Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 922 You Have Absolutely the Audacity

Only a few lamps were lit inside the palace, casting the empress's long, slender, and distorted shadow on the floor tiles.

With a loud crash, the palace doors were pushed open, and Xia Lin burst in, covered in night dew.

"You still dare to step into this Ganlu Palace?!"

Xia Lin ignored her murderous glare and walked straight to the imperial desk. His fingers traced the mountain of memorials, the top one being a petition from the Imperial Censor, written in blood, pleading for the immediate execution of those who were "spreading heresies and misleading the public."

"You have audacity!" Xia Lin threw down the tattered folded book in his hand and shouted angrily, "You actually dare to order the suppression of the people? I think you've had enough of being emperor! Whether you can do it or not, there are plenty of people who want to!"

"You come here to tell me this? You think I'm audacious?" Third Sister sneered, her laughter echoing in the empty hall, chillingly shrill: "Xia Lin! I've tolerated you enough! You were the one who allowed Tuoba Jing to use that wailing, howling thing to tear my face and the Li Tang dynasty to shreds and throw it on the ground for all the people to trample on, and now it's my fault?!"

She stepped forward, pointing her finger at Xia Lin's nose, the gold-embroidered dragon pattern on the cuffs of her dragon robe almost wrapping around his neck: "Every day I am in this city, criticizing the suffering of the common people and witnessing the bloodshed on the border! And you! You set fire to this festering sore, making it known to the whole world! Let those barbarian envoys laugh at you! Is this what you, Xia Lin, wanted?!"

Xia Lin suddenly looked up, her brows furrowing: "You can see it? You sit in the nine-layered palace, seeing only the flimsy words 'famine' on memorials, hearing only the buzzing 'Long live the Emperor' in the court! Have you ever buried a frozen child with your own hands? Have you ever smelled the stench of decay beneath the beacon towers?! Oh, you have, you've seen it, but you've forgotten! You've forgotten everything!!!"

His voice suddenly rose: "I'll make everyone in this world open their eyes and see! See your faces! See how many innocent souls are buried beneath this glorious world!"

"Insolence!" Third Madam roared, grabbing the jade paperweight from the imperial desk and smashing it to the ground. Jade fragments shattered against the gold bricks, scattering everywhere. "I implemented new policies, rectified officialdom, reduced taxes, and provided relief to displaced people! Every single one of these was done with painstaking effort! And this is how you treat me?! You are forcing me to abdicate! You are plotting rebellion!"

"Treason?" Xia Lin sneered, his laughter full of sarcasm: "If I really wanted to rebel, would you still be standing here in this dragon robe, yelling at me like that? Let me tell you straight! Your patched-up new policies can't touch those networks of connections! Your little bit of benevolence can't even feed the starving people of the world!"

He took a step closer, almost touching her nose, his breath hot: "I'm going to use this sound of national ruin to wake you up, you emperor pretending to be asleep! To wake up all these officials pretending to be blind! To let you hear what it means for public resentment to boil over! To let you see what it means for the people's hearts to turn away!"

"The people's will?" Third Sister trembled with rage, sweeping the entire memorial to the ground and grabbing a handful of straw, which she threw at Xia Lin's face. "Look at this! This is the people's will you want! Unrest, slander against the emperor, and shaking the foundations of the nation! Xia Lin! This is also your son's empire!"

"So what?!" Xia Lin roared, veins bulging on his neck. "Let me tell you, it's just a matter of time. From the very first day I came into this world, I knew I was going to do something, and nobody can stop me!"

His gaze was piercing as he stared intently at her: "You think that silencing the world will bring peace? Let me tell you, that's self-deception! That's leaving a legacy of disaster for ten thousand years! This commotion in Xianyang today is your last chance, and your Li Tang dynasty's last chance!"

"An opportunity?" Third Sister staggered back a step, grabbing the cold armrest of the dragon throne to steady herself. Her voice trembled. "The opportunity you gave me is to watch this gathering of all nations vanish into nothingness? To watch the world descend into chaos because of your will?! Xia Lin! Ask yourself, do you still have even a shred of concern for me?!"

Xia Lin looked at her deathly pale face, at the shattered imperial majesty deep in her eyes, and remained silent for a moment.

Finally, he tugged at the corners of his mouth, a cold and unfamiliar smile.

"Gu Nian?" His voice lowered, but it was resolute: "I'll give you three days to withdraw all orders, or you can resign as emperor."

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly turned around, his robes fluttering and stirring up a gust of cold wind, and strode out of the palace gate without looking back.

The palace doors slammed shut behind him with a dull thud, completely isolating the two worlds.

