Chapter 46: The New Emperor Ascends the Throne

Just as expected.

Just as the Fifth Prince had said, the Crown Prince had indeed gone elsewhere to gather troops to rescue the sovereign and protect the throne.

Upon learning of what had occurred within the Imperial Palace.

The Crown Prince immediately led his troops to the Donghua Gate to confront the Third Prince.

The Third Prince used his supposed extermination of the rebel party and cleansing of the Imperial Palace as his justification for claiming the throne.

The Crown Prince, meanwhile, stated that the Second Prince and the Third Prince had colluded to usurp the throne.

In the end, they turned on each other due to an unequal distribution of spoils.

Therefore, they were not fit to be emperor at all.

The Third Prince was so enraged on the spot that he cursed loudly, accusing the Crown Prince of twisting black and white and making false accusations.

The Crown Prince firmly believed that the Third Prince had murdered his father and sovereign in a plot to usurp the throne.

The two had nothing more to say to each other.

The Donghua Gate once again welcomed a bloodbath.

In this battle, the Crown Prince brought an army of one hundred thousand and six Grandmasters to fight.

Although the Third Prince did not have as many men as the Crown Prince, the number of his Grandmasters was not inferior, and he also had the defensive advantage of the Imperial City's walls.

For a time, the two were evenly matched.

The battle lasted for half a month, and the area beneath the city walls was already piled high with corpses.

The army of one hundred thousand led by the Crown Prince had suffered losses exceeding seventy percent.

The Third Prince's side also had few men remaining.

Just as the two were preparing to decide the final outcome.

Another force joined the battle.

The Crown Prince and the Third Prince were greatly shocked.

Neither of them had expected that yet another force would suddenly pop out.

And what surprised them even more was.

The leader of this force was actually the Fifth Prince, who was usually the most inconspicuous.

Because the troops led by the Crown Prince had already suffered heavy losses after fighting the Third Prince for over ten days, they were quickly defeated by the Fifth Prince's forces.

Seeing that the situation was lost, the Crown Prince slunk away with the remaining thousand or so men.

As for the Third Prince, who was defending the Donghua Gate, he could not withstand the Fifth Prince's fierce onslaught either.

He became the Fifth Prince's prisoner.

As for the Fourth Prince.

He had already been bedridden for half a month.

The night before the battle began, he had handed his troops over to the Fifth Prince, and then he passed away.

In the end.

This protracted struggle for power came to an end with the Fifth Prince as the final victor.

After his victory, the Fifth Prince was extremely smug.

Having endured for so long, he had finally defeated his four older brothers.

The throne of the Supreme Ruler was beckoning to him.

But what the Fifth Prince never expected was that a sharp blade would pierce his chest on the spot.

The Fifth Prince turned his head in disbelief.

He discovered that the person who had stabbed him was actually his own trusted aide.

"He... He Chen, why... why would you betray me?"

"Your Highness, you know better than anyone how the Fourth Prince actually died, don't you?"

"Wh... what! You... are you one of the Fourth's men?"

"Your Highness can go to the underworld and ask the Fourth Prince that!"

He Chen violently pulled out the sharp blade.

The Fifth Prince instantly fell into a pool of blood and breathed his last.

After the Fifth Prince had died.

A graceful figure suddenly appeared on the scene.

He Chen hurriedly put away his weapon and bowed to the woman who had suddenly appeared: "Greetings, Sixth Princess!"

"You have worked hard!"

The Sixth Princess gently pulled He Chen's hand and said.

"Sharing the burden for Your Highness is my duty as a subject!"

He Chen smiled slightly and continued, "Your Highness, the troops of the Fourth Prince and the Fifth Prince are all under our control; except for the Crown Prince who fled with his remnants, all others have been eliminated!"

"Mm, you have all done very well."

The Sixth Princess then said, "Eunuch Liu, you may come in now!"

Eunuch Liu also appeared on the scene and bowed: "Greetings, Sixth Princess."

"Eunuch Liu, immediately summon all the civil and military officials to announce the late Emperor's edict!"

"Yes!"

The scene was quickly cleaned up.

The civil and military officials also arrived at the Imperial Palace one after another.

Eunuch Liu took out the edict of Wei Wen Di and began to read.

It stated that the imperial throne was to be passed to the Sixth Princess, Shen Lingwei.

The ministers in the imperial court expressed great surprise at this result.

They had never imagined that none of the five princes would inherit it, and that it would instead fall upon a woman.

One must know that since the founding of Great Wei, there had been no precedent for a woman to inherit the imperial throne.

