"The grand army returns in triumph to pay respects to the Emperor! All carriages, clear the way!" Banners blot…
"The grand army returns in triumph to pay respects to the Emperor! All carriages, clear the way!"
Banners blot out the sun above the streets of Chang'an. The Fourth Prince sits high upon a crimson charger, his armor gleaming, his spirit soaring. Truly the peerless young general of the Empire. He's come to the capital both to deliver news of the victory and to petition for rewards for the troops.
Just as the vanguard neared the capital, a rival set of imperial banners appeared on the horizon: it was the crown prince's carriage. The Fourth Prince's brow furrows. He had long heard that the Emperor harbored doubts toward the border legions. To send the Crown Prince to contest the road now, was this a ploy to suppress the army's rightful rewards? The border troops bled for this victory; their dead are beyond count. Should he yield to the Crown Prince and fail to secure honors befitting such a triumph, with what face could he return to the frontier? Resolute, he coolly ordered his aide, "Do not yield an inch. We enter the gates directly."
Under his canopy, the crown prince was equally troubled. His grasp on the throne was already tenuous. Today, led by some unknown design, he found his path blocked head-on by the Fourth Prince's triumphant return. To yield would not only erode his prestige among the princes but, more perilously, stoke the Emperor's suspicions against the military, a recipe for imperial disaster.
"Press on. We shall not be the first to retreat."
Amidst the bustling streets, a masked woman gazes toward the horizon. This is Li Qingyun, Princess of the Realm. Upon hearing that her Fourth Prince brother is returning to the capital, she knows she must be the first to welcome him home. As she waits by the roadside, an imperial guard hurries over with urgent news: "The Crown Prince and the Fourth Prince are set to collide at the gates. Neither will give way. Bloodshed may follow!"
Li Qingyun furrows his brow, pauses thoughtfully, and then commands, "Send my carriage now!"
The princess's carriage speeds down the main street, drawing closer to the border troops. Startled at first, the soldiers swiftly fall into formation. The Princess leaps onto the lead carriage. Seeing her silhouette, the vanguard general laughs heartily: "The Flying General is here! Clear the way!"
The Fourth Prince spurs his horse forward, his booming laughter echoing as he greets her. As it happened, the Princess had once donned male attire and slipped into the Fourth Prince's ranks. It was only amidst the heat of battle that he discovered his "soldier" was his own sister. Together they charged through blood and fire, forging a sibling bond tempered by the anvil of war. Utterly unbreakable. While she was a paragon of riding and archery, she possessed a catastrophic lack of direction. In the chaos of war, she would charge blindly through enemy lines, earning her the mocking, yet affectionate, title of "The Flying General."
Their joyful reunion speaks for itself. Learning the border troops' steadfast resolve, Li Qingyun contemplated the situation before resolutely drawing her brother back into the carriage.
"The border legions have their grievances, but our Second Brother's seat is equally precarious. If you trust me, Brother, board my carriage. Today, I shall escort both my brothers into the Imperial City together!"
"In this den of vipers we call a capital, if I cannot trust my own sister, I have no one left to believe in."
The carriage races forward, pulling up alongside the crown prince's procession. Yet, within the Crown Prince's personal retinue, a snake lay in wait. Seeing the Fourth Prince and the princess arrive together, he realized the plan was falling apart. Panicked, he drew his bow and fired an arrow straight at the Fourth Prince's face!
The Fourth Prince, a veteran of slaughters, did not even flinch. He snatched the arrow out of the air with a bare hand, a terrifying, murderous aura erupting from his silhouette.
As the traitor reached for a second shaft, the Crown Prince, pale with horror, roared for his execution. The man was cut down before he could draw the string again. The princess sensed the danger and glanced at the Fourth Prince, yet the Fourth Prince only tightened his arm around his sister, shielding her from the chaos. Not a single shadow of doubt crossed his face.
"Is this the extent of the struggle for the throne? Petty schemes and hidden arrows? Qingyun, if the capital stifles you, remember, the frontier is always open to you."
Knowing the gravity of the slight, the Crown Prince descended from his carriage and bowed deeply. "The failure to discipline my men is mine alone. Fourth Brother, I swear upon my life. This treachery was none of my doing!"
The Fourth Prince spared not a single look for the future Emperor. His gaze remained fixed solely upon the sister at his side. Only when the Princess offered a small, reassuring nod did the Fourth Prince relent. "I do not trust your word," he said coldly. "I trust only her."
