A family of loyal martyrs, starting with nine wives to continue the family line.

Zheng Anshi clenched his fist in his sleeve, about to speak, when the old lady raised her hand, and he swallowed his words.

The old lady put down the ginseng soup.

The movements are very slow.

The delivery was so slow that the smile on the eunuch's face froze.

"it is good."

She stood up and casually tossed her 20-year-old walking stick to the ground.

"Thump."

The cane rolled to the feet of the eunuch who was delivering the imperial decree. The eunuch looked down at it but didn't understand what it meant.

"Come."

The old lady called out from outside the door.

The steward of the Wei family rushed in, carrying a long, rectangular brocade box in his arms, his forehead covered in sweat.

The brocade box is opened.

A flash of golden light.

Zheng Anshi's legs went weak.

Dragon-headed scepter.

Cast in pure gold, the staff is engraved with a five-clawed golden dragon, its head holding a pearl, and its tail is wrapped in black iron.

The scepter was three feet and seven inches long, and its golden light overshadowed all the candles in the hall.

Zheng Anshi had seen this before—he had personally witnessed the late emperor bestowing it upon him.

In the first year of Jingyuan, the patriarch of the Wei family died in battle. The late emperor posthumously honored the Wei family as the foremost military family of the Great Wei, bestowed upon the matriarch a dragon-headed scepter, and delivered a four-line imperial edict—

The emperor was a foolish ruler.

Punish the treacherous officials.

The rank of official is one level higher than the rank of the person you meet.

He did not bow before the emperor.

When that imperial edict was issued, it spread throughout the court, and not a single official dared to utter a sound.

When the late emperor said these words, the coffin contained the patriarch of the Wei family, and the nine sons who were still alive were kneeling in the mourning hall.

The eunuch delivering the imperial decree could no longer maintain his smile.

He stared at the dragon-headed scepter, his Adam's apple bobbing twice, and took a step back.

"this……"

The old lady reached out and took the dragon-headed scepter in her hand.

The golden dragon gleamed with a deep, dark luster under the candlelight, and the two rubies on its head faced the face of the eunuch delivering the imperial decree.

"Go back and tell His Majesty."

The old lady's hands were very steady.

"I'm coming right away."

The eunuch who delivered the decree dared not linger and turned to leave, his pace three times faster than when he had come.

As soon as the door closed, Zheng Anshi jumped up.

"Old Madam!"

As I took three steps closer, my fingers trembled.

"If you take this to the palace at this time... what if that old dog Lu Song doesn't recognize it?"

He couldn't bring himself to say what came next.

The Wei family army of 280,000 men is heading towards Hangu Pass, leaving the capital empty except for a few servants and the spies left behind by Hua Jieyu.

The old lady had nothing in her hands except this scepter.

Lu Song had cultivated his influence in the imperial court for over twenty years, with his protégés spread throughout the Six Ministries. The commander of the Imperial Guards had drunk with him, and the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review was from the same hometown.

In case that old dog doesn't follow the rules, just have someone stop the Dowager Empress outside the palace gates—

No surgery needed. At over seventy years old, a simple "fall" is enough.

Sweat dripped down Zheng Anshi's forehead.

The old lady turned her head and glanced at him.

"Young Master, what's the rush?"

She picked up the scepter and slowly walked out.

"The Wei family army has recaptured Jianmen Pass and is heading towards Hangu Pass. As long as the army is not defeated, the Wei family will not fall."

I paused at the threshold.

"His Majesty is suspicious, but not stupid. Wei Zhao is outside protecting him with 500,000 Donghu and 200,000 Xianyuan. He can't bear to harm the Wei family at this time."

Zheng Anshi stood there, stunned.

That makes sense.

As long as the Wei family army continues to shield the Great Wei, Emperor Yuanxi will not kill the Dowager Empress.

The 300,000-strong Wei family army is the last lifeline of the Great Wei. If the old lady is harmed, Wei Zhao will turn back to the capital. Who will block Hangu Pass?

No matter how arrogant Lu Song was, he wouldn't dare to gamble on this.

But then again—

The old matriarch entered the palace today with her dragon-headed scepter, ready to confront Lu Song directly. Once she took this step, there was no turning back.

Once Wei Zhao had destroyed the Donghu and pacified the Xianyuan, the threat from the five tribes was completely eliminated...

That dog Lu Song—he can just wait to die.

