Powerful Minister

Strategic, devoted male lead x beautiful, strong, and tragic scheming female lead

Also known as Officially Chosen by Heaven

* Revenge | Rising from the bottom to become a powerful minister | She falls for him and plays a game of hearts

* Power struggles | Seizing power and ascending the throne | He falls hard and gets in too deep

Zhao Tianyu repaid Yang Xifei's kindness by murdering her entire family. For the sake of the people of Yong, Yang Xifei set her hatred aside for the time being and left her homeland. She concealed her identity, disguised herself as a man, and became an unambitious doctor.

Then she met Emperor Kong Yin, who was traveling incognito. She helped him bring corrupt officials down, and by a twist of fate, she passed the palace examination as the third-ranked candidate and entered the court as one of his ministers.

Kong Yin had originally meant to use her, but who could have guessed he would fall in love with her at first sight? Their opposing positions made him afraid to face his feelings, so he kept hiding them. In the end, he could only let them grow wild until he could no longer suppress his pounding heart.

Yang Xifei once asked him whether she had helped him see his true feelings. Later, as she knelt astride his waist and bent down to kiss him, he wrapped his arms around her and told her:

"The late emperor thought loving someone meant clipping their wings and keeping them locked by his side. In my eyes, that's just pathetic. Even if you become a powerful minister, even if you want the whole world, I can place it in your hands. That's what love is."

Yang Xifei started out as a seventh-rank vice director. She improved irrigation, rooted out corrupt officials, and won over officials from every faction, climbing higher step by step. Then her identity as a princess of an enemy state was exposed, and she was thrown into prison. Kong Yin appeared to demote her, but secretly promoted her, saving her from prison and sending her into exile on the frontier.

So she started again from the bottom, becoming a military strategist step by step and returning to court with the victorious army. She then made a triumphant return to the imperial capital, Longyang, leaving the entire court speechless: How have you come back again and again and again?

By then, Yang Xifei held immense power, second only to The Outcast and above everyone else. She had already killed her former enemy with her own hands. Smiling with amusement, she replied:

"If anyone can become the most powerful minister, why can't I? If no woman has ever served in the government, then I'll be the one to set the precedent."

"Use whatever schemes you like against me. If you fail to wipe me out completely, I will pay you back for every slight, and I will never stop until one of us is dead."

Reader's guide:

1. A devoted, monogamous couple, one-on-one romance.

2. A pure romance with mutual feelings!

3. This is a romance novel. No shipping the male characters together!

4. The plot takes priority over the romance, but there will definitely be a romantic storyline!

5. This is a new author's novel.

6. Nothing for now. Stay tuned.

------ A recommendation for my best friend's novel, I Will Take This Realm for Myself ------

After witnessing the empress die young, her mother's family lose their power, her uncle fight to the death against foreign forces on the frontier, and the emperor build himself a pleasure palace, Gao Qiutang felt that this empire was beyond saving.

As the emperor's only daughter, she knew she was better than any of the princes. Besides, her mother had done four-fifths of the work to build this realm. So what if Gao Qiutang took a turn on the throne?

With her goal clear, Gao Qiutang set to work.

All her brothers had supporters at court. Why didn't she?

What? The Left Chancellor was running the government and monopolizing power?

How outrageous. He had to be taken down!

What could she do if it was inconvenient to act from inside the palace?

Oh, she happened to have a cousin serving as a minister.

What if her cousin seemed a little unreliable?

Oh, she happened to have rescued someone at the autumn hunt.

What? He was a hostage sent over after Tuowu's defeat?

Even better. What if he proved useful!

And so Gao Qiutang gradually lifted the corners of the court's veil, stirring its muddy waters into a storm.

But the court was too crowded, and those old foxes had no intention of letting go of the spoils in their mouths.

The capital was a tangled mix of people, and the palace walls let nothing through.

There was no foothold in such a sordid place, so she would carve out a remote road that was clear from end to end.

Before long, in a distant fief, stories spread of a princess like a living deity who had saved countless people.

In the end, all it amounted to was a bowl of edible porridge and clothes that kept out the cold. Some people built pleasure palaces during wartime, while others sold their homes and fields just to afford food and warm clothing.

Give the people something, and they will give something in return.

When the emperor fell gravely ill, powerful ministers seized control, and the various lords fought under the pretext of rescuing him. In the end, they were all cut down beneath the hooves of a chestnut steed.

Gao Qiutang returned to the capital and ascended the supreme throne.

Some said she had broken the rules.

Gao Qiutang replied coldly, "There has never been any reason women cannot govern. Not a single book from the past or present says that a woman cannot ascend the throne and become emperor."

"Posterity can judge my achievements for themselves."

Theme: Working toward peace