Third Sister stood frozen in place, staring at the door that seemed to separate life and death, at the mess on the ground, her chest heaving violently.

Before long, the palace maids came in and began to clean quietly.

The Empress sat slumped on the throne, silent.

The following day, Her Majesty the Queen was unwell and unable to attend court or any events. But a messenger arrived as swiftly as a death knell.

The 70,000-strong Polu Army in Xiangyang has begun preparations, while the 180,000-strong Western Region Construction Corps has formed an encirclement and begun to surround the Anxi Protectorate. At the same time, the Northeastern Expeditionary Army in Shandong also began to move towards Shanxi, and the 100,000 Wolf Soldiers of Lingnan Road are also preparing to enter Sichuan from the bottom up along the Tea Road.

The impenetrable encirclement pressed step by step toward Chang'an, and the only way to escape the encirclement was to head north to the grasslands, where Northern Han cavalry were already patrolling.

In Chang'an and Xianyang, life was still peaceful and prosperous. No one expected that Xia Lin would actually prepare to hunt like a hungry tiger during this happiest time.

"mother……"

Li Zhi sat in front of San Niang's bed and gently placed a towel dampened with cool water on her forehead. At this moment, young Li Zhi really didn't know what to do.

He had already learned a thing or two about the matter from his mother's personal maid, but he was at a loss for what to do. He wanted to persuade his father but didn't know how to start. "Mother is alright." Third Sister gently pinched Li Zhi's face; her face was full of weariness.

"Mother, let your son go and persuade Father..."

Third Sister gently shook her head: "If you could persuade him, he wouldn't be Xia Daosheng."

"What should we do? The four armies have already begun to assemble. I can't just stand by and watch my parents fight each other..."

Third Sister chuckled softly, sighed deeply, and said nothing more. The eunuch beside her quickly stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, His Majesty is tired. Let His Majesty rest."

Li Zhi rose in response and left the palace without saying a word.

Xiao Wu was still at the door. As soon as she saw Li Zhi's expression, she knew that the negotiations had not been successful. So she stepped forward and took Li Zhi's arm, saying, "Your Highness, please don't be so anxious. I think Master has never been such a rash person. He must have another way to break the deadlock."

“Senior sister…you may understand father, but you really don’t understand my mother.” Li Zhi glanced back at Third Sister’s palace: “My mother is also very stubborn.”

Xiao Wu glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then tiptoed and whispered in Li Zhi's ear, "The four border armies are just changing shifts as their terms expire, and they're also doing some drills..."

"Really? How do you know?"

Xiao Wu smiled and said, "I drafted the order for my master... It was drafted and sent out several days ago, when the movie had just been decided to be released."

"So... Father knew all along what would happen?"

"Correct."

Li Zhi finally felt relieved after hearing this. He glanced back at his mother's palace and asked, "Should I go and tell my mother?"

“What’s said has become true.” Xiao Wu’s eyes changed: “Using torture to suppress the people is simply not going to work. Nearly five hundred people have been arrested in the past few days. If this matter isn’t resolved, then something really bad is going to happen.”

Li Zhi sighed: "Then how do we break this deadlock?"

"I don't know..."

Just then, the chief eunuch, bowing, hurried over. Upon seeing Li Zhi, his expression suddenly relaxed, and he quickly stepped forward, saying, "Your Highness, this servant has finally found you."

"What happened, Steward He?"

"Several ministers came by just now, among whom Minister Changsun presented a memorial, saying it was extremely urgent, but this old servant dared not present it to His Majesty..."

Upon hearing this, Li Zhi's heart skipped a beat, but he quickly understood. He turned to look at Xiao Wu, whose eyes lit up instantly. Xiao Wu lowered his voice and said, "The one who will break the deadlock has arrived!"

"Steward He, please give me the memorial."

"Thank you, Your Highness. This old servant will take his leave now."

Li Zhi unfolded the memorial, and as expected, it was Changsun Wuji's impeachment. The impeached were the same officials who had spoken in front of the palace and proposed to severely punish the common people for their words.

"Prime Minister Changsun..." Li Zhi asked in astonishment after reading it, "When did he become one of my father's accomplices?"

“It’s not that he’s on the same side as Master… but rather that His Majesty desperately needs a way out.” Xiao Wu chuckled softly. “However, the way out that Prime Minister Changsun has offered may force him to side with Master, which has offended almost all the powerful clans.”

"I'll go find my mother right now." Li Zhi hurriedly returned to his palace with the memorial in his hand.

The next day, His Majesty's illness miraculously disappeared...

(End of this chapter)