My Mother Was Banished to the Cold Palace, So I Rebelled and Became Emperor

The ninth prince of Great Qian, Li Jue, is the son of the empire's foremost female general, who helped Great Qian conquer half its territory.

But her achievements made the emperor feel threatened. The suspicious and ruthless Emperor Ganwu stripped her of her martial arts and confined her to the Cold Palace for fifteen years. Now she's on the brink of death, about to be executed by imperial decree!

The officials at court all laugh at Li Jue, calling him useless and saying all he does is build on a grand scale and indulge in wine and women. He's a thoroughly dissolute prince.

To curry favor with Northern Mang, Crown Prince Alshan even proposes sending the deposed empress beyond the frontier as a bride!

But no one in the world knows that Li Jue has awakened the soul of a modern-day overlord.

Beneath the royal gardens he builds are steelmaking blast furnaces and weapons factories!

The sprawling Taoist temples he constructs secretly shelter a ruthless force of a hundred thousand, all armed with flintlock rifles!

When Northern Mang's six hundred thousand cavalry ride south and Great Qian faces the threat of annihilation, the officials kneel and beg for peace, while Emperor Ganwu is in despair.

Li Jue finally stops pretending!

That night, a hundred thousand riflemen pound on the palace gates, their cold cannon barrels pointed straight at the dragon throne in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Li Jue points his sword at the lofty Emperor Ganwu: "Father, you're old, and Great Qian is sick. Tonight, your son asks you to abdicate!"

The tyrant is stunned, the crown prince goes limp, and the entire court trembles with fear!