My brother entrusted his child to me, and I livestreamed raising the baby, making the Empress cry wi

In the Great Flame Kingdom, another month and a half has passed since the last live broadcast.

What started as a few scattered sparks has now grown into a raging inferno, with thick smoke carrying a scorching heat that spreads from south to north across every inch of the land engulfed in flames.

In the south, the rebels in Qingzhou have integrated all the nearby insurgents and have already captured the third county town.

The scarred man stood on the steps of the county government office, tearing out page by page of the tax registers he had found in the granary and throwing them into the fire at his feet.

The paper curled, turned black, and turned to ash in the flames. The ash was blown up by the wind and scattered all over the sky, like a black snowfall.

……

To the west, in Fu County.

The people and refugees from several nearby counties united.

The leader was a veteran who had fought alongside Ye Fan in the past.

The air was thick with the stench of blood.

The veteran leading the group had a deeply lined face, and his coarse cloth clothes were stained with blood and tattered, but his spine was ramrod straight.

He leaned on a chipped broadsword, the tip of which was deeply embedded in the trampled mud.

The last soldier in front of him fell to his knees with a thud, trembling like a leaf in the autumn wind: "Spare...spare my life..."

The old soldier didn't look at him; his cloudy yet sharp eyes slowly swept over the ragged people around him, who were holding hoes and wooden sticks.

He took a deep breath, his chest heaving, and then with all his might, a hoarse roar, like a broken gong, reverberated through the ears:

"This tax—"

He paused for a moment, his gaze burning as he swept over every face, whether filled with fear or excitement.

"I'm not paying!"

"We won't pay!" The crowd was silent for a moment, then erupted in a thunderous response, the sound almost lifting the gloomy sky.

……

On the eastern canal, the rebel leader, who was originally a salt merchant, cut off the grain transport.

The official boat was forced to stop on the river, drifting haphazardly.

The flags on the mast crackled and thrashed in the wind, each swing more forceful than the last.

The ship was now empty, with only dark red bloodstains remaining on the deck, a testament to the fierce battle that had taken place there.

At the dock, emaciated people lined up in a crooked queue to receive their share of grain from the leader of the salt merchants, their thin faces rekindling their desire to live.

The leader, hands on his hips, laughed loudly, "Move it! It's all ours! That dog emperor won't get a single grain of rice through here!"

……

To the north, on the walls of city walls in one prefecture and county after another, Wang Meng's "Ye" banners gradually appeared...

Beijing.

Since Shu Jingwei recovered enough to attend court, she has been overwhelmed with petitions for help from all over the country.

She hadn't had a good night's sleep in almost a month, and her eyes were a deep, dark blue.

Her cheekbones were high and prominent, and her cheeks were sunken in, making her eyes appear exceptionally large, so large that you could see the blood vessels around her eyes, one after another, densely packed.

The dragon robe hung loosely on her body, and her collarbone was sunken into two deep dents.

She couldn't even care less about Yao Jingyuan, whom she had once considered dealing with, and she didn't even have the mind to think about him anymore.

She devoted all her energy and all her troops to dealing with the rebels who came from all directions.

Those damned rebels were like a hornet's nest that had been poked! They buzzed around and crashed into things, stabbing one, and another popped up; stabbing one, and the other moved on to another spot.

What remains in the court now are either sycophants from Yao Jingyuan's faction or useless people who can only nod and say "Your Majesty is wise".

Those who had been appointed through the imperial examinations and who possessed genuine abilities either retired or resigned, disappearing faster than rabbits.

Shu Jingwei didn't pay attention at the time, but now she realized that they just wanted to run away!

What do you mean by "my mother is seriously ill"? What do you mean by "I'm too old"? What do you mean by "I'm no longer capable of handling important tasks"?

—They're all excuses!

Her teeth were grinding together.

"Do they think I can't function without them?"

She spat out each word through gritted teeth, "Did you think that without them, my throne would be unstable?"

In the spacious Hall of Mental Cultivation, echoes reverberated in waves, and the chief eunuch serving beside him bent over so low that he almost broke.

A fine layer of cold sweat seeped from his forehead, and he even held his breath, his chest aching but he dared not take a deep breath.

"I am the Emperor!" Shu Jingwei suddenly raised her voice, the veins on her neck bulging. "I am the Son of Heaven! I alone can sit firmly on this dragon throne!"

As she spoke, she grabbed the pen and slammed the tip into the inkstone, splashing ink onto her bright yellow sleeve. She didn't even glance at it and continued issuing orders to suppress the rebels.

They're just rebels? Just kill them!

When we slaughter those peasants until their livers and gallbladders are shattered, until they tremble at the mere mention of my name, let's see who dares to rebel!

But what she didn't expect was that this would instead provoke even more people who were still hesitant to flee to the north with their families.

……

Inside the imperial harem, in the sleeping quarters of the noble consort.

The window was half open, and the wind blowing in carried the dampness of spring.

Yao Jingyuan sat in a grand chair by the window, wrapped in a thick fleece blanket, with snow-white bandages wrapped around his knees.

His injuries have healed considerably, and he can walk without difficulty, but whenever it's a cloudy or rainy day like this, it feels like countless tiny ice needles are drilling into his bones, causing a tingling pain.

He gazed out the window at the leaden, low-hanging sky that seemed about to collapse, his fingertips tapping absently under the blanket, his mind churning with thoughts.

The power that Shu Jingwei had recently mobilized alarmed him.

Some soldiers were brought out from deep in the mountains; they were all taciturn and their footsteps were so low when they marched that they sounded like a group of ghosts crawling out of the ground.

There were also large groups of people who suddenly appeared from coastal villages, with strong ships and powerful cannons, capable of fighting in both naval and land battles.

Ye Fan.

The name kept circling in his mind, until it gave him a headache.

That man, I must say, is indeed quite capable.

Not only did they put such a stupid woman on the throne, but they also left her with so many trump cards.

He initially thought he had trampled Ye Fan underfoot, burying him in the mud, but now he realized—

The things Ye Fan buried were so deep that he couldn't even touch them.

Fortunately, he curled the corners of his mouth into a smile—

Ye Fan is dead.

No matter how powerful you are, you still can't beat him, right?

The dead can't turn the tide!

Fortunately, that foolish woman is currently preoccupied with the chaos of war and has no time to care about him.

Otherwise, given his previous energetic and restless behavior...

Yao Jingyuan exhaled softly, the breath quickly dissipating in the cool air.

"Very well." He narrowed his eyes, a glint of light flashing in them.

"Let's see if we can profit from this first. If not..." He paused, his voice so low it was almost inaudible.

"Let's join forces with that stupid woman first and deal with Lin Ye. After all..."

He glanced in the direction of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, a sneer creeping onto his lips.

"Compared to a sorcerer who can command the wind and rain, a self-righteous fool is much easier to manipulate."

……