The three of them entered the gates together within the Princess's carriage, a tableau of sibling unity that would be told and retold in the teahouses of Chang'an for years to come.
Little did they know that within the depths of the Inner Palace, the new Empress was trembling in a cold, thunderous rage. With the Fifth Prince still in his youth, the Empress knew her only path to power lay in the ruin of the four elder brothers. If they ceased their clashing, her ambitions would wither.
At the princess's residence, the Third Prince is waiting for her. The moment Li Qingyun walked in, the formidable Third Prince, a man who commands the court with an iron fist, shed his armor. He reveals his true self, sprawled across the daybed.
"Tell me, are you truly my sister by blood? Or do you belong to that dull-witted Crown Prince, or perhaps that oafish soldier of a Fourth Brother?"
Li Qingyun gave him a shove with her foot and flopped down comfortably.
"Only you would dare treat me so! But alas, such is my fate for having but one precious sister." Grumbling, the Third Prince scoots over. He hovers nearby like a scolded puppy, watching over her. The April air has begun to simmer with heat. He takes up a fan and wafts it with rhythmic gentleness, careful not to let even the slightest breeze disturb her peace.
Just then, a servant delivered a note. The Third Prince took it, glanced at the sender, and scowled. It was from the Eldest Prince. It read: "The princess impressed everyone today." The Third Prince's face soured instantly. "The Eldest Prince?" he spat. "He's just a cripple marked by misfortune! Why do you soil your hands by associating with such an ill-omened creature?"
Li Qingyun shot up, anger flashing in her eyes. "Is that how you talk about our own brother behind his back?"
"Our brother?" The Third Prince's voice turned sharp. "You know full well he's in the Crown Prince's pocket. He's against me!"
"Then why must this war continue? You share the same blood!"
"Do you think we chose this slaughter? It is the Empe...! You wouldn't understand. If I do not seize the crown, I cannot be the shield you need!"
Li Qingyun shoved him toward the door and then slammed it shut in his face.
"Then I don't want to understand! And I don't need your shield! If you're willing to throw away brotherhood just to claw your way to the top, then fine. Go ahead. Go back to your den of scheming advisors. Fan them with your lies and leave me in peace!"
The Third Prince, a man whose word is law in the capital, can only stomp his feet like a petulant child before her closed door. "Withdraw! Every last one of you! My elite guards are wasted on a house that does not want them!"
Back in the inner palace, news arrived that the Princess's residence now lay unguarded. A cold, predatory joy flickered in the Empress's eyes. Seizing the window of opportunity, the Empress dripped venomous lies into the Emperor's ear: she claimed the Crown Prince and the Fourth Prince were joining forces in a treasonous coup. Bewitched and senile, the Emperor fell for her web of deceit. In his dotage, he surrendered the authority to command the Palace Guard to her hands.
With her personal guards gone, the princess stood no chance against the palace troops. Once Qingyun was dragged within the palace walls, the Empress gave a cold mandate: break the Princess's will and bend her to the Empress's service, or end her life.
Meanwhile, the Third Prince had already begun to regret withdrawing his men. But by the time he realized his mistake, the princess had already been taken. Without an imperial summons, he couldn't set foot inside the palace alone. Casting caution to the wind, the Third Prince dispatched riders in every direction, to the Eldest, the Crown Prince, and the Fourth Prince.
The Crown Prince arrived at the Third's estate in a whirlwind. Armed with the Heir Apparent's seal and authority, the two brothers stormed the gates together.
The Eldest Prince cast aside his facade of serenity. He unleashed his vast network of court officials, the "tongues" he had cultivated for years, to brand the Empress a traitorous usurper.
The Fourth Prince abandoned all caution. Defying the laws of treason, he marched his battle-hardened border legions into the city, sealing the Imperial Palace in an iron ring of steel.
The Third Prince's private shadow-guard, warriors raised for this very hour, breached the inner sanctum. They struck just as the palace guards raised their blades against the Princess. United for the first time, the four princes staged a swift, bloodless coup. A new sovereign was crowned, and the rot of the old court was purged in a single morning.
"Seek not for warmth in the Heavens' cold decree, for Qingyun's cry stilled the sea of strife." "The world sings of four sons who saved the throne, unaware the Princess held the strings to their souls."