CQDF 2

Tearing Up the Pig-Torture Script: Consort Qi Dominates Her Fiefdom

CHAPTER 2: Power Struggles and the Empress's Retreat

Early the next morning, in the main hall of the Weiyang Palace.

When Liu Bang announced the imperial decree from the dragon throne with a raspy yet unquestionable voice—"The Prince of Zhao, Liu Ruyi, shall immediately take up his fief, accompanied by Consort Qi, and be granted total fiscal and military autonomy over the Zhao domain"—the entire court fell into a dead silence so profound you could hear a pin drop.

The officials exchanged bewildered glances. Consort Qi, who had been fighting tooth and nail over the succession just yesterday, was stepping down voluntarily today?

Empress Lü’s external-relative faction was left in suspicious uncertainty, while the veteran meritorious faction led by Zhang Liang and Zhou Chang secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Only when this decree reached the Jiaofang Palace did Empress Lü fall silent.

She sat upright upon her phoenix chair, her jade-like fingers tightening inch by inch around the armrests, her gaze ice-cold and unreadable for a long, lingering moment.

“Consort Qi…” Empress Lü sneered inwardly. She refused to believe that a mere dancing girl who only knew how to cry and wail possessed such grand political wisdom to make a timely retreat. There had to be a trap behind this.

The decree was final, setting a strict three-day deadline to clear out of the capital.

Inside the side hall of the Weiyang Palace, Yu Xiaoqing had already shed her heavy, complex court robes, wearing only a plain, clean moon-white gauze dress. Standing by her desk, she carefully folded several pieces of xuan paper covered in strange symbols and structural diagrams, tucking them close against her chest.

These were the blueprints she had frantically reverse-engineered and transcribed from memory overnight.

The Han dynasty’s "blast furnace steelmaking technology" was still primitive. Since northern Zhao was rich in iron ore, upgrading the smelting furnaces would allow Zhao's military weaponry to leap an entire generation ahead of the main Han army.

And then there was the "refined salt crystallization method." The borderlands were plagued by alkaline salt flats; turning toxic saline crusts into sparkling white table salt would multiply Zhao's military and fiscal output tenfold within a year.

These were her genuine core assets for dominating her new fiefdom.

"Your Ladyship..." Cui'er burst in frantically, her face drained of color, her legs buckling as she dropped straight to her knees. "Empress Lü’s imperial carriage has already arrived at the palace gates! She’s brought dozens of armed Imperial Guard troopers with drawn blades!"

Yu Xiaoqing paused for a fraction of a second, then smoothed down the hem of her skirt with absolute composure.

She moves fast.

The political queen of Han had ultimately decided to come and personally inspect her "death row inmate" status.

"What is there to panic about?" Yu Xiaoqing cast a cold glance at Cui'er. "Go fetch that box of rouge I left by the bedside last night."

Moments later, the heavy doors of the side hall were shoved open with brutal force.

A fierce gust swept inward as a magnificent phoenix-embroidered black-and-crimson ceremonial robe dragged across the floor. Empress Lü carried an imposing, dignified aura forged through years of absolute political immersion, radiating a suffocating pressure as she stepped into the hall and locked her gaze down on the kneeling Yu Xiaoqing.

"Sister Qi, I heard you voluntarily requested to take up your fief, so I came personally to see you off," Empress Lü said, her tone devoid of any discernible emotion.

Shizhi Bu immediately followed behind, carrying a tray that held two cups of lethal poison.

Yu Xiaoqing kept her head bowed. Thanks to the strategic dabs of rouge, her complexion looked sallow, sickly pale, and laced with terror-stricken redness around her eyes. Shaking violently on the floor as if her wits had been completely frightened out of her, she even let out a shrill, tear-streaked wail as she kowtowed:

"Have mercy, Your Majesty! This concubine knows her wrongs! In the past, I abused your favor and committed capital offenses! I never dare dream of the crown prince's seat again... Please, for the sake of young Ruyi, spare our lives!"

Empress Lü remained silent, slowly walking up until her exquisite phoenix-embroidered boots stopped right in front of Yu Xiaoqing.

"Spare your lives?" Empress Lü gave a cold chuckle, gesturing for Shizhi Bu to step forward with the tray. "Yesterday before the Emperor, Sister, you took the initiative to demand military jurisdiction and fiscal autonomy over Zhao. That kind of tactical maneuver doesn't look like someone begging to survive—it looks like someone trying to carve out an independent rival regime to challenge me."