Looking at the Left Chancellor and the Minister of Revenue.

The two of them had remained calm from beginning to end.

It was as if they had already known about this result.

Of course, there was no lack of opposition from some ministers.

In their view, the Great Wei imperial court should not be governed by a woman.

"Let me see who dares to object!"

The sudden voice instantly drew everyone's attention.

An old man with white hair and beard was seen walking into the grand hall.

"Duke of Chen!"

The crowd was secretly startled.

The Duke of Chen was a living fossil of the founding heroes of Great Wei.

He was even more so the sky-propping white jade pillar and the sea-bridging purple gold beam of Great Wei.

His son, Lu Wenhan, held the rank of Great General and led an army of 600,000 at Pingjing Fortress to defend against the Demon Race.

With the support of the Duke of Chen, the voices of opposition at the scene were instantly suppressed.

The Sixth Princess, Shen Lingwei, successfully succeeded to the imperial throne.

The reign title was changed to Yuanhe.

She was titled Wei Yuan Emperor.

Afterwards, it was announced to the world to signify the new emperor's ascension.

As for those ministers and generals who had once followed the princes in rebellion, they were all dealt with according to their crimes.

Those who deserved to be killed were killed, and those who deserved to be captured were captured.

At the same time, she also had to handle the funeral arrangements for her late father, the Emperor.

After finishing these matters, she began to handle other urgent affairs.

"Your Majesty!"

"Yushan Fortress has fallen, and many prefectures and counties have been ravaged by the iron hooves of the Xiongnu, causing the common people to live in misery. I hope Your Majesty will soon dispatch troops to recover the lost territory!"

"We subjects second this!"

"Request granted! Then dispatch Liu General to lead 200,000 troops to recover the lost territory; there must be no mistakes!"

"Your Majesty, this subject has a matter to report!"

After the court was dismissed.

Shen Lingwei returned to her sleeping quarters and began to review the memorials.

Because of the infighting among the five princes, a considerable amount of government affairs had accumulated.

Therefore, Shen Lingwei took on this heavy burden.

One memorial after another was reviewed and then passed to the next department.

"Your Majesty, take a break!"

He Chen looked at Shen Lingwei with a face full of heartache.

At this moment, she had changed back into women's clothing; before, she had merely been disguising herself as a man.

Her real name was Guo Xueping, and she had been lurking by the Fifth Prince's side all along; as for the real He Chen, he had long since been done away with.

"I can't! I have to clean up the mess for my brothers!"

"Besides, there are many ministers in the court staring at me; they are dying for me to have a problem so they can drive me out!"

Guo Xueping said angrily, "Let me see who dares; whoever dares to disobey, I will cut off their dog head!"

"Xueping, governing a country is not just simple killing; there is a lot of learning involved in this!"

"Anyway, I get a headache just looking at these memorials; killing is simpler!"

Guo Xueping said.

Fortunately, it was not her who was the emperor; just this pile of memorials made her feel annoyed just looking at them.

"Alright, go and bring me the memorials over there."

"Yes!"

Guo Xueping handed the memorials to Shen Lingwei.

Shen Lingwei opened one and took a look.

She could not help but become interested in this memorial.

"I never thought that such a talented new general would emerge on the borders of my Great Wei!"

"Oh? How talented is he?"

"He personally led 2,000 troops to rout 30,000 Turkic tribesmen and captured Wu Ha, the young prince of the Turkic Wuji Tribe, alive."

"So amazing, it couldn't be fake, could it?"

"Have Wu Commander send me the information regarding Chu Feng."

"Yes!"

Before long.

The information about Chu Feng was delivered before Shen Lingwei.

Chu Feng, male, nineteen years old, from Dingning Pass, a scholar.

He rendered distinguished service during the great battle at Dingning Pass.

He is the subordinate most favored by the Dingyuan General.

He once led his troops deep behind the Xiongnu lines to raid enemy logistics and supply lines, beheading several enemy Innate experts.

A poem he wrote.

Vowing to sweep away the Xiongnu, he disregarded his own safety; five thousand sable-clad soldiers perished in the barbarian dust.

Alas, the bones by the Wuding River are still the men in the dreams of their wives back home.

"I truly underestimated him; I never expected him to be a talent skilled in both civil and military affairs!"

"Request granted; appoint Chu Feng as a Sixth-Rank Lieutenant and Polu General."

The memorial was reviewed and approved very quickly.

The party bearing the rewards also set off immediately for Anwu County.

After a period of time.

These people finally arrived at Anwu County.