stricken by the emperor’s rage.

Prince Xin’s lips moved soundlessly, the emperor’s lips too were pressed into a hard line.

In the magnificent hall, the silence was so heavy that even a pin drop could be heard.

Holding the bamboo scrolls, she slowly knelt again, her voice hoarse and choked, “Does Your Majesty still remember what you once said to my grandfather when you were first appointed as the Crown Prince, in that Eastern Palace with its red bricks and azure tiles? Your Majesty said… ‘Uncle is ten years my senior, and since childhood I have regarded Uncle not as a mere court official, but as father and elder brother. Uncle bears the people of the world in his heart, seeking peace and prosperity for all under heaven. I am the same. While I am in court and Uncle commands on the battlefield, for all my life, I will entrust military power to Uncle, and shall never doubt you.’”

The emperor’s fists clenched tightly at his side, his mind dragged back to that snowy winter so many years ago. Bai Weiting’s dignified features had been solemn, his eyes faintly red as he bowed deeply with a sonorous voice, “I shall not fail Your Highness the Crown Prince’s trust.”

Those words… They had merely been a calculative trick when he, an unloved prince, first stood on the brink of power, just to win himself a pillar of support!

Bai Weiting… Had he truly taken it to heart?

The emperor’s thoughts drifted, unsettled.

“That’s why my grandfather led our whole family to Nanjiang, leaving not a single path of retreat forthe Bai family, for complete loyalty!”

Seeing the change in the emperor’s expression, she pressed on, “Grandfather used to say that since ancient times, martial families have always been most feared by the sovereign. Yet with Your Majesty’s trust, Grandfather feared nothing! Grandfather said Your Majesty had the grand ambition of ruling the world, what he himself sought was peace under heaven. And if, in his lifetime, that wish could not be fulfilled, then the Bai descendants should take it up as their own goal! If one day, when the world is united and peace prevails, the Bai family must return the military power granted by the emperor back to the throne of our own accord, because weakening powerful ministers and restoring power to the central governing power is what every sovereign, after pacifying the realm, would do… and ought to do. As long as the Bai family remained loyal and honest, and not greedy for power, no matter which emperor sits on that throne, they would always choose the gentlest way to preserve the Bai family’s peace.”

The emperor’s lips trembled faintly. He had never known that Zhenguo Duke Bai Weiting… had held him in such high regard.

She lifted her eyes to look at the emperor, who was unconsciously steadying himself against the scented agarwood table, “Your Majesty. Grandfather trusted Your Majesty so much, but Your Majesty… Did you truly keep your word of ‘never doubting’?”