Can't a princess ascend the throne?

Chapter 259 The Psychological Defenses Broken
The cheers echoed through the sky, warming the hearts of the Northern Frontier soldiers who followed. Perhaps their bloody battles and valiant fights were all for this peace and tranquility.

Humans are truly amazing creatures. The same army can develop two completely different styles depending on its discipline and morale. They might massacre entire cities and tribes, killing people for food, or they might save people from suffering and die for their country.

The Northern Frontier Army was originally just a coalition of miscellaneous troops. They all had the potential to conquer the Central Plains, but they were a step behind Emperor Jingtai and could only submit to him. However, they did not abandon their country and family to fight for power and the throne. Instead, they were defeated by a woman who stepped forward in a time of chaos and then guarded the frontier for decades, protecting their homeland.

However, even within this loyal army, there were warriors willing to die for their country, as well as traitors who colluded with the enemy!
In the camp of the Northern Frontier Army, before General Yuchi's tent, the three armies stood silently, the atmosphere so quiet it was unsettling.

Di Yun, kneeling before the soldiers, lowered his head, unsure of what to say; perhaps, he simply didn't want to speak.

After a moment, General Yuchi, with a stern face, spoke in a deep voice.

"Di Yun, is there anything you want to say?"

"..."

"You joined the army at the age of thirteen, and after decades of military service, I thought you had grown into a commanding general. However, I never imagined that you would forget the most important thing for a general of Dajing: the military spirit of a soldier! You are a Dajing person, all your relatives are Dajing people, shouldn't you fight for Dajing? Why did you betray Dajing? What right do you have to betray Dajing?!"

"..."

"Di Yun, raise your head and look at me!"

Di Yun trembled, but finally raised his head under this silent pressure. However, the moment his gaze fell upon General Yuchi, he abruptly looked away as if burned.

He was still ashamed after all.

However, he had considered this feeling of shame before, but ultimately he chose himself over the other.

"I only have one question for you today: you have colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country, plotting to murder the imperial censor who was serving as a count! Do you know what your crime is? And why did you do this?"

In truth, General Yuchi simply wanted to know if someone had coerced or bribed him, but he didn't want to hear such an outcome. If he did hear a helpless reason, he wouldn't know what to do. But ultimately, can't this all be treated as if nothing happened?

This time it's Jiuque. What about those comrades who died in battle before? Could they have also perished because of Di Yun? Just thinking about it pierced General Yuchi's heart. They were brothers who had been together for decades! Why, why did they have to do this!
Di Yun had been pricked with several needles by Xie Mingchen, and now he only had the strength to speak. Biting his tongue to commit suicide would require a great deal of strength, and in his current state, he couldn't do it.

He didn't want to speak at first, but after thinking it over, he finally spoke in a low voice.

"General, I know I am utterly wicked and deserve to die a thousand deaths, but please, for the sake of our decades-long friendship, take good care of my wife and daughters..."

"Take care of your wife and daughters?"

General Yuchi repeated the sentence, then sneered. "Who do you think you are? You've done something utterly despicable, why should I take care of your wife and daughters? Who do you think I am? Do I look like a sucker? Tell the truth! I'll leave you a whole corpse, and that will settle this comradeship."

Seeing that Di Yun still kept his mouth shut and refused to speak, Jiu Que sighed.

"Deputy General Di, perhaps you think that if you don't speak up, no one will know why. But I regret to inform you that I have long known that there are traitors in the army who are colluding with the enemy. I just wanted to give you a chance, so I didn't say it directly. His Majesty has already sent word that if the traitors in the Northern Frontier Army are found, their entire families will be exterminated if they refuse to confess! Deputy General Di, although we haven't known each other for long, I know you are a good man, otherwise you wouldn't still be thinking about your wife and daughters at a time like this. However, with the imperial decree above me, I cannot let this go unpunished. If you truly care about your wife and daughters, then speak up."

Upon hearing the words "extermination of three clans," Di Yun visibly trembled, glancing at Ying Jiuque in disbelief. How could she say such a thing? Shouldn't she be utterly soft-hearted?
Ying Jiuque smiled slightly at this. Did she have to smile at Di Yun for doing such a thing? She wasn't some saint. Even if Di Yun had deep friendships with most of the Northern Frontier Army, he had only met her a few times, and their relationship wasn't that deep.

Upon hearing Jiu Que's words, many people present couldn't help but shift their bodies. If this were to result in the extermination of three clans, wouldn't some of those present also be implicated?

Amidst the faint commotion, Di Yun's mental defenses crumbled. When he saw his wife and daughter stumbling towards him, his defenses collapsed completely, and he let out a heart-wrenching roar.

"No! Don't look at me! Don't look at me!"

Di Yun's wife was a frail woman, as delicate as a willow branch, with a hint of illness on her face. She had just learned from her neighbors that her husband had been brought back bound hand and foot, and finding it strange, she rushed over with her daughter. However, the soldiers she encountered along the way were not as friendly as usual; instead, their faces wore an indescribable complexity. She sensed something was wrong then, and now, seeing her husband kneeling on the ground in full view of everyone, pale, cold, and desperate, a bad feeling arose in her heart.

"Husband, what's wrong? Don't scare me..."

"Who sent you? Go back now!"

He was shouting so loudly that his two-year-old daughter burst into tears. No one could bear to watch and turned their heads slightly away.

"They, they all say they've captured a traitor who's trying to sell Lord Ying to the barbarians of the grasslands. That's truly despicable! Lord Ying has helped us so much; if it weren't for her, we might not have survived this harsh winter safely. So, husband, that person isn't you, is it?"

"..."

Di Yun finally couldn't hold back and burst into tears.

"I'll confess, I'll confess everything."

Seeing her husband like this, Madam Di Yun collapsed to the ground, holding her daughter, utterly distraught. So, her husband really was a traitor.

Di Yun then painfully recounted how he had become involved with the barbarians of the grasslands.

“You all know that my elder brother died in battle. But you don’t know that before that, I was separated from him for a period of time. At that time, the world was in chaos, and it was very common for families to be separated. Later, my elder brother found me and saw the scar on my waist from when I was a child and spilled boiling water. So he took me in. But actually, I am not his biological brother, and I am not even from Dajing.”

(End of this chapter)