During the Yonghe era of Great Jing, Ning Wang Xiao Chen framed Grand General Su Qingtian for "colluding with the enemy and betraying the country," and the entire family was executed. Su Lingyue, his legitimate daughter, narrowly escaped with the help of a loyal servant. After lying low for three years, she returned to the capital under the name Lingyue, disguised as a man.
She entered the Prince of Jing's residence as a commoner strategist and won the trust of Xiao Jue, heir to the Prince of Jing, with her exceptional tactics. The two formed an alliance: Su Lingyue provided the strategy, while Xiao Jue provided the power. Together, they opposed Ning Wang, who held sway over the court. Su Lingyue successively won over the wealthy Gu family of Jiangnan, turned Ning Wang's trusted aide against him, and collected irrefutable evidence of Ning Wang's smuggling of salt and iron and his framing of the Su family. In the end, she had all three cases tried together at court and brought Ning Wang down, clearing the names of the three hundred members of the Su family.
After Ning Wang was brought to justice, the emperor fell gravely ill, and the struggle over the succession reached a fever pitch. Su Lingyue helped Xiao Jue quell the empress's palace coup and ascend the throne. She herself went from a strategist behind the scenes to a wise empress. However, Prince of Shu joined forces with remnants of the previous dynasty and launched a rebellion. Called to action in a crisis, Su Lingyue defended the impregnable Tong Pass with just three thousand troops, burned the enemy's provisions, then launched a surprise attack on Chengdu and struck at the heart of the rebellion, pacifying the southwest.
After returning to the capital, Su Lingyue introduced the "Ten New Policies," reforming officialdom, reducing taxes, and opening the imperial examinations to new candidates. Together with Xiao Jue, she created the "Jue-Yue Golden Age." Xiao Jue died of an illness brought on by overwork, and Su Lingyue, as empress dowager, assisted the young emperor Xiao Yu and taught him to become a good ruler. Once Xiao Yu took the reins of government, Su Lingyue retired after accomplishing all she had set out to do. She withdrew to Jiangnan and spent the rest of her life with Gu Yunshen, who had always stayed by her side to protect her.
The story revolves around one central question: How does a woman go from "being saved by others" to "saving others" in a time of chaos, and from "avenging her family" to "bringing peace to the land"?
New author, if you think this story is good, please add it to your bookshelf, comment, and update it. Even if it's just a "come on", I can be happy all day long. It's my first time to write a book and I don't understand anything. Every comment from you is motivation for me to persevere. I want to ask you: Which chapter did you see? Which character is your favorite? Is there any sentence that made you pause? Chat in the comment section, I'm here.