Zheng Anshi swallowed hard, wiped the sweat from his sleeves, and followed him outside.

I didn't try to persuade them any further.

None of the women in the Wei family could be persuaded.

……

The gates of the Wei residence opened.

When the old lady came out, the long street outside was already packed with people.

The news had already spread.

Hua Jieyu's undercover agents weren't hired for nothing—the storytellers in teahouses and taverns, the loud-voiced old women in the market, they started shouting outside half an hour ago.

"The matriarch of the Wei family is going to the palace!"

"The Emperor ordered her to go and confess her crimes!"

"Just because we sent that scoundrel Lu Song a coffin!"

The common people don't understand the imperial court.

But the common people can see the difference.

Of the ten sons in the Wei family, nine died.

Wei Zhao single-handedly led an army of 300,000, annihilating the Northern Rong, pacifying the Western Qiang, and defeating the Southern Man. Now he is heading east to block 700,000 foreign cavalry.

How much blood was spilled by the Wei family? How many lives were lost by the Wei family?

Now, things have gotten even worse; the Wei family's elderly mother has been summoned to "accept her punishment."

Crime? What crime?

Sending Lu Song a coffin is a crime? Lu Song's crimes are withholding military pay, suppressing the plea for help from Hangu Pass, and secretly colluding with foreign enemies!

An old man selling tofu on the street pushed his cart to the side of the road and followed without saying a word. A woman with a child followed behind.

Further on, there were street vendors, porters, and old men sweeping the streets...

One by one.

There was no organization, no slogans, people just followed along.

It's a three-and-a-half-mile journey from the Wei Mansion to the main gate of the Imperial Palace.

Halfway there, there were probably thousands of people on both sides of the long street.

Some people made way for the carriage, some kowtowed to the carriage curtain, and some stood by the roadside watching without saying a word, their eyes red.

The old lady sat in the carriage, holding a dragon-headed scepter, and lowered the carriage curtain.

……

The carriage stopped outside the main gate of the palace.

The vermilion city gate was so high that it blocked out half the sky. The flags on the city wall were not moving. Two rows of imperial guards stood straight at the palace gate with their halberds, their armor reflecting the sunlight.

The people stopped a hundred paces outside the palace gate; they could not go any further, for to go any further would be a great disrespect.

More than a thousand people remained silent, not a single one uttering a sound.

The old lady, supported by the steward, got out of the carriage. When her feet touched the bluestone slab, she swayed again.

She looked up.

The palace walls were very high. So high that they blocked out everything inside.

She looked at the wall, and her mouth slowly parted into a smile.

Extremely light, extremely faint.

Zheng Anshi didn't notice. The steward, with his head down, couldn't see it either.

The old lady's lips moved, but she didn't make a sound.

"A family full of loyal martyrs... ultimately trapped by imperial power."

She squeezed the dragon-headed scepter, the coolness of the metal spreading from her palm.

"Lu Song is a dog. Kill this dog, and there will be another one, Zhang Song, Li Song, one after another."

"Want a permanent solution..."

His mouth twitched again.

"Changing the dynasty is the only way."

The wind blew from the top of the palace wall, ruffling the white hair at his temples.

She spoke in her mind to someone who had been dead for twenty years.

Old man, the Wei family has shed blood for the Great Wei for twenty years.

It's time to pay it back.

Today, I, an old woman, enter through this door.

You can get in.

I can't get out.

It's better if they can't get out.

An old matriarch, whose family was full of loyal and righteous men, died in the palace, under the coercion of Lu Song. How did the people of the world view this?

What do the 300,000-strong Wei family army think?

Wei Zhao was not lacking in the ability to rebel.

But I can give him a legitimate reason.

He was loyal his whole life, but was ultimately forced to his death inside the palace walls.

This is how the Great Wei Dynasty repaid the Wei family.

On what grounds does the Wei family claim loyalty?

The old lady slammed her dragon-headed scepter to the ground.

"Thump!"

The sound of metal striking the bluestone slabs echoed in front of the palace gate.

"Enter the palace."

She strode forward, her back ramrod straight.

Zheng Anshi followed behind, feeling half the weight lifted from his chest. He felt that with the dragon-headed scepter, Lu Song couldn't cause any trouble.

These--

All wrong.

The old lady lied to him from beginning to end.

She wasn't going to confront the emperor head-on.

She wanted to die!