Can't a princess ascend the throne?

Chapter 360 Weapons
Having obtained the information he wanted, Jiu Que waved his hand and was about to turn and leave. At this moment, Sachi, who had been listless behind him, suddenly spoke up solemnly.

“You, surnamed Ying, I have something important to tell you. It concerns your mother, no, it concerns the Jingtai Emperor. This matter is too important for me to discuss with just one person.”

Jiu Que stopped, turned around, and looked at the aging hero with great interest.

"So this is a free message?"

"Of course, don't you Central Plains people have an old saying, 'A dying man's words are good'? I'm an old man who's about to die, and looking back now, it seems I haven't done anything worth mentioning in my life. The only thing that still makes people's blood boil is the battle with your mother! It's a real pity. I originally had the opportunity to spar with you, but due to a twist of fate, you ended up facing my sons instead. My sons were defeated by you, but that didn't tarnish their reputation."

"What the Khan said is true; Murden is indeed an exceptionally outstanding individual. I never imagined that he would choose to shield his younger brother from a fatal blow instead of fleeing when faced with a life-or-death situation. Come to think of it, Murden has saved Namtso three times in total, hasn't he? I had previously heard that the two princes of the grasslands had a bad relationship and often quarreled, but now it seems that were just rumors. These two are clearly outstanding individuals, yet they can only pretend to have a bad relationship. I wonder who they are doing this for. It seems that there is a lot of scheming and intrigue on the grasslands."

"..."

Sachi didn't say anything more, but felt a burning pain on his face. How could he not understand now? The reason why his two sons had such a bad relationship in the past was because they saw through his plan to make his sons fight each other to determine the strongest one to become the next Khan.

Alas, now that death is imminent, all those past plans seem like nothing but fleeting smoke. If he had known this would be his fate, he would have focused more on making the grasslands stronger, rather than letting his sons fight amongst themselves.

But now, it's too late to say anything. Murden, his favorite son, is dead. Now, all his sons, except for Namtso, whose fate is currently unknown, have been captured and are likely to die. Where is the former high and mighty power of the steppe royalty?
Pulling himself out of these painful memories, Sachi looked at Jiu Que with piercing eyes and a helpless expression.

"I'm only giving you advice because of your deceased mother. If you really don't want to, I won't force you. After all, right now, you're the butcher and I'm the fish."

These words were so pitiful that Jiu Que couldn't help but wiggle his toes and then tentatively took two steps forward.

Sachi watched this scene quietly, watching as the other person drew closer and closer to him.

But just a moment later, as the tense atmosphere gradually filled the air, Jiu Que suddenly stopped. Her unusual behavior left everyone opposite her momentarily bewildered. The taut string in the air snapped before its most exciting moment.

A clang! The barely concealed sound of sharp weapons clashing startled everyone present. Sachi's eyes flickered slightly; knowing it was too late, he still made the first move. Sachi Khan, who had appeared frail and exhausted even from sitting still to breathe, pounced with the agility of a leopard. He looked nothing like a severely wounded, dying old man; he was clearly a seasoned hunter!

At the same time, a sharp object flew from his hand, aiming straight for Jiu Que's face. The grassland royals locked in the cages nearby also pounced with all their might. Especially the iron cage next to it, which contained most of Sachi's sons, filled with young and strong men, was suddenly tilted to the side with a heavy thud under their coordinated attack. At the same time, it was even closer to Jiu Que.

This was an extremely dangerous distance, as if they only needed to reach out, and a weapon, sharpened to an incredibly sharp point and hidden somewhere in their hand, could pierce Jiu Que and deliver the heaviest blow to her.

This was a premeditated murder.

Moreover, everyone involved was perfectly in sync, because they all had only one goal—to kill Ying Jiuque!

At this moment, the chilling killing intent that had been hidden all night finally tore off its veil, revealing a devilish grin. Closest to Jiu Que was Sachi's fourth son. He was naturally tall with long arms and legs, and at this moment, this advantage was magnified to the extreme. In his hand was also the longest weapon among them—a broken spearhead.

It's unclear how these people managed to conceal such weapons on their bodies without being detected. However, none of that seems important now. The Fourth Prince can finally avenge his fallen subordinates. Even if they can't kill the Great Jing Emperor, killing this young general who has brought decades of peace to the Great Jing will give the grasslands more time to recover. At least, with Ying Jiuque dead here, the other generals of the Northern Army have no incentive to lead their troops to pursue the fleeing grassland soldiers and ultimately wipe out the entire grassland.

Winter had arrived, and the grasslands were bitterly cold. They had taken most of their grain with them on this expedition, and even most of their livestock had contracted smallpox. If they were to be pursued by the Great Jing army, the death toll would rise further, and their grasslands would truly be destroyed.

They themselves had no chance of escaping, but they could still do their part to fight for the lives of their surviving people. At the very least, they could let them, under the protection of the Eternal Heaven, kill this great villain who had ruined the plans for the rise of the grasslands!
May the Eternal Heaven protect them, allowing their people to live better lives. May the Eternal Heaven grant them the blessing! Let them kill this devilish woman before them!
The combined resentment of the entire grassland royal family formed a tangible layer of malice that stung Jiu Que's skin. As the various sharp iron weapons that flew out got closer and closer to the woman, with the fastest one already less than three inches in front of her, wild joy shone in the eyes of all the grassland royal family members.

They won! They were about to win! At least their people survived; the Eternal Heaven had not abandoned their people after all! Their people will surely unite and launch the next attack!
Just as everyone was about to cheer, Sachi Khan's face suddenly turned ashen, and those sharp weapons seemed...

It's stopped?

It stopped less than three inches around Ying Jiuque's body?
No, are they seeing things?