The temperature in the hall plummeted to freezing point. The steel blades of the imperial guards had already slipped half an inch out of their scabbards; a single glance from Empress Lü would leave Yu Xiaoqing a corpse.

This was precisely the opening Yu Xiaoqing had baited.

She jerked her head up, her eyes swimming with frantic terror and self-mockery, tears streaming down and washing away the cosmetic powder:

"You wrong me, Your Majesty! That was granted by the Emperor... The Emperor said that without those safeguards, the moment Ruyi steps out of Chang'an he will be hacked to pieces by mountain bandits and outlaws! What does a weak woman like me know about military power or tax revenues? What good are those cold iron weapons to me? If Your Majesty doesn't believe me, this concubine is willing to leave behind every single pearl, jewelry piece, and past imperial reward! I only want Ruyi to stay alive!"

With that, Yu Xiaoqing acted like a madwoman, ripping a golden hairpin straight out of her hair along with several strands of black locks, drawing a streak of fresh blood down her temple. Clutching the hairpin tightly in her palms, she offered it up in a posture of utmost submissiveness right at Empress Lü's feet.

"Your Majesty, this concubine is terrified of death... I am truly terrified of death!" she sobbed with heart-wrenching despair.

Empress Lü looked down at her from above.

The blood trickling down the temple, the sallow complexion, the groveling, ultimate surrender, and the chaotic, uncalculated weeping.

She was still that same shallow Consort Qi who knew nothing of statecraft and relied solely on her looks to court favor. Her demand for military authority was nothing more than an expiring emperor's indulgence over his son, and this foolish woman treated it merely as a talisman for survival.

The suspicion and killing intent in Empress Lü's eyes finally dispersed by six-tenths.

A broken-spirited, terrified deposed consort fleeing to the barren northern frontier could never stage a comeback. Besides, Liu Bang was still breathing; executing Consort Qi inside Chang'an right now would completely infuriate the dying dragon, yielding a negative return on investment.

"Why must Sister push yourself to such lengths?" Empress Lü raised a hand, and Shizhi Bu silently stepped back.

"Since it is the Emperor's grace, naturally I will not stand in your way. Three days from now, from the ramparts of Chang'an, I wish Sister a safe journey." Empress Lü gave a condescending laugh, flicked her sleeves, and turned away.

Not until the ceremonial procession of the phoenix carriage completely vanished beyond the palace gates did the side hall regain its stillness.

Yu Xiaoqing slowly picked herself up from the floor.

Raising her sleeve, she casually wiped away the self-inflicted drop of blood on her temple. The terror, tears, and submissiveness vanished instantly, leaving behind a bottomless, razor-sharp chill.

"Your Ladyship... Are—are you alright?" Cui'er asked, her soul practically frightened out of her body.

Gazing at her slightly disheveled reflection in the mirror—her eyes burning with unyielding determination—Yu Xiaoqing curved her lips into a faint smile:

"I'm fine. This round, I won the gamble."

Empress Lü dropping her guard meant her mother-son duo could walk out of Chang'an alive. Once they broke out of this cage and plunged into the vast world, no one would ever be able to chain her down again.

Meanwhile, at a post station outside Chang'an City.

A tall, towering young man clad in dark black heavy armor was polishing his side-sword. His facial features were chiseled like stone, but his gaze was as cold as the freezing winter winds of the northern frontier.

"General, the covert tiger tally has been secured. His Majesty has ordered us to escort Consort Qi and her son to their Zhao fief in three days," a subordinate reported in a low voice.

Shi Zhongyuan slid his sword back into its scabbard with a crisp, metallic clink. A faint flicker of disgust crossed his handsome brow:

"A pampered favorite concubine who only knows how to court favor and nearly destabilized the foundation of the state—is she really worthy of having three thousand Iron Cavalry of Yanmen Guan deployed to guard her?"

"Then what is the General's meaning..."

Shi Zhongyuan stood up, draped a black cloak over his shoulders, and spoke coldly: "An imperial decree cannot be defied. I will take men to meet them at Changle Slope. But along the way, if she turns out to be as delicate and high-maintenance as the rumors say... I won't mind letting her die at the hands of 'wandering bandits'."

The wind and snow over Chang'an grew heavier still.

Yet Shi Zhongyuan had no inkling that the person he was about to encounter was no helpless court favorite.

She was a woman destined to completely upend his entire life—along with the entire Han empire.

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